Gorkha Students, JNU in Solidarity with NBU fighting for Gender Justice

9:28 PM

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sexual assault

Solidarity Statement from Gorkha Students, JNU to the students of North Bengal University (NBU) fighting for Gender Justice

We students of JNU salute and take inspiration from the historic struggle waged by students of NBU against the recent incidents (15th August, 2016) of sexual harassment in campus premises of North Bengal University. The struggle has unsettled the deep patriarchal anxiety of the administration and will definitely contribute to expansion of the spaces for women (both within and outside campus premises).

   The patriarchal unequal gender relation of society also permeates the work premises. This power relation has its own class, caste and racial manifestations. Under such hierarchical social relation the gender justice cannot be achieved if the perpetrator lies in top of power relation. Failure to deliver gender justice only strengthens the forces of patriarchy and sexual-harassers and jeopardizes the space for women to come up and lodge complaints against similar cases of violence. The administration throughout country has repeatedly used their authority to shield sexual harassers even after they have been found guilty under enquiry, particularly when the guilty is someone with influence. At the one hand laws (Prevention of Sexual Harassment in Work Place Act, 2013) which are supposed to protect and give justice also reflects the same patriarchal attitude. Hence, to look matter of sexual harassment and to sensitise campus on issue of gender, we think that independent and effective body like Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), as per the Supreme Court's Vishaka Judgement guidelines 13th August, 1999, should be constituted in every work place of this country and decisions of the GSCASH should be made binding upon the administration or any person with sufficient influence/power. The ongoing struggle of students in NBU can make sure that such proper institutional mechanism is instated in campus premises. Even regressive act like Prevention of Sexual Harassment in Work Place Act, 2013 makes its mandatory to do so.
 

The procession taken out by NBU students and research scholars on Friday.
 Picture by Kundan Yolmo

We believe promoting a security centric solution to the issue of crime against women (like putting the entire campus under the gaze of CCTVs) will only worsen the situation for female students and hamper their mobility within campus. The security centric approaches reflect the same protectionist patriarchal male chauvinist attitude that will perpetuate the age old unequal gender relations. Such security centric measures are very likely to be used by authority as tool of extensive surveillance and discipline and contrary to initial believe, can be used to further curtail the freedom of students. Definitely prisons are safe, but we don’t want our campus to be that.

We demand speedy trail and prompt justice to be delivered. We demand the perpetrators to be brought to justice, through an impartial investigation and speedy trial in appropriate forum of authority. We extend our solidarity to the uncompromising struggle of students of NBU on issue of sexual harassment and gender justice.

Only the unity among an oppressed can break the chain of patriarchy!  Let us all join hands together and raise voices for gender justice!

-Gorkha Students, JNU                
Issued on 20/10/2010

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Commemorating the spirit of struggle on 25th Nepali Bhasa Manyata Diwas - Gorkha Students, JNU

10:35 AM

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Nepali Bhasha Diwas

It was a new dawn for the Gorkhas of India when their language, Nepali was given a constitutional status on the 20th day of August 1992. This day commemorates the struggle of those visionary and revolutionary Gorkhas who had fought to provide Nepali language in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, thereby fulfilling the aspirations of millions of Gorkhas living in different states of India.  Nepali as an official language is spoken in the Indian state of Sikkim, Gorkhaland and it has many speakers in the North-East region of India and Uttarakhand. There are also a lot of Nepali speakers in countries like Bhutan and Burmaand a Nepali speaking diaspora lives in different countries of South Asia, Middle east, Europe, the Americas, Australia and other parts of Asia. Nepali generally falls under the category of Pahari language branched out of the Indo-Aryan language family, thus sharing a commonality with languages of the Himalayan belt. Its history like any other language is rooted deep in time and the story of its struggle is the story of the Gorkhas in India. The recognition of Nepali language in the constitution is not merely a victory but a stepping stone towards the formation a separate state for the Gorkhas of India.

