tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54841883955087038992024-02-18T22:15:00.327-08:00Grey MatterVanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-44638373312345948392014-09-16T23:31:00.000-07:002015-01-19T05:24:43.354-08:00Reading Dreze and Sen: 5 – Integrating Growth and Development<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The impact that economic growth has on the
lives of people depends on</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> a)
income distribution, but also on b) <b>the use made of public revenue
generated by economic growth.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">For example, the fact that India spends
only 1.2% of its GDP on healthcare and China devotes 2.7% is directly relevant
to the greater health achievements of China vis-à-vis India. Because of low
allocation to public healthcare, many poor people across India are forced to rely
on private doctors. Why is that so wrong? First, many private doctors have
little or no medical training. Second, patients know very little about
diseases, medicines required or indeed why, the possibility of defrauding is
huge [in absence of an alternative public healthcare to which they can go to
for assistance or advice]. India has started to rely on private healthcare
without developing solid public healthcare facilities. In doing this, India is
proceeding on a path different from every country that has made a successful
health transition [e.g. Britain, Japan, China, Brazil, South Korea, Costa
Rica]. All these countries<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>first<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>developed a well-functioning<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>public</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>healthcare system and only then
encouraged private health care facilities as auxiliaries. By allocating more of
the public revenue generated by economic growth to promoting healthcare, India
could more greatly enhance the living conditions of its citizens. Whether
growth facilitates development in terms of enhancing the living conditions of
people depends on what is done with the public revenue that is generated by
growth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Moreover, while we must recognize the role
of growth in facilitating development (in the sense of improving human lives),
we also need to recognize that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>the
advancement of human capabilities (through healthcare, education etc)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></b>also, in turn,<span class="apple-converted-space"><b> </b></span><b>influences the growth
possibilities of a country. The state can play a constructive</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>role in developing these human
capabilities</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Before the economic reforms in the 1990s,
India faced two major failures. First<i>, it was failing to tap the
constructive role of the market</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(especially
in terms of promoting initiative, efficiency and coordinating complex economic
operations). India’s ‘Licence Raj’ system had made it necessary to take
government permissions for private initiatives and this made economic
enterprise very difficult; economic enterprise was put at the mercy of
bureaucrats. This stifled initiative and nurtured corruption. This failure has
been partially remedied in the post-reform period. Arbitrary controls have been
removed and there is now a greater openness to international trade – both of
which have helped India to achieve a solid basis for high rates of economic
growth. Nevertheless, there is more to be done both in terms of
removing/simplifying counterproductive<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>regulations</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and ensuring that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>regulation</i>, where necessary, is
well-aimed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">But there was another, second failure that
India needed to address i.e. its <i>failure to tap the constructive role
of the state. </i></span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Government
intervention in the pre-reform period was excessive and of a restricting kind.
But there were huge areas of activity where it could have engaged in <i>constructive
public action </i>which<i> </i>could have achieved a lot. For
example, the state could’ve been used to remedy India’s under-developed
physical (power, water, roads, rails) and social infrastructure (hospitals,
schools etc) and to build a functioning system of accountable public services.
The reforms of the '90s have done little to remedy this second failure.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Despite its post-reform increase in growth
rates, the benefits of this growth are very unequally shared. Poverty rates
have decreased, but a lot more could have been achieved had the distributional
side (including provision of essential services) got more attention. India’s
failures are huge in terms of widespread undernourishment in general and child
nourishment in particular. Other big failures include the lack of provision of
healthcare to the bulk of the population and a quarter of the population
remaining effectively illiterate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">The two main problems facing the Indian
economy are 1)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>removing the
disparities</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>that divide the
country into the privileged and the rest while continuing economic growth and
2)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>bringing more
accountability</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>into the
running of the economy, especially in the delivery of public services and the
operation of the public sector. Both<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b>these
problems stifle India’s social and economic progress</b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and remain essential parts of the
unfinished agenda of growth and development of India. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">[The purpose of the ‘Reading Dreze and
Sen’ series of blogs is to briefly summarise some of the arguments given by
Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen in their book ‘An Uncertain Glory: India and its
Contradictions’. The arguments are of the authors alone and the blogs are
merely a recapitulation of them in as simple a way possible (the style is
deliberately informal). The aim is to help myself to remember the details of
these arguments (writing always helps!) but more importantly to hopefully
trigger conversation and provoke contestation regarding the issues raised, even
if on small forums like facebook :)]</span></i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-62998662200023645622014-09-08T03:01:00.000-07:002015-01-19T05:18:32.134-08:00Reading Dreze and Sen: 4 – Why has India's economic growth only barely benefited its poor?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Andalus;">India’s growth has caused
tremendous excitement. The living standards of the middle classes (top 20% of
the population by income –or, in other words- people like you and me) have
improved greatly. But the story is more complex for many others such as the riksha-wala,
the domestic worker or the brick-kiln labourer. Dreze and Sen argue that
India’s economic growth has barely altered their abysmal living conditions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Andalus;">For example, between 1993-4 and
2009-10, the <b>average per capita</b>
rural <b>expenditure</b> (average
expenditure of a rural person) increased at the very very low rate of 1% per
year (and even for urban areas the figure was only 2% per year). There has been
a slowdown of <b>real agricultural wages</b>
in the post-reform period<a href="file:///C:/Users/Admin/Dropbox/Documents/BLOGS/Reading%20Dreze%20and%20Sen%204.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>.
The <b>growth of real wages for other parts
of the economy</b> has also been relatively slow, especially for casual or
so-called ‘unskilled’ workers. The contrast to China is striking - real wages
in manufacturing in China grew at 12% per-year (!!) from 2001-10, compared with
2.5% per year in India. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Andalus;"><b>The rate of poverty decline in India has been much slower than in other developing countries as a whole in the last 20 years</b>, despite economic growth being much faster in India. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Andalus;">But why has economic growth in India led to such a small increase in
the wages and incomes of the poor?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Andalus;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Andalus;">One important reason is India’s
economics is propelling a <b>‘jobless
growth’ </b>i.e. a failure to generate employment. In India, the rapid economic
growth in the last 20 years has been <b>driven
by ‘services’</b>. And a large part of the growth in services has been heavily
concentrated in skill-intensive sectors (like software development, financial
services and other specialized work) rather than in the labour-intensive
sectors. This has enabled the more
educated section of the workforce to earn much higher wages and salaries. But
the bulk of our workforce is <i>not </i> involved in services, but is instead engaged
in agriculture or other sectors (this includes the ‘informal sector’ which
employs 90% of our labour force). Here, wages and productivity are very low. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Andalus;">Dreze and Sen state that <b>India’s lack of progress in education and
healthcare</b> also prevents people from entering and flourishing in general
manufacturing jobs. The progress of living standards is extremely slow (living
standards include longevity, health security, literacy, educational
opportunities, child undernourishment, social status etc). For example, India has
a higher proportion of undernourished children than almost any other country in
the world, even after 30 years of rapid economic growth. Many countries have
made huge improvements in health and nutrition status of their respective
populations in a shorter time, even with lower rates of economic growth (The
following blogs will say more about this).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Andalus;">The authors argue that for economic
development to take place, India needs not just growth-friendly <b>institutions</b> that encourage initiative
but it also needs to give a central role to<b>
education </b>which is critical to the formation of knowledge and skills (which,
in turn, is essential for the process of socio-economic development). In short, Dreze and Sen stress that it’s
essential for India to focus on <b>developing
‘human capital’</b> because this is crucial for growth and development. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="background: rgb(255, 249, 238); color: #222222; font-family: 'Arial Narrow', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">[The purpose of
the ‘Reading Dreze and Sen’ series of blogs is to briefly summarise some of the
arguments given by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen in their book ‘An Uncertain
Glory: India and its Contradictions’. The arguments are of the authors alone
and the blogs are merely a recapitulation of them in as simple a way possible
(the style is deliberately informal). The aim is to help myself to remember the
details of these arguments (writing always helps!) but more importantly to
hopefully trigger conversation and provoke contestation regarding the issues
raised, even if on small forums like facebook :)]</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/Admin/Dropbox/Documents/BLOGS/Reading%20Dreze%20and%20Sen%204.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
This picked up after the introduction of MREGA in 2006. </span></div>
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Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-15975387488227713732014-09-04T09:57:00.002-07:002014-09-04T22:28:37.883-07:00Reading Dreze and Sen: 3 - A Short History of India's Economic Growth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">At the time when Dreze and Sen were finishing their book, India’s growth rate had fallen to 6.2% which was considered by numerous people as a ‘dismal growth figure’. The decline from the previous years’ growth rates of 8-9% was considered alarming. But Dreze and Sen point out that during 2011-12 (when they were concluding this book), India’s growth rate was still the 2<sup>nd</sup> fastest in terms of economic growth among all the large economies in the world, trailing only behind China (which had also experienced a decline). Compared to the one-time ‘star performer in the economic field’ Brazil whose growth rate had fallen to 0.8%, India wasn’t doing too badly at all. But, despite that caveat, Dreze and Sen admit that one needs to take the economic slowdown seriously. This is not because growth is important in itself; its because growth generates resources which allow India to a) expand individual incomes and b) utilize the public revenue to meet social commitments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">The authors go on to give a <b>short</b> <b>history of India’s fast growth</b>. When India gained independence, it moved at a slow (but steady) pace for 3 decades – it grew at 3.5% per year. This was ‘painfully slow’ for purposes of rapid development and poverty reduction. In the 1980s, however, India picked up (and grew at a 5% per year). Following the economic reforms of the early 1990s (led by Manmohan Singh, then the Finance Minister), India made faster progress and established a new norm of RAPID GROWTH. Dreze and Sen stress that the robustness of India’s high growth is undoubtedly connected to the economic reforms of the ‘90s. India hovered between 5 and 6%, went up to 7% and then even crossed 9% for several years (2005-08)!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">But even after 2 decades of rapid growth, India is still one of the poorest countries of the world.</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;"> India’s real income per head is still lower than most countries outside sub-Saharan Africa. As the authors point out, millions in India still lack basic requirements of satisfactory living: be it nutritional food or healthcare, decent work conditions or warm clothes in the winter. Growth alone is unlikely to end these problems, but growth does enable an easier solution to such deficiencies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">How did India become one of the poorest countries of the world?</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">Dreze and Sen point out that it wasn’t always so. Adam Smith, in his book The Wealth of Nations (1776) attempted to explain the roots of India’s prosperity. When the East India Company gained its first foothold in India, India was famous of its industrial exports (their quality was apparently a cause of concern for European manufacturers!). Even a comparison of wage rates and prices indicates that the real wages of Indian labour in economically active regions were not lower- and sometimes even higher – than those received by their counterparts in many European countries.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;"><u>The rapid decline of the relative position of the Indian economy took place during the British Raj</u> (this was also recognized by Adam Smith). The decline continued throughout the 19<sup>th</sup>century and the first half of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Long periods during British rule actually saw the per capita real income of India actually <u>declining</u>! According to a study, the annual growth rate of India per capita income was 0.1% between 1900-01 and 1946-7. The growth rate was positive, but was so only because the dismal GDP growth rate (0.9%) was countered by the low population growth rate (0.8%) which reflected the high mortality rates under British rule. