Will news Channels organize a Candle light protest for the death of Niyamat Ansari?

What is common between Satish Shetty, Jabbardan Gadhvi, Amit Jethva, Datta Patil, Niyamat Ansari. ?

1. They all are RTI activists who used Right to Information Act to expose corruption in our country.
2. They were all beaten to death for exposing corruption. 

In the last few months we have seen many RTI activists beaten to death by corrupt people who got exposed by them. Media played a good role in Jessica Lal case. They organized candle light protest against it. Made the government and judiciary take note of it. But the deaths of RTI activists are continuing unabated and the media seems to be a silent spectator. Except for covering the news there are no followups on the deaths nor a sustained campaign to bring the culprits to book.

Is it because Jessica Lal case belonged to a high class society? It certainly seems so.  Can someone take this up seriously so that government enacts some strong measures to put a stop to this or provide protection to RTI activists in some form at least.


Lets take the case of Niyamat Ansari. He was brutally murdered  in Latehar(Jharkand) on 2nd March, 2011. The following text has been taken from his face book page Long Live Niyamat Ansari

He has been working tirelessly for the rights of NREGA workers in this area during the last few years. Together with other local activists, he fearlessly exposed many cases of fraud in NREGA.

On 20 February 2011, Niyamat and his friends exposed a case of brazen embezzlement of NREGA funds in Rankikala Gram Panchayat. In response to this report, an FIR was lodged against the main culprit, Kailash Sahu, former BDO of Manika. More than two lakhs of rupees were also recovered from him and his accomplice, the Panchayat Sevak of Rankikala.

While the BDO and Panchayat Sevak were caught because their names are on the fudged records, it is strongly suspected that the real mastermind behind this scam is Shankar Dubey, a notoriously corrupt local contractor (himself protected by a former MLA of this area). Niyamat strongly believed that the goondas who had come to his house were Shankar Dubey's men.

On 2 March 2011, around 7 pm, Niyamat was picked up from his house and beaten mercilessly. He died of his injuries before it was possible for his relatives to reach him to the nearest hospital, in Latehar.


Time for government and media to act.

Poor will remain poor no matter what the budget is..

P Sainath, Rural Affaiers editor, Hindu wrote a excellent article on budget titled Corporate socialism's 2G orgy which bluntly exposed the misplaced priorities of Union Government.

I just couldn't fathom the facts which he has conveyed in the article. They include:

1. The budget writes off Rs.240 crore in corporate income tax every single day on average 
2. In six years from 2005-06, the Government of India wrote off corporate income tax worth Rs.3.74 lakh crore — more than twice the 2G fraud — in successive Union budgets.
3. Corporate income tax written off in 2005-06 was Rs.34,618 crore. In the current budget, it is Rs.88,263 crore — an increase of 155 per cent.
3. In three years preceding this one, the customs write-off on gold, diamonds and jewellery totalled Rs.95,675 crore.
5. The budget slashes thousands of crores from agriculture. The expenditure on agriculture sector is to fall in absolute terms by Rs.5,568 crore.

Have you heard of a farmer who is struggling to meet his day to day needs which forces him to commit suicide ever contemplating buying a diamond set? The jewellery industry  welcomes customs write off on gold, diamond to the tune of 30000 crore every year. But the same attitude is not shown towards farmers. In fact every year the spending on Agriculture remains more or less stagnant. 

Can  someone tell that the budget is pro-poor? The government says it does not have enough money for Rural Employment Guarantee act. It is thinking twice to give subsidised ration for below poverty line public fearing loss of revenue. Thinks of reducing the subsidy offered for fertilizers. Farmers have to protest like anything to get a minimum support price for their crops. Countless number of farmer suicides are ignored. But corporates are spared of any burden. They get tax waiver without even asking for :)
 

TV anchors who analyse budget have only one thing in their mind. If a budget is pro-poor(pro-agriculture), it cannot be good for the country. If it does not give the corporate world more goodies, it is bad. The budget is analysed in terms of how stock market reacts. Many corporate giants were critical of the farm loan waiver scheme but when the customs or excise tax is reduced they welcome the budget.

Hats off to people like P Sainath who expose such budgets. But no matter whoever is in power, they will continue doing the same thing for years to come.