Nepali Bhasa Manyata Diwas celebrated by Gorkha Students, JNU -2015 a file photo

Although Nepali language has been given recognition by the Indian constitution but whether in practice, it has been able to breed properly in the sub-continent is a big question in itself. It is a sad reality that the West Bengal government has always alienated Nepali language by its power of hegemony and linguistic imposition on the people of the Gorkhaland. Such linguistic imposition is exercised by many clever bureaucratic and cultural tactics which includes forcing the people of Gorkhaland to learn a language(Bengali) which has always been alien to them, denying skilled jobs to Nepali speakers in government offices, changing names of places (roads, streets etc ) that were once in Nepali and introducing the Bengali script to write Nepali .Such is the atrocity meted out to people where Nepali language is an official language. In places where it is not, conditions are even more worse where the majoritarian attitude even denies to recognize the importance of Nepali language or its speakers in their hegemonic paradigm. When many other indigenous language has its healthy space to breed and grow, Nepali language in India is in the verge of endangerment. Even in the most progressive campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University which claims to protect the rights of the history and culture of the oppressed, there is no centre for the learning of Nepali language. The question should be raised as Why a language which is spoken by millions of people in India still do not have a place in JNU or many other big universities in India? It is an irony that a scheduled language in the Indian constitution is facing an act of discrimination and isolation. We have always known that India is a diverse country with many cultures interacting together in peace but such peace seems to exist in fairy tales in school textbooks. In practice it is a majoritarian communal attitude which is spreading its obnoxious tentacles to succumb the rights of the minorities and other oppressed communities. This linguistic and racial discrimination that the Gorkhas face is not a new event. This community has been ignored for centuries and has been recognized only as pawns in battlefields and yet the eyes of the so called progressive forces that fight for all never care to give a look at our plight. Thus, a separate state for the Gorkhas becomes obvious and inevitable in order to protect and preserve the rights of the community by its people so that they do not fell prey to any majoritarian attacks in the future.

Gorkha Students, JNU salutes all revolutionaries who had struggled for their cultural and linguistic identity in the past and whoever are doing so in the present. We demand that the rights of the oppressed communities and nationalities be ensured thereby bringing an end to the majoritarian tyranny in any form anywhere. Please join in large numbers for a public meeting on the history and struggle of the constitutional recognition of Nepali language in India.

Speaker:  Prof. Shrawan Acharya, CSRD, JNU
Venue: Godavari Mess, Time: 9:30 PM
GORKHA STUDENTS, JNU

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Gorkha Students JNU protests discriminatory citizenship policies of Assam Government (NRC)

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northeast gorkhas

23rd June 2016 JNU Delhi Gorkha Students JNU brought up a poster on 23rd June in the campus protesting against highly exclusionary and discriminatory citizenship policies of Assam government.

"Given the recent history of exodus of Gorkhas from different North Eastern states, Bhutan and Burma, the current threat emanating from Assam and Manipur is highly credible and too large to ignore. Even under such threat the calculated silence maintained by political leaders claiming to represent ‘Gorkha cause’ are highly shameful and smacks of their opportunism. Why the loud chorus of praises made by Indian political establishment of bravery and the sacrifices made by Gorkha soldiers protecting this country somewhat transforms into morbid.

And indifference when that community is brazenly discriminated and vilified in public sphere. It is such numerous instances of political discrimination and exclusion which consolidates and justifies the demand for separate state of Gorkhaland." said Dawa Sherpa.

Gorkha Students JNU 

The Poster

Reject the exclusionary and divisive policies of ‘them’ and ‘us’ in Assam

“When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty!”- Thomas Jefferson

The wicked hands of majoritarian chauvinism have always tried to squeeze the identity and existence of marginalized communities through its clever tactic of othering and isolating people. History have witnessed, whenever such tendencies of racial and linguistic hatred have been unleashed it has brought misery to the weaker nations and unending guilt to those who practice it. But it seems humanity do not learn from history and so it repeat its mistakes time after time in all possible spaces on earth. Such an act of majoritarian exclusionary and divisive policies is manifested in the form of a National Registration Certificate in Assam, which identifies the Gorkhas and the Muslims as ‘outsiders’ in the NRC forms thus preparing them to be excluded from their rights in their own homeland. The NRC earlier had fixed the base year as 1951 as per which anybody who was enumerated in the NRC of 1951 and the electoral list of 1951 shall be declared as original inhabitant (OI) of Assam. But under recent specific government notification, the Gorkhas and Muslims are excluded from the category of OI in the NRC forms even though they had all the official documents proving their name enrolled in the NRC of 1951. Many British official documents(like by Krishna Ram Medhi, Sub Deputy Collector, Samuguri in 1937 and Deputy Commissioner of Darrang in 1937) shows that Gorkhas were living in Assam for about century with perfect harmony with the indigenous population. But situation changed after the beginning of Assam Movement in 1980s, when the Gorkhas, Muslims and some other linguistic and religious minorities were perceived by locals as cause of their underdevelopment and treat to their identity and opportunity. They were arbitrarily labeled as ‘immigrants’ who come to rob jobs and lands from the natives and some of them are labeled more brutally as ‘illegal migrants’. The irony is that even those people whose ancestors came during the British times and who have settled considering Assam as their home are branded as immigrants in popular culture. They are treated as undesirables in the society, thus ghettoizing and putting them under the lenses of suspicion always. The level of hatred towards these communities has always been at a high degree in Assam since many decades. The abhorrence spread by the Assam Movement in name of fighting against “foreigner” may be unseen by the majoritarian value system but to the minorities it was a propaganda specifically designed to put the Assamese society in illusion and prey of a false belief that hating specific communities could bring peace and development to them. Such hate propaganda was also seen in Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland in the late 80’s when thousands of Gorkhas were forced to leave their homes and many even died in some unwelcomed ethnic conflicts. All the people of Assam need is hope in the midst of multi-cultaralism where societies interact together in harmony as equal socio-political beings. The Gorkhas of Assam have always been in peaceful coexistence within the larger Assamese society. It even went to the extent of changing its very identity to ‘Assameli Nepali’( Gorkhas of Assam) and trying to intermix Gorkha culture with Assamese and other indigenous culture through various forms of socialisation like marriages, celebrations of indigenous festivals together and respecting the cultural values of everyone. On the contrary, it seems that a few anti-social majoritarian chauvinists do not want peaceful coexistence and want to divide society in name of language, ethnicity and religion. They want hatred to be spread everywhere so that they can divide people into ‘us’ and ‘them’ and rule everyone through the medium of fear and ignorance. Such brazen principles of exclusion and hatred are not only experimented in Assam but similar acts are peeping through the window to terrorize minority communities in Manipur in from of three new bills. Given the recent history of exodus of Gorkhas from different North Eastern states, Bhutan and Burma, the current threat emanating from Assam and Manipur is highly credible and too large to ignore. Even under such threat the calculated silence maintained by political leaders claiming to represent ‘Gorkha cause’ are highly shameful and smacks of their opportunism. Why the loud chorus of praises made by Indian political establishment of bravery and the sacrifices made by Gorkha soldiers protecting this country somewhat transforms into morbid silence and indifference when that community is brazenly discriminated and vilified in public sphere. It is such numerous instances of political discrimination and exclusion which consolidates and justifies the demand for separate state of Gorkhaland.
 
