Cricket And India's Gambling Industry
Syed Ali Mujtaba
As the World Cup cricket championship in the Caribbean is reaching its crescendo, the betting industry in India too is on its peak. On every match huge money is put on stake and its volume is going to go up to unprecedented heights as the championship is reaching the final stage.
The entire betting industry in India is pegged at about Rs 100,000 crore. The betting syndicate that controls this industry earns money about eight to ten figures on every match while the bookies makes about Rs 50,000 on per match, irrespective of the results of the game.
There is no confusion on the rules of the betting industry. It’s well organized this system and works smoothly and efficiently. Every one abides to the rule books and plays the game as honestly as it can. The motive for all of them is money and not cricket. Cricket is just an excuse to make quick bucks.
How does it work? The entire operation is carried on by the betting syndicate located outside India. The betting syndicate sets the rate of the bet and that’s defined in paisa (hundred paisa makes a rupee). The rates are fixed before the match and the figures starts changing as the match progresses. There is a new read in betting meter when quick runs are scored or some quick wickets fall. The meter moves at a frantic pace during the penultimate phase of the game, especially when if it’s heading for a wire finish.
The betting syndicate has defined its territories and appointed its managers conduct the operation. Mumbai is the head office of the Indian Territory. It controls the entire betting operation of the country. The Mumbai office gets a profit margin of two percent and they give one per cent profit to the bookies located in various town and cities. The bookies are selected by the Mumbai office on ground of their financial strength and influences over the local administration and the police. There could be many bookies operating from the same town.
But who is the syndicate that controls the betting industry? The buzz word is, it’s the D company, the biggest shark in this trade. Some say this operation is run from Dubai, others opinion it’s from Karachi.
Mumbai and Delhi has the highest number of bookies. This followed by Calcutta and Chennai. Even the class two and class three cities have bookies. It’s reliably learnt there are as many as sixty bookies operating from Chennai alone.
How does one play this game? In order to get in cricket betting, one needs to know a punter. The bookie requires the introduction of a punter to register a new entrant in his log books. The punter takes the financial guarantee of the new entrant and decides his financial limits. After few matches, the new entrant becomes a punter and can introduce a new person to the bookie. A punter can play with two bookie or more and many a cases even the bookies are punters.
The minimum stake begins from Rs 1000 and go up to a crore. The local bookie has a financial limit and some can deal up to 25 lakh rupees. Those above that play directly with the Mumbai office. In the betting parlance a crore rupees is called "Khoka". The ‘Khoka punters’ directly deal with the foreign operators. There are many big businessmen and politicians who are alleged to be ‘Khoka punters.’
Every bookie has a clandestine office with computers, tape recorders and many telephone lines. He is constantly in touch with the Mumbai office which in turn is connected with the operators broad. Internet live chat and mobile phones comes handy in such operation. The syndicate constantly updates the new betting rates to its territory managers. The bookies get the information of the new rates that’s two percent higher than set by the syndicate. He adds one percent to it and tells the punters who keep ask them for the current going rate.
The punter has to call the bookie on the mobile phone and first identify himself. Once his ID is verified, he will hear a recorded message on his phone telling the current betting rate.
The punter will keep changing his bet according the situation of the match. He will call the bookie and book his bet. His each call is called a "shout" and his voice would be recorded and his order would be maintained on the log book. The number of “shouts” that’s going to be entertained would be as per the financial limit set up before.
Normally a punter sits with a pen and paper since the beginning of the match. He will keep asking the betting rate and keep booking his “shout”. He will come to know how much money he has made or lost only at the end of the match.
The money settlement is done within 24 hours after the conclusion the match. In case of winning, the bookie will send the cash in an envelope to the house of the punter. In case if he has lost, he needs to be ready with the cash and hand it over to the bookie’s men.
In case if some one refuses to pay and deny making “shouts”, the recoded message will be played to refresh his memory. If there is still hesitation, the bookie will recover the money from the punter who has made the introduction. If such thing happens with any regular punter, the bookies directly deal with such punters. Normally honesty is the key word here, not because any one loves to be honest, but because they want live to play the next game.
In case if the ratio fixed by the syndicate gets upset and bookies looses heavily, in such cases the syndicate bails such bookies out. The bookies from the town and cities send the money to the Mumbai bosses and they in turn remit it to those sitting outside the country. The entire settlement is done within 24 hours after the match.
Such operations though illegal are carried out with the blessing of the police and politicians in a clandestine way. The police station under whose jurisdiction a bookie operates gets its fixed commission. The politicians too get their ‘cut’ to let the operation run smoothly.
The grapevine has it; the entire country went into mourning upset over India early exit from this World cup. The politicians and policemen too were on boil and use their whip to stop the betting industry. The bookies honored the sentiments of the nation and no betting actually took place for next three matches. Thereafter, each bookie gave pooled in some six lakh rupees each and paid to whose-who of the law enforcing agencies to resume the betting industry.
What seem apparent is as the country’s economy is growing so is the cash flow. There is phenomenal rise of the punters and the bookies in every town and city of the country. All those who have unaccounted cash are associated with this industry. It’s a quick way to make big money and even to loose it. The business community, politicians, men in uniform, without uniform, all those who have easy access to cash are involved with this industry.
Currently the stage in which the cricket betting industry has reached, it’s very difficult to reverse its gears. It sits in the same bracket as that of gambling, bootlegging, commercial sex and drugs. Such things can be controlled but can never be eradicated. So where do we go from here? Can we stop the game of cricket? NO. Can we stop any one from betting? NO. Then what do we do? Legalize, cricket betting! Yes. It may make things more transparent and game will be viewed with less suspicion. It would not be cricket if it’s allowed to grow like this!
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
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http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2674&cid=6&sid=20
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Partition refugees targeted as Bangladeshi infiltrators
Partition refugees targeted as Bangladeshi infiltrators
Syed Ali Mujtaba
In the cacophony of jingoistic nationalism against the Bangladeshi infiltrators many Bengali Hindu refugees that had migrated to India during the 1947 Partition are being targeted for lack proper documentation and face the specter of deportation to the place they had left some sixty years ago.
In 2001, the BJP government in Uttaranchal had denied domicile certificates to the Bengali Hindu refugees settled in the state since early fifties. Some moneylenders turned land mafia even grabbed their land with the help of police and officials. After demonstrations by some social organization, the state government reluctantly started investigation and made some arrests and dismissed few officials.
This was not an isolated incident against the Bengali refugees who were victims of the division of Bengal in 1947. In 2004, twenty-one such persons were deported from Navrangpur district in Orissa. The BJD-BJP combine government also served deportation notices to more than fifteen hundred people in Kendrapara district of the state. A strong protest by the Utkal Bagiya Surakshya Committee forced the Patniak government to keep its order in abeyance.
The same story moves to Maharashtra where recently in Arsha Tehseel of Bhandara district fifty-two Bengali refugees were arrested but later released with a fine and personal bond to submit all documents relating to the citizenship rights. All district collectors in Maharashtra have been instructed to collect the data of the Bengali refugees residing in the state. The collectors in turn have issued a circular that all such persons to submit their citizenship documents within a month, failing which they would be liable for deportation. This has created anxiety among number of Bengali refugees that had settled in Bhandara, Chandrapur and Gadchirauli districts of Maharastra since fifties.
The 1955 Indian Citizens Act clearly states that all those who migrated to India in wake of country’s partition are entitled for citizenship and their children would become natural citizens of the country. This raises the question why such persons have been denied the citizenship rights in the country?
In order to understand this problem one has to look at the pattern of the settlement of the Partition refugees in India. The majority of the refugees that had come from West Pakistan were either Punjabis or Sindhis. Most of them belonged to the Hindu upper caste and were given money and land at low rate and were settled in the big cities of India. They were the one who were the prime beneficiaries of evacuee property left in India by the Muslims migrating to Pakistan. Such people today hold the lions share in the development of the country and are enjoying the benefits of the ‘Shining India’.
On the contrary, the ‘Delhi Durbar’ did not treat the Bengali refugees who had trekked from the East Pakistan so generously. Baring the Bhadarlok or the upper caste Hindus who were all adjusted in West Bengal, the rest was shunted to remote and undeveloped areas of the country. Since such people did not matter in the vote bank politics; no one came to put their names in the register and gave them citizenship rights. Their children who all were born on the Indian soil too were denied any such rights. Most of such people were poor and uneducated and did not hanker for a piece of paper that would testify them to be Indians. Now such persons are being clubbed as Bangladeshi infiltrators and faces specter of deportation from India.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill passed by the Parliament in 2004 has further weakened the case of the Bengali Partition refugees to acquire the citizenship rights. The bill clearly states that under no circumstance the Bengali refugees can get citizenship rights in India and even their children would be treated as illegal migrants.
The Ambedkrites calls this a conspiracy of the upper caste Hindus to punish the followers of the B.R Ambedkar who mostly came from Kholna, Jassor, Barisal, Dhaka and Faridpur region from where Jogendranath Mandal had got Ambedkar elected to the Constituent Assembly. Since these Bengali refugees belonged to the low caste they were deliberately settled in undeveloped locations and the state governments instead of rehabilitating, discriminated them due to the yawning language divide.
Some organizations off late had taken up the issue of discrimination against Bengali Partition refugees and had even organized a three-day national convention in Nagpur in September 2005. They also had raised this issue at some international forums and protested against the new citizenship amendment Bill passed in 2004.
