Sonia Gandhi'S contempt for laws of India

After Sonia married Rajiv, she and her Italian family aided by friend and Snam Progetti’s New Delhi resident Ottavio Quattrocchi, went about minting money with scant regard for Indian laws and treasures. Within a few years the Mainos rose from utter poverty to become billionaires [see Annexure-14].
There was no area that was left out for the rip-off. On November 19, 1974, as fresh entrant to Parliament, I had asked the then Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi on the floor of the House if her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi, was acting as an insurance agent of a public sector insurance company[Oriental Fire&Insurance], giving the Prime Minister’s official residence as her business address, and using undue influence to get insured the officers of the PMO, while remaining as an Italian citizen[thus violating FERA]. There was an uproar in Parliament, but Mrs. Indira Gandhi had no alternative but to cut her losses. She made a rare admission in a written reply a few days later that it indeed was so, and that it was by mistake, but that Sonia had resigned from her insurance agency[after my question]. But Sonia was incorrigible. Her contempt for Indian law continued to manifest.
The Supreme Court Justice A.C. Gupta Commission set up by the Janata Party government in 1977 came out with a voluminous report on the Maruti Company then owned by the Gandhi family, and has listed eight violations of FERA, Companies Act, and Foreigners Registration Act by Sonia Gandhi. She was never prosecuted, but can still be prosecuted because under Indian law, economic crimes are not subject to the statute of limitation.
In January 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister. The first thing Sonia did was to enroll herself as a voter. This was a gross violation of the law, enough to cause cancellation of her visa [since she was admittedly an Italian citizen then]. There was some hullabaloo in the press about it, so the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer got her name deleted in 1982. But in January 1983, she again enrolled herself as a voter even while as a foreigner [she first applied for citizenship in April 1983] (see Annexure-15).
More recently, A.G. Noorani is his book: Citizen’s Rights, Judges, and State Accountability records [page 318] that Ms. Sonia Gandhi had made available to a foreign national the secret papers of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru obviously illegally in her possession, and comments as follows:
“Sonia Gandhi has no right to hold them in her possession at all, let alone decide whom to accord permission for access to them”

Such is her revealed disdain for Indian laws and that is her mindset even today. She suffers from a neo-imperialist mentality.

Source: http://janataparty.org/lawsofindia.html

The Curious case of Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi: "I feel ashamed to call myself an INDIAN after seeing what has happened here in UP".

PLEASE DON'T BE ASHAMED OF U.P. YET

Please do not be ashamed of Uttar Pradesh yet. Congress ruled the State for the Majority of the duration Pre Independence to Post Independence from 1939 to 1989 (barring the periods of Emergency).Thanks to your grandmother Indira Gandhi. and a couple of transitional Governments)

8 out of the total 14 Prime Ministers of India have been from UP, 6 out of those 8 have been from Congress...

I think your party had more than half a century and half a dozen PM's to build a state...

The reason Mulayam Singh, subsequently came to power is because your party wasn't exactly Gandhian in their dealings in the State. So may be If you look at in totality the present chaos in UP is the outcome of the glorious leadership displayed by Congress in UP for about 50 years!

So Please don't feel ashamed as yet dear Rahul. For Mayawati is only using the Land Acquisition Bill, which your party had itself, used to LOOT the farmers many times in the past!

Why didn’t your party change the bill when it was in power for so long?

Not that I Endorse what Mayawati is doing. What Mayawati is doing is unacceptable..

But the past actions of your party and your recent comments, puts a question mark on your INTENT and CONSISTENCY.

YOU REALLY WANT TO FEEL ASHAMED.

Do not be disappointed, I would give you ample reasons to feel ashamed...

You really want to feel Ashamed ?

·         First Ask Pranab Mukherjee, Why isn't he giving the details of the account holders in the Swiss Banks.

·         Ask your Mother, Who is impeding the Investigation against Hasan Ali?

·         Ask her, Who got 60% Kickbacks in the 2G Scam ?

·         Kalamdi is accused of a Few hundred Crores, Who Pocketed the Rest in the Common Wealth Games?

·         Ask Praful Patel what he did to the Indian Airlines? Why did Air India let go of the Profitable Routes?

·         Why should the Tax Payer pay for the Air India losses, when you intend to eventually DIVEST IT ANYWAY!!!

·         Alas, You People can't run an Airline Properly. How can we expect you to run the Nation?

·         Ask Manmohan Singh. Why and what kept him quiet for so long?

·         Are Kalmadi and A Raja Scapegoats to save Big Names like Harshad Mehta was in the 1992 Stock Market Scandal?

·         Who let the BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY Accused go Scot Free? (20,000 People died in that Tragedy)

·         Who ordered the State Sponsored Massacre of SIKHS in 84?

·         Please read more about, How Indira Gandhi pushed the Nation Under Emergency in 76-77, after the HC declared her election to Lok Sabha Void!

I guess you know the answers already. So My question is, Why the Double Standards in Judging Mayawati and members of your Family and Party?

I condemn Mayawati. But Is She the only one you feel Ashamed for?

What about the ones close to you? For their contribution to the Nation's Misery is beyond comparison.

You talk about the Land being taken away from the Farmers. How many Suicides have happened under your Parties Rule in Vidarbha ? Does that Not Ashame You ?

·         THE 72,000 CRORE LOAN WAIVER

Your Party gave those Farmers a 72,000 Crore Loan Waiver. Which didn’t even reach the Farmers by the way?

So, Why don't you focus on implementing the policies which your govt. has undertaken, instead of earning brownie points by trying to manufacture consent by bombarding us with pictures of having food with Poor Villagers....

