Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!lll-lcc!qantel!ihnp4!mhuxn!mhuxr!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!pyuxv!nvuxj!nvuxg!sinragp From: sinragp@nvuxg.UUCP (R. P. SINGH) Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian Subject: india now part 5 Message-ID: <309@nvuxg.UUCP> Date: Mon, 22-Sep-86 09:46:27 EDT Article-I.D.: nvuxg.309 Posted: Mon Sep 22 09:46:27 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 25-Sep-86 05:26:59 EDT Organization: BELL COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH Lines: 732 INDIA NOW September 1986 Part 5 of 5 News and Views from Indian newspapers and magazines Contents: Part 1: Introduction Shiv Sena Blamed for Nasik Communal Riots Parliament Debates Communal Riots Procession as Incitement Gastro-Enteritis in Ahmedabad Book Reviews - Eight Lives: A study of Hindu-Muslim Encounter by Rajmohan Gandhi - Indian Muslims: A Study of the Minority Problems in India by Asghar Ali Engineer Part 2: Behind the Killings: State of Democratic Rights in Patna, Gaya, Singhbhum Stop It Now! Attacks on Women A Pilgrimage to Punjab Part 3: One Year Later, Punjab Accord is Faltering Zail Singh's Problems Part 4: Ahmedabad Divided Ranchi Mental Asylum Punjab Grain Production Up Dowry Prohibition Bill Injectible Contraceptives Opposed Children in Jails Sanctions Against South Africa Nayar on Security Threats Action Against Union Leader Stayed Krishna Iyer Calls for Terrorist Act Repeal Inquiry Commission Bill Bill of Security Belt Hutment Demolition in Madras National Anthem Controversy Part 5: Arwal Massacre and Government Coverup Laldenga to head the coalition govt. in Mizoram Riots in Ahmedabad: Excerpts from Press Indian Writers walk out of Commonwealth writers conference A new watch by Congress High Command Hindu and Sikh amity quite prevalent in Punjab Indefinite Detention Without Trial Possible Floods kill over Hundreds of people Central policing of Border Areas planned Bill to withhold inquiry commission reports enacted Farooq forsees worst J&K Crisis Assam accord not being implemented Rajiv's new Kitchen cabinet Parliament asks for global sanctions Bombay Our City Chosen Best Non-feature Film Over 45,000 Arrested in Bihar Gold Medal for Debshishu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Introduction Dear Friends: In the past the response to News Bulletins from Deepak Kapur has been overwhelmingly positive. This has encouraged us to produce an expanded version of the bulletin, in the current form of a news digest. We hope you will continue to find this voluntary news service interesting and informative. The material is being assembled as a joint effort by a number of us. Editing is by Sekhar Ramakrishnan at Columbia University, New York. Please let us know if you have any suggestions. You can send mail to Sekhar at RBDMG@CUVMB.BITNET, to KAPUR@GE-CRD.ARPA, to balaji@usc-cse, to MKS@SUNY-SBCS.CSNET, or to JAY@CADRE.ARPA. Due to the considerable amount of material, each issue of India Now will be in 2-5 parts. If you would like a hard copy version on a regular basis, please write to India Now, P.O.Box 37, Westmount, Quebec H3Z 2P1, Canada. There is a cost of roughly $1.50 per issue to cover xeroxing and mailing. The news digest is in a format suitable for use with the rn command for skipping individual items in the digest [ctrl-G]. You are reading part 5 of the 5 parts of the issue dated September 1986. ------------------------------ Subject: Arwal Massacre and Government Coverup Kishan Bajwa Congress(I) government of Chief Minister Bindeswari Dubey in Bihar came up with a rather familiar justification for the massacre at Arwal in Jehanabad district on April 19 in which according to official accounts, 23 poor people were killed in police firing. According to the government, "Those killed at Arwal were extremists." In a very highly arrogant manner, the Director General of Police Shashi Bhushan Sahai even boasted of the actions of the security force a newspaper, the Indian Nation, and vowed to respond even more ferociously when faced with a similar situation. He said, "If they (extremists) fire, we cannot keep our guns silent. Their every shot will be replied with 10 shots, firmly and with full aim. The extremists have already tasted this at Arwal a few days ago." On August 21, the Bihar government arrested over 45,000 people in the state in an attempt to curb the protests against the Arwal massacre (see a separate story on this). The following report on the police firing in Arwal and background of the incident is based on an article by S N M Abdi in the June 22-28 issue of the Illustrated Weekly of India. The article, which