We condemn and reject such exclusionary and divisive policies which are pitted against linguistic and religious minority communities and demand immediate revocation of such discriminatory rules/bills from Assam and Manipur. Let us unite and fight against such majoritarian injustice!

 GORKHA STUDENTS, JNU

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Gorkha Students JNU condemns rape and murder of gorkha girl from Assam and the Dalit girl in Kerala.

7:32 AM

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student

"Gorkha Students, JNU condemns heinous acts of brutal rape and murder of gorkha girl from Assam and the Dalit girl, Jisha in Kerala. We condemn, in the strongest terms the despicable crimes committed against Jisha, against the girl from Assam who was brutally raped and murdered and to the continued apathy shown by the University officials towards the girl from Sikkim. We demand a proper investigation in all these cases with speedy trial for the perpetrators to be booked and be brought to justice." - Gorkha Students, JNU 

Gorkha Students, JNU  Condemn the rising atrocities on the Oppressed and Marginalized

The misery of the oppressed seems to be unending in the world’s largest democracy. Every minute we come across stories from the length and the breadth of our country about oppressed communities and their daily struggle for existence. This agony of the oppressed goes unheard, unattended and unaddressed.  Democracy fails us and the ugly Brahmanical exploitative structure rears it’s hydra head everywhere. Recently, a young Dalit student, Jisha was raped and brutally murdered in Kerala. The perpetrators of this despicable and horrendous act are yet to be punished. The atrocity that went unto raping and killing the young woman is pure evil. How is it, that ‘a body’ becomes prone to more torture, pain, and abuse and why is it that ‘this body’ belongs to an adivasi, a dalit, a minority and a woman. Our political institutions and society are yet to address these issues. However, they are but symptoms of a larger malaise affecting us all. For Jisha and many others, her identity as a woman and a Dalit was enough for the perpetrators to carry out the abhorrent crime with impunity. Such acts have been historically ignored and neglected. Becoming all though more troubling when we see that the so called ‘progressive’ fonts pays only lip service to such gross injustices, thereby, confabulating this struggle for justice and equality

 Rising atrocities on the Oppressed and Marginalized

In yet another similar incident, in Margherita, Assam, a young Gorkha girl of just 20 years was found to be raped and brutally murdered and thrown in a river (inset pic.1).  He deformed body later showed the degree of brutality meted out to her. When some public spirited citizens and organizations came forward and protested against such atrocity, the Tinsukia police rather than finding the culprits were quick to condemn such protests as fomenting anarchy. The police and the administration in no uncertain terms have tried to belittle the issue and with no media coverage of this heinous act, we fear that this incident too would be in the long lists of cases, where justice goes dying with the dead.

Sadly, this is not new. We encountered similar apathy of our government and our political leaders two years back when a student from Sikkim was sexually molested by her seniors and blackmailed into silence at the prestigious Visva-Bharati Central University in Bengal.  Social media uproar forced a few political leaders to speak on this, who vouched to fight for her and to put the accused behind the bars. Sadly, when the furore died down so did their promises. Till now, the girl still has to undergo medical treatment for her traumas while the culprits still roam free inside the campus, allegedly, because of help and protection from the officials of the University itself.  Her father however remains determined and continues to run from pillar to post hoping that one day he will be heard and his daughter will get the justice she deserves.