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">Given this history, India’s post-independence growth rate of 3.5% per annum sure does seem like a positive change. </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">But this growth rate did not bring about any major transformation in people’s living conditions. Till the 80s, there was virtually no reduction of poverty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;"><u>This is often blamed on India’s ‘socialist’ planning</u>. Dreze and Sen, however, argue that this was not because of socialism per se, but because of the KIND of policies that India followed. India did not even follow the kind of policies found in Russia or most other Communist countries. For example, one thing that communist countries were committed to was free, universal school education. ‘socialist’ India did not go down that way! As a result, India advanced very little in providing schooling opportunities to its children. Unlike other communist countries, India saw under-allocation of public money to make the country literate. The authors point out that the implication of this – to blame the neglect of school education in India’s planning on ‘socialist planning’ absolves India of its own culpability in this mistake.<u>Interestingly, Dreze and Sen suggest that even India’s economic planning was not very ‘socialist’</u>. Most of the economy was firmly in the private sector and, while the government did intervene in many ways, there was no sweeping nationalization of industries and no land reforms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">Early economic planning failed ‘more completely’, say the authors, in social infrastructure and tertiary industries than in primary and secondary production. Growth rates in the primary and secondary sectors (roughly, agriculture and manufacturing, respectively) were HIGHER in the first 15 years that followed the 1st Five Year Plan (1951) than in the first 15 years post-economic reforms in 1991. The growth rate of the tertiary sector was slower in the first period, as was that of GDP. <u>The notion that planning brought the economy to a halt in the Nehruvian years is not easy to substantiate</u>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">The period of sustained moderate growth came to an end in the mid-60s</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;"> when India was hit by the worst successive droughts and when it fought 2 costly wars with Pakistan (in 1965 and 1971). Agricultural production crashed and India’s GDP turned negative. This was also a period of significant changes in the politics of economic policy. Nehru (died in 1964) was succeeded by <u>Indira Gandhi</u> who politicized economics. Under her, commercial banks were nationalized (this was chosen for political reasons). Similarly, import quotas and industrial licenses were used to reward her supporters and punishing her opponents! Even the most inconsequential economic activity apparently now needed governmental approval. This had terrible effects on the economy; it a) stifled economic initiatives b) encouraged corruption and c) led to the abuse of power. People paid a huge price for all this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">Things started looking up in the 1980s.</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;"> India experienced growth acceleration, which was helped by recovery of the agricultural sector. GDP rose to 5% per year in this decade. The green revolution began to show its effects – the agricultural sector grew faster than ever before (yields shot up by 30% in the ‘80s)! Agricultural wages grew, and there was a sustained decline in poverty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">However</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">, the 1980s were also a period of fiscal deficits, trade deficits and foreign debt. This was compounded by rising oil prices and disruption of remittances from the Persian Gulf. India ran out of foreign exchange reserves. A ‘structural adjustment program’ followed under strict conditions imposed by the IMF.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">After a while, the policy of cuts in public expenditure (inc social spending) gave way to gradual reforms. <b>The GDP growth rate picked up post-1993 </b>and continued to grow henceforth. The impact of reforms on economic growth in these years was definitely a significant achievement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 19.933334350585938px;">Some reforms - such as 1) greater openness to international trade 2) relaxation of internal controls - occurred fairly early, and other occurred later. Some – such as 1) privatisation of certain public enterprises 2) extensive labour reforms 3) permissibility of FDI in specific sectors- are still being debated. Some people are frustrated by the gradualism of these reforms, but Dreze and Sen argue that these reforms do need informed public debate. Unfortunately, debate about them proceeds along ‘pro-market’ vs ‘anti-market’ lines, whereas these actually require a specific, case-by-case assessment of arguments. <b>The case for specific reforms needs to be judged not by its impact on growth but by their impact on peoples’ lives</b>. Dreze and Sen conclude by saying that <u>one of the main problems with the reforms was not what they tried to do, but with what they did not even ATTEMPT to achieve.</u> This, they say, has extended the deeper biases of the pre-reform period.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">[The purpose of the
‘Reading Dreze and Sen’ series of blogs is to briefly summarise some of the
arguments given by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen in their book ‘An Uncertain
Glory: India and its Contradictions’. The arguments are of the authors alone
and the articles are merely a recapitulation (in as simple a way possible). The
aim is for myself to remember them (writing always helps!) as well as to get
these arguments out in the public arena and mainstream. The hope is to start
conversations regarding the issues raised :)]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-15264869213644335102014-08-21T10:36:00.002-07:002014-08-25T22:39:41.933-07:00Reading Dreze and Sen 2: India's problems are not because of its democratic character, but rather due to a lack of it. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Given that China has done much
better than India in using its economic growth for the advancement of public
services and social infrastructure (which means the provision of basic social services
such as schooling, healthcare, safe water, drainage, housing etc), some people
in India are often tempted to think that this is because China is authoritarian
and India a democracy. The conclusion that these persons reach is that it is
India’s democracy that is to blame for its lag behind China. But Dreze and Sen argue that this needs to
be questioned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">They point out that, in China, policies are decided at
the top, with little scope for pressures from below (i.e. from citizens like
us). It is a fact that Chinese leaders – although authoritarian - have been
strongly committed to eliminating hunger and illiteracy, and this has certainly
helped China’s socio-economic advancement. </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">But authoritarian political systems
like China always remains fragile because government leaders can arbitrarily
change their priorities in a counter-productive direction and citizens can do very
little about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Dreze and Sen stress that the gravity of this danger is made
clear by the following example: from 1959-62, a catastrophic famine occurred in
China. The regime failed to understand what was going on, there was no public
pressure against its policies and so it continued its policy mistakes for
3 years, resulting in the death of 30 million (I.e. 30,000,000) people.
This is highly unlikely in a democracy which allows room for public pressure,
and in which the government is forced to be more accountable to citizens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Another example they provide of the fragility of
the process of economic and social advancement through an authoritarian system
is China’s economic reforms in 1979. These reforms involved a huge retreat from
the principle of universal healthcare coverage: the proportion of rural
population covered by free or heavily subsidized healthcare crashed to around
10% within a few years. In a democracy, healthcare could not have been withdrawn
so easily and swiftly. This withdrawal of universal entitlement to healthcare
reduced the progress of longevity in China, and China’s large lead over India
in life expectancy dwindled over the following 2 decades (falling from a 14
year lead to just 7 years)<a href="file:///C:/Users/Admin/Dropbox/Documents/BLOGS/Dreze%20and%20Sen-%20proper%202.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Being a democracy, India has the
advantage of having political leaders who are accountable to its citizens (the
UPA regime’s rout in the 2014 elections is a good example of the advantage of
being a democracy; if India was not a democracy, its citizens would not have been
able to effectively show their disfavor regarding UPA’s policies much less
bring about its end). </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>But how much a democracy is able to
achieve depends largely on what issues are brought into political engagement</b>
i.e. what issues are considered important enough by citizens and are translated
into ‘demands’ by the public from the government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Making certain issues important in
the public mind is not easy and does take time (it took many years and the
Delhi Gang-rape of 2012 to make women’s right to safety a public demand), but
once these issues become a ‘normal’ public demand, they are less capable of
being ignored by a democratic government. On the other hand, decisions by
authoritarian governments are taken by a handful of leaders at the top and - even
when benevolent and public-oriented - can be suddenly and arbitrarily
withdrawn. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Given India’s multiple problems,
some may be tempted to demand that India gives up or reduces its commitment to
democracy for which so many have fought and out of which so much good has come
to India. <b>But the continuance of India’s problems is not because of democracy,
but instead because MORE use has not been made </b>of the opportunities offered by
a political democracy and a free society to solve the problems that so many
Indians continue to face. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="background: #FFF9EE; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 20.5pt; line-height: 115%;">[The purpose of
the ‘Reading Dreze and Sen’ series of blogs is to briefly summarise some of the
arguments given by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen in their book ‘An Uncertain
Glory: India and its Contradictions’. The arguments are of the authors alone
and the blogs are merely a recapitulation of them in as simple a way possible
(the style is deliberately informal). The aim is to help myself to remember the
details of these arguments (writing always helps!) but more importantly to
hopefully trigger conversation and provoke contestation regarding the issues
raised, even if on small forums like facebook :)]</span><span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="file:///C:/Users/Admin/Dropbox/Documents/BLOGS/Dreze%20and%20Sen-%20proper%202.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Chinese authorities eventually reintroduced social health insurance on a large
scale from around 2004. </div>
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Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-70424974535628834652014-08-16T04:32:00.001-07:002014-08-22T23:01:17.632-07:00Reading Dreze and Sen: 1 - India needs to strive for more than economic growth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">There has been some slackening of the
growth rate of India’s economy very recently (which is partly related to the
global slump). But Dreze and Sen point out that even with its diminished
growth rate India is still one of the fastest-growing economies of
the world. This is something that we have to keep in mind – despite the hue and
cry about an ‘economic slowdown’ in India, our growth rate is still not THAT bad. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> But still, they agree that India should strive for higher, faster growth. This can be a huge source of strength for it
as the fruits of economic growth can be used for the advancement of human
lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Although agreeing that India has achieved a lot since
Independence, both economically and socially, Dreze and Sen emphasise that there is scope for A WHOLE
LOT MORE. There have been major shortcomings and breakdowns – even though the privileged
as well as our media tends to overlook these. The neglect of these problems in
public reasoning [say, in debates on news channels or in our general public consciousness] is
harmful because </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">in a democracy </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">it is usually through such discussion and understanding that serious problems
are addressed. </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Although we must celebrate India’s
economic progress, one must also remember that its societal reach has been very
very limited.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">One
serious issue is that income distribution in India has been getting more
unequal in recent years – this is something we share with China. But China has
witnessed a rapid rise in real wages from which Chinese working classes have
benefitted. In contrast, India has had relative <b>stagnant real wages.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">A second
issue is that the public revenue generate</span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">d by rapid economic growth has not
been used to expand </span><b style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">social and physical
infrastructure</b><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> in a determined and well-planned way. In this, India is
far behind China.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Third,
despite its economic growth, India continues to lack <b>essential social services</b> for a huge part of the population. Schooling, heath-care, provision of safe drinking water
and drainage are some examples of crucial social services. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Another problem is that while India has overtak</span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">en other countries in terms of its real income,
it has been overtaken in terms of<b> social indicators</b> by many of these countries
- even by some of its poorer neighbours! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">For example, India has caught up with
China in terms of GDP growth but it lags far behind China in terms of longevity
(how long people live), literacy, child nourishment and maternal mortality. In
South Asia itself, a much poorer Bangladesh has overtaken it in terms of social
indicators (such as life expectancy, immunization of children, infant
mortality, child nourishment and girls’ schooling). Even Nepal is catching up
with India (inspite of its GDP being just 1/3</span><sup style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> of India’s)! 20
years ago, India used to have the 2</span><sup style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> best social indicators among 6
South Asian Countries (i.e. among India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal
and Bhutan) – now.. it’s the 2</span><sup style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> worst (ahead only of ‘problem-ridden
Pakistan’)! </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: 0.5in;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">So, while India has been climbing
up the ladder of per capita income (average income of a person per year has
been increasing), it has been slipping in terms of social indicators. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Economic growth generates income. But in
India, the income generated by growth has been unequally shared (to put it simply, the rich get more than
the poor). Moreover, the resources created have not been used to address the social
deprivation of the poor and marginalized. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">There is much
work to be done – India has to make use of the fruits of economic growth a) to
enhance the living conditions of the people and b) to reduce the massive
inequalities in India’s economy and society. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Apart from that, India needs to address its far-reaching failure in governance and organization. One instance of this is
the mismanagement of the power sector – most of us have suffered from India’s
persistent power failures and some of us may know that 1/3<sup>rd</sup> of
India’s population has no electricity at all! This is a massive failure (only
1% of China’s population suffers from this problem). But the sad state of the power
sector is only part of the serious failure to provide good physical infrastructure.
