[Reader-list] reader-list Digest, Vol 69, Issue 3

[S J]

Re: Secularism (Saad)

secularism is a anti-*religious-extremism.* it a tolerance and
liberty..........


On 4/2/09, reader-list-request at sarai.net <reader-list-request at sarai.net>
wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. secularism (bipin)
>   2. Re: secularism (Yousuf)
>   3. A second tulip mania (Taha Mehmood)
>   4. Re: reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 76 (rajenradhika at vsnl.net)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 02 Apr 2009 11:35:11 +0530
> From: bipin <aliens at dataone.in>
> Subject: [Reader-list] secularism
> To: sarai-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID: <004301c9b358$fc0ca1b0$0201a8c0 at limo>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Dear All,
>
> before further discussions/reply I invite everyone to give definition of
> SECULARISM in your point of view.
>
> thanks
> BIPIN
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 23:50:19 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] secularism
> To: sarai-list <reader-list at sarai.net>, bipin <aliens at dataone.in>
> Message-ID: <879691.2052.qm at web51409.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>
> Dear Bipin
> To me personally, Secularism is not a denial or absence of religious faith.
> Its more like tolerance and respect of many points of views.
>
> Its certainly not a sickness.
>
> Yousuf
>
>
> --- On Thu, 4/2/09, bipin <aliens at dataone.in> wrote:
>
> > From: bipin <aliens at dataone.in>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] secularism
> > To: "sarai-list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Date: Thursday, April 2, 2009, 11:35 AM
> > Dear All,
> >
> > before further discussions/reply I invite everyone to give
> > definition of SECULARISM in your point of view.
> >
> > thanks
> > BIPIN
> > _________________________________________
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>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 2 Apr 2009 08:12:45 +0100
> From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] A second tulip mania
> To: Sarai Reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID:
>        <65be9bf40904020012i4ef65f19gc1fc987dbc7dbb63 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
> Dear All
>
> Seems like the recession is going to have an adverse effect on art
> market too. The writer of the article below makes an argument by
> comparing the rise of 'contemporary art' in recent years to mania
> which surrounded the sale of tupil bulbs in 17 century. So, after the
> futures and derivative bubble, the housing sub-prime bubble, it
> appears that the time has come now for the contemporary art bubble to
> burst.
>
> Regards
>
> Taha
>
> http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10474
>
> The prices of contemporary art works have risen to astonishing levels
> in recent years. Insiders say it’s because we have been living through
> a golden age of art. Nonsense, argue Ben Lewis and Jonathan Ford, it
> is a classic investment bubble
> Ben Lewis
> Jonathan Ford
>
> The bubble in contemporary art is about to pop. It has exhibited all
> the classic features of the South Sea bubble of 1720 or the tulip
> madness of the 1630s. It has been the bubble of bubbles—balancing
> precariously on top of other now-burst bubbles in credit, housing and
> commodities—and inflating more dramatically than all of them. While
> British house prices took six years to double at the start of this
> century, contemporary art managed it in just one, 2006-07. (Over the
> same period, old masters went up by just 7.6 per cent and British 17th
> to 19th century watercolours actually lost value.) Contemporary art in
> the emerging economies did even better. The value of its sales in
> China increased by 983 per cent in one year (2005-06). In Russia they
> rose 2,365 per cent in five years (2000-05), while its stock market
> increased by "only" about 300 per cent.
>
> Even these numbers understate the incredible tulip-like increases in
> the value of the hottest artists. The Chinese painter Zhang Xiaogang
> saw his work appreciate 6,000 times, from $1,000 to $6m (1999-2008);
> work by the American artist Richard Prince went up 60 to 80 times
> (2003-2008). The German painter Anselm Reyle was unknown in 2003; you
> could have picked up one of his stripe paintings for €14,000. Now he
> has a studio with 60 assistants turning them out for about €200,000
> each. Any figures for the whole contemporary art market are guesswork,
> though Christie's chief executive, Ed Dolman, recently estimated that
> it had grown in value from $4bn a year to somewhere between $20-30bn
> in the past eight years.
>
> But this bubble is now deflating. Sotheby's share price has lost three
> quarters of its value over the past year, sinking from its peak of $57
> in October 2007 to $9 in early November—close to its 1980s low of $8.
> The latest round of contemporary art auctions in London has gone
> badly. In October, the Phillips de Pury sale made only £5m—a quarter
> of the minimum estimate; at Christie's almost half the lots didn't
> sell; and an air of denial hung over the Frieze art fair like a fog.
> Upmarket dealers Matthew Marks and Iwan Wirth claimed to have clinched
> many big deals, but the reality was surely different. A leading New
> York gallerist was said to have sold very little and a well-known
> German dealer not a single work.
>
> Some dealers have blamed the poor quality of the works in the London
> sales. "Just wait for New York in mid-November," one said, "and you'll
> see the art market is still doing well." But New York has been no
> better. This should have come as no real surprise. If you consider the
> market as a purely financial enterprise, rather than one in which
> aesthetic quality has any bearing, then the boom in contemporary art
> has the hallmarks of a classic investment bubble.
