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AFTER 7/7, HEARTBROKEN LONDON LOOKS FOR ANSWERS Page 19 VOL. 2 NO. 10 AUGUST 2005 Rs 50 IN NORTH BIHAR, EMBANKMENTS CAUSE POVERTY, MIGRATION, BUT CORRUPTION KEEPS THEM IN PLACE fflloooodd bbuussiinneessss Farouque Shaikh on JOIN A CLUB FOR BETTER ROADS WHy HINDI Page 5 FILMS DELHI DEBATES WATER PRICING PREFER Page 7 HEROES LIkE PHILIPS GOES TO THENI WITH A VAN VIkRAM, Page 15 AJAy, VIJAy... Page 4 M S SWAMINATHAN ON MISSION 2007 Page 17 vieWs PeoPle CAMPAiGns nGo s sloGAns ConTRoveRsies ideAs volunTeeRs TRAininG booKs filMs inTeRvieWs ReseARCH contents CIVIL SOCIETY August 2005 3 CoveR sToRY A story from Bihar t is all too common to take corruption in Bihar for granted. So, when money meant for flood relief disappears through a novel arrangement ibetween an official and some politicians, it makes news for a while, but that is it. there is more interest in the fact that the official concerned was on time's list of Asian heroes than in the corruption itself or the seamless industry that floods in Bihar have become. When we decided to do the story of the embankments along Bihar's rivers, we realised that we may be bucking the trend to our own detriment. Would anyone read a cover story on Bihar? We decided to risk it and commissioned Eklavya, who has been a reliable reporter-researcher on THe CuRse of biHAR’s eMbAnKMenTs water for a long time, to travel to Bihar to bring back in great detail the endless havoc that the embankments are causing. If nothing is being done Walls to curb rivers are causing extensive floods and to dismantle them, it is because repairing embankments each year has turning once rich soil into sand. become a thriving industry. Everyone makes money out of it. 9 the embankments, by trapping the flow of the rivers, have turned large tracts into sandy and arid stretches. Had the rivers flowed in and out, as nature planned it, these would have been fertile lands instead. this is most certainly an old story, but a tragic one as well because it is a major reason for North Bihar's poverty and mass migration to cities. And like Uday Gosain sets up a most old stories, it needs new solutions that grow more complex. club to improve roads We also spent time this month covering the Delhi Jal Board's plans for in Delhi . 5 farming out the management of its distribution system. there are lessons for all Indian cities in this development. We were the first in the media to Haryana brand Indha take up the issue in our editions of June and July. From what we can gauge, carves out niches in US there seems to be a general consensus on the need to price water to and Singapore . 6 prevent its wastage. But the big question is how to go about this. there are serious questions being raised on the handing over of management contracts to international firms at the urgings of the World Bank. Are these companies going to be paid too much? Will they make water unaffordable for the common man? At the back of the mind of the Delhi resident is the Delhi debates private experience with private distribution of electricity. Power cuts haven't gone distribution of water to away, billing problems continue, theft of power hasn't been controlled and households . 7 tariffs are set to go up. Will privatised water distribution end up in the same hole? Philips designs a van for A story we will be revisiting in the near future is the one on MS telemedicine from a Swaminathan's rural knowledge hubs. It is a great idea whose time has remote village . .1 . 5 long come. A much smaller, but very important initiative in the rural areas has also been undertaken by Philips. A van equipped and designed by the company is capable of conducting diagnostic tests like an x-ray or ECG and transmitting the findings via satellite to Apollo Hospitals. this unique effort, which involves ISRO and the DHAN Foundation, takes specialised Lots of products, healthcare to remote corners of the country. It shows how a company can nowhere to sell, says use technology to change the lives of people. Milindo Chakrabarti . .22 Vinita Bhargava’s unique research into adoption . .23 Review: In Kolkata, Zarin stages plays with Printed and published by Umesh Anand on behalf of Rita Anand of A 53D, First Floor, Panchsheel Vihar, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi-17. Printed at Kaizen the hearing-impaired . 2. 4 Offset, 19 DSIDC Scheme 3, Phase-2, Okhla Industrial Area, New Delhi-20. Essay: Jinnah was like Write to Civil Society at E-2144 Palam Vihar, Gurgaon, Haryana 122017 Ph: 9811787772, E-mail: [email protected]. Editor: Rita Anand Nehru, says Asghar Ali RNI No.:•DELENG/03/11607 Engineer . 