You want to feel ashamed. You can feel ashamed for your Party taking CREDIT for DEBITING the Public Money (72,000 crores) from the Government Coffers and literally Wasting it...

You want to feel ashamed.. Feel ashamed for that...

WHY ONLY HIGHLIGHT THIS ARREST?

Dear Rahul, to refresh your memory, you were arrested/detained by the FBI at the BOSTON Airport in September 2001.

·         You were carrying with you  USD $ 1,60,000 in Cash. You couldn't explain why you were carrying so much Cash.

Incidentally he was with his Columbian girlfriend Veronique Cartelli, ALLEGEDLY, the Daughter of Drug Mafia.

For 9 HOURS, he was detained at the Airport.

Later freed on the intervention of the then Prime Minister Mr. Vajpayee.  FBI filed an equivalent of an FIR in US and released him.

When FBI was asked to divulge the information, by Right/Freedom to Information Activists about the reasons Rahul was arrested ... FBI asked for a NO OBJECTION CERTIFICATE from Rahul Gandhi.

So Subramaniyam Swami wrote a Letter to Rahul Gandhi, " If you have NOTHING to HIDE, Give us the Permission"

HE NEVER REPLIED!

Why did that arrest not make Headlines Rahul? You could have gone to the Media and told, "I am ashamed to call myself an INDIAN?"

Or is it that, you only do like to highlight Symbolic Arrests (like in UP) and not Actual Arrests ( In BOSTON)

Kindly Clarify....

In any case, you want to feel ashamed, Read Along...

YOUR MOTHER'S SO CALLED SACRIFICE OF GIVING UP PRIME MINISTER SHIP in 2004.

According to a Provision in the Citizenship Act.

A Foreign National who becomes a Citizen of India, is bounded by the same restrictions, which an Indian would face, If he/she were to become a Citizen of Italy.

(Condition based on principle of reciprocity)

Now since you cannot become a PM in Italy, unless you are born there.

Likewise, an Italian Citizen cannot become Indian PM, unless she/he is born here!

·         Dr. SUBRAMANIYAM SWAMI (The Man who exposed the 2G Scam) sent a letter to the PRESIDENT OF INDIA bringing the same to his Notice.

PRESIDENT OF INDIA sent a letter to Sonia Gandhi to this effect, at 3:30 PM, May 17th, 2004.

Swearing Ceremony was scheduled for 5 PM the same Day.

Manmohan Singh was brought in the Picture at the last moment to Save Face!!

Rest of the SACRIFICE DRAMA which she choreographed was an EYE WASH!!!

Infact Sonia Gandhi had sent, 340 letters, each signed by different MP to the PRESIDENT KALAM, supporting her candidacy for PM.

One of those letters read, I Sonia Gandhi, elected Member from Rai Bareli, hereby propose Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister.

So SHE was Pretty INTERESTED! Until she came to know the Facts!

So She didn't make any Sacrifice, It so happens that SONIA GANDHI couldn't have become the PM of INDIA that time.

You could be Ashamed about that Dear Rahul!! One Credential Sonia G had, Even that was a HOAX!

THINK ABOUT YOURSELF.

You go to Harvard on Donation Quota. ( Hindujas Gave HARVARD 11 million dollars the same year, when Rajiv Gandhi was in Power)

Then you were expelled in 3 Months/ You Dropped out in 3 Months.... ( Sadly Manmohan Singh wasn't the Dean of Harvard that time, else you might have had a chance... Too Bad, there is only one Manmohan Singh!)

Some Accounts say, You had to Drop out because of Rajiv Gandhi's Assassination.

May be, But Then Why did you go about lying about being Masters in Economics from Harvard .. before finally taking it off your Resume upon questioning by one Dr. SUBRAMANIYAM SWAMI (The Gentlemen who exposed the 2G Scam)

At St. Stephens.. You Fail the Hindi Exam.

Hindi Exam !!!

And you are representing the Biggest Hindi Speaking State of the Country?

·         SONIA GANDHI's EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

Sonia G gave a sworn affidavit as a Candidate that She Studied English at University of Cambridge.

According to Cambridge University, there is no such Student EVER!

Upon a Case by Dr. Subramaniyam Swami filed against her, She subsequently dropped the CAMBRIDGE CREDENTIAL from her Affidavit. Sonia Gandhi didn't even pass High School. She is just 5th class Pass!

In this sense, she shares a common Educational Background with her 2G Partner in Crime, Karunanidhi.

You Fake your Educational Degree, Your Mother Fakes her Educational Degree. And then you go out saying, “We want Educated Youth into Politics!"

Contrast that with Subhas Chandra Bose, who your party hates most, who is the first Indian cleared the Indian Civil Service, gave up everything for his country's freedom and sacrificed his life. Who your (Great) Great Grandpa vowed to fight with a sword if he ever dares to make a comeback. Whom you didn't let reveal his identity Post Independence ,even though he came back to his motherland and died unsung and unheralded.

Or Gandhi Ji , who went to South Africa, Became a Barrister, on Merit, Left all that to work for South Africa, then for the Country....

SHAME ON YOUR PARTY FOR ITS DECEIT  AND DOUBLE GAME AS ALWAYS.

WHY LIE ABOUT EDUCATIONAL CREDENTIALS?

Not that Education is a Prerequisite for being a great Leader, but then you shouldn't have lied about your qualifications!

You could feel a little ashamed about Lying about your Educational Qualifications. You had your reasons I know, Because in India, WE RESPECT EDUCATION!

But who cares about Education, When you are a Youth Icon!!

YOUTH ICON

You traveled in the Local Train for the first time at the Age of 38.