>
> ***
>
> In his book, Manias, Panics, and Crashes, Charles Kindleberger
> observed that manias typically start with a "displacement" that
> excites speculative interest. It may come from a new object of
> investment or from the increased profitability of existing
> investments. It is followed by positive feedback as rising prices
> encourage less experienced investors to enter the market. Then, as the
> mania gets a grip, speculation becomes more diffuse and spreads to
> other types of asset. Fresh assets are created at an ever faster rate
> to take advantage of the euphoria and investors try to increase their
> gains by borrowing to buy assets or using derivatives. Credit
> ultimately becomes overextended, swindling and fraud proliferate, and
> the mania ends in panic as investors seek to liquidate their
> positions.
>
> The art market has adhered spookily to Kindleberger's model. By 2004
> it was clear that a boom in contemporary art was well underway ("The
> price of art," Ben Lewis, Prospect, October 2004.) At the Armory show,
> New York's trendsetting contemporary art fair, dealers sold $43m worth
> of art in four days, nearly twice as much as the previous year. There
> were huge price rises at auction, too. A 1996 sculpture of a stuffed
> horse hanging from a ceiling, Ballad of Trotsky, by the fashionable
> and witty Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, sold for $2m at auction in
> May 2002. It had increased in value tenfold in two years. Gerhard
> Richter's paintings quadrupled in value between 2000 and 2004. Even
> then, buyers were paying $1m to $3m for a work by Hirst, Warhol,
> Basquiat or Koons. Those sums now seem quaint—last year a Koons went
> for $23m, a Hirst for $20m and a Basquiat for $15m.
>
> The moment of "displacement" was driven by the emergence of a global
> class of the new rich. These billionaires, who had probably never
> drawn more than stick figures with a biro, were drawn to artistic
> creation. They wanted to collect contemporary art, partly because they
> liked it, partly because it was a status symbol, partly because most
> of the good old master works were in museums, and partly because it
> seemed to be a solid investment.
>
> The way was led by people like Charles Saatchi and the Miami property
> magnates, the Rubells. Saatchi laid down a blueprint in the late 1990s
> that others have tried to copy—he bought the work of young artists,
> established a museum in which to display it or lent it to public
> museums, and used the media interest that such shows attracted (by
> virtue of the outlandish works involved and the association of
> celebrities) to sell on part of the collection at auction at greatly
> inflated prices. Some of the proceeds would then be reinvested in the
> work of other new discoveries. Saatchi's famous 1997 show,
> "Sensation," demonstrated that this "specullecting" was a great way to
> make a splash as an arbiter of taste. Others took an earthier view of
> the collectors' instinct. Amy Capellazzo, the co-head of Christie's
> contemporary art department, observed in 2007: "After you have a
> fourth home and a G5 jet, what else is there?"
>
> According to Forbes, the number of billionaires in the world has been
> growing by 20 per cent a year since 2000. There were 476 in 2003, now
> there are 1,125. As they began to collect contemporary art, prices
> started to rise. New fairs, such as Art Basel Miami Beach and Frieze
> in London, were a success. Newspapers ran stories that promoted the
> boom. Advertising from rich galleries and art businesses and the
> untouchable sanctity of "art" deterred criticism. The public flocked
> to art galleries. The Tate Modern had 5.2m visitors in 2007, making it
> the most popular museum of modern art in the world.
>
> This boom was different from the one in the 1980s. Then, it had
> depended on Japanese property speculators buying with credit secured
> against inflated real estate values. This time the buyers were more
> widely spread and paid with cash, not promissory notes. Art had become
> a new asset class—akin to shares or oil. In 2007, Tobias Meyer,
> Sotheby's head of contemporary art, effused: "The best art is the most
> expensive because the market is so smart."
>
> ***
>
> Contemporary art turned out to be an ideal vehicle for speculative
> euphoria. The market is almost entirely free from state interference.
> Governments have had little interest in regulating the trinkets and
> playthings of the super-rich. Art works are a uniquely portable and
> confidential form of wealth. Whereas all property purchases have to be
> publicly registered, buying art is a private activity. And unlike old
> masters, which are often linked by history to specific places,
> contemporary art knows no frontiers.
>
> By 2006, the bubble was well into Kindleberger's second phase:
> diffusion. Rising prices were sucking in new investors. In the first
> half of 2006, 454 works exceeded $1m at auction, up from 130 in the
> same period of 2003 as Asian billionaires joined European buyers. In
> Britain, there was the Banksy market, a kind of contemporary art lite,
> for people with thousands rather than millions to spend. Images that
> would once have never made it past a T-shirt, mug or wall, were now
> bought and sold as limited edition prints and stencils on canvas. In
> 2003, one of the 50 spoofy Kate Moss prints by Banksy in the style of
> Warhol's Marilyn could have been yours for £1,500. In February this
> year one sold for £96,000 at Bonhams. (Now the price is half that.)
>
> Established collectors dropped out or were nudged sideways towards
> lesser known artists by the activities of the new rich. The titans of
> the showrooms included hedge fund bosses such as Steve Cohen, whose
> SAC fund was responsible for about 3 per cent of daily trading on the
> New York stock exchange. Other big buyers were Asian billionaires,
> like Joseph Lau from Hong Kong, oil tycoons and the oligarchs with
> their huge stakes in metal extraction and banks. The Georgian Boris
> Ivanishvili spent $95m on Picasso's Dora Maar au Chat—a work of art
> that he still hasn't unpacked. When it was flown back to Tbilisi, the
> airport was closed down and the army turned out to ensure the work's
> transfer to a secure warehouse. These financial investors didn't
> simply shove their wealth into contemporary art, they imported the
> strategies of financial investment into art collecting. Alien phrases,
> such as "price discovery," were heard in galleries and auction houses.