However, the fact of the matter is that the problem is not as simple as identifying the Partition refugees and giving them citizenship rights. The 2004 Citizenship Amendment bill if rigorously implemented is reported to affect an estimated two crore Bengali refugee believed to be living in India. It’s beyond anyone’s comprehension how such large number of people could be pushed across the border and whether Bangladesh would accept them as its citizen.
There is no denying the fact that some concrete measures needs to be taken to address the problem of Bangladeshi infiltration in India. However, there is a need to distinguish between the Bengali Partition refugees and those who have come much later in this country. While the first category remains to be identified and be given the citizenship rights, an accurate demographic study needs to be done for the second category and a humanistic solution should evolved to tackle this problem.
It portends that if this issue is not tackled tactfully there is every reason to believe that India would remain sitting on the powder keg waiting to be ignited by those scheming to capture political power in New Delhi. Countrymen better watch out for the next Ayodhya like movement that seems be built around the Bangladeshi infiltrators in this country.
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
--
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2273&cid=6&sid=20
Syed Ali Mujtaba
In the cacophony of jingoistic nationalism against the Bangladeshi infiltrators many Bengali Hindu refugees that had migrated to India during the 1947 Partition are being targeted for lack proper documentation and face the specter of deportation to the place they had left some sixty years ago.
In 2001, the BJP government in Uttaranchal had denied domicile certificates to the Bengali Hindu refugees settled in the state since early fifties. Some moneylenders turned land mafia even grabbed their land with the help of police and officials. After demonstrations by some social organization, the state government reluctantly started investigation and made some arrests and dismissed few officials.
This was not an isolated incident against the Bengali refugees who were victims of the division of Bengal in 1947. In 2004, twenty-one such persons were deported from Navrangpur district in Orissa. The BJD-BJP combine government also served deportation notices to more than fifteen hundred people in Kendrapara district of the state. A strong protest by the Utkal Bagiya Surakshya Committee forced the Patniak government to keep its order in abeyance.
The same story moves to Maharashtra where recently in Arsha Tehseel of Bhandara district fifty-two Bengali refugees were arrested but later released with a fine and personal bond to submit all documents relating to the citizenship rights. All district collectors in Maharashtra have been instructed to collect the data of the Bengali refugees residing in the state. The collectors in turn have issued a circular that all such persons to submit their citizenship documents within a month, failing which they would be liable for deportation. This has created anxiety among number of Bengali refugees that had settled in Bhandara, Chandrapur and Gadchirauli districts of Maharastra since fifties.
The 1955 Indian Citizens Act clearly states that all those who migrated to India in wake of country’s partition are entitled for citizenship and their children would become natural citizens of the country. This raises the question why such persons have been denied the citizenship rights in the country?
In order to understand this problem one has to look at the pattern of the settlement of the Partition refugees in India. The majority of the refugees that had come from West Pakistan were either Punjabis or Sindhis. Most of them belonged to the Hindu upper caste and were given money and land at low rate and were settled in the big cities of India. They were the one who were the prime beneficiaries of evacuee property left in India by the Muslims migrating to Pakistan. Such people today hold the lions share in the development of the country and are enjoying the benefits of the ‘Shining India’.
On the contrary, the ‘Delhi Durbar’ did not treat the Bengali refugees who had trekked from the East Pakistan so generously. Baring the Bhadarlok or the upper caste Hindus who were all adjusted in West Bengal, the rest was shunted to remote and undeveloped areas of the country. Since such people did not matter in the vote bank politics; no one came to put their names in the register and gave them citizenship rights. Their children who all were born on the Indian soil too were denied any such rights. Most of such people were poor and uneducated and did not hanker for a piece of paper that would testify them to be Indians. Now such persons are being clubbed as Bangladeshi infiltrators and faces specter of deportation from India.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill passed by the Parliament in 2004 has further weakened the case of the Bengali Partition refugees to acquire the citizenship rights. The bill clearly states that under no circumstance the Bengali refugees can get citizenship rights in India and even their children would be treated as illegal migrants.
The Ambedkrites calls this a conspiracy of the upper caste Hindus to punish the followers of the B.R Ambedkar who mostly came from Kholna, Jassor, Barisal, Dhaka and Faridpur region from where Jogendranath Mandal had got Ambedkar elected to the Constituent Assembly. Since these Bengali refugees belonged to the low caste they were deliberately settled in undeveloped locations and the state governments instead of rehabilitating, discriminated them due to the yawning language divide.
Some organizations off late had taken up the issue of discrimination against Bengali Partition refugees and had even organized a three-day national convention in Nagpur in September 2005. They also had raised this issue at some international forums and protested against the new citizenship amendment Bill passed in 2004.
However, the fact of the matter is that the problem is not as simple as identifying the Partition refugees and giving them citizenship rights. The 2004 Citizenship Amendment bill if rigorously implemented is reported to affect an estimated two crore Bengali refugee believed to be living in India. It’s beyond anyone’s comprehension how such large number of people could be pushed across the border and whether Bangladesh would accept them as its citizen.
There is no denying the fact that some concrete measures needs to be taken to address the problem of Bangladeshi infiltration in India. However, there is a need to distinguish between the Bengali Partition refugees and those who have come much later in this country. While the first category remains to be identified and be given the citizenship rights, an accurate demographic study needs to be done for the second category and a humanistic solution should evolved to tackle this problem.
It portends that if this issue is not tackled tactfully there is every reason to believe that India would remain sitting on the powder keg waiting to be ignited by those scheming to capture political power in New Delhi. Countrymen better watch out for the next Ayodhya like movement that seems be built around the Bangladeshi infiltrators in this country.
---
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
--
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2273&cid=6&sid=20
Indian actresses’ temple entry sparks raging debate
Indian actresses’ temple entry sparks raging debate
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Call it publicity, identity crisis or a social issue; two actresses stirred a hornet¦s nest in South India when they entered two separate temples in Kerela. They incurred the wrath of the temple priests, who termed their acts as 'defilement' of the shrines and asked for its ¦purification¦ through elaborate rituals.
The incident flared into a debate over women¦s rights regarding Hindu temples in vernaculars of south India but the so called national media that went hammer and tongs on Shah Bano, Imrana or Guriya's case tried to soft peddle the issue and thus put themselves in a spot.
In the first case, a 46-year-old Kannada actress Jaimala claimed that at 27 she entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala hills that bars women of 10 to 50 age group because its presiding deity is believed to be a celibate.
The Ayyappa temple is situated at about 4,000 feet above the sea level atop Sabarimala hill in Kerala. Every year during its annual pilgrimage session more than ten million devotees visit this shrine that does not bar people from other faiths. One has to brave an arduous trek of more than six kilometers through dense forest to climb to the temple top. Only persons carrying 'offering' are allowed to take the 18 steps to the sanctum sanctorum, others after paying obeisance from below take the separate route of exit.
Jaimala claims that some 19 years ago on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala, she was "pushed" into the sanctum sanctorum by the crowd and she caught hold the idol's feet to steady her self. The actress said she did not knew then what she was doing and had touched the feet of the idol because that's the way she was taught to pray at home. She later realized what this amounted to 'sin' and faxed an apology to the concerned authorities as her atonement.
The actress alleged that the shrine authorities had reneged on their promise of immediately destroying her confession by leaking it to the press and thus creating unnecessary controversy. Jaimala refuted the allegations that she did all this for money or publicity and insisted that her apology was an act of repentance.
The temple's board that manages the affairs of the shrine took strong exception to the actress claim and sent its own investigative team to probe the veracity of her statement. The investigating team however could not carry on the probe due to inter- state ramifications of the case and sought the involvement of the state government in the investigation.
The matter rocked the Kerala assembly and state government took a stand that it would not interfere in the customs followed by the temple including its ban on women from praying at the shrine.
This prompted a communist member to ask whether the practice of debarring women from visiting the temple did not amount to gender discrimination.
Contrary to Kerala government's stand, the Karnataka state assembly hailed Jaimala's action and a Congress member described the curbs on women visiting the temple as an "insult to the entire womenfolk and nothing short of practicing untouchability".
Controversy surrounding women's entry to Sabirimala is not new. A few years ago, actress Sudha Chandran had performed a dance programme below the 18 holy steps of the temple leading to a hue and cry. The temple¦s board moved the Kerala High Court seeking a direction in this issue and the court ruled that the authorities should disallow women from climbing to the hill shrine.
Close on the heels of Jaimala controversy, a Malayalam actress Jasmine Mary Joseph also known as Meera Jasmine, sparked off another row by offering prayers at a temple in Kerala where the entry of non-Hindus is prohibited. The temple authorities protested the Christian actress action and demanded a fat sum for the purification rituals to restore the "lost divinity¦ of the temple. Meera apologized her action and sent Rs 10,000 ($225) to the temple authorities and on hearing it to be less sent an additional Rs 15, 000 (over $ 350) with which the authorities performed elaborate purification rituals involving ten priests for two days in the shrine.
The two controversy when seen in the backdrop of the media treatment meted out to the Shah Bano, Imrana or Guriya case, tend to suggest the biased attitude of the so called mainstream media when it comes to the treating the issues related to the Hindu religion.
