Activists including a Catholic were arrested in western India for protesting government compensation policies for victims of the massive earthquake there a year ago.
The director of the Church-run Behavioral Science Center and four activists of the Socialist Unity Center of India were arrested Jan. 25 while protesting what they said was Gujarat state´s failure to give adequate compensation to survivors even a year after the tragedy.
Prasad Chacko, a Catholic, and other activists were released the following morning, on the first anniversary of the quake that killed thousands and rendered millions homeless.
Rallies and blockades protesting against the government, and prayer meetings and condolence gatherings for the dead marked the anniversary on India´s 53rd Republic Day.
Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash says the government was "trying to crush the democratic expressions of the people by arresting the activists" in Bachau, a town in Bhuj district, the quake´s epicenter.
"Basically the government wanted to restrain these activists from making people aware of their rights about the compensation and other issues," alleges Digant Oza. The journalist joined a sit-in demonstration Jan. 26 in Ahmedabad, Gujarat´s commercial capital about 915 kilometers southwest of New Delhi.
Catholics also protested a state circular that called for special religious rites in schools to appease Hindu gods and ward off further disasters.
The Jan. 21 circular asked schools to worship Dharti Mata (mother earth) and Saraswati, the goddess of learning, by lighting 101 butter-oil lamps and chanting Sanskrit verses from Hindu Scriptures.
The state´s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata party government also asked school authorities to send photos and reports of the rites by the end of that week.
Jesuit Father Francis Parmar said the circular proved that the government is becoming "more absurd and out of wit day by day," as it seems to propagate superstition instead of "taking steps to ensure security to people´s lives."
Father Parmar, a Gujarat native and principal of St. Xavier´s College in Ahmedabad, said Christian schools refused to follow the circular, and some Muslim school officials said they also ignored it.
Several socio-cultural groups and leaders in Ahmedabad asked school authorities to defy the government directions. One of them, the Council for Social Justice, petitioned the state High Court against the circular.
"We will deal with any legal tangles that may arise out of the refusal," said Girish Patel, a lawyer and human rights activist in Ahmedabad.
Officials at the state department for education refused to comment on the circular, saying they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
Meanwhile, Gujarat observed a subdued Republic Day overshadowed by the memorials and protest programs.
Blockades were set up in the four worst-hit towns in Kutch district -- Bhuj, Bachau, Anjar, Rapar -- to attract government attention to people´s needs for shelter and food.
However, activist Lalji Desai lamented that "instead of meeting these poor people, the government is busy releasing full-page ads and high-profile publicity of what they claim as achievements in rehabilitation."
He and others said that two weeks of hunger strikes in 116 of 243 villages in Bachau, Rapar and Anjar failed to elicit a response from the government.
State Chief Minister Narendra Modi told media Jan. 20 that rehabilitation services were "comprehensive," including rebuilding of villages, and that "resurgent programs" have entered "a decisive phase."
He added that once the projects are completed, the state will emerge as "a contemporary global model for disaster management."
Government figures say the quake killed 13,805 people and injured 167,000 more, and that the government spent 23.87 billion rupees (US$492 million) for rehabilitation.
However, media and volunteers claim the government has underestimated the disaster, which they say left 100,000 people dead and millions homeless. They say thousands of people are still living on the streets.
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