A year after 26/11

Saswat Panigrahi

It’s been a year. The scars of a 60-hour-long terror seize which scripted a gory tale in blood is very much alive. The fidayeen attacks were coordinated shootings and bombings on multiple targets across India’s financial capital unleashed by Pakistan based jihadi elements.

The attacks took place at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, Nariman House, Metro Cinema and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College. There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai's port area, and another in a taxi at Vile Parle.

The unprecedented terror strikes, which shook India and startled the world, started on November 26 2008 and ended on November 29, 2008, snuffed out the lives of at least 166 innocent people and wounded more then 300. Among the dead were 136 Indians and 28 foreign nationals from 10 countries.

Mumbai police, Rapid Action Force personnel, Marine commandos and National Security Guards commandos performed with remarkable bravery and professionalism in their battle with the terrorists. 15 policemen and two NSG commandos sacrificed their lives in the counter-offensive. Assistant Police Sub-Inspector Tukaram Omble, who succeeded in capturing a terrorist alive, Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) Chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner of Police Ashok Kamte, Encounter Specialist Vijay Salaskar, Senior Inspector Shashank Shinde were among the 15 policemen killed in the operation. NSG Commandos Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Hawaldar Gajendra Singh were also killed during the counter-offensive.

What may be the most well-documented terror strikes of the recent times, the attacks which were carried out by ten trained Pakistani young jihadis, were meticulously planned several months ahead of time. The attacks were executed by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) inside Pakistan. Reports say former officials from the Pakistani Army and its ace intelligence service Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) helped training the Mumbai attackers. The sophistication in the design of the terror strike also clearly points to an official backing from Pakistani agencies. However, a possible involvement of local elements in the role of facilitators can’t be ruled out.

Indian investigations reveal that the ten jihadis, who traveled to Mumbai from Karachi via Porbandar across the Arabian Sea, hijacked Indian fishing trawler 'Kuber', killed the crew and entered Mumbai on a rubber dinghy. They have a detailed lay out plans of their targets. To navigate to Mumbai by sea and to find their targets, the terrorists used Global Positioning System handsets. They also used Google Earth to familiarise themselves with the locations of their targets. Moreover, the attackers were constantly directed by handlers from inside Pakistan via mobile phones and Voice over Internet Protocol.

The investigation further reveals that each jihadi carried a dozen hand grenades, a 9 mm handgun with two 18-round clips and an AK-47, seven to nine 30-round magazines and more than 100 rounds of loose ammunition. Each attacker also carried a 17.6-pound (8 kg) bomb. Type 86 Grenades made by China's state-owned Norinco were used in the attacks.

Reports say the terrorists used at least three SIM cards purchased on the Indian side of the border with Bangladesh, pointing to a local involvement. Reports further suggest that one SIM card was purchased in New Jersey, US.

Blood tests of the jihadis indicate that they had taken cocaine, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide drugs and steroids during the attacks to sustain their energy for long hours.

Investigations revealed that the attackers were in their twenties. Nine of the ten attackers were from the Pakistan’s Punjab province, one was from the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. Nine of the ten gunmen were shot dead during the counter offensive by security forces and Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist, who was captured alive, is now facing the trail.

After a series of denials to India’s dossier on Mumabi attacks, Pakistan which continues to be a safe heaven for terrorists buckled under tremendous international pressure. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik finally agreed that "some part of the conspiracy" did take place in Pakistan and promised to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice.

The Pakistani authorities have also admitted to their Indian counterparts that the LeT plotted and financed the attacks. Pakistani investigations conducted on LeT camps in Karachi and Thatta revealed diaries, training manuals, maps of India and operational instructions relating to 26/11. "The investigation has established beyond any reasonable doubt that the defunct LeT activists conspired, abetted, planned, financed and established [the] communication network to carry out terror attacks in Mumbai," said a report from Pakistani investigators to Indian authorities.

However, Pakistan which is not abandoning its policy on supporting terror groups, has come up short of Hafiz Saeed, the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, believed to be the mastermind of terrorist siege of Mumbai. Saeed, against whom an international arrest warrant was issued by Interpol, was freed by a Pakistani court from detention on the ground that the Pakistani Government did not have enough evidence against him, outlining Islamabad's lack of seriousness in its ‘commitment’ to bring the perpetrators of the carnage to justice.

But an ‘under-the-table’ diplomacy of the Congress-led UPA Government has failed to bend Pakistan. Moreover, it had shocked the nation by delinking terrorism from composite dialogue in the Sharm el-Sheikh Indo-Pak joint statement, issued by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in July last, replicating a Charles De Gaulle line. It is to recall that after 26/11, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had categorically stated that there was no question of holding dialogue with Pakistan unless it gives enough proof of taking action against its nationals who masterminded Mumbai attacks, and initiate steps to dismantle the terror infrastructure on its soil.

In the recent months disclose, David Coleman Headley, an American citizen of Pakistani origin, his associate Tahawwur Rana, another Pakistani origin Canadian citizen, both currently in FBI custody in the US are believed to have played a key role in the Mumbai attacks and were also plotting similar terror strikes in strategic locations of the country including the prestigious National Defence College in New Delhi. There are reports which also suggest Headley’s link to Bollywood. Reports also indicate that the notorious Pakistani intelligence agency ISI could be linked to Headley. Meanwhile, an official inquiry in New Delhi has revealed that the Consulate General of India in Chicago had issued multiple entry visas to Rana and his wife under the ‘discretionary quota’ in October 2008, outlining a major security lapse.

On the eve of the first anniversary of 26/11, a Pakistani anti-terror court has indicted LeT's operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six others for involvement in the Mumbai attacks and declared 16 people, including Ajmal Amir Kasab, as proclaimed offenders. In a related development, Pakistan has also confirmed that a retired army major had been arrested for his alleged links with Headley and Rana.