While the so called mainstream media showered heaps of muck on Muslim personal law and its self styled priests and made Shah Bano, Imrana issues as a national calamity, the same media allowed the Jaimala and Meera Jasmine controversy to blow over giving a clean chit to the archaic practices of the Hindu priests.
The news room¦s editorial policy to soft peddle the issue of Hindu women's right to enter a temple also exposes the upper caste bias of India media that fixes priorities as to whom to demonize and whom to overlook.
There is no doubt that the acts of conservatism by priests of any religious faith have to be taken head on and there should not be any selective targeting. This however does not mean the progressive contributions of the Indian media that by and large remains the most fair and unbiased in the world.
There may be some who may question that when Muslim women are not allowed to enter their mosques why comments are made on fringe incidents that have little social ramification either to the Hindu religion or to the country.
On this one should be clear that Islam do not prohibit women from entering the mosque. This practice is South Asia specific and has to be seen in regional rather than religious terms. A very silent change in this direction is taking place in south Indian mosques particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu where separate chambers are being built for women to pray. One can witness this spectacle during the festival prayers when the entire family dress up to go to the mosque to underscore the point that both men and women are equal before the Lord whom they call ¦Allah.¦
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Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
-
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=1956&cid=6&sid=20
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Call it publicity, identity crisis or a social issue; two actresses stirred a hornet¦s nest in South India when they entered two separate temples in Kerela. They incurred the wrath of the temple priests, who termed their acts as 'defilement' of the shrines and asked for its ¦purification¦ through elaborate rituals.
The incident flared into a debate over women¦s rights regarding Hindu temples in vernaculars of south India but the so called national media that went hammer and tongs on Shah Bano, Imrana or Guriya's case tried to soft peddle the issue and thus put themselves in a spot.
In the first case, a 46-year-old Kannada actress Jaimala claimed that at 27 she entered the sanctum sanctorum of the Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala hills that bars women of 10 to 50 age group because its presiding deity is believed to be a celibate.
The Ayyappa temple is situated at about 4,000 feet above the sea level atop Sabarimala hill in Kerala. Every year during its annual pilgrimage session more than ten million devotees visit this shrine that does not bar people from other faiths. One has to brave an arduous trek of more than six kilometers through dense forest to climb to the temple top. Only persons carrying 'offering' are allowed to take the 18 steps to the sanctum sanctorum, others after paying obeisance from below take the separate route of exit.
Jaimala claims that some 19 years ago on a pilgrimage to Sabarimala, she was "pushed" into the sanctum sanctorum by the crowd and she caught hold the idol's feet to steady her self. The actress said she did not knew then what she was doing and had touched the feet of the idol because that's the way she was taught to pray at home. She later realized what this amounted to 'sin' and faxed an apology to the concerned authorities as her atonement.
The actress alleged that the shrine authorities had reneged on their promise of immediately destroying her confession by leaking it to the press and thus creating unnecessary controversy. Jaimala refuted the allegations that she did all this for money or publicity and insisted that her apology was an act of repentance.
The temple's board that manages the affairs of the shrine took strong exception to the actress claim and sent its own investigative team to probe the veracity of her statement. The investigating team however could not carry on the probe due to inter- state ramifications of the case and sought the involvement of the state government in the investigation.
The matter rocked the Kerala assembly and state government took a stand that it would not interfere in the customs followed by the temple including its ban on women from praying at the shrine.
This prompted a communist member to ask whether the practice of debarring women from visiting the temple did not amount to gender discrimination.
Contrary to Kerala government's stand, the Karnataka state assembly hailed Jaimala's action and a Congress member described the curbs on women visiting the temple as an "insult to the entire womenfolk and nothing short of practicing untouchability".
Controversy surrounding women's entry to Sabirimala is not new. A few years ago, actress Sudha Chandran had performed a dance programme below the 18 holy steps of the temple leading to a hue and cry. The temple¦s board moved the Kerala High Court seeking a direction in this issue and the court ruled that the authorities should disallow women from climbing to the hill shrine.
Close on the heels of Jaimala controversy, a Malayalam actress Jasmine Mary Joseph also known as Meera Jasmine, sparked off another row by offering prayers at a temple in Kerala where the entry of non-Hindus is prohibited. The temple authorities protested the Christian actress action and demanded a fat sum for the purification rituals to restore the "lost divinity¦ of the temple. Meera apologized her action and sent Rs 10,000 ($225) to the temple authorities and on hearing it to be less sent an additional Rs 15, 000 (over $ 350) with which the authorities performed elaborate purification rituals involving ten priests for two days in the shrine.
The two controversy when seen in the backdrop of the media treatment meted out to the Shah Bano, Imrana or Guriya case, tend to suggest the biased attitude of the so called mainstream media when it comes to the treating the issues related to the Hindu religion.
While the so called mainstream media showered heaps of muck on Muslim personal law and its self styled priests and made Shah Bano, Imrana issues as a national calamity, the same media allowed the Jaimala and Meera Jasmine controversy to blow over giving a clean chit to the archaic practices of the Hindu priests.
The news room¦s editorial policy to soft peddle the issue of Hindu women's right to enter a temple also exposes the upper caste bias of India media that fixes priorities as to whom to demonize and whom to overlook.
There is no doubt that the acts of conservatism by priests of any religious faith have to be taken head on and there should not be any selective targeting. This however does not mean the progressive contributions of the Indian media that by and large remains the most fair and unbiased in the world.
There may be some who may question that when Muslim women are not allowed to enter their mosques why comments are made on fringe incidents that have little social ramification either to the Hindu religion or to the country.
On this one should be clear that Islam do not prohibit women from entering the mosque. This practice is South Asia specific and has to be seen in regional rather than religious terms. A very silent change in this direction is taking place in south Indian mosques particularly in Kerala and Tamil Nadu where separate chambers are being built for women to pray. One can witness this spectacle during the festival prayers when the entire family dress up to go to the mosque to underscore the point that both men and women are equal before the Lord whom they call ¦Allah.¦
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
-
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=1956&cid=6&sid=20
Inchoate Images of Changing India-II
Inchoate Images of Changing India-II
Syed Ali Mujtaba
The news flashed on the front pages of the major dailies on Monday, March 5, 2007 about the arrest of some 280 Holi party revelers at a Farm House in the outskirts of Pune city for drug abuse is an opener to many Indians accustomed to reading starvation deaths, farmer suicides, and female feticides in the newspapers of the country.
The revelations though a freak incident, undoubtedly points at three significant societal changes taking place in our country. One, India is moving on the path of high-end economic model, second, drug abuse and alcoholism is on rise among the youth, third, certain section of the youth especially the yuppie crowd, is looking for promiscuous life style.
All these things come out glaringly if we recap the happenings at the rave party on the Sunday night. The participants had contacted the organizers through a website, www.isratrance.com that was promoting the event from February 27. They had received invitations via SMS, e-mails, and through Orkut chat, paying hefty sums through credit cards. Some of them traveled from far of places like Kolkatta, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad to attend the party.
The party allegedly was organized by suspected international drug peddlers from Pune and Mumbai had the guests served some 3000 `California drops,' an acid that is put on a stamp and chewed. Each drop cost between Rs. 350 and 500. The party peaked at about 2 a.m and the crowd was in high spirits dancing on the high voltage music, when a team of 100 policemen in plain clothes swooped on the venue and rounded up the revelers on charges of drug abuse and other crime.
This was the first incident of such a high numbers of persons rounded up for such offences in the country. Those arrested were mostly youth aged between 22 and 30 including 29 girls. There were ten foreigners, three African, three Palestinians; two each from Germany and Iran. The girls ranged from students to airhostesses to naval officers' daughters.
The items recovered from the spot included 2.5 kg of marijuana (ganja), 100 grams of hashish (charas), seven bottles of phenylfine hydrochloride, 15 boxes of beer, 17 cheelams, cigarettes and condoms, all valued around Rs. 5 lakh. The police also seized a Dolby Music System, 45 four wheelers, and 29 two-wheelers from the venue.
The big picture about the Sunday’s party is that India is moving on the path of high end economic model. A situation has arisen where too much money is chasing a very small section of the people. This symptom is evident since the liberalization of our country some fifteen years ago. The trickle down impact of the economy that was much touted really has not taken place; instead a small section of people has cornered a large portion of our wealth and resources. This has resulted in a free flow of money among certain section of the society. The kith and kin of such neo riches are loaded with money and they look for spending opportunities. Such rave parties to them are tempting proposition no matter what they may cost.
The other noticeable trend is the mushrooming of the IT offices, BPO’s, and call centers in the urban centers of India. These places mostly thrive on outsourcing of jobs from abroad provide tremendous opportunities for the urban youth. These days’ very young persons working in such offices are taking home hefty pay packets. With little expenses to bear, they have plenty of money to spare. Such people look for no-traditional source of entertainment. The rave parties are one hell of a place to spend the money as one could buy off the entire desires.
Such parties are also in demand to break their boredom of the insipid job that these flashy call centers, BPO's and IT offices offer. The jobs get on the nerves of the youth that are stuck there in lure of big money. Many are forced to work for long hours and some even find being reduced as slaves to the key boards and the monitor screens. Such persons at the first opportunity want to break their monotony and look for outings to unwind themselves.
