Welcome

Website counter
website hit counter
website hit counters

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Economics of caste

Dalits Media Watch

News Updates 18.11.11

Kamal Nath slams Mayawati govt for failing to push metro projects - The Times Of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kamal-Nath-slams-Mayawati-govt-for-failing-to-push-metro-projects/articleshow/10774968.cms

Mayawati's masterstroke - The Hindu

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/editorial/article2636332.ece?homepage=true

Jairam targets Mayawati again - The Hindu

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2636841.ece
Economics of caste - Front Line

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20111202282407800.htm

The Times Of India

Kamal Nath slams Mayawati govt for failing to push metro projects

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Kamal-Nath-slams-Mayawati-govt-for-failing-to-push-metro-projects/articleshow/10774968.cms

Mahendra Kumar Singh, TNN | Nov 18, 2011, 03.21AM IST

NEW DELHI: As assembly elections approach in Uttar Pradesh, the Mayawati regime in Uttar Pradesh is coming under increasing attacks from UPA with urban development minister Kamal Nath joining his colleague Jairam Ramesh in slamming the state government.

Nath on Thursday launched a veiled attack on Mayawati government for its failure to push metro projects in Lucknow, Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Noida that fit in the Centre's criteria of 20 lakh-plus population cities.

"After getting detailed project report prepared by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, there is no word from the state government on metro project in Lucknow," the minister said.

With Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi at the heart of the party campaign in UP, ministers are finding fault with Mayawati's governance and trying to highlight "misrule" in the state. Congress, which has been out of power in the state for long, is trying to regain lost ground in the politically crucial state.

Ministry sources said the state government was sitting on project reports for metro rail projects in the state capital. It has not approached the UD ministry to get further approval, they added.

The fate of extension of Delhi Metro to the satellite towns of Ghaziabad and Noida is similar. DPRs for extension of Delhi Metro beyond Vaishali in Ghaziabad and Sector 32 City Centre in Noida was prepared long back but there has been no movement since then.

The reason that officials give for the state government's apathy for metro projects is massive funding and neglect of urban transport. Metro projects are capital intensive and the state government will have to pitch in with around 50% of the total cost of the project while rest is met by Centre even if DMRC model is adopted.

The state government's apathy towards modern modes of transport is evident as it failed to get even DPR prepared for metro rail project in Kanpur while it meets UD ministry's cut-off criteria.

States like Rajasthan are way forward is comparison with UP as it has started building 7 km of metro corridor in Jaipur which is entirely funded by the state government. It has also approached UD ministry for approval of viability gap funding for Phase 2 of Jaipur metro which
will be implemented on PPP mode.

The Hindu

Mayawati's masterstroke

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/editorial/article2636332.ece?homepage=true

The Congress cannot readily support the UP demand without further queering the pitch in Andhra Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati, has time and again shown that she possesses one of the shrewdest political brains in the country. Her latest proposal, to carve up Uttar Pradesh into four smaller states, is a political masterstroke that has unsettled the Opposition in the run-up to the early-2012 polls to the State Assembly. With the exception of the Samajwadi Party – which has opposed the division, given the potentially disastrous break-up of its caste and community-based vote bank – the mainstream national parties (Congress and the BJP) have been forced into an uncomfortable corner.

Ideologically and politically, they may not be opposed to the proposal; but openly declaring their support would only give Ms. Mayawati the advantage she seeks in the upcoming elections. By moving ahead, she has managed to shift the focus of the political debate to State formation, and away from the issues of governance, development, law and order, and siphoning of money in welfare schemes.

The Congress, in particular, is in a bind. As the principal ruling party at the Centre, it cannot readily support the UP demand without further queering the pitch in Andhra Pradesh, where the agitation for a separate Telangana State has virtually paralysed the administration.

On the other hand, doing well in the UP elections is equallyimportant, since they could be the launch pad for Congress heir-apparent Rahul Gandhi's move to a larger role at the national
level. A good show there – similar to the party's performance in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls – may, in fact, restore the legitimacy of a beleaguered Government at the Centre. Who knows, the Assembly polls could even give it a second wind and much-needed confidence to bring
economic reforms back on the agenda.

As regards UP's division, there is certainly a compelling economic logic for it. Even after the formation of a separate Uttarakhand from its erstwhile hill districts, the State sprawls over nearly 2.5 lakh square kilometers, where some 200 million people live. On paper, the creation of Pashchim Pradesh, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and Poorvanchal should galvanise governance and focus policy attention to the specific needs of these culturally, geographically and economically diverse regions. In reality, though, the track record of creating smaller States has been mixed. While some like Chhattisgarh have done well in terms of attracting industry or even reforms of the public distribution system, they have not been free of corruption and
governance-related problems. Moreover, they have also proved highly inept in handling the growing challenge posed by Maoist insurgency.