Similar deficiencies can be seen in water supply, drainage, garbage disposal, public
transport, and so on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Segoe Print"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">So, Dreze and Sen conclude that while maintaining a consistently
high growth rate is surely important, India needs to strive for something larger than that - It needs to utilise the fruits of its growth to </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">address the disparities and deficiencies mentioned above.</span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Segoe Print'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">[The purpose of the ‘Reading
Dreze and Sen’ series of blogs is to briefly summarise some of the arguments
given by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen in their book ‘An Uncertain Glory: India
and its Contradictions’. The arguments are of the authors alone and the
blogs are merely a recapitulation of them in as simple a way possible (the style is deliberately informal). The aim is to help myself to remember the details of these arguments (writing always helps!) but more importantly to hopefully trigger conversation and provoke contestation regarding the issues raised, even if on small forums like facebook :)]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-8790324436065566482013-07-13T07:55:00.003-07:002013-07-14T06:37:25.056-07:00What's So Wrong With Modi Calling Himself a Hindu Nationalist?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said in his interview to Reuters on June 25: "I'm nationalist, I'm patriotic. Nothing is wrong. I'm a born Hindu. Nothing is wrong. So I'm a Hindu nationalist. So yes, you can say I'm a Hindu Nationalist because I'm a born Hindu". BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi on NDTV yesterday said that 'Hindu nationalist' has wrongly been made into a 'dirty word' by people with a malicious agenda. She said, 'If anybody calling himself a Muslim and a nationalist is not being questioned, why should anybody calling himself a Hindu and a nationalist be questioned?". She asserted that the right to practice one's religion is a constitutional right, 'so why should the same right not be available to Hindus?'<br />
<br />
There are at least two things here which need debunking. One, there is a difference between a Hindu nationalist and a nationalist Hindu. Hindu nationalism is an ideology that crystallised almost a hundred years ago. Its founder, V.D. Savarkar, wrote a monograph called 'Hindutva: Who is a Hindu?' in 1922 in which he outlined the definition of the Hindu nation. He wrote that Hindus were those people who loved the territory of Hindustan, shared common blood (this was the Indian version of racism), possessed the same culture and worshiped Hindustan as their fatherland and their holyland. These were the four <i>essential </i>criteria of citizenship of the Hindu nation. This meant that Muslims and Christians - whose holylands were outside India - were automatically excluded from the very definition of the Hindu nation. Muslims and Christians - even if their ancestors had been born in India, and even if they loved it as their own - could never claim full citizenship. According to the ideology of Hindu nationalism, they must live in India as second class citizens and must completely assimilate everything that is Hindu - they must worship Hindu gods, participate in Hindu festivals, give up their customs and even their language; they must not ask for any rights and freedoms because they live on the sufferance of Hindus.<br />
<br />
On the contrary, a person who is a nationalist Hindu need not necessarily possess such an ideology: he or she may simply be a Hindu who believes in the ideology of secular nationalism, which does not give any supremacy to Hindu-ness. A nationalist Hindu does not necessarily foreground Hindu identity as an essential criteria for citizenship. He or she can accept that the nation does not just consist of Hindus but also of Muslims, Christians, Parsis, Sikhs and others - who may all have distinct religious identities but yet are <i>equal </i>citizens of the same Indian nation. So when Modi makes the argument of 'Hindu + nationalist = Hindu nationalist, whats wrong with that?', we might ask why he cant instead choose to be 'Hindu + nationalist = nationalist Hindu'? Whats wrong with the former is that it stems from an ideology that has a long lineage of seeing the Indian nation as being exclusively composed <i>only </i>of Hindus. The very definition of the Hindu nation excludes those who belong to other religious communities, people who have every right to call themselves Indian as much as any Hindu. <br />
<br />
The second issue is the following. Yes, Muslims are allowed to proclaim that they are nationalists. But so are Hindus. People are not disturbed by Modi claiming to be a nationalist, it is because they know he is a particular <i>type </i>of nationalist. Lekhi speaks as if Modi is being unjustly denied his constitutional right to practice his religion. But the alarm at his statement does not spring from his assertion that he is Hindu. He proudly proclaimed that he is not just a Hindu but a Hindu nationalist. Lekhi would have us confuse Hindu nationalism with Hinduism, but the two are not the same. Hindu nationalism is not a religion; it's an <i>ideology </i>which has historically aimed to turn India into a 'pure' <i>Hindu </i>nation at the exclusion of others. This is <i>not </i>guaranteed by the Indian constitution; on the contrary, it is diametrically opposed to its ideals. It is this ideology which made the organisation from which Modi springs (i.e. the RSS) support the colonial state, participate in violent riots, and ultimately assassinate Gandhi. Its history is what makes Hindu nationalism a 'dirty word', not some malicious propaganda by anyone else.</div>
Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-58821240777298310142013-03-10T19:04:00.000-07:002013-03-11T09:27:19.718-07:00Modi and the Animal Song<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In 2002, there occurred the mass killing
of more than 3000 people in India. This was violence on a scale <i>unprecedented </i>in Independent India. Women were
stripped, made to run naked, tortured, then killed and burned. They were
tortured by inserting metal rods into their vaginas, and were then set on fire. A pregnant
woman’s stomach was slit open and her unborn baby paraded on a</span> trident. The chief minister under whose watch it happened has been
re-elected again and again. He is still in power. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Despite the fact that there are charges
that the chief minister was involved in a state-sponsored massacre of citizens
of his own country, let us forget that for now. The disturbing fact is that he
has not apologised to this day for what happened in those 6 weeks - when citizens
of his own state were brutally raped and killed by what he claims were spontaneous,
frenzied mobs. How much could it take to make a simple <i>apology </i>for what at any
rate was a complete collapse of law and order, and an utter failure to protect
the citizens of his own state – 3000 of <i>his </i>very own Gujaratis? Is an apology too much to ask for? But the chief minister has stubbornly
refused to apologise for ten years. Does this not show a lack of warmth, sympathy and compassion? The dictionary describes such a person as ‘inhuman’. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But there is serious talk among many </span><span style="line-height: 18.18181800842285px;">Indians</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> of making this chief
minister the next Prime Minister of India. This is a very real
possibility in 2014. According to one poll, 43% Indians want Modi as PM. How are we, as a nation, so
eager to bring to power a man under whose watch 3000 Indians died? How are we so eager to bring to power someone who was unable to prevent rape and mass murder and
has not cared even to apologise for it? I wonder what that says about us, as a
people. And I think the answer is: we do not really care that 3000 citizens
died. We do not care for justice as long as it’s not us to whom the injustice
is done. We too are inhuman, for that is
the word for such blatant lack of sympathy and compassion for our
fellow-citizens and fellow-humans. These are the values we have apparently inherited
from our culture and tradition. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And we also lack respect for basic rule
of law; we are not really bothered if killers and rapists are put behind bars. We
do not care to know or respect our own constitution (<i>the</i> law of the land), which guarantees rights and freedoms to our
fellow-citizens. We do not care if these constitutional and fundamental rights
are violated, as long as it’s not us to whom this is done. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;">Is compassion for others too much to ask for? Asking for this vital, essentially <i>human </i>emotion is portrayed as </span>'sentimentalism'; one is accused of being 'too emotional', 'not pragmatic'. But why must must reason and emotion be mutually exclusive? One can be pragmatic <i style="line-height: normal;">and </i>compassionate. One can be determined to build a strong India <i style="line-height: normal;">and </i>have compassion for others at the same time. But Modi pretends that both at the same time are not possible. He hides his lack of compassion in his emphasis on making India into a superpower. And that is exactly how many of us hide our lack of it. Recognising this lack of humanity is not a sign of sentimentality; it is recognising a hard <i style="line-height: normal;">fact</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps we will ultimately reach our goal
of building a militarily and economically strong nation of hypocritical, inhuman individuals.
A nation whose citizens are utterly self-interested and care neither for the law of the land, nor for their
fellow-citizens. This is the vision we clearly desire and this is the nation we
shall ultimately choose to build. </span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Modi repeatedly refuses to answer questions about/apologise for/say that he regrets the mass killings of 2002. Video links to 2 such occasions:</span></div>
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHS_eSoOBzg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHS_eSoOBzg</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2.</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=435801226495473" style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=435801226495473</a></div>
</div>
</div>
Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-29189010846710994812013-01-25T03:12:00.003-08:002013-01-25T03:14:50.398-08:00My Talk at the Oxford India Society: Course of Action for the Indian State and Its People in the Aftermath of the Delhi Gang Rape<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Below is the script of the talk I gave at the Oxford India Society to discuss the future course of action that the Indian state and its people need to take in the aftermath of the Delhi Gang Rape in December. </i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>***</i></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">At the outset I’d like to clarify - that I am not a legal
expert and I have never thought of calling myself a feminist. I speak here as
an ordinary citizen who feels strongly about the issue of women’s safety...
Strongly enough to take part in the recent protests, to ponder over and
articulate my thoughts on this horrific event. And strongly enough to feel
compelled to go along with some friends - to Sandeep Dixit (an MP from Delhi)
with a list of demands and suggestions to ensure safety for women. We then sent
this list to the Justice Verma Committee that was set up in the aftermath of
this gang-rape to propose amendments to laws relating to crimes against women.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Neither of us works full-time on this issue. Our demands and
suggestions are therefore based on our own intuitions, past experience,
knowledge and understanding. But we <i>did</i>
try to inform ourselves as much as possible through dialoguing with those who
were more informed than us, and by reading as widely as possible - within the
given time constraints. I would like to share with you our suggestions
regarding the future course of action that can be taken. I divide these in 3
parts: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>1)</b> Judicial reforms, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>2)</b> Measures to increase security for women, </span><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">and </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>3)</b>
The most difficult - but also the most important --– tackling the misogynistic
attitude in our society.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<u><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To start with judicial reforms</span></u><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">, I am wary of aligning myself with
demands for <b>death penalty & chemical castration</b> which gained shrill
popularity during the protests. I personally do not support this form of
retributive justice. And arguing from a different viewpoint, when enforced -
neither form of punishment has been proven to be a deterrent.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">The
very fact that the victim was brutalised with an iron rod, makes it clear that
rape is not just about sexual pleasure for the perpetrator, but is an assertion
of power and dominance. Apparently one of the accused in the recent case
categorically mentioned that it was the defiance and resistance of the victim
that angered him the most</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">If indeed that is the case, then,
<b>chemical castration</b>, quite apart from being morally questionable, isn’t an <i>effective</i> deterrent at all. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">As
for <b>capital punishment</b>, I personally feel the debate around it is too complex –
both morally and practically - and going into the details of it will only
divert the issue at hand.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">I strongly feel that what is needed
is not more </span><i style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">brutal </i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">punishment, but
<b>CERTAINTY of punishment</b> i.e perpetrators must feel that they WILL be caught,
quickly tried and punished if they commit a crime, and that there is NO way
out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Therefore we must demand certainty of
<b>REGISTRATION OF CRIME.</b> There have been innumerable instances of the police
being unwilling to register crimes against women or discouraging the filing of
complaints. We need to demand a zero-tolerance policy on non-registration of
crime, as without registration, how can the investigation begin? Then, we need
thorough and honest investigation by the police. Many cases are damaged by
shoddy investigation and evidence-collection. </span><u style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Fast-track courts’ can only
lead to fast-track acquittals without these measures.</u><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"> Finally, we need
efficient trials and speedier delivery of justice where cases do not drag on
for years with the accused out on bail. Yet we must remember and ensure that
speedy trials don’t occur at the cost of </span><i style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">FAIR</i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">
trials.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Regarding a change of law, given my
limited knowledge, I can only say that apart from enforcing a strict
prohibition of the antiquated <b>“two-finger” test</b> to establish rape, two other
extremely important measures are needed. These are a) the rectification of the
current <b>‘peno-vaginal’ definition </b>of rape to include other forms of sexual
assault such as peno-anal or by means of objects and b) the inclusion of
<b>MARITAL RAPE</b> within the legal definition of sexual assault. This oversight
needs to be corrected as marital rape is the most pervasive form of rape in
India. The Indian state needs to take into consideration, the informed opinion of
eminent lawyers who have been working for years on such legal reform.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Some measures that have been
suggested to increase </span><u style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">security for women</u><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">
are the following: better surveillance (for instance more functional
CCTVs with regular analysis of data), the adoption of modern methods of hiring
and training the police, upgraded technology for it, incentives for the police
so they find their job fulfilling and remain honest and motivated, a regular
audit to weed out non-performers, plain-clothes policemen in buses and the
Metro, more police </span><i style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">women </i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">in PCR vans
and in police stations, allocation of funds to a special cell for crimes
against women that </span><i style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">must</i><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"> be
present in every police station... And
so on. However, while ensuring women’s safety DOES require these measures, I
feel there is little point – and even grave danger – in simply putting more
police out into our streets. This is because, currently, there is a <b>massive
trust deficit</b> in citizens vis-a-vis the police. When we think police, we think
‘thug’, ‘corrupt’, ‘extortionist’, ‘intimidating’, ‘dishonest’, ‘prejudiced’,
‘conservative’ - a force that exploits
the vulnerability and legal illiteracy of ordinary citizens. So before the
state puts out more police onto our streets, we must demand and insist that this
be a </span><u style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>SENSITISED </b>police force.</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">This brings me to my 3</span><sup style="line-height: 115%;">rd</sup><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">
point about tackling the </span><b style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">deep-seated misogynistic attitude </b><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">in India and
increased </span><u style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>SENSITISATION </b>of people in positions of authority as well as of
ordinary citizens</u><span style="font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">. This change is the MOST difficult to bring about: It
requires long- term commitment and sustained efforts by the Indian state and
its citizens. I believe the state can play a crucial role here by starting at
the <b>INSITUTIONAL LEVEL.</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Apart
from gender (and indeed, more GENERAL) sensitisation of the police force
through initial and regular training, the state perhaps needs to make a course
on gender equality and citizens’ rights a permanent part of the <b>school
curriculum</b> from an early stage. In addition, regular gender sensitisation workshops
and self-defence classes need to be held for both boys and girls. Compulsory
sensitisation of teachers is another important step - as they have an indelible
impact on a child’s life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;"> <b>
</b></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>At
the college level</b>, we need EFFECTIVE gender sensitisation committees which will
hold regular and mandatory workshops - and, here too, a sensitisation of the
administration is imperative: authorities like Girls Hostel Wardens often
resort to blackmail to coerce victims of sexual harassment to NOT file a
complaint. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 54.0pt; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At
all schools, colleges AND indeed workplaces, contact numbers and addresses of
local, verified NGOs must be publicised so that students and employees have
somewhere to go <b>if their administration is unresponsive. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A <b>gender
sensitisation and rights awareness drive</b> by the Government needs to be pursued
through media such as TV, radio and newspaper ads, through posters and
hoardings in all our different languages, through collaboration with local
community leaders, and through social education packages for families.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The sensitisation and awareness campaign, in my opinion,
needs <b>first </b>to be against the idea that after a sexual assault the woman has
been ‘dishonoured’ and has nothing to live for. The campaign must emphasise
that she still has reason to live a normal life: she can and should be helped
to re-build her life. <b>Second</b>, the campaign needs to be strictly against any
association of blame with the victim, and must shift it to the perpetrator. It
needs to emphasise that NOTHING JUSTIFIES sexual assault and a violation of
rights – no specific clothing worn by a woman nor any behaviour on her part...