You went to some Villages as a part of Election Campaign.

And You won a Youth Icon!! ... That's why You are my Youth Icon.

For 25 Million People travel by Train Everyday. You are the First Person to win a Youth Icon for boarding a Train.

Thousands of Postmen go to remotest of Villages. None of them have yet gotten a Youth Icon.

You were neither YOUNG Nor ICONIC!

Still You became a Youth Icon beating Iconic and Younger Contenders like RAHUL DRAVID.

Shakespeare said, What's in a Name?

Little did he knew, It's all in the Name, Especially the Surname!

Speaking of Surname, Sir

DO YOU REALLY RESPECT GANDHI, OR IS IT JUST TO CASH IN ON THE GOODWILL OF MAHATMA?

Because the Name on your Passport is RAUL VINCI.

Not RAHUL GANDHI.

May be if you wrote your Surname as Gandhi, you would have experienced, what Gandhi feels like, LITERALLY ( Pun Intended)

You People don't seem to use Gandhi much, except when you are fighting Elections. ( There it makes complete sense).

Imagine fighting elections by the Name Raul Vinci...

It feels sadly Ironic, Gandhi Ji, who inspired Icons like Nelson Mandela ,Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lennon, across the world, Couldn't inspire members of his party/ Nehru's Family, who only seem to use his Surname for the purposes of FIGHTING ELECTIONS and conveniently use a different name on their PASSPORT.

You use the name GANDHI at will and then say, " Mujhe yeh YUVRAJ shabd Insulting lagta hai! Kyonki aaj Hindustan mein Democracy hai, aur is shabd ka koi matlab nahin hai!

YUVRAJ, Itna hi Insulting lagta hai, to lad lo RAUL VINCI ke Naam se!!! Jin Kisano ke saath photo khinchate ho woh bhi isliye entertain karte hain ki GANDHI ho.. RAUL VINCI bol ke Jao... Ghar mein nahin ghusaenge!!!

You could feel ashamed for your Double Standards.

·         Youth into Politics

Now You want Youth to Join Politics.

I say First you Join Politics.

Because you haven't Joined Politics. You have Joined a Family Business.

First you Join Politics. Win an Election fighting as RAUL VINCI and Not Rahul Gandhi, then come and ask the youth and the Educated Brass for more involvement in Politics. Also till then, Please don't give me examples of Sachin Pilot and Milind Deora and Naveen Jindal as youth who have joined Politics..

They are not Politicians. They Just happen to be Politicians. Much Like Abhishek Bachchan and other Star Sons are not Actors. They just happen to be Actors (For Obvious Reasons)

So, We would appreciate if you stop requesting the Youth to Join Politics till you establish your credentials...

·         WHY WE CAN'T JOIN POLITICS!

Rahul Baba, Please understand, Your Father had a lot of money in your Family account ( in Swiss Bank) when he died. Ordinary Youth has to WORK FOR A LIVING.

YOUR FAMILY just needs to NETWORK FOR A LIVING

If our Father had left thousands of Crores with us, We might consider doing the same..

But we have to Work. Not just for ourselves. Also for you. So that we can pay 30% of our Income to the Govt. which can then be channelized to the Swiss Banks and your Personal Accounts under some Pseudo Names.

So Rahul, Please do not mind If the Youth doesn't Join Politics. We are doing our best to fund your Election Campaigns and your Chopper Trips to the Villages. Somebody has to Earn the Money that Politicians Feed On.

NO WONDER YOU ARE NOT GANDHI'S. YOU ARE SO CALLED GANDHI'S!!

Air India, KG Gas, 2G, CWG, SWISS BANK Account Details... Hasan Ali, KGB., FBI Arrest..

You want to feel ashamed ??

Feel Ashamed for what the First Family of Politics has been reduced to...

A Money Laundering Enterprise.

NO WONDER YOU ARE NOT GANDHI'S BY BLOOD. GANDHI is an adopted Name. For Indira didn't marry Mahatma Gandhi's Son.

For even if you had one GENE OF GANDHI JI in your DNA. YOU WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN PLAGUED BY SUCH 'POVERTY OF AMBITION' ( Ambition of only EARNING MONEY)

You really want to feel Ashamed !!!

Feel Ashamed for what you ' SO CALLED GANDHI'S' have done to MAHATMA'S Legacy..

I so wish GANDHI JI had Copyrighted his Name!

Meanwhile, I would request Sonia Gandhi to change her name to SONIA GANDHI, and you could replace the 'R' in RAHUL/RAUL by the New Rupee Symbol!!!

RAUL VINCI : I am ashamed to call myself an Indian.

Even we are ashamed to call you so!

P.S: Popular Media is either bought or blackmailed, controlled to Manufacture Consent!

My Guess is Social Media is still a Democratic Platform. (Now they are trying to put legislations to censor that too!!)

Meanwhile, Let's ask these questions, for we deserve some Answers.

Source: http://scripadvice.blogspot.com/2011/07/curious-case-of-rahul-gandhi.html

Rahul Gandhi involved in a Gang Rape

A shocking piece of new that was aired across the world but not shown by the coward indian media.

http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2007/02/rahul-gandhi-rape-case-videos-aired.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n09iuYVaE9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9v0LNXivA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88AdVaP1d3o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y8xi2itgUo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRi47W5JxfU

Must see these clips.

Some info here.

http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/display/3659/index.php

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/136867.php

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/29/18353868.php

http://colorado.indymedia.org/newswire/display/17533/index.php

On 3rd December 2006, Rahul Gandhi was camping at Amethi along with 7 others including 4 foreigners (two from Britain and other two from Italy, names not known).



