The Chairman and Members of the Group of Ministers on Bhopal,
C/o Room No. 104, North Block,
New Delhi - 110001
Fax-011-23094221
June 17, 2010
Sub: Ensuring justice and a life of dignity for the people poisoned by Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal.
On behalf of the survivors of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal and those exposed to ground water contaminated by Union Carbide's hazardous waste, we the undersigned seven organizations in Bhopal, wish to present our consensus regarding the decisions and actions that must be taken by the Group of Ministers on Bhopal to meaningfully address issues of justice and the opportunities for a life of dignity for the survivors.
We hope that the increased national and international awareness on the negligence of successive Central and State governments towards the survivors of Bhopal in the last 25 years, will inspire you to consider our long pending demands from the Central government in your meeting on June 18, 2010.
A) Medical, Economic, Social and Environmental Rehabilitation of the survivors of the disaster and those exposed to ground water contaminated by Union Carbide's hazardous waste.
1. Set up an Empowered Commission on Bhopal with adequate authority and funds to be able to design and implement plans for medical care, training and employment generation, monthly pensions for those in need of support, supply of clean drinking water and protection from poisons in the soil and ground water in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory. The earlier GoM headed by Mr. Arjun Singh in its meeting on June 11, 2008 has already approved the setting up of the Empowered Commission on Bhopal (ECoB) and the Government of India has conveyed its commitment to setting up the ECoB through public declarations by M/s Prithviraj Chavan and Ramvilas Paswan on May 29 and August 8, 2008 respectively. The proposal for the ECoB has been approved by several ministries and the Planning Commission.
2. Make good the shortfall in compensation in accordance with the directions of the October 3, 1991 revised order on settlement of the Supreme Court of India. There is documentary evidence to show that the settlement amount of 470 million dollars was not decided on the basis of deaths and injuries caused by the disaster but on the ease with which Union Carbide Corporation could pay the amount from its insurance coverage and special fund. The actual number of people who died and are injured as a result of the disaster is at least five times more than the figures used in arriving at a settlement amount. There is also substantial documentary evidence to show that injuries suffered by claimants were deliberately under assessed so that the overall damage caused by Union Carbide could be tailored down to fit the paltry settlement amount. While exposure related deaths continue to occur to this day, registration of exposure related deaths was stopped, without forwarding any reason or basis, in 1997. We believe that it is still possible to right the wrongs deliberately committed in the distribution of compensation if the Central government summons the necessary political will to do so.
3. Ensure provision of clean drinking water to the residents of the communities within 3 kilometers of the abandoned Union Carbide factory particularly in the North and North-east directions as per Supreme Court order of May 7, 2005. Despite allocation of Rs. 14.12 crores in 2006, due to the negligence of the Madhya Pradesh State government in this vital matter, today over 20, 000 people are forced to drink water contaminated with cancer and birth defect causing chemicals and heavy metals and chemicals that cause damage to liver, kidneys, lungs, brain and the skin. The toxic contamination of ground water in these communities has been documented in 12 government and independent studies starting from 1990 and most recently in December 2009 by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the New Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment.
4. Ensure excavation and containment of thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste that lie all over the surface in the factory premises and are buried within the factory premises and the Solar Evaporation Landfill 400 meters north of the factory. The safe excavation and containment of hazardous waste will stop the ongoing leaching of toxic chemicals and heavy metals in to the aquifer and prevent further environmental damage.
B) Criminal Liabilities against Indian and Foreign Accused
1. Set up a Special Prosecution Cell in the CBI for securing the extradition of the absconding foreign accused and enhancement of sentences against the Indian accused.
2. Send appropriate requests for extradition of authorized representatives of Union Carbide Corporation, USA and Union Carbide Eastern Incorporated, Hong Kong and Warren Anderson.
3. Ensure execution of summons issued by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bhopal against authorized representative of The Dow Chemical Company, USA on January 6, 2005. There has been a stay on the execution of summons in the MP High Court for the last 5 years.
4. Ensure that the prosecuting agency inspects the Methyl Isocyante plant in Institute, West Virginia, USA as per order of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Bhopal, on 06 July 1988, to substantiate charges of double standards of design safety.
5. Ensure that the prosecuting agency takes cognizance and criminal action against the sale of Union Carbide patented technology to Reliance Petroleum Limited and other agencies while it is absconding.
