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| Feb 12, 2007 |
Lawyers' model code of conduct on anvil
Ranchi, Feb. 11: It will be mandatory for advocates to get "no-objection certificate" to appear in a case already being conducted by his another colleague, says model rule formulated by the Jharkhand State Bar Council (JSBC), for its over 14,000 members in the state.
Once approved by the Bar Council of India, it will be communicated to courts and advocates for implementation. According to the conduct code, an advocate will also have to put his or her full signature with their respective registration numbers on documents they file before any court.
Some of the other rules include a two-year tenure for advocate associations functioning in the state.
It also provides for the annual auditing of accounts of advocates' associations by JSBC.
The rules reportedly deprive those advocates from welfare benefits, who are not registered with JSBC. They also restrain advocates from going on strike without permission of JSBC, which would have the power, according to the conduct code, to grant permission for only a one-day strike.
The rules also restrain advocates, having membership of more than one lawyer's body in the state, from standing in election for more than one association in a year.
Council president Bibhuti Prasad Pandey and vice president S.N. Roy, in a joint press conference this morning, said the rules intended to bring in uniformity in the association's election tenure apart from making the atmosphere conducive to legal practising. He said the rules were formulated at a JSBC meeting yesterday.
Not all advocates, however, agree to the rules. Lawyer Arvind Kumar Lal felt advocates would be at risk to put their registration number along with the signature. "If an advocate puts his registration number with his full signature, chances of he being in trouble will increase. It will be easier for a fraud if the advocates' registration were easily available with their signature," he said.
Madan Gopal, another lawyer of Ranchi civil court, said it would be difficult for advocates to take permission from JSBC if they have to promptly react to a particular incident in remote areas like Garhwa and Hussainabad.
"These are remote areas and it will not be easy for the advocate there to come to the capital to inform the council before taking a decision of strike on a local issue," he added.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070212/asp/jamshedpur/story_7381111.asp
There has to be a practical way of tackling poverty
OPINION/ Nitish Kumar
Business Standard / New Delhi February 11, 2007
There should be transparent national standards and parameters to decide who the poor are, what their number is and how many below poverty line (BPL) families there are in India. Some years ago, the Planning Commission had entrusted the task of enumerating BPL families and setting the cut-off point with the state governments.
Accordingly, in 2002-03, in line with a Union government initiative, the state government had conducted house-to-house surveys all over in Bihar and had made a list of BPL families. But then, the Union Government decided to use NSSO samples to define BPL families. This is an impractical way of doing it.
This is not the only problem. The Union Ministry of Rural Development and the Union Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies have different sets of BPL figures. They need to work in tandem on this. After several rounds of discussions with the rural development ministry, 65 lakh families in Bihar have been declared BPL.
But the food and civil supplies ministry has just 50 lakh BPL families on its list and has made arrangements to supply foodgrains accordingly. Because there is no agreement on figures, 35 lakh desperately poor families in Bihar have been deprived of BPL status and the concurrent benefits. I know this because a majority of the cases coming to the Janata Durbar are petitions of families begging to be included in the BPL list.
The Union government's standards for deciding the poor and their enumeration is faulty. In Bihar the poverty threshold is much lower. As a result lakhs of families fall through the cracks. This is not a matter of trading charges, accusations or arguments. There has to be a practical way of addressing poverty.
The Opposition has suggested we rename Patna as Azeemabad. Such constructive suggestions should have been addressed earlier by those who have been in power for 15 years in the state. Such demands are not serious and we don't think they have anything to do with the priorities of the state: poverty removal, progress, industrialisation, and the concerns of ordinary people.
We are deeply concerned about the ongoing Madhesi movement in Nepal. We share an open border with Nepal. We have social relations with the people. We are emotionally linked to them. Those living in the border areas should exercise patience and restraint.
The Government of Nepal is capable of sorting out its internal problems. As these are international matters, it is the provenance of the Government of India which is better placed to take an initiative on this matter.
I understand Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has sought the intervention of the religious leader of the Tibetans, His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, to get the sacred remains of Lord Buddha to Vaishali. This is a religious matter and should not be politicised. When the Rashtriya Janata Dal was in power in the state, why were the remains not brought to Vaishali ?
