उदकक्ष्‍वेड़ि‍का …यानी बुंदेलखंड में होली

उदकक्ष्‍वेड़ि‍का …यानी बुंदेलखंड में होली

Bharat Vishwa Vijeta - Lata Mangeshkar singing with 1983 cricket team By Indivar Kavi Bundelkhand

Bundelkhand work By:Tarannum Manjul

New airport at Jhansi to boost tourism

Friday 1 April '11

The Uttar Pradesh government plans to build a new airport in Jhansi district, aiming to promote the Jhansi, Khajuraho and Gwalior tourist circuit.

Mahoba, Lalitpur get Rs 18 cr for irrigation projects

Saturday 26 March '11

The Central government’s Bundelkhand package will now also be utilised for restoring traditional water resources in the Bundelkhand region.

Rs 5-crore boost for tourism in Bundelkhand

Friday 25 March '11

Tourism in drought-stricken Bundelkhand will get a boost, with the Union Ministry of Tourism granting Rs 5 crore for the tourist circuit development.

Docu to showcase agri practices of Bundelkhand

Wednesday 23 March '11

The innovative agricultural practices of Bundekhand, which have helped the people continue with agriculture even in drought-prone climatic conditions, will now get global “viewership”.

UP ready to map water resources

Friday 4 March '11

The State Water and Sanitation Mission will soon be documenting water resources across six zones of the state.

Bundelkhand: 9,000 projects still incomplete

Tuesday 22 February '11

The state government is yet to complete more than 9,000 tasks under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the Bundelkhand region this fiscal.

Cattle-rearing scheme fails to take off in parched Bundelkhand

Thursday 10 February '11

The community cattle rearing project of the state’s Animal Husbandry department meant to provide employment in backward areas in Bundelkhand has failed on that head.

Digitisation helps UP catch 4 lakh fake BPL cards

Thursday 27 January '11

The department, with help from the National Informatics Centre (NIC), has digitised BPL and Antodaya ration cards in the state.

Centre to help in restoring oldest lake in Jhansi

Sunday 23 January '11

With help from the Centre, one of the oldest lakes in Bundelkhand region will soon get a facelift.

Rs 50 crore goes down the ponds

Wednesday 19 January '11

Although money has been spent like water-Rs 50 crore-on digging ponds in Bundelkhand region for water conservation and providing employment to the BPL Scheduled Caste families, no concrete benefit has...

From Jan, Bundelkhand youths to train for jobs

Thursday 30 December '10

The state government’s plan to provide jobs to unemployed youths in Bundelkhand region has started taking shape.

Bundelkhand varsity ties up with Russian centre

Friday 10 December '10

After finding deposits of several minerals, Bundelkhand will now get expert support from Russia on the research front.

Cash incentive for pregnant women: Sultanpur, Mahoba figure in scheme

Thursday 2 December '10

The Centre has chosen two districts from Uttar Pradesh to implement its Indira Gandhi Matritv Sahyog Yojna.

Finish 60% work in Bundelkhand by December 31, Samra tells state

Saturday 20 November '10

The Chief Executive Officer of the National Rainfed Areas Authority, J S Samra, has expressed unhappiness over the tardy progress of projects under the centrally-assisted Bundelkhand Package and asked...

Varsity, Canada firm to explore minerals in Bundelkhand

Friday 15 October '10

Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, will join hands with a Canadian company to explore mineral deposits in the region.

Bundelkhand Morcha chief Raja Bundela resigns from Congress: Bundeli Media

Bhopal, Mar 26 (PTI) Noted actor and President of the Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha, Raja Bundela, today resigned from the primary membership of the Congress Party over delay in creating separate Budelkhand state and announced formation of a new outfit.


"Our development is not possible without creating separate Bundelkhand state," Bundela told reporters announcing his decision to quit Congress on the issue.

"Despite working hard to revive the fortunes of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh and fully associating the Morcha with it, nothing happened on the issue forcing us to think on the line of forming a new political party by joining hands with the like-minded persons," he said.

He also said that in the 2012 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha would field its candidates for all the seats.

"We will go to the voters on the issue of having first right on the Budelkhand''s mineral resources, revenue, water and power and also field our candidates in the local bodies elections with full commitment," he said.

He said that he took this decision as it appeared that the party for which he worked hard, had no agenda for the creation of separate Bundelkhand state.

People in Bundelkhand have been demanding separate state for the last several years. The region is located in central India covering part of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. It is a backward area with hardly any political representation in MP or UP state politics or at the Centre.

Sorce :PTI MAS ABC

हाय! वासना क्या कहना !