is based on two visits by the reporter to Arwal, interviews with DGP Sahai, Superintendent of Police C R Kaswan, District Magistrate Ashok Kumar Singh of the area, Dr. Vinayan of Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti, and others, sets the record straight in terms of what exactly transpired and exposes the lies of Dubey government and the police. Abdi came to the conclusion that the police justification that firing was in self-defence is hardly tenable since the protestors were not armed and quite a number of them were women and children. The article goes on to add that in fact, it was the worst carnage since Jallianwala Bagh. Police Firing The scene of the firing was the Mahatma Gandhi library at Arwal. It was in the campus of the library that a few hundred poor men and women were holding a meeting to protest the blatantly unfair allotment of government land to a rich engineer. The library campus is bound on one side by a six feet high wall. There is a small opening in the wall. On the other side, the campus is separated from the Arwal thana (police station) by a wire fencing. The entrance to the library compound is from the road. On that fateful day, the Jehanabad SP Kaswan reached the library campus through the main entrance. Kaswan alleges that he was attacked with a farsa (a sharp-edged traditional weapon) and constable Ojha subsequently shot the assailant. This was followed by 50 rounds of fire from the thana which claimed 22 lives. Official Versions The first authoritative report from Arwal to the state secretariat described the police firing as 'unrestrained.' Gaya District Magistrate Ashok Kumar Singh's wireless message to the home commissioner and the chief secretary on April 20 clearly stated, "prima facie it appears to be a case of unrestrained police firing without the orders of any magistrate deputed there." In an interview with Abdi, Singh informed, "Magistrates and police personnel were deputed in the area by SDO, Jehanabad; Section 144 was also clamped as we had information that a section of the people would attempt to demolish the wall constructed on the disputed plot of land. So there was a definite apprehension of breach of peace. As it appeared to be a small affair, magistrates and police personnel were deputed by the SDO and not by me... I decided to go to Arwal along with the SP, Gaya, as soon as I heard about the first firing. ... On our way to Arwal, I was informed in my vehicle over the wireless that the police had opened fire again." In response to a question about the contents of his message to the secretariat, Singh added, "I thought 53 was rather a big number. Fifty-three rounds could have claimed 53 lives." BK Singh, Home Commissioner, and DGP Sahai quickly visited Arwal. The first thing that they did on their return from Arwal was to justify the firing to newsmen. They explained to journalists that the police had fired 53 rounds on extremists who had attacked the Arwal thana. The Chief Minister also justified the police action. FIR Report According to Abdi, the first information report (FIR) number 57, 1986 of the Arwal police station, is replete with lies. It lays bare certain facts which reveal the firing as illegal and unconstitutional. For instance, it states, "SP Saheb ki jaan bachao. Goli Challao (Save SP's life. Start shooting.)" Were 51 rounds fired and 23 persons killed to save the life of SP? The FIR also states that the two deputed magistrates, Sahdev Bhagat and Ramesh Lal, shouted "Thana bachao, hathiar bachao, janmal bachao" before ordering the firing. The wording of the order is baffling. For not a single alleged attacker was shot dead in the thana compound, not a single firearm looted or any property damaged. According to the FIR, the alleged mob was not given a warning which makes the firing totally unconstitutional. The FIR charges that a large mob of extremists under the leadership of the Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti (MKSS) demolished a wall that Rameshwar Rajak had constructed on his property. The important issue that the plot of land where the controversial wall was constructed was itself under dispute is evaded in the FIR. SP Kaswan's version In an interview with Abdi, SP C R Kaswan described the events this way, "the gathering at Arwal was neither peaceful nor legal. They had violated section 144. They did not disperse despite two rounds of firing and bursting of teargas shells earlier in the afternoon. They demolished a wall and chased away policemen." About his role, Kaswan had this to say, "my role at Arwal was limited to one minute. I could not even meet a single police officer or magistrate. As my