6. Ensure that a revision petition is filed by the prosecution against the June 7, 2010 order of the Bhopal, CJM against the Indian accused in the Sessions or the High Court.
7. Ensure that the Central government files a curative petition in the Supreme Court for a revision of the order dated September 13, 1996 that diluted the criminal charges against Indian accused.
C) Environmental Liabilities
1.Pursue the application filed by the Central government in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in May 2005 for making The Dow Chemical Company, USA pay Rs.100 Crores as advance for cleaning up the toxic contamination in and around the abandoned Union Carbide factory. Enforce the appearance of The Dow Chemical Company, USA in the case by piercing the corporate veil and taking action against its Indian subsidiary, Dow Chemical International Private Limited.
2.Ensure safe transportation and disposal of the thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste in hazardous waste treatment facilities in OECD countries.
3.Join the ongoing litigation in the US Federal Court against Union Carbide and others for environmental clean up, payment of compensation for personal and property damages and costs of health monitoring.
D) Action against crimes of The Dow Chemical Company, USA in India.
1.Revoke registration for Dursban and three other pesticides registered by payment of bribes by Dow to Agriculture Ministry officials.
a) Revoke the registration of the pesticides registered by payment of bribes.
b) Initiate prosecution against Dow AgroSciences India Ltd and responsible company officials for abetting the commission of the crime of bribe taking by Agricultural Ministry Officials, under Section 12 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
c) Prosecute Indian officials including members of the Central Insecticide Registration Board who received the bribe totaling 200 thousand dollars.
2. Revoke approval given to Reliance Industries to purchase absconder Union Carbide Corporation's trademark UNIPOL (PP) technology through Dow Global Technology Inc.
a) Get CBI to submit application before CJM Bhopal in MJC 91/1992 seeking attachment of licensing and service fees paid by Reliance Petroleum Limited to Dow Global Technology Inc. towards UNIPOL technology.
b) Revoke the approval given to Reliance for licensing UNIPOL
3. Stop all work on GACL-Dow's joint venture factory in Dahej, Gujarat.
a) Direct FIPB to decline permission to Dow-GACL joint venture, or revoke any such approval if already given.
b) Investigate and take action, including prosecution of GACL-Dow officials for violation of environmental and labour legislations. The plant on which work has begun has no environmental clearance, no Consent to Establish and no permission from the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Hygiene.
Thanking you.
Yours sincerely,
Safreen Khan
Children Against Dow-Carbide
Mob. 9826994797
Balkrishna Namdeo
Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pension Bhogi Sangharsh Morcha
Mob. 9826345423
Abdul Jabbar
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan
Mob. 9406511720
Syed M Irfan
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purusg Sangharsh Morcha
Mob. 9329026319
Rashida Bee, Champa Devi Shukla
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmchari Sangh
Mob. 9425688215
ND Jayaprakash
Bhopal Gas Peedit Sangharsh Sahayog Samiti
Mob. 09968014630
Rachna Dhingra, Satinath Sarangi
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
Mob. 9826167369
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
A Nation failed by its own Eminent Citizens
How corrupt is Indian judiciary ? Nowhere it is so stark and plain than in the history of litigation over the Bhopal tragedy heard by eminent judges of Supreme Court of India. Follow the link to know more about it.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_spotlight-on-judges-who-ruled-in-favour-of-union-carbide_1394222
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_spotlight-on-judges-who-ruled-in-favour-of-union-carbide_1394222
The June 6, 2010 issue of Organiser, the mouth piece of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has an article by Dr.Subramanyan Swami, president of the Janata Party since 1990 and a Visiting Professor of Economics at Harvard. A known Zionist and a casteist Hindu, who belives in that "eternal Dharma of caste purity and hierarchy of Sanatana Dharma", is an accomplished preacher of hatred. Here are some excerpts from his write-up.
“If the Jews can be transformed from lambs walking meekly to the gas chambers to fiery lions in just ten years, it is not difficult for Hindus in much better circumstances (after all we are 83 per cent of India), to do so in five years.”
For the 5 political goals perpetuated by "islamic terrorism in India", Dr.Swamy offers 5strategies. One of the strategies particulary attracted my attention, the one on caste, conversion ans "re-conversion". Where do a Sanatana Hindu will place a reconverted body? Dr. Swamy has the clear answer.
“Political Goal 4: Change India’s demography by illegal immigration, conversion, and refusal to adopt family planning.
