Assam Violence Relief Efforts

Need your help friends...

The All Bodo Research Scholar' Forum (ABRSF) is making a little effort to wipe the tears & to bring a little joy to thousands of suffering people in the relief camps due to the ongoing violence between immigrants and indigenous Bodo tribe. Well-wishers and those who want to help the needy, may help and extend their solidarity through a little contribution here:

All Bodo Research Scholar’s Forum
State Bank of India, Guwahati University Branch
A/c: 32431995260

Helpline:

Jogen Boro, Gauhati University
General Secretary, ABRSF
Mobile No: 08822670423

Monjib Mochahari, TISS Mumbai
President, ABRSF
Mobile No: 09930190313, 07896218134

Jogmohan Boro, NEHU
Vice President, ABRSF
Mobile No: 08876909839

Dwimalu Brahma, Assam University
Asst. General Secretary, ABRSF
Mobile No: 09707258953

Charan Basumatary, TISS-Mumbai
Asst. General Secretary, ABRSF
Mobile No: 09022320455

Biswajit Brahma, Gauhati University
Asst. General Secretary, ABRSF
Mobile No: 0985926447

Olendra Braham
Editor, ABRSF
Mobile No: 09707930928

Tenision Basumatary, Gauhati University
Deputy Speaker, ABRSF
Mobile No: 08876788593

Nava Kumar Daimary
Treasurer, ABRSF
Mobile No: 09864752986

Manoj Kumar Mushahary, Tezpur Central University
Asst. General Secretary
Mobile No: 09864018953


Recommended reading:
Why Assam riot is not just a riot 

Why the Assam Riot is not just a Riot

Since the first week of July 2012, ethnic clash between illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and indigenous Bodo tribe is going on in the Bodoland area (BTAD) in Assam, India.

Both politicians and media is labeling it as 'communal violence' and associating the term 'riot' to it. 

Although the mainstream media is mostly asleep about the whole incident, which till date took the lives of about 50 people and displaced over 100000 400000 others, social media like Facebook and Twitter is full of feeds on this 'riot'. (Twitter feeds: #AssamRiots)

What is more interesting is that the whole ethnic clash has been termed as violence between Bodo Hindus and Bengali-speaking Muslims, by the main stream media, with few exceptions, that are telling it as ethnic clash.

Assam state's Chief Minister Mr. Tarun Gogoi, has been telling till now, that there are no Bangladeshis in Assam, but truth is something else. The population of Bengali-speaking Muslims (illegal immigrants from Bangladesh) in Assam has increased about 25 per cent over the last 5-6 years. Most of the immigrant population is concentrated in Lower Assam or Western Assam mostly in the districts of Dhubri (79%), Barpeta (59%), Goalpara (54%), etc. 

Tarun Gogoi is also accused by opposition parties and student unions for playing vote-bank politics, by allowing/facilitating the immigration, and providing Indian citizenship to the illegal immigrants in exchange for votes for his party.

Media is using the term, Bengali-speaking Muslim "settlers", for the ongoing Ethnic clash between indigenous Bodo tribal and illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Congress Govt. in State is saying they are Indian citizens. 

If both are correct, how come a non-tribal can "settle" in a Tribal area like Kokrajhar?

Has the govt. fail to protect the rights of Tribals of Assam and to implement of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006?

If the Govt. has failed, it should clearly say so.

It is worth telling that Assam is part of North East India, a region connected with India through a narrow corridor of 24 kms known as the Siliguri Corridor, which is shared between the Indian state of West Bengal with Assam, and the rest of North East.Two districts of Assam, namely Kokrajhar and Dhubri connects the Siliguri Corridor with North East India. With Dhubri consisting of 79% of Bengali-speaking Muslims (read - Illegal immigrants from Bangladesh), Kokrajhar is but of course their favourite district to consider next.

Post formation of Bodoland Territory Council, with headquarter at Kokrajhar, economy of this place has seen considerable increase, due to Govt. of India's fund for development in the region. Due to this opportunity, more and more illegal immigrants are migrating from Bangladesh to Bodoland.

The present situation in Bodoland, is not just communal violence between two religion, as highlighted by the main stream media, but has much more political issues associated with it. Actually it is not at all a riot, but an attempt by the illegal immigrants to do ethnic cleansing of the indigenous tribes of North East India.

Do give a thought to my analysis; about the ethnic clash between indigenous Bodo tribals and illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

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The situation in Kokrajhar is not only disturbing for the ingenious Bodo tribal, but for all of North East, since Kokrajhar is the major district that connects North East to the rest of India (the 24 kms Chicken-neck or Siliguri Corridor). Dhubri, in the south of Kokrajhar district, is more or less in control of the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, and if they get Kokrajhar too, then hell will break loose in North East.