Today I have heard complaints from Mrs Kanti Devi, the mukhiya of Kidamrai, Arwal, that panchayat members do what they like and ride roughshod over the panchayat, even in the matter of appointing anganwadi workers. I have directed the district authorities in Arwal to make enquiries and send me a report.
Shradha Devi from village Akalganj, Nalanda district has told me that her husband was kidnapped and murdered, and his body thrown in the sugarcane field. Those who did this are roaming around freely. I have seen the papers and issued directions that the accused be arrested immediately.
I have asked the District Magistrate to take immediate action.I will be monitoring these cases personally. About 2500 people came to this Janata Durbar. I thank them for having faith.
— Translated from Hindi (Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, addressing reporters at the conclusion of the Janata Durbar held by his government on 5 February 07 )
http://www.business-standard.com/economy/storypage.php?leftnm=3&subLeft=3&chklogin=N&autono=274322&tab=r
Father wants to have 30 children
Patna: It's 11 and counting for a blacksmith in Bihar who wants to set a record by having 30 children.
"I will set a record for fathering at least 30 children," said Kapil Dev Vishwakarma, a resident of a village in Aurangabad district, about 100km from here.
His wife, Sona Devi, in her early 30s, delivered her 11th baby on Tuesday. "It was a happy moment for me. I hope to have a dozen by next year," remarked Vishwakarma, who earns a meagre living by punching cattle shoes.
"I have already made a record in my village by fathering 11 children," he said. Vishwakarma, who can barely read and write, admitted that it was difficult to manage his large family but he was not particularly worried.
"Look...I have firm belief that a child is born with its own destiny. After all, God will provide him food like He does for millions born daily in the world."
Sona, with the newborn in her lap, said children were God's gift to them for power and prosperity. She is against family planning.
Their elder daughter Gunja Devi got married a few years ago. The other children include five sons and five daughters.
The couple said that activists engaged in spreading awareness about family planning and reproductive health had not visited them.
Millions of rupees are spent annually to create awareness about the importance of small families but so many like Vishwakarma are not covered by the campaign. The national fertility rate is 3 children per woman and Bihar's fertility rate is 4.4.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/11/10103437.html
Italian SMEs set for big deals in Bengal, look for SEZ slot
Kolkata, Feb 11 Italian and Indian companies will be signing some big deals here on Monday in energy, power, textiles and food processing, as one of the largest-ever trade teams from Italy chooses to make Kolkata its first halt in a five-city tour of India.
Over 400 Italian entrepreneurs and bankers have laid siege to Kolkata to capitalise on what they see as West Bengal's major advantages --- surplus power, low primary costs and land availability.
Giuseppe Morandini, president of the small industry council of Confindustria, the industry body, said Italian small & medium enterprises (SMEs), the backbone of their industry, are particularly appreciative of West Bengal's renewed focus on industry.
"One thing that is really interesting and moving for us entrepreneurs of the SMEs is the push that you want to give in this area to the manufacturing sector," he said, "because that is the best choice to create new workplaces and also jobs in the service sector."
Morandini has brought the advance party in his first touchdown in India, while prime minister Romano Prodi would be coming here on Tuesday.
Morandini, speaking via an interpreter, declining to name the companies that will be signing the deals, pointed out that ABI, the Italian banks' association, had on Friday announced a Euro 300 million designed specifically for Italian companies investing in India.
Italian companies are also looking at the special economic zones (SEZs) in West Bengal for investments.
West Bengal, Morandini said, is energy-surplus and a "very competitive market". "The situation is particularly favourable from the point of energy," he said. "The primary costs and land costs are also very competitive."
At the moment, only 3% of the 313 Italian companies in India are present in West Bengal.
The team consists mainly of SMEs. Morandini clarified that the European Union definition of an SME is based on number of employees (a maximum of 250) and not turnover or asset size as in India.
Prodi, at a halt in Chennai on Sunday, expressed the hope that bilateral trade between India and Italy would go up from $5.2bn at present to $13bn over the next three years.
