Monday, June 29

Police Reforms – Too important to neglect, too urgent to delay

Today a notice is being served to the Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh for not implementing the Police Reforms in Madhya Pradesh.

Implementing Police reforms is adhering to the splendid ideals and the democratic values, intended and designed for the protection of life, liberty and other fundamental rights of the defenseless.

To our great dismay and disappointment my State Governments neither approached the Hon Supreme Court of India to review their order in Writ Petition nor implemented the Supreme Court orders.

We have our police functioning under a legislation enacted in 1861 and in the present stage of our growth and development and claims to be a developed state with credible institutions of governance.

Not implementing Police reforms is an effort to keep the police in this country as a lawless bunch and violators of Human Rights. The present police force is not in rhyme with the new and growing society, inspite of the Government of India and the Apex Court several initiatives, police reform that are framed with the approval by the public.

I request citizen’s immediate intervention in the matter. Ajay Dubey an activist from Bhopal Had filed a PIL two months back. He has been collecting information through RTI act fr0m the Home Department. Fifteen days back teh Government was served a notice for the contempt of the Supreme Court order.....the news was broadcasted by very few.

On 22nd of September 2006 the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India gave a ‘judicial nudge’ to the ever, elusive quest for police reforms.

Shri Prakash Singh, a former Director General filed a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution ..praying for issue of directions to the Government of India to frame a new Police Act on the lines of the model Act drafted by the Commissions in order to ensure that the Police is made accountable essentially and primarily to the law of the land and the people.

In their order in Prakash Singh and Ors Vs. Union of India (UoI) and Ors, a three member Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, Y.K. Sabharwalwent through the annals of police reforms , the Reports of the Law Commission, Report of the Human Rights Commission and a host of material relevant to police and criminal justice reforms.

The Court noted that ‘police’ is a State subject, and quite candidly asked themselves: “The question, however is whether this Court should further wait for Government to take suitable steps for Police Reforms” and concluded, most logically, that they should not wait any further. They went on to say “Having regard to (i) the gravity of the problem ; (ii) the urgent need for preservation and strengthening of Rule of Law; (iii) pendency of even this petition for last over ten years; (iv) the fact that various Commissions and Committees have made recommendations on similar lines for introducing reforms in the police set up in this country (v) total uncertainty as to when police reforms would be introduced, we think that there cannot be any further wait, and the stage has come for issue of appropriate directions for immediate compliance so as to be operative till such time a new model Police Act prepared by the Central Government and / or the State Governments pass requisite legislations”.

The Chief Justice of India who authored the judgment was echoing the hopes and aspirations of generations of police personnel and millions of right thinking people, when he observed that “….. we can only express our hope that all State Governments would rise to the occasion and enact a new Police Act wholly insulating the police from any pressure what so ever by placing in position an important measure for securing the rights of the citizens under the Constitution for the Rule of Law, treating everyone equal and being partisan to none, which will also help in securing an efficient and better criminal justice delivery system.

It is not possible or proper to leave this matter only with an expression of this hope and to await developments further. It is essential to lay down guidelines to be operative till the new legislation is enacted by the State Governments”. The directives touch upon the following issues only:-

• A State Security Commission in every State / A National Security Commission by the Union Government.
• Selection process and minimum tenure for the Director General of Police and certain other functionaries.
• Separation of investigation
• Police Establishment Board
• Police Complaints Authority

The Cat is out of the Bag since long...a new society needs a new police.Are the politicians alone in the efforts to abort the initiatives for police reforms? No, certainly not....This is thus the most crucial moment for all well-meaning people of this sTate to make their voice heard; to come to the open and press their case for a clean and efficient police; a police accountable to the law and respecting the Rule of Law.
“Police Reforms – Too important to neglect, too urgent to delay”

Invent India.
Say We Care.

Tuesday, June 23

Public Hearing by DGP Madhaya Pradesh




Today Ajay Dubey and myself attened the public hearing in order to bring the facts in front of the DGP Madhya Pradesh. We took a case to be presented infront of the DGP .We took a case to be presented in front of the DGP .

The case was of negligence by the jhegirabad police station. On seeing her bhabi (MEENA) beaten by his brother the chacha (Mahindra) of Aman 5 year old and Kajal 3 year old went to the police station to complaint.

