Hemant Karkare: Progressive and Secular to the Core
Here is one of the best, and most revealing, obits of Hemant Karkare. It appeared in today's DNA.
Ramakumar
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1210370&pageid=0
'He always led from the front'
Neeta Kolhatkar / DNA
Sunday, November 30, 2008 03:26 IST
Hemant Karkare, the Anti-Terrorist Squad chief was born into a Maharashtrian Brahmin family in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh where his parents lived. His father, Kamlakar worked in Central Railways as a guard and his mother was a teacher.
The family moved to Nagpur when Karkare was in the sixth standard. His mother Kumudini who had both bachelor's and master's degrees in education, after her marriage, taught at D Dinanath School.
Karkare's childhood friends remember the family as warm, simple, rational and highly educated. "Kamlakar and I were worked together. He was an active trade unionist of National Railway Mazdoor Union and All-India Guards Council," recalls Narayan Rao, secretary of Maharashtra unit for All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation, an affiliate of World Peace Organisation.
Kamlakar was a great influence on Hemant. "He inherited his father's qualities of being rational and able to identify with the masses," Rao says.
Kamlakar was close to AB Bardhan, general secretary of the Communist Party of India. "Kamlakar helped the poor, he would give them homeopathic medicines," he added. He was also inspired by his mother's resilience and was his role model.
"The one thing that stands out about the Karkare family is that while they were Brahmins, who were not atheists but were never pro-RSS. His family was far from fundamentalist Brahmins you meet in this city," says Rao.
Hemant studied at the New English High School in Nagpur. "When the bigger boys bullied him, he would just ignore them," says his friend Colonel Rahul Goverdhan.
Hermant later went on to study Mechanical engineering. He then joined Hindustan Lever, appeared for his UPSC exams and joined the Indian Police Services.
Karkare was an excellent sculptor. He made lampshades and artefacts from wood. As SP, Chandrapur, he had learnt these skills from local artisans. He even helped them sell their wares. Hemant would make gifts for his friends and family like photo frames," recalls Avinash Joshi, a friend.
Goverdhan says Karkare liked to take charge of things. "The day he was to take over as SP Chandrapur, there was an attack on the police. Hemant went and opened the police station and lead the attack on the Naxals. He always wanted his men to know they could count on him,"says Goverdhan.
Karkare's colleagues from the ministry of external affairs remember him as a teacher to them. "We worked in Vienna many years ago. He was my guru," says Kamaldeep Khanna, an officer with MEA.
Hemant was just 54 when his career was cut short. He is survived by his wife Kavita, a teacher, the backbone of the family.
k_neeta@dnaindia.net
Posted by R. Ramakumar at 2:49 PM 1 comments
Labels: Mumbai
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thai government changes its approach to the stateless
Thai government changes its approach to the stateless
Neeta Kolhatkar
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 21:01 IST
Bangkok: Boon is a 44-year-old, barefoot lawyer who heads the human rights clinic in Mei Aai district, Northern province of Chaing Rai in Thailand. Aided by UNICEF, she visits villages and district authorities to pursue the cause of stateless people in the country.
Neeta Kolhatkar / DNA
Nasoh is a 12-year-old student, born in Chai Sen. Her parents are Thai, but hold a pink card
Boon herself is a victim of the stateless problem. She was 22 when she learnt that although she was born and lived in Thailand, she had no nationality. "My mother missed the census and although she is Thai by birth, I am not a citizen. In 2002, some of my relatives got Thai citizenship. I got an identity card and then realised I was not a citizen of this country," Boon says.
Boon began making enquiries with district-level authorities, who told her she needed to prove she was a Thai national. "I was frustrated with the system but I did not get bogged down. Instead, I decided to take this up as a challenge. I studied law and began to pursue my citizenship," she says.
She went to her birthplace and spoke to relatives, a midwife, neighbours and relatives who had witnessed her birth. She drew a family tree of those relatives who had received Thai nationality, and was helped by professor Phunthip Sasoonthorn, faculty of law, Thammasat University, lawyers and UNICEF. "They took DNA samples from me and my relatives. The cost was exorbitant, but finally, my case was admitted in court and I won it," says a beaming Boon.
Human Rights Clinic has paid for the families of two of us and it came to nearly 80,000Bahts because of the distance between the relatives.