jeep approached the spot, people ran helter-skelter. I could see them carrying swords, lathis and spades. I wanted to catch a few of them; it is very important to arrest miscreants. But before I could even get down from the jeep, I was attacked with a farsa. I managed to dodge it. The SDO Jehanabad was sitting next to me. I jumped out of the vehicle. I was attacked again. This time I shouted, 'bachao, bachao,' and took position near the well. Next I heard the SDO's order: 'SP ko bachao.' The first shot was fired at my assailant and the assailant dropped dead." As per the subsequent firing of 50 rounds, Kaswan said, "It is still a mystery to me as to who gave the order for firing from the thana which claimed 22 lives. As soon as my assailant was shot dead, I ran to the thana and stopped the firing. But within the short span of a minute, 50 rounds had been fired. I want to put on record that I became the commander of the force after 53 rounds had been fired: 2 in my absence and 51 in my presence." Background In 1984, Rameshwar Rajak of Arwal suddenly claimed that roughly one-fourth acre of land in the adjoining Wasilpur village was gifted to his forefathers by the erstwhile zamindar. In support of his claim, Rajeshwar Rajak produced a hukamnama (zamindar's decree) which was alleged executed by the landlord in 1932 in favor of Rajak's forefathers. On the basis of this doubtful document and irrespective of the fact that the Rajaks had not paid a paisa to the government as rent until 1984, the then circle officer opened a demand in the name of Rajaks which made Rajaks the legal tenants of the plot. At the time of settlement, the plot was significantly not free from encumberances. Nine destitute families of backward classes had built their thatched huts on the plot. The Rajaks went about their task in devious fashion. First, they showed the hukamnama to the poor occupants of the huts. When the nine families were not impressed, the Rajaks took recourse to the 'legal' and 'police action'. While the Circle Officer had obliged the rich Rajaks by opening a demand in their favor, the police registered cases under Sections 107 and 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code against male members of the nine poor families. The 'challengers' were arrested and tortured at the local thana. While the menfolk were in police custody, the Rajaks demolished the huts after beating up the women. When former Jehanabad SDO Vyas was petitioned by the nine families in January 1986, Vyas immediately ordered the Circle officer to investigate whether the opening of the demand in favor of the Rajaks was legally correct. If incorrect, the land was to be allotted to the petitioners, provided they were landless. Vyas also ordered that no construction should be permitted as the plot was under dispute. But in violation of SDO's written instructions, the Rajaks, with the help of the local thana, built a wall around the disputed plot. Vyas was abruptly transferred in February 1986 on the charge that he was a Naxalite. When no relief came from the police and bureacracy, the nine families approached the MKSS, an organization devoted to the protection of the rights of the rural poor. The MKSS announced publicly and even distributed leaflets declaring the wall would be demolished on April 19. According to the publicized programme, a meeting was scheduled to be held in the campus of the Mahatma Gandhi library after the demolition. Abdi's Investigation and Conclusions The application filed by Rajaks was not screened properly. No attempt was made to establish whether the hukamnama was genuine or forged. Notices were not issued at large before the demand in favor of Rajaks was opened. This was despite the fact that 9 families had already built huts on that piece of land. Fifty-three rounds of firing was not only unrestrained but illegal and unconstitutional. Even if SP Kaswan had been killed by the mob, the thana had been attacked, the police firing of 50 rounds in one minute without prior warning to the crowd would have been illegal and unconstitutional. As for now, SP is alive and thana is intact. The highlights of the police action are: (i) All the victims sustained bullet injuries above their waists. The objective of police firing is not to kill people but to disperse them. That is why the Police Manual lays down that in any case, aim must necessarily be low. Further, it is prohibited to fire blindly at a crowd. At Arwal, the police shot dead a young girl and a rickshaw-puller among others. The rickshawpuller's crime was that he was listening to the speeches from a distance. (ii) One of the conventions governing police firing is that