At a time the country is paying tribute to the heroes and victims of Mumbai terror attacks, let’s discuss the naked truth. 26/11 has laid thread bare an abysmal intelligence and a spineless security, which helped the terror seize to succeed. Further, there are questions which will continue to haunt the Government. How bullets traversed through the bullet-proof jacket of three top Mumbai cops ATS Chief Hemant Karkare, ACP Ashok Kamte, Encounter Specialist Vijay Salaskar? Karkare’s bullet-proof jacket is reportedly goes missing, so as the file on the procurement of those jackets. An inept RR Patil, ‘famous’ for his utterly ridicules remark right after the terror seize -- “Bade shehron mein aisi choti baatein hoti rehti hai” -- got back to his old portfolio of Maharashtra Home Minister. Reports suggest that the cost of keeping the lone gun man Kasab alive is as much as Rs 31 crore and counting. A year after 26/11 when PM Manmohan Singh is having a ‘lavish and extravagant’ dinner at the White House, rehabilitation still elude more then two-thirds of the victims and their families.

Rightly says, Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor, "The US has not allowed a second 9/11 to happen, Indonesia has not allowed a second Bali-bombing to happen. India has allowed people to get away after the Parliament attack, Delhi blasts and finally the 26/11 incident. The time for all of us has come to say no more.”

However, in the larger reckoning, the problem remains. India is being systematically targeted by jihadi elements. One year on, is India alert and prepared to thrwart future terror attacks?

Looking back at Kandhamal

Saswat Panigrahi

A year after Kandha tribals erupted in fury, the real issues behind the conflict remain unaddressed. An indifferent Orissa Government refuses to recognise the reality

One year on, the agony of Kandhamal is refusing to simmer down. At a time when Kandhamal’s real problems are being disregarded and there is a deliberate miscalculation in handling the crisis by secular fundamentalist media and political parties which pin blame on ‘Hindu groups’, comes a report which not only exposes the allegations against the much-touted ‘Hindu hand’ but also depicts the authentic source of tribal anger.

The report, titled Kandhamal: A Fact File by Michael Parker, published by India Foundation, reveals that the violent upheaval in Kandhamal is rooted in its socio-demographic history. Parker is a Washington based researcher of ancient indigenous cultures of the world and their role in a globalised society. “A social chaos, similar to that experienced by American tribes threatened the cultural stability of the entire region,” the report says.

Kandhamal has two distinct inhabitants -- the tribal Kandhas and the Schedule Caste Panas - their relations have a history of turbulence and the report has brought its genesis. It was during the British period the Panas made a ‘momentous choice’ of coming closer to the Christian missionary and eventually converted to the Christianity. However, for Kandhas, Christianity was closely identified with the British colonial powers that they have battled in at least eight different wars.

The problem arises, says the report, when Christian Panas are unwilling to forgo the benefits of being a member of Scheduled Caste. “Not only have the Christian Panas obscured their religious identities as Christians, they have submitted fake certificates identifying themselves as members of the Kandha tribal community,” the report says. These certificates are used to usurp land, Govt jobs and academic opportunities reserved for the Kandhas. Alienation of tribal land is the foundation of the Kandha-Pana turmoil. “Kandhas were blatantly disinherited from their lands for generations,” the report says adding, “Another major complication related to the land issue is that posed by Christians use of encroached lands to build churches.” Despite Indian law prohibits sale of tribal land to non-tribals, Odisha Government official report says 52 per cent of Kandhas own less than 10 per sent of the land in the district.

“Adding yet another layer of turmoil to the situation, the Christian Panas began a movement demanding official recognition as a Schedule Tribe,” the report says on Kui controversy. Kui is the native language of Kandhas. The amended central Scheduled Tribe list included the ‘Kui community’ in the ST category. Parker report quotes two schools of thoughts in dealing with the controversy. A section of experts on tribal affairs says Kui means Kandha and there is no need to add Kui in the Central Scheduled Tribe list, where as another section says the word Kui is used not in terms of language but in reference to a tribe.

“The records and the facts prove that Panas are not and have never been a tribe in accordance to the guidelines set by the Indian Constitution,” Parker says.

“Thus the Kandhas are understandably in an uproar over the loss of opportunity. A system that was designed to alleviate their poverty and social stagnation has been hijacked and their woes compounded,” the report states. “The dire consequences of a trauma denied and unresolved are always sudden and explosives…It is obvious that it is a primary cause of the turmoil at the heart of Kandhamal’s crisis,” it observes.

Another ominous side of Kandha-Pana divide, as brought out by the report is the shadow of the Maoists in the region, who take advantage of the situation. “The tension between the Christian Panas and Kandhas is so tangible that it has been identified as a strategic opportunity for the Maoists,” the report says. It further adds, “The enmity between the Maoists and Kandhas (after Kandha’s 2002 declaration of war against Maoists) created the dynamic for a Maoist-Christian Pana alliance.” This provides the Maoists a reliable source of recruits. And from the Christian Pana perspective the Maoists became a powerful weapon to use against the Kandhas.

The report has taken note of foreign sources of funding which continue to pour into Christian coffers. The Odisha Government record says an amount of Rs 4,215, 585,000 (approximately $100 million) of foreign funds went to such groups from 1999 to 2003 which are allegedly being used to convert people away from their native faiths.

The report quoted the documental evidence of the murder conspiracy of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, who fought against fraudulent conversion and cow-slaughter, by the evangelists, uncovered by Ashok Sahu, senior Odisha BJP leader and former Assam ADGP.

“He was attacked on multiple occasions and it was a common knowledge that every attack had been at the hands of the Christian extremist,” the report says, adding “The Swami appears to have been killed by a conspiratorial alliance of Pana Christians and Maoists.”

The Congress-led UPA did not pay heed to the request of Odisha Government to control the violence that followed the Swami’s killing, the report says. “As violence swept across Kandhamal the Government of Odisha issued an official request for assistance from the Central Government of India. The Congress controlled UPA Government refused to cooperate. The State of Odisha was subsequently obliged to file a petition with the Courts. Only after the judicial branch ordered the Central Government to provide assistance, were peacekeeping forces sent and funds allocated towards the State’s request,” it says.

The report has also brought out the State of Odisha’s miscalculation in handling the emergency that followed the violence in which both Kandhas and Panas were affected. “As Pana Christians sat cozily in relief camps getting food, medicine and shelter, the Kandha had no refuge or food,” it says. Deprived of the relief the Kandhas took shelter in jungle. “Kandhas were arrested arbitrarily. Daily labourers and wage earners remained hungry and tribal women rallied for relief….Night raids and arrests on trumped up charges based solely on Christian Pana complaints combined with allegations of sexual harassment of Kandha women, theft, raids on livestock and food by CRPF troops had the Kandhas up in arms,” the report adds.