The other fall out of the high end economy is growing drug addiction among certain section of the youth. Recently we had the high profile case of Rahul Mahajan, son of the BJP leader late Promod Mahajan, who had to battle for his life after taking drugs. The incident took place at a private party in his home where his father's secretary lost his life due overdose of the consumption of the drugs.
The Sunday Holi party confirms that the Rahul Mahajan’s case was not an isolated event to be brushed under the carpet. Such parties for drug consumption are regularly taking place in some urban centers among select circles of friends without anyone knowing about it.
The other offshoot of the high end economy is youth getting attracted towards alcoholism. It’s common to see youth these days reveling in company of friends with alcohol and drugs. Come any festival, Diwali, Dusherra, Holi or New Year, such activities is fashionable among the urban youth.
The high end economy is also triggering promiscuity among sexes particularly among the neo rich group. Recently there was the high profile case of teenagers making pornographic video through the cell phone camera and sending it on the SMS to their circles of friends. This in turn made rounds to many handsets in the country and abroad that it came to hog the limelight of the media. There was public outcry, Oh Boy is this India!
In the mad race to catch up with the West, the things that are least admirable are being aped by our young generation. The movies, the TV serials, the pictures on the dailies and the tabloids are all pushing the youth towards promiscuous life style.
Even though the Holi party was a freak incident of some adventures people caught off guard seeking fun, it certainly hints at the societal changes taking place in our country. It’s also indication of the fact that Indian values that hold high moral ground is loosing its sheen due to the onslaught of the western influences. The need is to cultivate the right family values among the young so that when they become adult they don’t go wayward like the Holi Hola revelers.
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
--
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2541&cid=6&sid=20
Syed Ali Mujtaba
The news flashed on the front pages of the major dailies on Monday, March 5, 2007 about the arrest of some 280 Holi party revelers at a Farm House in the outskirts of Pune city for drug abuse is an opener to many Indians accustomed to reading starvation deaths, farmer suicides, and female feticides in the newspapers of the country.
The revelations though a freak incident, undoubtedly points at three significant societal changes taking place in our country. One, India is moving on the path of high-end economic model, second, drug abuse and alcoholism is on rise among the youth, third, certain section of the youth especially the yuppie crowd, is looking for promiscuous life style.
All these things come out glaringly if we recap the happenings at the rave party on the Sunday night. The participants had contacted the organizers through a website, www.isratrance.com that was promoting the event from February 27. They had received invitations via SMS, e-mails, and through Orkut chat, paying hefty sums through credit cards. Some of them traveled from far of places like Kolkatta, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad to attend the party.
The party allegedly was organized by suspected international drug peddlers from Pune and Mumbai had the guests served some 3000 `California drops,' an acid that is put on a stamp and chewed. Each drop cost between Rs. 350 and 500. The party peaked at about 2 a.m and the crowd was in high spirits dancing on the high voltage music, when a team of 100 policemen in plain clothes swooped on the venue and rounded up the revelers on charges of drug abuse and other crime.
This was the first incident of such a high numbers of persons rounded up for such offences in the country. Those arrested were mostly youth aged between 22 and 30 including 29 girls. There were ten foreigners, three African, three Palestinians; two each from Germany and Iran. The girls ranged from students to airhostesses to naval officers' daughters.
The items recovered from the spot included 2.5 kg of marijuana (ganja), 100 grams of hashish (charas), seven bottles of phenylfine hydrochloride, 15 boxes of beer, 17 cheelams, cigarettes and condoms, all valued around Rs. 5 lakh. The police also seized a Dolby Music System, 45 four wheelers, and 29 two-wheelers from the venue.
The big picture about the Sunday’s party is that India is moving on the path of high end economic model. A situation has arisen where too much money is chasing a very small section of the people. This symptom is evident since the liberalization of our country some fifteen years ago. The trickle down impact of the economy that was much touted really has not taken place; instead a small section of people has cornered a large portion of our wealth and resources. This has resulted in a free flow of money among certain section of the society. The kith and kin of such neo riches are loaded with money and they look for spending opportunities. Such rave parties to them are tempting proposition no matter what they may cost.
The other noticeable trend is the mushrooming of the IT offices, BPO’s, and call centers in the urban centers of India. These places mostly thrive on outsourcing of jobs from abroad provide tremendous opportunities for the urban youth. These days’ very young persons working in such offices are taking home hefty pay packets. With little expenses to bear, they have plenty of money to spare. Such people look for no-traditional source of entertainment. The rave parties are one hell of a place to spend the money as one could buy off the entire desires.
Such parties are also in demand to break their boredom of the insipid job that these flashy call centers, BPO's and IT offices offer. The jobs get on the nerves of the youth that are stuck there in lure of big money. Many are forced to work for long hours and some even find being reduced as slaves to the key boards and the monitor screens. Such persons at the first opportunity want to break their monotony and look for outings to unwind themselves.
The other fall out of the high end economy is growing drug addiction among certain section of the youth. Recently we had the high profile case of Rahul Mahajan, son of the BJP leader late Promod Mahajan, who had to battle for his life after taking drugs. The incident took place at a private party in his home where his father's secretary lost his life due overdose of the consumption of the drugs.
The Sunday Holi party confirms that the Rahul Mahajan’s case was not an isolated event to be brushed under the carpet. Such parties for drug consumption are regularly taking place in some urban centers among select circles of friends without anyone knowing about it.
The other offshoot of the high end economy is youth getting attracted towards alcoholism. It’s common to see youth these days reveling in company of friends with alcohol and drugs. Come any festival, Diwali, Dusherra, Holi or New Year, such activities is fashionable among the urban youth.
The high end economy is also triggering promiscuity among sexes particularly among the neo rich group. Recently there was the high profile case of teenagers making pornographic video through the cell phone camera and sending it on the SMS to their circles of friends. This in turn made rounds to many handsets in the country and abroad that it came to hog the limelight of the media. There was public outcry, Oh Boy is this India!
In the mad race to catch up with the West, the things that are least admirable are being aped by our young generation. The movies, the TV serials, the pictures on the dailies and the tabloids are all pushing the youth towards promiscuous life style.
Even though the Holi party was a freak incident of some adventures people caught off guard seeking fun, it certainly hints at the societal changes taking place in our country. It’s also indication of the fact that Indian values that hold high moral ground is loosing its sheen due to the onslaught of the western influences. The need is to cultivate the right family values among the young so that when they become adult they don’t go wayward like the Holi Hola revelers.
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
--
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2541&cid=6&sid=20
Is honeymoon with peace over in Nagaland?
Is honeymoon with peace over in Nagaland?
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Somehow, the northeastern part of India seems to be never in the news radar. The situation in Nagaland seems to be getting complex by the day. Over 4,000 people have fled their houses in Zunheboto district in the state after a gun battle broke out between the rival militant factions — National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak Muivah) and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Khaplang).
Reportedly about 160 cadres of NSCN (IM) and about 100 cadres of the NSCN (Kahplang) engaged themselves in a fierce battle using rocket launchers, mortars, AK-47, AK-56 and snipers that killed two Khaplang faction cadres.
The situation in Zunheboto was brought to control after leaders of local NGOs of the powerful Sema tribe negotiated with the commanders of the warring factions. Following the negotiations the militants belonging to the two factions vacated their pitched positions in the residential areas of the town. The NSCN (Khaplang) called the retreat as honoring to the wishes of the Naga people.
The recent infighting was a direct fall out of the killing of a senior NSCN (IM) functionary Tatar Hoho by the Khaplang faction that had served quit notice to all Thangkuls living in Nagaland accusing them to be supporter of the IM faction. The threat took a serious turn when the Khaplang faction targeted some persons from Thangkul community following, which both groups attacked each other in different parts of Nagaland and Manipur.
Government of India called this infighting a systematic violation of the ground rules of the ceasefire agreement by both the factions. It had also appealed them to end the battle "peacefully and amicably' failing which it said it reserves the rights to use force to flush out all such militants.
The NSCN (IM) has been accusing New Delhi of tacitly helping the Khaplang faction to weaken their strength. They blamed the Indian army for the supplies of automatic weapons to the Khaplang faction that has led to their recent resurgence. The Indian army has stoutly denied all such allegations.
Nagaland is a mountainous state in the northeast of India bordering Myanmar with a population of nearly two million people that are predominantly Christians. Nagas are culturally and ethnically different from the rest of India. They are divided into 32 warring tribes. Nagas till a century ago were ‘Headhunters.’ It was under the British rule and due to the influence of American Baptist missionaries that Naga’s forged a strong sense of nationhood in the 19th century based on common traditions and Christian faith.
The Nagas were the first ethnic group in the northeast to revolt against New Delhi’s rule. Legendary Naga leader Angami Zapu Phizo and his Naga National Council (NNC) on August 14, 1947 asserted that the Nagas were never a part of India and demanded the status of a sovereign nationhood.
The NNC in May 1951 demanded a referendum to determine their future as a free nation claiming that 99 percent of the Nags support the idea of the right of self-determination. However, New Delhi summarily rejected their demand that marked the beginning of the long haul of the armed struggle in Nagaland.
By 1952, the NNC launched a guerrilla movement, attacking villages and Indian security posts. In 1956, Phizo formed a parallel government called the Naga federal government (NFG) and its armed wing, Naga federal army (NFA).