Our question remains, as to why that people from certain background are more easily prone to crime and criminals. Why is it easy for the perpetrators to carry out such horrendous acts without the fear of law or justice on the them.  Only too recently a girl from Manipur was abducted right from the middle of a street in a foiled attempt in the city of Bengaluru. Thankfully, the girl was able to free herself not because people chased away the perpetrator or caught him but because of the sheer grit and courage of the girl alone, while we see in the cctv captured video of the act that people stroll by in the vicinity as if nothing has happened. This is indeed shameful and reprehensible.

 Also, in continuation of the series of racial attacks. Closer to campus, on  May 2nd John Thapa and his friend John Rana hailing from Gorkhaland, were brutally beaten (inset pic. 2) up by the locals of Chakkarpur in Gurugram  for raising objection against throwing dirty water on them by the locals. Both of them were brutally beaten by rods and sticks by locals for daring to raise their voice. What is more disturbing is that last year similar kind of racial attack  had occurred on 18/05/2015 when Abishek Rai and his two friends all hailing from Teesta Valley, Gorkhaland, were brutally beaten up by their landlord's son and his friends in Gurugram. Everywhere there seems to be one common thing. The identity of the oppressed becomes an incentive for the oppressor to victimize them. These incidents clearly show that racism for people with certain ethnicity in India is daily living experience. It’s not alone limited to people from Northeast. Even non-north eastern people like the Gorkhas, the Ladakhis, and the Tibetans face it.

Also, it is alarming when we see that such casteist, racial, communal and linguistic discrimination seems to have permeated from our society and unto our political institutions as well. Allowing for a fascist and repressive system to thrive and which represses anything which comes as progressive or just. Such repression got showcased again when two people were killed over police firing in the Tawang District of Aruncahal Pradesh (inset pic 3). The victims were demanding the release of Gyatso, the Secretary of the Save Mon Region Federation (SMRF), who were questioning the building of the dams in an earthquake prone area and were demanding more local consensuses to be built on the issue. We have already seen such roughshodding when huge dams were built on the river Teesta in Sikkim and West Bengal repudiating the concerns raised by the locals about the adverse impact these dams might have on their life, livelihood and the environment. Sadly, we as a society seemed to have normalised this repression and given into the ideology advocated by this repressive regime that makes anyone standing against them typecast as criminals or anti-national. Such typecasting takes away from them their political rights and allows for the full force of the repressive machinery to be turned on them while the citizenry is lulled into looking the other way by the mantra of “greater good”. Such plundering of the tribal forest lands and flooding of huge hill areas are all carried out in the name of the greater good. However, the question remains whose greater good? Is it the good of the regimes over the blood of the oppressed nationalities or is it the blindness of the collective conscience which fails to see the dark side of this greater good? Violence against the oppressed communities has always been structured and programmed well by the authors of oppression, ever and always. History will never forget and forgive the killing of about 1500 people under the state repression during the 1986 Gorkhaland agitation or the atrocities that were meted out to people under the Armed Forces Special Power Act in the North East since 1958. Such state repression is sophisticatedly designed to combat and repress voices of dissent in any form.

In the recent times too we see how such forms of repression has permeated and penetrated even into our educational institutions like HCU, JNU, FTII or JU wherein all and any voices of dissent are criminalized. We have seen how the progressive environment of our own university too is being poisoned by the same repressive state apparatuses manifest in the recent dictatorial High level Enquiry Committee (HLEC) report and the farcical dossier which tries to isolate and profile certain sections of the student community and teachers as immoral and anti-national based on their caste, religion and racial ethnicity.

Such typecasting is what allows for certain sections of our society to be devoid of law and to their claim to its equality, justness or fairness. People with no claim to law are hence then found to be easy target of the repressive regime and the casteist and racial society that we have come to exist in. It is what has allowed the perpetrators of the heinous crime against Jisha to the reach the level of horrendousness yet unheard. It is what is making the Tinsukia administration and police to brush the horrible rape and murder of the bright young Gorkha girl under the carpet of nonchalance. It is the lulling and normalising of such depraved acts that has allowed the molesters in Shantiniketan to roam free, or the violent acts in Gurugram to be reported unheard. It is this ideology of supposed ‘growth’ which excels in repressing and killing its own people.

Gorkha Students, JNU condemns all such heinous acts and travesties of justice. We condemn, in the strongest terms the despicable crimes committed against Jisha, against the girl from Assam who was brutally raped and murdered and to the apathy shown by the University officials towards the girl from Sikkim. We demand a proper investigation in all these cases with speedy trial for the perpetrators to be booked and be brought to justice. Only the unity among an oppressed can break the chain of patriarchy, racism and castiesm!