Further, the report has brought out the Kandhamal nun rape accusation and media’s ‘carte blanche’ acceptance while promoting the allegations as proven facts. Parker has raised some moot questions in his report that suggest that the claims of the nun were in a constant state of flux. In her initial complaint the nun did not mention the rape, but it was added to her testimony a full 24 hours later. Forensic evidence revealed that the nun was sexually active, no vaginal injuries signifying rape was found yet semen was recovered and no evidence of rape was found upon the clothes of the nun in the tests conducted by Odisha State Forensic Science Lab.

“The media, rather than relying in facts, went overboard in misinterpreting the case and the creation of an alternative reality that fit their pre conceived agendas,” Parker says.

India has survived repeated onslaughts of foreign forces. Kandhamal is an example. There was an international conspiracy to defame Odisha and India. In Parker’s word, “Various Leftists commentators, empowered by the Globalist-controlled media outlets added their illogical rationales to India’s anti-indigenous combine. It has been suggested that some among these powers have a definite role to play in the Kandhamal violence.” Time will reveal the conspiratorial roles in Kandhamal mayhem.

-- This is an extended version of the article published in the Op-Ed page of The Pioneer on November 9, 2009

Also read:

• Kandhamal lies nailed
  
• The other side of the Kandhamal story: Tribals disinherited
  
• A life dedicated to the poor

A victory by default

Saswat Panigrahi

In a pleasant surprise to the Congress-NCP combine, the ruling alliance has managed to win 145 of the 288 assembly seats in the Maharashtra Assembly election and returned to power for the third successive term. The opposition Shiv Sena-BJP combine saw its worst-ever performance in two decades with its tally reduced to a double digit, a mere 90 seats.

If Congress claims, the victory in Maharashtra is performance driven, it is sadly mistaken. The stark reality is that Congress-NCP combine has won not on the basis of performance, but on the basis of factionalism.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) supremo Raj Thackeray has reasons to smile. Wining 13 seats may sound small in a House of 288, but this has led a three-and-a-half-year old MNS to make an inroad into Marathi manoos by successfully cutting into the Sena-BJP alliance votes in its maiden assembly poll foray. Piggy riding on this ‘crucial’ MNS factor the Congress-NCP alliance has bucked a severe anti-incumbency.

The MNS, which contested 143 seats and lost its deposit in 95 of them, has managed to secure a six per cent of vote share. In Mumbai-Thane-Pune stretch, which happens to be the traditional catchment area for BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, MNS’s vote-share is as high as 20 per cent. In Mumbai, MNS has secured a 24 per cent votes, leaving the Sena behind at 18 per cent.

In the country’s financial capital, the MNS won six seats, the second highest after the Congress, which won 17 seats, where as Shiv Sena-BJP alliance together won eight seats down from 13 in the 2004 Assembly poll. The MNS has won three seats in Nashik, two in Thane and one each in Pune and Aurangabad districts. It is pertinent to mention here that the MNS has mauled Sena in its traditional bastion of Lalbaug, Parel Dadar and Mahim (known as Sewri and Mahim after delimitation). This implies Raj Thackeray has skillfully targeted the urban cluster as an investment for his future.

Besides, the MNS has hit the saffron alliance in at least 40 seats across Maharashtra that invariably added to the Congress-NCP kitty. The MNS has not only dented Sena’s vote bank, but also the vote share of NCP in some places as well.

The 41-year old firebrand Raj Thakrey was once considered as the true inheritor of his uncle Balasaheb’s ‘Sainik legacy’. For a long time he headed the Sena’s student wing Bharatiya Vidyathi Sena and carved a fan following. After floating Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, he has aggressively projected the ‘sons of the soil’ brand of politics, albeit in a very parochial way, to walk into vacant space of Shiv Sena. He has appealed to the core instincts of the Shiv Sena far more effectively than Uddhav Thackery has managed to do. This has really worked. The three-and-a-half-year party has diminished an aura surrounding a four-decade-old Shiv Sena. A good number of Maharashtrians known for their loyalty to the Sena switched sides and flocked to MNS flag.

A sharp decline in BJP-Shiv Sena’s tally on the face of an undercurrent of the MNS wave has surprised many. BJP’s tally has been reduced to 46 seats down from 56 and that of Shiv Sena to 44 down from 62 in 2004 Assembly election. But, the ‘crucial’ MNS factor is not entirely responsible for the decline in BJP-Sena showing.

At a time Shiv Sena’s ‘Son’s of soil theory’ was hijacked by the MNS, caught in the vortex of regional demands and its national presence was the BJP. The Sena-BJP combine failed to seize the moment and could not forcefully raise the issues which are plaguing Maharashtra -- unabated farmers suicides, acute power shortage, price rise, infrastructural bottlenecks -- which could have put the ruling alliance on mat. The saffron alliance failed to read the popular pulse and was unable to reach the voters with a message that the decade old Congress-NCP regime had miserable failed to address the gap between Maharashtra’s potential and performance. Perhaps because of its lack of assertiveness to raise the real issues, the Maharashtrians have not taken seriously a ‘people’s centric’ manifesto of BJP-Shiv Sena combine which has sketched a blueprint for development in areas of education, employment, agriculture, rehabilitation, security and infrastructure. In such a political jigsaw the NCP-Congress alliance romped home in the poll by default.

The assembly election result has thrown yet another surprise. The BJP has performed unexpectedly poorly in its own stronghold of Vidarbha region, where Congress has been emerged as the largest party, wining 24 of 62 seats of the region. Interestingly, in Yavatmal district of the region, which is known as the epicenter of famers suicide the Congress-NCP has also performed well. The BJP is yet to figure out what went wrong.

Shiv Sena citadels have crumbled under Raj Thackrey's assault. The poor performance of Sena has put a question mark on Uddhav Thackery's leadership style. The result could trigger a drift by the Shiv Sainiks towards MNS. For the BJP which is struggling to come out of the turmoil following its shocking defeat in the 2009 general election, the result has further dampen its morale.