firing will not be resorted to even on any illegal assembly if there is no escape route for the alleged law breakers. At Arwal police fired at a crowd which literally had its back to the wall. (iii) The crowd was not given any warning. People were shot dead even as they took to their heels. (iv) Three country-made revolvers and a rifle were shown which were allegedly used by the mob against policemen. According to Abdi, those arms were incapable of firing at all. SP Kaswan insisted that some policemen had sustained pellet injuries but he failed to produce a single injured policeman; instead of displaying hard evidence to justify the firing, he told lies. Giving statistics of previous police firings in Bihar the last 13 months, Abdi observed that 77 people had been killed in 45 police firings and not a single person belonging to the affluent section of society died in police firing. The victims have invariably been the poor: 40 alleged Naxalites and 15 tribals. They were 'guilty' of demanding their rights enshrined in the constitution. The police opened fire on 13 occasions out of 45 on the pretext that they were attacked by the Naxalites. Ten such firings claimed 40 lives. Significantly, police bullets always found their mark with deadly accuracy when aimed at Naxalites. However, in 13 instances of firing, not a single life was lost nor did anyone sustain injuries. In this relation, Abdi posed three questions to DGP Sahai: 1. Why don't brahmins, bhoomihars and rajputs who belong to the rich class die in police firings? Why is it that the poor, harijans and backward classes inevitably face police bullets? 2. Why don't persons belonging to the rich communities become Naxalites or extremists? 3. Why hasn't a single policeman been hanged to death in independent India? Sahai brushed aside the question and stepped into his car saying "No comment." When Abdi sought an appointment with Chief Minister Dubey for an interview, he said, "I know you will ask me questions about the Arwal firing. I do not want to answer them." Abdi concluded his report as follows: "The crux of the matter is that administrative accountability alone is not sufficient to safeguard the lives and rights of citizens. There must be legal accountability as well. Every policeman who shoots down a person should be tried in a court of law along with his superior officers. If the court is not convinced about the justification for the firing, the policeman should be hanged to death. "The government can go to any extent to cover its excesses; it will lie in the legislative assembly and Parliament, it will lie to the press, it will lie to the people. One official will lie to the other. The chief minister will lie to the prime minister. The prime minister will lie to the nation; the scenario is alarmingly familiar. Dissident voices are choked. Inquiry commissions serve no purpose. Because, all along, it is the government reporting to the government. The government, as in inquiry commissions, become both plaintiff and accused! Can anything be more ridiculous? "The poor are living in a fool's paradise. Make no mistake about it: if you are poor and you demand your rights, you stand the risk of being physically eliminated. As in the case of 23 poorest of the poor at Arwal." ------------------------------ Subject: Laldenga to head the coalition govt. in Mizoram Laldenga, a leader of the Mizo National Front, who was in exile for 20 years, will be inaugurated as head of an interim coalition government on August 12 in Mizoram. He will head the cabinet made of 5 members of Congress party and 4 members of the Mizo National Front. This follows the peace accord signed by central Home Secretary RD Pradhan and Laldenga on June 24 after years of negotiations. In an interview, Laldenga asserted that implementation of the accord depended on both sides and that unless there was mutual trust, no accord could be implemented. Laldenga was responding to a remark by Central Minister of State for Home Ghulam Nabi Azad that implementation of the Mizo accord depended upon how Laldenga would behave in future. ------------------------------ Subject: Riots in Ahmedabad: Excerpts from Press According to a well-known social worker and winner of Magsaysay award Ela Bhatt, who was recently nominated to Rajya Sabha, the violence might have been started by some Hindu fanatics and anti-social elements. Her observation is supported by some of the details of the events which have appeared in an investigative article entitled "Why Ahmedabad burns every year" in the weekly magazine Sunday. According to the article, the rath (chariot) procession had almost ended peacefully in Ahmedabad