The Indian government in April 1956 launched a military crackdown on Naga insurgents and Phizo sneaked into then East Pakistan and then to London. He led the NNC from there until his death in 1990.
India made efforts to broker peace with the NNC and in 1963 and gave statehood to Nagaland on September 6, 1964. A ceasefire was signed between the Indian government and the NNC. But despite the truce, the Naga rebels continued their offensives that made the government to abrogate the truce in 1969.
However by then chinks had appeared in the Naga struggle. Members of the powerful Sema tribe broke away and in 1968 formed the revolutionary government of Nagaland (RGN) led by self-styled ‘General Kaito’.
In 1971, India banned three prominent Naga groups; the NNC, NFG and NFA and Indian troops also launched a massive anti-insurgency operation. In 1973 for the first Army action forced the guerrillas to surrender. On August 14, 1973, the RGN, under the leadership of General Zuheto Swu, joined the Indian mainstream and a number of its cadres were inducted into the Border Security Force.
Then came the Shillong Accord that was signed on November 11, 1975. The Naga rebels led by Kevi Yally, the younger brother of Phizo, accepted the Indian constitution. However some people within the NNC opposed the accord and prominent among them were T. Muivah, Isak Swu and S. Khaplang.
Muivah was then NNC general secretary and Swu a senior minister. Khaplang, a Burmese Naga, was president of the Eastern Nagaland Revolutionary Council, a wing of the NNC formed to protect Naga interests in Burma.
There was another twist in the Naga tale when the trio of Muivah, Swu and Khaplang decided to sever ties with their parent body and formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980. Swu was made the chairman, Khaplang the vice-chairman and Muivah the general secretary. The NSCN emerged as the most powerful and radical rebel army in Nagaland, sidelining the NNC and NFG.
The NSCN-led insurgency became bloody over the years. But soon the NSCN was mired in internal problems, with leaders differing on major policy issues on clan and tribal lines. The NSCN split in 1988 with Khaplang forming a parallel NSCN (Khaplang). By 1992, the two NSCN factions were engaged in a fratricidal war over territorial supremacy.
The two Naga rebel groups then signed a ceasefire agreement with the Indian government in 1997. Since then the NSCN (IM) have been engaged in negotiations with the government of India.
The main demand of NSCN-IM is to create a ‘Greater Nagaland’ by uniting 1.2 million Nagas through the unification of Naga-dominated areas in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh states.
Nagas second demand is to draft a separate Constitution, independent of the Indian constitution. They are ready to incorporate some important sections of the Indian constitution but would still like to have their own constitution.
The government of India has serious objections to both the demands. It’s not in favor of redrawing the boundaries of its northeast states for the territorial unification of Nagaland. The affected states have already rejected to entertain any such idea and there were protests against it in Manipur some time back. The Indian government is also not ready to concede anything thing on sovereignty issue least a separate constitution for Nagaland.
India and the NSCN-IM so far have held more than 50 rounds of negotiations in the past nine years but have made no substantial progress in a in a bid to solve one of the oldest disputes in South Asia that has so far claimed more than 25,000 lives.
Given the facts and the hard realities on the ground one wonders whether the honeymoon with peace in Nagaland is over.
--Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
-
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2272&cid=6&sid=20
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Somehow, the northeastern part of India seems to be never in the news radar. The situation in Nagaland seems to be getting complex by the day. Over 4,000 people have fled their houses in Zunheboto district in the state after a gun battle broke out between the rival militant factions — National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak Muivah) and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Khaplang).
Reportedly about 160 cadres of NSCN (IM) and about 100 cadres of the NSCN (Kahplang) engaged themselves in a fierce battle using rocket launchers, mortars, AK-47, AK-56 and snipers that killed two Khaplang faction cadres.
The situation in Zunheboto was brought to control after leaders of local NGOs of the powerful Sema tribe negotiated with the commanders of the warring factions. Following the negotiations the militants belonging to the two factions vacated their pitched positions in the residential areas of the town. The NSCN (Khaplang) called the retreat as honoring to the wishes of the Naga people.
The recent infighting was a direct fall out of the killing of a senior NSCN (IM) functionary Tatar Hoho by the Khaplang faction that had served quit notice to all Thangkuls living in Nagaland accusing them to be supporter of the IM faction. The threat took a serious turn when the Khaplang faction targeted some persons from Thangkul community following, which both groups attacked each other in different parts of Nagaland and Manipur.
Government of India called this infighting a systematic violation of the ground rules of the ceasefire agreement by both the factions. It had also appealed them to end the battle "peacefully and amicably' failing which it said it reserves the rights to use force to flush out all such militants.
The NSCN (IM) has been accusing New Delhi of tacitly helping the Khaplang faction to weaken their strength. They blamed the Indian army for the supplies of automatic weapons to the Khaplang faction that has led to their recent resurgence. The Indian army has stoutly denied all such allegations.
Nagaland is a mountainous state in the northeast of India bordering Myanmar with a population of nearly two million people that are predominantly Christians. Nagas are culturally and ethnically different from the rest of India. They are divided into 32 warring tribes. Nagas till a century ago were ‘Headhunters.’ It was under the British rule and due to the influence of American Baptist missionaries that Naga’s forged a strong sense of nationhood in the 19th century based on common traditions and Christian faith.
The Nagas were the first ethnic group in the northeast to revolt against New Delhi’s rule. Legendary Naga leader Angami Zapu Phizo and his Naga National Council (NNC) on August 14, 1947 asserted that the Nagas were never a part of India and demanded the status of a sovereign nationhood.
The NNC in May 1951 demanded a referendum to determine their future as a free nation claiming that 99 percent of the Nags support the idea of the right of self-determination. However, New Delhi summarily rejected their demand that marked the beginning of the long haul of the armed struggle in Nagaland.
By 1952, the NNC launched a guerrilla movement, attacking villages and Indian security posts. In 1956, Phizo formed a parallel government called the Naga federal government (NFG) and its armed wing, Naga federal army (NFA).
The Indian government in April 1956 launched a military crackdown on Naga insurgents and Phizo sneaked into then East Pakistan and then to London. He led the NNC from there until his death in 1990.
India made efforts to broker peace with the NNC and in 1963 and gave statehood to Nagaland on September 6, 1964. A ceasefire was signed between the Indian government and the NNC. But despite the truce, the Naga rebels continued their offensives that made the government to abrogate the truce in 1969.
However by then chinks had appeared in the Naga struggle. Members of the powerful Sema tribe broke away and in 1968 formed the revolutionary government of Nagaland (RGN) led by self-styled ‘General Kaito’.
In 1971, India banned three prominent Naga groups; the NNC, NFG and NFA and Indian troops also launched a massive anti-insurgency operation. In 1973 for the first Army action forced the guerrillas to surrender. On August 14, 1973, the RGN, under the leadership of General Zuheto Swu, joined the Indian mainstream and a number of its cadres were inducted into the Border Security Force.
Then came the Shillong Accord that was signed on November 11, 1975. The Naga rebels led by Kevi Yally, the younger brother of Phizo, accepted the Indian constitution. However some people within the NNC opposed the accord and prominent among them were T. Muivah, Isak Swu and S. Khaplang.
Muivah was then NNC general secretary and Swu a senior minister. Khaplang, a Burmese Naga, was president of the Eastern Nagaland Revolutionary Council, a wing of the NNC formed to protect Naga interests in Burma.
There was another twist in the Naga tale when the trio of Muivah, Swu and Khaplang decided to sever ties with their parent body and formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980. Swu was made the chairman, Khaplang the vice-chairman and Muivah the general secretary. The NSCN emerged as the most powerful and radical rebel army in Nagaland, sidelining the NNC and NFG.
The NSCN-led insurgency became bloody over the years. But soon the NSCN was mired in internal problems, with leaders differing on major policy issues on clan and tribal lines. The NSCN split in 1988 with Khaplang forming a parallel NSCN (Khaplang). By 1992, the two NSCN factions were engaged in a fratricidal war over territorial supremacy.
The two Naga rebel groups then signed a ceasefire agreement with the Indian government in 1997. Since then the NSCN (IM) have been engaged in negotiations with the government of India.
The main demand of NSCN-IM is to create a ‘Greater Nagaland’ by uniting 1.2 million Nagas through the unification of Naga-dominated areas in Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh states.
Nagas second demand is to draft a separate Constitution, independent of the Indian constitution. They are ready to incorporate some important sections of the Indian constitution but would still like to have their own constitution.
The government of India has serious objections to both the demands. It’s not in favor of redrawing the boundaries of its northeast states for the territorial unification of Nagaland. The affected states have already rejected to entertain any such idea and there were protests against it in Manipur some time back. The Indian government is also not ready to concede anything thing on sovereignty issue least a separate constitution for Nagaland.
India and the NSCN-IM so far have held more than 50 rounds of negotiations in the past nine years but have made no substantial progress in a in a bid to solve one of the oldest disputes in South Asia that has so far claimed more than 25,000 lives.
Given the facts and the hard realities on the ground one wonders whether the honeymoon with peace in Nagaland is over.
--Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
-
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2272&cid=6&sid=20
Nagaland peace talks still elusive
Nagaland peace talks still elusive
Syed Ali Mujtaba
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) has once again announced the extension of the ceasefire for one year following three days parleys with the Indian negotiators at Bangkok on July 31, 2006.