BJP needs a sankat mochak

Saswat Panigrahi

In a bid to sketch a road map to go ahead with its basics, BJP’s top-rung leaders made a bunch of thoughts at the recently concluded closed-door chitan baithak in Shimla. To move ahead with its three basic mantras -- sangathan (organisation), sangharsh (struggle) and samrachana (constructive activity), the BJP made a ‘threadbare analysis’ of the 2009 poll debacle. As many as 24 leaders resolved to address the weakness and charted the road ahead. Moreover, issues related to internal bickering, role of ideology and alliances have featured prominently during three-day-long chintan baithak.

It has been learnt that the party has reviewed and analysed its performance in the 2009 general election from both national and States’ perspective and observed what went wrong in an internal document. “Majboot neta – Nirnayak Sarkar, national security, country’s black money stashed abroad, price rise which were the main campaign themes of the BJP in 2009 general election could not get positioned effectively,” the document revealed. “However, mid campaign distractions like projection of Narendra Modi as future PM, Varun Gandhi controversy and reported internal squabble within the party took centrestage during the election and pushed aside its main campaign issue,” the report observed. The report went on to add, “In some States the party failed to access the popular sentiment and in others the poor alliance management weakened the party structure.” These all paid for the abysmal performance of the BJP. The party may deny the very existence of the report, but this is not to dispute that it was during the poll the cadre based BJP failed to cash in on the Congress led UPA’s spineless national security strategy, reckless economic policies, failure to tackle terrorism, and fetish for communal and caste politics into a strong anti-incumbency factor.

Ever since the BJP’s shocking defeat internal bickerings have marred its image. Now the division in the organisation which is becaming wide and open reflected in the public. The party is in the hands of endless chunotis (perils). The recent days have brought frozen turbulence in the party. All these have saddened and demoralized the party cadre across the country.

Party’s senior leader Jaswant Singh invited his exit by going ahead to give almost a clean chit to the architect of India’s partition Mohammed Ali Jinnah in his book Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence. Party strategist Sudheendra Kulkarni has quit and now cosying up to the Trinamool Congress. The Yashwant Sinha, Vasundhara Raje and BC Khanduri rebellion have added further blues for the party. At the top of it senior leader Arun Shourie termed the party a ‘kati patang’ and its top leaders ‘humpty dumpty’ and ‘Alice in blunderland.’

The saffron party is currently passing through a bad phase. In order to steer the party out of the troubles RSS has stepped in. RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat has adviced the party to get its act together. “Whatever is happening (in BJP) is not good and it should stop. The Lok Sabha poll results have given the party a severe jolt. They will have to regain balance,” a concerned RSS chief said in a rare press conference in the capital, adding “I feel they will be able to do it.... BJP will rise from ashes.” Rattled by internecine infighting, the BJP has also turned to the RSS for relief. After a series of deliberations with the BJP leadership, the RSS is learnt to have suggested an “action plan” and left it to the party to execute it.

With RSS seting an agenda for the BJP, the turmoil in the saffron party seems to be simmering down and the party is back in a rebuilding mode. But to execute the “action plan” forward, the BJP is in dire need of a master strategist, one who could complete the unfinished task of repairing the fissures in the party and bringing its organisation to a work stable condition. The party needs a leader who could be an inspiration for the party cadres across the country and one who could link the traditional sangh parivar values with modern political thoughts. It remains to be seen who plays the role of the sankat mochak (crisis alleviator).

Kandhamal lies nailed

Saswat Panigrahi

Media and ‘secular’ political parties followed the Church in blaming ‘Hindu groups’ for last year’s violence in Kandhamal district of Orissa. The interim report of the Justice Mohapatra Commission of Inquiry nails this and other lies and exposes the role of evangelists

Remember Kandhamal? And all the brouhaha created by the media blaming ‘Hindu groups’ for the unrest in the tribal district of Orissa after the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati? And the TV cameras never noticing the anguish of the shocked children housed in Jaleshpata hermitage that witnessed the murder of the 84-year-old Swami and his four followers on August 23 last year?

Well, the truth is almost out; and it’s official. It virtually vindicates an article published on this page last year (November 11): “The other side of the Kandhamal story: Tribals disinherited.” It had laid threadbare the social and cultural divisions between the Kandha and the Pana communities, and how Christian evangelists were fuelling the violence in Kandhamal.

The Kandhas, who are tribals, were up in arms against the Panas, listed as one of the Scheduled Castes, for trying to usurp their land and corner other benefits with the help of some evangelists.

Recently, the Justice Sarat Chandra Mohapatra Commission, whose remit was to probe the Kandhamal violence, has submitted its interim report to the Home Department of the Orissa Government. The commission, headed by Justice Mohapatra, a former Lok Pal, has attributed the socio-economic problems as the prime provocation for the violence. The report says nothing about the much-touted ‘Hindu-groups’.

“The violence in Kandhamal was the result of concentrated discontentment prevailing among the people since long. They relate to conversion, re-conversion; land-grabbing and non-maintenance of land records; and fake certificate issues,” Justice Mohapatra told this writer. Though he refused to elaborate on who these “discontented” people are, it is obvious that they are the tribals — the Kandhas.

Putting to rest all debate about rampant religious conversion in Kandhamal, Justice Mohapatra says: “In spite of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, illegal conversions were taking place, which created discontentment.”

It is important here to get an overview of the social and cultural divisions that are understood to be the main reasons of the violence in Kandhamal. The area has two major inhabitants — the tribal Kandhas constitute 52 per cent of the population while the Schedule Caste Panas account for 19 per cent of the population. The rift between the two is nothing new. The Kandhas have a history of vociferous resistance to religious conversion by evangelists. On the other hand, over the years, a majority of the Panas, forced by the evangelists, has embraced Christianity, leading to an increase in the Christian population of the district from a mere 19,128 in 1951 to 1,17,950 in 2001. Of the total Christian population in the district, 60 per cent are converted Panas.

After successfully converting a sizeable section of the Panas, evangelists have long been eying the Kandhas for conversion. They have been trying to convert the tribals through inducement, fraud and force and have succeeded to some extent. They continue to destroy the traditional shrines of the Kandhas, thus instigating anti-Hindu sentiments among the Panas. This has repeatedly led to communal polarisation.

Nine months after it was asked to inquire into last year’s violence and the circumstances leading to the killing of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, the Justice Mohapatra Commission seems to have made some headway.