But on the whole, the original logic for formation of States, based on linguistic commonality, has clearly been rendered obsolete. That definitely presents the case for a second States Reorganisation Commission – following the first one constituted in 1953 – that would
examine these issues afresh.

The Hindu

Jairam targets Mayawati again

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2636841.ece

NEW DELHI, November 18, 2011

K. Balchand

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh PTI Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Says she failed to act against officials who swindled MGNREGS funds,
presses for CBI probe The war of words between the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the run-up to the Assembly elections has intensified, with a Union Minister blaming Chief Minister Mayawati for failing to act against officials who had allegedly swindled funds of a Central government scheme in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh shot off a second letter to Ms. Mayawati who, instead of responding to his first letter, wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, accusing him of indulging in politics.

As Ms. Mayawati shot down the proposal for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the embezzlement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds, Mr. Ramesh has once again pressed for the investigation, pointing out that she had reneged
on her promise to act against officials whom she had held responsible for the misappropriation.

In his November 14 letter, Mr. Ramesh said that on March 30, 2010, Ms. Mayawati told journalists that Raj Bahadur, chief development officer of Gonda, would be placed under suspension but departmental action was yet to be taken. This, he said, highlighted how corrupt officials evaded punishment because of their proximity to the powers that be.

He told Ms. Mayawati that she herself would realise the sad and regrettable situation if she verified the action taken, as no employee, let alone any senior officer, was touched and no money was recovered even 19 months after her announcement. "No FIR filed"
The 14-page letter cites several instances of irregularities and the names of officials allegedly responsible, pointing out that enquiry reports were ignored and no First Information Report was filed in some cases, even three years after these cases surfaced.

The irregularities, Mr. Ramesh said, only underscored how effectively the State government had acted. The government's callousness had prevented the benefits of the scheme from reaching the poor.


Referring to Ms. Mayawati having referred some of these cases to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Mr. Ramesh said the EOW had not effectively investigated other irregularities referred to it.

He hoped that she would agree to his proposal for a CBI inquiry into the irregularities committed in Balrampur, Gonda, Mahoba, Sonbhadra, Kushinagar, Mirzapur and Sant Kabir Nagar districts.

Front Line

Economics of caste

http://www.frontline.in/stories/20111202282407800.htm

BOOKS
RAJ SEKHAR BASU

The author establishes how disparity in society is entrenched within the caste-occupation nexus.

IN the late 1990s, Dalit activists in many parts of India had started debating whether the institution of caste that prevailed in the country had similarities with the concept of race as was often conceptualised in the West. In fact, before the Durban Conference on apartheid and racism, many Dalit intellectuals believed that caste and race were almost similar in the context of India. The question is why these Dalit intellectuals and the Dalit counter-public tried to insist
on this sort of an analogy. As has been argued by critics such as Shiv Visvanathan, there possibly had been attempts by many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working among Dalit communities to integrate them at the grass-roots, State, national and international levels.

Indeed, such a strategy reflected an element of flexibility whereby the state was visualised notonly as an agency of reform but as one whose powers violated the dignity of Dalits in their everyday life. The focus was on entitlement, and in this ambience the exercise of rights assumed great significance. In other words, it added fuel to the arguments of Dalit activists, notably those attending conferences such as the Durban Conference, that the reactions to caste and caste-based discrimination were akin to the reactions that had been set in motion by race and racial discrimination.

Sociologists have for long argued that what sets India apart from other societies is the overwhelming dominance of the caste order. Indeed, there is an opinion that there are no phonotypical differences between castes and it is specific, coded substances that differentiate
one caste from another. These differences are often expressed in terms of purity and pollution which are to be observed very strictly by individuals in their quotidian experience as human beings. As in terms of race, physical separation was also given primacy by social theorists working on Indian communities.

Dipankar Gupta has argued that what makes caste stand apart from other forms of stratification is the elaborate and ritualised rules that not only insist on the observance of these distinctions but also prescribe sanctions in cases where the norms are violated. In his words, "It is this obsessive attention to the slightest variation in ritual-making that marks out caste from other forms of stratification." More importantly, while it is difficult to provide a quantitative
interpretation of the impact of caste on Indian society, its formidable presence in terms of a hierarchical order resembling racism continues to baffle scholars interested in the study of caste both as a cultural and an economic system.