Speculation were rife that the customary extension of the ceasefire done every year since it was first signed in 1997 may not be made because the rebels in January had extended the truce only for six months, instead of a year.
The theory gained currency because a day before the talks were to commence, NSCN-IM leaders, Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, threatened not to extend the truce, accusing the Indian Army of covertly supplying weapons to a rival outfit to provoke a ‘fratricidal war.’
However, better sense prevailed in the end and the rebels agreed to continue with peace talks even tough complaining that little progress has been made on their core demands.
The main demand of NSCN-IM is to create a ‘Greater Nagaland’ by uniting 1.2 million Nagas through the unification of Naga-dominated areas in northeast of India. They also want a separate Naga Constitution, independent of the Indian constitution but are not totally opposed to incorporating some important sections of the Indian constitution.
Indian states of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh that are going to be affected have already rejected the NSCN-IM demand. The Union government also has serious objections to the Naga’s rights to sovereignty and claim to redraw the boundaries of the northeast states for their territorial unification.
India and the NSCN-IM held at least 50 rounds of negotiations in the past nine years but has not made any substantial progress in a in a bid to solve this problem.
Nagaland is a mountainous state bordering Myanmar with a population of nearly two million people that are predominantly Christians. The Naga problem is one of the oldest disputers in South Asia and since the independence of India has claimed more than 25,000 lives.
The genesis of the Naga insurgency dates back a day before India's freedom. The Nagas were the first ethnic group in the northeast to revolt against New Delhi’s rule. Legendary Naga leader Angami Zapu Phizo and his Naga National Council (NNC) on August 14, 1947, had asserted that the Nagas were never a part of India.
By 1950 the NNC formally announced its desire to form a sovereign or independent Naga nation, marking the beginning of the armed struggle in Nagaland.
The NNC in May 1951 claimed that 99 percent of the Naga tribals and Christians have supported a referendum to determine their future as a free nation. This was summarily rejected by New Delhi.
By 1952, the NNC launched a guerrilla movement, attacking villages and security posts to ignite a violent chapter in the history of Nagaland.
In 1956, Phizo formed a parallel government called the Naga federal government (NFG) and its armed wing, Naga federal army (NFA). The Indian government in April 1956 launched a military crackdown in the erstwhile Naga hill districts in the undivided Assam. Phizo sneaked into then East Pakistan and then to London. Since then, until his death in 1990, he led the NNC from London.
In 1963, Nagaland attained statehood and India made efforts to broker peace with the NNC. People like Jayaprakash Narayan and Rev. Michael Scott were then involved in the Naga peace process.
On Sep 6, 1964, a ceasefire was signed between the Indian government and the NNC. Six rounds of talks were held but despite the truce, the Naga rebels continued their offensives that made the government to abrogate the truce in 1969.
By then chinks had appeared in the Naga struggle. Members of the powerful Sema tribe broke away and in 1968 formed the revolutionary government of Nagaland (RGN) led by self-styled ‘General Kaito’.
In 1971, India banned three prominent Naga groups; the NNC, NFG and NFA. Indian troops also launched a massive anti-insurgency operation in 1973 and for the first time were able to force the guerrillas to surrender. On August 14, 1973, the RGN, under the leadership of General Zuheto Swu, joined the Indian mainstream with a number of its cadres inducted into the Border Security Force.
Apart from surrender, the army operations forced the NNC to talk peace with the government. As a result, Shillong Accord was signed on November 11, 1975, with the Naga rebels led by Kevi Yally, the younger brother of Phizo, accepting the Indian constitution.
But some people within the NNC opposed the accord and prominent among them were T. Muivah, Isak Swu and S. Khaplang.
Muivah was then NNC general secretary and Swu a senior minister. Khaplang, a Burmese Naga, was president of the Eastern Nagaland Revolutionary Council, a wing of the NNC formed to protect Naga interests in Burma.
There was another twist in the Naga tale when the trio of Muivah, Swu and Khaplang decided to sever ties with their parent body and formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980.
Swu was made the chairman, Khaplang the vice-chairman and Muivah the general secretary.
The NSCN emerged as the most powerful and radical rebel army in Nagaland, sidelining the NNC and NFG.
The NSCN-led insurgency became bloody over the years. But soon the NSCN was mired in internal problems, with leaders differing on major policy issues on clan and tribal lines.
The NSCN split in 1988 with Khaplang forming a parallel NSCN (Khaplang). By 1992, the two NSCN factions were engaged in a fratricidal war over territorial supremacy.
This provided New Delhi the much-needed weapon to tackle insurgency by forcing the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) to come to the negotiating table. A ceasefire accord was signed August 1, 1997.
Since then the NSCN-IM and New Delhi have held at least 50 rounds of peace talks at Switzerland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and elsewhere.
A similar truce was also signed with the NSCN (Khaplang) faction in April 2001 but formal peace talks with that outfit are yet to begin. Now, after prolonged twists and turns in the Naga rigmarole, the mood is one of guarded optimism. The Nagas want 'honorable settlement' to end their long drawn struggle and to establish an enduring peace.
However, the slow progress of the peace talks has brought a mood of 'belligerency’ in the NSCN-IM camp. The joint statement issued by Muivah and New Delhi’s chief peace negotiator K. Padmanabhaiah has catapulted this feeling since the talks early this year. The statement says that both sides recognized that ‘there has been insufficient progress in the talks’ and to carry the political negotiations forward what is required is ‘new initiatives.’
The NSCN-IM cadre in Nagaland wants to know what are the ‘new initiatives’ New Delhi is taking to solve their problem. Some openly have expressed dissatisfaction with the commitments made by the Indian government.
Indian government says it’s aware of the 'impatient mood’ of the Naga but at the same time has little option than to adopt a cautious approach to handle this sensitive issue.
With little progress in the Naga peace talks being made and the ceasefire getting repeated extension, the signs of another chapter of internecine struggle breaking loose, looms large over the horizon of Nagaland.
However, hammering out 'honorable' settlement with the Nagas is a major challenge that’s faced by India today. At the same time, truce with the Nagas is crucial for the peace in the seven northeast states that connects India by a thin strip of land called ‘chicken’s neck.’ Added to it is the northeast region of India is home to dozens of insurgent groups.
If India really wants to address the problem of insurgency in its northeast region, it has to rework on the solutions to the Naga problem. Its casual approach may always elude any permanent tranquility in its northeast region that’s so important for its development. It may also have a telling impact on India’s look east policies.
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
--
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2018&cid=6&sid=20
Syed Ali Mujtaba
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) has once again announced the extension of the ceasefire for one year following three days parleys with the Indian negotiators at Bangkok on July 31, 2006.
Speculation were rife that the customary extension of the ceasefire done every year since it was first signed in 1997 may not be made because the rebels in January had extended the truce only for six months, instead of a year.
The theory gained currency because a day before the talks were to commence, NSCN-IM leaders, Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah, threatened not to extend the truce, accusing the Indian Army of covertly supplying weapons to a rival outfit to provoke a ‘fratricidal war.’
However, better sense prevailed in the end and the rebels agreed to continue with peace talks even tough complaining that little progress has been made on their core demands.
The main demand of NSCN-IM is to create a ‘Greater Nagaland’ by uniting 1.2 million Nagas through the unification of Naga-dominated areas in northeast of India. They also want a separate Naga Constitution, independent of the Indian constitution but are not totally opposed to incorporating some important sections of the Indian constitution.
Indian states of Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh that are going to be affected have already rejected the NSCN-IM demand. The Union government also has serious objections to the Naga’s rights to sovereignty and claim to redraw the boundaries of the northeast states for their territorial unification.
India and the NSCN-IM held at least 50 rounds of negotiations in the past nine years but has not made any substantial progress in a in a bid to solve this problem.
Nagaland is a mountainous state bordering Myanmar with a population of nearly two million people that are predominantly Christians. The Naga problem is one of the oldest disputers in South Asia and since the independence of India has claimed more than 25,000 lives.
The genesis of the Naga insurgency dates back a day before India's freedom. The Nagas were the first ethnic group in the northeast to revolt against New Delhi’s rule. Legendary Naga leader Angami Zapu Phizo and his Naga National Council (NNC) on August 14, 1947, had asserted that the Nagas were never a part of India.
By 1950 the NNC formally announced its desire to form a sovereign or independent Naga nation, marking the beginning of the armed struggle in Nagaland.
The NNC in May 1951 claimed that 99 percent of the Naga tribals and Christians have supported a referendum to determine their future as a free nation. This was summarily rejected by New Delhi.
By 1952, the NNC launched a guerrilla movement, attacking villages and security posts to ignite a violent chapter in the history of Nagaland.
In 1956, Phizo formed a parallel government called the Naga federal government (NFG) and its armed wing, Naga federal army (NFA). The Indian government in April 1956 launched a military crackdown in the erstwhile Naga hill districts in the undivided Assam. Phizo sneaked into then East Pakistan and then to London. Since then, until his death in 1990, he led the NNC from London.
In 1963, Nagaland attained statehood and India made efforts to broker peace with the NNC. People like Jayaprakash Narayan and Rev. Michael Scott were then involved in the Naga peace process.
On Sep 6, 1964, a ceasefire was signed between the Indian government and the NNC. Six rounds of talks were held but despite the truce, the Naga rebels continued their offensives that made the government to abrogate the truce in 1969.