Strategy: Enact a national law prohibiting conversion from Hindu religion to any other religion. Re-conversion will not be banned. Declare caste is not birth-based but code of discipline based. Welcome non-Hindus to re-convert to the caste of their choice provided they adhere to the code of discipline.”
For the 5 political goals perpetuated by "islamic terrorism in India", Dr.Swamy offers 5strategies. One of the strategies particulary attracted my attention, the one on caste, conversion ans "re-conversion". Where do a Sanatana Hindu will place a reconverted body? Dr. Swamy has the clear answer.
“Political Goal 4: Change India’s demography by illegal immigration, conversion, and refusal to adopt family planning.
Strategy: Enact a national law prohibiting conversion from Hindu religion to any other religion. Re-conversion will not be banned. Declare caste is not birth-based but code of discipline based. Welcome non-Hindus to re-convert to the caste of their choice provided they adhere to the code of discipline.”
For details follow the link:
Interestingly, the same issue has a statement issued on behalf of RSS by RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi. He says that RSS will oppose case based census because it will "ruin the dream of creating a casteless society as was emancipated by many great personalities like Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar and others."
For details follow the link
At a time when scholars ranging from "Policy guru" Pratap Bhanu Mehta to Defence Expert K Subrahmanyam oppose caste based census the Organiser gave enough foood for thought to me.
Gandhijis Talisman
You may find it quite unusual and romantic. But day after day, tired of witnessing the fraudulence of Indian politicians, I turned to Gandhi for a solace. Surely, he is not the panacea for all our problems. But these words which adorned the first page of the NCERT books in my schools days had a soothing effect.
I will give you a talisman.
Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self
becomes too much with you, apply the
following test. Recall the face of the
poorest and the weakest man whom you may
have seen, and ask yourself, if the step
you contemplate is going to be of any
use to him. Will he gain anything by it ?
Will it restore him to a control over his
own life and destiny ? In other words,
will it lead to Swaraj for the hungry and
spiritually starving millions ?
Then you will find your doubt
and your self melting away.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi
One of the last notes penned and signed by Gandhi. Found among his papers after his assassination on January 30, 1948.
Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self
becomes too much with you, apply the
following test. Recall the face of the
poorest and the weakest man whom you may
have seen, and ask yourself, if the step
you contemplate is going to be of any
use to him. Will he gain anything by it ?
Will it restore him to a control over his
own life and destiny ? In other words,
will it lead to Swaraj for the hungry and
spiritually starving millions ?
Then you will find your doubt
and your self melting away.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi
One of the last notes penned and signed by Gandhi. Found among his papers after his assassination on January 30, 1948.
Swaraj was defined by Gandhi as: “Real swaraj [freedom] is self-rule or self-control… The way to it is satyagraha: the power of truth and love.”
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Lesson 420: "Our Animal World". For Children up to IVth Class
Invertebrates
Of the million or more animal species in the world, more than 98% are invertebrates. Invertebrates don't have an internal skeleton made of bone. Many invertebrates have a fluid-filled, hydrostatic skeleton, like the jelly fish or worm. Others have a hard outer shell, like insects and crustaceans. There are many types of invertebrates. The most common invertebrates include the protozoa, annelids, echinoderms, mollusks and arthropods. Arthropods include insects, crustaceans and arachnids.
Of the million or more animal species in the world, more than 98% are invertebrates. Invertebrates don't have an internal skeleton made of bone. Many invertebrates have a fluid-filled, hydrostatic skeleton, like the jelly fish or worm. Others have a hard outer shell, like insects and crustaceans. There are many types of invertebrates. The most common invertebrates include the protozoa, annelids, echinoderms, mollusks and arthropods. Arthropods include insects, crustaceans and arachnids.
Most of these invertebrates numbering more than 1000 million are found in South Asia in a geographically entity called India, which in early Arab and Persian sources known as Hindustan. The more crooked and cunning among them become kings and queens in every five years to rule the rest of them. These invertebrates are seeking attention of the scientists and scholars all over the world especially after the gas leaking tragedy in one of their towns called Bhopal on 2&3 December 1984. A day after the ‘historic judgment’ on the tragedy was out, on 8 June 2010 the invertebrates were busy giving final shape to a bill to be placed in Parliament titled “Civil Nuclear Liability Bill”, according to which, in case of a nuclear disaster the promoters of the nuclear reactor can give a petty amount as compensation to the victims and can vacate the place and this geographical entity without any other liability.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Review of "En-gendering Individuals" in CIS
My review of J Devika's book "Engendering Individuals..." was published in "Conributions to Indian Sociology"(CIS), 42,1, 2008. However, to my utter surprise a major part of my reading of her book was found omitted, though its Review Editor, Veena Naregal, never informed me about it before publication. When I send a mail to her about it, she tendered apologies about it, which according to her, affected the balance of my review. Now I feel that my reading of "En-gendering Individuals..." should appear in my blog untainted by the prejudices of Review Editor/Copy Editors.