After 2006, 1,243 applicants could be admitted. There are more than 100 students and a total of 3,000 people who have applied for citizenship. Till now, 100 of them have received Thai nationality.
Apart from Boon, others, like Panee Sukom, 25, are suffering despite being the children of Thai nationals. Sukom's mother came to Thailand from Myanmar over four decades ago; Sukom was born before 1992, and under Thai law, that makes her eligible for citizenship. But her civil registration certificate says she was born in Burma, while her birth certificate says she was born in Thailand.
"In my case it is the local officer who made a mistake in my civil registration. I don't know if it was deliberate, because my mother is illiterate and could not read it at the time and correct it on the spot," Sukom says. Today, she is married to a Thai man, has a child who is a Thai national, but still has a long fight ahead.
"The fact is, not having Thai nationality or citizenship means one is deprived of all rights. I get no voting rights, I can't own land or a house," says a sad Sukom.
Nasoh, a 12-year-old student, was born in Chai Sen. Her parents are Thai but hold a pink card. When the refugee problem escalated, the Thai government came out with a proposal to give refugee cards to Burmese migrants. Nasoh's parents took the card with the hope that they would get benefits, not realising that their citizenship would be nullified.
"My parents took it because they could not read. They thought the pink card was free and would give them some benefits, but it changed our status completely. Today we have zero status," says Nasoh.
Her parents gave her up for adoption to her aunt and uncle, who were childless and who notified her as their daughter. However, last year, when volunteers came to tell her of her status, Nasoh realised she had zero none. "I began to feel different from others the minute I realised I was not a Thai national. In class, nobody treats me badly or excludes me, but I feel odd about this whole experience."
The fact is, the Thai government has been trying to address this issue based on the national security concern. The Thai national human rights commission, civil society organisations and academicians have pressured the government into seeing this with a humanitarian approach. In the last three years, three acts - the Immigration Act, the Nationality Act and the Civil Registration Act - have been amended to solve this problem.
"The stateless people's issue is of concern to the government because they see it as being related to national security. This is the mainstream, conventional way of seeing things," says Dr Amara Pongsapich, anthropologist with Chulalongkorn University.
The shift in this approach, Amara says, came when the sub-commission roped in academicians and human rights groups. However, victims face problems at the district level because officials are not accustomed to the human-rights approach.
"A paradigm shift was pushed by civil society and academicians. However, district officers who work on this issue are caught in a dilemma - whether to follow the law to the letter, or be humanitarian. They don't have an open mind about human rights. Although information has been passed down regarding the amendments to the law, they seem reluctant to implement them," Amara says.
The government Human Rights Commission says one of the biggest hurdles is making other departments and ministries understand the human security issue and help them shed their traditional roles as security officials.
"We are not only the implementing agency, but the monitoring agency as well. Cabinet ministers take our views and reports seriously. It is not easy at the district level," says Ekachai Pinkaew, a senior officer of the Human Rights Commission. "On the other hand, it is equally hard working with other ministries. I have to convince and negotiate with the military and immigration officers. We need their support but this is a typical characteristic of the bureaucracy," Pinkaew adds.
An important development this week was that the Human Rights Commission could get the approval of the National Health Commission to pass the right to health for stateless people. "Ministers are open to new ideas; this week, we discussed the right to health for stateless people as it has already been passed by the National Health Committee. It will soon be passed in Parliament," Pinkaew adds.
Poems of girls
A girl
She suffered in silence
She held herself guilty
What had she done to attract this crime on herself?
She was a young girl, he an uncle
She woke up one night to a hand feeling up her thigh
She threw her blanket and woke up with a start
She felt like a kitten
He had tried but couldn’t penetrate
She was scared but had shown her strength
She transformed her hatred & got empowered
She didn’t want to be a martyr, but she bid time
Her confidence had given her more power
Many looked upon her with awe
By then she had blocked out the past
A Lesson
The girl knocked on the door
Dogs greeted her by jumping with glee
The man came and lost colour on his face
He didn’t welcome the lady at all
The man turned away to the house
But the man’s partner welcomed the niece
Memories came flooding to them all
The uncle remembered the day he had set up the girl
Her escape had emancipated her
She no more feared
She looked up and ignored the man
He shifted around the room uncomfortably
The silence was eerie for them, the girl was serene
The dogs barked in the passage
Finally the uncle spoke on deaf ears
It was a day of reckoning
The stakes had changed
The powerless was empowered
While the philanderer was a loser
Saturday, May 16, 2009
India’s mandate
Who said the Indian voter has no brains? Who said that the Indian voter can be easily bought by illicit liquor and money? Who said the Indian voter is predictable? Yes, the sephologists and media had run down all the voters and the Indian mandate.
