Identity politics: where it is leading
by M.S. Prabhakara
A profound anti-democratic mindset and the total absence of any understanding of larger socio-economic realities of Assam are a common feature of all separatist organisations.
Anxieties about ‘identity’, a catch-all term for a variety of contradictory perceptions and passions by a people about themselves and the ‘Other’, and political mobilisation exploiting such worries are not unique to any one part of the country. Such mobilisations in Assam and its neighbourhood are seen as threatening regional and national stability and security. However, this is not a recent phenomenon, nor is it region-specific.
Historians and anthropologists situate ‘ethnicity’ at the very beginning of human history and civilisation. However, the articulation of ethnicity in Indian political idiom is a more recent phenomenon. For instance, though the term was not used, the consciousness of a unique identity that could not co-exist with the firang was a crucial element in the mobilisation of the 1857 uprising. The struggle for Pakistan, ‘the land of the pure’, though essentially a political struggle of non-denominational Muslim nationalist assertion, was articulated almost entirely in terms of the threat Muslims of the subcontinent (and Islam, though Islam is opposed to nationalism) faced if they could not secure a physical and political space exclusively demarcated for them.
Post-independence, the linguistic reorganisation of India was closely related to anxieties about protection and advancement of a people’s language, which required a clearly demarcated political space coinciding with real or imagined historical memories. Caste as a weapon of political mobilisation has been a permanent given in Indian politics, reflecting an inescapable reality of social and political divide.
If religion and language were the markers of such anxieties during the freedom struggle and in the decades following independence, these are now being articulated citing threats to a variety of other identities (caste and tribe, very broadly) which, for want of a better word, are claimed as ‘ethnic identities’, the imprecision of the latter part of the expression compounded by the introduction of an equally imprecise element of ‘ethnicity’. For, ‘ethnicity’ encompasses and transcends ‘religion’ and ‘language’ and ‘caste’ and ‘tribe’ and other identity markers even while introducing new elements into its struggle vocabulary.
It is generally assumed that caste has not played a major role in political mobilisation in Assam. This is not strictly true, though this is a view cherished by the higher Hindu castes, Brahmin and non-Brahmin. Of the 13 Chief Ministers the State has had since Independence, all but one are from the Congress party or from the Congress stream, and only one belonged to a Scheduled Caste. He became Chief Minister by accident and default, during the chaotic politics of the post-Janata Party government headed by Golap Barua, and lasted all three months and seven days.
Of the rest, the first was a Ganak-Brahmin, six were from the decidedly upper caste Kayasta-Kalita stream (these hyphenations would probably not be accepted by any of the four juxtaposed communities), three Ahoms, including the present incumbent Tarun Gogoi, one was a Muslim and one a Koch, a community that was once seen as being in transition from a tribe to absorption into the lower orders of caste Hindu society. In an interesting reversal of this once historically recognised phenomenon of ‘upward’ mobility and as an instance of ethnic assertion of a different kind, the Ahoms, once part of Assam’s ruling dynasty, are now seeking ST status.
However, the State has never had a Scheduled Tribe Chief Minister though its ST population even now, more than three decades after the reorganisation of Assam (1970-72) when the tribal majority districts of present-day Meghalaya and Mizoram were separated, accounts for 12.8 per cent. In 1961, it was 17.42 per cent. Important and able tribal leaders had occupied leading positions in the governments formed under the Government of India Act of 1935.
The attainment of a separate Meghalaya was the first practical demonstration of the triumph of an exclusive ethnic assertion in what used to be referred to as the ‘composite State of Assam’. The unravelling that began then has not stopped. Unlike in the 1960s when the movement for separation was led by some tribal people in the Hills, barring exceptions like Mavis Dunn, a minister of the provincial government from Shillong and Khasi, who once famously claimed that she belonged to the sisterhood of Assam, the current ethnicity assertions are from within the Brahmaputra valley, historically viewed as the core homeland of the Assamese-speaking people, the Assamese.
