PANDIT JASRAJ-DEATH OF A LEGEND

 

A stalwart has died. A doyen of Indian classical music has gone forever; taking with him his golden voice, years of sadhana and repertoire of khayals, thumris, et al. He could be termed as one of India’s gems. But, sadly the Indian media barely mentioned him. No special show, no interviews with his shishyas, his admirers, his contemporaries if any left. This Indian media which can write reams on Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, day in and day out; the Indian electronic media which gives hours of air time to voyeurism, media trial of crimes, however tragic, has no time for one of its greatest singers. Today you just tweet in 140 characters your tribute to a maestro. There used to be a time where every publication worth its name had reporters on cultural beats, who had deep understanding of Indian music, dance and other art forms, and they were sent to cover these concerts. Today, a performance in IIFA awards will be covered more breathlessly than any such concert. Corporates also don’t sponsor such shows. They would rather sponsor crass comedy shows or music competitions where parents are pushing little children to go and participate.

So what is wrong with us? It is the age of getting instant gratification, instant fame, and instant money. Who has the time, patience and austerity to go through years of riyaz and master one art form. This is the Tik Tok generation. They have millions of followers doing all kinds of bizarre acts. Some are quite talented but where is the depth. We are going to lose our rich heritage at this rate and I feel nothing but despair.

I am not an authority on classical music but have grown up in a household where music was always on. My father put on All India Radio early in the morning and we had our first cup of tea in the morning hearing beautiful devotional songs sung by Laxmi Shankar, Prabha Atre, Subalakshmi and so many others. At 8 am there used to be a short programme where they explained one raag, then played a classical song based on it and finally a film song on the same raag. That’s how, till date, I remember Kaun Gali Gayo Shyam was based on Raag Khamaj.

We heard gazals and thumris and dadras and kajris, as they were often played and discussed at home. And not just my home, I think it was the flavour of those times to enjoy and respect those forms of music. I remember once going for a recital by Savita Devi with my parents and the mesmerising thumris she sang. My grandfather used to attend personal recitals by Begum Akhtar, Thirakua, Bismillah Khan in his own home and those of other admirers. My mother was taught by Purushottam Das Jalota, father of Anup Jalota, in her youth. She always said no one has ever sung Jheeni Jheeni Bini Chadariya like him.

It was this kind of music we grew up hearing because of which we had a deep appreciation of Hindustani music. A lot of it was lost for years, but now thanks to YouTube some people are uploading long forgotten melodies and singers. Today’s generation has never heard of Master Madan, who was a child prodigy, and murdered at the age of 14 only because he was proving to be such a big threat to other singers. He barely recorded eight songs and they are priceless. His Hairat Se Tak Raha Hai Jahane Wafa Mujhe is absolutely unbelievable; one can listen to it a hundred times.

In those days singers survived on royal patronage. It is said that when Bade Ghulam Ali Khan began his rendition of Bajubund Khul Khul Jaye, a collective sigh went out from the audience. Such was the magic of those doyens. I have now been able to get to hear even singers like Kamala Jharia and Sideshwari Bai thanks to YouTube. It is one place where one can still find the rarest and oldest songs and artistes. Whenever, I want to hear Shobha Gurtu, Girija Devi, Kishori Amonkar or some of the famous Quawwals I go to YouTube. But, the pleasure of live performance is something else all together. Today, finding young singers and concerts are virtually impossible now. One is not saying there aren’t any talented artists any more, but they just do not get the kind of support, audience, sponsors, publicity and patronage they need and deserve to pursue lifelong sadhana which these art forms require.

Galwan Valley: The Lessons We Didn't Learn In 1962

://countercurrents.org/2020/06/galwan-valley-the-lessons-we-didnt-learn-in-1962/

Our Tryst With Mortality

https://countercurrents.org/2020/06/our-tryst-with-mortality/

PLEASE WAKE MY MOTHER

My mother doesn’t wake up. I have tried so hard. Have pulled her sari, her sheet; but she doesn’t open her eyes. She does not sit up and take me in her lap. I have even danced all round her, to make her laugh. She always smiles when I do naughty things. But, today she just does not look at me also. Can you wake my mother, Piyush Goyal? She is lying on the floor. It is a railway station, I am told. And that you are in-charge. Can you wake her please?

