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People`s Resilience
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At the same time, this confirms our earlier stand on the Salwa Judum, that rather than stopping violence, it has escalated violence. We equally condemn the atrocities committed by the Salwa Judum and security forces due to which many people have been killed without record, houses have been burnt and women raped. The government is responsible for ensuring the safety of its citizens. Not only did it not do that in Errabor, but also by continuing with the Salwa Judum and forcing people to live in camps against their wishes, it is further endangering the lives of ordinary people. The people of Dantewada should not be used as fodder in this unfortunate game of retribution and retaliation being conducted by both sides. We repeat our earlier plea to both sides that violence cannot be an answer to violence. The only solution to this problem is through democratic means, starting with a ceasefire, dialogue, enquiry into all acts of violence and punishment of the guilty. Adivasis should be brought to the centre stage of decision-making. RAMACHANDRA GUHA, Bangalore;
HARIVANSH, Ranchi;
FARAH NAQVI, New Delhi;
E A S SARMA, Visakhapatnam;
NANDINI SUNDAR, New Delhi;
BGVERGHESE, New Delhi
K N RAJ Thiruvananthapuram The hegemony of modern liberal states rests on two pillars of representation and rationality. While the Indian state seems to be successful with regard to the former, it is its utter failure on the latter front that is the cause of the present crises of governance. The breaking and Subscription (Rs) Six One Two Three months year years years Institutions – 1250 2300 3300 Individuals 500 935 1750 2500 Concessional Rates Teachers/Researchers – 685 – 1800 Students – 450 – – Concessional rates are available only in India. To avail of concessional rates, certificate from relevant institution is essential. Remittance by money order/bank draft preferred. Please add Rs 35 to outstation cheques towards bank collection charges. Nepal and Bhutan Institutions – 1500 – 4150 Individuals – 1250 – 3500 (US $) Air Mail Surface Mail Institutions 1yr 2yrs 3yrs 1yr 2yrs 3yrs Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 80 150 200 65 120 175 Other countries 150 275 375 90 170 240 Individuals Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh 50 90 125 30 50 75 Other countries 100 175 240 65 120 170 All remittances to: Economic and Political Weekly Hitkari House, 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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Director : S L Shetty Economic and Political Weekly July 22, 2006 (Continued from p 3130) bending of rules by those in power, i e, violation of narrowly defined Weberian rationality, is one very visible aspect of misgovernance. Perhaps the more important operational part of the same phenomenon is the not so visible abdication by state institutions of their responsibility to be rational while addressing new and diverse problems and conflicts. That the Karnataka executive failed to be rational in this sense, though condemnable, is not so surprising. More revealing is the failure of the judiciary, which is supposed to be guided solely by rational arguments based on evidence, and principles enshrined in the Constitution. Ranganathan shows how the doctrine of ‘res judicata’ of upholding the decision taken by one court in a case was used to avoid substantial questions raised in the second batch of PILs related to the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC). Interestingly though, there are also many instances when different courts hearing the same case and having similar evidence have arrived at opposite decisions. The Mumbai mill land case and the Niyogi murder case are prime examples where decisions of the Supreme Court were opposite of those given by the high courts. The fact that two courts arrived at opposite conclusions on similar evidence calls for a serious debate. Its absence indicates that as the judiciary increasingly becomes the last institution of governance in the country, it is also enjoying a halo of fetishisation where its decisions are blindly accepted as the last word. In the light of this, Ranganathan’s reasoned questioning of judicial decisions in the BMIC cases is very refreshing indeed. SANJAY KUMAR New Delhi Here are some guidelines fortake up to six to eight months fromthe address, day-time phone numbers andauthors who wish to make date of acceptance to appear in the email address. submissions to the journal. EPW. Every effort will, however, be made (The email address of writers in the Special to ensure early publication. Papers with Article, Commentary and Discussion immediate relevance for policy would be sections will be published at the end ofEPW welcomes original research papers considered for early publication. Please the article.) in any of the social sciences. note that this is a matter of editorial * Authors are requested to prepare their * Articles must be no more than 8,000 judgment. soft copy versions in text formats. PDF words, including notes, references versions are not accepted by the EPW. and tables. Longer articles will not be Commentaries Authors are encouraged to use UK Englishprocessed. EPW invites short contributions to the spellings (Writers using MS Word or version, we would appreciate a copy of references, minor changes, etc, as this this along with the submitted paper. poses challenges in processing. Readers of EPW are encouraged to send comments and suggestions (300-400 words) * Graphs and charts prepared in MS * All submissions will be acknowledged Office (Word/Excel) or equivalent software immediately on receipt with a reference on published articles to the Letters column. are preferable to material prepared in number. Quoting the reference number All letters should have the writer’s full name in inquiries will help. jpeg or other formats. and postal address. * EPW posts all published articles on its website and may reproduce them on CDs. * Every effort is taken to complete early processing of the papers we receive. Since we receive more than 35 articles Address for communication: EPW encourages researchers to comment every week and adequate time has to be Economic and Political Weekly, on Special Articles. Submissions should be provided for internal reading and external Hitkari House, 1,000 to 2,000 words. refereeing. It can take up to four 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
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* Articles accepted for publication can details for correspondence: postal epw.mumbai@gmail.com Economic and Political Weekly July 22, 2006 Maoist Attack
TPeople’s Resilience
TFailure on the Rationality Front
T(Continued on p 3256)
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