Going from the West to the East, this is the trajectory of the ethnicity-based separatist movements in the Brahmaputra Valley. The Koch Rajbongshi spread over both banks of the Brahmaputra, once seen as occupying an intermediate social space between a tribal status and a caste Hindu status, are now seeking a separate Kamatapura State. Kamatapuri, the language of the fortnightly Voice of Kamatapura, is recognisably Assamese, and not Assamese; and in a pointed gesture, the paper has a separate section in Assamese. In the neighbourhood of Koch Rajbongshi are the Bodo, one of the nine plains tribes of the Brahmaputra Valley, who see the present Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District as a transit point on the way to their attaining a full-fledged Bodoland State outside Assam. The Rabha, another plains tribe, who have an autonomous council the territory of which is not demarcated, want to be covered by the Sixth Schedule, now applicable only to the Hill tribes of the two Hill districts of Karbi Anglong and North Cachar Hills, though these two districts want to be constituted into an ‘Autonomous state within Assam’, the transition that Meghalaya went through in 1970-72 before becoming a full-fledged State.
Further to the East, three other plains tribes, the Tiwa, the Mising and the Sonowal Kachari, all having non-territorial autonomous councils, also want to be ‘elevated’ to the same status as the Hill Tribes and covered by the Sixth Schedule. Six other communities dwelling on both banks of the Brahmaputra (Ahom, Moran, Mattock, Chutia, Adivasi and Koch Rajbonhshi, now classified as OBC or MOBC), want to be re-classified as ST. Each of these demands, if conceded, will have the potential to inspire other agitations for similar reclassification or ‘upgrade’. However, far more fearsome are the developments in the two Hill districts. In North Cachar Hills, extortion and murder have become the rule seemingly to advance political objectives, ranging from greater autonomy within the existing framework to secession and independence. In the three months since the return of this correspondent to Guwahati, hardly a day has passed without reports of abduction, attacks on public transport, extortion, and murder, directed as much against the state as against those hated ‘Other’ who live in the district. Insurgencies, of a kind, active in both districts are as usual split into ‘pro-talk’ and ‘anti-talk’ factions, a piece of overclever manipulation by covert agencies which, again as usual, has boomeranged. For, to divide also means to multiply.
The situation is murky beyond belief. For, the ‘ethnic mix’ of the two hill districts is incredibly complicated, with every community of the Hills and the plains of Assam having a presence in the districts, though the plains tribal people are not ‘recognised’ in the districts, The reality on the ground simply does not admit any exclusive ‘ethnic’ homeland’ even in the smallest of political spaces. The district is home to the majority Dimasa tribe as well as many other tribal and non tribal people: Assamese, Bengali, and Hindi speakers, and several Naga and Kuki tribes. Indeed, almost every community enumerated in the State’s census has been mentioned in this district.
The situation is further complicated by a most curious recent development. The Chief Executive Member (corresponding at the district level to the Chief Minister) of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous District Council was arrested on May 30 following the recovery of Rs. 1 crore from two militants of the Jewel Gorlosa faction of Dima Halam Daogah (DHD-J), the insurgency making all the news, who have alleged that the money was given to them by the CEM to help the DHD-J purchase arms. Indeed, Chief Minister Gogoi admitted, following the arrest, that ‘development funds’ meant for the district were being diverted to the militants by the District Council.
This broad survey has not even mentioned the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) which too in theory are fighting to attain a sovereign Asom and a sovereign Bodoland, the contradictions between them not coming in the way of some cooperation, again showing that there is a gulf of difference between the stated objectives of every one of the so-called insurgencies and the reality.
Finally, a common feature of all these organisations are their profound anti-democratic mindset and the total absence of any understanding of the larger socio-economic realities of the state. What they do share, however, is an equally profound hatred of the Other, alien.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
'Communists did not believe in Socialist-Left unity at heart'
By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,
New Delhi : Veteran Communist leader and freedom fighter Z.A. Ahmad explores the complex relationship between the Socialists and the Communists -- and its historic bearing upon the Indian political landscape -- in his autobiography "Some Recollections From My Life (Mere Jeevan Ki Kuch Yaadein)", released in the capital 10 years after his death.