>
> Investors became beady-eyed about tracking which artists leading
> museums considered important and followed the prices of their works on
> Artnet's database like stock market indices.
>
> Indeed, the new art market bore about as much resemblance to
> traditional collecting as the modern financial system of credit
> default swaps and mortgage-backed securities did to traditional
> banking. The correlation between value and rarity in art went out of
> the window. Paintings by old masters such as Vermeer and Rembrandt
> hold their value because there are a finite number in the world. This
> is both a guarantor of value and limits the extent of any speculative
> activity. But, as Kindleberger has shown, it is a condition of a
> speculative mania that new "assets" be manufactured to meet raging
> demand—so the recent bubble has focused on the works of living artists
> such as Hirst, Koons, Prince and Murakami. They, and other stars, have
> produced scores of very similar works in series, like the slashed
> canvases of the Italian conceptual artist Lucio Fontana, Warhol's
> screenprints or Hirst's spins and spots.
>
> More and more of such work has been churned out by cookie-cutter
> artists without regard to originality or aesthetic merit. Economist
> and historian of financial crashes, Edward Chancellor, observed
> recently: "Most contemporary art is inherently worthless. It is not
> like Titian and other old masters of which there are few and whose
> value will not fall away. It's like subprime CDOs."
>
> At the peak of the South Sea bubble in 1720, a series of stock
> promoters emerged touting the shares of "bubble companies" that aimed
> to take advantage of high share prices. We laugh now at the
> prospectuses of these tawdry ventures—not least the one proposing to
> carry out "an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what
> it is." As the art bubble has neared its peak, the great
> art-entrepreneurs such as Hirst, Banksy, Prince or the Chinese
> artists, Xiaogang and Yue Minjun, seem increasingly like these
> 18th-century promoters. Not only have they pumped out identical works,
> but they have also sought to capture more of the value for themselves,
> bypassing the gallerists with whom they are obliged to share 50 per
> cent of sales and selling direct out of the studio or placing new
> works straight into auction. Five years ago it was unknown for a work
> of art that was only one or two years old to be sold at auction. Now
> this is common—the best example being the Hirst sale of over 200 new
> works at Sotheby's in September.
>
> ***
>
> The final phase of any bubble is characterised by overextended credit
> as investors use leverage to magnify their gains. It is also the peak
> of what JK Galbraith referred to as "the bezzle"—the amount of money
> siphoned from the system through outright corruption and fraud. The
> opacity of the art market makes it hard to know how exposed it is to
> the credit crunch. But the auction houses are weighed down by debt
> from guarantees—the prices that they have guaranteed to pay the
> sellers of works of art in their auctions (which they extend to
> persuade sellers to sell works through them). Auction house Phillips
> de Pury was rescued by a takeover by the Russian luxury goods company
> Mercury. In November, Sotheby's announced it had around $250m of debt
> in the form of guarantees to the end of the year. It had already lost
> $47m on work that hadn't sold and has since stopped giving further
> guarantees. Sotheby's has borrowed $250m to "ensure additional
> liquidity." Christie's has also taken out a loan and in October
> suspended offering any further credit terms to its customers,
> according to an auction house executive.
>
> The mania for collecting contemporary art has become ever more intense
> in the past 12 months—in the first half of this year, new auction
> records were set for almost 1,000 artists. But the suspicion is that
> dealers and collectors with interests in particular artists may have
> been "bidding up" prices at auction and acquiring works. If so, they
> may be holding large inventories of overvalued work, financed by
> increasingly expensive debt. At the Damien Hirst auction at Sotheby's,
> his London dealer, Jay Jopling, bid on an astonishing 44 per cent of
> the lots in the evening sale, and both he and Hirst's US dealer, Larry
> Gagosian, bid on two lots after long pauses in the bidding. One cannot
> know if Jopling was maintaining Hirst's prices at his own expense or
> bidding for clients.
>
> The lack of transparency often makes it hard to know who is doing what
> to whom. On 30th August last year, Hirst's business manager Frank
> Dunphy and Jopling declared publicly that they had sold his
> diamond-encrusted skull For the Love of God for "the full asking price
> of £50m"—the highest price ever paid for a work by a living artist.
> But just over a year later, Dunphy told Time magazine that he, Jopling
> and Hirst owned "a controlling stake" in the skull. A controlling
> stake is one that exceeds 50 per cent (and could be anything up to 100
> per cent). In the stock market, a transaction of this kind would
> require disclosure to avoid the creation of a "false market." But as
> we have seen the art market is unregulated.
>
> As the credit crunch struck, it became evident that American and
> Europeans would be buying less art. But that, we were told, did not
> matter because a wave of new buyers from Russia and the middle east
> would take their place, their wealth buoyed by high commodity prices.
> Sotheby's press releases said that every year 20 per cent of their
> clients were new and, for the Hirst auction, 22 per cent of the buyers
> were new clients. New records were set by these art virgins—Roman
> Abramovich paid $86m for a Francis Bacon in July 2008 and the Qatari
> royal family, previously known for collecting Islamic art, bought the
> Rockefeller Rothko for $73m.