By then chinks had appeared in the Naga struggle. Members of the powerful Sema tribe broke away and in 1968 formed the revolutionary government of Nagaland (RGN) led by self-styled ‘General Kaito’.
In 1971, India banned three prominent Naga groups; the NNC, NFG and NFA. Indian troops also launched a massive anti-insurgency operation in 1973 and for the first time were able to force the guerrillas to surrender. On August 14, 1973, the RGN, under the leadership of General Zuheto Swu, joined the Indian mainstream with a number of its cadres inducted into the Border Security Force.
Apart from surrender, the army operations forced the NNC to talk peace with the government. As a result, Shillong Accord was signed on November 11, 1975, with the Naga rebels led by Kevi Yally, the younger brother of Phizo, accepting the Indian constitution.
But some people within the NNC opposed the accord and prominent among them were T. Muivah, Isak Swu and S. Khaplang.
Muivah was then NNC general secretary and Swu a senior minister. Khaplang, a Burmese Naga, was president of the Eastern Nagaland Revolutionary Council, a wing of the NNC formed to protect Naga interests in Burma.
There was another twist in the Naga tale when the trio of Muivah, Swu and Khaplang decided to sever ties with their parent body and formed the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980.
Swu was made the chairman, Khaplang the vice-chairman and Muivah the general secretary.
The NSCN emerged as the most powerful and radical rebel army in Nagaland, sidelining the NNC and NFG.
The NSCN-led insurgency became bloody over the years. But soon the NSCN was mired in internal problems, with leaders differing on major policy issues on clan and tribal lines.
The NSCN split in 1988 with Khaplang forming a parallel NSCN (Khaplang). By 1992, the two NSCN factions were engaged in a fratricidal war over territorial supremacy.
This provided New Delhi the much-needed weapon to tackle insurgency by forcing the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) to come to the negotiating table. A ceasefire accord was signed August 1, 1997.
Since then the NSCN-IM and New Delhi have held at least 50 rounds of peace talks at Switzerland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and elsewhere.
A similar truce was also signed with the NSCN (Khaplang) faction in April 2001 but formal peace talks with that outfit are yet to begin. Now, after prolonged twists and turns in the Naga rigmarole, the mood is one of guarded optimism. The Nagas want 'honorable settlement' to end their long drawn struggle and to establish an enduring peace.
However, the slow progress of the peace talks has brought a mood of 'belligerency’ in the NSCN-IM camp. The joint statement issued by Muivah and New Delhi’s chief peace negotiator K. Padmanabhaiah has catapulted this feeling since the talks early this year. The statement says that both sides recognized that ‘there has been insufficient progress in the talks’ and to carry the political negotiations forward what is required is ‘new initiatives.’
The NSCN-IM cadre in Nagaland wants to know what are the ‘new initiatives’ New Delhi is taking to solve their problem. Some openly have expressed dissatisfaction with the commitments made by the Indian government.
Indian government says it’s aware of the 'impatient mood’ of the Naga but at the same time has little option than to adopt a cautious approach to handle this sensitive issue.
With little progress in the Naga peace talks being made and the ceasefire getting repeated extension, the signs of another chapter of internecine struggle breaking loose, looms large over the horizon of Nagaland.
However, hammering out 'honorable' settlement with the Nagas is a major challenge that’s faced by India today. At the same time, truce with the Nagas is crucial for the peace in the seven northeast states that connects India by a thin strip of land called ‘chicken’s neck.’ Added to it is the northeast region of India is home to dozens of insurgent groups.
If India really wants to address the problem of insurgency in its northeast region, it has to rework on the solutions to the Naga problem. Its casual approach may always elude any permanent tranquility in its northeast region that’s so important for its development. It may also have a telling impact on India’s look east policies.
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
--
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=2018&cid=6&sid=20
Bollywood churning out sexed up scripts
Bollywood churning out sexed up scripts
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Bollywood that symbolizes Indian cinema follow a horde mentality. It always looks for a set recipe to churn out intoxicant to make viewers glued on their seats in the dark room of the talkies ogling at the sliver screen. The hit formula is rare to strike upon but once it’s bumped on, there is a beeline of filmmakers jumping into the bandwagon to exploit it to its hilt. The whole effort then goes on to package it in all its permutation and combinations to cater to the entertainment hungry Indian audiences.
However, this is not to say that Bollywood only sells repetitive scripts in the five hundred odd movies it produces every year. There were many success stories that are based on a variety of themes and not necessarily on a set formula. If we look back, the trend suggests, in a particular genre some themes remained dominant and many movies were made based on a pet theme. For instance in the fifties and the sixties it was the poverty, squalor and umpteen hardship that formed the base material of the movies. At that time the audience connected themselves with the sorrows and the miseries around them with the protagonist on screen.
In seventies and eighties the trend changed to plots that portrayed angry young man’s fight against the injustices of the society. Laced under different plots, it was ‘David vs Goliath’ fight; the audience enjoyed watching on the screen.
The new recipe in nineties that’s struck upon is to ‘sex up the script,’ pump up with item songs of semi clad women; throw up some ‘Baywatch’ shots on the road, make the female dress and undress, over doze it with heavy necking scenes, bottle it up in different plots… and there you go…. a sizzler is produced.
Act two; run the promos of the dare-bare acts on the TV and watch the rush to the talkies that would keep the cash register ringing. The sheer number of such movies suggests that every one in Bollywood is making money selling the hot formula of ‘sexed-up’ scripts. Here, we look at the plots of some of the movies that are made in recent past.
Raaz (secret): A supernatural thriller that takes the viewer through a series of suspenseful occurrences. It reflects a fascination for Hitchcock's classic thrillers ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Psycho’ but at the same time chauvinistically uses sex to prop up the horror aspect.
Paap (sin): When the religious head from a serene monastery gets a vision about his Master's reincarnation as a six-year-old boy in India’s capital, a young girl is sent to New Delhi fetch the child. But the boy gets involved in a murder and a righteous police officer bails him out. In this absorbing drama the small town girl is drawn into a ‘sinful’ relation with the police officer.
Khwahish (desire): The hero is a super-rich brat and heroine is the daughter of a chicken farmer. The film starts with an unusual scene where the boy meets the girl in a shop and has an argument over buying the same stuff. After they are through with their shopping, they realize that there is more to their relationship than fighting over a silly stuff. Love happens, and so do 17 kisses. Yes, some one counted it. Sex never goes unaccounted?
Double-Cross: The wife pushes her husband to sleep with women and act in blue films. She forces her husband to be a gigolo. The husband becomes a hustler since he has to support his wife and also his family back home in Punjab. The husband falls in love with a stripper, who subsequently beds one of her clients to free her lover from the clutches of his wife. Now, that’s what is called double crossed, isn’t it?
Girlfriend: It’s about two lesbian females who are friends and have separate boy friends. However, the boys are upset the female are not responsive to opposite sex. Much to their chagrin they discover their Girlfriends are lesbian. There is no denying the fact that this movie has taken the theme of lesbianism out of the closet but in attempting to do so the script has been sexed up so much that vulgarity and sleaze trickles from top.
Souten (other woman): The flick once again tackles the piping hot story of ‘the other woman.’ In this case, the guy first gets into a physical relationship with a middle-aged woman and then falls in love with her stepdaughter. In the end both females fight it out for the same guy. What more sexed up script can be than this.
Naughty Boy: The movie depicts a father-son duo trying to woo the same girl. The film created much stir, what with a pre release MMS controversy showing the female lead in some real ‘sexed up’ poses.
Madhubala: It’s a story of an aspiring actress who wants to make it big in Bollywood. With the help of her friend she meets an award-winning director who indulge in physical relationship with her promising heroine's role and even marriage. The dare-bare act of the aspiring actress is all ‘sexed up.’
Tauba Tauba: It deals with the subject of voyeurism and revolves around two young boys who derive sexual gratification from observing the naked bodies of girls, especially from secret vantage points. But, there’s also a revenge plot here, minus the blood and gore.
Murder: It’s a murder mystery where on a rainy day, the heroine bumps into an old buddy and this brings back memories of the past as both had been in love before they got married. The two get into an extra marital fling and the plot gets all ‘sexed up.’ This movie struck gold.
Zeher (poison): Understandably the makers of ‘Murder’ wanted to repeat its success story and made ‘Zeher’ with enough sex to spice up the narrative. No wonder the movie is all about extra-marital affairs and deceit with higher dose on the sex count.
Hawas (lust): Extra-marital affairs and marital discord seem to be the most preferred flavor of these sex flicks. ‘Hawas’ peeps into the bedroom of three individuals and offers a colorful story laced up with generous dose of sex.
Aksar (often): If ‘Murder’ Zeher and ‘Hawas’ spoke of married women cheating on their husbands behind their back, ‘Aksar’ goes a step further where the wife blatantly cheats on her husband right in front of his eyes. Isn’t that a great recipe for ‘sexed up’ flick?
Oops: That’s the name of the movie that delves into the subject of loneliness and frustrations of an ageing woman. In spite of the lack of any serious demand for sex in its storyline, a good dose of it is added to spice up the plot. What could have been a nice narrative like ‘36 Chowrangie lane’ ends up being a C grade movie.
Chameli: A frustrated executive, a prostitute and a stormy night, isn’t it a perfect recipe for a sexed up plot. ‘Chameli’ is a one-night stand story that relies more on ‘sexed up’ antics than on the subject of stress and frustration of modern days executives face in the daily course of work.