Born in 1907, the long-time member of parliament from Uttar Pradesh, who was also member of the Communist Party of India and the erstwhile Congress Socialist Party of India, said a section of Communist leaders in the early decades of the Left movement in India, who spoke in favour of greater "Left and Socialist" unity "did not believe it in their hearts".
According to Ahmad, the section of Communists felt that though the Socialists had adopted a few Marxist principles, the Socialist movement in India was just a "caucus within the Congress and was overshadowed by the imperialist and the capitalist policies of the Congress party".
The Communists predicted that the Socialists would lose their way inside the Congress fold.
He was referring to the Socialists in the erstwhile Congress Socialist Party founded in 1934 as a Socialist front within the Indian National Congress.
Its members - like Jayaprakash Narayan, Basawon Singh (Sinha), Minoo Masani and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay - said no to the "anti-rational mysticism" of Mohandas Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of the Communist Party of India towards the Congress party.
However, the Socialist axis within the Congress was influenced by Marxism-Leninism.
"The Communists never considered the Socialists anything more than a front formed in the wake of the Left movement and the Communists felt that they had to be careful in their interactions and alliances with the Socialists," he said in his autobiography published by the National Book Trust and compiled over the years by his daughter.
Though the Communists joined the Congress Socialist Party in 1936 and even came to dominate the party in states like Kerala and Orissa, Subhas Chandra Bose proved to be a point of contention.
Post the 1939 session of the Congress Socialist Party, Subhas Chandra Bose left the Congress Socialist Party and formed the Forward Bloc.
According to Ahmad, the move sowed the seed of "hostility" between the Communists and the Socialists (many in the Congress still adhere to the Socialist credo) - which led to the widening of political and ideological gulf between the two groups over the decades even though the Communists operated within a broad Socialist (or people's) framework in execution of its policies.
Post-independence, the Congress Socialist Party broke away from the Congress fold.
Ahmad also cites internal politics as another reason for the rift between the Communists and the Socialists in the country.
"In 1938, the two groups came closest to each other. The Socialists opened their doors to Communists in many states and senior leaders like E.M.S. Namboodiripad were elected leaders of the Socialist Party at the state-level. After the seventh international Communist conclave, the chief of the Communist Party of India P.C. Joshi and Socialist heavyweight Jayaprakash Narayan decided to form a united Socialist Party to oppose the imperialist forces, but the unity move resulted in a power struggle. The Minoo Masani group in the Socialist caucus felt threatened and opened up new fault lines to scuttle the move," said Ahmad in his book.
The autobiography also traces the life of Ahmad, his childhood, years as a student politician, his stints in Deuli jail, his years as a freedom fighter and the experience as a parliamentarian and Communist leader in Uttar Pradesh.
New Delhi : Veteran Communist leader and freedom fighter Z.A. Ahmad explores the complex relationship between the Socialists and the Communists -- and its historic bearing upon the Indian political landscape -- in his autobiography "Some Recollections From My Life (Mere Jeevan Ki Kuch Yaadein)", released in the capital 10 years after his death.
Born in 1907, the long-time member of parliament from Uttar Pradesh, who was also member of the Communist Party of India and the erstwhile Congress Socialist Party of India, said a section of Communist leaders in the early decades of the Left movement in India, who spoke in favour of greater "Left and Socialist" unity "did not believe it in their hearts".
According to Ahmad, the section of Communists felt that though the Socialists had adopted a few Marxist principles, the Socialist movement in India was just a "caucus within the Congress and was overshadowed by the imperialist and the capitalist policies of the Congress party".
The Communists predicted that the Socialists would lose their way inside the Congress fold.
He was referring to the Socialists in the erstwhile Congress Socialist Party founded in 1934 as a Socialist front within the Indian National Congress.
Its members - like Jayaprakash Narayan, Basawon Singh (Sinha), Minoo Masani and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay - said no to the "anti-rational mysticism" of Mohandas Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of the Communist Party of India towards the Congress party.
However, the Socialist axis within the Congress was influenced by Marxism-Leninism.
"The Communists never considered the Socialists anything more than a front formed in the wake of the Left movement and the Communists felt that they had to be careful in their interactions and alliances with the Socialists," he said in his autobiography published by the National Book Trust and compiled over the years by his daughter.