>
> The propaganda of the art entrepreneurs has also reached a final level
> of absurdity. We were told that the decline of paper assets would lead
> to "a flight of capital into art." The art market, Tobias Meyer of
> Sotheby's said in June, is a one-way street: "For the first time since
> 1914 we are in a non-cyclical market."
>
> Over the winter of 1636, the tulip mania reached its peak. One kind of
> bulb sold for 900 guilders (three times the price of a small town
> house), up from 95 a year before. The peak prices of Dutch tulips were
> achieved when the bulbs were snug in the ground, and were based on
> futures contracts—a form of leverage that allowed investors to place
> an enormous price on a bulb without actually laying down the cash. On
> 3rd February 1637, the tulip market crashed. There was no particular
> reason for the panic—except that spring was nearing and, on its
> arrival, the bulbs would be dug up, cash settlement sought for futures
> and the game would be up.
>
> We have surely reached the same point in the world of contemporary
> art. One of the emotions that has driven its boom is the narcissistic
> belief of the rich in the greatness of the age in which they are
> living. They thought they were buying masterpieces. But like the Dutch
> merchants and their tulips, the obsession of the new rich with
> contemporary art is likely to be remembered as the epitome of the
> vanity and folly of the age. The bulbs are still in the ground but the
> spades are poised.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:10:30 +0500
> From: rajenradhika at vsnl.net
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 76
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
> Message-ID: <e465beed283f1.49d4ab36 at vsnl.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
>
> Dear All,
>   it is really amusing to me when I raise the topic on reality check of
> indian democracy, the so called intelligentia of the sari readers list is
> deadly silence and not even one response to the thoughts put in the post. !
>
> If I were to post some thoughts about how the communism and its leaders are
> parasytes on labour class, living their life on the subscriptions paid by
> the poor working class, there would be enough responses justifying the
> leaders actions, if I were to talk about the rape of a young girl in Singur
> by goon cadres, murders and grievious hurt inflicted on poor citizens to
> deprive them of their right to property some more responses from "secular"
> intellect.
>
> But if I were to talk of rule of laws that is being subverted in democratic
> governance of the nation, the blame game starts of blaming the major
> community and the politics of vote banks of hindus, very amusing indeed. If
> lakhs of followers of one faith form a jammaath it is not communal, if lakhs
> of a caste say, yadavs form a party and then its leader loots the fodder
> funds, he is very secular, if he stops the peaceful Rath yathra, thus
> causing riots, it is the responsibilty of the leader Advani.?
>    If I talk of judges who fudge their date of births and loot 600 crores
> in official residence thru their sons on non-existing assets, if the judges
> gulp down crores of PF money for their comforts, judiciary is still clean
> and honest.?  If the Law minister clandestinely operates to send the court
> official to London to defreeze the account, we have a chief justice who has
> no powers to take suo moto note of this dirty operation of kickbacks being
> reverted to uncle Q.? The same law minister warns a convict and a friend of
> terrorist to contest from his party or otherwise... the highest court
> applies its mind.?
>
> A simple land dispute about a dilapidated structure on land belonging to
> maharaja awauts judgement of judiciary for decades, if the structire not
> even used for prayer becomes a masjid to evoke emotional respones, what sort
> of calibre is these judges have who can not dispose off the cases and
> adjudicate them at the earliest, so that the political parties do not use it
> as vote gathering tool in democratic elections.?
>
> The chief justice finds technical loop holes to save the officer of the
> election commission even when he loots crores of rupess in his wifes NGO,
> and becomes a mole for the political party, and the contribution of
> judiciary is immense in this type of actions where they do not seem to have
> guts to talk of corruption in Election commission. EPIC or voters id cards
> issue is biggest corruption scandal with use of IT and tendering process and
> the EC has not even covered 50 percent of voters in nation. Shame on such
> "autonomous" bodies who play games with common man to appease the political
> parties.This can be verified easily by the serpentine ques for epic cards
> even now, with tout charging 100 bucks for facilitation of epic cards in
> metro cities. Bogus cards are another menace.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rajendra Uppinangadi,
> rajen882uppinangadi at gmail.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: reader-list-request at sarai.net
> Date: Monday, March 30, 2009 11:35 am
> Subject: reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 76
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
>
> > Send reader-list mailing list submissions to
> >       reader-list at sarai.net
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
> >       https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
> >       reader-list-request at sarai.net
> >
> > You can reach the person managing the list at
> >       reader-list-owner at sarai.net
> >
> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> > than "Re: Contents of reader-list digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> >   1. Re: reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 62Freedom  and     right to
> >      express at what cost to society.? (rajenradhika at vsnl.net)
> >   2. Are News Channels emerging as arbitrators of the I-card
> >      discourse? (Taha Mehmood)
> >   3. "Free,   Free Binayak Sen!" -- Report on U.S. Actions in
> >      Solidarity with the      Raipur Satyagraha (Anivar Aravind)
> >   4.  Re:  The decline of the 'encounter death' (bipin)
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:16:30 +0500
> > From: rajenradhika at vsnl.net
> > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 62Freedom
> >       and     right to express at what cost to society.?