Gorkha Students, JNU

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Gorkha Students, JNU condemn racist assaults on Students from Sikkim in ITFT Chandigarh

5:29 PM

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Sikkim

Condemn Brutal Racist assaults on Students from Sikkim for protesting against racist slurs

The students from Sikkim were brutally beaten with rods, bricks and hockey sticks by some students and hooligans from Himachal Pradesh in full public view. This is the second time that students from Sikkim studying at Institute of Technology and Future Trends (ITFT) had to face such brutal assaults. When students from Sikkim resisted continuous racial slurs passed against them, they were assaulted by students of Himachal Pradesh.

According to the representative of Sikkim Student’s Welfare Association of Chandigarh (SSWAC), when 30-40 Sikkimese students were returning back after college at around 5:10pm-5:20pm on 15th December, a huge number of miscreants stopped their bus at Khuda Ali Sher Bus stand and started pelting stones, bricks without any consideration for human lives.  The miscreants then used rods and sharp weapons to lash out on the students inflicting deep injuries. Almost all the students were severely injured and were later taken to hospital. Fearing for their lives several students were forced to flee the scene and are yet to be traced. The violent attack on Wednesday directed towards the students of Sikkim by students belonging to Himachal Pradesh (HP) could have been averted, provided the college authorities and the police could have taken prompt actions and dealt with the matter seriously during the first incident. It was confirmed by the police that racial remarks passed by the students from HP were the prime cause that led to the first clash on December 8 2015, a precursor to the current incident. The police have nabbed 10 students — Ajay Kumar, Sunny Thakur, Manu Thakur, Vishal, Anil, Rohit, Pardeep, Vijay, Sandeep and Gurjant — for rioting and wrongful restraint, and sent them to judicial custody. But more are yet to be arrested and are still at large.

Some  Pics from the incident

This is not a new event that has taken place against students from the Northeast. The students of Sikkim have been harassed in all possible ways and local thugs have made it a point to fuel the fire even more. Only a few days back a video came to lime light, circulated via social media which portrayed merciless beating of students of Sikkim at the hands of some students from HP with the help of local goons. Following the first incident the SSWAC representative had even made an appeal in written naming some of the perpetrator to the head of the ITFT institute. However the head who has to look after the well being of all students irrespective of any social denominations scornfully directed the complainant to take the fight outside the premise of the institute. No prompt actions were taken against the students as such which emboldened them to stage the recent attack. The security and safety of Sikkim students studying at such prestigious institute as ITFT is once again compromised and open for the taking.

We condemn this continues harassment and dehumanisation on basis of race in strongest possible words and appeal to all progressive democratic forces to raise their voice against such incidents. We extend our solidarity with students of Sikkim. We demand that government should immediately come out of denial mode and enact anti-racial law to punish the perpetrators of such hate crime without any delay. We believe only the unity among the all oppressed and uncompromising fight can eradicate this social affliction.

Gorkha Students, JNU

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Gorkha Students JNU against Starvation Deaths in Hills, Terai and Dooars

1:45 PM

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Press Release

What Lies Behind the Romance of Two Leaves and One Bud: Exploitation and Starvation Deaths!

What every Exquisite Cup of Tea Fails to Narrate is the plight and agony of those workers who have been heavily exploited and marginalized for generations. Beyond the romanticised notions of the beautiful hills and tea estates, the “the two leaves and a bud”, and the “cheerful faces of its people”, what remains Invisible is the Ugly Truth of Sub-Human Wages and Living Conditions, Denial of Basic Rights of Workers, 

More than a Thousand Starvation Deaths and Seething Anger.