Though the Communists joined the Congress Socialist Party in 1936 and even came to dominate the party in states like Kerala and Orissa, Subhas Chandra Bose proved to be a point of contention.
Post the 1939 session of the Congress Socialist Party, Subhas Chandra Bose left the Congress Socialist Party and formed the Forward Bloc.
According to Ahmad, the move sowed the seed of "hostility" between the Communists and the Socialists (many in the Congress still adhere to the Socialist credo) - which led to the widening of political and ideological gulf between the two groups over the decades even though the Communists operated within a broad Socialist (or people's) framework in execution of its policies.
Post-independence, the Congress Socialist Party broke away from the Congress fold.
Ahmad also cites internal politics as another reason for the rift between the Communists and the Socialists in the country.
"In 1938, the two groups came closest to each other. The Socialists opened their doors to Communists in many states and senior leaders like E.M.S. Namboodiripad were elected leaders of the Socialist Party at the state-level. After the seventh international Communist conclave, the chief of the Communist Party of India P.C. Joshi and Socialist heavyweight Jayaprakash Narayan decided to form a united Socialist Party to oppose the imperialist forces, but the unity move resulted in a power struggle. The Minoo Masani group in the Socialist caucus felt threatened and opened up new fault lines to scuttle the move," said Ahmad in his book.
The autobiography also traces the life of Ahmad, his childhood, years as a student politician, his stints in Deuli jail, his years as a freedom fighter and the experience as a parliamentarian and Communist leader in Uttar Pradesh.
Political party bribed army officers: Election Commissioner
By Dipankar De Sarkar, IANS,
London : Members of a political party bribed army officers in a blatant bid to rig postal ballots during last month's general elections in India, according to Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi.
The visiting Indian civil servant, who was giving a presentation on the just-concluded elections at the House of Commons Tuesday, said the malpractice came to light during the polls in Punjab.
He said Punjab Police personnel found that army soldiers were being corralled into voting for particular candidates by their commanding officers.
"We realised that the commanding officers of these forces were being approached by a political party and they were being bribed. And these soldiers had been told to just say 'yes sir.'
"There is no other word in their dictionary. So if a commanding officer says 'just vote for this man', all the soldiers will vote for that man," Quraishi said, answering a question about whether India - like Britain - faced problems with postal ballot fraud.
Six Pakistani-origin men were jailed for a total of more than 13 years last month after a major police investigation into an attempt to rig local council elections by fixing ballot papers in the London suburb of Slough.
The malpractice was described by the British judge as a "serious criminal offence� that attacks, affects and corrodes the roots of our democracy".
Quraishi said he was not aware of the British scandal but added that India was trying to address the problem of postal ballot fraud by strengthening the secret ballot.
He said every ballot in India has to be posted separately and by registered post, the cost of which is borne by the Election Commission.
London : Members of a political party bribed army officers in a blatant bid to rig postal ballots during last month's general elections in India, according to Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi.
The visiting Indian civil servant, who was giving a presentation on the just-concluded elections at the House of Commons Tuesday, said the malpractice came to light during the polls in Punjab.
He said Punjab Police personnel found that army soldiers were being corralled into voting for particular candidates by their commanding officers.
"We realised that the commanding officers of these forces were being approached by a political party and they were being bribed. And these soldiers had been told to just say 'yes sir.'
"There is no other word in their dictionary. So if a commanding officer says 'just vote for this man', all the soldiers will vote for that man," Quraishi said, answering a question about whether India - like Britain - faced problems with postal ballot fraud.
Six Pakistani-origin men were jailed for a total of more than 13 years last month after a major police investigation into an attempt to rig local council elections by fixing ballot papers in the London suburb of Slough.
The malpractice was described by the British judge as a "serious criminal offence� that attacks, affects and corrodes the roots of our democracy".
Quraishi said he was not aware of the British scandal but added that India was trying to address the problem of postal ballot fraud by strengthening the secret ballot.