We did see faces of the poor, malnourished Indians who seemed to have attended many a rally. Those who were paid to mark their presence for ‘crowd’ factor when big wig political leaders came to talk down to them. Huh! Few leaders took that effort to go the extra mile to walk and plead for votes. Most have now got detached. Fewer still like Sonia Gandhi and her children Priyanka or Rahul break the cordon and walk to greet the ordinary people. Most simply step out of their air conditioned cars and wave.
The voter has seen them all. Come, promise, not deliver, come again, promise again and simply disappear. This time the stalwarts came, folded hands and said, “vote.” The voter by now has been used to been taken for a ride. As if this is not enough, the political leaders took advantage of the November 26 carnage and militancy attack on Mumbai city. Some political parties like the Bharatiya Janta Party, Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena tried to emotionally black mail the voters. They actually said go out and vote to prevent militant attacks!
Now I have never heard this before, that if I voted, then elections would protect me any possible terror death in future. Such was the joke of the politicians in these elections. Then us, the media, that nearly put the Congress down. The infilteration of the chaddiwallas or the right wing thought people in our media immense. Right from bottom to the top most level the chaddiwallas have taken over news rooms. So, we had pre-polls predictions saying that the BJP alliance is surely winning.
The voter was quiet. There were new trends in this city of
Yes, I personally would like Maywati to win some day. Only because she is a Dalit. That should not be criteria. I agree, she now needs to do a lot of introspection. She needs better strategy. But the fact is she can be formidable and we do need alternate thought.
Like the right wing extremist thought there exists for donkeys years a left wing etrmist thought, ideological party, Communist Party of India. They need to realise that they cannot hold a government to ransom. One man, Prakash Karat, who is not even an elected candidate heads a party and over the nuclear deal holds the nation and government to ransom, he thought he could get away with it.
The Congress too had to resort to dirty tactics, of horse trading, of bribing, paying to keep the government. Well, better late than never. Finally they woke up to a harsh reality, they needed to change with the modern times. It had to shed a lot.
They woke up a bit late but better they did. They began to give the power mantle to the next gen. So we see more like Rahul Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, types who are new faces, brining in new hope.
The old right and left wing candidates began mud slinging match. They called names to stalwarts of other parties. They picked on women –Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka, other women candidates by calling them names. Whatever it is, the Indian voter has heard and seen it. The emotional cords make a difference in this country. For years the male leaders have tried to get away calling names to women in this country. There is a time for change.
The likes of Narendra Modi who now harp on ‘development’ have forgotten vital factor –HUMAN RIGHTS. He was the conduit and abettor for crimes and murder in his state the
Today we have to listen to a abettor of murders tell us that he will teach us a lesson. He claims to be the prime minister candidate? All these events and developments made some ‘intelligent’ extra politically wise and enlightened people say that the American model can only work in
Dude, one needs to understand to this country and its set up. We voters choose a council of ministers who elect one man as Prime minister. But we choose people who are able or at least considered. They and an even more able administration are supposed to draft pro- people policies and ensure the mandate benefits. That many have failed to fulfil this basic right or principle is another matter. That doesn’t make a system redundant. The people elected were wrong or not worth it. Some in fact are the ones who now claim of given a chance they could have made a difference, made a better govt. All have been given a chance. For the sake of petty politics they have sacrificed the whole good. They sacrificed people’s power for their own power – like the BJP and CPI (M).
The people have realised this all petty politics doesn’t work. This time for the first time in years people have reposed faith in the Congress, the old able party. This time the youth came out to vote, the rural and urban voter though alike. We want change. We want the country to go forward, develop and we want policies for ourselves. This clear majority of Congress is definitely a way the Indian voter has rubbished misplaced claims by the elite intelligentsia (who has no bloody clue of people’s pulse), media and regressive right, left wing people that the Indian voter does not understand. We do and we surely know that the issues of the national level are different from local and state.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Being positive in times of Economic Recession
Now I do read financial and economic news, especially because 0ver 10 years ago i used to cover the stock market, economic news & even did stories on the interest rates. That apart, initially i could not differentiate between the Blue chip & other companies...that understanding was as good as my understanding of 'windows' & dos when it first was launched.