It is learned that the 28-page report says land is being grabbed illegally by the Panas. It’s a fact that a section of the Panas has encroached upon vast stretches of land which originally belongs to the Kandhas. As per the land regulation law of Orissa, non-tribals can neither buy nor take possession of land from tribal owners.

Besides the issues of conversion and land-grab, Justice Mohapatra’s report also mentions the issue of fake certificates as another cause of the conflict. “There are people who are neither SC nor ST but possess fake certificates claiming to be one. These certificates are being freely issued,” says Justice Mohapatra.

The report has seemingly taken note of harassed Kandhas, whose socio-economic aspirations have been stymied by the politically-backed Panas who also enjoy the backing of evangelists. Sensing the benefits of reservation as well as sops doled out by the evangelists, many Pana Christians, who have lost their SC tag after conversion to Christianity, have managed to secure false caste certificates. Some of the Pana Christians also submit fake tribal certificates for Government jobs and to grab land and reap quota benefits in education.

Several officials and politicians face allegations of issuing these bogus certificates. Reports suggest that there are as many as 600 such allegations which are being investigated. Prominent among those against whom such have been levelled include Rajya Sabha MP and 1962 batch IAS officer Radhakanta Nayak, former BJD MP from Phulbani Sugrib Singh and former DGP of Orissa John Nayak.

The three factors suggested by Justice Mohapatra outline how tribals are being deprived of their fundamental rights in their own land.

Meanwhile, the interim report has triggered differences among Christians. While the evangelists and their followers have rejected the report for its remarks against conversion, the Poor Christian Liberation Movement has said that it considers the reported findings to be serious points of reflection. The PCLM has urged church leaders to study the report carefully rather than rejecting it as “one-sided” and “fictitious”.

The commission has suggested that the Orissa Government should address the problem by taking remedial measures on issues of religious conversion, land disputes and fake SC/ST certificates. The commission has so far examined five witnesses of the Government, a number of local people and received 320 affidavits.

“It will take at least two years to complete the inquiry, but the interim report will help the Government to intervene immediately,” Justice Mohapatra says.

The question remains whether the BJD Government headed by Mr Naveen Patnaik will take the necessary measures.

-- Published in the Op-Ed page The Pioneer on July 22, 2009

Also read:

The other side of the Kandhamal story: Tribals disinherited

A life dedicated to the poor

Orissa: Why BJP lost miserably?

Saswat Panigrahi

The Verdict 2009 brought a historic double win for Naveen Patnaik, as his Biju Janata Dal (BJD) swept both the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The regional outfit won a staggering 103 and 14 of the 147 assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats respectively. The Congress came as a distant second with its tally a measly 27 in assembly and six in Lok Sabha. However, the verdict came as a shock and awe for the BJP as the saffron party bite the dust with its tally reduced to a mere six in the Assembly and a cropper in Lok Sabha, bringing the party’s position back to two decades.

The performance of the Congress is easily understood as an anti-Congress wave continues to blow in the State. But the humiliating defeat of the BJP on the face of an undercurrent of Naveen wave has surprised many.

At a time the State BJP is still clueless about its defeat, some leaders say ‘a well panned conspiracy’ was hatched to make the election result one-sided. They attribute ‘large scale EVM tampering’, ‘scientific rigging’, ‘use of black money and muscle power’ by the ruling BJD as the causes for the abysmal performance. But the stark reality, which has been outlined in this election result, was despite four decades of the ‘saffron political movement’ in Orissa (including the Jan Sangh era) the BJP still does not have a mass base in the State.

A few who know the insight out of Orissa’s political history say Late BJP strategist Pramod Mahajan played a crucial role in the formation of BJD, before stitching its alliance with the saffron party. After Biju Patnaik’s demise in April 1997, a sympathy wave was blowing in Orissa in favour of the legendry leader. To cash in on that wave, Mahajan met Biju legacy leaders. Some of them opined to merge the Orissa unit of the Janata Dal with the BJP. But it was Mahajan who proposed to float a party in the name of Biju babu and its alliance with BJP to bring a debacle for the Congress in Orissa, a suggestion the Janata leaders could not but accept. The BJD was formed in December, 1997 and its alliance with the BJP was forged in February 1998. It is said that all initial formative logistics for BJD was provided by the BJP. Biju babu’s son Naveen Patnaik, who since then was elected as a member of 11th Lok Sabha in a by-election following his father’s demise and emerged as an unanimous consensus to lead the party. BJP-BJD coalition was widely acceptable by the masses as Orissa awaited for a change with a Congress regime led by JB Patnaik was marked by mass corruption and which severely compromised State’s development. Riding an anti-Congress wave BJP-BJD coalition swept State elections and Naveen became the CM. But, after coming to power the BJP started doing a political piggy riding and used Naveen as a surrogate. In a decade long BJP-BJD coalition regime, while the BJD was busy in enhancing its mass base, BJP did not bother to strengthen its grass root. A sizable number of BJP leaders distanced themselves from the organisation. Barely a month before the election, when the BJP and BJD parted ways, a ‘cadre mess’ Orissa BJP was walking on its lost path.

Party’s poor organisational position could be attributed as another reason for the defeat. Those who keep track of BJP affairs in Orissa must have known a major change of guard took place after 2004. This resulted in a vertical division in the organisation. The organisation and elected persons were divided into two different polls.

Most of the new guards were not equipped to handle the party affairs and seriously lacked assertiveness to manage the organisation. It was a fact that the old guard had a mass base, which could not be shifted to the new guards. The new guards could not get visible response neither from within the party nor from the public. They were not acceptable either by the Sangh parivar at large or by the BJP sympathisers.

The situation - Cold War like between the old guards and the new guards, which created a negative atmosphere in the rank and file of the party. Knowingly or un-knowingly the network of Sangh was asked to use negatively. The active section of the party was made idle. The division in the organisation, which became wide and open, reflected in the public. This brought confusion amongst the grass root workers, who naturally questioned which side they could stick to. As a result the party cadre was made idle and the real workers felt left out. Hence the Orissa BJP could not come to a work stable condition.

