Jun 26

Maya and her fascination for statues

It is common knowledge that Dalits in India were a oppressed lot (and still are), being treated as a political base by the Congress party. It was the emergence of Kanshi Ram, who resigned from his Government service and setup the Bahujan Samaj Party for giving the Dalits a voice. In our modern word, it is hard to believe that a politician would not have ulterior motives for doing what he did, and it was not easy to understand fully the acts of Kanshi Ram, but his actions (including the fact that he did not actively seek any political power for himself) lead to a suggestion that he did in fact not hanker for power for himself.
It was Kanshi Ram who started the process of making the Dalits believe that they could wield political power, and as a part of taking this process forward Kanshi Ram handed over the actual power wielding to Mayawati (wikipedia). It has been Mayawati who has taken the party much further in its quest to become a major political power in the country, starting with the critical state of Uttar Pradesh. It is also true that among the urban class, there is a certain negative feeling against Mayawati.

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Jun 20

Lalgarh operation – security forces seemingly successful

There are several sections of India that are semi-controlled by the Red Army, by the Naxalites. When I mean semi-controlled, it essentially means that they are regions where Naxalites and Maoists can move around without much fear of being encountered by security forces, and where they can in turn strike at state presence such as Government officers and police stations. Lalgarh is one such region, located in Bengal that seems to be in the control of ultra-left forces (need to make the distinction, since West Bengal is actually ruled by a Left / Communist party which is the enemy of the ultra-left forces).
Many states have declared the Maoists as an illegal force, with West Bengal being a notable exception (maybe because it would be hard for a Communist party to justify calling another Communist leaning organization as illegal). However, it really cannot continue to have a condition where a region of the state is a no-go zone for arms of the State. If they let such a situation continue, the CPM sets itself up to be a target of media all over the country, they let a situation fester where the Maoists have time to consolidate and again target other CPM regions, they are under pressure from the Center to take some action, and so on. So, finally, the combined forces of the state police, specialized force called COBRA, and the para-military forces seem to be having success in their operation to the extent that the Maoists leaders are willing to talk peace now (link to article):
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Jun 16

Consumer: Man gets succour from Delhi High Court after hand gets crushed

One reads in the newspaper all the time about some accident whereby a person gets injured due to rash or negligent driving by the driver of a vehicle (in numerous cases, this rash driving would be done by the driver of a bus or truck, and because of the size and weight of this large vehicle, the injuries would be serious, or even death could occur). In such cases, a person (or his dependents) can claim compensation from either the driver / owner of the vehicle, or from the insurance company that had provided insurance to the vehicle. Such claims need to be filed under the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal, which assesses the loss of employment income along with extent of injury and accordingly provides compensation (some compensation is also provided in the cases where the fault of the driver cannot be proved). These cases can also be taken to higher courts if either party is unsatisfied with the award of the Tribunal (link to article):

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