Be it drinking, going to a nightclub or being out in the evening with male
friends. Therefore the campaign must NOT promote a flawed concept of
‘protection’ i.e. It mustn’t promote the idea that women can be protected by
keeping them indoors or by wearing particular kinds of cloths. <b>Third</b>, the
campaign should emphasise the fact that women are EQUAL to men and therefore
are entitled - to the same rights and freedoms as them– to go wherever they
want, whenever they want and in whichever clothes they want to wear. And that
these rights must not be violated in the name of their ‘safety’. It must
highlight - as abominable - all acts and norms that violate the principle of
gender equality – these include preference for sons, female foeticide,
inheritance inequality, dowry, wife-beating, forced widowhood etc. <b>Finally</b>, it
needs to educate citizens – men and women – on: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">a) What constitutes sexual assault and harassment; what is
meant by consent and what constitutes its violation, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">b) what are OUR fundamental and legal rights and what is the
course of action that can be followed when these are infringed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I feel such a campaign should involve <b>collaboration </b>between
the state and ‘civil society’ – roping in survivors of sexual assault, women’s
organisations, keen students from schools and colleges, local community
leaders, the newsmedia, advertising gurus, designers and artists. This would
make it collaborative, inventive and effective. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I think the <b>way forward - on part of the state -</b> should
consist of a <b>multi-pronged approach</b> - which needs to include short and
long-term measures. As of today, many of our demands and suggestions have found
a voice in the recommendations announced by the Justice Verma Committee
yesterday. These include: a rejection of the death penalty & chemical
castration but the enhancement of the minimum sentence for rape from 7 to 10
years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for it... Making touching-without-consent, voyeurism,
stalking and other forms-of-sexual harassment punishable offences, making
marital rape a punishable offence, establishing a protocol for the medical
examination of the rape victim, and punishment of officers who fail to report
rape. These are <b>far-reaching recommendations</b> and now it’s up to the <b>parliament </b>to implement them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>As for citizens,</b> I feel that - at this point - we must be
extremely <b>vigilant</b>. First, with regard to a <b>clampdown on liberties</b> in the name
of ‘security for women’. Instances of this include the discriminatory rule that
girls living in college hostels need to return by 10pm, and other measures
taken in the aftermath of this rape - such as discotheques being closed at 1am,
the Puducherry Govt prescribing compulsory <i>overcoats</i>
for girls, and Eastern Wing of Delhi Police advising girls to ‘go straight home
after school or college’. We must insist
that the police make the streets safe for women at all times, and does not
absolve itself of its duty by enforcing such ‘cop out’ measures. Second, we
must be extremely <b>wary of tokenism and knee-jerk populism. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Indian citizens need to remain consistently <b>engaged </b>with this
cause and persistently demand that the media and Govt remain committed to it.
Equally urgent is the need for them to<b> increase their knowledge </b>of the rights
and values enshrined in our constitution, and of our legal and political
processes - in order.. That they don’t resort to ill-informed, knee-jerk
responses.. But instead - become capable of making demands which are <b>informed</b>,
<b>practical </b>and <b>morally defensible. </b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-47463052368795897222012-12-29T00:19:00.000-08:002013-01-02T22:11:57.570-08:00WOMEN'S SAFETY - DEMANDS AND SUGGESTIONS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">Please sign the petition if you agree with its demands and suggestions: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">http://www.change.org/petitions/government-of-india-justice-verma-comittee-ensure-safety-for-women-2</span><br />
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<b><u><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></u></b>
<b><u><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></u></b>
<b><u><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">WHAT IS OUR PROTEST ABOUT?<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">The protest
means different things to different organised and unorganised groups and individuals,
who were making different demands – from “castration!” to “death to rapists!”.
We did not identify with each protestor nor with each demand of theirs. In
addition, we speak as ordinary, individual citizens of this country, not as
representative of any organisation. For us – this protest is about the
following:</span></div>
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<b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It is not just about this girl</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">: we believe the protests
received massive support because the majority of women feel unsafe in Delhi (it
received support from people across states because it is the same predicament across
states)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It is not just about rape:</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> it is against harassment that
women have to deal with everyday – ranging from eve teasing, cat calls,
groping, molestation to rape.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">It is to reclaim public space:</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> Against the idea that public
spaces do not belong to women.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Against the idea that</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> women can only be protected if
they are at home, or dress in a particular manner or if they are in the company
of male relatives or if they are segregated.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Against the culture of putting
blame on the victim:</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> ideas or
thinking that perpetuate the stance “She asked for it – by wearing a short
dress, by drinking, by being on the streets at night or by being with a male
friend.”</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Against the law enforcement
agencies</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> – why is
the response time so slow in so many cases? Why is the police often reluctant
to register FIRs regarding sexual violence and harassment? Why is the police so
insensitive? Why is the conviction rate so low?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Against the delay/denial of
justice</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">: Why do
trials take forever?</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">WHAT ARE OUR DEMANDS?</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">We demand a
MULTI-PRONGED APPROACH which deals with increased security, institutionalised sensitisation
and attitudinal change through education, media campaigns, govt programs,
social education packages etc as well as judicial and police reform. These include short-term as well as long-term
steps. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">SECURITY FOR
WOMEN</span></i></b></div>
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</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Better transportation in the city which functions
during the day and night. </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">The frequency of public transportation needs to become better.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Better
surveillance systems which can record happenings in the city (more </span><u style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">functional</u><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
CCTV cameras around the city)</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">More
police vans both patrolling areas and stationary with policemen on the lookout (rather
than sitting inside the van).</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Better
street lighting</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">More
security outside malls, bars, restaurants and marketplaces.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Police
vans should patrol poorer residential areas a few time a day and at night</span></span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Make
it easier for women to report harassment and crimes against women. Make all
relevant contact #s PUBLIC and VISIBLE.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">All
police stations should have a sexual harassment/rape centre with up to 70% female
police who are also sensitised. Apparently there is a cell for
atrocities/crimes against women which exists only on paper because no funds are
allocated to it. Funds should be allocated to such cells; it should NOT remain
on paper.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Local
verified NGOs to be present at all police stations, so that if denied by the
police they have some where to go.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Have
more policewomen in PCR vans. Make female police more visible.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">Police
personnel in buses and metros who have direct access to PCR vans in order to
register and act on the complaint immediately</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">We
also demand a fitter police force. There must be regular physical training and
regular re-evaluation of their fitness level. </span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">WE WANT TO STRESS THAT</span></u></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 38.25pt;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">A) </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> WE FEAR AND ARE <i>STRONGLY
AGAINST</i> ANY CLAMPDOWN OF LIBERTIES IN THE NAME OF SECURITY </span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">(For example, we are against
discotheques being closed down at 1am, or the general norm/rule of girl hostel
gates closing at 10pm. Make our streets safer for women, do not curb their liberties)<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 38.25pt;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">B) </span></b><b><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">à</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> THE POLICE FORCE NEEDS TO BE SENSITISED <i>BEFORE</i> PUTTING THEM OUT ON THE STREETS. THERE IS AN IMMENSE TRUST
DEFICIT WITH RESPECT TO THE CURRENT POLICE FORCE.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 3cm; text-indent: -1cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We condemn</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> the detainment of peaceful protesters such as Shambhavi and 15 others
on the Dec 25, 2012
(http://kafila.org/2012/12/26/how-delhi-police-assaulted-my-daughter-on-25-december-usha-saxena/).