These illegal immigrants from Bangladesh will have absolute control of all the transport and supplies to the North East. In my opinion, this could be one of the major reason for the present attempt for ethnic cleansing of Bodo tribe in Bodoland.

Even if Tarun Gogoi claims that there are no Bangladeshis in Assam and all are Indian citizen, I believe he will bear the sour-fruit of his own Vote-bank politics.. Unless he take appropriate actions to close down all pores in the border (Indo-Bangladesh border), whole of North East is going to be victim... Economic and social factors of North East are at stake, and not just lives of few Bodo people.

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You are welcome to share this with everyone. More so, with people in power, so that they can think what can happen if what is happening is not stopped immediately!!!

If you would like to provide support to the relief efforts of All Bodo Research Scholar's Forum, please follow the below link.

http://jeshal.blogspot.in/2012/07/assam-violence-relief-efforts.html

References: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siliguri_Corridor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Population_by_District_in_Assam

http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/assam/assam-district.htm

http://www.bcmtouring.com/forum/attachments/bodoland-map-small.jpg-246080d1332065764

Going Nuclear and sealing our fate to Doomsday!

* here nuclear energy generally refers to nuclear energy derived from fission mode, unless specified.

In my last article (A Letter to my Friends, Expression - June 2011), I told you how energy is the making or breaking point of any civilisation. A civilisation’s survival key lays in the type of energy its people use in their day-to-day activities. Cleaner the energy we use, healthier our civilisation would be in the longer run.

But then, few of us presume that going nuclear to meet the energy need of a developing economy is the next best thing. But we must also realise that going nuclear is a very dangerous proposition. It’s like giving a child a grenade and telling him to play with it safely. There are good chances that the kid will blow himself up. I am not trying to be a sadist, but a realist.

The recent nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan is just one example of how we don’t have the power to control such events in the future. If one of the most developed nations in the world was incapable of avoiding the disaster, will we be capable of handling such things? I know there are arguments against this thought process as well. And they (the pro-nuclear think tank) ridicule it by saying that it’s just one such incident, and there was “Nature” against them (read due to Tsunami and Earthquake). My counter argument to it would be - learn from others. It’s better than learning from one’s own mistake.

Most of you might be aware about the half-life concept. Uranium’s half-life is about 6-7 human generations! That’s a long time! So if a disaster happens today (God forbid), the after-effects of it will remain for these many generations to come.

Apart from a nuclear disaster (which might be highly unlikely), other key factors need considerations. The amount of money required to set-up a nuclear reactor (fission mode) can be somewhere between $3-10 billion and might take up to 10 years to build. This makes the overnight cost of nuclear power plants to be about $4,000/kWe. This amount of tax-payer’s money will be used to make a harmful and dangerous energy creating power plant. There are other external costs too, like the cost of security of the power plant, cost of raw materials, transportation costs, etc.

The figure for the exhaustion of the Uranium reserves of the world is 2050. So, a nuclear reactor, built with so much of public money will run dry post 2050. Then what happens to the power plants? There will be a no-habitation zone within a radius of 30 kms of the power plant, where no human will be allowed to settle, chiefly because of pollution and possible radiation. Also, the nuclear waste cannot be disposed of properly, so either the Earth will be dug up to bury the nuclear waste containers or the waste will simply find shelter in the seas and oceans. And if these containers leak, the whole ocean will get contaminated, and pose a threat to the marine ecosystem.

That’s not all. Threat from global terrorism will cause the cost of security for these power plants to increase, and due to recent nuclear disasters, cost of construction of nuclear power plants will increase (due to newer safety norms). And a country like India cannot take its chances with nuclear energy based power plants, when half of its population is hungry.

Another argument against nuclear energy would be that it will still not solve the grid connectivity problem that Indian villages are facing. There are about 10000 villages in India which don’t have any grid connection to supply them electricity. The solution for them would be a decentralised source of energy; micro-grids, or better still, if every village or household could manufacture its own electricity. Electricity has become a commodity, as everyone requires it. The demand and supply gap for electricity is growing, and to keep up with the pace of growth that India is undergoing, it needs the energy. The world is moving towards cleaner sources of energy, and India too should do the same. Renewable energy was the “in thing” 1000 years ago, it still is, and will continue to be so even in the future.

With clean sources of energy fuelling our economic growth, the growth will be sustainable. And with a sustainable economic growth, quality of live will improve and be long term. The most important thing to do today is support, promote and use cleaner sources of energy – for us, our children and their children.

Note: Nuclear energy (fusion mode) is something to look forward to, but it will be another 15-20years before we see improvement in the technologies used to control it today.


This article was published in the July 2011 edition of Expressions, a monthly eZine published by iCare India. 

Link: http://expressions.icareindia.co.in