Once again the Hills, Terai and Dooars of Gorkhaland are gripped in seething angst when it is forced to witness the misery of its own people in the form of hunger and starvation deaths.  It is outrageous to see the workers of a multi-million industry (tea plantation) dying a slow and painful death due to hunger and starvation. Most deaths are occurring in tea gardens that are owned by the largest corporate houses of Britain and India. Only recently, from April, 2015 till date, 30 workers died due to chronic hunger and starvation in this region. Every tea garden you would visit in free India echoes the cries of those labourers who have been bonded and forced to work at paltry wages. Among many such are the tea gardens of Darjeeling and Dooars whose scenic beauty and unparalleled flavour of tea have gained world reputation, whereas the state of the livelihoods of workers (especially tea-garden labourers) suffering perennial misery and insecurity remain unheard and ignored. The region has remained in grip of the predatory claws of imperialism and colonization which has obscenely exploited its resources, both natural and human in the worst forms. It would be erroneous to estimate the scale of this open loot by factoring in only monetary losses in the form of wages and incomes. In fact, the ramifications of the denial of the same has spilled out to cause starvation (in many cases amounting to death), malnourishment of children, denial of proper education, health care, sanitation and housing, erosion of self-confidence, forced migration for work, sex slavery and human trafficking in the most hazardous industries. Workers have witnessed rampant flouting of labour laws which has made a brazen mockery of their rights. According to law, each tea garden worker must receive, apart from their daily wages, provident fund payments, bonuses, pension (for retired workers), ration, umbrellas and aprons for working, firewood for cooking, housing, electricity, water, medical care and education facilities. The last time the workers got ration in Dhumchipara was in 2011. In Dhumchipara Tea estate in Dooars, a poor woman having two children has been reduced almost to a skeleton due to starvation. These children who have been becoming immobile due to chronic hunger and poor health require at least 750 ml of blood which their family cannot afford. Doctors say, “They may not live long”. Such cases of starvation induced illnesses and death in the tea-gardens of Darjeeling and Dooars are too numerous to quote here.  The irony of this situation is lies in the presence of stark poverty, chronic hunger and exploitation along-side the colossal profits these tea-gardens generate for the owners and the State.  According to an estimate by the Darjeeling Chamber of Commerce, tea industry in the hills generates an average of Rs. 450 crores revenue annually, equal to that of the tourism industry in the region. Absence of workers’ rights, non-payment of minimum wages and benefits is not specific to the tea-industry alone but is rather a persistent feature of work in the highly segment labour-market in India. However, it is pertinent to highlight here the starkly Regional Aspects of Discrimination that lies so strongly visible in the tea industry. The minimum wage paid to unskilled tea labour in Kerala is Rs.301 , in Assam it is Rs.158.54, in neighbouring Sikkim it is Rs. 200 while the same in Darjeeling comes to a meagre Rs.112 . Even the minimum wage paid in West Bengal for MGNREGA is around Rs. 130-151 and for agricultural laborer is Rs. 206 per day. The tea workers in North Bengal are thus made to work for wages which is far below the minimum in any form of work. It is very shrewd on the part of the owners to claim low wages are due to low price being earned from the sales of tea leaves produced from these gardens. If this be the case then why the wages of workers remains same in those tea gardens which fetches the highest price in the world tea market( for instance Rs. 1.1 lakhs per kg of tea is produced by Makaibari tea garden but wages remain still at Rs.112).

Gorkha Students JNU  poster against Starvation Deaths in Hills, Terai and Dooars

In the last decade more than 1400 tea workers have died due to acute malnutrition and starvation. As recent as January 2013, 95 workers of the locked out Dheklapara Tea Estate in Dooars sent a letter to the Chief Minister of West-Bengal seeking her “order” to kill themselves because they were suffering from acute starvation. The tea workers therefore are forced to languish till they die of hunger and malnutrition. Studies show that 70% of the people of the closed tea gardens suffer from chronic energy deficiency III stage. In the gardens affected by starvation death, it was found that workers and their families have Body Mass Index (BMI) identical to those populations affected by severe famine.
 As the tentacles of exploitative markets are always spreading in search of cheap labour; men, women and children in these regions are facing increasing vulnerability to Human Traffickers.  A report of a joint study by UNICEF, Save the Children and Burdwan University (in 2010) estimates 3,500 minors alone were trafficked from 12 gardens of Dooars only. It’s certain that the total number of people forced into sex trade will be much higher when we add up those from Darjeeling Hills and the Terai region.  The Supreme Court’s order dated 06.08.10 categorically directs the Government of India to carry out its statutory duty under Tea Act 1953. The Act mandates the Central Government to take over the management/control of the tea undertakings/units (under section 16 B/D/E) and take steps thereafter to ensure that the interests of the workers are well protected and dues are all paid in time. Sadly the constitutional duty to uphold the ruling of the highest court of the country has not been carried out neither by the Central Government nor by the State Government. Contrary to this the government has even started to privatise a handful of tea gardens which was operated under its supervision.

Beyond some symbolic gestures and tokenism, the larger political establishment has shown apathy and indifference of the highest order in this issue. Labour minister Malay Ghatak denied allegations that there had been deaths from malnutrition and lack of treatment in closed tea gardens and asserted that the government was trying its best to provide relief. If narratives of political establishment are to be believed then it seems that the workers have voluntarily starved themselves to death.

The historic victory (forcing management to increase wages and bonus) by tea estate workers mostly led by women in Munnar, Kerala has shown that only the uncompromising collective struggle can break the status quo and force the tea management/owner  to bow to their demands.

The students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi University (DU), Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Vishva Bharati University (VBU) have expressed their solidarity with the movement of workers and expressed outrage over the horrendous exploitation of workers by big corporate houses. As the workers and trade unions are collectively protesting (from 27th November, 2015), we believe this solidarity statement will strengthen their resolve to fight for their right and also help us bridge the gap between students and workers movements. When Oppressors are always united and consolidated, it is a historic responsibility on our shoulders to unite and fight for a just and egalitarian society!