J Devika, Engendering Individuals: The Language of Reforming in Early Twentieth Century Keralam. Hyderabad: Orient Longman. 2007. pp. 346 + XI. Rs. 650 (HB)
The book under review narrates a familiar but little explored story of the making of gendered individuals under colonialism. The focus of the study is the reform movements among the Nambudiri Brahmin community in Keralam. Devika makes her argument categorical that individualisation and gendering are not separate phenomena but aspects of the same phenomenon. She says the use of the term ‘engendering’ serves dual purposes: engendering in the first sense as “the coming into being of the Individual” and in the second sense, with prefix, meaning “covering or surrounding (the Individuals) with gender, placing gender upon or into (the Individual)” (p.9). The author makes use of her command over sources; rare literary sources and traditional archival materials from the mid-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century and brings to the reader the delight of reading a book rich in concepts and sources.
Devika argues with her impeccable sway over sources how instincts, intuitions and emotions were attributed basically to women of the period and demonstrates how gender was posed as an alternative to the existing jati based social ordering in twentieth century Keralam. She carries on the discussion with revisiting community reform movements in the twentieth century, particularly the reforming of Nambudiri community in Keralam. As was the case with many caste groups, Nambudiri reform movement/community formation aimed at shaping of a modern Nambudiri community through collating various scattered caste groups that were hierarchically linked, to form the pre-modern Malayala Brahmin community into an entirely modern, internally homogenous collectivity consisting of individuals and actualised through their positive action (p.116), a process in which, Tamil, Tulu or Desastha Brahmins or popularly known as ‘foreign’ Brahmins were excluded. A presumed ‘sense of lacking’ was central to the initiatives of Nambudiri reform movements as well as a ‘sense of being left out’ in the ongoing/onward march of modernity. The feeling of lacking in the contemporary period and the urge for reform was mediated by tracing a glorious past for the community. Sooner, the reformer-men found women of the Nambudiri community or Antarjanams as a ‘burden’ on the Nambudiri male reformer and thereby a hindrance to reclaim their position in the glorious past. Therefore, reforming of the community also became an attempt to ‘civilize’ and to discipline Antarjanam. However, with the formation of associations of Antarjanams or Antarjanasamajams, the ‘unpacking of the burden’ of the reformer-men drew scathing attacks from Antarjanam-reformers. The Nambudiri reform which sought to establish a new modern patriarchy and modern patrifocal family among the Nambudiri Brahmins was the main target of women reformers because these reform activities were efforts at re-forming gendered individual identities rather than attempts to bring in a liberating experience to modern individuals.
This process of reforming among Antarjanams was simultaneous with attempts at constituting a separate identity for women in modern Keralam. A familiar way of making use of women entering public spaces was through making use of ‘soft’ capacities of women in jobs like teaching. A small chapter in the book, ‘Unnamable Discontent’, is dedicated to discussing the writings of Lalitambika Antarjanam, which engaged with the modern ideals of gender and individuality. The chapter on aesthetic female bodies discusses how decorating of female bodies quintessentially became a project of modernity in Keralam. Though she has not concentrated on the advertisements, it can be argued from a reading of advertisements appearing in Malayalam newspapers of the early twentieth century how veils/shawls and upper clothes or clothes worn by women such as kavani, putaka etc became an agenda of the cloth merchants too.
Many arguments that have been advanced on the Nambudiri community formation and Nambudiri reform movements in Keralam are similar to other community reform movements in Keralam. For instance, tracing a glorious past for the community or converging of various caste groups or ‘the feeling of lacking’ driving to embrace/appropriate modernity was common to Nairs, Ezhavas, Syrian Christians, Pulayas and Parayas. Recent works have shown the Dalit assertions of modernity in own idioms, rejecting earlier theories of Sanskritisation. All these assertions and attempts were engagements with modernity or for asserting rights with the dominant groups and the state. However the peculiar ways in which gendering/individualisation operated among particular communities, viz, Dalits or Nairs requires a deeper enquiry. Moreover, in many cases, the making of communities through collating of various groups was not easy, since there were significant degrees of gradation or hierarchy among the caste groups. A closer reading of the mechanisms worked among castes, which erased the hierarchies and gradations among the identical caste groups would certainly reveal the power of modern ideals circulating in the society.