He said every ballot in India has to be posted separately and by registered post, the cost of which is borne by the Election Commission.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Kamala Suraiya: The literary star of Kerala is no more
By Najiya O., TwoCircles.net,
The epitome of love, the dear writer of Kerala Dr. Kamala Suraiya has bid farewell to this world. Malayalis’ own Madhavikkutty who secured an unforgettable place in the world of literature will now live in the hearts of millions through the works that eternalize her. The great writer who had been ailing for some months passed away at 1.55 am on 31st May in the Jahangir Hospital in Pune. She will be interred at the Palayam Juma Masjid in Thiruvananthapuram with State honours tomorrow. She was 75 and is survived by three sons.
Kamala was born in a family of eminent writers in a traditional Hindu family in 1934. Her mother Nalappattu Balamaniyamma was a famous Malayalam poet. She spent her childhood in Kerala and Kolkatta where her father worked. She got married to Madhav Das when she was only 15. It was after she gave birth to her first child that Kamala began writing. Madhav Das offered his whole-hearted support to the budding writer in his wife. Her very first book ‘Summer in Calcutta’ (1965) was indeed promising. She wrote mainly of love, betrayal and the anguish that follows. She was never a feminist but brought out the problems of women through her works. Loneliness was a presiding factor in most of her works. She believed in writing everything openly, without any reserves, be it about anything. And this very nature gained her garlands and thorns alike. She wrote her autobiography when she was only 42 – ‘My Story’. And the work brought her more applauses and criticism than any of her other works. Besides poems, short-stories and novels, she also wrote columns about various topics. She made her presence felt in the field of painting too.
She has received many awards in the country and abroad. She received the Asian Poetry Prize, the Asian World Prize, the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award and the Ezhuthachan Award among others. She was even nominated for the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1984. Her important works are ‘The Descendants’ and ‘Only the Soul Knows How to Sing’ (English) and ‘Neermathalam Pootha Kalam’, ‘Thanuppu’, ‘Vandikkaalakal’, etc in Malayalam.
She wrote in three names which clearly state three stages or parts in her life. She wrote in the name Kamala Das in English. She adopted the pseudonym Madhavikkutty when she wrote in Malayalam. And after she reverted to Islam, she wrote under her new name, Kamala Suraiyah. However, she was fondly called Aamy by those who loved her.
Madhavikkutty embraced Islam in 1999, when she was 65. She announced her becoming a Muslim while speaking at a public function. As always, she received much criticism for this turn in her life too. Majority of the intellectuals and writers who speak high of freedom of expression criticized this decision in her life, but her sons stood by her in all crises. Especially her eldest son M.D. Nalappatt gave his complete support in whatever decision she took in her life.
In the final days of her life she was in Pune with her youngest son. Her sons wanted to take her with them due to her oldage ailments. She left for Pune in1997 since she felt that she was no more loved in Kerala.
“If love is not to be had, I want to be dead...” So she wrote in her poem ‘Suicide’. She lived for love, and when she felt she was not receiving love back, she felt very bad.
And her fear is now repeated in the words of many writers after her death. Dr. M. Leelavathi, renowned writer and Padmavibhushan Award-winner, says, “Kamala Suraiyah did not get much recognition from the Malayalam literary field. Her demise has brought irreparable loss to Indian literature.” Dr. Leela Menon, renowned journalist, and Sukumar Azheekode, famous critic, both feel that they should not have let Suraiyah go away to Pune. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief at the death of the great writer. He recalled that Suraiyah’s “achievements extended well beyond her verses of poetry.” M.D. Nalappattu recollects that his beloved mother wanted to come back to Kerala, towards her death, but fate had decided otherwise.
And thus Kerala has lost its dear Madhavikkutty, and the world of literature a daring and loving writer.
The epitome of love, the dear writer of Kerala Dr. Kamala Suraiya has bid farewell to this world. Malayalis’ own Madhavikkutty who secured an unforgettable place in the world of literature will now live in the hearts of millions through the works that eternalize her. The great writer who had been ailing for some months passed away at 1.55 am on 31st May in the Jahangir Hospital in Pune. She will be interred at the Palayam Juma Masjid in Thiruvananthapuram with State honours tomorrow. She was 75 and is survived by three sons.