However, scholars increasingly argue that it is difficult to accept the provocative position as adopted by Louis Dumont in his well-known work Homo Hierarchicus, which says that pure hierarchy was a state of mind to which all those within the caste system abided. This model of
an all-embracing hierarchy had a great deal of similarity with the version of the Indologists of the 19th century who preferred an uncritical interpretation of the brahmanical texts such as the
Yagnavalkyasmriti and the Manusmriti. It is now being argued that caste identities cannot be straitjacketed within a single universalised system, where the pure and the impure remain
unproblematically firm in times of interaction.

Inequity and poverty

What needs to be stressed is that caste order is characterised not simply by the contesting notions of hierarchy but by issues of inequality and poverty. In her book, Ashwini Deshpande strongly asserts that caste could be an important group identifier vis-à-vis issues relating to economic disparity and discrimination. A few years ago, there were articles in academic journals that Dalit children were being chased out of schools in some villages of Tamil Nadu since they
wanted to participate with the rest of the children in the government-run midday meal programmes. The dominant castes rejected such action on the basis of their caste pride and did everything possible to stall such moves.

More glaring were the reports from Patna, Bihar's capital city, where the government's public distribution shops owned by the dominant castes refused to distribute goods to Dalit customers until cloth screens were hung to save them from the gaze of the so-called polluting presence of "the untouchables". The Indian Institute of Dalit Studies conducted a survey of 531 villages in five States of India in 2003 and exposed the patterns of exclusion and discrimination
that beset the much-publicised midday meal schemes and the public distribution system.

The author has rightly argued at the very outset that since the non-economic literature on the Indian caste system is vast, there may be a question as to whether "an economic enquiry can make any additional worthwhile contribution" (page 3). She expresses her discomfort with many of the contemporary writings which emphasise that the links between occupation and caste are breaking down and that all this is resulting in the release of enormous entrepreneurial energies
in different parts of India. An economist by training, Ashwini Deshpande acknowledges that while occupational structures may have witnessed a rapid transformation, caste division is ubiquitous in contemporary India.

Caste-class overlap

The author tries to answer questions as to whether the lower castes tended to get absorbed into low-paying and less-prestigious occupations, while there was a pronounced presence of the upper castes in modern occupations. In fact, there can be little disagreement with her proposition that social and economic mobility is still a distant dream for members of the lower castes. In other words, while links between caste and jati can snap, there are enough examples fo lend credence to the old Marxian logic of a caste-class overlap in India.

Ashwini Deshpande draws our attention to the growing incidence of the breakdown of the traditional subsistence economy. But this does not essentially establish the fact that the influence of caste is waning; rather there are signs that it is making its presence strongly felt in
the different dimensions of the economy. She alludes to a number of studies which stress that untouchability is not only present all over rural India but have 'survived' by adapting to new ocio-economic realities and is taking on new and insidious forms. She points out
that the extrajudicial power exercised by caste panchayats, particularly in the sphere of inter-caste romantic/matrimonial alliances, is proof of the lasting relevance of caste in rural
society.

However, the author does not intend to confine her study to economic investigation; her intention rather is to establish how through a discursive reading of the past there can be a crucial understanding of the material aspects of disparity, as was entrenched within the
caste-occupation nexus.

Ashwini Deshpande's volume is based primarily on her own academic interests spanning over the last decade vis-a-vis issues of contemporary caste inequalities in India. Her work takes an all-India view, recognising the regional and subregional variations. Apart from a concise introduction, she brings out the diversities in her work through the various chapters. In one of the chapters, she discusses the possibilities of employing a few economic theories toinvestigate how social identity has impacted on the economic outcome, leading to
discriminations in market settings. She insists that both classical/neoclassical interpretations and heterodox traditions,including Marxian, have stressed that social identity of the economic
agent does not matter. She contests such understandings by arguing that unfortunate and stark life experiences have proved that issues of identity are not so peripheral that they can be ignored by scholars.

She highlights the contradictions inherent in them, despite the overarching supremacy of neoclassical economic theories, since social discriminations are found to be acceptable within the market traditions and within the system of profit maximisation.

In this context, it has been pointed out that though the conversion of Dalits to other religions, including Christianity and Islam, was influenced by an urge to escape from exclusion and discrimination, such conversion did not ensure the improvement of the social status of
the converted individual.