The country wept on seeing the video. The little child playfully tugging at the shroud covering his dead mother’s body was too tragic and painful to watch. When the video went viral, even men wrote they could not hold back their tears. It was perhaps reaching a nadir, in the pitiful images we have been seeing ever since the first lockdown was announced by the prime minister, Narendra Modi. The way our governments have been treating these poor daily wage workers, who have been stranded for days in cities thousands of miles away from their homes is beyond callous. Perhaps, there exists no word to describe their treatment in any language.

Arwina Khatun, 35, travelling with her two children had boarded the train on 23 May 2020. On 25 May when she got off at Muzzafarpur in Bihar she just collapsed and died; of heat, hunger, dehydration. Whatever little food and water she had, she must have fed her little children. She is not alone. Every day we hear of migrants dying of fatigue, in road and rail accidents and now even on journeys on train. Many more have died on the Shramik trains, even one found dead in the filthy toilet.

According to the Railway Protection Force, as of today, 30th May 2020, there have been almost 80 deaths on board the Shramik Special trains (being run for stranded migrant workers) between May 9 and May 27. Never in the history of Indian Railways of independent India did you hear of such numbers. And the railways are trying to convince the country, all these people were suffering from some illnesses prior to boarding the trains so they died. Yes, they were sick, hungry, and penniless and without treatment of any kind for 40 plus days, so when they were put on those boiling cauldrons called Shramik Specials, they died. And to add insult to injury, the Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal, advises people not to travel unless absolutely necessary; and those below 10 or above 65, with chronic illnesses should avoid travel completely. If there ever was apathy, it is in the union cabinet of India today. Families should leave behind children and elderly because railways cannot ensure their safe arrival!!!

After almost 40 plus days, when the government did decide to ply some Shramik trains for these underdogs, there was no planning, no coordination between Centre and States, no clear cut procedure.

The Union government which came under heavy criticism for not arranging travel facilities for the stranded migrant labourers before imposing a lockdown, finally, buckled and allowed the movement of migrant workers by organising special trains for them. The railways announced the first Shramik train on 1 May, 2020. Around 500 such trains were promised to be run to take stranded migrants home. Since then, however, the number of Shramik trains has been increasing everyday which shows, their estimates were way off the mark. 

Indian Railways has got the capacity to run almost 300 Shramik special trains a day, however, less than half were being run, according to the railway ministry. The entire exercise has been mired in confusion, lack of planning, lack of amicable coordination with states and so on. The hapless men, women and children have been made to walk to stations back and forth. Orders kept getting reversed; the indecisiveness and lack of clarity, showing at every step.

When news broke out that the poor had to shell out money for the tickets and sometimes far more than the actual price, the Congress came out with a statement they would foot the bill. They said they were advising their state units to pay for migrant tickets. Not wanting the Congress party to earn any brownie points on the issue the GOI issued a statement saying Centre was paying 85% of ticket cost and asking States to pay only 15%. However, in reality that has not happened so far. And the poor have had to beg, borrow, take loans and ask families to sell cattle and send money for their food and tickets.

When trains were announced many say they went to the railway stations to buy tickets from the counter but the police refused to let them inside as they did not have valid e-tickets. According to government figures, only 20% of migrant workers were housed in state-run shelters and school premises in the national capital. Where were the remaining 80% to go?

Unable to register for Shramik trains or buy tickets online, migrant workers from across the city started out on foot back to their villages. To avoid heat during the day, many walked during the night, resting by the side of highways during the day. Occasionally, they got food and water from some good Samaritans or NGOs. With day temperatures reeling above 40 degrees Celsius it is a gruelling journey.

Also, initially railways said tickets will be sold only online, as they did not want crowds at platform counters, without thinking that these are poor people who didn’t own smart phones and didn’t have internet. Most of them recharge their phones for small amounts. When, the realisation dawned then some kind of registration was opened in some areas. The pictures of Ghaziabad Ram Lila ground of thousands descending, spoke volumes of their lack of understanding of the situation.

Ever since, nobody has any clue when the trains will start, from which station and at what time they will run. Migrants complained at Wadala station they had been coming for three days to the station and were told the train was cancelled without giving any reasons. They were being made to run in lockdown cities to get doctor’s certificates and passport size photos.