starting 7:30 in the morning and going on its traditional route passing through many Muslim localities. This was despite shouting of the provocative slogans including "Jai ranchod, miyan Chor" and "Jo mangega Pakistan, usko milega kabristan" in Muslim localities; but the Muslims did not lose their cool. At 5:35 pm, when the procession was to end at Jordan road and the police was diverted, there were stones thrown on the procession which later resulted in Hindu groups attacking Muslim shops and houses. In a memo submitted to Union Minister P. Chidambaram, incharge of Gujrat affairs, a group of doctors, lawyers and other professionals said that the attack was preplanned. The memo also added that a Muslim (Muslims) would never dare throw a stone at a procession in a Hindu-dominated area because if he did so, he would never come out alive. They have asked how come the police had not caught the culprits. ------------------------------ Subject: Indian Writers walk out of Commonwealth writers conference Writer Mulkraj Anand and painter Balraj Khanna were among many intellectuals who walked out of the commonwealth writers conference last weekend in Edinburgh. They were protesting British government's refusal to impose sanctions against the apartheid regime of PW Botha in South Africa. According to Anand, "when the rest of the world has given up racial discrimination, for Britain to stand firm on the sanctions issue in a manner seemingly supporting apartheid is disgraceful." Khanna added, "it would be immoral for him to ignore the suffering and agony of black south Africans and participate in this conference." Two other Indian writers Nissim Ezekiel and Eunice de Souza reportedly stayed in the conference. The conference passed a resolution expressing regret over Britain's stand on sanctions against Pretoria regime. ------------------------------ Subject: A new watch by Congress High Command Congress High Command has apparently come up with a new watch costing around Rs 500. It has its second hand bearing the Congress election symbol on the hand; when it touches numeral 3 or 9, Rajiv Gandhi's face lights up on the dial. The watches were made to order by the Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT). ------------------------------ Subject: Hindu and Sikh amity quite prevalent in Punjab A recent report in India Abroad suggested of widespread cooperation and unity among Hindus and Sikhs to deal with terrorists in rural Punjab. Correspondent Narayan Swamy who recently visited areas in Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts observed that a number of Sikhs he spoke to, emphasized togetherness and love. According to one old Sikh villager, "we Hindus and Sikhs have lived together for generations. Can you tell me any good reason why we should go different ways now?" Near Fatehabad in Amritsar district the correspondent was told that in that village, Sikh families had gone from house to house requesting Hindu families not to leave the village. But they alleged that many left after workers of the Hindu Shiv Sena descended on Fatehabad with a truck and jeep. So far, 5 people from the village have been killed by terrorists. And, every time a Hindu was killed, the entire village which is mostly inhabited by Sikhs was reported to have mourned. A young Hindu police officer said "If I start telling you the number of times Sikhs have come to the rescue of Hindus in Punjab, you could plan to write a book." A Hindu resident opined in one village that there was fear and everyone was uncertain about the future because of terrorism. "No body knows what is going to happen. When I say nobody, I mean both the Sikhs and Hindus." ------------------------------ Subject: Indefinite Detention Without Trial Possible According to a civil liberties activist and professor of Mathematics K Balagopal, a person can be kept in jail for ever in India without being convicted of any crime. In an article published in the Economic and Political Weekly, Balgopal opined that the police's procedure is quite algorithmic. The police arrests a person on a charge serious enough for which granting of bail can be delayed. The police then harasses the guarantors of the bail bond. If that does not work and the detainee is released on bail, the police picks him on another charge especially under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act for which no victim is needed. Further, this is a crime of intent and not of execution. According to Balagopal, the procedure for this has been successfully implemented in many cases in Andhra where Balgopal has been actively involved in exposing police and government violations of human