General equilibrium model

The most interesting part of her argument is that which highlights the assumptions of the general equilibrium model. This model establishes the point that profit-maximising agents could encourage discrimination until there were policies of affirmative action or a coalition of employers who were interested in breaking free from all social stereotypes. The general equilibrium model suggests that all employees get paid according to their productivity, whereas in a world with statistical discrimination, employees get paid according to their
group identities.

The hallmark of Ashwini Deshpande's analysis is that she tries to explain these complex economic theories in terms of the discourses which have taken place on caste and the Hindu social order since the last decades of the 19th century. Like the present-day economists,
social theorists of the 19th century argued that the very affiliation to a certain social category determined the level of wages and issues broadly related to human security. In other words, an individual belonging to the lowest social classes could barely expect highly rewarding jobs.

Ashwini Deshpande feels that despite the popularity of a number of economic models, there are a whole range of questions on the caste system and its role in the economy that are unanswered. In this context, the author has raised the problems arising out of conflicting
social prescriptions. Subsequently, she also raises the problem of identity formation.


In India, she argues, the usage of terms such as Dalits and Harijans often gives rise to a great deal of contestation. The official emphasis on the usage of the term Harijan is found to be offensive by the advocates of Dalit identity since they find it to be too
pejorative if not patronising. The construction of identity is itself a complex phenomenon, and the self-perceived identity also displays a degree of homogenisation or enforcement, thereby creating conflicting ideas of self-respect within a particular community. This identity
sometimes appears to be the real identity, but sometimes it is also fissured along the lines of class, territoriality and gender.

Possibly, it is these complexities that economists lose sight of when they present their theoretical models based on a singular consensual identity. In the case of India, most of these studies bring out a number of interesting dimensions.

VISHWA KUNDAPURA

Dalit workers engaged in manual cleaning of pits of public toilets in Kolar Gold Fields, Karnataka. Social and economic mobility is still a distant dream for members of the lower castes.

Land reform legislation

The author stresses the fact that while there are conflicts between the middle and upper layers of rural societies over issues relating to social distribution, such conflicts are less marked among the lower castes. The reality is that members of the Scheduled Castes (S.Cs) in rural areas continue to depend mostly on upper-caste landlords for
their daily employment. This situation could be directly related to the lack of initiative on the part of rightist and centrist political parities of India to support land reform legislation on a large scale.

The example of Uttar Pradesh in this regard would not be out of place, where Dalit politicians, despite capturing political power, did not introduce land reform legislation for the benefit of the majority of S.C. families.

Such actions on the part of Dalit politicians are often based on their own understanding of social hierarchy and that of power relations in society. Presumably, this explicates the rise of the Chamars as an important force in Dalit politics in northern India. The Chamar
identity thus gets privileged over other identities such as all-embracing identities like those of the Ravi Dasi or Kabir Panthis.

Nonetheless, the discrimination against Dalits in matters relating to access to educational institutions and land ownership cannot be overlooked by scholars working on contemporary India. In West Bengal and Kerala, which have witnessed long years of progressive
governments, the S.Cs continue to be treated as landless communities.

In several other States, Dalits have been classified as non-agricultural communities because they are scavengers, leather workers or those engaged in other menial occupations.


Interestingly, economic liberalisation and globalisation have not brought about much change in the socio-economic status of Dalits. Indeed, there seems to be very little evidence, as the author
suggests, of a departure from the earlier experiences of caste inequalities. For instance, the economic forces of liberalisation and globalisation have generated a number of jobs in the outsourcing industry where recruitment is based on fluency in English and computer
literacy. Dalits, because of their educational disadvantages, find it difficult to compete for such jobs.

It has also been argued that the emulation of upper-caste norms by members of the Dalit communities have led to the undermining of the role of women in the family and in the workplace. This is a change from the earlier times when these communities were noted for their
relative egalitarianism in gender-related issues. Gita Nambisan, in her researches, has pointed out how Dalit girls faced discrimination in schools because of the double stigma of gender and caste. The author has highlighted how through a variety of ways such stigma
manifested itself in the everyday lives of Dalits. Her in-depth qualitative investigations dealing with gender differences in education, both at rural and urban localities, bring out the
prevalence of such a phenomenon.

The author has also highlighted the caste-class interaction and its implications for the participation of women in the employment sphere. She states emphatically that an upper-class background often enabled urban women to break free from the traditional caste diktats. This is
reflected in their greater presence in higher education and professional occupation and also in their marriage choices. But an S.C. woman has little option other than continuing with her
traditional caste occupation. This explains why women from these communities carry on with their traditional tasks and become craftswomen, petty traders or midwives.

