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VOL. 7 NO. 04 february 2010 www.civilsocietyonline.com rs 50 bbiigg rriissee ooff rreeggiioonnaall Paresh Mokashi and other directors cciinneemmaa rewrite the rules street to police reforms in doldrums school with Pages 6-7 literacy india football with a sixth sense Pages 10-11 Children who once worked as ragpickers and domestic help join green hunt targets activist formal schools and Pages 12-13 dream big Pages 14-15 for a glowing skin Page 36 politics is not jUst aboUt politicians Understand development Understand politics right plaCe for politiCs ConTenTS reaD u s. We reaD yo u. Local and global egional cinema is making waves in the hands of a new breed of directors who are fiercely independent and rooted in their local rrealities. They aren’t attracting nationwide audiences as yet, but that perhaps has more to do with the way films are marketed and distributed than their own formidable talents. it is a question of time before the demand for such films grows and in these early offerings is perhaps the first truly original indian cinema in a long while. it is a measure of how much attention these films are capable of attracting that Harishchandrachi Factory by Paresh Mokashi was an indian entry at the oscars. COVER STORY is regional cinema representative of a larger trend in the country? are people demanding a better hearing for their local problems? are new tech - big rise of regional cinema nologies helping them to express themselves nationally and globally? The Young regional language directors are making films which films not only speak of local realities, but they also show flowering of tal - are indigenous, original and global in scope. Will these ent which seeks to be recognised on its own terms. free-spirited film makers be the future of Indian cinema? 1 8 Behind the tragic story of Ruchika in Chandigarh is the long history of poor police reforms. We have in this issue a story which looks at the Cover piCture: gautam singh Ruchika case from this angle. Politicians want to continue using policemen for their own ends and the result is a force that doesn’t really bother to RTI activists need protection . 6 serve ordinary people. But modernisation of the police force is critical and can no longer be ignored. What appears to be certain is that reforms are not working. Police reforms need to be debated by a wider section of soci - ‘Ask to develop, not pollute’ . 8-9 ety. a cue could be taken from RTi and nRega and other laws which have been crafted by peoples’ movements. it is necessary that more than one voice be heard on national issues. it Less food in hills . 16 is because of this that we have interviewed Sunita narain of the Centre for Science and environment (CSe). The view CSe has on the so-called Copenhagen accord is very different to the official claim of success. it is a Investing in sports talent . 23-24 view taken by this magazine as well and expressed in our January issue. There is a need to differentiate between the right to develop and the right to pollute. Climate change is a reality whether glaciers vanish in 2035 or Geography has a market . 27 later and it is the developing world which will be a victim. Serious open debate is needed in india on our claims that we will reduce emissions. The government has so far not shown any real ability to push Brinjal vs brinjal . 29 the economy in this direction. it is also most unlikely that we can hope to shift to a low-carbon emission regime without money and technology from the developed world. We need representatives who can argue in Athirampilly to drown . 31-32 india’s best interests in contemporary terms. instead we choose to be taken for a ride. Books and Authors . 34-35 De-stress your child . 38 Heavenly soap . 38 Publisher Photographers nagar, new Delhi-17. printed at umesh anand gautam singh kaizen offset, phase-2, okhla Advisory Board get your copy of Civil Society from lakshman anand industrial area, new Delhi-20. anupam mishra Editor Delhi: oxford Bookstore, Bangalore: landmark at rita anand Layout & Design Postal Registration No. aruna roy Bahri sons, mercury, Central the forum mall, Editorial Consultant virender Chauhan Dl(s)-01/3255/2009-11. nasser munjee news agency, stalls at green koramangala. oxford park market. Bookstore at the leela, saibal Chatterjee Write to Civil Society at: registered to post without arun maira Gurgaon: the music store, variety Book house on st e-2144 palam vihar pre-payment u(se)-10/2009-11 Darshan shankar mark's road. News Network at new Delhi pso Dlf phase 1 market. shree padre, jehangir gurgaon, haryana 122017 harivansh Chennai: oxford Bookstore registered with the registrar of Gangtok: Citi news on mg rashid, vivek s ghatani, ph: 9811787772 jug suraiya marg. Mumbai: oxford Bookstore newspapers of india