VZCZCXRO5835
RR RUEHAST RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHBI #0359/01 2070520
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 250520Z JUL 08
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6457
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 7694
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 1590
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 000359 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM ECON EFIN PGOV IN
SUBJECT: MUMBAI MASALA JULY 25, 2008: AGITATION IN GUJARAT, RBI TALKS 
ABOUT FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND MP HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION 
 
MUMBAI 00000359  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) Table of Contents: 
 
 
 
-Agitation Against Hindu Spiritual Leader in Gujarat Turns 
Violent 
 
-RBI Talks about Financial Inclusion Developments 
 
-Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission Describes Its Efforts 
 
 
 
 
 
AGITATION AGAINST HINDU SPIRITUAL LEADER IN GUJARAT TURNS VIOLENT 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) Led by the non-political civic group Jagega Gujarat 
Sangharash Samiti (JGSS), fifteen social organisations, called 
for "Gujarat bandh" (a general strike) on Monday, July 21st, to 
protest against the July 5th mysterious deaths of two young boys 
in the school run by Hindu spiritual leader Asaram Bapu who has 
mass following in Gujarat.  The Gujarat unit of the Congress 
Party supported the bandh to demand transfer of the death 
investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). 
Security in Ahmadabad was tight in specific parts of the city, 
including the homes of the two boys, to help prevent the bandh 
from turning violent.  No clashes between citizens were reported 
during Monday's bandh.  Businesses and schools throughout the 
state and in most of Ahmadabad carried on as usual, but some 
shops and schools in the city closed as a precautionary measure. 
 The state's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government ordered a 
judicial probe by a retired high court judge, but the parents of 
the deceased children are still demanding a CBI investigation. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) The deaths have pitted residents of Ahmadabad, Gujarat's 
commercial capital, into pro-Bapu and anti-Bapu camps.  The 
parents allege that school leadership did not take the 
disappearance of the boys seriously, nor inform the parents in 
time.  The father of one boy has been fasting in protest to the 
lack of investigation.  On July 17, the anti-Bapu residents 
burned cars outside of the guru's school and pelted rocks at his 
followers.  In response, on July 18, his supporters attacked the 
media, damaging equipment and injuring some journalists. 
According to Ahmedabad police, the disturbances on the 18th were 
localized, confined to a small section of Ahmedbabad.  On July 
19, journalists demanded an enquiry into the attack on them and 
Gujarat BJP chief minister Narendra Modi acceded to that request 
and the situation returned to normal. 
 
 
 
 
 
RBI Talks About Financial Inclusion Developments 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U) Sudarshan Sen, Chief General Manager, Department of 
Banking Supervision (a supervisor to the commercial banks) at 
RBI told Congenoffs that overseeing financial inclusion 
activities of banks was a key priority for the central bank. 
Apart from the public sector banks, institutions like ICICI, 
Citibank, JP Morgan and Bank of America have been the front 
runners in the financial inclusion plan, he cited.  Such 
institutions have realized that deposits are not the only 
product desired by the masses; an array of products like 
credit/loans, insurance, debit cards, credit cards needs to be 
provided so as to facilitate their complete participation.  He 
noted that some banks like ICICI are using technological 
innovations like hand held ATMs for routine transactions like 
the disbursement of small amounts of cash and account balance 
inquires in the rural areas. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (U) RC Sarangi, the General Manager from the same 
department, proudly stated that they had achieved their first 
step in the financial inclusion plan.  At least one district 
from each state is now formally included in the financial 
 
MUMBAI 00000359  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
system.  He added that instead of setting up full-fledged 
branches, many banks preferred to use a banking 'facilitator' or 
a 'correspondent'.  Thus banks could work with non-government 
organizations (NGOs) and self-help groups to make access to 
financial products easier. 
 