Around 9 P.M all of them were drinking liquor at a V.I.P. guest house in a high security zone. They had an uninvited guest, a young girl named Sukanya Devi, 24 years of age, a staunch follower of Nehru-Gandhi family and daughter of Congress worker Balram Singh.



Sukanya was looking for an opportunity to meet Rahul Gandhi since last two years and on that fateful night she able to meet him. Sukanya's family has been supporting the Congress party since the time of Nehru.



When she met Rahul he spoke to her for a couple of minutes and later he and his friends offered here liquor. Sukanya was amazed seeing all this, she was not feeling comfortable, she refused to have liquor and took permission to leave, but she was forced to stay back and drink. She kept resisting, but they raped her one by one. She cried for help, but her cries fell on deaf ears. Even the security personnel preferred to remain as mute spectators.



She kept weeping all along and was threatened and asked to keep her mouth shut. She was given Rs.50,000 /-. She straightaway went to the local police station. The police refused to book any complaint and asked her to go home.



Before she could reach home, Congress workers had gathered at her house and gave a different version of the incident to her father. They accused her of trying to seduce Rahul Gandhi. Her father Balram Singh, without giving her a chance to explain what had happened to her beat her up mercilessly. Balram Singh learnt the facts from others who were witness to the crime, but he preferred to remain quite as he did not want to challenge Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party.



Sukanya's mother Sumitra Devi, who learnt about the whole incident immediately went with her daughter to Police HQ in Amethi. The Police officials refused to book any complaint and advised her to remain quite. She went from pillar to post pleading for justice, but no one heard her pleas.



Sumithra Devi gave a statement in a press conference with a very thin attendance and there she was confronted by Congressmen who physically assaulted both mother & daughter. On 27th December 2006 Sumithra Devi went to New Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi. Sonia refused to meet her. With no options left she went to Human Rights Commission who just noted down her complaint and asked her to leave.



The Congressmen have threatened to kill both Sumithra Devi and her daughter Sukanya if she makes the rape issue public. Both the mother and daughter are in despair trying to seek justice. Both mother and daughter were camping in New Delhi for over a fortnight to get an appointment with the President of India. They have not got an appointment either with the President or with the Chief Justice.



Both mother and daughter are now in hiding. If the Congressmen don’t kill her, the Opus Di (secret service of the Vatican) definitely will.

Source: http://www.indiabook.com/bbs/archive/index.php/t-10543.html

Arvind Kejriwal Vs Rahul Gandhi

Who is the leader of youth of INDIA .................Arvind Kejriwal Vs Rahul Gandhi

ARVIND KEJRIVAL:-

Mechanical Engineer -IIT Kharagpur
Job :-Tata Steel
Former IRS resigned from the Govt job(posted IT Commisioner's office)
Social Activist:- Man behind (Right to Information Act) LokPal bill

Awards:

     Various Ashoka Fellow, Civic Engagement.
     2005: 'Satyendra Dubey Memorial Award', IIT Kanpur for his campaign for bringing transparency in Government
     2006: Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership.
     2006: CNN-IBN, 'Indian of the Year' in Public Service
     2009: Distinguished Alumnus Award, IIT Kharagpur for Emergent Leadership.
     2010: Policy Change Agent of the Year, Economic Times Corporate Excellence Award along with Aruna Roy.
     Fighting against corruption

........He left his job in IRS to fight against corruption.

RAHUL GANDHI :-
Education- failed to secure passing grades in National Economic Planning and Policy graduated by any how
Job: Got ancestral political power and running through it
Award:    he is making awards not getting it
              Fight against Indians sentiments

* For him Terror attacks are common thing...we should not be worried of that.....let it happen(since they have z class security)
* he will never talk about Govt. policies....and planning....since he
is not intelligent enough to grasp that.(claimed to be most eligible to be PM)
* Won't talk about black money and corruption.
* Will never talk in Parliament.
* No political vision and goals for nation .
* Trained well to fool poor villagers with safed kurta , and khadhi (doing same in UP and other places.)
* Achievements:-
      Grandson OF Nehru,
      Grandson of Indira Gandhi....
      Son Of Rajiv gandhi....
      From Gandhi Family.....
till now zero...


..............Claimed to be nxt PM of INDIA ..Future face of congress.

Hunger India

Two year old Ramsu is a young life ebbing away, thanks to insensitivity of the government. Two out of three children are mal-nourished in the country. In certain areas, as many as 50% infants die of hunger which is usually disguised by the more decent word "malnutrition". One out of every four mothers dying of hunger in the world is an Indian - a record which puts to shame the distinction of being one of the highest food producers. Food, which we Netizens take for granted, is an alien word for a sizeable Indian underclass.

Selling of children in return for 300 rupees is not uncommon in parts of India. That at least keeps the hearth warm for the remaining. Thousands of women are pushed into prostitution by the need to keep the wolf from the door. Humans compete against dogs and stray cows for their share of food found in the heaps of garbage. Imagine your own siblings or children in their place and you will only just begin to confront the reality.

Green revolution (food) and white revolution (milk) may have given the government an 'achievement' to pull in votes with, but an average Indian is entitled to only one cup of milk every three days, an egg every five, a banana or a coconut once in 10 days. Thus he would manage to stave off malnutrition, to the enormous relief of the government which can then safely go back to counting the poor. Or the deaths of poor due to 'diseases' which we all know is another word for 'hunger'. Rotting of millions of tonnes of foodgrain is just another statistics for the politicians - an achievement in fact for them to brag about the self-sufficiency in food production.