A month before the election, when the BJD broke its ties with the BJP, the saffron party was in search of candidates for number of seats. For many segments the party selected wrong candidates. The two main criteria for candidates’ selection – ability to win and loyalty to the party were brushed aside. Nigh hand-picked candidates featured prominently in party list. At some places the party selected candidates those who were neither primary members, nor from a RSS background nor had a mass base. Some mere party hoppers, simply rejected by other parties, in quest of getting a ticket switched to BJP.

Even during the election the Cold War in the party continued to play its role. Most of those who have experience in poll management were replaced by those who were new to planning and strategy. As a result party’s ‘War room’ was severely mismanaged.

A sizable chunk of BJP candidates were not confident to win elections. Statements like “Orissa BJP is preparing for the 2014 election” by some leaders during the heat and dust of election seriously affected the zeal of the party workers. “If not vote for us, vote for Congress but do not vote for BJD” - some politically immature candidates even went on to campaign - severely went against the party. This writer has seen some poorly attended rally of the saffron party during the election.

Unlike the BJD the saffron party failed to project a ‘real leader.’ Orissa was confused to understand who heads the State unit of BJP, forget about accepting a leader. In such a situation Naveen’s BJD was more acceptable.

The scriptwriters of the saffron party failed to highlight the development initiative, the party had brought in a decade old regime, which it shared with BJD. It is a fact that the BJP has a sizable share in the achievements in the decade-long coalition Government. The Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme could be cited as an example. Orissa Government launched the scheme by the Civil Supplies department headed by a BJP minister. But BJP did not bother to highlight it in the election. On the other hand BJD used the issue to garner vote of the people below poverty line. In Orissa, where food scarcity is a major problem, the ‘politics of rice’ was a major electoral savior for the Naveen led BJD.

In addition to that, in its election campaign, BJD highlighted a number of pro-poor schemes initiated by Orissa Government, in which BJP also had its equal share. The party linked the development initiates with its name and presented its ‘success story’ to the masses, which BJP failed to do.

It was not only its own development initiative which BJP failed to highlight during the election campaign, but also the party did not raise issues which are plaguing Orissa -- Maoist menace, rehabilitation, distress selling of paddy, tribals being squeezed out of their ancestral lands -- which could have taken shape of a strong anti-incumbency against Naveen Patnaik.

In an era of media clutter, where political advertisement plays a major role in shaping the public opinion, Orissa BJP’s advertisement catchlines had nothing different to attract the masses. For example the advertisement “Athera Odisha re BJP aagare (This time in Orissa BJP is ahead) could not explain why the State should vote for BJP.

Intra-party activities, weak organisational position, inability to understand issues and an assertiveness to raise them all paid for the abysmal performance of BJP in Orissa. The result was for everybody to see. The party’s very existence is in serious peril in the face of a victor BJD and a reviving Congress. The result has come as a shock therapy for BJP. To rise as a strong unit, the Orissa BJP has to improve quality, acceptability and capacity. But, can BJP rise in Orissa? If it thinks of a Phoenix like rise, its time to arise and awake.

A many-layered tale

Saswat Panigrahi

The Storyteller’s Tale
Omair Ahmad
Penguin, Rs 225

The great city of Delhi was battered and bruised at different periods of history. One such destruction the glorious city was witness to was when Ahmad Shah Abdalai, the founder of the Durrani empire, plundered it in the 1700s to satiate his thirst for loot and pillage.

Memories of that large-scale destruction haunted one storyteller. He wanted to speak of the pain the devastation had caused in his heart. That storyteller is the protagonist of The Storyteller’s Tale by Omair Ahmad. Without a name, he is simply called “the storyteller”. The central aspect of the book is the love for beauty. Perhaps, the writer has rightly said in his introductory note, “...in many chambers of music and dance, the word love was spoken of in many ways, it was nothing but a currency of exchange of looks and glances, and promises that were never truly what they pretended to be.”

The storyteller’s love for the city of Delhi comes alive when he is asked which place he belongs to. “Dilli jo ek shahr tha, aalam mein intekhaab…jisko falakh ne loot kar barbaad kar diya/ Hum rahnewale usi ujde dayaar ke.” (Delhi, that chosen city of the world/ … That the heavens have looted and laid waste/ I am an inhabitant of that destroyed garden.)

As the story unfolds, the protagonist finds himself in an isolated casbah which happens to be that of Mirza Azeem Jalal-ud-din Khan. Here the storyteller encounters a Begum suffering the ‘imprisonment’ of loneliness in the Mirza’s absence. He is intoxicated by her incredible beauty.

The Begum invites the storyteller in to share some stories. The protagonist dwells on tales of love, loyalty, hurt, fear and distrust. This provokes the Begum into responding with her own story — a tale of two brothers who were each other’s closest companions and about the adventure of their youth. The tale takes the storyteller by surprise. In a sharp move, he starts retelling the Begum’s story through a many layered tale of innocence, love, friendship, sacrifice, loyalty, betrayal, anguish, perfidy, promises, success, and loss.

As the story moves on, the storyteller directs the Begum to that part of the tale which deals with raiders and looters and describes how the brave had thrown away their lives to keep the marauders at bay. Perhaps somewhere the storyteller is aware of the fact that the master of the haveli was a worse brigand, aptly called a captain of men — Mirza.

The storyteller speaks his words with felt experience. He despises the raiders because they destroyed something which they couldn’t build and whose greatness they could not even fully grasp.

At another level the storyteller’s tale reminds the Begum that it was the same city her husband raided. The narrative seems to tell her that the storyteller had come to intimately know those myriad layers of suffering over time.

While coursing through the book, the reviewer finds that the author has tried to experiment with his imagination and style by narrating a set of stories within a story, where each character has a different story to tell. However, what the writer has disregarded is the complexity of his presentation. There are lots of sub-stories surrounding the main theme, where some stories are in their appropriate context, others not. In the process the main theme seems to get overshadowed.

-- Review published in Book page, Sunday Pioneer on Mar 24 2009

Orissa: The feel bad factor

With the intensification of offensive by the BJP against the BJD, the BJD faces the first serious threat to its position at the helm in Orissa in a decade, writes Saswat Panigrahi

Orissa is all poised for a tough triangular contest between the BJD, BJP, and the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. With each of the major players claiming a dedicated vote bank, it is indeed difficult to read the State’s political calculus.