under rni rina mukherji, shreyasi printed and p ublished by shankar ghose Kolkata: oxford Bookstore, Lucknow: ram advani no.: Deleng/2003/11607 singh, gautam singh umesh anand from a 53 D, first upenDra kaul Classic Books, park street Bookseller at hazratganj. floor, panchsheel vihar, malviya total no of pages: 40 stalls. Chandigarh: the Browser everyone is someone The magazine that goes places Now make your connections Delhi Mumbai Chennai Kolkata Bangalore Hyderabad Pune Chandigarh Jaipur Lucknow Srinagar Gurgaon Trivandrum Kochi Gangtok Visakhapatnam Ahmedabad Bhavnagar Kutch Surendranagar Shimla PaWnchgani Dahrjeeling Paehalgam r Nampallye Ganjam Naupada Ropar Ghaziabad Faridabad Hissar Bhatinda Karnal Noida Varanasi Dehradoon Nainital Mussoorie Ajmer Dahod Surat Panaji London Sutton Baoston Crhelmsfored Encin o NWew York Hoeng Kong Sydney Derby Dhaka Versailles Paris Brisbane Hamburg Aberdour Stockholm Amrawat Khandwa Dewas Petalawad Bhopal Raipur Secunderabad Warangal Khamam Gadag Belgaum Namakkal Madubrai Jalpaeiguri Gianjanm Tezu Pgatna Itan agar Tuticorin Shillong Hosur Coimbatore Alampur Sirsa Guwahati Setiyarpatti Jhargram Patprapada Paonta Sahib Shimoga Dondaicha Baghmara Kasargod Nagarpattinam e Sevagraam Nawrdozabad Ga? ya Jammu voiCeS in THe ligHT by SaMiTa RaTHoR no experience in the field. at least i scientists conduct research on a few lifestyles and make the costly shift will be able to sympathise with cents of land and project the results to a low carbon economy. lETTERS farmers if not share their problems. in hectares. That is why their Shailey Singh Shailaja S Bhat results fail on farmers’ fields. Since The indian government must put in our land holdings are fragmented, place better pollution control mech - as a farmer i always believe that cooperative farming system may be anisms. Currently the pollution con - knowledge and the availability of promoted to adopt this type of tech - trol boards are a joke. People can also mechanisation of agriculture does nology. it is really a war against help by respecting nature in all its not correspond with the shortage of shortage of labour and to win the manifestations. We must not labour created by economic develop - minds of the younger generation of ment. Workers don’t want to work degrade our forests and beaches. farmers who see their future in Pat Fonsesca with their muscle power. instead cities. good effort by Shree Padre. they like to use machinery. The sci - G Ganapathy Bhat entists took the right decision and i welcome the transfer of knowledge This work should inspire farmers from lab to farm. across the country. Hats off to Dr D Ramesh Jaikumaran and his team! Seetaram Bhat Community farming is the ultimate way for sustainable agriculture and Coordinated efforts by Dr food security in our country. Jaikumaran are really laudable. Such Mechanisation is possible only an initiative was what farmers were Paddy farming when farmers with small holdings looking forward to. Hope this exper - Shree Padre's article on mechanisa - come together. i am happy the days iment comes out well and encour - tion of paddy cultivation is an are not far off. ages youngsters to become farmers. Neethu Mohan incredible story that gives hope to Anusuya Sharma the rest of us fighting similar agri - THe RigHT PiCTuRe i hope this movement spreads to cultural battles in the rest of the Global warming inadvertently, an incorrect pic - other states and prevents paddy world. above all we must make agri - ture of the Drag school was fields from being converted into gin - Your story, ‘global warming victims culture a desired and profitable pro - published in the January issue. ger fields and areca plantations. not heard in Copenhagen' was excel - fession in the future. Here is the correct picture. The Ken Love Soumya Bhat lent. india is bearing the brunt of cli - mate change. i agree the developed error is regretted. Editor Shree Padre's story was very inform - This is a good approach by Dr countries should pay us so that we ative for a person like me who has Jaikumaran. i have seen agricultural can help the victims of their lavish civil societY, FebrUarY 2010 5 inDia Pune murder shows RTI activists in Police reforms are in the doldrums need of protection Civil Society News New Delhi He brutal murder of right to information (RTi) activist Satish Shetty once again emphasises the need to provide protection to those who put their Tlives at risk by exposing corruption. on 3 January, Satish Shetty, 38, was killed by three men in Talegaon, Pune. Shetty had been using RTi to expose land scams and fake registration cases in the Talegaon, lonavala and Dehu Road regions of Maval. The Dig (Registration) stated that Shetty’s complaints had led to investigations that unearthed The murder of satish tax evasion and illegal sale of government land.