rights. Last year, Balagopal himself was the victim of police anger because of his activities and courage; he was arrested last fall under the Terrorist and Disruptive Act and National Security Act and spent over 4 months in jail till human right organizations in India as well as reputed journalists and intellectuals pressurized the Andhra government to release him. ------------------------------ Subject: Floods kill over Hundreds of people Heavy floods killed over 200 people in Andhra recently; over 100,000 houses collapsed and standing crops on over 1 million acres of land were submerged under floods. Over 2200 villages in 13 districts were affected. Over 250 people were reported to have been killed in recent floods in northern India also. Over 100 people were killed in Uttar Pradesh alone. The Ganges has flooded almost the entire Ballia district and a total area of about 1.5 million acres spread over 2000 villages. Over 20 were reported killed in heavy rains in Jammu and Kashmir. Floods have hit Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and Assam also. ------------------------------ Subject: Central policing of Border Areas planned A resolution invoking article 249 of the constitution that empowers the parliament to make laws on matters under the jurisdiction of states was adopted by the Rajya Sabha on August 13. Its passage needed 2/3 majority of those present. The ruling Congress(I) got the support of the BJP and the Anna DMK. Other opposition parties opposed the resolution. According to the government, the immediate objective of the resolution is to enact a law enabling the Central government to take over the policing of the western borders to stop terrorist inflitration into Punjab. The Akali Dal government in Punjab is opposed to the resolution because it is afraid that such a move will further alienate the Sikh population living in the border areas. According to Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala, the resolution would further erode the states' powers and would create political problems without improving administrative efficiency. Barnala met with central leaders in New Delhi to convince them not to pass the amendment but was not successful. ------------------------------ Subject: Bill to withhold inquiry commission reports enacted Earlier, the Rajya Sabha approved on August 6 the commission of inquiry amendment bill which empowers the government to withhold the report of any inquiry commission in the interest of public and state. The opposition condemned the adoption of amendment as a "trend towards authoritarianism" and walked out. On July 30, the Lok Sabha had passed the bill which replaced the Commissions of Inquiry (Amendment) Ordinance, 1986. The law allows the government not even to table the report of an inquiry commission to the parliament if the government decides that this may go against nation's interst. The Lok Sabha was also notified by the Minister of state for Home Affairs P. Chidambaram that the goverment intended to withhold the Thakkar commission report on the assasination of Indira Gandhi. The minister said that the publication of the report would prejudice the ongoing trial of the accused. ------------------------------ Subject: Farooq forsees worst J&K Crisis The former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Dr. Farooq Abdullah recently said that he visualized the worst crisis in the history of the state "if something is not done to end the political stalemate" there. He called for an end to the governor's rule and demanded fresh elections. He warned of growing divide between the Hindus and Muslims in the state and the rise of fundamentalist and communal politics on both sides. ------------------------------ Subject: Assam accord not being implemented The All Assam Students Union charged the Rajiv Gandhi government on August 16 with not making any serious effort to implement several crucial clauses of the year-old Assam accord. Officers of the organization which spearheaded the agitation in Assam for over 5 years told a news conference, "there is a growing feeling in Assam that the government had formulated the accord only to defuse the situation in the state." ------------------------------ Subject: Rajiv's new Kitchen cabinet According to Kuldip Nayar, a new trinity has emerged in Rajiv Gandhi's sanctum. It comprises of External Affairs Minister P Shiv Shankar, Rajiv Gandhi's former colleague in Indian Air Lines and a new Rajya Sabha member Captain Satish Sharma and Prime Minister's political secretary Makhan Lal Fotedar. The triumvirate replaced another made of Arun Nehru, Arun Singh and Arjun Singh. According to Kuldip Nayar, Shiv