The Tribulation of a Genius - Nambi Narayanan

                   “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.”                                             ― Benjamin Franklin

                 

                             As long as there are selfish people we the people of India will continue to face the problems of delayed justice. When a person can be alleged  falsely for espionage and be arrested then there will be  many innocent people behind bars and the very existence of such a judicial system is not meaningful. When certain organisations are given extensive powers there must be efficient and vigilant officials heading such organisations .   

                        This is the story of the cruel hardships that a genius scientist had to go through just because a false allegation was made against him .
                                    S. Nambi Narayanan is an Indian scientist. As a senior official at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), he was in-charge of the cryogenics division.

Narayanan introduced the liquid fuel rocket technology in India in the early 1970s, when A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s team was working on solid motors. He foresaw the need for liquid fuelled engines for ISRO’s future civilian space programmes. He was encouraged by the then ISRO chairman Satish DhawanNarayanan introduced the liquid fuel rocket technology in India in the early 1970s, when A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s team was working on solid motors. He foresaw the need for liquid fuelled engines for ISRO’s future civilian space programmes. He was encouraged by the then ISRO chairman Satish Dhawan, and his successor U.R. Rao. Narayanan developed liquid propellant motors, first building the successful 600-kg thrust engine in the mid-1970s and thereafter moving on to bigger engines.

In 1992, India had signed an agreement with Russia for transfer of technology to develop cryogenic-based fuels.The agreement was signed for Rs 235 crore,when the US and France were offering the same technology for Rs 950 crore and Rs 650 crore respectively.Documents show that US president George H. W. Bush wrote to Russia,raising objections against this agreement and even threatening to blacklist the country from the select-five club.Russia,under Boris Yeltsin,succumbed to the pressure and denied cryogenic technology to India.To bypass this monopoly,India signed a new agreement with Russia to fabricate four cryogenic engines after floating a global tender without a formal transfer of technology.Isro had already reached a consensus with Kerala Hitech Industries Limited (Keltch) which would have provided the cheapest tender for fabricating engines.But this did not happen as the spy scandal surfaced in late 1994.

After working for nearly two decades, with French assistance, his team developed the Vikas engine used by several ISRO rockets including the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) that took Chandrayaan-1 to the moon in 2008. The Vikas engine is used in the second stage of PSLV and as the second and the four strap-on stages of Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).

False Espionage charges :

In 1994, Narayanan was falsely charged with leaking vital defense secrets to two alleged Maldivian intelligence officers, Mariam Rasheeda and Fauzia Hassan. Defense officials said the secrets pertained to highly confidential "flight test data" from experiments with rocket and satellite launches. Nambi Narayanan, was among two scientists (the other being D Sasikumaran) that were accused of selling ISRO secrets for millions. However, his house seemed nothing out of the ordinary and did not show signs of the corrupt gains he was accused of.

Narayanan was arrested and spent 50 days in jail. He says that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials who interrogated him wanted him to make false accusations against the top brass of ISRO. He alleges that two IB officials had asked him to implicate A E Muthunayakom, his boss and then Director of the Liquid Propulsion System Centre (LPSC). When he refused to comply, he was tortured until he collapsed and was hospitalised. He says his main complaint against ISRO is that it did not support him. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, who was ISRO chairman at the time stated that ISRO could not interfere in a legal matter..

In May 1996, the charges were dismissed as phony by the Central Bureau of Investigation. They were also dismissed by the Supreme Court of India in April 1998. In September 1999, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) passed strictures against the government of Kerala for having damaged Narayanan’s distinguished career in space research along with the physical and mental torture to which he and his family were subjected. After the dismissal of charges against them, the two scientists, Sasikumar and Narayanan were transferred out of Thiruvananthapuram and were given desk jobs.

In 2001, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ordered the Kerala State Government to pay him a compensation of INR 1 crore (10 million). He retired in 2001. The Kerala High Court ordered a compensation amount of Rs 10 lakhs to be paid to Nambi Narayanan based on a appeal from NHRC India in September 2012.

                                                    On October 3, 2012, The Hindu Reported that Kerala Government has dropped charges against police officials who were alleged to have falsely implicated Nambi Narayanan in the espionage case on the grounds that over 15 years had passed since the case was initiated. The top officer involved in the case, Siby Mathews is currently the Chief Information Commissioner in Kerala.

On November 8, 2012 it is reported that Kerala Government still not complied Kerala High Court order to pay compensation Rs 10 lakhs.

                                    HAS JUSTICE BEEN DONE TO THIS INNOCENT MAN ?