On Monday, there will be four technical sessions and over 2000 business-to-business meetings at a programme organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci).
Italy's minister for international trade, Emma Bonino, would be addressing one of the sessions.
Prodi, accompanied by three ministers, top officials of the Confindustria --– including its chief Cordero di Montezemolo, who is chairman of carmaker Fiat --- and the ABI, and over 430 businessmen representing 300 companies, would be in India for six days, visiting Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Delhi.
Prodi's goal, according to Italian news agency ANSA, is to make Italy "Europe's door to Asia."
URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=154541
Geoscientists criticise Orissa mining policy
State Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 11 The Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists (SGAT) has strongly criticised the Orissa government's ad hoc mining policy, stating that it is not backed by scientific data.
Disapproving the indiscriminate signing of memorandums of understanding for steel projects, the body suggested that the government should first make a scientific assessment of the iron ore reserves in the state.
"The state government should constitute a task force comprising experts and technologists to assess the mineral resources and find out modalities for optimum use of the minerals for the benefit of the state," said SGAT advisor BK Mohanty.
Mohanty said while the state government is signing MoUs with the presumption that iron ore reserves are estimated to be 5200 million tonne, the Indian Bureau of Mines' latest report puts them at 4800mt.
SGAT president RC Mohanty told reporters that they welcome the Hoda Committee's recommendation of open sky policy for RP and time-bound disposal of mining applications by the state government.
URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=154542
200 bonded labourers freed in Hazaribagh
RANCHI: Who said child labour has been banned in India? Nearly 100 child labourers along with another 100 bonded adults including women, were freed from a brick kiln near Ramgarh in Hazaribagh district on Saturday and brought to Ranchi from where they boarded trains to their respective states.
Jugmat Devi looked the picture of despair and abject penury clutching her two-year-old son in her lap who was busy eating out from the food packet she had picked up from near an NGO office. Hailing from Urkha village of Raigarh district of neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Jugmat watched mediapersons and social activists with apprehension in her eyes. "Please do not ask me anything as I do not want to land in any further trouble before boarding the train to my village," Jugmat said.
Egged on by the other freed bonded labourers, Jugmat, however, gave graphic details about the harrowing time she had had in her four-month stay at the brick kiln. "The kiln owner paid us little, and when some of us resisted, he assaulted us physically, threatening to throw us in the furnace," she said adding her experience had been so terrifying that she vowed never to return to Jharkhand in search of work despite her hardships.
Owned by one Surendra Mahto, the brick kiln was raided late on Friday evening when a social activist from Chhattisgarh, S N Gardia, approached the Hazaribag administration seeking safe release of the bonded labourers.
Gardia said he came to learn about the plight of labourers only when two of them -- Chedi Lal and Ajit -- escaped from the clutches of the kiln owner and narrated their woes to him. "After completing all the legal formalities, I approached Hazaribag DC Himani Pandey who then directed the Ramgarh SDO to conduct raids and free the bonded labourers," he said.
Social activists from Chhattisgarh also revealed that the kiln was being run illegally and the local police had already lodged an FIR against Mahto before the raid was conducted.
Incidentally, Mahto is still at large and the police have failed to arrest him even after 48 hours have elapsed since the FIR was lodged. Ramgarh DSP Lalbabu Paswan told TOI on phone that raids were still being conducted at several places to trace the accused. "We hope to arrest Mahto very soon," the DSP added reassuringly.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/200_bonded_labourers_freed_in_Hazaribagh/articleshow/1593163.cms
India: 1857 – An Overiew of Events
What we know as the largest anti-colonial uprising anywhere in the world in the 19th century, and the only widespread armed revolution in the sub-continent's history, encompassed a series of actions that began with a Mutiny of soldiers in Dumdum, West Bengal, in January 1857, and continued into 1859, spreading across north, north-western and central provinces. For two whole years the people bravely fought against the might of British rule, shaking it to its roots even in defeat. It was 'sparked off' by the anger over greased cartridges, which they saw as attacks on their religions and culture by an arrogant colonial power, but increasingly became a contestation of power.