Gorkha Students, JNU

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Gorkha Students JNU in support of Visva Bharati student from Sikkim who was sexually assaulted

5:07 PM

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sexual assault

News release of protest organised  in JNU against denial of justice  of girl from Sikkim a student at Santineketan.

Gorkha Students from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi organised a protest demonstration against the continued denial of gender justice. Even one year after the heinous incident of repeated sexual harassment, justice is yet to be delivered to a B.A. first year female student from Sikkim, who had just enrolled in Kala Bhawan,Visva-Bharati University. All the three perpetrators who are students from the same university, had been arrested for a short period but have been released on bail and are now attending regular classes. The fourth perpetrator who is an outsider is yet to be arrested.
The protest demonstration was conducted by Bijay Thapa a member of the Gorkha Students, JNU who began with an introduction about the incident. In this regard, the major demand of protest demonstration was the immediate arrest of the perpetrators and their rustication from the university and also demanded strict action against the members of the faculty and administration of Visva-Bharati, involved in shielding the accused. A strong demand was also raised to make the University bear all medical and legal expenses of the complainant.

It was followed by a speech from Dawa Sherpa another member of Gorkha Students. He strongly condemned the indifferent and callous manner in which the issue is being handled by the University administration and by the government of Sikkim and West Bengal. He pointed out how the University added insult to injury by offering the girl’s father money to buy clothes for his daughter just because she had been stripped. Dawa strongly underscored how this incident speaks not only of violation of gender justice but also of racial discrimination meted out to citizens of particular ethnicities. He also asked leaders from GTA and Sikkim to break their long silence on this issue. lastly, he ended by saying that this kind of oppression will only strengthen our resolve to fight for a just and democratic Gorkhaland.

The JNUSU President, Kanhaiya congratulated the Gorkha Students for continuing the struggle and demand for justice which had been started a year back in the same platform. He stated that this anger and outrage against patriarchal mindset which lies at the core of gender injustice must be continued the strongest fervour.

The Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) representative saluted the complainants courage for fighting her own battle. He emphasised the need for upholding the importance of grievance redressal cells and bodies such as GSCASH in all educational institutions.

Gorkha Youth and Students’ Association (GYASA) representative Dinesh strongly condemned the injustice and extended solidarity with the girl and expressed their continued support in this struggle.

All India Student’s Association (AISA) representative argued for the implementation of the Verma Committee and rejection of the UGC guidelines that promotes protectionist tendencies and moral policing in the campus. Both AISA and ‘Hundred Flowers’ representatives spoke about the need for resisting the patriarchial mindset under which such atrocities against women are tolerated.

Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) representative highlighted the dominance of Brahmanical structure of society under which Dalits, minorities and weaker sections of the society were always oppressed and connected the incident to it.
Students’ organisation, ‘Collective’ also reiterated the same argument and emphasised on the need for a combined struggle.

Democratic Students’ Federation representative also pointed out that such form of discrimination was not a single incident but was also witnessed in the case of selection of candidates in the College Service Commission.

Democratic Student’s Union also condemned the incident in the strongest possible words and argued that justice delayed is justice denied. She expressed how this type of gender violence is mostly targeted towards minorities, dalits, adivasis and other oppressed sections and they should come together to struggle against such oppression.
 Students Federation of India (SFI) also expressed their solidarity with the struggle and condemned the incident.

Nirvan, a student from Darjeeling highlighted other such issues that are prevalent in the hills since the British rule.

The final remark was made by Manoj from Gorkha Students, JNU. He highlighted the fact that such incidents only raise outrage when the complainant belongs to the dominant communities. Only such cases are able to grasp mass attention and mobilise popular movements such as the ‘Hokkolorob’ West Bengal. Whereas, similar or even ghastly incidents experienced by ethnic minorities goes unnoticed. In the backdrop of such gross injustices, he thus questioned how the celebrated lines of the Great Poet Guru Rabindranath Tagore ‘where the mind is without fear and the head is held high...’ can ever be upheld.

The protest demonstration ended with the effigy burning of the four sexual harrassers, the Vice Chancellor, Rector, Proctor and Principal of Kala Bhawan of Visva- Bharati University and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamta Banerjee.

On the same day, simultaneous protests were also held by the students of North Bengal University, Sikkim University and Jadavpur University. Over hundred students participated in a rally in North Bengal University. A candle light vigil was organised in Sikkim University. A silent rally was taken out in Jadavpur University in solidarity with the girl.

- Gorkha Students, JNU

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Open letter to Mamata Banerjee from Gorkha Student JNU

9:48 PM

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West Bengal

Open letter to CM of west Bengal on the issue of continuous denial of justice to women student of Sikkim from Santineketan from Gorkha Student JNU.