Such arbitrary, illegal detainment and beating of citizens <u>only reinforces
the lack of faith ordinary citizens have in the police force (and the state as
a whole)</u>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 3cm; text-indent: -1cm;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;">Ø<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">The recent
case of suicide by a rape victim from Patiala because of humiliation by police
officers as well as the case of the UP rape victim being raped by the policemen
probing the case do not inspire much confidence either. Citizens feel that this
misogynistic attitude among the police is not the exception, but the rule. (</span><a href="http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/suicide-by-gang-raped-teen-highlights-how-police-added-to-trauma-310707?pfrom=home-otherstories"><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/suicide-by-gang-raped-teen-highlights-how-police-added-to-trauma-310707?pfrom=home-otherstories</span></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> and http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/UP-rape-victim-raped-by-cops-probing-case/articleshow/17748777.cms)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">TACKLING
THE MYSOGINISTIC ATTITUDE – </span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">this change needs to be at an INSTITUTIONAL level –
police training, educational institutions, media, social education packages for
families. We acknowledge that this is a long-term process, but one which
requires ACTIVE, persistent perseverance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> </span></i></b><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Sensitisation for current police/aspiring police cadets</span></b><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">: Gender sensitisation course for
aspiring police cadets (male and female) followed by regular training and
workshops in the same. The state should collaborate with civil society and NGOs
that are apt in giving such training.</span></span></li>
</ol>
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Regular evaluation</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: Should be evaluations of
gender-related attitudes of officers in the police force.</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Reinforce positive behaviour</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: Reward officers that exemplify
model behaviour as far as gender sensitivity and equality is concerned. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l6 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Role of education and schools</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: Gender sensitisation and sex
education workshops and programs (maybe taught under ‘Health Education’ to avoid
parental anxiety) to be a vital, permanent part of the curriculum. This is
important to shape minds before it is too late. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Education/schooling
as a medium to inculcate gender equality and sensitisation to tackle
deep-seated ideas of women as property, without any self-ownership and agency
of their own<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Check against political manipulation</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: Must have in-built mechanism to
check against this gender sensitisation curriculum being manipulated by
conservative political parties when they come into power. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">c.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Collaboration</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: Regular workshops undertaken through collaboration between
state-“civil society” NGOs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">d.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Workshops</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> which educate children on what constitutes sexual harassment and
violence, on how to disclose and to whom if one has been a victim of this. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l6 level2 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">e.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Self defence classes</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> for girls <u>and</u> boys (for boys standing up to protect their
female friends have been assaulted and murdered) in school and college. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">f.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">State can <u>recruit
keen students</u> from schools and universities for its awareness drives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">g.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Teacher sensitisation</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: We feel it is absolutely IMPERATIVE for teachers to attend these
sensitisation workshops and programs. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">College-level gender
sensitisation</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: currently
colleges have ineffective gender sensitisation committees. Make sure these are
effective and hold <u>regular, mandatory, inventive</u> workshops. Make
weekly/monthly vibrant discussions on gender issues mandatory. Involve Womens-issue
NGOs if possible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Sensitisation at work places
(public and private sector):</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> provisions to ensure the safety of women through regulatory
bodies that address any problems that women may be facing in the office (sexual
harassment, abuse etc). <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">5.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Government programs</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> to educate society on the injustice
of rape, sexual violence and harassment. Must shift the association of the word
‘shame’ from the victim to the perpetrator.
Make people aware of their rights. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><i><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">USE</span></u></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> THE MEDIA</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 108pt; text-indent: -108pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span>i.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">TV Advertisements</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: Work with good advertisement companies, invest in good adverts
which can spread awareness about:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 144pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What
constitutes ‘crimes against women’/ ‘sexual harrassment’? Not just rape, but
also domestic violence, molestation, sexual abuse, harassment, dowry. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 144pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">What are our
legal and constitutional rights? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 144pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Whom can we
contact (contact # of Delhi Commission for Women)? How can our grievance be
addressed? Reassure us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 108pt; text-indent: -108pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span>ii.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Approach and
encourage <u>news channels</u> to start campaigns (like NDTV’s ‘Marks for
Sports’ and ‘Save the Tiger’ – women’s safety is surely as important an issue).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 108pt; text-indent: -108pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span>iii.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Invest in <u>half/full-page
newspaper ads</u> – Hindi and English (and even vernaculars, ideally)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 108pt; text-indent: -108pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span>iv.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Radio adverts and jingles<o:p></o:p></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 108pt; text-indent: -108pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span>v.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Use the ‘<u>Social
media’</u> – facebook pages, twitter accounts, websites. Invest money and
PUBLICISE them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 108pt; text-indent: -108pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span>vi.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Posters, hoardings</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> @ bus-stops, metro-stations, roadsides, school bulletin boards,
workplaces, malls etc. Involve designers to make them effective, and women’s
organisation to make them sensitive. Make important contact numbers KNOWN
through these. These must be in Hindi and English. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">6.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">State collaboration with local
community leaders</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: Workshops
and awareness campaigns in collaboration with local community leaders. Raise
awareness through local workshops, street plays. Involve NGOs as well. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">7.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Make
discussion of gender issues mandatory for Resident Welfare Associations. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">8.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Social education packages for
families:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> provision
of social education packages for families in a way similar to population
control and family planning programs of the past. These packages must include
gender sensitization as a vital component, making clear that the harassment of women or violence
against them is severely punishable by law and amounts to a serious offence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt;">
<b><i><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">NOTE ABOUT AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS: <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Awareness campaigns should: </span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Emphasise
that rape is not about sexual/physical pleasure- it is about asserting <i>power</i>.
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Highlight
that the victim/survivor need not be felt ‘sorry’ for, that it is NOT the case
that now ‘dishonoured’ she has nothing to live for. Highlight that she can
still lead a life of honour and dignity and make a significant contribution in
the lives of people she loves or in society. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Be strictly
against the culture of putting blame on the victim of sexual violence or
harrassment: ideas or thinking that perpetuate the stance “She asked for it –
by wearing a short dress, by drinking, by being on the streets at night or by
being with a male friend.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Be strictly
against the idea that women can only be protected if they are at home, or dress
in a particular manner or if in the company of male relatives or if they are
segregated (it must be clear that ladies compartments/buses are only a
temporary measure). Long-term goal must be highlighted: sexes cohabiting and
sharing the same space and respecting each other’s dignity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l5 level2 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Counter
deep-seated ideas of women as property, without any self-ownership and agency
of their own. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Spread
awareness of women’s <i>rights</i> and of
gender <i>equality</i> (stress fact that
women are EQUAL to men). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Highlight
crimes which violate the principle of gender equality – these included female
foeticide, female infanticide, inheritance inequality, dowry, wife-beating,
widowhood. [Perhaps Aamir Khan’s Satyamev Jayate Team can be involved in this
campaign. Along with ordinary women who have fought gender injustice]<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Highlight
WHAT/HOW/WHOM - ‘what’ constitutes sexual harassment and violence, on ‘how’ to
disclose and to ‘whom’ if one has been a victim of abuse or harassment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Be against
the idea that somehow a man who rapes a woman is “mental” or belongs to “lower”
class and somehow men with money or who are rich do not rape.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Target men <u>AND</u>
women.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">WE
STRONGLY THINK</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <u>that collaboration between the state and “civil
society” is essential for an effective campaign. Rope in keen students at the
level of school and college, movie stars, advertising and marketing gurus,
designers, and victims and survivors of sexual violence and harassment. This
will make the campaign creative, inventive and effective</u>. </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt;">
<b><i><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">JUDICIAL DEMAND<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We are not for castration or the death penalty. <b>We demand CERTAINTY of punishment</b> i.e.
the perpetrator must think that if he does wrong, he WILL be caught and there
is absolutely NO way out. We believe this is a bigger deterrent than more
brutal/harsher punishment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Revision of rape laws:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">a.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We appreciate</span></u><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> The Criminal Law (Amendment ) Bill, 2012 which deals with
punishment for rape being from 7 years to a possible life sentence as well as
making rape a gender neutral offence has been given the go-ahead by the cabinet
to be tabled before the Parliament. But <u>we believe some gaps</u> do exist
with the current law as well as with the bill tabled before Parliament. The
most gaping one = <b>marital rape</b> isn't
covered within the meaning of rape or sexual assault (as the Bill calls it).
This is an loophole which must be filled given that marital rape is possibly
the most pervasive form of rape in this country. The Bill also retains the
archaic and patently paternalistic concept of "modesty of women". <u>We
condemn the use of such patriarchal language in </u>the framing of our laws as
this perpetuates biases against women. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo5; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">b.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Please take
advice from eminent lawyers such as Brinda Grover regarding this. As ordinary
citizens, we can only say this much. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Time-bound justice</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: speedy trials in all rape cases.
Fast-track the 100,000 pending rape cases (all-India figure). In addition, we
want speedy trials in ALL cases of sexual violence and harassment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">4.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt; font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Better, Reliable Investigation</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">: before any law can be
implemented, there is need of <i>diligent</i>
investigation. We need proper investigating agencies which are 1) sensitised
and motivated 2) efficient 3) competent and well-trained 4) well-equipped.
Without this, any implementation or reform of law would be useless because the
case would be damaged at the start.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">MEDICAL DEMAND:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">1.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">All
hospitals – govt and private – to have rape kits. Training on how to use them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">2.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Free treatment
for sexual assault victims<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">3.<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">Seek
opinions of those who have worked with rape survivors for more on what is
needed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><i><u><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">IMPORTANT NOTE:<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">WE
FEAR</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> the treatment of this gang-rape case as an
isolated case:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We
fear that in trying to safe THIS particular victim, and in trying to bring
THESE particular perpetrators to justice, will IGNORE justice for rape victims.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We
fear that the govt will make this only about rape and IGNORE the larger issue
of safety and security for women in general. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> We fear tokenism, and a one-time token bow to
populism in this sensational case. We demand a rational, sustained commitment
from the government regarding the safety of women. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 72pt;">
<span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">WE
STRONGLY ADVISE</span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"> that the govt should make itself more accessible<u>,
keeping the public informed</u> regarding the actions it is taking regarding
these issues on a routine basis (for instance, through regular press
conferences <i>even after</i> the media hype
has died down). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 90pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We
feel this is ESSENTIAL for the following reasons:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 126pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To
overcome the <u>trust deficit</u> and restore faith of the citizenry<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 126pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">To
make sure that there is <u>no scope left for the opposition to politicise the
issue/appropriate the agenda/claim credit</u> for campaign outcomes (hopefully
there will be some”) started by the present government if it comes into power
at a later date. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 90pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">o<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">This
can be done through buying time on TV, press conferences, longer, reassuring
Obama-like speeches by government representatives with oratory skills, through
radio, websites, Facebook, twitter, YouTube. Find out how Modi does it – that’s
his secret weapon. We must feel that the government is engaging with us
DIRECTLY and REGULARLY. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 8.35pt 0cm 0cm 54pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">We do not demand resignations; but we DO demand quick
action, safety, engagement, communication and justice. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="background-color: #fce5cd; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;">DRAFTED BY:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-top: 8.35pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">VANYA
VAIDEHI BHARGAV<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">BIKRAMADITYA
BOSE<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">ILA
BOSE<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;">ISHITA
KAUL<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 13pt;">§<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;">BARKHA
TANVIR</span><b><i><span style="background-color: #fce5cd;"><br /></span>
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></i></b><span style="background-color: white;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-25844579340838049202012-11-26T18:16:00.002-08:002012-11-28T09:19:39.326-08:00Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiO2hjHlm4iTwKrWZBbwht41Ns_K7VuScCeT8DfTmVPYvL5GI93ONMIT-JcUYb6XeBJ1XMhI2-oaZ5O0roG662QrG_OsKSPt56D5tr4Zs1fypai5FfonG8LzfSPT8tKCXtTy5af6m6dVs/s1600/BThackeray_pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #fff2cc; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiO2hjHlm4iTwKrWZBbwht41Ns_K7VuScCeT8DfTmVPYvL5GI93ONMIT-JcUYb6XeBJ1XMhI2-oaZ5O0roG662QrG_OsKSPt56D5tr4Zs1fypai5FfonG8LzfSPT8tKCXtTy5af6m6dVs/s400/BThackeray_pic.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.85pt; line-height: 15.05pt; text-align: justify;">When Bal Thackeray passed
away this month, the reaction among India’s elites was </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.85pt; line-height: 15.05pt; text-align: justify;">noteworthy. I followed the ‘twitterati’ closely. Bollywood actors such
as Arjun Rampal and Akshay Kumar RIP-ed for “Balasaheb”. Hrithik Roshan had a “silent
prayer in my heart” for him and Ritesh Deshmukh lauded him as a “hero”. While
for R Madhavan Thackeray was a “mighty Tiger”, Dilip Kumar disagreed - he was
even more majestic: “not a tiger, but a Lion”. Anupam Kher described him as a
“courageous and true nationalist”. Praise for Thackeray’s undying nationalism
also came from one of India's top ‘marketing and management gurus’ Sohel Seth, who
tweeted that ‘...you could never doubt either his nationalism or his zest for
life!’. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.05pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; letter-spacing: 0.85pt;"><span style="line-height: 15.05pt;">Some</span><span style="line-height: 15.05pt;"> made it a point to mention his closeness to them or at least mention that they had once upon a time shared a room with him. "Yes, Bala Saheb, I would like to believe, was close to me, and never had I imagined that I would live to see his motionless body!!", wrote Amitabh Bachchan, while media personality/journalist Rajdeep Sardesai nostalgically tweeted about an interview with him in his days as a "cub reporter" during which Thackeray had been "generous with his time and thoughts" and "offered me beer too!". </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.85pt; line-height: 15.05pt;">Rajnikanth felt the loss of
a “great leader” and “father figure” while Lata Mangeshkar felt similarly
“orphaned”, stating “<i>Woh thhe toh
Maharashtra thha...woh nahi toh kuch nahi</i>”. Others who also felt this void included
filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and Rajdeep Sardesai who
tweeted that ‘Maharashtra politics without Balasaheb [is a] bit like
cinema without a Big B. Will not be the same’. News anchor Sagarika Ghosh
described him as “a cult figure” who transformed Maharashtra politics and even Sachin
Tendulkar felt the “terrible loss” of someone who made such an “immense
contribution” to Maharashtra. ‘He will always be remembered and missed’, said
our famed cricketer.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.85pt; line-height: 15.05pt;"> </span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0.85pt;">This is the crème de la
crème of Indian society – the most famous movie stars, politicians, cricketers
and media personalities - expressing grief over the death of a man who embodies
a vision of India which is deeply antithetical to the one enshrined in our
constitution. These elites - political, economic, cultural, and intellectual -
seem to think that nationalism is always and necessarily a good thing.