Many historians have marked that 1857 was 'both a culmination and a beginning' in the history of popular struggles in the sub continent. 'No armed struggle of that magnitude against colonial rule took place thereafter', and 1857 itself emerged as much out of the pattern of revolts that preceded it as from the impact of British rule in all its dimensions. On the other hand, experience of 1857 was carried over in the form of lessons learnt—in terms of possibilities and strategies for future combat—and as memory. It meant that British could no longer take their rule for granted, and had to bring in changes in administration and policies which angered the people even more, while for the people of South Asia it meant a huge leap in political consciousness and political organization thereafter.
At another level, 1857 was a manifestation of the spontaneous unity of Hindus and Muslims, which came from shared lives, and which later had to be campaigned for in the face of attempts at communal consolidation from late 19th century onwards. The events of 1857 showed that the communal politics did not exist prior to 1858.
Tradition of rebellion, however, was strong. Hardly a year went by without armed rebellion and resistance to British rule, since the beginning of British conquests and up to 1857; and this was true of almost every section of Indian population and every part of the country. Peasants, tribals, dispossessed zamindars, former rulers, were all actors in the fight to prevent the consolidation of British rule. Tipu Sultan had fought the British till the end. Tribal and peasant protests had taken place all over the country. Even soldiers had revolted before—in Bengal in 1764 and in Vellore in 1806, in Barrackpore in 1824—and were ruthlessly punished in the cruelest forms.
There was certainly widespread hatred for foreign rule among a very large section of people by 1857. Therefore despite not being planned, the potential for what happened in 1857 was there, and it could have begun at any time and place, "as soon as provocation may combine with opportunity", as Frederick Halliday, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal said, later in 1858. The incidents of greased cartridges and the Dumdum mutiny of soldiers in January 1857 were followed by one in Barrackpore in March, during which Mangal Pandey, a young soldier very heroically attacked his superior officers. Following this there were refusals to accept greased cartridges in many other places as well, and violent actions by soldiers, accompanied by expressions of sympathy and solidarity for them by civilian populations nearby. The Bengal Army had decisively lit the fire of revolt.
ALL ROUND DISAFFECTION
On April 24 ninety-nine men in Meerut refused to accept greased cartridges. Eighty-five men of the Third Native Cavalry were dismissed, and sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. This was a turning point in many ways: on May 9 and 10 the British were faced with a full scale mutiny. The prisons were broken open, British officers were killed, imprisoned comrades were released, and the men marched to Delhi, where they were welcomed by the local infantry. Civilian population and peasantry in the district came out in revolt.
Delhi was occupied on May 11. This was a very important development as Bahadur Shah the last Moghul, rendered powerless by the British and confined to ceremonial tasks and his residential quarters, was proclaimed the Emperor of Hindustan. As Bipan Chandra says in his book Modern India, "With this single act, the sepoys had transformed a mutiny of soldiers into a revolutionary war."
By it the soldiers proclaimed three things: one, that they still recognized the Moghul king as legitimate ruler and symbol of authority; two, that foreigners were usurpers and needed to be not just defeated but also driven out; three, they did not yet envision a nation in the modern sense as we know it, but were determined to be actors and makers of their own destiny. There was a sense that the British were 'foreigners' and very different from those that people of this country had earlier fought—either those that had come from 'outside' or those who were of this land but another kingdom.
What these soldiers represented in word and deed at this stage of uncompromised rebellion was true then of almost all sections of people in all areas of the country, and the rebellions proceeded accordingly in all other centres of rebellion despite local variations in grievances, demands and class conflicts. These underlying perceptions provided a unity and spread that made for a collective 1857 although different sections of people were affected differently by British rule and had their actions shaped by local circumstances.