> > To: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
> > Cc: sarai-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Message-ID: <e2d8ccbe2f1fb.49cf669e at vsnl.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >
> >
> >  We the citizens of India gave ourselves the constitution of India
> > which gave us rights  to property, rights to life, rights to
> > express individually and we live in the nation state as a social
> > group of citizens and the state when it declared itself as a
> > secular, it means in letter and spirit that the state does not
> > uphold any faith, faith is strictly in the individuals prerogative
> > to live life as per his personal belief, practice the faith he
> > believes in, but th conflict comes in to play when the individual
> > wants to impose his faith in his right to express on the the other
> > individuals in the society.
> >
> > Right to property is upheld by the constitution in its articles but
> > the governance by leaders elected by us, the citizens have
> > systematically denied this right to property, right from
> > Keshavanand Bharathi vs. Union of India case law judgement by
> > amending the constitution and inserting such laws into schedules in
> > the constitution which are beyond the perview of judicial system.
> >
> > Right to have faith as strictly personal domain is again violated
> > by the Shah bano case law judgement by amending the laws to suit
> > vote banks, faith is used as a tool to gather votes.
> >  We see today and in the last sixty two years of governance all
> > the political parties either for a faith or against a faith, either
> > for a community or against a community, either for few business
> > houses or against a few more business houses. Is this the true
> > facet of democratic governance.?
> >
> >   True democratic rule in letter and spirit is when the elected
> > who take oaths of office to govern, without fear or favour in just
> > governance to all the citizens. But our leaders violate the oath
> > taken the very day by imposing their whims and fancies on selective
> > governance to citizens. Irrespective of the political parties the
> > issues of good governance alays take the last priority, the
> > community which voted them to power gains its pound of flesh and
> > discrimination in governance starts immediately.
> >
> >   As to the four pillars of democratic governance, let us examine
> > the role of each of these in good governance or lack of it.
> > Political leadership or legislative pillar as explained above is
> > partisan and never does it rule with just and fair rule of law
> > enshrined in constitution. Only this can explain the coterie
> > culture of leaders as seen in every political parties, Sonia with
> > her one faith folowers as her inner circle, Advani with core
> > idealogists as his advisers, less said it is better.
> >
> >   Now our babus, with weak and corrupt leadrs to pamper, the babus
> > for a nexus to keep these leaders happy and in the meanwhile
> > feather their nests. Thus deprived citizens are frustrated lot, so
> > naxal movement and other form of demand for fair rule of law is
> > evident in the nation, but naxals when they take law in to their
> > own hands towards reform of the system, they are outlawed,
> > naturally. So are the religious fanatics as they take violence as a
> > method of correction of the system.Hence rama sena and such other
> > outfits are illegal as the method is illegal .
> >
> >  The next is judiciary which in normal rule of laws is most
> > respected of all the pillars of democracy. But when the retired
> > chief justice of the highest court admits that there are 10 percent
> > corrupt in judiciary, and we see the case of a judge not being
> > impeached for regional considerations by "national" party, a chief
> > justice fudging his date of birth to be in seat for a few more
> > months, a chief justice shielding his sons in his official
> > residence  to avail 600 crore loans in non-existent land assets,
> > judges in PF scams encashing employees' provident funds, judge
> > keeping the funds in his personal account being the receiver of the
> > court, are all indications of decay in judicial process. The chief
> > justice who can not act when his judicial officer goes to London to
> > release 21 crore to uncle Q with begging the crown prosecutors'
> > office, but instead gets the promotion, and scam money reaches the
> > culprit with the knowledge of the law minister and the beneficiary
> > pretends ignora
> > nce of the loot, what more certification is needed of the falling
> > standards of judicial system other than untold delays and
> > subversion of the system.? The lawyers playing with the process,
> > bribing the witness, duress to witness is also not uncommon.
> >
> >  The last of the pillars, the media, has its own fair share of
> > corrupt men and women in journalism. The poll surveys, reportage of
> > the events have ,ade the citizens realise that all the news are not
> > news but only views of such blacksheep in journalism. As to rewards
> > and awards, what service these blacksheep of media anchors served
> > the society is big question mark as they seem to be more involved
> > in newly evolved moral games of life styles  and reportage of
> > sensation rather that relevance to the society with trp as only
> > driving forces.
> >
> > Unless the society and citizens understand and inculcate what is
> > right and correct way of life irrespective of faith, ( as all
> > faiths are only way of life to live life ethically and morally
> > correct.) and what is wrong in societal life, the democratic rule
> > of laws and god governance will be a mirage.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Rajendra Uppinangadi,
> > rajen882uppinangad at gmail.com.
> >
> > PS: Author is not member to the list if the moderator/
> > administrator feels fit may invite the author to be its member of
> > the list, any way freedom of expression for author is not a right
> > of obsession to rule other thoughts but to exchange all thoughts
> > and take the best for the life.
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
> > Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 3:43 pm
> > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] reader-list Digest, Vol 68,Issue
> > 62Freedom     and     right to express at what cost to society.?
> > To: bipin <aliens at dataone.in>
> > Cc: rajenradhika at vsnl.net, sarai-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> >
> > > Dear all
> > >
> > > I can understand the point that freedom of expression is more
> > > important than
> > > peace, for after all any peace without any freedom of expression
> > is
> > > only the
> > > lull before the storm waiting to happen. Plus of course, it
> > hampers
> > > one of
> > > the basic human rights of citizens.
