The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

on record
‘No frills in this theatre of anger’
Shahira Naim talks to Sanjeeb Kumar Katiyar, Street theatre artiste and winner of Crusade Against Corruption Award

Sanjeeb Kumar Katiyar with one of his illustrated poems

When 16 years ago, Sanjeeb Kumar Katiyar, alias Sanjeeba, decided to raise public issues through street theatre and poetry in Kanpur, little did he realise that his spontaneous outburst at local incidents would bring him the prestigious Sitaram Jindal Foundation’s Crusade Against Corruption Award. Sitting in the ‘studio’ of his Nawabganj house, where frames of his illustrated poetry form the backdrop, 45-year-old Sanjeeba talks about his activism as an art form, the struggle and the new-found financial stability, thanks to the award. Excerpts:

When and why did you think of taking up street theatre as your forte?

For me it was not a career choice. It was an impulsive decision in reaction to an incident. I had completed my graduation from DAV College and was about to finish postgraduation in English literature when an incident changed the course of my life. A very close friend, senior at the university and my roommate committed suicide. In his suicide note, he had written that he was taking the extreme step to protest against the country’s anti-poor economic policies. This shook me to the core, making me pledge not to let his death go in vain. I decided to do something to change the system so that a person does not feel so helpless. That is how the idea of theatre of protest came about.

How did you go about it since you had no background or training in theatre?

The first task was to put together a team of dedicated people who were equally committed to the dream of challenging the system. The people who came forward were not only professional artistes, but also working class people, rickshaw-pullers, vegetable vendors, mechanics and tailors. They contributed their bit to society by engaging in this theatre for change. They put in their precious time, and initially also contributed a part of their earnings to carry on the activity that provides some meaning to their otherwise mundane life.

Which was your first play and what was the response?

Let me explain that all my productions are based on real-life incidents, which at that particular point in time had caused popular protest. Our very first play was “Wardi Wala Kutta”. It was based on the incident of a local news reporter being beaten up by a BJP leader when he tried to videograph booth-capturing at Shikshak Park in the city. The play made an impact, but nothing like our next production.

And what was that?

There was an infamous case of a brutal custodial rape of a Dalit girl inside the Nawabganj police station in the middle of the night. The police had shoved a baton in her private parts. My friends and I enacted a play based on this outrageous incident called “Ladki Lut Gayi Thane Mein”. Local MP Subhashini Ali joined the protest and sat on a dharna outside the police station where close to 5,000 people had witnessed the “nukkad natak” and joined the dharna. By evening the entire staff of the police station had been suspended. That motivated me and my team to continue with our struggle through theatre.

How do you find the time to practice as none of you are in the nine-to-five jobs?

The advantage is that most of my team lives in the Nawabganj locality, and our friendship goes back many years. Prem Pehahwan is a vegetable seller, Durgesh repairs watches and Bahadur pulls a rickshaw for a living. Every late evening, after finishing their day’s work, they collect at my house for discussion over local events. Through consensus we develop storylines and rehearse the play on a given burning social issue. My “nataks” are no-frills affairs. We focus on the content rather than the form and props and so on.

How do you sustain yourself?

Thanks to the Jindal award which brought me Rs 25 lakh, I do not have to worry about money all the time. The corpus now takes care of that. But I also support myself through my exhibitions. As a one-man army, I write poetry, illustrate it with paintings and personally frame it. Exhibitions of my mounted poetry are held in schools and colleges, for which I am paid enough money to keep body and soul together. My exhibitions have been held at the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha and Kanpur University, to name a few.

How did the award come about?

Some mediapersons who know about my work had recommended me for the award. I was not expecting to get it as when the Foundation asked me for the details of my NGO, I wrote back that I worked on my own as I thought NGOs to be a source of corruption. So it was a surprise when they decided to bestow the SR Jindal Prize for Crusade against Corruption with a cash component of Rs 1 crore to me along with three others, including the late Satyendra Kumar Dubey who sacrificed his life for exposing corruption in the NHAI. I also shared the award with Subhash Chandra Agrawal for exposing corruption through the RTI Act and Ajay Shankar Dubey for exposing corruption in mining lease cases and MGNREGS in MP.

What are your future plans?

I am planning to make a feature film against corruption. We are in the process of developing a storyline.

profile
He met death head on in the street
Harihar Swarup writes about Narendra Dabholkar, slain anti-superstition activist

slain anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar had faced several threats and even physical attacks since 1983, but rejected police protection. He had said: "If I have to take police protection in my own country from my people, there is something wrong with me. I am fighting within the framework of the Constitution and it is not against anyone."

In 2010, Dabholkar made several attempts to get the Anti-Black Magic Bill enacted in Maharashtra, but it was opposed by Hindu right-wing organizations across the board. Political parties like the BJP and Shiv Sena opposed it on the ground that it would adversely affect Hindu culture, customs and traditions.

In an interview to a foreign news agency, Dabholkar observed: "In the entire Bill, there is not a single word about God or religion. The Constitution allows freedom of worship and nobody can take that away."

A couple of weeks before he was shot, he had complained that the Bill had not been discussed despite being tabled in seven sessions of the state Assembly. He accused Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan of stifling progressive thoughts. Ironically, a day after his killing, the state Cabinet cleared the anti-black magic and superstition ordinance.

On August 20, 2013, while on a morning walk, Dabholkar was shot by two unidentified gunmen at 7.20 am. The assailants fired four rounds at him from point-blank range and fled on a motorcycle.

Dabholkar had also taken on godman Asaram Bapu, allegedy involved in a rape case.