On reaching the police station he was caught by the Thana incharge on the charge for not carrying the papers of his bike. He was kept in police custody for 6 hours. He was released at 5 in the morning.

When he reached back home he found her Bhabi dead.This was a case of negligence and insensitivity.
We took the kids along with Mahindra to represent the case. The case was discussed in open forum. We demanded suspension of the police officers in charge of the duty on that day and financial assistance to the grieved children.

The father (JITENDRA) is in jail for murder.The DGP has agreed on the demands.

Let’s raise our voice.

Invent India

Friday, June 19

Facebook wants to win over Indians

Facebook is now pushing hard to win over Indians by adding Hindi and five other local languages . Last month the company took one of its biggest steps yet, adding Hindi and five other Indian tongues. This makes the number of languages officially supported by Facebook to 57, with several dozen more in the works. "We've been literally launching almost a language a week," says Olivan. Javier Olivan is an international manager for Facebook, the 32-year-old Spaniard's job is to find ways for the social networking site to expand its reach far beyond its U.S. base.
The company think that the six new Indian languages (Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu) will help close the gap between it and Orkut. However, most Indians who use social networks are urban educated youth, for whom English is almost a native tongue.
Ilove Facebook.:)

Where are the tigers?


CNN-IBN Focus: What can be done to protect tigers
CNN-IBN Focus: What can be done to protect tigersCNN-IBNPublished on Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 23:29, Updated on Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 23:47 in India sectionThe special focus on CNN-IBN on Thursday was India's disappearing tigers. Tigers have gone extinct at the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. In fact, they went extinct years ago but it took the government nearly four years time to admit it. What is going wrong and what is the way forward? To answer the big question: Where are the tigers in India, CNN-IBN spoke to MoS, Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh.CNN-IBN: What action do you propose to take to set right what happened in Panna?Jairam Ramesh: I am waiting for the report of the SIT. I have been assured by my colleagues in the NTCA that we will have the report of this task force by the end of the month and we will fix responsibility on why this happened. And accountability must be fixed, who is responsible? Obviously there are poachers, poachers can't successfully operate without some inside information. There is an insider job here. So we will look at this. I will talk to the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh is the number one state in tiger population in India and it's sad that tigers have gone extinct in a tiger sanctuary like Panna - where there were six to seven tigers to begin with. Well there are different numbers floating number. Whatever it is, a tiger sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh not having tigers is a cause for great concern after all it is the epicenter of tiger population.CNN-IBN: How do we ensure that we have a modern enforcement system in place to make sure poaching does not occur in national parks?Jairam Ramesh: Well we can't control the demand but we can control the supply. I can't control the demand for aphrodisiacs which apparently are based on the ability of the poachers to supply parts of the tiger's anatomy, but what we can control is the supply and beef up the security in the Project Tiger area. That is very important. I think we should bring modern electronic sensor based technology for monitoring. The Government of India has a proposal for a special police force, but I don't entirely subscribe to the idea of creating a separate battalion of police people to maintain security in the Project Tiger areas. I would rather involve the local communities. For example I was in Corbett recently and I interacted with the 'Vana Gujjars' who I believe will be far more effective protectors of the Corbett area than policemen being transplanted from somewhere else.CNN-IBN: 1000 projects have been cleared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest and not one has been rejected? How will your Ministry ensure that infrastructure projects don't come up in tiger reserves?Jairam Ramesh: I don't think you can say that we should have roads in forest areas or we can't under any circumstances allow roads. We have got to find a balance. I, for example, on the trench Kahna issue have asked for an alternative alignment to be studied. I think in many of the proposals that come to me for clearance, like for example for divergence of forest areas, people don't come with any alternative scenarios.CNN-IBN: To end with sir, what is the way forward now?Jairam Ramesh: I think the time has come to look at the project tiger in its larger eco-context. Project Tiger today accounts for 6 per cent of India's forest area so its not tiger but its forest, the ecosystem, the watersheds. If I were to rename Project Tiger I would call it Project Eco-system. I know its far more colorful to call it Project Tiger, but I think the mistake we have made made perhaps in retrospect is to think of Project Tiger as only tiger. The tiger symbolises the forest just like the snow leopards symbolises the mountains, or the cheetah once upon a time symbolised the grasslands.http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cnnibn-focus-what-can-be-done-to-protect-tigers/95172-3.html.
No tigers in MP’s Panna means Gir keeps lions’ share, says Gujarat
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/No-tigers-in-MP-s-Panna-means-Gir-keeps-lions--share--says-Gujarat/476408.
http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=9098
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Its-official-Panna-reserve-has-no-tiger/articleshow/4653794.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Earth/Flora--Fauna/Cong-demands-probe-in-to-vanishing-tigers/articleshow/4653350.cms.
National highway poses new threat to tiger reserve
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/India/10322182.html