Shankar is known for his views opposing the Punjab accord signed between Rajiv Gandhi and the late Sant Longowal last July. ------------------------------ Subject: Parliament asks for global sanctions Indian parliament unanimously adopted a resolution on August 7 appealing to all governments to impose comprehensive mandatory sanctions against the South African regime. It also condemned the nations supporting the racist goverment there. The government promised to take stringent actions against companies found to have illegal trade links with South Africa. ------------------------------ Subject: Bombay Our City Chosen Best Non-feature Film Anand Patwardhan's documentary, Bombay, Our City, won the national award for the best non-feature film, of the year. The movie depicts the plight of slumdwellers and their struggle for survival and against eviction. When the slumdwellers of Sanjay Gandhi Nagar in Bombay came to know about the news, they organized a ceremony honouring Patwardhan who has been playing an active role in organizing support for the slumdwellers against demolitions and evictions. Recently, Patwardhan, along with other eminent personalities including Govind Nehlani, Shabana Azami, Om Puri, Vijay Tendulkar, Uma Sehgal, and Asghar Ali Enginer, participated in a procession and courted arrests. Anand also participated in a hunger strike demanding alternate housing site for slumdwellers. Patwardhan debated whether to accept the award in view of the continued state of sponsored violence against the poor. He decided to accept the award as a "sign that there are ears in this country," therefore "it is our democratic duty to speak in as many forums as possible." However, he wanted the award to be seen as a recognition of the intelligence and courage of the working people of the country. To symbolize this, Vimal Hedau, a 50 year old woman who moved to Bombay 18 years ago when her land in her village was usurped, accepted the award on Patwardhan's behalf from the President of India on June 12 in New Delhi. Note: This movie is available for screening in North America. Those interested may contact Deepak Kapur at 49 Pinewood Avenue, Albany, NY 12208, (518)-482-4370, Kapur@GE-CRD.ARPA. ------------------------------ Subject: Over 45,000 Arrested in Bihar August 21 reminded people of Bihar of emergency when the Congress government of Chief Minister Bindeswari Dubey arrested 45,000 people. Over 25,000 were arrested in Patna, whereas 20,000 more were detained in other parts of Bihar. The official estimates of the arrests were however 2000 only. This was apparently in a response to the program of laying siege to the state assembly by Janasanghar Virodhi Sangram Morcha to protest the Bihar police's shooting dead of 23 unarmed peasants at Arwal on April 21. Two mass organizations- the Indian Peoples' Front (IPF) and Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti (MKSS), which have been organizing the organizing landless poors and dalits for demanding minimum wages and other rights are actively involved in the protest. Earlier, the government banned the MKSS under the pretext that the organization posed law and order problem and constituted a danger to the public; the government has declared the Samiti an unlawful association. The MKSS has been very active in Arwal, Gaya and other parts of Bihar in organizing the landless peasants. On August 21, the governent had Patna sealed off by security men. All entry points were kept under surveillance by police and paramilitary forces. However, despite the government's efforts to curb the protest, thousands of protestors who had sneaked into the captial the previous nights in small groups, headed for the state assembly. They were led by the veteran Naxalite leader and IPF chairman Nagbhushan Patnaik. But before they could reach the assembly, security men used staves to break up the procession and the demonstrators were arrested. In the assembly, the opposition staged walkouts in quick succession demanding a high-level inquiry into the Arwal massacre and Dubey's resignation over the police action on August 21 against peaceful demonstrators. ------------------------------ Subject: Gold Medal for Debshishu Debshishu, a Hindi film of the Bengali director Utpalendu Chakraborty won the gold medal for direction at the 39th International Film Festival at Locarno, Switzerland. The film also won the "ecumenical" jury award for depicting a deep-rooted cultural tradition and exposing exploitation. Chakraborty's earlier feature film, Chokh, was also widely acclaimed and had won many awards. ------------------------------ End of INDIA NOW news digest ****************************