One particular aspect about the reform movements and struggles in twentieth century Keralam was that it was not anti-Brahmin per se, the native Brahmin becoming the aggrieved party in some cases. For instance, the signatories to the Malayali Memorial, one of the modern forms of litigation submitted to the Maharaja of Travancore in the late nineteenth century, demanding an end to ‘foreign’ Brahmin (particularly Tamil Brahmin) domination in administration and demanding due consideration of the ‘sons’ of the soil in administration, included the “Nambudiris, Nairs, and Tiyers, Syrian Christians, Native Christians and East Indians, Landlords, Merchants and Officials”, constituting the ‘Malayalis’ of the region. Though, the litigants cleverly avoided social groups like Muslims, ex-slave castes and numerous other lower castes, the litigation was against the perceived foreign Brahmin domination in administration. This peculiar native v/s foreign Brahmins also hint at the making of a regional communal identity in the modern period.
Writing under the canopy of rich theoretical insights and sources, seems to miss one crucial relation that of gender and caste. Though the ordering of the society on the basis of gender assumed significance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as she convincingly argues, it was never been a reordering on the basis of gender only. An earlier book of the author cites the criticism of and Narikkatiri Devaki Antarjanam, a reformer -women and PK Kalyani, a leading satyagrahi during Vaikam satyagraha on perpetuating caste practices and untouchability among women. Modern conjugality on caste/community lines are evident from a marriage proposal appeared in Malayala Manorama of 24 April 1912: “A Travancore Malayali holding a comfortable official position in the Federated Malaya States wishes to marry a Malayali woman of his own caste. Knowledge of English, homemaking and music is desirable. Photographs may be exchanged if both parties agree for the same. Replies may be sent to R. Pillai, c/o Malayala Manorama, Kottayam”. In the public realm of mass politics and agitations too, discrimination on the basis of caste continued. The nationalist leader in Malabar KP Kesava Menon, while sharing his experience of organising inter-caste dining in the second Kerala Congress meeting held on 6 May 1923 at Palakkad recalls that the idea was not hospitable to everyone and in order to pacify some traditionalists, the organisers had to go for some kind of penance.
The historiographic significance of the study lies in its effort to secure a domain of historiography for the region, liberating it from the hassles of nationalist historiography. The study offers a powerful critique of ‘Kerala Model Development’ and reinforces us to look at reforms and reform initiatives with a broader outlook. As a concluding remark, the cover picture of Kerala Matavu (Mother Kerala) came as a new revelation to many who raised the question whether there was a deified mother for the Malayalis. However, there is no reference about her in the book, may be because it is not the objective of the book. However, one wonders how Kerala Matavu would be read/related with the all--pervasive Bharat Mata or with a much assertive and aggressive Tamilttai made popular by her ‘sons’. Reading these ‘relations’ in a society having a predominant matrilineal form of inheritance makes it all the more interesting and would offer more insights on imagining a regional identity within the nation.
END NOTES
1. Sanal Mohan, ‘Religion, Social Space and Identity: The Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha and the Making of Cultural Boundaries in Twentieth Century Kerala’, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, XXVIII, 1, 2005.
2. There was initial resistance from Tiyas of Malabar to join hands with Ezhavas in Travancore and Cochin to form an Ezhava community in Keralam. In their Gazetteer of Malabar Inns and Evans say that there were customs restricting the marriages between people of same castes living in north and south Malabar and caste subdivisions bearing the same name had a different social status in different places. See, C A Innes and F B Evans, Malabar Gazetteer, Asian Educational Services, 1908. p. 94
3. Among the 10038 signatories, the names and designations of 250 are available to us and interestingly all of them were men.
4. Dispatch Number 239 of 1891, Travancore and Cochin Residency Files, Madras Residency, National Archives of India, New Delhi.
5. J Devika, Her-Self: Gender and Early Writings of Malayalee Women, Kolkata, 2005. pp. 152 and 84-85. Devaki Antarjanam ridiculed that the protest against untouchability was limited to the conference halls and that it had not yet set foot in the kitchen. Kalyani noted the aversion of savarna women in participating in the satyagraha along with avarna women.