Kamala was born in a family of eminent writers in a traditional Hindu family in 1934. Her mother Nalappattu Balamaniyamma was a famous Malayalam poet. She spent her childhood in Kerala and Kolkatta where her father worked. She got married to Madhav Das when she was only 15. It was after she gave birth to her first child that Kamala began writing. Madhav Das offered his whole-hearted support to the budding writer in his wife. Her very first book ‘Summer in Calcutta’ (1965) was indeed promising. She wrote mainly of love, betrayal and the anguish that follows. She was never a feminist but brought out the problems of women through her works. Loneliness was a presiding factor in most of her works. She believed in writing everything openly, without any reserves, be it about anything. And this very nature gained her garlands and thorns alike. She wrote her autobiography when she was only 42 – ‘My Story’. And the work brought her more applauses and criticism than any of her other works. Besides poems, short-stories and novels, she also wrote columns about various topics. She made her presence felt in the field of painting too.
She has received many awards in the country and abroad. She received the Asian Poetry Prize, the Asian World Prize, the Kerala Sahitya Academy Award and the Ezhuthachan Award among others. She was even nominated for the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1984. Her important works are ‘The Descendants’ and ‘Only the Soul Knows How to Sing’ (English) and ‘Neermathalam Pootha Kalam’, ‘Thanuppu’, ‘Vandikkaalakal’, etc in Malayalam.
She wrote in three names which clearly state three stages or parts in her life. She wrote in the name Kamala Das in English. She adopted the pseudonym Madhavikkutty when she wrote in Malayalam. And after she reverted to Islam, she wrote under her new name, Kamala Suraiyah. However, she was fondly called Aamy by those who loved her.
Madhavikkutty embraced Islam in 1999, when she was 65. She announced her becoming a Muslim while speaking at a public function. As always, she received much criticism for this turn in her life too. Majority of the intellectuals and writers who speak high of freedom of expression criticized this decision in her life, but her sons stood by her in all crises. Especially her eldest son M.D. Nalappatt gave his complete support in whatever decision she took in her life.
In the final days of her life she was in Pune with her youngest son. Her sons wanted to take her with them due to her oldage ailments. She left for Pune in1997 since she felt that she was no more loved in Kerala.
“If love is not to be had, I want to be dead...” So she wrote in her poem ‘Suicide’. She lived for love, and when she felt she was not receiving love back, she felt very bad.
And her fear is now repeated in the words of many writers after her death. Dr. M. Leelavathi, renowned writer and Padmavibhushan Award-winner, says, “Kamala Suraiyah did not get much recognition from the Malayalam literary field. Her demise has brought irreparable loss to Indian literature.” Dr. Leela Menon, renowned journalist, and Sukumar Azheekode, famous critic, both feel that they should not have let Suraiyah go away to Pune. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief at the death of the great writer. He recalled that Suraiyah’s “achievements extended well beyond her verses of poetry.” M.D. Nalappattu recollects that his beloved mother wanted to come back to Kerala, towards her death, but fate had decided otherwise.
And thus Kerala has lost its dear Madhavikkutty, and the world of literature a daring and loving writer.
P.K. Barbora takes over as IAF vice-chief
By IANS,
New Delhi : Air Marshal P.K. Barbora Monday took over as the new vice-chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) - becoming the first person from the northeast to hold the post.
Barbora, born in Shillong, was commissioned into the IAF as a fighter pilot in 1970.
A highly experienced aviator with over 3,500 flying hours to his credit, he also took part in the 1971 war.
Barbora was formerly the chief of the Western Air Command (WAC), the largest operational command of the IAF, and the Eastern Air Command.
"Under my command for the first time Sukhois (combat jets) operated from Leh (one of the highest airbases in the world). We just wanted to show our capability," Barbora said.
He was a member of the IAF team that inducted the first Jaguar Squadron and also the IAF's maiden Air Combat Simulator - the first of its kind in Asia.
Among his several operational assignments are command of a MiG-21 squadron, chief operations officer of a fighter airbase and Air Officer Commanding of a premier fighter airbase under Eastern Air Command.