Finally, highly educated workers enjoy appreciable hikes in their wages, whereas women engaged in menial work do not. In other words, the author proves convincingly how educational attainment for women have a direct bearing on their income capability. But the other major
issue that she brings out is the evidence of sharp discrimination existing within the earning patterns. Ashwini Deshpande argues that while this pattern may be true for all women, the inter-caste division undoubtedly suggests that it is more so for Dalit women.

Affirmative action

The most important premise of Ashwini Deshpande's work lies in the fact that despite legislation, the problems of disparity and discrimination remain untouched. In fact, the benefits of high growth do not reach the marginalised, that is Dalits and tribal people. It is on the basis of such arguments that the author investigates the impact of the policies of affirmative action in India. It has been pointed out that unlike countries such as Malaysia, there is no national
enforcement mechanism for affirmative action in India.

It is well known that the upper–caste, elitist bias of the Indian judiciary prevents the adoption of strong redress measures to end the discrimination against the less-privileged caste groups. But these issues often get integrated into a bigger debate as to whether caste
should be the determining factor of backwardness. Some sections of Indian society believe that reservation should be class-based for two reasons.


First, if the state accepts caste as the basis for backwardness, it legitimises the caste system, which contradicts secular principles. Secondly, the traditional caste system on the lines of the jajmani system has broken down and contractual relationships have emerged
between individuals.

The implicit belief in such arguments is that the life chances of an individual in contemporary India are determined by one's economic conditions and not by the membership of any social group. But the efficacy of the policies of affirmative action lies in the fact that the majority of the people who are eligible for benefits remain outside its confines; the beneficiaries are only certain caste groups which have been pampered for narrow, selfish political dividends. This
possibly lends strength to the entire idea of the domination of the creamy layer as the major beneficiaries of state policies. Nonetheless, through a lot of information drawn from interviews with
students from prominent educational institutions in Delhi, the author firmly reiterates that Dalits strongly support the policies of affirmative action. Yet, there is a feeling that reservation should be targeted more towards poor and rural Dalits rather than second- or
third-generation recipients of quota admission. While all these policies have led to the emergence of a Dalit middle class, the majority of Dalits continue to be untouched by quotas ingovernment offices and educational institutions. Thus, the quota system has not
been the universal phenomenon for removing caste-based discrimination.

The author, through her in-depth analysis based on economic theories, interpretation of statistics and a broader discussion of the affirmative action programmes, will definitely influence social theorists to debate more on issues of equity and citizenship. She establishes that the study of caste and its role in Indian society, which earlier had been the domain of anthropological writings, can be taken up by economists to give it a more holistic interpretation.
Rather than downplaying the nature of caste identities and the encounters between multiple hierarchies, the Indian state and Dalits should explore in detail the flexibility, mobility and political possibilities of castes so that such work leads to a more composite
identity and a more balanced economic strategy based on a proper inclusion of all the marginalised sections of society.


-- 
.Arun Khote
On behalf of
Dalits Media Watch Team
(An initiative of "Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre-PMARC")
...................................................................
Peoples Media Advocacy & Resource Centre- PMARC has been initiated with the support from group of senior journalists, social activists, academics and intellectuals from Dalit and civil society to advocate and facilitate Dalits issues in the mainstream media. To create proper & adequate space with the Dalit perspective in the mainstream media national/ International on Dalit issues is primary objective of the PMARC. 

No comments:

मैं नास्तिक क्यों हूं# Necessity of Atheism#!Genetics Bharat Teertha

হে মোর চিত্ত, Prey for Humanity!

मनुस्मृति नस्ली राजकाज राजनीति में OBC Trump Card और जयभीम कामरेड

Gorkhaland again?আত্মঘাতী বাঙালি আবার বিভাজন বিপর্যয়ের মুখোমুখি!

हिंदुत्व की राजनीति का मुकाबला हिंदुत्व की राजनीति से नहीं किया जा सकता।

In conversation with Palash Biswas

Palash Biswas On Unique Identity No1.mpg

Save the Universities!

RSS might replace Gandhi with Ambedkar on currency notes!

जैसे जर्मनी में सिर्फ हिटलर को बोलने की आजादी थी,आज सिर्फ मंकी बातों की आजादी है।

#BEEFGATEঅন্ধকার বৃত্তান্তঃ হত্যার রাজনীতি

अलविदा पत्रकारिता,अब कोई प्रतिक्रिया नहीं! पलाश विश्वास

ভালোবাসার মুখ,প্রতিবাদের মুখ মন্দাক্রান্তার পাশে আছি,যে মেয়েটি আজও লিখতে পারছেঃ আমাক ধর্ষণ করবে?

