Pradeep All (a)around

It was 1974, when VISTAS, an organisation co-founded by Pradeep, with him as General Secretary went about the task of putting their ideas into practice. And in typical Pradeep Style, all of it was self-thought, self taught, and self-worked out. At this self-designed training course - no internet then, nor wikipedia each one of us had to pick up on a theme which they felt was relevant, while some of us picked up books like Summer Hill, Tools for Conviviality, Pradeep explained "Lateral Thinking" by Edward de Guha! He drew a cros on the top right hand side of the board, and a circle near the bottom to signify where we are. He started dancing the chalk all over the board, and spoke of how each point viewed the objective till he felt we had a clear shot at the objective and then arrowed the chal straight to the objective in a quite decisive action.

During the same training course Pradeep bundled all 14 of us to see Alyque's Jesus Christ Superstar. On our return to the Bandra Centre where we were holed out, we re-jiged the whole play, with Pradeep taking the part played by Nandu Bhende... My mind is clearer now.. At last all to well I can see where we all soon will be.

This image of Pradeep keeps popping up, when I consider all the times we spend together, as well as the few but intensive interaction we have had since his joining the media and entertianment industry. From Taposh, that bright young boy in Laksmi Court in Wadala through Pradeep the Activist, and the Csar, this seems to be the play.

When we at Doccentre, then a project of Vistas, which Pradeep took over after the objective seems unattainable, took up the task. Where we were was a bunch of clippings pasted on the pages of Corporate Annual Reports piled up by Pradeeps dad in the loft of 201/3 Laksmi Court. He looked at what the times reference system and its manila envellopes, and various systems --, godrej filings used by other centres. The hit the Box Files as it had adjustable clips with space for large label on the spine. There was another aspect. We bauked at the use of fresh paper, as the early stirrings of the environment spoke predominantly about the trees, and our pockets were quite empty. He soon made a deal with the waste newsprint department at the times.. But along with such brilliance, Pradeep combined the meticulous. He one finger typed out the CED Classification system on our Old Godrej, several drafts of them, all spaced out and charted, from notes off a flip pad, to tab and space bar even as we were discussing arguing indeed labouring every point..

And he had the ability to work round as well as to the clock. Just as he flourished to the end of a task - Full point and Rolled out the paper, he glanced at his watch and of a frenzied finish "now we go to New Empire (or Excelsior or even far away Naaz). Jump into a cab and reach just in time for the main show. So we had this full life.

Strangers in Their Own Land  https://thebaffler.com/salvos/strangers-in-their-own-land-sitlhou  Makepeace Sitlhou no. 65 October 2022
Assam’s Bengali-origin Muslims face disenfranchisement and indignity

National Register of Citizens (NRC). Originally developed in 1951 as part of independent India’s first census, this misleadingly titled registry is supposed to contain a list of “official”—or “legal”—Indian residents of Assam. In 2019, the Indian Supreme Court completed the NRC’s first update since its inception to detect “doubtful” voters, but the NRC does not determine citizenship, nor does it correct the voter list. During the process, which began in 2015 and was funded by the federal government, Assam’s state government reviewed some sixty-six million documents submitted by over thirty million applicants. Those who didn’t make the final draft were likely to face detention or deportation.

Meanwhile, at a federal level, the BJP passed the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), paving the way for the naturalization of all non-Muslim migrants who came to India before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. The BJP claims that the CAA is a humanitarian gesture intended to help religious minorities fleeing surrounding countries, despite the law making clear that all other non-Muslim religions were exempt from new citizenship checks—that in effect, it codified the selective disenfranchisement of Muslims as a whole.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a retired Border Police official told me that since 2007, each Border branch was given a monthly quota, and, if unmet, the BP would not pay their salary or punish them in some other way. It’s not difficult to imagine that police officials fabricated false cases under these circumstances. Officials would even use registers of village surveys in a local station to easily pick off names to charge. “This is what happens when you’re working under pressure to report ten to fifteen cases every month,” the official said. The quotas, of course, are not recorded in any official communiqué by the higher authorities.

Himanshu Kumar Exposed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX2iWgyS4OE Jan 7, 2012 

Himanshu Kumar, of the now destroyed Vanvasi Chetna Ashram in Dantewada Chhatisgarh, is caught on camera talking about his true ideas. It has been reported that having worked for 17 years in the tribal best of Dantewada, the security forces swooped down upon his ashram and razed it to the ground in 2009. In 2010 he was forced to flee from Chhatisgarh as the pressure to arrest him mounted

He has often been called a maoist sympathizer. This video exposes where his true sympathies lie.

Comments 10 year ago. 2012 bhupat shoot  What kind of social revolution is required -- this is debatable question before many kind of organisations, fighters and revolutionaries but there is no amicable agreement on thoughts and ideology. 

Alan R: 1 year ago What is indisputable is Modi and cronies permitting the abuse of the rightful owners of the land trying to force them from the only thing that they possess - their forests and the minerals which lie underneath. Their shameful and unlawful treatment of the
Adivasi tribal peoples is all about engineering them into pitiful camps. The poorest of the poor being exploited in the name of progress and corruption.