6. K.P. Kesava Menon, Kazhinja Kalam, Kozhikode, 1969. p.1
J Devika, Engendering Individuals: The Language of Reforming in Early Twentieth Century Keralam. Hyderabad: Orient Longman. 2007. pp. 346 + XI. Rs. 650 (HB)
The book under review narrates a familiar but little explored story of the making of gendered individuals under colonialism. The focus of the study is the reform movements among the Nambudiri Brahmin community in Keralam. Devika makes her argument categorical that individualisation and gendering are not separate phenomena but aspects of the same phenomenon. She says the use of the term ‘engendering’ serves dual purposes: engendering in the first sense as “the coming into being of the Individual” and in the second sense, with prefix, meaning “covering or surrounding (the Individuals) with gender, placing gender upon or into (the Individual)” (p.9). The author makes use of her command over sources; rare literary sources and traditional archival materials from the mid-nineteenth century to mid-twentieth century and brings to the reader the delight of reading a book rich in concepts and sources.
Devika argues with her impeccable sway over sources how instincts, intuitions and emotions were attributed basically to women of the period and demonstrates how gender was posed as an alternative to the existing jati based social ordering in twentieth century Keralam. She carries on the discussion with revisiting community reform movements in the twentieth century, particularly the reforming of Nambudiri community in Keralam. As was the case with many caste groups, Nambudiri reform movement/community formation aimed at shaping of a modern Nambudiri community through collating various scattered caste groups that were hierarchically linked, to form the pre-modern Malayala Brahmin community into an entirely modern, internally homogenous collectivity consisting of individuals and actualised through their positive action (p.116), a process in which, Tamil, Tulu or Desastha Brahmins or popularly known as ‘foreign’ Brahmins were excluded. A presumed ‘sense of lacking’ was central to the initiatives of Nambudiri reform movements as well as a ‘sense of being left out’ in the ongoing/onward march of modernity. The feeling of lacking in the contemporary period and the urge for reform was mediated by tracing a glorious past for the community. Sooner, the reformer-men found women of the Nambudiri community or Antarjanams as a ‘burden’ on the Nambudiri male reformer and thereby a hindrance to reclaim their position in the glorious past. Therefore, reforming of the community also became an attempt to ‘civilize’ and to discipline Antarjanam. However, with the formation of associations of Antarjanams or Antarjanasamajams, the ‘unpacking of the burden’ of the reformer-men drew scathing attacks from Antarjanam-reformers. The Nambudiri reform which sought to establish a new modern patriarchy and modern patrifocal family among the Nambudiri Brahmins was the main target of women reformers because these reform activities were efforts at re-forming gendered individual identities rather than attempts to bring in a liberating experience to modern individuals.
This process of reforming among Antarjanams was simultaneous with attempts at constituting a separate identity for women in modern Keralam. A familiar way of making use of women entering public spaces was through making use of ‘soft’ capacities of women in jobs like teaching. A small chapter in the book, ‘Unnamable Discontent’, is dedicated to discussing the writings of Lalitambika Antarjanam, which engaged with the modern ideals of gender and individuality. The chapter on aesthetic female bodies discusses how decorating of female bodies quintessentially became a project of modernity in Keralam. Though she has not concentrated on the advertisements, it can be argued from a reading of advertisements appearing in Malayalam newspapers of the early twentieth century how veils/shawls and upper clothes or clothes worn by women such as kavani, putaka etc became an agenda of the cloth merchants too.
Many arguments that have been advanced on the Nambudiri community formation and Nambudiri reform movements in Keralam are similar to other community reform movements in Keralam. For instance, tracing a glorious past for the community or converging of various caste groups or ‘the feeling of lacking’ driving to embrace/appropriate modernity was common to Nairs, Ezhavas, Syrian Christians, Pulayas and Parayas. Recent works have shown the Dalit assertions of modernity in own idioms, rejecting earlier theories of Sanskritisation. All these assertions and attempts were engagements with modernity or for asserting rights with the dominant groups and the state. However the peculiar ways in which gendering/individualisation operated among particular communities, viz, Dalits or Nairs requires a deeper enquiry. Moreover, in many cases, the making of communities through collating of various groups was not easy, since there were significant degrees of gradation or hierarchy among the caste groups. A closer reading of the mechanisms worked among castes, which erased the hierarchies and gradations among the identical caste groups would certainly reveal the power of modern ideals circulating in the society.