According to my sister i was total embarrassment to her IT super speciality types...because when I first heard of 'windows & dos' i thought doors & windows open and some software comes out of it.. now i am a creative, communication person, although highly logical...but that is so different from IT which is unnecessarily complicated and sorry for me these IT types are as good as bank clerks or tech up loaders...similarly was my understanding of the stock market..i never understood why any company was called 'blue chip' company. Chip i always associated with software chips, blue...i thought was to do with blue collared workers. Now that too baffles me, why certain types of workers, managers basically humans were called blue-collared...i know there is colloquialism, but it need not stretch to such an extent.
Coming to the modern economic news - the banks in India were working well, till some dumb white fellows asked us to roll back on nationalism on every front..everything got privatised. Privatisation means NO public service or welfare. This is true, because if you see how the power companies world over have taken consumers for a ride with the pricing of per unit, rates & their total lack of public commitment, this should have given an indicator to the bloody Americans that privatisation has simply NOT worked. Yet, they went ahead & introduced privatisation of banking processes.
So NO people interaction, NO people giving or taking slips, cheques...now over a period of time this whole complicated process got majorly marred by vested interests, greedy officials, so now we landed with major economic recession. In the midst of this recession, me with 21 other fellows got selected for the international rotary course for peace & conflict resolution. I was constantly plagued by only one question that my friends & well wishers had, "How has your office given you permission? What about your job? etc, etc" Their concern was basically how would i survive this job during recession times.
Everyday i saw on Al Jazeera (My sensible window to the world it was), how older & more experienced professionals were being asked to sit at home, losing jobs & facing the worst time of their lives. I do not need to see recession for that, i have experienced it few years ago, for sticking my neck for myself & standing up to my own rights.
On this note, our office i am told was sacking people. I got emails from certain friends who confessed they were asked to put in their papers. The whole sacking was done decently & sensitively, but the persons were asked to leave. Then came the news of pay cuts. Which again has been done with caution & thoughtfulness...they have tried to save our cash component, etc. I am sure no person likes to tell another person to sit at home or tell staff that their pay is being cut. I have no problems to the latter, because if cutting my pay can save jobs i am absolutely satisfied about. Yes, because i also strongly believe if my job has to go it will, if it has to survive it will...but i have also realised a few complications that are beyond my understanding. Like why windows was called as windows for a bloody software programme...
The complications are as follows - the restaurants have NOT increased prices, but they drastically cut down on the portions they serve. They have NOT reduced prices, like our salaries, but you get to eat less. Imagine, as it is we earn lesser now we get to eat lesser...this equation i have NOT understood.
Then some products their prices keep mounting -like the darn Apple products! How their prices have increased when stupid ones like me go to buy them on zero EMI instalments??? I wonder.. they are still bloody expensive...
NO utility has reduced its fares because there is recession. If there is No or lesser money around every sector is affected, the diesel, petrol, CNG rates haven't fallen. A a result the bus & cab fares haven't decreased. So we as consumers continue to spend as much or more than what we have been till now, except the value for what i get in return seems to be decreasing.
Now i thought is a good time the stupid governments announce that the interest rates will increase, so the savings will at least double or become one and a half times...no but we don't get such bonanzas. Our tipping by the way has NOT decreased. If the portions have decreased, salaries have decreased, we continue to be weighed down by the social responsibility & guilt for paying less tips. But how does NO other person get weighed down by the cut in my salary. My working hours have not decreased, the pressures have not decreased, rather they have doubled. My work load has been modified & more has been added. More output is expected...
so the law of economics do not work in our favour, but they work for in those above and below my category. I n all this some bloody evil-minded person stole my expensive Ipod (of 8gb memory), that too a piece i bought on zero EMI on instalments...I'm supposed to forgive that person for his/her misdeed & pray i am able to afford it again?? I cursed the person & said that the person should & will incur 5 & a half times my loss for causing me such immense grief.