Ab Bas (that’s enough): Flicked from the J-Lo starrer ‘Enough’, the movie is about a wife who walks out of her marriage and when pushed against the wall, decides to take matters into her own hands.
Inteqam (revenge): This again is inspired from ‘Basic Instinct’ and the result is ‘Inteqam- The perfect game’. As is evident from the plot the protagonists, do a fair job of ’sexing up’ to steam up the frontbenchers.
Tum (You): A 'Summer of 42' kind of film with the theme of a young man falling in love with an elderly woman but as the plot thickens, it changes gears and deviates into just another ‘sexed up’ thriller.
Ek Chhoti Si Love Story: A story of a young boy’s fascination for an elder woman. The film’s narrative is intended at creating a drama that builds up the expectation for a sensitive film.
However, the sensitivity part is lost in between and commercial leverage sex up the proceedings.
One can go on adding the list of such movies but then one also needs to ponder where this gamut of sex, seduction and sleaze is heading for?
Sociologically speaking a large section of male population remains single for long time and forced to suppress their baser instincts for economic and social reasons. Such movies cater to these people who come to the talkies to douse their flames.
The other reason for mushrooming of such movies is ride on the wave of the economic liberalization of the country. These movies are mirror images of a society that’s moving at a breath neck speed in the wake of liberalization. To many who have found some comfort level in the society such movies are pleasant past time. To others who are unable to catch up the real fun watching such movies is pleasure for the eyes.
With filmmakers striking gold making movies with sexed up scripts this theme is going to be dominant till it run its course. However, like other themes this too is a passing phenomenon until Bollywood discover another recipe to dump such scripts.
The bottom line in the making of such movies is; the show must go on for those who cry Dil mange more!
----
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
--
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=1850&cid=6&sid=20
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Bollywood that symbolizes Indian cinema follow a horde mentality. It always looks for a set recipe to churn out intoxicant to make viewers glued on their seats in the dark room of the talkies ogling at the sliver screen. The hit formula is rare to strike upon but once it’s bumped on, there is a beeline of filmmakers jumping into the bandwagon to exploit it to its hilt. The whole effort then goes on to package it in all its permutation and combinations to cater to the entertainment hungry Indian audiences.
However, this is not to say that Bollywood only sells repetitive scripts in the five hundred odd movies it produces every year. There were many success stories that are based on a variety of themes and not necessarily on a set formula. If we look back, the trend suggests, in a particular genre some themes remained dominant and many movies were made based on a pet theme. For instance in the fifties and the sixties it was the poverty, squalor and umpteen hardship that formed the base material of the movies. At that time the audience connected themselves with the sorrows and the miseries around them with the protagonist on screen.
In seventies and eighties the trend changed to plots that portrayed angry young man’s fight against the injustices of the society. Laced under different plots, it was ‘David vs Goliath’ fight; the audience enjoyed watching on the screen.
The new recipe in nineties that’s struck upon is to ‘sex up the script,’ pump up with item songs of semi clad women; throw up some ‘Baywatch’ shots on the road, make the female dress and undress, over doze it with heavy necking scenes, bottle it up in different plots… and there you go…. a sizzler is produced.
Act two; run the promos of the dare-bare acts on the TV and watch the rush to the talkies that would keep the cash register ringing. The sheer number of such movies suggests that every one in Bollywood is making money selling the hot formula of ‘sexed-up’ scripts. Here, we look at the plots of some of the movies that are made in recent past.
Raaz (secret): A supernatural thriller that takes the viewer through a series of suspenseful occurrences. It reflects a fascination for Hitchcock's classic thrillers ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Psycho’ but at the same time chauvinistically uses sex to prop up the horror aspect.
Paap (sin): When the religious head from a serene monastery gets a vision about his Master's reincarnation as a six-year-old boy in India’s capital, a young girl is sent to New Delhi fetch the child. But the boy gets involved in a murder and a righteous police officer bails him out. In this absorbing drama the small town girl is drawn into a ‘sinful’ relation with the police officer.
Khwahish (desire): The hero is a super-rich brat and heroine is the daughter of a chicken farmer. The film starts with an unusual scene where the boy meets the girl in a shop and has an argument over buying the same stuff. After they are through with their shopping, they realize that there is more to their relationship than fighting over a silly stuff. Love happens, and so do 17 kisses. Yes, some one counted it. Sex never goes unaccounted?
Double-Cross: The wife pushes her husband to sleep with women and act in blue films. She forces her husband to be a gigolo. The husband becomes a hustler since he has to support his wife and also his family back home in Punjab. The husband falls in love with a stripper, who subsequently beds one of her clients to free her lover from the clutches of his wife. Now, that’s what is called double crossed, isn’t it?
Girlfriend: It’s about two lesbian females who are friends and have separate boy friends. However, the boys are upset the female are not responsive to opposite sex. Much to their chagrin they discover their Girlfriends are lesbian. There is no denying the fact that this movie has taken the theme of lesbianism out of the closet but in attempting to do so the script has been sexed up so much that vulgarity and sleaze trickles from top.
Souten (other woman): The flick once again tackles the piping hot story of ‘the other woman.’ In this case, the guy first gets into a physical relationship with a middle-aged woman and then falls in love with her stepdaughter. In the end both females fight it out for the same guy. What more sexed up script can be than this.
Naughty Boy: The movie depicts a father-son duo trying to woo the same girl. The film created much stir, what with a pre release MMS controversy showing the female lead in some real ‘sexed up’ poses.
Madhubala: It’s a story of an aspiring actress who wants to make it big in Bollywood. With the help of her friend she meets an award-winning director who indulge in physical relationship with her promising heroine's role and even marriage. The dare-bare act of the aspiring actress is all ‘sexed up.’
Tauba Tauba: It deals with the subject of voyeurism and revolves around two young boys who derive sexual gratification from observing the naked bodies of girls, especially from secret vantage points. But, there’s also a revenge plot here, minus the blood and gore.
Murder: It’s a murder mystery where on a rainy day, the heroine bumps into an old buddy and this brings back memories of the past as both had been in love before they got married. The two get into an extra marital fling and the plot gets all ‘sexed up.’ This movie struck gold.
Zeher (poison): Understandably the makers of ‘Murder’ wanted to repeat its success story and made ‘Zeher’ with enough sex to spice up the narrative. No wonder the movie is all about extra-marital affairs and deceit with higher dose on the sex count.
Hawas (lust): Extra-marital affairs and marital discord seem to be the most preferred flavor of these sex flicks. ‘Hawas’ peeps into the bedroom of three individuals and offers a colorful story laced up with generous dose of sex.
Aksar (often): If ‘Murder’ Zeher and ‘Hawas’ spoke of married women cheating on their husbands behind their back, ‘Aksar’ goes a step further where the wife blatantly cheats on her husband right in front of his eyes. Isn’t that a great recipe for ‘sexed up’ flick?
Oops: That’s the name of the movie that delves into the subject of loneliness and frustrations of an ageing woman. In spite of the lack of any serious demand for sex in its storyline, a good dose of it is added to spice up the plot. What could have been a nice narrative like ‘36 Chowrangie lane’ ends up being a C grade movie.
Chameli: A frustrated executive, a prostitute and a stormy night, isn’t it a perfect recipe for a sexed up plot. ‘Chameli’ is a one-night stand story that relies more on ‘sexed up’ antics than on the subject of stress and frustration of modern days executives face in the daily course of work.
Ab Bas (that’s enough): Flicked from the J-Lo starrer ‘Enough’, the movie is about a wife who walks out of her marriage and when pushed against the wall, decides to take matters into her own hands.
Inteqam (revenge): This again is inspired from ‘Basic Instinct’ and the result is ‘Inteqam- The perfect game’. As is evident from the plot the protagonists, do a fair job of ’sexing up’ to steam up the frontbenchers.
Tum (You): A 'Summer of 42' kind of film with the theme of a young man falling in love with an elderly woman but as the plot thickens, it changes gears and deviates into just another ‘sexed up’ thriller.
Ek Chhoti Si Love Story: A story of a young boy’s fascination for an elder woman. The film’s narrative is intended at creating a drama that builds up the expectation for a sensitive film.
However, the sensitivity part is lost in between and commercial leverage sex up the proceedings.
One can go on adding the list of such movies but then one also needs to ponder where this gamut of sex, seduction and sleaze is heading for?
Sociologically speaking a large section of male population remains single for long time and forced to suppress their baser instincts for economic and social reasons. Such movies cater to these people who come to the talkies to douse their flames.
The other reason for mushrooming of such movies is ride on the wave of the economic liberalization of the country. These movies are mirror images of a society that’s moving at a breath neck speed in the wake of liberalization. To many who have found some comfort level in the society such movies are pleasant past time. To others who are unable to catch up the real fun watching such movies is pleasure for the eyes.
With filmmakers striking gold making movies with sexed up scripts this theme is going to be dominant till it run its course. However, like other themes this too is a passing phenomenon until Bollywood discover another recipe to dump such scripts.
The bottom line in the making of such movies is; the show must go on for those who cry Dil mange more!
----
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai, India. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com
--
http://www.globalpolitician.com/articleshow.asp?ID=1850&cid=6&sid=20
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