एक रोटी का टुकड़ा जब इज्जत के वदले प़ता है


सच पूछो कि दोस्त मेरे, मुझे एक नया साल दिख जाता है



एक दशक मे कितने वदले ,नर नग्न पुरुष नाना वदले


इस नग्न संस्कृति की खातिर, जब कानून नया लिख जाता है





..... सच पूछो कि दोस्त मेरे



हाय! वासना क्या कहना , अर्ध नग्न सामाजिक है गहना


भाई के हाथो को छूते, भय भीत घरो मे रहती बहिना


अस्तित्व हमारा पूछ राहा इस देश मे मुझे कब तक रहना



टीवी के चित्रों मे धुधले जब द्रश्य कोई दिख जाता है





....... सच पूछो कि दोस्त मेरे





भूखा भाई महानगरो की सड़को पर दिख जाता है


मासूम उदासी मुख मंडल मजबूर कोई दिख जाता है



नया साल क्या हाल बुरा है, भूखे बच्चा-बच्ची रहो मे

कोई अर्ध नग्न फूल लिए दिख जाता है




सच पूछो कि दोस्त मेरे.......................



पिजा की रोटी की कीमत, ज़ब ढावे की रोटी के साग आयेगा


माया राहुल जैसी चक्र सुरक्षा, भारत का जन जन पायेगा





सच पूछो कि दोस्त मेरे.......................



कोला पेपासी ये जल धारा, जब टाके शेर विक जाएगा


संसद के उस सभा कक्ष मे, कोई मजदूर,किसान जन हित का प्रश्न उठायेगा



ये कवि स्वाजनो सहित मिल, नव वर्ष उसी दिन मनायेगा





एक रोटी का टुकड़ा जब इज्जत के वदले प़ता है

सच पूछो कि दोस्त मेरे, मुझे एक नया साल दिख जाता है @



कवि काछिवांत

हरदयाल कुशवाहा

३१/१२/२००९

Bundelkhand region Songs of freedom By Hardayal Kushwaha

Songs of freedom

Reviewed by M. Rajivlochan

By Pankaj Rag.

Rupa. Pages 212. Rs 395.

1857: The Oral Tradition

 

 The Oral Tradition this book adds an important facet to the studies on the revolt of 1857. Pankaj         Rag collects various folk renditions of the memories of 1857 and gives us a unique picture of how the people of Awadh and central India felt about the events of 1857. Towards this end, he painstakingly collects folk songs to weave a poetic tapestry much akin to that of another famous one found in Bayeux. His effort has been to bring together a large body of hitherto ignored literature that has documented the local traditions of central India, match it with the archival reconstruction of the times and place before us the soul, as it were, of the people.

Rag begins with a detailed discussion of oral traditions and contemporary literature in the context of 1857. Here he recounts in brief the history of the revolt in UP and CP on the basis of the various extant documents and histories of the freedom movement. The more interesting part of his book is the depiction of Rani of Jhansi, the tribals of central India and the taluqdars of Awadh in folk songs.
The Rani of Jhansi, as Rag discovers, was much braver than what Subhadhra Kumari Chauhan depicted her in the famous poem and had been preceded by many others who were strongly opposed to the British. Chauhan herself, Rag tells us, was building upon the tradition of the ‘harbolas’, the local minstrels of the Bundelkhand region. They would roam the countryside and sing the songs of bravery of the people in opposing British rule. Much before the mutiny of 1857, the songs of the harbolas had created an atmosphere of rebellion here. It was not just the Rani of Jhansi who was rebellious in nature. The entire population of Bundelkhand seemed to be against the British presence in their midst. While many hoped to stand against the British, when it came to actual action, most also withdrew into their forts and let the foolhardy fight their battles for freedom. The songsters of Bundelkhand captured such withdrawals, but without labeling it as betrayal; the heroism of the people who fought to drive out the British, however, formed the bulk of their songs.
The most important feature of the songsters’ renditions, Rag tells us, was that they primarily focused on the lives and times of the common people. People of all castes, the songsters of Bundelkhand said, joined hands to drive out the British even when many of the feudal lords of the region preferred loyalty to the colonisers. Lower castes, untouchables, Brahmins and Banias all stood together in their opposition.
Similarly, the tribals of central India too find considerable place in the folk traditions of this period even when they have been almost entirely ignored by professional historians. Rag puts together the lore and recollects the bravery of the Gond tribals in opposing the British. Making good use of the official archives and matching them with the folk traditions, Rag tells us of the efforts by the tribal leaders to create a united front against the British. Such efforts were often undermined by self-servers who foresaw the difficulties in conducting military operations against the modern British forces. Yet, the opponents of the British always managed to collect a large body of common people to help them.
However, all this has been missing from the written histories of the region, since the historians chose to confine their searches to official records. Rag fills this gap admirably by going into the details of folktales and songs of the period that are extant till today to reconstruct the heroism and anti-colonialism that permeated the society of central India. This book comes out as an important corrective to the histories of 1857 written till now.






sorce:Sunday, the Sunday tribune December 12, 2010Sunday, December 12, 2010

Little democracies :Sampat Pal of the Gulabi Gang in Bundelkhand

India has been facing a crisis of conscience almost since the first day of Independence, with serious doubts about the viability of democracy for such a vast and varied population. The doomsayers have become ever more strident as the republic ages. They point to a parliament filled with placemen and hustlers, and political parties whose principal concerns seem to be dynastic. What chance does democracy have in this atmosphere? Is it time to give up hope? Perhaps the picture will change if we change focus, adopt a worm’s eye view and look at the little democracies all around us. They don’t have stately buildings of uniformed servants, nor even the ancient trees that you see in the movie panchayats. They don’t debate lofty abstractions or issues of national importance, yet they succeed in areas where government fails. These little democracies are born from very real needs. They are the coming together of people when the state does not deliver.