Apparently, the more zealous the nationalist, the most worthy he or she becomes
of respect. Even if this nationalism is not the secular, inclusive nationalism
that Gandhi and Nehru stood for, but instead draws from the exclusivist,
ethno-religious nationalism that was envisioned by V.D. Savarkar and Gandhi’s assassin,
Nathuram Godse. These persons extol Thackeray’s ‘uncompromising’ nationalism
even if this means humiliation, second-class citizenship, or even elimination
of those sections of society which excludes from his definition of ‘nation’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0.85pt;">They will apparently laud
any individual who ‘transforms’ politics even if his ‘contribution’ has been to
introduce a politics of ethnic and religious chauvinism, based on aggression.
This was Bal Thackeray’s contribution to Maharashrian politics - a politics of
hate, terror and violence against an “enemy Other” who was either non-Maharashtrian
or non-Hindu. While his targets kept changing with each decade – from Gujaratis
and “Madrasis” in the 1960s, Communists
in the 70s, Dalits and Muslims in the 80s and 90s, to Biharis in the new millennium
– the existence of some or the other imagined ‘enemy’ was crucial for Thackeray’s
politics to thrive, for without them how could the Mighty Tiger roar? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.85pt;">Have those who praise his
contribution to politics forgotten that his “roars” were often accompanied by
terror and violence? In the 1960s, his Shiv Sainiks threatened Gujarati-owned
shops and businesses and beat up Tamilian shoe-shine boys. In the 70s, they
stabbed and killed a CPI (Communist Party of India) legislator, and were associated
with riots in Bhiwandi and Jalgaon in which around 82 people were killed. The
1980s saw the Sena cadre attacking landless Dalits in Aurangabad district.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.85pt;"> In 1984, a statement on the Prophet by Bal Thackeray provoked
riots in Mumbai, Thane and Bhiwandi which claimed 256 lives. Thackeray was
indicted by the Srikrishna Commission Report for directing violence against
Muslims in the post-Babri Masjid riots of 1992-93.So proud was Thackeray about
his role in those massacres that when Mani Ratnam’s Bombay was released, he was
incensed that his character was shown to have expressed regret. “Why should I
regret?” he asked rhetorically. </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; letter-spacing: 0.85pt;">What is one to make of Anna Hazare’s expression
of grief at the death of this “warrior” - of the sheer hypocrisy of a man who
considers himself to be Gandhian expressing sadness over the death of a demagogue
who thought nothing of non-violence, evidently made no distinction between “means”
and “ends” and once declared that <span style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">“It is a Hitler that is needed in India today”. The educated elite of India apparently do not
see this contradiction and hypocrisy, because they too cry simultaneously for
Gandhi and Bal Thackeray. Despite their education, these elites are unable to
discriminate between the different ideals and visions embodied by these two
men, and instead view them as part of
the same continuum. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.85pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What is deeply worrying is
the complete lack of attachment these
educated people have towards the Indian constitution. Thackeray is not judged by
how, as a political actor, he followed or deviated from the constitutional values
of democracy, equality, freedom and secularism, but some other yardstick – a rigid,
inflexible ideology, an ability to rouse passions and prejudices of people (his ‘gift
for oration’ as Lata Mangeshkar put it) and to get what you want even if by threat
and force. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.85pt;"><span style="background-color: #fff2cc; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Equally disturbing
is that the compromise that India has struck with ideologies of communalism, Hindu
nationalism and ethnic exclusivism (and with violence that accompanies them) is
not just at the level of politics, but has occurred at a deeper, societal level.
The tacit acceptance by educated upper and middle classes of such ideologies
and methods is evident by the fact that Thackeray’s power and Godfather-like image
inspires not shame and disgust but nostalgia and awe.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-46667704060539192742012-06-23T05:40:00.000-07:002012-07-01T03:32:30.614-07:00The Anna Phenomenon Revisited<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;">I had taken a favourable view of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. Why? Firstly, no one was able to provide me any satisfactory argument <i>against </i>it. The secular-liberal dismissive labeling of it as a communal, 'right wing movement' could be countered by the argument that the Hindu right's affiliation with Anna's movement could have been purely <i>instrumental </i>on both sides; there was no clear evidence of an ideological affinity between the two yet. Moreover, I dismissed the cynicism and skepticism of some secular liberals regarding the use of national symbols by Anna and his supporters. They objected to the use of the Indian flag on the grounds that it may create fear among certain minorities because of its possible association with aggressive nationalism or majoritarianism. But, in my view, to be wary of carrying the national flag because it had been misused in the past by the aggressive nationalists would amount to succumbing to the fear that they thrive on and letting them <i>appropriate </i>a national, constitutional symbol. And in the present movement, I saw the flag as being used simply as a symbol of the hope of India's regeneration, and nothing else.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-weight: normal;"> </span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Further, I didn't share the anxieties that many among the upper middle class intelligentsia seemed to harbour about what they referred to as 'mass hysteria'. And while I was conscious of the hypocrisy of many of Anna's supporters - who in all probability had paid bribes at some point of time or the other - I decided not to scoff at it. Instead, I saw this as revealing something noteworthy: if they had paid bribes, at least some of them were not entirely happy about it, and they did not mind giving ethical conduct a shot. For the first time, I had seen so many people publicly voice their discontentment with the 'this-is-just-how-India-works" attitude. While these 'hypocrites' were unwilling to devote their time to change the state of affairs, they would at least support and encourage those who were willing to do the dirty job of cleaning up the system. I appreciated Anna's movement for creating the opportunity for some of us ‘hypocrites’ to stop and self-reflect. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I knew that Anna Hazare's comparison with Gandhi was absurd. He neither had Gandhi's moral vision nor was he a political thinker. Simply wearing a white <i>topi </i>did not make him Gandhian. He almost always made inconsistent, impulsive, hyperbolic statements, and recanted the next day. And maybe he <i>was </i>a pawn of 'Team Anna'. But while I had been skeptical of Anna Hazare - the person - from day 1, I had known about the good work of Arvind Kejriwal's 'Parivartan', of Kiran Bedi's 'aapki kachehri' and her reform of Tihar Jail. This, along with, Prashant Bhushan's reputation as a lawyer, made me trust these leaders of Anna's movement a little more than other players in politics. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I wanted to to give Team Anna a chance. Not only because of whatever little I'd known of the 'good work' of Kejriwal, Bedi and Bhushan but more importantly because <i>f</i><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><i>or the first time in my life of 23 years</i>, I had seen large sections of the urban middle class - composed largely of privitised and atomised individuals - </span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">being remotely 'public-spirited', politically active and deliberative. Those few days were a more than </span></span>welcome change from the usual<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"> apathy, complacency, and resignation one saw daily, at least in Delhi. </span></span><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"> I hoped that such mass support for the movement </span></span>would force the political class to take note its crisis of legitimacy. Anna Hazare had gained legitimacy because state institutions and politicians had been delegitimized by their own corrupt, self-seeking actions<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;">. I saw Anna's controversial pressure tactics as presenting our political class with a unique opportunity to </span></span>reinvent itself, if only out of a self-interested motive to survive. I wanted Indian parliamentary democracy to be reformed: to function without a cash-for-votes scam, without illegal mining, without vote bank politics, without the juvenile political discourse which hampers level-headed discussion on important issues. And for the first time in my life, and because of Anna's movement, I was hearing so many people demand that publicly - as an <i>entitlement</i>! This was the primary reason for my enthusiasm for Anna's movement.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">* * * </span></div>
</div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">But my support had never been <i>unconditional</i>. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">I have had many months to observe Team Anna's vision, their actions and - though I must admit that I have not followed them as closely as I should have - I often find myself asking the question: have all those cynics been proved right? And then I think: No, most of their arguments were not convincing at all. I will not withdraw my support from Anna's effort because it has been proved that it was a 'right wing movement', nor because I now agree that it was wrong to use national symbols, nor because it did not represent Muslims or dalits adequately. I remain unconvinced that Team Anna had been plotting to overthrow the parliament. </span><span style="text-align: justify;">However, I have, through sporadic moments of observation, questioning, reading, and reflection, come to realise certain things. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">That the words </span><span style="text-align: justify;">'we - the voice of the people' during those few days at Ramlila was not just momentary tactic, used during heated populist rhetoric aimed at pressurising an arrogant political class; the </span><span style="text-align: justify;"><i>repeated reiteration </i>that Team Anna alone represents 'the voice of the people' has revealed Kiran Bedi's obstinate insularity as well as her complete ignorance of the dangerous precedent that such rhetoric can set, with a</span><span style="text-align: justify;">ny fanatical nationalist claiming to represent 'the will of the people'. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">That as their vision became clearer, I realised that I disagreed with it at a very basic level. I came </span><span style="text-align: justify;">to think that they were being naiive with regard to the functioning of democratic politics in a country like India. Their solution to the lack of transparency in our democracy was</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> to set up internet kiosks in each village, so that referenda can be held on every issue - as if referenda was the <i>essence </i>of democracy. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="text-align: justify;">But reducing democracy to the mere formal procedure of direct voting may not be ideal, and could even be dangerous. Was the Team aware that those who criticise referenda often adduce the reason that Hitler and Mussolini had used it to disguise oppressive policies as populism? Anna's Team </span><span style="text-align: justify;">did not address the possibility that a referendum can be driven by whims or propaganda and can be extremely detrimental to careful deliberation - a crucial aspect of democracy. Further, it could be used to impose the will of the majority, and may be problematic when it came to minority rights. Team Anna seemed to have only one conception of democracy: formal, procedural. But what of substantive democracy? And while internet kiosks might ensure access to voting, they do not ensure the capability of <i>informed thinking</i>. </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sometimes, even being educated is not enough. The most brilliant example, I realised, had been myself. I am pretty "well-educated", and I had - unlike many others at Ramlila - gone through the trouble of reading the Lokpal Bill. In my excitement at seeing so many people being deliberative and politically engaged, and in the hope that some positive outcome may come out of this movement, I forgot that I am <i>not at all </i>qualified to comment on whether it is a 'constitutional' Bill (though i <i>had </i>tried to get in touch with Brinda Grover to seek her legal opinion on the issue!). I tried to make sense of it myself: words like 'checks and balances', 'transparency', 'judicial review', 'accountability of the Lokpal' peppered the Bill and made it <i>sound </i>democratic and constitutional. But the truth was that neither did I have <i>no </i>clue as to whether the it would be effective nor could I know by reading it whether the Bill could potentially be used to turn the Lokpal into a supra-state body! If I - a 'well-educated' citizen - can make this mistake, then surely a referendum on whether we should or should not adopt the Lokpal Bill would be bound to be full of such mistaken decisions. Team Anna's simplistic, idealised referendum ignored this. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Often, Team Anna replied to criticisms raised against the idea of referendum-based democracy, by exclaiming, "So is the present system any <i>better</i>?!". But did it make sense to to put in so much time, energy and effort in a Bill that would create a system that promised to be only <i>as bad as</i> the current system? And to that, i am afraid, Team Anna has provided no satisfactory answer. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">***</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Though Anna is no Gandhi, they both had one thing in common: they both led popular mass movements with an aim to pressurise the government. I had tried to understand the 2011 mass movement through whatever I knew about the Gandhian mass movements of 1921 and 1930-31. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anna's movement reminded me of how Gandhi's contemporaries had struggled to understand him: while the right-leaning supporters of Gandhi disliked his closeness with Nehru - whose socialism they loathed and feared, the latter felt great despair as he tried to understand why, if Gandhi claimed to be the champion of the underdog, he constantly aligned himself with landlords and capitalists who exploited the underdog? </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I tried to empathise with Anna: was he facing the same problem that Gandhi had - the difficulty of bringing together a broad alliance of diverse social forces with divergent, often contradictory interests? </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While people like Tavleen Singh dismissed the movement as being "full of lefties", many on the left had criticised it as being "right-wing"!