The passengers were to be screened by the States and only those found asymptomatic would be allowed to travel. In addition, the State governments sending the migrants were to arrange to bring these people in sanitized buses following social distancing norms. Also, it would be mandatory for every passenger to wear face masks. Claims were made meals and drinking water would be provided to the passengers by the states at the originating station. We have seen images of rotten food thrown all over stations by migrants, as it was not edible.

The fare calculated by railways was to be for the Sleeper Mail Express train, plus Rs. 30 superfast charge and an additional charge of Rs.20, which would include meals and drinking water for long-distance trains. However, passengers were told they would not be required to buy the ticket and that the fares would be paid by the state governments.

However, this was furthest from what was happening on the ground. All migrants were paying for their tickets, in fact, at times shelling out far more than the actual fare value. According to a Quint report, a worker from BJP's Surat unit duped around 100 migrant labourers from Gujarat by charging them exorbitant amounts to buy tickets. 

State Governments, where the migrants would disembark were asked to make all arrangements for their screening on arrival, quarantine and if necessary further travel from the Railway Station.

As the Centre faced criticism from the opposition over the Indian Railways asking migrant labourers to pay for train tickets, the union government came out with an explanation. They claimed 85% percent of the transportation cost was being borne by the Railways, while states were being asked to bear 15% of the cost. 

Apparently for regular sleeper trains, the Railway subsidy given to passengers is 47% of the total cost involved. However, in the present context, the Centre claimed it was bearing 85% of the travel costs. Since these special trains for migrant workers were supposed to carry less than their regular capacity of passengers, due to social distancing norms, and were to come back empty, the subsidy to be given to the passengers would have to be around 85%.

This meant that the printed fares on the tickets would reflect 15% of the total cost incurred by the Railways, and the state governments would reimburse that amount to the Railways. It didn’t mean that the Centre was paying 85% of the ticket price. So actually, the Centre was not paying anything. 

Neither are the tickets lower for the Shramik trains, in fact they are higher, as the Railways added an additional Rs 50 on the normal sleeper class fares. 

For example, if the usual sleeper class fare for a particular destination is between Rs 650-700 and only 15% of it had been charged, a worker would have paid around Rs 100. But what was being charged was around Rs 740.

Also, the Centre has been saying one thing on record and something else to the bureaucrats behind closed doors. Even as the Railways organised the first lot of special trains, the union home secretary, told the chief secretaries of states that only those workers who are stranded in-between will be allowed to board the special trains, creating further confusion. Where were the remaining workers to go who were stuck due to the lockdown?

Then reports started coming in that trains were getting lost. Those meant to reach UP or Bihar were reaching Orissa. The Indian Railway clarified that the incidents happened only on May 23 and 24. The problems began on May 22 when the congestion — caused by hundreds of trains heading to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — was first reported. The Railway Board decided to divert the trains due to trains clogging up near the destinations because of various protocols mandated. Most stations on this stretch being small and would not have the capacity to handle issues like food or water shortage, health emergencies or law and order issues. Hence, it was decided to divert some trains. This explanation only emphasizes the lack of planning and coordination between railways, centre and state governments.

The confusion led to delays and passengers going hungry. While, the stations did not have the capacity to provide food, stalls were shut amid the lockdown. One passenger died during the journey. People needed food desperately, the children were crying. Many passengers tweeted about the issues to the railways but nothing got resolved. The train that was supposed to reach in 24 hours took 4 days.

So, is it a wonder that Arwina Khatun and many others died on these death vehicles. The government has brought so much misery to the country, which was completely avoidable. Leaders who sit in their ivory towers and take decisions on whims create chaos. India has been shaken to its roots. Our rural people who form the backbone of all cities and industry are heartbroken and feel betrayed. They are not coming back soon.

Sources: press reports, twitter

LOCKED OUT---THE INDIAN MIGRANT EXODUS

24th March, 8 pm, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi goes on air. Announces that in 4 hours, when the clock will strike midnight the entire country of 1.35 billion people will be locked inside their homes; the reason corona virus, rampaging through the world, even though it was still early stages in India. The numbers were very low and a week’s notice would have saved millions and millions of poor the suffering they would have had to go through; and are continuing to do so.

Oh, but surprise is the necessary element in all recent announcements, never mind the shock to the nation. In 4 hours how could anybody stock up even a day’s groceries, the markets would be closing soon. How would the elderly stock up on their medicines. How would those who were scheduled for dialysis, chemotherapy and other life saving treatments get to hospitals? The government even closed OPDs. Where would people with other ailments go? They could just suffer it out and maybe get well by themselves or die if things got worse.