Thursday, June 18

Gang rape in Bhopal. Its a shame

Gang rape in Bhopal! Yes..... This news was spreading like fire in the jungle. The city was shocked. This was unbelievable.. Last night around 9 pm hrs last night a woman and her husband, who came here to visit Sant Asaram Bapu Ashram at Gandhi Nagar area here from Mumbai, asked for a lift from a SUV. There were a total of four people, including driver, in the vehicle. After giving the couple a lift, one of the accused pointed gun at her husband's head and criminally assaulted the woman. The victim identified the vehicle as a black SUV but had failed to note its number. The couple was abandoned in a lonely place. The couple had complained about the crime to the Gandhi Nagar police station. The victim was admitted to a hospital and case was registered against the offenders who were at large, police said.
It is a shame for the city.

In the last two years I have heard and read stories if Rape, Eve teasing, Chain snatching
Car and bike theft so often and most of the time the police are clueless. Woman raped in MP police station- Minor girl raped by cousin, assaulted by father in Bhopal,Woman raped on board Pushpak Train ,Dowry accused was gang raped in custody ,Woman accuses Crime branch team of gang , A policeman was sent to jail by a local court in connection with the gang-rape of a minor girl in a police station in Panna district .I can go on and on .. these are the regular headline nowdays of the city newspapers. But none have gone further ahead from just printing.

Its a shame that MP is the no 1 state in crimes against women. If we looks look into the problem deeper.. we can realize a phenomenon for urban violence which has grown in percents every year over the last ten years.'violent crime has increased in recent years in Bhopal city.
Homicide, infanticide, assault, rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence now make up between 25 and 30 percent. Urbanization with large scale poverty, deprivations and environmental degradation is seen. While urbanization in the city has allowed large sections of society to partake in the fruits of development, increasingly, urbanisation has led to extreme overcrowding and congestion with the marked deterioration of the quality of life of the lives of the residents of the city.

We are overlooking to a statement since long. “It is the urban poor who are the main instigators and perpetrators of violence and crime in the city”. Is debatable and there is a strong belief in this bias. And it is this prejudice that has often hindered any attempt to get to the heart of the problem of either poverty or crime and violence, in our city

Urbanization, rapid economic liberalization, growing mass political disorder, violent conflict and inappropriate and inadequate policies, inappropriate policing, corrupt police , corruption, Nepotism , no fear of law , government making mockery of laws on the behest of politicians personal interest , are amongst the numerous complex factors that have contributed to higher and growing levels of crime in the city.

'Crime is an act punishable by law, i.e., it is the breach of a legal prohibition'. Not all crime entails violence . petty theft, white collar crime are such examples. Violence, on the other hand, is the undue exercise of physical and emotional/psychological which is evident in Bhopal cases.The victimization rates for crimes against women is very high I feel in Bhopal.

Very little initiatives have been taken by residents of cities and government to provide mechanisms which ensure the safety of all citizens. Nothing has been done on Safety and Crime Prevention. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in Aug 12 2008 had announced the women policy in which there would be a “proper mechanism” to curb violence and crime against themwomen. “Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, while chairing a cabinet meeting, endorsed the proposed new Women Policy - 2008-12 for the state which aimed at ensuring total and dignified participation of women in the development process and integrating them with the mainstream of development,”.Other objectives of the policy which were claimed, included providing protection to women in every field, their empowerment and ensuring result-oriented implementation of the various policies, programmes and schemes for their welfare.
The Police department of Madhya Pradesh has made a mockery of the policie by not impementing along with the women and child department. Fifteen days back reviewing the progress of activities of Woman and Child Development Departmen it was claimed that 12 announcement of the CM were implemented. Introducing gender budgeting in 21 departments aswell.
Where is the policy which is an effective curb on sexual harassment of women at work place? and the guidelines of the Supreme Court in this regard ?
hello! what about the safety and security of us? i cant hear,even a faint voice!
We should see how Japan is curbing crime. Japan is probably the only country in the world whose crime rates are falling. Much of this success is due to a vast network of community-based, crime control organizations operating in neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. The Crime Prevention Associations have , local liaison units; Juvenile Guidance , volunteer co-operators, the Women's Association for Rehabilitation volunteers and the Voluntary Probation Officers Association has members.. so on so forth .