After practising for 12 years as a doctor, Dabholkar joined social activist Baba Andhav's One Village, One Well movement before founding the Maharashtra Andhashradha Nirmulan Samiti and campaigned against superstition, confronting 'tantriks' and holy men who promised miracle cures for ailments. He criticised godmen and self-styled ascetics who claimed to perform miracles and had many followers. He was also the founding member of Parivartan, a rehabilitation centre for addicts at Satara.

Dabholkar's son Hamid said his father passionately pursued his mission. "It is very sad that a person who raised his voice of reason was gagged with a bullet," he says.

Those close to Dabholkar say he was a maverick, but also very sensitive. He enjoyed confrontation, but sought compromise and reconciliation. Non-violent in his approach, he met a violent death. He believed in dialogue and was sober during arguments, but his opponents were abusive. He advocated scientific thinking and was a vegetarian and teetotaler.

For over 40 years, Dabholkar worked to build his organisation and establish a network of thousands of activists in Maharashtra and elsewhere — rural as well as urban.

good news
Across two continents, they heard Punjab’s green sigh
Tom from Holland and Om from Thailand are helping families of farmers who committed suicide in the Sangrur belt and spreading the message of regeneration of environment in other states.
By Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tom Deiters and Om Sunisa of the Global Ecovillage Network encourage students to grow trees

at first glance, Tom Deiters and Om Sunisa Jamwiset appear to be tourists with rucksacks, out to relish the sight of verdant fields in the countryside of Punjab. However, a casual conversation with them reveals that they are on a mission. Tom is from Holland while Om Sunisa belongs to Thailand. Their love for nature brought them together. They work in countries and states facing ecological threat and spread the message of sustainable living and regeneration of environment.

Reports regarding suicides by distressed farmers in predominantly agricultural Indian states such as Punjab have reached other parts of the world. The stories made Tom travel to Punjab some years ago. His documentary, "Toxic Tears", on the families of such farmers was screened in many countries, and a part of the earnings were spent on the education of children of the victims in Sangrur district, one of the worst-affected areas as far as suicides by farmers are concerned.

Documenting pain

Kanwaljit Singh Dhindsa, an educationist, is helping them connect with people, schoolchildren and affected families in this belt. "I was working on organic farming in my country when I read reports about suicides by farmers in Punjab and other parts of India. It made me travel to India. I visited various areas and decided to make a documentary on the families of the victims. It got good reviews," Tom says.

There is a dark side to the Green Revolution that has been projected as farmers' victory over the challenges being faced by the country on the food, hunger and starvation front. In a rush to increase production to fill silos with food grain, farmers resorted to poor and unscientific use of fertilisers and pesticides, besides excessive pumping out of subsoil water. They took heavy loans to buy agricultural equipment such as tractors, discs and harrows. For the quick disposal of crop residue, they started burning it and removed forests to make space to cover more and more land under farming. All of it played havoc with environment and the health of people, besides burdening the farmers with debt.

"First, I focused on the negative impacts like suicides and the excessive use of pesticides. But now I am a part of the Global Ecovillage Network, the purpose of which is to create awareness about the importance of environment and educate people about living in complete harmony with nature," he says.

Om Sunisa, who is also engaged in this mission, is helping him in India and other countries to spread this message.

"At the moment our focus is to promote organic farming and restoration of the forest cover in states like Punjab, which has been recklessly using highly toxic pesticides to protect crops and damaging the environment in the process," Tom says.

It is not easy to convince farmers, who are reluctant to adopt organic farming for various reasons. But at the same time, in view of the problems being faced by people on health and other fronts, they are slowly becoming more aware about the hazards of the injudicious use of pesticides, fertilisers and other chemicals in the farm sector, he says.

For creating an ecologically safe world, they hold workshops in schools and villages to make people aware about the importance of trees and help them plant more and more saplings.

Green cover

Schoolchildren are also encouraged to plant saplings and are asked to adopt at least one tree each. They also show documentaries on environment and inform the new generation about the possible bad effects of climate change, especially in states where agriculture is the mainstay in rural areas.

"Students respond to our lecturers and workshops. We have planted more than 1,000 trees in the Lehra belt of Sangrur, where suicides by farmers were first reported in the 1990s. Workshops for students were held in schools at Ganduan, Ubewal, Arkwas, Lehra and other villages."

"Altogether, we have the ability on the ecological front to manage the situation which has gone from bad to worse," says Om Sunisa. "We have also been working in Odisha and some other states. We have worked in Sri Lanka and Thailand as well," she says. "We mostly reach out to young school students who will be major players in the future in all sectors of economy, be it agriculture, industry, services sector or any other area," she adds.

Off the cuff

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Yashwant Sinha, bjp leader
On Robert Vadra

From petrol to onions, from diesel to dollar, from fertilisers to day-to-day expenses, prices are skyrocketing. The economic security of people is at stake. The country can't run like this.

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Firing a salvo at the Centre

I don't understand this remake business. Bollywood is just betraying its complete mental lethargy by doing this! Unless there is a different angle to it, one should not remake old films.

Naseeruddin Shah, bollywood actor
On the remake trend

Classically, we have defined ourselves by the things we love… our home, family, friends. Now, we're asked to define ourselves by hate. What pisses you off. If nothing, who are you?

Salman Rushdie, author
On the culture of ‘offendedness’

It is of no help to beat up someone, say sorry and tell him to go home. There should be a change of heart. Modi has had that change of heart. He has felt people’s pain.

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On Gujarat CM Narendra Modi