> > >
> > > However, the other question which is confusing my mind, as
> > pointed
> > > out in
> > > the article, is regarding nation-states providing rights to
> > > citizens. I
> > > don't know much on this, so it would be good if we can discuss on
> > > whetherit's nation-states which act as the agencies to provide
> > > rights (and hence
> > > without them people can't ask for rights), or is it that rights
> > are
> > > inherentirrespective of whether nation-states exist or not.
> > >
> > > Regards
> > >
> > > Rakesh
> > >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2009 18:37:39 +0100
> > From: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] Are News Channels emerging as arbitrators of
> >       the     I-card discourse?
> > To: reader-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Message-ID:
> >       <65be9bf40903291037o454b506v55465ecbba234004 at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> >
> > Dear all
> >
> > CNN IBN's Kinnari Patel reports about a village called Nargol in
> > Gujaratwhere it is mandatory for residents to have an I-card. All
> > the villagers
> > have shared their fingerprints with the local police, she ends her
> > report by
> > suggesting that, 'Nargol's is probably one story Gujarat and the
> > rest of the
> > country should take lessons from.'. Interestingly in another
> > version of the
> > same story, CNN IBN's Urunuday Majumdar suggests that, this experiment
> > should be 'emulated' by the rest of india.
> >
> > Regards
> >
> > Taha
> >
> > Please follow the links below to check out the stories-
> >
> > http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/70576/crime-control-you-need-an-icard-
> > to-enter-this-village.html
> >
> > http://ibnlive.in.com/news/crime-control-you-need-an-icard-to-enter-
> > this-village/70576-3.html
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:50:28 +0530
> > From: Anivar Aravind <anivar.aravind at gmail.com>
> > Subject: [Reader-list] "Free, Free Binayak Sen!" -- Report on U.S.
> >       Actions in Solidarity with the  Raipur Satyagraha
> > To: Greenyouth <greenyouth at googlegroups.com>, Reader List
> >       <reader-list at sarai.net>,        "
> fourth-estate-critique at googlegroups.com"
> >       <fourth-estate-critique at googlegroups.com>
> > Message-ID:
> >       <35f96d470903291920m9ee9220wf85f3eec8ddea4a9 at mail.gmail.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message --------
> > [Thanks to all those who participated in Friday's solidarity action
> > with the
> > Raipur Satyagraha.  Below is a report on the actions held in three
> > differentcities in the US.  Please forward to other groups.]
> > http://www.binayaksen.net/2009/03/free-free-binayak-sen-report-on-
> > us-protests/
> > **
> > *"Free, Free Binayak Sen!"  *
> > *50 international groups organize support in the USA for the Raipur
> > Satyagraha **in India*
> > *Simultaneous protests held in 3 US cities*
> >
> > * <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_464m5zkcc6_b>San
> > Francisco, CA,
> > New York, NY and Washington DC, 28 March, 2009:* Verve and vigor
> > marked the
> > simultaneous protests held at the Indian embassy and consulates in
> > Washington DC, New York City and San Francisco on March 27th,
> > demanding the
> > immediate release of Dr. Binayak Sen, an end to the repressive
> > ChhattisgarhSpecial People's Security Act (CSPSA) and disbanding of
> > the state-sponsored
> > militia, Salwa Judum.  Activists from Association for India's
> > Development(AID), Friends of South Asia (FOSA), South Asia
> > Solidarity Initiative
> > (SASI), International League of People's Struggles, students and
> > facultyfrom local universities participated in these protests,
> > coinciding with the
> > *Raipur Satyagraha* <http://www.raipursatyagraha.wordpress.com/>*,
> > *theongoing mass civil disobedience action in the city of Raipur
> > where Dr. Sen
> > is incarcerated.  Over 50 groups from the US, UK and Canada have
> > written to
> > the Chhattisgarh government and offered their support  to the Raipur
> > Satyagraha, and nearly 600 individual faxes have also been sent to the
> > Chhattisgarh government from around the world.
> >
> > <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_42cjjj7tgq_b&writelyrefresh=1>The22-month
> long, unjustifiable detention of Dr. Binayak
> > Sen<http://www.aidboston.org/FreeBinayakSen/bsen.htm>has become a
> > rallying point for human rights and peace and justice groups in
> > India and internationally.  A pediatrician by training who chose to
> > workwith the marginalized and malnourished people in remote
> > villages of
> > Chhattisgarh in central India, Dr. Binayak Sen has been recognized
> > for his
> > contributions to public health and human rights with the Paul Harrison
> > award<
> http://home.cmcvellore.ac.in/NewsLine/PAUL%20HARRISON%20AWARD%202004%20-%20Citation.pdf
> >by
> > his alma mater, the Christian Medical College, Vellore, the R.R.
> > Keithan gold
> > medal<
> http://www.esocialsciences.com/News/NewsDetails.asp?Newsid=330&newstype=1>fromthe
> Indian Academy of Social Sciences, and the Jonathan
> > Mann Award <http://www.globalhealth.org/news/article/9833> by the
> > GlobalHealth Council in Washington DC.  As Vice-president of
> > People's Union for
> > Civil Liberties <http://www.pucl.org/> (PUCL), Dr Binayak Sen was
> > instrumental in bringing to light the excesses of the Chhattisgarh
> > government's security apparatus, notably the Salwa Judum, a state-
> > sponsoredmilitia which has wreaked havoc in the villages of south
> > Bastar district.