</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Perhaps, like Gandhi's contemporaries, these people were unable to grasp or sit comfortably with the <i>mass </i>aspect of a <i>mass </i>movement - for the masses are precisely a heterogenous cluster of people with divergent interests! </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Gandhi too had been accused of using his fast to blackmail (or 'whitemail' as a not-so-funny politician at the time called it) the British Government. Even Nehru thought Gandhi often resorted to "moral coercion". It was interesting to see the very same arguments being brought up by those who opposed Anna's methods. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One thing Anna's movement helped in revealing is how <i>utterly </i>arrogant the Congress party really is. More importantly, it</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> made me realise just how difficult it really is to take a 'right' stand in the heat of a popular mass movement (at least in country like India). At that point, when one is deciding which position to occupy, most simply lack necessary information about leaders, their backgrounds and their intentions. Most judgements are based on momentary observations, guesses and intuitions. And so one tends to lack the perspicaciousness that comes with </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">prior e</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ngagement with/analysis of the issues and personalities involved or sagaciousness that comes with the benefit of </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">hindsight</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What implication does this have for my thought experiment of imagining myself as being Gandhi's contemporary? From trying to understand Anna's movement using my knowledge of Gandhian movements, I have moved to trying to judge the latter using my experience of the former. If I was to go back to 1921 with my memory and experience of Anna's movement, would I have joined Gandhi's non-cooperation movement (as I had imagined when I read about it in school)? Or would I have objected from the beginning like Tagore? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Or would I be like Nehru - who had joined in enthusiastically, but afterward, upon reflection and consistent attempts at gaining a clearer understanding of Gandhi's character and vision, developed serious disagreements and got disillusioned with some of his ideas and methods? </span></div>
</div>
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</div>Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-13460922582635762112012-05-14T07:17:00.002-07:002012-06-23T04:30:34.970-07:00Why I Like Satyamev Jayate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Many
identify vicariously with the entertainment media: it plays an important role
in shaping their desires and dreams. Often, this has to do with fashion and
style. Young boys copy hairstyles, imitate Hrithik, Salman and Sanjay
Dutt's machismo and passion for 'body-building'. Some want to walk, talk and
act like Ranbir Kapoor. I see newly married women in sequinned saris,
heavy jewellery and make-up exactly like the women in Ekta Kapoor
serials. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But it does
not always stop at that. These media also partly influence people's ideal notions
of family (think<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Hum Apke Hai
Kaun?<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Baghban</i>), friendship (<i>Kuch
Kuch Hota Hai</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Dil Chahta
Hai</i>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>ZNMD</i>),
relationships and love (<i>Dilwale Dhulhaniya...</i>), and even nation and
citizenship (<i>Rang De Basanti<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Chak De India</i>). For some, it
may also have a bearing on how they think about what constitutes 'the good
life'. Walk into a typical middle or upper middle class wedding in India
and it is like a set for a Karan Johar movie. Many have imbibed Karan Johar and
Ekta Kapoor's belief that the more opulent, expensive and bigger - the better! Bollywood
has even influenced travel plans and honeymoon destinations: Switzerland,
London and New York can thank Yash Chopra Films for burgeoning tourism. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">My complaint
is that mainstream Bollywood, since the mid-90s, often portrays an exclusionary
vision of India. According to it, India is constituted exclusively by the
consuming middle class. Think<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Kal
Ho Na Ho, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Namaste London, DesiBoyz,</i> or even
the more sophisticated - but still showcasing the same exclusive vision
- <i>Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. </i>The
working class and poor simply do not exist (Minorities are absent as well because
Shah Rukh Khan is always Rahul, Salman Khan mutates into Prem and Aamir becomes
Aakash). Right up until the '80s, the Indian film industry regularly had as their
protagonist peasants and working class persons, and focused on <i>socio-economic </i>experiences<i> </i>of the common man.
However, Bollywood films of the 1990s/2000s almost always focus on the struggle of a
middle class protagonist, which too is of a <i>personal</i> nature.</span><span style="color: red; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Mainstream cinema ignores <i>social</i>/<i>economic </i>experiences like hunger, economic exploitation, inequality related to gender and </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 19px;">caste, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">and so on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is not
to say that <i>all</i> cinema needs to deal
with such heavy subjects. What is objectionable is the <i>dominance</i> of this exclusionary vision, which unfortunately often reinforces the insularity of many
upwardly mobile members of the middle class. I</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">n this light, it is commendable
that a Bollywood actor has endeavored to burst this bubble; to remind us of
alternative experiences and ignored visions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Given that
Bollywood and StarPlus soap operas leave an indelible mark on many minds, it is
not entirely wrong to believe that were famous 'stars' from this
"entertainment business" involved in campaigns around relevant social
issues - be it gender inequality, domestic violence, religious extremism
or caste discrimination - they would be extremely effective in raising
awareness<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>among ordinarily
apolitical citizens.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>Our
hyper-competitive, sensationalist news media rarely misses<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>any<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>such story; this additional news
coverage can spark off debates and help to break the silence around social
issues. This could only help in making <i>the socially unaware</i> conscious
of them.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is why
it is important that Aamir Khan anchors Satyamev Jayate, and not any social
activist ignored by the mainstream media and tabloids. What is brilliant
and noble about the show is precisely the fact that it is not social scientists
talking to themselves; exchanging esoteric knowledge, using
jargon, statistics and abstruse theories. Satyamev Jayate is neither an
academic book nor a seminar. It is unique in that it aims to dialogue<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>with ordinary persons </i>who
might be<i> un</i>familiar with the issues at hand<i>.</i></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This is a
difficult task for anyone seeking to address a complex issue, let alone
for an hour long TV show that must compete for TRP ratings with IPL5 and the
likes of Ekta Kapoor. Catering to the 'lowest common denominator'
requires one to target persons in the audience who know zilch about the issue,
explain its complexities in the most <i>simple, effective </i>way
and yet give<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>as nuanced a
picture as possible.</i></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Satyamev
Jayate, so far, has not aimed to provide us with any 'final solution' to any
problem (contrary to what Sohini Ghosh has argued in Kafila on May 9
and Farah Naqvi in <i>The Hindu </i>of May 12,
2012). At no point was his plea to the CM of Rajasthan to fast-track court
cases of female foeticide represented as 'the' solution to the problem. Nor was
his donation to ChildLine, the helpline for children, represented as 'the' way
in which the sexual abuse of India's children can be expunged. These are merely
efforts to contribute in <i>some </i>way: to let the audience know
that if they feel strongly they can at least<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>attempt<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>to help those who need it, or let
the latter know that there<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>help they can turn to. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">The show (so
far) has not claimed to address <i>every </i>aspect of the issues it
seeks to address, nor the ability to bring about a sudden, total
transformation in Indian society. Judged by these yardsticks, Satyamev
Jayate will always fail to meet expectations. Aamir's show must be judged
by its<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>intent<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>to get us talking about the basics
of some of the many complex problems that plague Indian society. Its efficacy
lies in breaking the conspiracy of silence about them in our public and private
lives. By giving even ten children the ability to recognise what constitutes
sexual abuse, by letting even five know that it is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>never<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>okay and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>never<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>their fault, and by giving even
three the courage to complain to someone - the show will have achieved <i>a
lot</i>. </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Viewed
against this, criticism of it by certain 'liberal'/'progressive' minded people
- for not dealing with<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>all<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>facets, for apparently wrongly
portraying girls as 'cute little bunny rabbits' that have to be 'saved', for
Aamir's (admittedly) contrived reactions - makes one suspect that
they cannot but sneer at even a much-craved <i>effort </i>to spark
off a <i>genuinely </i>public debate on relevant social issues
insofar as <i>they themselves </i>are not monopolising the
debate or setting its terms and so long as <i>they </i>are not
ones rescuing 'the victim', whoever it may be, in <i>their </i>way. Those who disparage Aamir's <i>"jaadu ki
chhadi"</i> - the collective strength of "you" and
"me" - as useless in the longer struggle against social evils are
either missing the point or being unnecessarily pernickety. It is obvious that
this is only an attempt to inspire and jolt us out of inertia, apathy and
insensitivity. This adamant refusal to appreciate and encourage this
admittedly small, but sincere and much-needed effort betrays a
disturbing tendency among some critics to be needlessly highbrow and
dismissive.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>This blog was published in <b>India Current Affairs</b>: <a href="http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/india-why-i-like-aamir-khan%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98satyamev-jayate%E2%80%99-vanya-vaidehi-bhargav/" style="background-color: white;">http://indiacurrentaffairs.org/india-why-i-like-aamir-khan%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98satyamev-jayate%E2%80%99-vanya-vaidehi-bhargav/</a> (June 5, 2012)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">_________________________________________________</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Some
criticism of Satyamev Jayate - </span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Sohini Ghosh
in Kafila - <a href="http://kafila.org/2012/05/09/dil-se-nahin-dimaag-se-dekho-thoughts-on-satyamev-jayate-episode-1-shohini-ghosh/">http://kafila.org/2012/05/09/dil-se-nahin-dimaag-se-dekho-thoughts-on-satyamev-jayate-episode-1-shohini-ghosh/</a> (May
9, 2012)</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Farah Naqvi
in The Hindu - <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3409175.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3409175.ece</a> (May
12, 2012)</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Other opinions on SMJ - </b></span><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Prof. Ravinder Kaur's opinion (similar to mine)</span></b> - <span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/good-at-heart/965572/" style="background-color: white;">http://www.indianexpress.com/news/good-at-heart/965572/</a> (June 23, 2012)</span></div>