 
 
 
 
Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission Describes its Efforts 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) Whereas India's national human rights commission has 
been held as a model for other countries, the Human Rights 
Commission (HRC) for the state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) is held up 
as a model for other states in India and conducts training to 
assist other states.  On July 18, Congenoffs met with officials 
from the HRC who reviewed their programs. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U) According to Vijay Chandra, deputy secretary of the MP 
HRC, most of the nearly 15,000 cases filed with the Commission 
last year were complaints related to illegal detentions and 
failures of the police to register citizen's complaints of 
crimes committed.  The commission monitors police 
investigations, especially cases where it is alleged that police 
have falsified evidence or destroyed key evidence.  In addition 
to investigating the complaints, the Commission conducts 
training workshops in the MP police training academy to educate 
the police about their duty to mete out justice fairly and how 
to interact with women suspects, witnesses or complainants to 
avoid violating the rights of the women. 
 
 
 
¶8.  (U) The Commission has also undertaken a host of 
investigations into women's rights, environmental rights, and 
the right to health care and safe drinking water.  One of the 
Commission's major campaigns has been the effort to combat 
female feticide.  According to Chandra, while nationwide, there 
were 931 female births per thousand male live births, per the 
2001 census, for the whole of MP, the figure stands at 927 
female births per 1,000 male births. However, in three MP 
districts bordering Uttar Pradesh, the female to male sex ratio 
at birth is as low as 800 to 830 per 1000 male births.  The MP 
HRC is trying to prevent female feticide in these districts by 
conducting surprise visits on clinics and distribution of 
awareness raising pamphlets to villagers.  The state does not 
have a vibrant  civil society, so the HRC conducts most of these 
efforts through its own volunteers, known as "Aaayog Mitras" 
("Friends of the Commission").  These "Friends of the 
Commission" are retired jurists, school-heads, or prominent 
local lawyers or doctors. 
 
 
 
¶9.  (U) Justice D. M. Dharmadhikari, Chair of MP's Human Rights 
Commission, a retired Supreme Court Justice, and Justice Azad 
also met with Congenoff on July 18.  They explained that MP's 
HRC utilizes law school volunteers from across the country every 
summer, each of whom undertakes a specific issue to investigate. 
 To assist the HRC in its educational campaigns, students are 
asked to act as observers in police stations to identify why so 
many people are having difficulties getting their complaints 
registered.  One notable study just being concluded is a 
comparative study of public health delivery systems and 
evaluating the best means to bring healthcare to the rural poor. 
 MP's HRC is also investigating the possible adverse health 
implications of radiation from cell phone towers in 
neighborhoods and of artificial coloring and additives in food. 
The Commission's investigations on the right to education have 
primarily focused on cases where someone was wrongly denied 
admission to a university or where the institution sought to 
exploit the student, demanding extra payments to secure 
admission. 
 
 
 
¶10.  (U) Vijay Chandra, deputy secretary of the MP HRC said the 
state has 3-4 districts where the rights of migrant workers and 
migrants fleeing from the violence in Naxal-held areas of 
neighboring Chhattisgarh are in jeopardy.  The HRC's position is 
that the government has the responsibility to ensure the safety 
 
MUMBAI 00000359  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
of all of its inhabitants.  He said the state has the obligation 
to find a permanent solution for those without shelter or 
safety. 
 
 
 
¶11.  (U) The HRC does not rely upon the Right to Information Law 
as it has direct access to government information. The justices 
said they have found that the Law is widely misused by 
disgruntled former employees and by media who want to 
sensationalize issues. 
 
 
 
¶12.  (U) The Commission operated in Hindi since its inception, 
the language of MP, but is now also trying to disseminate 
information about its decisions and activities in English so 
that their findings can be accessible to non-Hindi speaking 
regions of India.  The MP HRC is also trying to make its website 
comprehensive and searchable.  The Commission wants to acquire 
reference materials such as law journals and Human Rights 
treatises from other jurisdictions, such as the US and Europe, 
to utilize in their own case analyses and for the law students 
of Bhopal (Bhopal is the home to one of the 12 National Law 
Universities established by special charter recently).  Chairman 
Dharmahikari said the Commission is hampered by the high cost of 
such materials and internet access to those sources.  He asked 
if there was a way to obtain these materials for free or at 
lower costs.  Post's librarians are working to obtain 
information on resources for the Commission. 
FOLMSBEE