The British were seen as having destroyed their whole way of life, and people were out to affirm and regain what they had lost; not in the literal sense, but through asserting their aspirations for justice. Colonialism had shattered the entire village economies and opened them up for loot and robbery by the foreigners. While 'drain of wealth' was not perceived the effects of revenue settlements, changes in crop cultivation and de- industrialisation were very visible and were being directly experienced. The British system of justice, discipline and punishment seemed alien; the legal system with its endless litigation entailing expenses, debts and loss of working time was perceived as extortionist, exploitative and unjust; written contracts and 'useless' paperwork seemed designed to confuse them and was unacceptable to people used to custom bound justice and village level community justice. A number of folk songs in Bhojpuri express the peasants' anger at the legal system and injustice, and show that peasants had their own way of perceiving honour, of how their lives had been overturned and how the communities had lost control. (Details Pankaj Rag, Special Issue, Social Scientist). As he puts it 1857 provided people with a situation in which they could attempt to defy the authority of the Englishman in day to day life. There is no doubt that they also reveled in it and considered it liberating, for the time that it lasted.
Nana Saheb, Rani of Jhansi and Bahadur Shah were aggrieved over the British policy of annexations, the peasants and zamindars of Awadh over the revenue settlements and very stiff taxation, artisans in Lucknow over the unemployment and de industrialization and so on. Mediated by these varied concerns, their hatred for British rule was expressed in equally varied forms: yet the rebels basically hit out at the British officialdom and those seen as representing and implementing policies that affected them adversely.
In addition, attempts at alternative constructions of power, therefore, involved reaching out to the traditional legitimate authorities, but also pushing these authorities to represent what they themselves felt and wanted out of rebellion, and, further, creating formations and rudimentary 'collective' councils for 'administering' areas 'won' from the British. These generalizations can be made on the basis of developments in the princely states where also soldiers and civilian population revolted or was on the verge of discarding their rulers if they did not side with the 'Gadr'(as in Gwalior) or the examples of Delhi and Bundelkhand which brought forth very articulate and broad based proclamations and 'constitutions' by the rebels. Thousands of ordinary people from all walks of life emerged as leaders on the ground, and became legends in their regions. The wahabis provided many ground level leaders. It is an unfortunate aspect of our history text book writing that, apart from Mangal Pandey and a few others only the kings and queens are mentioned by name.
POPULAR DEMOCRATISM
In Delhi 'General' Bakht Khan, a subedar in the British army, who had brought rebelling soldiers from Bareilly assumed command of the new administration. A Court of Administration was established, on an elective principle, with a composite representation, good component of soldiers. It had regular discussions, gave orders, deliberated on questions of fund raising, the establishment of order in the fast emerging chaotic situation and so on. There was no doubt plunder and violence, but also reassuring signs of religious accommodation and respect for practices of both Hindus and Muslims, as in more normal times. The vaguely 'republican' elements of the constitution and expressions of popular democratism created their own internal tensions here.
The language of religion remained the major instrument of communication—here, and everywhere else—as the only language available, facilitating the greatest mobilisation support; natural in an age when ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice, freedom and oppression were still mediated by a pre secular, largely religious world view. Through it appeared the stirrings for justice, freedom and a will to throw out those seen as alien and outsiders, and definitely also those identified as architects of their misery: the British. There was a consciousness of the land (country) belonging to all others except British, and also of the differing and unequal placements of the princes and other 'privileged' and the ordinary people, comprising peasants, artisans and soldiers.
Class configuration of the revolts differed on the ground everywhere, and was changing through phases. In that context 'restoration' and 'freedom' meant different things to different people: for ordinary people not essentially the Mughul Empire and provincial kingdoms or old talukadars and zamindars.
They came together in 1857 everywhere because they had always been fighting together and living together: class struggles had been interspersed in the sub continent's history with fighting between kingdoms. People, as soldiers and civilians (peasants and tribals) had experienced both fighting and owing allegiance to multi-class, multi caste, multi-religious (mixed Hindu and Muslim) armies as much as protesting their class oppressors within their 'own society'. They could therefore rally behind rulers and zamindars and push them towards greater militancy at the same time and with the same ease as they could voice aspirations that contained class content. This is reflected in the folk songs commemorating local leaders, and imbuing them with the desires and aims that they themselves were revolting for. This is true of the rebel constitution of Delhi, the folk songs of Bihar, Awadh, Bundelkhand, and the proclamations of the middle level and local leaders.