Can’t we have some members and the committees?
Police, Government and Citizens should come together to solve the issues. the situation concerning crime and violence in the city is undergoing huge change, almost as i speak. The rate of crime and violence in comparison with other regions, is likely to change for the worse. The economic, social and human progress that engulfed this region for has tattered. The possible scenario is likely to be misery and social and political turmoil. Hence, it seems that the city is for a transformation that does not bode well for its citizens. Perhaps there could be no better opportunity to forge links between citizens and their governments, particularly, local/municipal government.

Tuesday, June 9

Habib Tanveer on Death







Cultural Minister Madhya Pradesh






The greatest stalwarts of the Indian stage, was laid to rest with full state honours in the presence of hundreds of people in Bhopal . The last journey of the doyen of theatre began from his Shyamla Pahari residence. with the tri-colour wrapped around his body.









Daughter Nageen Tanvir & Dr Suresh Pachori today at a nonessential peace prayer organised by few before he was laid to rest. Nageen went through a trauma because of few.






Monday, June 8

Habib Tanveer




Charan Das chor character played by him

Last year in the winters i was driving back home from the office .. while climbing the akaswani road i saw a man lying on the road. Nearing him i realised he was bleeding and was in pain..immediately i parked the car and reachedout to help him.. he asked me to dial a number.. it was of Mr Habib Tanveer.. My Teacher in Delhi and a legend ..he asked to take him to the hospital than his daughter Nageen will follow it up.. as asked i took him to the Hamidia Hospital and waited for her to reach. she Hugged me ,thanked me and took my contact no.


The next day i was called at his place. Tousled hair, walking stick in hand ..In the dimly lit living room full of books. Tribal artifacts jostle with old files, musty ledgers and frayed folders. He reaches for his pipe and a glass of water before he carefully lowers himself on a sturdy cane chair, dressed in white pyjama and pink kurta.It was a privilege to see vintage Habib Tanvir sahib. Electrifying power he exuded even at the age of 85. The spirit was the same when he was teaching .

He gave me a small star ,red coloured, hand embroidered ,as a token of his greatness.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, he never got upset over the state of Hindi theatre across India but kept on working….all over the world.

Today he is no more.. But he will always be remembered through out with his plays, poems, ideology, classic productions, his crew..

Born on 1 September 1923 at Raipur (Now in Chattisgarh ), he began his career as a journalist and went on to become a playwright. In 1959, he founded a theatre company called the Naya Theatre. He was nominated as a member of India's upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha, from 1972 to 1978.

Thursday, June 4

Van Vihar Bhopal and Deaths

Sheru who died today IRA

Day before yesterday three-year old tigress died at Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal. She was “Era” .The big cat was brought to the park in 2006 from Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve when it was just five-month old.Yesterday itself the PCF had declared to constitute a committee to probe the lapses in death of the striped beauty.

Last year white tigress Kiku died in June due to paralytic attach and old age. She was 16 year old. Her hind legs were weak ever since she was brought from the Delhi zoo in 1995. Till June last year total of seven big cats, including two white tigers, two tigress, two tigers and a lion, had died in the national park since October 2006.This year 5 animals have died. The park has lost 23 big cats in the last five years .(Lions, tigers, panthers) .A tiger cub brought to the park for treatment died on April 15.
Van Vihar National Park,National park cum zoo is spreaded in 445 hectares.

Today a panther Sheru died in the afternoon. It’s strange what’s happening at Van Vihar Bhopal. will somebody answer ? And how many will raise their voice?