25 Get your copy of Civil Society from any of the following stores: The Corner Bookstore at Baristas and other locations across cities. Delhi: Bahri Sons, Mercury and The Bookshop at Khan Market. Central News Agency at Connaught Place. Stalls at Green Park. Gurgaon: The Music Store, DLF Phase 1 Market. Quill and Canvas at Galleria. The Music Store at Big Bazaar in the Sahara Mall. Kolkata: Classic Books at 10 Middleton Street. Bangalore: Landmark at the Forum Mall, Koramangala. Gangaram's Book Bureau on MG Road, Variety Book House on St Mark's Road. Lucknow: Ram Advani Bookseller at Hazartganj. Chandigarh: The Browser, Sector 8 Market. india 4 August 2005 CIVIL SOCIETY ‘Hindu names help save footage’ LAKSHMAN lems placing a Vijay or an Ajay. they have seen an ample number around. So if the lead actor is not playing a Muslim character, the identification prob - lem is immediately sorted out. And with identifi - cation comes empathy. If you don't empathise with the principal characters in your film, then the film is lost. But the success of Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan means they have been accepted by Hindus. So why don't they play a Muslim charac- ter? Why aren't they offered such roles? Ninety-five percent of filmmakers are non-Muslims. the moment they make, what is called a ' Muslim social', all the women will be wearing burkhas and probably saying aadab at the drop of a hat. Non- Muslim filmmakers are slightly less familiar with the culture of Muslims. So they have to assemble that culture. It becomes difficult for them to make such a film. On the other hand, Muslim filmmakers are rea - sonably familiar with the exterior resemblances of non-Muslim culture because it is all around him. So it is relatively easier for them. Unless you create a Muslim background, you can't create a Muslim character. But take the example of the older generation of filmmakers, like HS Ravi. they came from the pre- partition composite culture, and could read and write in Urdu. For them, to make a movie like Mere Farouque Shaikh Mehboob was easy because they lived in that culture. Shailey Hingorani What effect do films with stereotypical images New Delhi have on people? Have you ever faced discrimination because of your Discerning audiences do notice, but it might play on religious identity? HE Indian film industry is famous for typecast - the psyche of our rural audiences or floating audi - Communalism or any kind of differentiation has to ing characters. Sikhs are always taxi drivers, ences. When Indo-Pak relations were really bad and be a paying commodity. If it does not pay the prac - Ttribals dance weirdly in forests and Christian we had a government which cashed in on the ani - titioner, he or she will not go ahead with it. girls sing in clubs. As for Muslims, be sure the film mosity between the two communities, then it the film industry is like the racecourse. You will show women hidden in burkhas repeating helped to make the kind of movies we saw during want to back the winning horse and you don't care adaab a dozen times over. the hero always has a that period. But if you were to make Gadar today, it whether the colour of the horse is black or white. name from the majority community. would definitely be a box-office disaster. My consideration while making a film is not "You can't have a saviour from the minority com - whether the actor is Muslim or not, but whether he munity because you want the biggest number of peo - We have been seeing films on the Indo-Pak friend- will draw in the audiences. So if the surname of the ple to see your film. the audience has to empathise ship theme. We noticed the hero actor is 'Khan', it really does not with the character. If they don't, your film is lost," is always from the majority com- matter. I would not look for an explains Bollywood actor Farouque Shaikh. munity. Why? “The film industry is actor with a Hindu surname. It But when a film comes laced with communal Well, if the Pakistanis made the wouldn't occur to me. Plus overtones it's treading on dangerous ground and its movie, the hero would be from like the racecourse. nobody has that kind of time. time for concerned citizens to speak up. their majority community Shaikh recently spoke on communal propaganda because the saviour has to come You want to back Are you an actor and an activist? in the entertainment industry at the India from the largest section of the No, I wouldn't say I am an International Centre (IIC) in Delhi.

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