SPREAD OF THE REBELLION
The Awadh region saw the widest possible participation from peasants, artisans, shopkeepers, day labourers and zamindars. The annexation of Awadh was seen as an affront and humiliation by all sections of people: it was simply not accepted by them. Displaced zamindars played a significant role here, leading attacks on new zamindars with whom the British had replaced them. Peasants, in their situation of poverty, debt and heavy taxation, peasants saw money lenders as complicit in British designs.
Account books and records of debts were destroyed, and moneylenders were attacked. Law courts, revenue offices and police stations, symbols of British rule, were special targets of popular anger. Here the intensity and widespread character of the revolt is apparent from an estimate that from about 150, 000 people who died fighting, over 100, 000 were civilians…and the British had to 'fight and reconquer many parts of Northern India village by village."(Bipan Chandra, Modern India).
In Faizabad-Ayodhya areas the fiery hero was the 'saintly rebel' Maulvi Ahmadullah. A native of Madras he came to the Faizabad region preaching armed rebellion, and led a bitter battle against British troops. In Muzaffarnagar district the Jat peasantry defied British authority under the leadership of a Mewati Muslim, and also joined the small landed Muslim forces against the British. Bareilly was another important centre of rebellion. In Allahabad a railway store was systematically destroyed, again a symbol of colonial power.
In Kanpur the revolt was led by Nana Saheb, who had been deprived of his legitimate right to the throne because of the British policy of annexations. He proclaimed himself Peshwa. Along with him were Tantia Tope and Azimullah, two very prominent leaders, who became legends in the area. The rebel soldiers, zamindars and peasants, also pushed for and enabled the Begum of Awadh, Hazrat Mahal, to capture Lucknow for sometime and confine the British to their Residency, at the same time proclaiming her son Birjis Kadr as Nawab. In early May Lucknow became a significant site of an urban revolt with artisans, shopkeepers and a wide range of civilian population actively ensuring the capture of the town.
The revolt in central India is associated with the exemplary courage and valour shown by Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, in the face of Maharaja Scindia's support to the British. Here the rebels pushed the Rani into an uncompromising war, a position she honoured to the end, and showed greater capacity for organization. Here it was, as Tapti Roy shows in her work on Bundelkhand, 'a fight for power' in which the rebels emerge as 'attempting to capture nothing less than the apparatus of power'. The soldiers and peasantry formed the backbone of the popular action in this area, though the restoration of the rights of the Rani and of zamindars is better known, no doubt due to the nature of sources studied so far. Reference to folk songs gives a more radical picture in terms of grievances and aspirations of the rebelling population in the area, and also of its composite leadership. Khudabaksh and Ghaus Khan, Jhalkhar Bai, a lower caste woman are some of the heroes here.
The Gwalior contingent, created out of the disbanding of Sindhia's army, played a significant role in 1857. It had a larger component of lower castes, and as with the Bengal army, a mixed religious component. Their revolt engulfed into the uprising even the troops of Scindia and of Baiza Bee. Inayat Khan emerged as leader, and Jahagir Khan was another leader. There are records of differing perceptions and discussions within the Gwalior contingent, as Iqtidar Alam Khan shows, and the contingent contained within it a set of leaders 'capable of acting as the spokesmen of the entire body of sepoys', and showed greater capacity for organization than the Bengal army.
The contingent came over to Rani Laxmi Bai, and on May 19 the troops of the first cavalry marched to Aligarh and captured the treasury here. On May 23 a sizeable section proceeded to Delhi, and by May 26, as Scindia informed the British authorities, the contingent had "ceased to be servants of the government." By May 29 the entire contingent was committed to staging an uprising. There was an outbreak in Jhansi on June 7, a carefully planned uprising on June 14 which resulted in capture of the entire establishment of the contingent, and revolts in Agra, Sultanpur and Seepree. (Details, Iqtidar Alam Khan, Social Scientist, Volume 26, Special Issue on 1857).