Listen to Sampat Pal of the Gulabi Gang in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region. “There are four kinds of courts — lower court, high court, supreme court, and then, if nothing works, the baas (lathi) court.” Sampat’s philosophy is simple. Make the government work for you, and if it doesn’t pay heed pick up a lathi. “They are our servants. Public servants.” Bundelkhand is one of the poorest and most poorly governed regions of India. Sampat and her supporters were forced to devise a system to exercise the right to rule themselves. Banda district is known for corruption and violence, especially against women. Seeing women being abused and beaten made her blood boil, she said. So she decided to bring together a band of women, the Gulabi Gang.



The idea has metamorphosed into something far bigger. The Gang, armed with lathis, takes up the cause of every oppressed, poor person, not just women. They take on corrupt, ineffective mechanisms and state officials to ensure a fair deal. Anyone can be part of the Gang, even men. This ingenious (or crude, depending on your viewpoint) pressure group is like a movement in miniature, and helps people get basic requirements such as the NREGA job card or BPL cards. Now political parties want to piggyback on the Gang’s popularity. They send emissaries to the Gang, to help them with their projects. They know that the women can swing votes. The women, for their part, play their cards to the advantage of the people they represent. This sort of structure is quite fluid and it’s quite possible that you will find these ‘little democracies’ everywhere, in the remotest villages and in dingy city slums — in every disregarded corner. It must be said, though, that mainstream political parties and governments are not always this receptive to the little democracies. Take the case of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities in the Jangalmahal region, West Bengal. This committee functions in three districts — Bankura, West Midnapore and Purulia — again among the poorest and most poorly governed in the country. It came into being, as other ‘little democracies’ have, when there was a yawning gap between the state and its citizens. The PCPA began in November 2008 in Lalgarh, West Midnapore, as a protest movement against police excesses. But its leadership decided to address the problems of the tribals the state had neglected for decades. A senior party member of the ruling CPI(M) admitted that the party has completely neglected Jangalmahal. But it didn’t stop at that. The villagers were treated brutally after a landmine blast that targeted Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy on November 4, 2008. Police raided surrounding villages, women were assaulted and men picked up at random in a search for the perpetrators. Finally, the worm turned as the people, mostly Dalits and tribals, on November 6, 2008, surrounded the local police station and held its occupants hostage. This protest was aimed at a public apology by the erring police officers, and monetary compensation. The state, familiar with monetary giveaways, conceded that one but refused to give a public apology. But the PCPA didn’t stop at protests. It held its own ‘panchayats’ and built bunds, sank borewells, dug irrigation canals, laid roads, built small hospitals and spread its influence across three districts in a matter of one year. Meanwhile, the state sent in its forces to quell the dissenters who were on their way to setting up a little republic. It was an expression of people’s power that the state easily could have co-opted with a bit of imagination. Instead, one leader was arrested (a central intelligence officer says he advised them against such a step) and allegedly bumped off another. The strong arm of the state has crushed this ‘little republic’ and the PCPA is now seen as a terrorist organisation. Sometimes, little democracies operate well below any public relations radar. For instance, city slums have their own leaders who bargain with political parties for things like electricity, sanitation, ration cards and even the price of a vote. In Tamil Nadu, there are smaller groupings of oppressed people even in the slums — ‘panchayats’ run by Adi Andhra communities, mostly scavengers, people who migrated from Andhra Pradesh in the 1940s. In their panchayats, they help community members resolve their problems internally, rather than rushing off to the nearest police station. It is a cohesive social structure, and it becomes a political force during the elections that helps them bargain for community-specific needs a larger group may dismiss as irrelevant. These are the little currents and counter-currents of citizens’ movements that may in the long run make this country a real democracy. Right now, though, the state seems unable to recognise these movements for what they are. It has thus no clear policy of dealing with little democracies. In the twilight zone that they inhabit, they could be crushed if they become an inconvenience. On the whole, such groups are allowed to exist until a political party can negotiate with it. When the party cannot or perceives the group as a threat, it usually moves to crush the group, as happened with the PCPA, accused of being a Maoist front, despite the committee’s denial of any link. Sedition is as good a stick as any to beat an opponent because it so hard to disprove. So the real danger to their existence, ironically, comes from the state. Though they rarely cross the line and provide a valuable service besides functioning as a vent for public frustrations, little democracies are vulnerable to state action, especially if they are effective. Perhaps that is one reason why they, consciously or subconsciously, operate below the public radar. That is a real pity. Everyone, including the state, should celebrate, not just tolerate, these expressions of the popular will. It is time we realised that India is not just the world’s largest democracy but also the world’s largest conglomeration of little democracies. About the author: Asha Menon is a Senior Reporter at The New Indian Exp Sorce:http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/little-democracies/197635.html