Under his command, WAC achieved very high aircraft utilization rates even as night operations by the fighter and transport aircraft increased substantially. Strikingly, the operational command, that accounts for nearly 35 percent of IAF's flying tasks, recorded �zero' flying accident rate at the end of the last fiscal year.
His tenure saw landing of transport aircraft at Daulat Beg Oldie airfield in Ladakh, the highest airbase in the world, after four decades of closure, and opening of Fukche Advanced Landing Ground near the Sino-Indian border.
Barbora is a recipient of Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) and Vayu Sena Medal (VM).
New Delhi : Air Marshal P.K. Barbora Monday took over as the new vice-chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) - becoming the first person from the northeast to hold the post.
Barbora, born in Shillong, was commissioned into the IAF as a fighter pilot in 1970.
A highly experienced aviator with over 3,500 flying hours to his credit, he also took part in the 1971 war.
Barbora was formerly the chief of the Western Air Command (WAC), the largest operational command of the IAF, and the Eastern Air Command.
"Under my command for the first time Sukhois (combat jets) operated from Leh (one of the highest airbases in the world). We just wanted to show our capability," Barbora said.
He was a member of the IAF team that inducted the first Jaguar Squadron and also the IAF's maiden Air Combat Simulator - the first of its kind in Asia.
Among his several operational assignments are command of a MiG-21 squadron, chief operations officer of a fighter airbase and Air Officer Commanding of a premier fighter airbase under Eastern Air Command.
Under his command, WAC achieved very high aircraft utilization rates even as night operations by the fighter and transport aircraft increased substantially. Strikingly, the operational command, that accounts for nearly 35 percent of IAF's flying tasks, recorded �zero' flying accident rate at the end of the last fiscal year.
His tenure saw landing of transport aircraft at Daulat Beg Oldie airfield in Ladakh, the highest airbase in the world, after four decades of closure, and opening of Fukche Advanced Landing Ground near the Sino-Indian border.
Barbora is a recipient of Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) and Vayu Sena Medal (VM).
Human rights activist Hasina Kharbhih attacked in Shillong
By TwoCircles.net News Desk
New Delhi: Human rights activist Hasina Kharbhih was attacked on Thursday in Shillong when she was going to the District Council Court to attend hearing in her case. She was allegedly attacked by the very persons against whom she is fighting the court case. She said she was attacked to force her withdraw the case.
Giving details of the incident, Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC), a human rights organization working in Assam, said: “Hasina Kharbhih, a human rights defender working against human trafficking in North East India was assaulted and threatened on May 28, 2009. Kharbhih, while on her way to the court for the hearing of a case, was stopped, threatened and manhandled by Ms. Bethswa Dympep, the accused in the threatening case. Kharbhih was injured in the incident and had to be taken to the local hospital for treatment.”
The rights group has alleged that the “perpetrators are receiving clandestine support from the police.”
Hasina Kharbhih runs the Impulse NGO, a local human rights organization based in Shillong, Meghalaya: http://www.impulseasia.org
Kharbhih has been fighting against human trafficking in the state. She has been involved in the social sector since 1987.
BHRPC has demanded the state government and its police to ensure her protection.
New Delhi: Human rights activist Hasina Kharbhih was attacked on Thursday in Shillong when she was going to the District Council Court to attend hearing in her case. She was allegedly attacked by the very persons against whom she is fighting the court case. She said she was attacked to force her withdraw the case.
Giving details of the incident, Barak Human Rights Protection Committee (BHRPC), a human rights organization working in Assam, said: “Hasina Kharbhih, a human rights defender working against human trafficking in North East India was assaulted and threatened on May 28, 2009. Kharbhih, while on her way to the court for the hearing of a case, was stopped, threatened and manhandled by Ms. Bethswa Dympep, the accused in the threatening case. Kharbhih was injured in the incident and had to be taken to the local hospital for treatment.”
The rights group has alleged that the “perpetrators are receiving clandestine support from the police.”
Hasina Kharbhih runs the Impulse NGO, a local human rights organization based in Shillong, Meghalaya: http://www.impulseasia.org
Kharbhih has been fighting against human trafficking in the state. She has been involved in the social sector since 1987.
BHRPC has demanded the state government and its police to ensure her protection.
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