But, above all this, where would India’s faceless millions, who migrate to cities in search of jobs from their distant villages, go? Those, who lived by earning small amounts on daily basis where and how would they go, those who have no shelter to call their own, often sleeping on footpaths or tents made from plastic sheets, where were they to go?

According to Census of India’s definition, when a person is enumerated in a census at a different place than his / her place of birth, she / he is considered a migrant. This may be due to marriage, which is the most common reason for migration among females, or for work, which is the case generally among males, etc.

The Economic Survey of India 2017 estimates that the magnitude of inter-state migration in India was close to 9 million annually between 2011 and 2016, however, the Census 2011, pegs the total number of internal migrants in the country (accounting for inter-state and intra-state movement) at a staggering 139 million. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are the biggest source states, followed closely by Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal; the major destination states are Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Where would these millions go, what would they eat, where would they sleep, how would they feed their little children. But, who even thought about them at that instance; they have been India’s invisible resource. They are mostly seasonal migrants. They work in low-paying, hazardous informal market jobs in sectors such as construction, hotel, textile, manufacturing, transportation, security, services, domestic work etc.

While, the rich and affluent got busy posting cute videos of their workouts and baking exotic dishes and sweeping the floor instead of the ‘bai’ in skimpy clothes, this invisible mass after waiting for some kind of help from the administration/governments decided they had to reach home. But, how could they even do that. There was curfew everywhere, local transport was closed, and trains were stopped. Their meagre savings were dwindling and they became desperate. They defied curfew, trying to walk, with little children in tow, towards borders of the neighbouring states.

Ever since that fateful day, India has silently & helplessly watched in horror the stories of their suffering, their resilience, their death. Many good Samaritans and social organisations are desperately trying to alleviate their suffering but it is too gigantic a task; task only governments are equipped to do.

There was clearly no planning done before this announcement, either for the common people or the medical staff fighting the pandemic. When, there were hardly any infected cases in India, the government forced these migrants to stay in metropolises like Delhi and Mumbai, where cases were beginning to rise allowing them to get infected too. When a lot of bad press started happening and so many stories started getting reported daily of hungry children, pregnant women delivering by road sides, men dying in road and rail accidents, then 50 days later trains were announced. More confusion followed about medical certification, photos and who will pay for it. When more bad press happened over making migrants pay and Congress announced it will pay, the railways hurried to announce Centre was paying 85% and states 15%. The ground realities have been very different.

This pandemic has thrown open the fault lines in our great nation: the terrible administrative failures, not factoring in the human cost to even those not getting the disease and the economic cost. We are spiralling into a situation which will be very ugly. Hungry people make for riots. Even those who are daily wagers do not want to live on doles. They too have pride. They don’t want to beg for what should have been rightfully their place in building this country.

This is happening when India has enough food grain stocks to supply to its citizens for more than 1 year. Current stock of rice equals to 30.97 million metric tons, wheat stands at 27.52 million metric tons and un-milled paddy stood at 28.70 million metric tons according to government sources.

After 50 plus days an economic package of sorts is announced which includes free rations for two months to be given to the poor, even to those not having ration cards. Has the government been not eating for 50 days? How did they expect these poor people who are surviving on glucose biscuits and water to live all these days? If only rations had been given at the very start, before the date of lockdown, this mayhem would not have taken place. Also, the centre has been accused of partisanship; helping BJP ruled states and denying assistance to non-BJP states. Even GST arrears are said to have not been cleared. In such a scenario, how will states manage things with businesses closed?

While, liquor seems to be topmost on the minds of all states as it is the highest excise earner, governments still don’t seem to understand the misery of these poor migrants. Every day new announcements are made and then withdrawn. The biggest example is of Indian Railways. There seems to be total confusion at the top. Just few days ago they opened booking for AC passenger trains without thinking that air-conditioning is a super spreader of viruses. When the medical fraternity raised doubts, once again those trains have been cancelled. They will once again run only Shramik specials.

One can only pray that better sense prevails and better coordination takes place within states, between states and between centre & states to resolve the problems of the migrants. Please just let them go home. Run city buses so they can reach stations and run trains free of cost. It will be a very small expense for a country aiming to reach 5 trillion GDP. We can be sure we won’t get there without them.