In central India an important uprising was that of the Binghal, a small tribe, led by Bir Narayan Singh who was eventually overpowered, convicted of treason and hanged on December 19, 1857. In western India the bhils expressed their anger through regular depredations. Tribals everywhere also settled scores with money lenders and traders. An important feature of their uprisings during 1857 was that they fought alongside non-tribals at this critical juncture, in the process also highlighting their own specific grievances. (Details KS Singh, Special issue Social Scientist).
COMPOSITE LEADERSHIP
In Bihar the hero of 1857 was Kunwar Singh, an 80-year old ruined and discontented zamindar of Jagdishpur, who fought British till the end and has become the subject of thousands of Bhojpuri folk songs which convey people's allegiance to him as well as what they themselves were fighting for. The "firang" (foreigner) was outsider and oppressor both. Names of heroes of these folk songs reflect the multiplicity of leadership at the ground level, and also break the myth of 1857 as mainly led by the well known names in textbooks. Nishan Singh, Zulfikar, Ranjit Yadav, Karman bi (woman), Dharman bi (woman), Beni Madho, Maiku Mallah, Rajab Ali, Madho Singh, and other numerous names testify to the composite leadership of 1857 in the area. The lower castes were very much involved in the revolts here (details, Badri Narayan, Social Scientist, Special Issue 1857).
The mutiny of the sepoys in Ranchi and Hazaribagh also became a signal for the tribals of Palamau to revolt, though not all tribes of Palamau or Ranchi joined the general uprising. The Cheros were joined by Bogtahs, and they further linked up with the forces of Kunwar Singh, and soldiers in Hazarbagh. In November 1857 they attacked Thakurai Raghubar Singh, then the station of a coal company and also several thanas, all in different places, but were defeated and their leaders captured on December 22. A section of retreating Bogtahs fought till the last from behind stone ridges. Stern measures of reprisals took place, their leaders, including Nilambar and Pitambar were captured and hanged. Some Chero jagirdars were also executed. In Ranchi the uprising was led by Bishwanath Nathshah Deo and supported by Jharkhandi Muslims, whose leader was Sheikh Bhikari, and also several Hindus. This was also suppressed brutally. In Hazaribagh the Santhals also came out though there was no organized movement among them now (there had been great santhal rebellions in the early 19th century). The Bhuyias also revolted and tried to recover lost lands.
Everywhere it was evident that apart from the arms with the sepoys, ordinary people fought with whatever they could lay their hands on: pixes, axes, staffs, bows and arrows, whatever. With the great military superiority of the British, the defeat was brutally affected on the rebelling population. Delhi was virtually depopulated, hangings, shooting people from canons, mass killings were the punishments meted out. The British recaptured Delhi in September 1857 and made Bahadur Shah Zafar a prisoner. Nana sahib was defeated at Kanpur. Tantia Tope carried on heroic guerrilla warfare till April 1859 till betrayed, Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi died with a sword in her hand on June 17, 1858, Kunwar Singh of Bihar, Bakht Khan who became leader in Delhi, Khan Bahadur Khan of Bareilly, and Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah of Faizabad were all killed by then, and Begum Hazrat Mahal was forced to flee to Nepal. The thousands of leaders on the ground were no doubt killed brutally and publicly as a show of strength.
Talukdars by and large made peace with the British. The intelligentsia by and large did not come out in favour of the revolts. The rebelling soldiers lost their lives; civilian population was killed in lakhs. It was a war in which the people made a mark on history, and no doubt identified the 'freedom' with themselves—a commonsense that only the later mass movements were to re-create—and perceived of a 'Mulk' even if not of a nation in the modern sense. As we have seen, theirs was a rationality derived both from a feudal- pre capitalist ethos mingled with the specific social experiences of the emerging capitalism under colonialism. At that point of time they expressed less faith in the British than the intelligentsia did, as we have seen from the trajectory of events and proclamations of the time. They established local traditions of resistance to British rule. When they forced their presence again in the twenties, it changed the face of the national movement. In 1857 the leaders of the future had yet to catch up in these terms, had yet to emerge, or one can say were yet unformed.
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/4840/1/240/
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