> > Activists and intellectuals, including Noam Chomsky, Arundhati Roy,
> > GeorgeGalloway, Mahashweta Devi, over 135 faculty members and 22
> > nobel laureates
> > from around the world have joined in urging the Indian government
> > to free
> > Dr. Binayak Sen and stop the harassment of human rights activists.
> >
> > <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_42cjjj7tgq_b&writelyrefresh=1>
> <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_47ck73hxgk_b>Anu Mandavilli,
> > with Friends
> > of South Asia <http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org/> (FOSA), reminded
> > theprotestors in San Francisco, that the one-year long trial of Dr.
> > Sen, which
> > included testimonies from over 50 government witnesses, has not
> > produced a
> > shred of evidence or a single witness who could corroborate the
> > Government'sclaim that Dr. Sen engaged in seditious activities.
> > "Yet, the courts have
> > denied Dr. Sen's bail application three times.  It is interesting
> > to note
> > that men from Shri Ram Sene, who beat up women in Mangalore pubs in
> > front of
> > cameras, were released on bail within 6 hours.  Whereas Dr. Sen,
> > with an
> > impeccable 25-year record of public service, and no evidence
> > against him,
> > has been in jail for 22 months now."
> >
> > <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_47ck73hxgk_b>Angana
> > Chatterji,associate professor, California Institute of Integral
> > Studies, cited the
> > harassment of other human rights defenders in Orissa and Kashmir,
> > statingthat Dr. Sen's case represents an alarming trend where the
> > Indian state is
> > using draconian laws to silence those who oppose state repression.
> > Indeed,Dr. Sen is only the most prominent among numerous human
> > rights defenders and
> > public intellectuals who languish in Indian jails because they
> > dared to
> > speak truth to power.
> >
> >
> > <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_43gwnvb6pk_b><
> http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_43gwnvb6pk_b>InNew York, activists
> gathered outside the Indian consulate to read Dr. Sen's
> > New Year Letter from jail, recite poems from around the world in
> > support of
> > Dr. Sen, and sing songs of collective action.  Jinee Lokaneeta of
> > the South
> > Asia Solidarity Initiative (SASI), and on the faculty at Drew
> > University,drew attention to the fact that notwithstanding the
> > floundering case against
> > Dr. Sen, the government has recently produced an additional
> > supplementarychargesheet against him.  "By repeatedly denying Dr.
> > Sen's bail application,
> > and purposefully prolonging a meaningless trial, the state is
> > ensuring that
> > Dr. Sen stays in prison a long time, even if charges against him
> > are never
> > proved."
> > <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_43gwnvb6pk_b>
> > Murli Natrajan, also of SASI and a faculty member at William Paterson
> > University, added, "The laws used by the state to arrest Dr. Sen
> > are truly
> > draconian.  These are the latest in the tradition of other harsh
> > laws, such
> > as MISA, TADA and POTA, each one of which had to be abandoned after
> > beingdeclared unconstitutional by the highest judicial authorities,
> > and after
> > gross misuse by the state's security apparatus became apparent."
> >
> > <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_45fpt6n8fs_b>Somu Kumar,
> > with Association
> > for India's Development <http://www.aidindia.org/> (AID), and one
> > of the
> > organizers of the protest at the Indian embassy in Washington DC,
> > highlighted that these protests are not limited to demanding the human
> > rights of just one inidividual, Dr. Binayak Sen, but are in
> > opposition to a
> > system which criminalizes those who point out its shortcomings.
> > "At this
> > point, Dr. Sen is a symbol of many other ongoing struggles in
> > India--especially those of the *adivasis*, the indigenous
> > inhabitants of the
> > mineral rich areas, who are resisting displacement by large mining
> > companies, and whose rights Dr. Sen was championing.  These
> > protests are
> > also to demand consideration for the human rights of the *adivasis *of
> > Chhattisgarh, more than 100,000 of who are officially internally
> > displacedpeople due to the actions of the state-sponsored Salwa
> > Judum."
> > <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_45fpt6n8fs_b><
> http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_45fpt6n8fs_b>  <
> http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_45fpt6n8fs_b><
> http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_44fgp6h9f8_b>
> > <http://docs.google.com/File?id=ddp3w2ff_45fpt6n8fs_b>A letter
> > signed by
> > more than 50 international peace and justice
> > groups<http://docs.aidindia.org/Documents/AID-
> > Chapters/Maryland/campaign/Binayak_Sen_Org_Endorsement.pdf>,and a
> > list of individuals who have faxed
> > letters<http://www.binayaksen.net/2009/03/send-a-free-fax-in-
> > support-of-the-raipur-satyagraha-for-release-of-dr-binayak-sen/>to
> > the Chhattisgarh and central governments, were submitted to the Indian
> > consular staff at each city who have guaranteed their delivery to
> > the desks
> > of the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, the President and Prime
> > Minister of
> > India, and the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission.