Justice System

In India today we witness crimes being committed, but there is no criminal! During the first half of 2006, India’s justice delivery system was put in the dock and adjudged guilty. In a series of high-profile cases, the criminals have not been brought to book and there is widespread perception that the system has not delivered. Indeed, there is a near total failure of the system.

Witnesses who turn hostile have now become a regular feature, clearly pointing to the role of money and muscle-power. It seems that the effects of money and influence extend beyond the witnesses. Often, the accused are the kin of politicians and other powerful people.

A combination of shoddy investigation, poor prosecution, sheer inefficiency, corrupt authorities and general insensitivity in the society have ensured that the criminals go scot-free.

The impression seems to have grown amongst the well connected that they can get away with anything. Sadly, they seem to be right. It is difficult to recall an instance of anyone from the power-class being convicted - despite dozens of cases of corruption, rape, rioting and even murder.

The police - by and large - are willing recipients, as is much of the bureaucracy and politicians. As a result, the law and law-enforcers are neither feared nor respected.

India’s judiciary has, for long, been respected for its independence, erudition, and vision. The highest court has delivered many landmark judgments and has sometimes been a more powerful voice of the people than their elected representatives. Yet, the overall system is so overburdened, its arteries so clogged, that its heart is in danger.

Cases that linger for a decade or more - thanks to endless adjournments, transfers, vacations and procedural flaws - make courts the place to delay justice rather than to seek it. Add bribery, threats, false cases and hostile witnesses, and what you get is a mockery of justice. Little wonder, then, that those who can take the law into their own hands do so.

A number of reports and commissions have made some excellent recommendations for desperately needed police reform. However, the absence of people’s pressure has made it easy for politicians with vested interests to scuttle any reform.

Meanwhile, those whose voices carry weight with the government have focused on all other aspects - from privatisation and economic reform, to FDI and labour reform - but not on the pressing need for radical reform of the justice system.

The corporate world - and, indeed, all of the educated India - must realise that if there is one show-stopper for an economy on the roll, one deterrent to investment and one storm to end their shining party, it is social upheaval.

If over 160 districts in the country are “Naxal-affected”, at least part of this growing spread of violent armed action is due to the perceived lack of a fair and equitable justice system. The answer to Naxalism is social and economic justice, not merely more police forces.

1984 violence against Sikhs, forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir and their genocide, intrusion of foreigners in North East and sufferings of natives are some manifestation of the system not being made accountable. It is time we woke up.

India's shame

AT NAND NAGRI in New Delhi, at a toilet complex that is cleaned manually twice a day.

`SHAMEFUL', `degrading', `dehumanising', `disgusting', `obnoxious', `abhorrent', a `blot on humanity' - these are some of the words used to describe `manual scavenging', which in plain language means people lifting human excreta with their hands and carrying the load on their heads, hips or shoulders. If they are lucky, they get to use a wagon.

Over the years books have been written, committees and commissions have been set up, laws have been enacted and crores of rupees have been spent to eradicate manual scavenging. But even after six decades of Independence, India continues to dehumanise, degrade and shame the most vulnerable amongst us. Governments in several States have denied in court the existence of manual scavengers despite evidence to the contrary.

In 2002-03, the Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment admitted the existence of 6.76 lakh people who lift human excreta for a living and the presence of 92 lakh dry latrines, spread across 21 States and Union Territories. However, when the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA), along with individual scavengers and organisations which are working for the cause, filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2003, most States hotly denied having scavengers and claimed that most of them had been rehabilitated in alternative professions. It took three years and strong admonishments from the apex court for the States to respond. Most of them submitted affidavits claiming that no dry latrines exist and, therefore, no manual scavenging exists. Since then, several affidavits and counter-affidavits have been filed.

Bezwada Wilson, national convener of the SKA, says the problem is not about identifying, educating or providing alternatives. The problem is one of attitude. "No reliable data are available. We have conducted sample surveys with our limited resources and we estimate that there could be as many as 13 lakh manual scavengers in the country," he says.

The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine (Prohibition) Act was passed in 1993. Says Wilson: "It took another decade for some States to adopt it. Some States refuse to adopt the law, saying that they don't have any manual scavengers, despite evidence to the contrary, while some States adopted the law only after the SKA went to the Supreme Court. How can you solve a problem unless you first admit that a problem exists?"

A Frontline investigation found that the state of denial extends to the national capital. The affidavit filed by the Delhi government in the Supreme Court has accused the petitioners of levelling "bad allegations against answering respondent without verifying facts". On a visit to Nand Nagri near Shahdara in the National Capital Region in order to verify, Frontline met Meena, who is a volunteer with the SKA and has been working as a manual scavenger since she was nine.

Says Meena, who is in her mid-twenties: "I remember the first time I had to carry a basketful on my head. I slipped and fell into the gutter. No one would come to pick me up because the basket was so dirty and I was covered with filth. I sat there, howling, until another woman scavenger arrived. She hosed me down and took me home. But that day I felt like the most unfortunate child in the whole world."

According to her, there could be anywhere between 100 and 150 families in that suburb working as manual scavengers. "There is Rampur, Seemapuri, Tarpur, Kachipura, Ashoknagar, Seva Dham; in Seva Dham people go into open fields around their kuchcha houses. But afterwards, they make you clean that open space also," she says. "Many people just dig a hole in the ground and hang jute mats around it. Then they call people from our community to clean up."

SANDEEP SAXENA 

In the scavengers' colony.

Meena somehow managed to stay in school until she cleared her secondary level examinations, but education brought little change. "This is what we've been doing for generations and nobody gives us other work. In fact, my mother was married to my father based upon the fact that he lived in a busy, crowded area and there was that much more to carry."