               IS A PALTRY AMOUNT OF 10 LAKHS EQUAL TO THE HARDSHIPS THAT HE WENT THROUGH ?

              HAVE THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY BEHIND THIS FALSE ALLEGATION BEEN BROUGHT TO JUSTICE?

                                                     JUST GIVE IT  A THOUGHT !!!!!

                                                                                - Polisetty Aditya Sravan
                                                                                          A Citizen of India

The Subservience of Begging

                                  The word beggar has been defined as a person who obtains his livelihood by asking for alms. India’s beggary laws are a throwback to the centuries old European vagrancy laws which instead of addressing the socio-economic issues make the poor criminally responsible for their position. The definition of beggar in law states as anyone who appears poor.  Associated with the problems of poverty and unemployment is the problem of beggary which is a social problem of great magnitude and grave concern in developing countries. Begging is a problem for society in as much as a large number of beggars means non utilization of available human resources and drag upon the existing resources of the society.

                                             

                                           Before going into the numbers and stats lets first introspect as to why begging has actually taken form in this society .After some research some experts have found that the habit of begging may have taken shape due to :

1. Lethargy
2. Lack of skills 
3. Incapability 
4. the most important one " Encouragement indirectly " in the indian context.                                  

                                   According to a recent survey by Delhi School of Social Work there has been a phenomenal increase in the numbers of beggars in India. In a decade since 1991 their number has gone up by a lakh. There are some 60,000 beggars in Delhi, over 3, 00,000 in Mumbai according to a 2004 Action Aid report; nearly 75000 in Kolkata says the Beggar Research Institute; 56000 in Bangalore according to police records. In Hyderabad one in every 354 people is engaged in begging according to Council of Human Welfare in 2005.

It is common to find beggars at rubbish dumps, road sides, and traffic lights and under flyovers. The frail, crippled and mentally ill share space with children, women and able bodied men. The line that separates beggars from the casual poor is getting slimmer in a country where one in every four goes to bed hungry every night and 78 million are homeless. Over 71% of Delhi’s beggars are driven by poverty. More than 66% beggars are able -bodied. The survey reveals that begging as a livelihood wins over casual labour. For 96% the average daily income is Rs 80 more than what daily wage earners can make. Spending patterns also reveals a unique pattern: 27% beggars spend Rs 50-100 a day.

     

                                            Mumbai is home to majority of beggars. According to the Maharashtra Government they are worth Rs. 180 crore a year with daily income ranging between Rs 20-80.Almost every survey profiles beggars as a largely contented lot unwilling to take up honest labour. Nearly 26% in the DSSW survey claimed they were happy.81% claimed that they do not face any problem during begging and only 15% mentioned humiliation from public and police. A survey done in 2004 by the Social Development Centre of Mumbai revealed similar attitude. The majority of beggars see it as a profitable and viable profession.

However study published in the International Journal of Psychological Rehabilitation by Dr Yogesh Thakker reveals that 39% of the 49 beggars surveyed in Gujarat’s Baroda district by a group of medicos suffer from one or other psychiatric illness. Nearly 74% of them had a history of addiction, psychiatric illness in the family and poor attitude of family members towards them. Over 68% admitted to feeling of shame and losing self-esteem, 25% to guilt, 4% to suicidal tendencies and 8% to anti-social activities.
There is no proper enumeration of beggars in the country. Moreover the number of women and children is ever increasing. The 1931 census mentioned just 16% women beggars. The figure shot up to 49% in 2001.There are 10 million street children many among who beg for livelihood.

The biggest problem lies in the changing attitude towards beggars. According to Mr Upendra Baxi former vice-chancellor traditionally begging has been an accepted way of life in India. Giving alms to the needy was built into the social fabric.  The newly independent nation imbibed this attitude towards poverty. In the new millennium the Government doesn't want them lying around middle class which regards them as a nuisance . The anti-beggar legislation is aimed at removing the poor from the face of the city. The beggars who have spent years on the street find it very difficult to live in confined space. There are provisions for vocational training in the government run beggar homes. But these are worse than the third rate jails where convicts can spend up to 10 years.

                                        India as a nation needs to think for its begging population. With the nation aspiring to achieve world standards in every field socio-economic measures are needed to curb the begging problem in India. The solution calls for a comprehensive programme and reorientation of the existing programmes. Philanthropic approach to beggar problem should be replaced by therapeutic and rehabilitative work.

                                               Though we have said that giving alms to them is not right , if looked at  in a more humane perspective we have to either give alms or help them earn their bread and butter. If we do neither of them then we are asking them to live a shameful and helpless life.

Death Of My Soul - A Documentary on Indian beggary