I have now given my status line as, "pay cuts, hot weather, no houses at cheap rates, bad candidates, NO better opps & people stealing my Ipod...yet i am told be +, this too shall pass...." i mean i really should be given a meddle for being positive, optimistic & surreal hopeful!
According to my sister i was total embarrassment to her IT super speciality types...because when I first heard of 'windows & dos' i thought doors & windows open and some software comes out of it.. now i am a creative, communication person, although highly logical...but that is so different from IT which is unnecessarily complicated and sorry for me these IT types are as good as bank clerks or tech up loaders...similarly was my understanding of the stock market..i never understood why any company was called 'blue chip' company. Chip i always associated with software chips, blue...i thought was to do with blue collared workers. Now that too baffles me, why certain types of workers, managers basically humans were called blue-collared...i know there is colloquialism, but it need not stretch to such an extent.
Coming to the modern economic news - the banks in India were working well, till some dumb white fellows asked us to roll back on nationalism on every front..everything got privatised. Privatisation means NO public service or welfare. This is true, because if you see how the power companies world over have taken consumers for a ride with the pricing of per unit, rates & their total lack of public commitment, this should have given an indicator to the bloody Americans that privatisation has simply NOT worked. Yet, they went ahead & introduced privatisation of banking processes.
So NO people interaction, NO people giving or taking slips, cheques...now over a period of time this whole complicated process got majorly marred by vested interests, greedy officials, so now we landed with major economic recession. In the midst of this recession, me with 21 other fellows got selected for the international rotary course for peace & conflict resolution. I was constantly plagued by only one question that my friends & well wishers had, "How has your office given you permission? What about your job? etc, etc" Their concern was basically how would i survive this job during recession times.
Everyday i saw on Al Jazeera (My sensible window to the world it was), how older & more experienced professionals were being asked to sit at home, losing jobs & facing the worst time of their lives. I do not need to see recession for that, i have experienced it few years ago, for sticking my neck for myself & standing up to my own rights.
On this note, our office i am told was sacking people. I got emails from certain friends who confessed they were asked to put in their papers. The whole sacking was done decently & sensitively, but the persons were asked to leave. Then came the news of pay cuts. Which again has been done with caution & thoughtfulness...they have tried to save our cash component, etc. I am sure no person likes to tell another person to sit at home or tell staff that their pay is being cut. I have no problems to the latter, because if cutting my pay can save jobs i am absolutely satisfied about. Yes, because i also strongly believe if my job has to go it will, if it has to survive it will...but i have also realised a few complications that are beyond my understanding. Like why windows was called as windows for a bloody software programme...
The complications are as follows - the restaurants have NOT increased prices, but they drastically cut down on the portions they serve. They have NOT reduced prices, like our salaries, but you get to eat less. Imagine, as it is we earn lesser now we get to eat lesser...this equation i have NOT understood.
Then some products their prices keep mounting -like the darn Apple products! How their prices have increased when stupid ones like me go to buy them on zero EMI instalments??? I wonder.. they are still bloody expensive...
NO utility has reduced its fares because there is recession. If there is No or lesser money around every sector is affected, the diesel, petrol, CNG rates haven't fallen. A a result the bus & cab fares haven't decreased. So we as consumers continue to spend as much or more than what we have been till now, except the value for what i get in return seems to be decreasing.
Now i thought is a good time the stupid governments announce that the interest rates will increase, so the savings will at least double or become one and a half times...no but we don't get such bonanzas. Our tipping by the way has NOT decreased. If the portions have decreased, salaries have decreased, we continue to be weighed down by the social responsibility & guilt for paying less tips. But how does NO other person get weighed down by the cut in my salary. My working hours have not decreased, the pressures have not decreased, rather they have doubled. My work load has been modified & more has been added. More output is expected...
so the law of economics do not work in our favour, but they work for in those above and below my category. I n all this some bloody evil-minded person stole my expensive Ipod (of 8gb memory), that too a piece i bought on zero EMI on instalments...I'm supposed to forgive that person for his/her misdeed & pray i am able to afford it again?? I cursed the person & said that the person should & will incur 5 & a half times my loss for causing me such immense grief.
I have now given my status line as, "pay cuts, hot weather, no houses at cheap rates, bad candidates, NO better opps & people stealing my Ipod...yet i am told be +, this too shall pass...." i mean i really should be given a meddle for being positive, optimistic & surreal hopeful!
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