Meena's husband Mukesh works in a community toilet near their shack in Nand Nagri. Mukesh wanted to apply for a government sweeper's post, like his father, but could not. "They ask for Rs.50,000 in bribes for a government job. At best, I could hope for occasional work, where I get Rs.100 on a daily-wage basis, but the policeman takes his cut," he says. "Finally, I cleaned this public toilet, which was run by the MCD [Municipal Corporation of Delhi] until last year. Now, it is in private hands. There is no water to clean the toilet, incidentally. I fill my bucket with water from the open gutter outside." He adds that many people simply squat outside the toilet, instead of sitting on the commode; the safai karamchari is left to clean up.

Meena's mother Sharada cleans most of the private dry latrines in the area. She says: "There are about 10 dry latrines now. I get Rs.10 per house. Many houses have got pucca latrines now. But the way they are constructed, the sewage comes from a pipe into the open gutter below. And we have to clean this gutter. On many days the gutter overflows with excreta and when there isn't enough water to wash it away, it accumulates and dries. My husband sweeps it into a corner and I lift it out of the gutter using two pieces of plastic and put it into a basket."

Sharada's current grouse is that her basket is broken. A new one costs around Rs.70, which she cannot afford. So she has hired a rickshaw-cart, which she pulls herself. She piles it with both garbage and gutter-filth, which she later sorts to pick out anything with resale value.

Even Mahatma Gandhi's Gujarat has not learnt to clean its own toilets. There are about 55,000 scavengers in Gujarat, according to the Navsarjan Trust, which has been leading the movement in the State. Its founder, Martin Macwan, believes that it is impossible to determine correctly the size of the problem because people refuse access to their homes. "We can know only about those employed with the government, local civic bodies or panchayats. The estimates are based on the population of Balmikis, the kind of work they engage in, and sample surveys," he says. "The State government does nothing except allocate money. The scavengers are made to believe that this is their work and they cannot do anything else, so they don't want to talk about it."

Clearly, State governments are not going to talk about it either, if they can help it. Haryana and Punjab claim they have no manual scavengers. However, visits to localities in the two States showed that they had not only failed in their commitment to eradicate manual scavenging but also lied to the Supreme Court.

SANDEEP SAXENA 

Clearing garbage and sewage on a cart she has hired.

At Sanoli Road, a locality in Panipat town in Haryana, Frontline saw at least five dry latrines and met three scavengers. Bhagwati, who lives in Deha basti, has spent her whole life doing precisely the task the civic authorities deny the existence of - cleaning dry latrines manually. She says that she carries narak (hell, in Hindi). "I have been doing this ever since I can remember. My mother did it, my sister did it and I am doing it." The only saving grace, according to Bhagwati, is that there is no lack of water in the area. "As it is, my hands and feet and waist get marked by the `narak'. At least, I can bathe after work," she says.

Bala, 35, lives in what is commonly known as Balmiki basti in Panipat town and has been cleaning dry latrines in some of the houses in the area for the past 18 years. She would gladly stop doing it now if only she had an alternative. "Who wants to lift other people's filth? But I am forced to because we're so poor. No household gives me more than Rs.15-20," she says.

However, as far as the State government is concerned, people like Bhagwati and Bala do not exist. Its affidavit filed this year in the Supreme Court claims that until 1992 there were 2.02 lakh dry latrines but these were phased out and not a single one remains. It also claims that the Rs.18.36 crores received from the Centre was used up for training and rehabilitation, that 15,739 scavengers were rehabilitated and that "Haryana is a scavenger-free State".

Punjab has a similar take. The State government conducted a survey in 1992 after the Centre launched the National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers and their dependants. The scheme, which was to be implemented by the States, enabled beneficiaries to get vocational training and be settled in alternative professions. It also provided households below the poverty line an 80 per cent subsidy to build flush latrines.

At that time, Punjab identified 12,444 scavenger families. In the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court this year the State claimed: "Since banks were not providing timely loans to the beneficiaries, the Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation also started disbursing loans to them under its own scheme to avoid hardship to this class. The pace of the scheme was very slow as scavengers were not coming forward to avail the loan under this scheme; therefore, fresh survey for identification of scavengers was got conducted (sic) through Deputy Commissioners in all the districts of the State. As a result, only 531 scavengers were identified."

K. ANANTHAN 

IN COIMBATORE, TAMIL Nadu, going down to clear a choked drain with minimum equipment.

How this statistical miracle occurred is anybody's guess. Of the 531 people identified, the State claimed that 389 "rehabilitated on their own and remaining 142 scavengers have been rehabilitated by the Corporation". Most of them are women and that they are "on their own" is clear to them.

Subhash Desawar, State convener of the SKA, told Frontline that in Samrala town, in relatively prosperous Ludhiana district, he could recall readily the names of 20 women. "Incidentally, this is the home town of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president. We also have evidence of manual scavenging in Patiala, the constituency of the Chief Minister," he says.

Most of the women got into this work only after marriage. Shanti, 70, began cleaning dry latrines about 20 years ago. "Many have been converted to flush latrines, especially after the SKA people came with cameras. Those people whose homes had dry latrines got frightened and were ashamed, so many of them converted," she says. "But there are a few left. We get Rs.20 from each house, and sometimes leftover food."

Amarwati, another senior citizen, has been cleaning dry latrines for as long as she can remember. She says: "I don't like it. I have studied till the 4th standard. I can read newspapers, novels and can write a bit. But there was no option. It seems I have done this forever. I didn't let my daughter do it, but I have no alternative for myself."

At least 15 women confirmed that they clean dry latrines and that they have not got any help from the authorities. They had not heard of any government scheme to train and rehabilitate them, no civic official had approached them with an offer of loans, and, until the SKA intervention they were neither included in any survey nor asked to stop doing their work.