Palash Biswas on BAMCEF UNIFICATION!

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS ON NEPALI SENTIMENT, GORKHALAND, KUMAON AND GARHWAL ETC.and BAMCEF UNIFICATION! Published on Mar 19, 2013 The Himalayan Voice Cambridge, Massachusetts United States of America

BAMCEF UNIFICATION CONFERENCE 7

Published on 10 Mar 2013 ALL INDIA BAMCEF UNIFICATION CONFERENCE HELD AT Dr.B. R. AMBEDKAR BHAVAN,DADAR,MUMBAI ON 2ND AND 3RD MARCH 2013. Mr.PALASH BISWAS (JOURNALIST -KOLKATA) DELIVERING HER SPEECH. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLL-n6MrcoM http://youtu.be/oLL-n6MrcoM

Imminent Massive earthquake in the Himalayas

Palash Biswas on Citizenship Amendment Act

Mr. PALASH BISWAS DELIVERING SPEECH AT BAMCEF PROGRAM AT NAGPUR ON 17 & 18 SEPTEMBER 2003 Sub:- CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT 2003 http://youtu.be/zGDfsLzxTXo

Tweet Please

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS BLASTS INDIANS THAT CLAIM BUDDHA WAS BORN IN INDIA

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: INDIAN GOVERNMENT FOOD SECURITY PROGRAM RISKIER

http://youtu.be/NrcmNEjaN8c The government of India has announced food security program ahead of elections in 2014. We discussed the issue with Palash Biswas in Kolkata today. http://youtu.be/NrcmNEjaN8c Ahead of Elections, India's Cabinet Approves Food Security Program ______________________________________________________ By JIM YARDLEY http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/indias-cabinet-passes-food-security-law/

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

THE HIMALAYAN VOICE: PALASH BISWAS DISCUSSES RAM MANDIR

Published on 10 Apr 2013 Palash Biswas spoke to us from Kolkota and shared his views on Visho Hindu Parashid's programme from tomorrow ( April 11, 2013) to build Ram Mandir in disputed Ayodhya. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77cZuBunAGk

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS LASHES OUT KATHMANDU INT'L 'MULVASI' CONFERENCE

अहिले भर्खर कोलकता भारतमा हामीले पलाश विश्वाससंग काठमाडौँमा आज भै रहेको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मूलवासी सम्मेलनको बारेमा कुराकानी गर्यौ । उहाले भन्नु भयो सो सम्मेलन 'नेपालको आदिवासी जनजातिहरुको आन्दोलनलाई कम्जोर बनाउने षडयन्त्र हो।' http://youtu.be/j8GXlmSBbbk

THE HIMALAYAN DISASTER: TRANSNATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT MECHANISM A MUST

We talked with Palash Biswas, an editor for Indian Express in Kolkata today also. He urged that there must a transnational disaster management mechanism to avert such scale disaster in the Himalayas. http://youtu.be/7IzWUpRECJM

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICAL OF BAMCEF LEADERSHIP

[Palash Biswas, one of the BAMCEF leaders and editors for Indian Express spoke to us from Kolkata today and criticized BAMCEF leadership in New Delhi, which according to him, is messing up with Nepalese indigenous peoples also. He also flayed MP Jay Narayan Prasad Nishad, who recently offered a Puja in his New Delhi home for Narendra Modi's victory in 2014.]

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICIZES GOVT FOR WORLD`S BIGGEST BLACK OUT

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS CRITICIZES GOVT FOR WORLD`S BIGGEST BLACK OUT

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALSH BISWAS FLAYS SOUTH ASIAN GOVERNM

Palash Biswas, lashed out those 1% people in the government in New Delhi for failure of delivery and creating hosts of problems everywhere in South Asia. http://youtu.be/lD2_V7CB2Is

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS LASHES OUT KATHMANDU INT'L 'MULVASI' CONFERENCE

अहिले भर्खर कोलकता भारतमा हामीले पलाश विश्वाससंग काठमाडौँमा आज भै रहेको अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय मूलवासी सम्मेलनको बारेमा कुराकानी गर्यौ । उहाले भन्नु भयो सो सम्मेलन 'नेपालको आदिवासी जनजातिहरुको आन्दोलनलाई कम्जोर बनाउने षडयन्त्र हो।' http://youtu.be/j8GXlmSBbbk