The Congress, which boasts of a traditional vote base in the State, has not been able to improve on its present reach as the party has miserably failed to project itself as a responsible Opposition during the decade-long BJD-BJP coalition Government. There has been an anti-Congress wave across the State since JB Patnaik’s stint as Chief Minister, a tenure marked by mass corruption which severely compromised Orissa’s development. Riding on this wave the BJD-BJP coalition swept the 2000 Assembly elections, continuing into the 2004 State elections when the anti-Congress factor combined with Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s popularity gifted the alliance another term. With Orissa’s electorate convinced that the State had been taken care of during the NDA regime, the BJP won seven of the nine parliamentary seats it contested and the BJP-BJD together won 18 out of 21.

Election 2009 is no longer an either-or contest. With the BJP and the BJD having reached a point of no-return it is time now for a parallel division of the anti-Congress votes between the two.

Indeed, a large chunk of voters in the State are fed up with the Congress-led UPA’s national security strategy, its economic policies, its failure to tackle terrorism, and its fetish for communal and caste politics. This creates space for a “moderate BJP” both in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Apart from the BJP’s considerable support base among the youth, the saffron party also has a dedicated section of voters that believes in cultural nationalism.

As for the BJD, while it may not be an ideology-based party, it is a regional outfit with grassroots presence across the State. Additionally, it has a stronger cadre than the BJP. With no ideology to fall back on, the party has to seek votes on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s decade-old performance. Here, there are enough issues in the State like bijli, sadak and paani, rehabilitation, religious conflicts and farmers’ crisis that could assume the shape of a faceless anti-incumbency factor against Patnaik. An autopsy of the problems plaguing Orissa reveals Patnaik’s lack of political will to address them which could translate into a negative verdict for the BJD.

While the Patnaik regime has brought several international investment projects to the State, reports suggest several projects are in the process of being shifted out of the State, pointing to Patnaik’s failure to address the gap between Orissa’s potential and performance. The other side of the story of course is the plight of thousands of displaced people who have been denied the benefits of these projects. The Kalinganagar massacre of January 2004, which claimed the lives of 12 tribals demanding compensation for lost land and homes, remains a blot. “Given the issue of rehabilitation, Naveen’s thirst for foreign investment will boomerang for the BJD in this election,” says a political observer.

To add to Patnaik’s list of woes is the State’s moribund agriculture sector. There is also mounting discontent among a section of Government employees and pension holders. The State’s health sector is in a chaos. The Maoists have unleashed havoc in the State during Patnaik’s decade-old regime. Eighteen of Orissa’s 30 districts are known to be Naxal infested with the Government not seen to have taken any visible action to curb the threat. On another front, tribals have been squeezed out of their ancestral land. Religious conflicts and the issue of conversion with Christian missionaries have rocked tribal districts like Kandhamal where the State Government has been seen on the side of the missionaries. Eight months have passed since the killing of VHP veteran Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati but there has been no progress in the case so far. Laxmanananda was a revered spiritual icon in the State, known for his relentless struggle for tribal welfare and for spearheading the anti-conversion movement. In this context, the BJD faces the dual charge of being anti-Hindu and anti-tribal.

By severing ties with the BJP Patnaik has unwittingly helped his former ally. Had the BJP and the BJD fought the election together, the BJP could not have escaped being part of a Government that could not punish the killers of a Hindu icon. Following the split, the BJP will be comfortable in revisiting its Hindu vote bank. Also, in the recent past the Orissa BJP has been plagued with factions, a reason for its poor performance in the recently concluded urban local elections. With the split, the faction-ridden State unit has united both against the BJD and the Congress.

“After Laxmananda’s murder the BJP cadre wanted the party to move away from the coalition with the BJD. But the coalition’s continuance had saddened the cadre. With the BJD parting ways with the BJP there is now a feel-good factor with the party coming together as a cohesive body to prove Naveen wrong,” says senior political commentator Pratap Mohanty.

Following the split with the BJP, Patnaik’s hobnobbing with the Left, the JMM and the NCP has deepened the impression of him being an opportunist. After CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury and CPI general secretary AB Bardhan called on Patnaik, the NCP, a partner of UPA at the Centre, too joined hands with the BJD. Ironically, the JMM which talks of Orissa’s bifurcation also joined the bandwagon (the arrangement with the JMM has since fallen through). Patnaik scraped through the controversial vote of confidence on March 11 on the support of these parties who once branded him corrupt. However, Patnaik’s new-found friends are considered non-entities in the State’s politics.

The BJD’s political U-turn will be easily acceptable to its leaders since barring a few bearing the Biju legacy, a sizable number of leaders of the party have a Left background, a few are erstwhile Congress while some are mere party huggers.

Playing the wronged party, the BJP is on the upswing. “Naveen betrayed the anti-Congress voters of Orissa, who did not vote exclusively for him, but for the BJP-BJD coalition. He betrayed four crore Oriyas by creating political instability in a stable State,” says BJP MP MA Kharabela Swain. With “betrayal” its running theme the BJP kickstarted its election campaign with a Vijay Sankalp Samabesh where party leader Sushma Swaraj’s speech in Oriya readily caught the people’s imagination, highlighting Patnaik’s inability to speak the language.

This week spelt further trouble for Patnaik when two of his well-known detractors, Bijoy Mohapatra and Dilip Ray, joined the BJP. The two heavyweights command considerable influence in the State’s politics, both sharing the credit for installing Naveen Patnaik as Orissa’s Chief Minister. Mohapatra recently stepped down as president of the Orissa unit of the NCP following his disagreement with the central leadership over supporting the CM. The move comes on the heels of BJD MP Archana Nayak joining the BJP. While Mohapatra declared Naveen a “serial killer” Ray said it was their “collective fight” to unseat the BJD Government and “expose” Naveen Patnaik. Former MP Anadi Sahu has also resigned from the NCP to join the BJP. With such an offensive from the saffron party, the BJD faces the first serious threat to its position at the State’s helm in a decade.

-- Published in 'Agenda', Sunday Pioneer on Mar 29 2009

Fake notes, real problem

To what degree is counterfeit Indian currency becoming an instrument for terror networks? Saswat Panigrahi goes investigating, and returns alarmed

The use of “supernotes” — counterfeit currency or fake rupees — by terrorist syndicates could be seriously undermining India’s war against terror. A smart replica of an authentic note, prepared using the same paper and the same ink, counterfeit currency could seriously devalue the real worth of the Indian currency.