To
Ms. Mamata Banerjee,
Chief Minister of West Bengal
Nabana, Kolkata-
                                                                                                    Date: 29/09/2015
Dear Ms. Mamata,
We are writing you this letter with utter despair and disgust towards the indifference which is being shown by the Bengal government in the case of a heinous crime committed in Shantineketan in August last year. May we remind you that justice remains due in the case of a female student of Darjeeling who was sexually harassed, stripped and blackmailed for two months by their seniors of the ‘esteemed’ University. After fighting against all odds, she with the help of her parents had managed to lodge a complaint against the perpetrators to seek justice from your administration.  But even after going through the painful process of seeking justice for one long year, her cry for justice has fallen on deaf ears. The gross display of inaction and apathy by the administration and a sense of utter hopelessness of the delivery of justice has compelled her father to announce that he will commit suicide in full public view in 9 October, 2015. A man who has been compelled to take up a fight to bring the perpetrators of crime to justice, is now far from seeing the light of justice, fairness and equality. How could a crime so heinous, in a place so ‘revered’ go unnoticed? How could the state allow the balance of justice to be so heavily tilted against the girl and her quest for gender justice? The very declaration of this person to commit suicide is a hard slap on the ethos of gender justice and a disgusting reminiscent of failure of your government on this account.

This young girl who hails from Darjeeling was sexually assaulted and blackmailed by her seniors continuously for two months at VisvaBharati University in Shantiniketan, West Bengal. This grave incident came to light only after the girl’s father came to the University to file a complaint. The girl who had just recently joined Kala Bhawan as a first year student according to the complaint made by the father was forcefully stripped by three of her seniors who also took pictures and made videos of this heinous act. These men then used it to blackmail the girl and sexually molest her, repeatedly! They even brought one of their friends from outside the university to join them in this horrendous act.

Sadly, the cries of the girl who was away from her home, her parents, her friends and her place begging the perpetrators to stop and let her go went unheard. What she got instead was beatings and physical torture when she dared to raise her voice. Unable to endure this horror she became delirious and wanted to end her life. Very soon she found herself in a hospital because of which her parents eventually came to know of their daughter’s plight.

But what did the University do as their duty and responsibility?
The University authorities tried to brush the matter under the carpet and even discouraged the father to file a police complaint. Adding insult to injury, the University authorities mockingly told the father that as her daughter clothes were torn off they would get her new pair of clothes and that he should stop complaining. Such impudence, recklessness, lack of empathy as an institution for the aggrieved girl who herself is a student and against whom such a dastardly crime has been  committed that too within the confines of the campus is indeed very shocking and repulsive to say the least.  As such it was only after continuous student protest within the University and in different college campuses including this one (JNU) that some kind of police action followed. However, the three seniors who were arrested were out on bail soon enough and the fourth perpetrator shockingly is yet to be apprehended. The police have remarkably failed to make a proper investigation into the matter even with all the proof provided by the girl and her father. It is to be noted that in cases like this, the burden of proof lies not with the complainant (i.e. the girl) but with the perpetrators of crime (the sexual assaulters). It has been a year since the horrendous incident and three of the accused students belonging to the University still roam scot free and unabashedly attend their classes as if nothing has happened. One perpetrator is still to be identified, even after a year! Is this the new model of gender justice which West Bengal wants to uphold and propagate?

So what happened to the girl?
The girl had to leave the University as her assaulters roamed freely. Her physical scars may have gone but the psychological scars of the horrifying assault remains unhealed and it festers without hope. It eats into her heart, her mind, her soul everyday... The ghastly experience has ruthlessly trampled upon the young girl’s aspirations, dreams and ambition. Very essence of her life is slowly but surely being snuffed out from her and so also that of her parents. Her father now after a year of taking up the proverbial cudgel to fight for justice due to her daughter which he believed is applicable for everyone irrespective of caste, creed, sex, class, language and ethnicity, seems distant every day. Alas! Bengal, has failed him.

The father is a broken man now. He sees no ray of hope for his daughter. Unable to bear the sufferings of his daughter, he has been pushed to such desperation that he now wants to end his life. He has recently come out stating if nothing is done to move the case ahead he will commit suicide on 9th of October.    

Visvabharati University and the West Bengal Government must explain why it has not taken stringent action against the perpetrators? Why has it continued to provide sanctuary to the perpetrators of the shameful incident of ragging, blackmailing and sexual assault and molestation of young girl? We beseech you to hear the cries of the brutalized girl and her parents. Tolerating the treating of women, who have been fighting for justice, in such a dehumanising manner, certainly cannot be the essence of your party’s slogan ‘Maa, Maati, Manush’.

It is with hope for prompt and decisive action to bring the perpetrators to justice and provide solace and closure to the girl and her family that we write to you. It is only fitting for us to expect stringent steps on your part and that you uphold gender justice. If at all, this is too much to ask for.
Sd /

Gorkha Students
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi- 110067

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