Another major hurdle to the eradication of scavenging is the Railways. The tracks have to be cleaned manually since coaches have the `open discharge' system, and most stations are not equipped with concretised platforms that would allow waste to be washed away with jets of water. In their response to the Supreme Court, the railways cited lack of money. The Railways claim that a proposal to fit fully sealed latrines is "under consideration" and "various technologies shall be tried out", but refuse to set themselves a deadline to end the present practice.

Challenges ahead

In the 13 years since the passing of the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine (Prohibition) Act there has not been a single prosecution; the Act stipulates imprisonment up to a year and fines up to Rs.2,000 or both. "The law is more like a scheme; it has no teeth. The powers rest with the sanitary inspector or the Collector, while the worker himself cannot file a case," says Wilson. "Workers who clean open gutters, manholes and septic tanks, who are exposed to great risks, are not covered by the Act. Also, though the States have adopted the Act, most have not adopted the rules and regulations along with it."

While the government has made attempts through various schemes offering loans and subsidies, setting up the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis and the National Safai Karamchari Financing and Development Corporation, they have not succeeded.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in its affidavit, claims that 1.56 lakh people were trained and 4.08 lakh were rehabilitated until 2002, and that Rs.712.14 crores have been released to the States. It also says that there were only about four lakh scavengers in 1989, conveniently omitting to mention more recent statistics.

COURTESY: ADI THAMIZH AR PERAVAI SAXENA 

In the same city, a public facility that is cleaned manually.

The Social Justice Ministry, at different points of time, offered five different sets of figures, as stated in the Ninth Report of the Public Accounts Committee. For instance, the number of scavengers identified in Assam went up threefold between 1997 and 1999.

Interestingly, an audit of the National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers for the period 1992 to 2002 by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) threw up a maze of conflicting data. In fact, the CAG report on the audit said the Rs.600-crore grant given by the Centre to the States had "gone, literally, down the latrine". The latest scheme is a National Action Plan for the Total Eradication of Manual Scavenging by 2007, under which the responsibility for liberation and rehabilitation has been shifted to the Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation, which is the nodal Ministry to deal with the issue.

However, the Centre cannot resolve this problem alone, for `sanitation' is a State subject and manual scavenging is, finally, a sanitation issue and, more importantly, a health issue.

The SKA petition had mentioned a study by the Environmental Sanitation Institute, Gandhi Ashram, which said the majority of scavengers suffered from anaemia, diarrhoea and vomiting.

Besides, 62 per cent of them had respiratory diseases, 32 per cent had skin diseases, 42 per cent had jaundice and 23 per cent had trachoma, leading to blindness. Many died of carbon monoxide poisoning while cleaning septic tanks, it said.

Any public health official would agree that septic tanks themselves are a health hazard. Sewage and storm-water drains often mix, and the effluent flows into the local river. Open gutters are another menace, making whole populations vulnerable to malaria, dengue, gastroenteritis, hepatitis and many other diseases.

SANDEEP SAXENA 

Meena, a manual scavenger, at home with family in Nand Nagri.

Unfortunately, government and municipal authorities tend to ignore sanitation because it does not bring the voters' wrath upon their heads as urgently as, say, water and power supply. It takes a plague, as it did in Surat, to make them sit up and smell the sewage.

As far as the primary issue of dry latrines is concerned, there is no way of countering it other than the demolition of all existing units.

Uttaranchal, in fact, may have inadvertently struck the nail on the head when it filed an affidavit saying, "as long as dry latrines remain in existence, the scavengers to clean the same will also remain".

source: Frontline

The cause for India's poor growth

With the development of our nation, we call it a kind of development where people have become smarter and have begun figuring out alternative ways to fool others. The race to be the best never ends, be it by hampering the growth of other – for easy success give bribe and take bribe and we assure that the work is done. Doesn’t it sound interesting to you?

No wonder why India tops the chart in achieving the medal of the most corrupt country, all thanks to our politicians and administrators. These are the people who pledge to serve the country till the last breadth, they take the oath never to deceive and to lie and to work for the progress of their nation.

Well they do invest time and money in the construction of roads, bridges, dams, etc, which last few years and collapse; taking hundreds along to the grave. That is how they are serving us. To my surprise, they actually spend some initial amount for the construction work, what if the raw material is little adulterated (little enough to bring down the bridge after few rains) with some unwanted mixtures of sand instead of cement and clay. The promises made by these fat potbellied politicians who have attained the shape and size by sucking the life blood of the common people are never fulfilled. But I must say, they adhere to their oaths and vows to serve the nation no matter if the services provided are corrupt enough to help the nation tops the corruption chart.

May I ask why all these crooked and shady people are the ones called the future of India and are counted in the elite class? Just because they smell good of the foreign perfume or because they look clean and dirt free as they roam around in the tinted glass, air-conditioned expensive cars. Is this the reason? Well if it is so, I am not convinced.

This is one of the reasons, which is hampering the growth of our dear nation, lack of management and full focus on the elite society after all these are the ones feeding these gluttonous politicians dressed in white from toe to head as symbol of purity and truth with hot and juicy meat balls wrapped in thousand rupee notes with each passing day. That is why poorer section is at the same place where it was 20 years back whereas the richer are getting richer by every passing day. What a strange saying: The real India dwells in the darkness (rural India). I would say it is true, because 60 per cent of the still illiterate population lives here in the darkness who listens to the speeches made by our very own politicians, promising them the basic amenities. The person here grows old waiting for the bulb he hung in his teens to light up and not only that he assures his grandchildren that the one day their small village will also be blessed with the power supply.

