Aseem Trivedi cartoonist arrested by Mumbai police

Cartoonist Assem Trivedi sent to police custody for sedition by Mumbai police

Cartoonist Assem Trivedi sent to police custody for sedition 

The cartoonist who was arrested by Mumbai police on Saturday for allegedly displaying questionable caricatures of Parliament, the national emblem and the Constitution during an India Against Corruption (IAC) protest and posting the same on a social networking site, was remanded to police custody till September 16 after being produced before a holiday court on Sunday.

According to the Bandra-Kurla Complex police, Aseem Trivedi had put up the caricatures in the form of posters during an IAC protest in December 2011 at the MMRDA grounds.

"The cartoons by Trivedi depicted Parliament as a commode and showed the national emblem with wolves instead of lions. The cartoons were obviously aimed at creating unrest in the society," said C Bhosale, senior inspector of police.

After a lawyer, Amit Arvind Katarnavre, approached the police in January, they filed a complaint against Trivedi on January 30 under relevent sections of the Indian Penal Code, the National Emblem Act and the Information Technology Act.

"We had been trying to trace Trivedi, but to no avail. In August, the Bandra metropolitan court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Trivedi," said Bhosale.

Around 20 days ago, the BKC police dispatched teams to Lucknow and Kanpur to nab Trivedi. However, he was not found. The police, around a fortnight ago, learnt that he was in hiding in the Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district.

Kanpur-based cartoonist Aseem Trivedi who was arrested on charges of posting seditious contents on his website is seen outside a Mumbai court. PTI

After ascertaining that he was living somewhere under the jurisdiction of the Ganga Ghat police station in Uttar Pradesh, the BKC police sought the help of its Uttar Pradesh counterparts, following which Trivedi was arrested and produced before a court there.

"Since Trivedi was told that there was a non-bailable warrant issued against him in Mumbai, he surrendered before the BKC police on Saturday. We have availed his custody till September 16," said Bhosale.

Meanwhile, Preeti Sharma Menon, an IAC volunteer alleged that she and other IAC volunteers wished to meet Trivedi to plan his defence procedure, however, they were not allowed to do so.

"After the order at the holiday court on Sunday, when Aseem tried to address the media, the police roughed him up badly and pushed him into the police van. We are shocked at the way an artist and an activist is being treated by the police," she said.

Source:Hindustan Times

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National Commission for Minorities slams Tarun Gogoi for comments on Muslims

GOGOI's Remarks unfair by Wajahat Habibullah

NCM slams Tarun Gogoi for comments on Muslims

The Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Wajahat Habibullah on Sunday took on Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for his remarks against Muslims in the state in an interview.

Gogoi, in an interview to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, blamed illiteracy amongst Muslims for their population growth.

Saying that the reason for the growth of Muslim population in the state was more local than outside, the Chief Minister sought to divert attention from more pressing issues like illegal immigration.

Assam has witnessed week-long clashes between Bodo tribals and Muslims over reasons that are not clear.  80 people died in the violence that took place in the last week of July. Lakhs were rendered homeless, forced to run away and stay in refugee camps.

Taking on Gogoi, Habibullah said, "It's feasible to say that domestic population has increased but to ascribe that to illiteracy is stretching it a little. The Muslim community has benefited by schooling but it has not risen to the same level compared to other communities.

"A lot has to be done to promote literacy... The query is to implement the government's programme. Birth rate is higher among Muslims, but whether illiteracy can be a reason is a matter which I would query.

"NCM had visited Kokrajhar and had concluded that the present crisis has not been precipitated by inflow of immigrants.

"Muslim community is receptive to schooling. They require their girl children to be educated. I don't know what facts they has before him, I don't have any such facts but they is the CM who might have some knowledge... but the manner of the statement is inappropriate for the person of the rank of the CM."

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Tarun Gogoi commented on Muslims

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi said: 'lliterate' Muslims bear more children 

lliterate  Muslims bear more children- Tarun Gogoi

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has said he "100%" believes Muslim population is increasing in his state because the community is "illiterate" and breeds more. "It is because of low literacy, illiteracy. Illiteracy is there--most Muslims are illiterates. Every family has six, seven, eight, nine, 10 members," said Gogoi in an interview to news channel CNN-IBN

Gogoi said this in response to a question whether he believed had Muslim population in certain Assam districts had increased because of illegal immigration. Instead, he blamed illiteracy. "It is because of illiteracy," he said when he was asked the question again.