One particular aspect about the reform movements and struggles in twentieth century Keralam was that it was not anti-Brahmin per se, the native Brahmin becoming the aggrieved party in some cases. For instance, the signatories to the Malayali Memorial, one of the modern forms of litigation submitted to the Maharaja of Travancore in the late nineteenth century, demanding an end to ‘foreign’ Brahmin (particularly Tamil Brahmin) domination in administration and demanding due consideration of the ‘sons’ of the soil in administration, included the “Nambudiris, Nairs, and Tiyers, Syrian Christians, Native Christians and East Indians, Landlords, Merchants and Officials”, constituting the ‘Malayalis’ of the region. Though, the litigants cleverly avoided social groups like Muslims, ex-slave castes and numerous other lower castes, the litigation was against the perceived foreign Brahmin domination in administration. This peculiar native v/s foreign Brahmins also hint at the making of a regional communal identity in the modern period.
Writing under the canopy of rich theoretical insights and sources, seems to miss one crucial relation that of gender and caste. Though the ordering of the society on the basis of gender assumed significance in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as she convincingly argues, it was never been a reordering on the basis of gender only. An earlier book of the author cites the criticism of and Narikkatiri Devaki Antarjanam, a reformer -women and PK Kalyani, a leading satyagrahi during Vaikam satyagraha on perpetuating caste practices and untouchability among women. Modern conjugality on caste/community lines are evident from a marriage proposal appeared in Malayala Manorama of 24 April 1912: “A Travancore Malayali holding a comfortable official position in the Federated Malaya States wishes to marry a Malayali woman of his own caste. Knowledge of English, homemaking and music is desirable. Photographs may be exchanged if both parties agree for the same. Replies may be sent to R. Pillai, c/o Malayala Manorama, Kottayam”. In the public realm of mass politics and agitations too, discrimination on the basis of caste continued. The nationalist leader in Malabar KP Kesava Menon, while sharing his experience of organising inter-caste dining in the second Kerala Congress meeting held on 6 May 1923 at Palakkad recalls that the idea was not hospitable to everyone and in order to pacify some traditionalists, the organisers had to go for some kind of penance.
The historiographic significance of the study lies in its effort to secure a domain of historiography for the region, liberating it from the hassles of nationalist historiography. The study offers a powerful critique of ‘Kerala Model Development’ and reinforces us to look at reforms and reform initiatives with a broader outlook. As a concluding remark, the cover picture of Kerala Matavu (Mother Kerala) came as a new revelation to many who raised the question whether there was a deified mother for the Malayalis. However, there is no reference about her in the book, may be because it is not the objective of the book. However, one wonders how Kerala Matavu would be read/related with the all--pervasive Bharat Mata or with a much assertive and aggressive Tamilttai made popular by her ‘sons’. Reading these ‘relations’ in a society having a predominant matrilineal form of inheritance makes it all the more interesting and would offer more insights on imagining a regional identity within the nation.
END NOTES
1. Sanal Mohan, ‘Religion, Social Space and Identity: The Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha and the Making of Cultural Boundaries in Twentieth Century Kerala’, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, XXVIII, 1, 2005.
2. There was initial resistance from Tiyas of Malabar to join hands with Ezhavas in Travancore and Cochin to form an Ezhava community in Keralam. In their Gazetteer of Malabar Inns and Evans say that there were customs restricting the marriages between people of same castes living in north and south Malabar and caste subdivisions bearing the same name had a different social status in different places. See, C A Innes and F B Evans, Malabar Gazetteer, Asian Educational Services, 1908. p. 94
3. Among the 10038 signatories, the names and designations of 250 are available to us and interestingly all of them were men.
4. Dispatch Number 239 of 1891, Travancore and Cochin Residency Files, Madras Residency, National Archives of India, New Delhi.
5. J Devika, Her-Self: Gender and Early Writings of Malayalee Women, Kolkata, 2005. pp. 152 and 84-85. Devaki Antarjanam ridiculed that the protest against untouchability was limited to the conference halls and that it had not yet set foot in the kitchen. Kalyani noted the aversion of savarna women in participating in the satyagraha along with avarna women.
6. K.P. Kesava Menon, Kazhinja Kalam, Kozhikode, 1969. p.1
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