This is the kind of economy where false promises bloom and illiterate politician those who have a criminal background keep winning the elections one after the other. Sadly we do nothing but become accomplice in the crime by merely casting our votes without any detailed information about our future leader. Why one hesitate to take a plunge in this filth and take a vow to sweep off corruption from his country by simply being aware of the surrounding

Judiciary is Corrupt

                          77% of Indians believe judiciary is corrupt: TI survey


Widespread bribery of judges around the world and inappropriate political interference in legal systems deny millions their right to a fair and impartial trial, or any trial at all, says the global anti-corruption group Transparency International


As many as 77% of Indians believe the country’s judiciary is corrupt, and 36% paid bribes to the judiciary last year, according to a global survey by Transparency International (TI).


“An estimated Rs 2,630 crore was the amount Indians coughed up as bribes to the judiciary, higher than the bribes paid out in any other sector,” says ‘Global Corruption Report 2007: Corruption in Judicial Systems’. “The average amount of money (Rs 3,817) paid in bribes by a household in India in the past 12 months was maximum in the judiciary as compared to other sectors.”


TI, a Germany-based global coalition against corruption quoted a 2005 study by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), Delhi, on public perceptions and experiences of corruption in the lower judiciary, which estimated the amount paid by Indians as bribes to the judiciary at around Rs 2,630 crore.


The lower rungs of the Indian judiciary have been particularly slammed by the report, since the CMS study said a majority of the bribe money went to lawyers (61%) followed by court officials (29%) and middlemen (5%).  Although provisions for the independence and accountability of the judiciary exist in India’s Constitution, corruption is increasingly apparent,” says a chapter titled ‘Indolence in India’s Judiciary’.


Elaborating on reasons for increasing corruption in the judiciary, the report says delays due to a shortage of judges and complex legal procedures are making Indians take recourse to corrupt measures to get justice. “The loss of confidence in the judiciary is mainly due to the long gestation period of litigation, with crores of cases pending disposal…This backlog leads to long adjournments and prompts people to pay to speed up the process.”


According to the report, as of February 2006, 33,635 cases were pending in the Supreme Court, with 26 judges; 3.34 lakh cases in the high courts, with 670 judges; 2.5 crore cases in 13,204 subordinate courts. In 1999, it was estimated that at the current rate of disposal of cases it would take another 350 years to dispose of pending cases, says the report.


The report also points out that the ratio of judges is abysmally low, at 12-13 per 1 million people compared to 107 in the United States, 75 in Canada and 51 in the United Kingdom. “If the number of outstanding cases are assigned to the current number of judges, caseloads would be 1,294 per Supreme Court judge, 4,987 per high court judge, and 1,916 per lower court judge.”


The degree of delays and corruption has led to cynicism about the justice system. People seek shortcuts through bribery and favours, leading to further unlawful behaviour. A prime example is unauthorised buildings in Indian cities. Construction and safety laws are flouted in connivance with persons in authority,” the report says.


To compile the report, TI’s Global Corruption Barometer 2006 asked nearly 60,000 people in 62 countries what they thought about their country’s judicial system. The results indicated especially corrupt judicial systems in Africa and Latin America, where one in five respondents said they had paid a bribe to the court system.


At the top of the list, more than 80% of those contacted in Paraguay, Peru, Cameroon, Macedonia and Bolivia perceived their legal systems to be corrupt.


At the other end of the spectrum, residents of Denmark, Singapore, Sweden, Finland and Norway least often reported their judicial systems as corrupt.


In more than 25 countries, at least one in 10 households reported paying a bribe to get access to the court system. Of the roughly 8,300 people who said they were recently in personal contact with their judicial system, more than one in 10 had paid a bribe.


In a further 20 countries, more than three in 10 households reported that bribery was involved in securing access to justice or a “fair” outcome in court. In Albania, Greece, Indonesia, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Peru, Taiwan and Venezuela, the figure was even higher.


In Pakistan, where 55% of those surveyed perceived their judiciary to be corrupt, the report says bribery is rampant in the judiciary. It ranked third among the country’s most corrupt institutions.


In India and Bangladesh, the report says, lengthy adjournments force people to pay bribes to speed up their trials.


In Sri Lanka, the report says, judges who are perceived as problematic by the powerful have been reassigned from sensitive positions or had control of controversial cases transferred to more “pliable” judges.

Commonwealth Games 2010: Corruption

Everyone is aware by now of the incredible scale of corruption engaged by the organizing committee of India’s Commonwealth Games 2010. Millions have been siphoned off into the pockets of the organizers and their relatives. What is even more shameful is that a lot of money reserved in the budget for the development of the underprivileged in India has also been usurped by the greedy. Of course we’ve been promised by MS Gill and others that action will be taken after the Games are successfully over.
But I’m so nauseated by the scale of corruption by the Commonwealth Games organizing committee and Suresh Kalmadi, befittingly from the Congress party which is legendary for its corrupt practices, that I do not wish India host a “successful” games.
In fact, I sincerely request all the countries and athletes intending to participate in Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi to withdraw citing opposition to deal with and encourage corruption. By participating, you will not only have said OK to corruption, but you would also have deprived the poor and socially backward in India of their development and progress.
By saying ‘No’ this time, you would in fact send a strong signal to organizers of all future sporting events that Sports and Games do not tolerate corruption.
Once again, please boycott India’s 2010 Commonwealth Games and tell India that you do not condone malpractices in Sports.
If you’re an athlete planning to participate, what are your views on this? Please comment below.
If you’re an Indian ashamed of the scale of corruption, what are your views? Please comment below.