> > Someactivists voiced their disappointment that the government of
> > India had yet
> > to acknowledge any of their previous submissions made over the
> > course of the
> > last year.  "In spite of sending several hundred faxes, multiple
> > letters,and individual emails to various officials, we have yet to
> > hear back from a
> > single government official that our letters have been received and
> > read,leave alone considered," said Srividhya Venkataraman, with AID-
> > Berkeley.She added, "The Indian government has made it a priority
> > to reach out to
> > NRIs. But if we, with multiple channels of communication available
> > to us,
> > have such difficulty in getting our voice heard, how must the Indian
> > government respond to the concerns of an *adivasi *located in a remote
> > village in Bastar!"
> >
> > Is anyone listening?
> > ------------------------------
> > *For more information, see the following*:
> >
> > ·  Information on the Raipur Satyagraha for the Release of Dr.
> > Binayak Sen
> > is available here: http://raipursatyagraha.wordpress.com
> >
> > ·  More information on Dr. Binayak Sen and his case:
> >
> > o For a detailed analysis of the state’s case against Dr. Sen, read
> > the3-part series in Indian Express by Vinay Sitapati:
> > http://www.binayaksen.net/2009/01/indian-express-series-on-binayak-
> > sen/
> > o A timeline of Binayak Sen’s case is available here:
> > http://www.binayaksen.net/2009/01/timeline-of-events-in-the-strange-
> > case-of-dr-binayak-sen/
> >
> > o A compilation of news articles on Dr. Sen can be found at
> > www.binayaksen.net , www.freebinayaksen.org   and
> > http://www.aidboston.org/FreeBinayakSen/media.htm
> >
> > ·  On Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act, 2005:
> >
> > o The text of the law and its analysis by People’s Union for
> > DemocraticRights can be found here:
> > http://cpjc.wordpress.com/chhattisgarh-special-public-security-act/
> >
> > o A law and its victim, Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta, Frontline, Oct-
> > Nov 2008
> > http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2522/stories/20081107252212400.htm
> >
> > o Caught between Naxals and police, Indian Express, June 11, 2008
> >
> http://in.news.yahoo.com/indianexpress/20080611/r_t_ie_nl_general/tnl-caught-between-naxals-and-police-aaaedd4_1.html
> >
> > ·  Fact-finding reports on Salwa Judum can be obtained from the
> > website for
> > the Campaign for Peace and Justice in Chhattisgarh,
> > http://cpjc.wordpress.com/reports-by-fact-finding-teams-on-salwa-
> > judum/
> > ·  Letter to the Chhattisgarh government by over 50 international
> > peace and
> > justice groups can be found here:
> > http://docs.aidindia.org/Documents/AID-
> > Chapters/Maryland/campaign/Binayak_Sen_Org_Endorsement.pdf
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> > *Photo Credits*: Pei Wu, Sangay Mishra, Somu Kumar and Balaji
> > Narasimhan*For more information*, contact:
> > Shalini Gera, mail at friendsofsouthasia.org
> > Murli Natrajan, mnatrajan at yahoo.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Any responsible politician should be encouraging a home grown Free
> > Softwareindustry because it creates the basis for future jobs.
> > Learning Windows is
> > like learning to eat every meal at McDonalds.
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:34:27 +0530
> > From: bipin <aliens at dataone.in>
> > Subject: [Reader-list]  Re:  The decline of the 'encounter death'
> > To: Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com>
> > Cc: sarai-list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Message-ID: <002101c9b0fd$62d23e90$0201a8c0 at limo>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> >
> > Dear Taha,
> >
> > Its question of common sense and no study is required. The man who
> > accused remains in custody for long time and waiting for their
> > hearing in court to come. During the time they are mentally down or
> > may go under depression, which effects their health heavily. Police
> > strictness to get truth adds fuel to their mental/physical illness
> > position. If he proved innocent after pretty long time (say 8/10
> > years) but mentally he would be tired and his health effected
> > heavily.
> >
> >
> >
> > No doubt, there might be cases of police atrocities, but looking to
> > the cases comes with police and court, this figure is negligible.
> > Also, the figure appear may be after studies, not necessarily true.
> > Since they just count death not only at jail, but death occur at
> > home, but case going on can also be counted. They are no
> > clarification in their data.
> >
> >
> >
> > For each and every thing one should not see in the eye research or
> > studies. Even thing I have noticed that after long research, data
> > achieved can also be easily understood by common sense.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > thanks
> >
> > Bipin
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >  From: Taha Mehmood
> >  To: bipin
> >  Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 7:29 AM
> >  Subject: Re: [Reader-list] The decline of the 'encounter death'
> >
> >
> >  Dear Bipin
> >
> >  Please tell me what has our judicial system got to do with
> > custodial deaths? What is the co-relationship between delay in
> > court cases and out dated laws and  people dying under police
> > custody? Are there any studies or any figures that you would wish
> > to quote here or are we to believe your seemingly outrageous claims
> > on the basis of your word only? Again a primary reading of your
> > post might lead us to assume that ALL custodial deaths involve
> > people who are 'criminals', is that the case? If so then could you
> > please substantiate your argument.
> >
> >  Regards
> >
> >  Taha
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > reader-list mailing list
> > reader-list at sarai.net
> > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> >
> >
> > End of reader-list Digest, Vol 68, Issue 76
> > *******************************************
> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> reader-list mailing list
> reader-list at sarai.net
> https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>
>
> End of reader-list Digest, Vol 69, Issue 3
> ******************************************
>



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