He was asked if he implying that the illiterate breed more. Yes, 100 per cent I believe," Gogoi replied.

Assam has been simmering with tension since riots broke out between ethnic Bodos and Muslim settlers in late July. The violence has killed at least 90 people so far, and 400,000 have found shelter in government relief camps.

It also affected thousands of people from Assam who were living in parts of south and central India but fled home after rumors suggested Muslims were planning retaliatory attacks on them.

Online images of people killed in cyclones and earthquakes had been used to spread fear of revenge attacks, according to the government. It is unclear who was behind the images.

The Bodos and Muslim settlers, who mostly came from the former East Pakistan before it became Bangladesh in 1971, have clashed repeatedly over the years but the recent violence is the worst since the mid-1990s. Most of the fighting is focused on land rights in the area.

"It is a change of procedure that has delayed the whole process. Even the Defence Minister himself has admitted it," he said.

According to Gogoi, since there was much improvement in the situation of Assam till June, the Central government took back many paramilitary personnel from the state to be deployed in other disturbed areas.

"As the head of the state, definitely I am responsible," he said. 

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International Literacy Day

UN flags key role of reading and writing in global peace , On International Literacy Day

UNO- International Literacy Day

This year's International Literacy Day, observed yearly on 8 September, has a special focus on the essential relationship between literacy and peace.

7 September 2012 United Nations officials have stressed the importance of literacy in accelerating peace and development, calling for greater efforts to enable babies, youth and adults to read, write and transform their lives.

We must not permit conflict to deprive babies and adults of the crucial opportunity of literacy. Literacy is a essential human right, and the foundation of all schooling and lifelong learning, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, said in her message for the Day, which the agency has been marking for over decades.

She added that literacy transforms the lives of people, allowing them to make informed choices & empowering them individuals to become agents of modify.

Lasting peace depends on the development of literate citizenship & access to schooling for all. Amidst political upheaval & escalating violence in lots of parts of the world, literacy must be a priority in the peace-building agenda of all nations, he said.

Literacy is as well as a development accelerator, enabling societies to grow more inclusively & sustainably, he noted. Literacy programmes can become a key part of future development strategies, opening new opportunities & skills for all.

Peace & sustainable development are interdependent, & it is crucial for the to create & strengthen simultaneously, Ms. Bokova continued.

As part of the celebrations for the Day, UNESCO has brought together representatives from these 41 countries to examine the lessons learned over the decade & identify ways of accelerating progress to meet the Schooling for All (EFA) goals established by the world's governments in 2000 for a 50 percent improvement in literacy levels worldwide by 2015.

This year marks the finish of the UN Literacy Decade, proclaimed in 2002 to galvanize government action worldwide against illiteracy. Over the decade, & despite considerable hard work & some major achievements, 775 million people are still thought about non-literate, of whom 85 percent live in 41 countries.

The EFA goals are made up expanding early childhood care & schooling, providing free & compulsory primary schooling for all, promoting learning & life skills for young people & adults, increasing adult literacy, achieving gender parity & improving the quality of schooling.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his message for the Day, said the global movement for schooling needs a large push, & that is why they will be launching a new Schooling First initiative later this month.

The initiative focuses on priorities: putting every infant in school, improving the quality of learning & fostering global citizenship.

I call on world leaders & all involved with schooling to join this initiative. The cost of leaving millions of babies & young people on the margins of society is far greater than the money necessary to reach the international goals for schooling,� they said.

Ask any parent what they require for their babies, even in war zones & catastrophe areas where food, medicine & shelter might be thought about the highest priorities, & the answer is the same: schooling for babies. Ask any infant what they or he wishes to be when they grow up, & the answer is rooted in schooling. Schooling is the gateway to fulfilling those aspirations.

A literate world is a more calm world, & a more harmonious & healthy world, Mr. Ban added. On this observance of International Literacy Day, let us pledge to join together to move the literacy agenda forward.

Other events taking place at UNESCO's Paris headquarters include the award ceremony for the 2012 UNESCO literacy prizes, & the nomination of singer & songwriter A'salfo as a Goodwill Ambassador to contribute to the agency's efforts to fight against exclusion, discrimination & injustice.

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