The idea is not a new one. Historically, nations have used the counterfeiting of money as a means of warfare. Britain did this during the American War of Independence, to reduce the value of the Continental dollar. The United States did it during the Civil War against the rebellious Southern States. Times have changed. Now counterfeiting of money has become an ingredient of the terror agenda.

According to a recent Government estimate, counterfeit currency amounting to Rs 169,000 crore is floating around in the Indian financial system. From real estate transactions to ordinary grocery shopping, these bogus notes are being deployed everyday — sometimes innocently, sometimes with a sinister objective. “In 2008, the CBI registered 13 cases having international/ inter-State ramifications relating to the recovery/ seizure of fake Indian currency notes,” says Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) spokesperson Harsh Bhal.

According to the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), between January and August 2008, 1,170 cases had been registered across the country in connection with fake currency. Bogus notes with a face value of Rs 3.63 crore had been seized. NCRB data shows 2,204 such cases were reported in 2007.

Intelligence agencies see the counterfeit rupee attack as a form of “economic terrorism”. They have traced many of the fake currency operations back to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and its ancillary crime syndicates such as the Dawood Ibrahim gang. With a multi-layered network in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and also inside India, counterfeit notes enter India in all three ways — through land, sea and air.

Intelligence officials say the ISI uses terrorist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT), the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) to smuggle and circulate counterfeit currency in India.

A large chunk of fake currency comes in through India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. The frontier with Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and the porous border with Bangladesh in West Bengal, Assam and the Northeast make for entry points. The Uttar Pradesh-Bihar border with Nepal is another route for the inflow of fake currency.

Sea-borne consignments also turn up in Tamil Nadu (from Sri Lanka) and in Gujarat (from Pakistan). Additionally, bogus notes are flown in from Dubai.

Local criminal networks are activated for the purpose. In Rajasthan, for instance, fake currency operations are closely linked to satta (gambling) and opium smuggling. Indirectly, this drug smuggling ends up financing terrorism in Pakistan.

In Dubai, two key Dawood lieutenants — Aftab Bhakti and Babu Gaithan — run operations. The money is transported to India in regular flights, through ordinary passengers. Indian labourers who work in Dubai are the usual targets. The racketeers focus on those who are in need of money to purchase return tickets. They arrange tickets and ask for a favour: “Deliver our cargo to India.”

The passengers are handed ordinary suitcases, with perhaps perfume bottles and clothes packed inside. A false bottom conceals the fake currency, wrapped in carbon paper or hidden in photo albums. From Dubai, the fake currency consignments reach two major transit points — Mumbai and Hyderabad.

In India, counterfeit currency has long been seen as a source of funding for terrorism. Investigations into at least four cases — the Hyderabad bombings of August 2007; the attack on the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in December 2005; the Ahmedabad bombings of July 2008; and the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai — revealed a link.

Dangerously, the counterfeiters have managed to find their way into the official banking system. “Perhaps there is no better way to pummel India’s economy,” says an intelligence official. He explains the modus operandi. Fake currency operatives usually deposit the notes during peak hours when bank tellers are pressed for time and liable to make mistakes.

A few months ago, fake currency amounting to nearly Rs 3 crore was found in the chest of the State Bank of India’s Domariaganj branch in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddarthnagar district. Some fake notes were also found in the currency chest of ICICI Bank’s Sanjay Place branch in Agra. The examples can go on.

Where are the fake notes printed? A CBI report to the Finance Ministry suggested that the Pakistan Government printing press in Quetta (Baluchistan) was churning out large quantities of counterfeit Indian currency.

Karachi’s security press, and two other presses in Lahore and Peshawar, have also been suspected.

Reports say the paper for the fake notes is sourced from London. Indian investigators also allege the Pakistani Government imports currency-standard printing paper far in excess of official needs. The extra quantum is handed over to the ISI, it is believed.

The fine quality of Pakistan-produced fake currency has alarmed India. Printed on security paper, the sophistication and craftsmanship is of a high order. “Only a specialist can make out the notes as counterfeit,” says an intelligence official. The fake notes duplicate serial numbers and floral designs of genuine notes. In addition, they even have the security wire or “guide wire” — the common man’s mode of authenticating a currency note.

However, there remain some printing misalignments. The Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines containing features, which can help the common man establish whether the currency is fake or genuine.

So far the Government of India has not been able to put in place a comprehensive mechanism to check the entry and spread of fake currency. On their part, security agencies are clamouring for intense scrutiny of India’s banking system. They are not sure what it hides.

The RBI is contemplating enhancing security features in Indian rupee notes. It also proposes to withdraw all currency notes printed between 1996 and 2000 and gradually introducing a new series of currency notes. Serial numbers of notes printed in that period have tended to be used most by counterfeiters.

However, in the larger reckoning, the problem remains. If and when India does decide to take action against Pakistan-based terror, it may find that it is not enough to destroy merely military camps. A certain currency printing press in Quetta may also need to be blown up!

Spot a Counterfeit

• The value of the note, “500”, is printed partially in the front and partially on the reverse. The number appears as one when viewed against the light.


• In order to allow the visually impaired to identify the value of the note, a circle, which can also be felt by touch, appears here.
• Mahatma Gandhi’s picture, lines in different directions and a mark showing “500” appear here. Viewed better when note is held against light.
• Reserve Bank seal, guarantee and promise clause, Mahatma Gandhi’s picture, RBI Governor’s signature and Ashoka Pillar emblem on the left, and identification facility for the visually impaired, are printed in intaglio and can be felt by touch.
• Colour of denomination appears green when note is held flat, and blue when held at an angle. Font size reduces too.
• A band with “Bharat” in Hindi and “RBI” written on it, which can change from green to blue when viewed from different angles.
• “RBI” and “500” can be seen with a magnifying glass between Gandhiji’s picture and the vertical band.
• A vertical ‘latent image’ of the number 500 when the note is held horizontally.
• The year the note is printed in appears on the reverse


• The number “500” (as explained in 1), seen from front and reverse.

-- Published in 'Agenda' of Sunday Pioneer on January 18, 2009