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</div>Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-74538277857503523592012-04-11T22:27:00.006-07:002012-04-13T22:53:56.715-07:00The Greatest Happiness of the Greatest Number: A Fair Notion?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">As child the best way to make your friend do something he or she didn’t want to do was to cite the fact that the other 3 friends in the group also wanted to do it: “You have to do it, because... majority wins”. But this notion that what the majority decides is what has to be done and what is ‘right’ is something that I have seen a lot of people carry into their adult lives. The ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number’ is an attractive notion. But it is it always fair?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">***<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Many believe an action that produces the greatest happiness of the greatest number<i> </i>of<i> </i>people<i> </i>(the majority) is <i>the</i> action worth pursuing. An action that makes 6 out of 10 people happy is seen as more <i>worthy</i> than an action that makes only 4 out of 10 happy. Indeed, what could possibly be <i>wrong</i> with wanting to make more people happy? While the answer to this question might seem obvious to some, for others it is still contestable. Indeed, the <i>need</i> for minority rights is not universally obvious. Many believe that a greater number of happy people in the world would mean more ‘overall happiness’ and such a world would surely be a <i>better</i>, <i>more</i> <i>desirable</i> world. But would it? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">A principle that strives towards making the greatest number of people happy ignores a very simple but <i>extremely</i> important question: <i>what</i> is making different people happy? First consider just 2 people – Samira and Tanya – who are <i>equally</i> happy. But while Samira derives happiness (say 10 units of it, for argument’s sake) from social service, Tanya gets <i>the same</i> from torturing animals [For those who don’t care for social service, replace this with Samira getting 10 units of happiness from developing Apple products]. While Samira and Tanya are <i>equally</i> happy, there is a huge difference in <i>what</i> makes them happy. In such a situation, if the state had to choose to endorse either Samira or Tanya, would you say that it didn’t matter who the state endorses because in each case it is making <i>one</i> person happy? Or would you choose one person over the other? If you chose Samira over Tanya then you have made a <i>value-judgement</i> about what actions and values you think are <i>worth </i>endorsing and what are <i>not</i>, even though endorsing either would produce the same amount of happiness (10 units in each case). <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Now apply the same logic to a group. Imagine that in a group of 10, 8 are like Tanya and 2 like Samira. You are the state. In such a case, would you choose to make the greater number happy? This would mean choosing more overall happiness in the group of 10 people; you would choose what produces 80 units of happiness over what produces just 20 units. But would choosing to endorse 8 people who derive happiness from torturing animals be <i>better</i> for society than choosing 2 people who are made happy by providing social service (or developing Ipads)? If your answer is no, then again you have made a value-judgment, choosing one action (social service/developing Ipads) as <i>more valuable</i> than the other (torturing animals). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">My point is simple: those who strive for the ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number’ ignore the question of <i>what </i>is making the ‘greatest number’ happy. Moreover, those who think they are being ‘neutral’ in letting the ‘greatest <i>number’</i> decide must recognise that they inevitably endorse <i>certain actions</i> over others and <i>certain values</i> over others (in this case, torturing animals over social service or developing Ipads). While they themselves are not making the judgement, they are letting a random <i>number</i> make it for them. And the result may be that the actions and values chosen by ‘the greater number’ might not be <i>fair</i> or <i>just</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Suppose there is a group of 10 people in which 8 persons derive happiness from beating up the other 2 persons who look different from them just because they ‘look different’ (you are one of the ‘different-looking’ ones). Following the principle of ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number’ would mean that you are physically thrashed simply because this makes <i>more</i> people happy. You suffer because “majority wins”. But is it really <i>fair</i> to make a <i>smaller</i> number of persons <i>unhappy</i> for the sake of creating happiness in a larger number of other persons? This is a question about justice, and most societies are still grappling with it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Often one hears talk not just of ‘greatest happiness’ but the ‘common good’ (most policies are formulated for the common or ‘greater good’ of society). This is a way of speaking about the majority’s happiness in terms of welfare: what is in the ‘greatest good’ of society <i>as a whole</i> (“overall”). Like ‘overall happiness’, the ‘common good’ is an <i>aggregative</i> concern i.e. it aggregates the preferences of <i>each</i> person and decides the ‘common good’ <i>according to what the ‘greatest number’ prefers </i>or thinks suitable. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">This seems impartial and egalitarian: each person <i>really does </i>count as one, and no one counts for more than one. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">However, any principle that aggregates preferences and gives supremacy to those of the majority is problematic when it comes to the principle of </span><i style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">rights</i><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">. Suppose the general consensus in a community is to forbid its women from stepping outside their house. Would it be </span><i style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">fair</i><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"> to deprive women of their right to move freely? Or, to take another example, suppose ‘the greatest number’ decides that it is in the ‘common good’ of the community or the nation to expel or exterminate members of another race or religion. Is it fair to deprive another race or religious community of its right to reside in a region or of its right to life? Think of Kashmiri Hindus in Muslim-majority Kashmir.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Historically, rights have often been trampled upon by <i>aggregating</i> <i>preferences</i> of the majority and coming up with an <i>overall</i> measure of what is in the ‘common good’. This is especially dangerous when the aggregated preferences are sexist, ultra-nationalist or racist. Consider the majority in Germany condoning the persecution of Jews by citing an overall ‘common good’ for Germany (the purity of the Aryan race and Greater Germany). This was also what was so egregious about totalitarian regimes – heinous crimes were not opposed because they were believed to be for sake of the aggregated preference (the ‘common good’/’overall happiness’) of the nation. In Stalin’s Russia, people sacrificed the lives of their loved ones (and often their own lives) for the sake of the ‘common good’ (in this case, their rights were subordinated to their aggregated preference which was the ideology of Communism). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">But rights (especially fundamental ones) are considered <i>indefeasible</i> i.e. they<i> </i>must not be violated or overridden under <i>any </i>circumstances. They cannot be <i>compromised</i> for the sake of <i>any</i> ‘larger goal’, and this includes the goal of ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number’ and the ‘common good’. In fact, rights must - as philosopher Ronald Dworkin argues – <i>trump</i> the ‘common good’ or the general measure of ‘overall happiness’. Otherwise, justice itself gets subordinated to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">The problem is that most laws and policies are formulated according to this very logic of the "overall" good of society! This does not mean that <i>all</i> laws and policies are bad or unjust, only that they <i>can be </i>and sometimes <i>are, </i>and that one must recognise this if one seeks to safeguard rights and justice. <br />
<br />
One is also not saying that the ideal of the greatest good of <i>everyone </i>is attainable, but merely pointing out that justice requires that when laws and policies <i>are </i>made for the ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number’ they have clauses which protect the rights of the ‘smaller number’ who are ‘left behind’ or are complimented by other policies which recognise, compensate for and rectify the injustice done to them. <br />
<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-48154240789684947152012-02-29T06:53:00.004-08:002012-09-06T10:57:06.553-07:00Gujarat: 'Since there is no evidence that Modi himself engineered it, he is not guilty'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">There is a view that the post-Godhra carnage, in which over 2000 Muslims were killed by frenzied Hindu mobs, was a pre-meditated conspiracy to use the Godhra train incident as an opportunity to cleanse Gujarat of its Muslim population. Gujarat's Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, is believed to be a part of this conspiracy. However, let us assume that he is acquitted of the charge of a pre-meditated agenda of ethnic-cleansing. Does that mean he is not culpable?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">To answer this question, one must examine, a) the Chief Minister’s actions <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">during</i> the pogrom, and b) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after</i> it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">As for Modi’s actions during the post-Godhra carnage, the affidavit of Modi’s own chief of police, DGP R.B. Sreekumar, states that Modi had prevented him from taking necessary action to prevent further escalation of violence against Muslims. According to Sreekumar, Modi “asked me to concentrate on Muslim militants... [He] instructed that I should not concentrate on the Sangh Parivar [the Hindu Right], as they are not doing anything illegal”. Further, two affidavits and a petition filed in the Supreme Court by Sanjeev Bhatt state that Modi had asked officials to let Hindus ‘vent their anger’ at the Muslims.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">But let us assume that Shreekumar and Bhatt are unreliable, and that no such <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">instructions</i> were given by Modi. Does this let Modi off the hook? As the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi failed in his primary responsibility i.e. to preserve law and order in his state. When it collapsed, he failed to restore it. The violence continued for 182 days. Modi failed his responsibility to utilise the state machinery under his command to protect the fundamental right to life of more than 2000 Gujaratis. Hereby, Modi has achieved something historic: as CM, he has presided over violence on an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">unprecedented scale since Partition.</i> The Special Investigation Team (SIT), appointed by the Supreme Court, has reported that the Modi government delayed imposing curfew in Muslim areas, which would have reduced the killings (Hindustan Times, 27.02.2012). In his failure to protect hundreds of Gujarati women - who were raped, maimed and sexually tortured -Modi became the Chief Minister under whom the scale and extent of atrocities upon innocent women far exceeds <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any</i> reported sexual crime during <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any </i>previous riots in the country <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">since</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">partition. </i>Due to his inability to prevent the carnage, 523 places of worship - 205 mosques, 298 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">dargahs</i>, 17 temples, and 3 churches – were desecrated. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">But let us forget this and, instead, assume that Modi was helpless: he had tried his best to curb the riots but to no avail. Assuming that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nothing</i> could have been done <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">during</i> the initial riots to prevent their further escalation, let us examine Modi’s actions <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after</i> the riots. Before this, we must ask what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">should</i> be done after mass violence. First, the state machinery should be utilised to identify and try the perpetrators, and punish them according to the law. Two, along with delivering justice, the victims must be shown sympathy and compassion. There must be an acknowledgement of their loss and hurt, an apology for it, concomitant with an attempt towards their rehabilitation and integration. In the 10 years since the pogrom, there should have been an active attempt to reconcile the Hindu and Muslim communities in Gujarat. If this has been achieved, Narendra Modi is worthy of exoneration. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">But Modi has not punished the policemen who let the massacres take place. On the contrary they have been promoted. Further, he has not identified or punished those in his government (assuming that this was not done on his orders) who destroyed crucial police wireless communication records during the pogrom. Second, the SIT has confirmed allegations that the Modi government had appointed pro-BJP/RSS* advocates as public prosecutors in riot cases. It also states that police officers who took a neutral stand were transferred to insignificant postings (HT, 27.02.2012). Apart from Sreekumar and Bhatt, Rahul Sharma, a superintendent, has been charge-sheeted for giving details of the role of Sangh Parivar (the family of Hindu nationalist organisations) to the SIT without seeking permission of the state authorities. Vivek Srivastav and Himanshu Bhatt are two police officers who were transferred for trying to apprehend rioters (the former for arresting a Bajrang Dal leader and a VHP worker who were trying to foment trouble). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">In the immediate aftermath, when the atmosphere was still volatile, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Organisation) spoke of the Gujarat pogrom with pride, as ‘having shown the way’. Its general secretary Praveen Togadia spoke of Gujarat as an ‘experiment’. He said, “we will make a laboratory of the whole country. This is our promise and our resolve. If <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">madrasas</i>, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">jihadi</i> laboratory, are allowed to educate to kill non-Muslims, why can’t we have our own laboratory?... Gujarat has become the graveyard of secular ideology”. Let us, for a moment, even forget the links between BJP and the VHP – the militant Hindu nationalist organisation that facilitated the BJP's rise as a national-level party. What, then, was stopping Modi from banning the VHP for its incendiary remarks and its rabble-rousing? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">In a compassionate human being who was trying his best to stop a massacre, one would expect to find feelings of remorse, helplessness, and desperation. Portraying the people of Godhra as having ‘criminal tendencies’, Modi said that “... now they have done a terrible crime for which a reaction is going on”. Thus, instead of viewing the pogrom as morally reprehensible, he calmly portrayed it as a ‘natural’ reaction. If Modi is not guilty of engineering the massacres, he remains guilty of unabashedly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">condoning</i> grotesque murder, rape and torture. As L.K Advani – then, the union Home Minister - admitted very openly, “... riots are a sad issue... [but].. the question of an apology does not arise”. In these ten years, Modi has not visited the victims’ homes, and has not apologised to the Muslim citizens of his state. Empathy and compassion seem to be singularly lacking in Gujarat’s strong leader. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Muslim victims have not been given the compensation they were entitled to. In many cases, the victims had neither home nor jobs to return to. Modi’s government has been very efficient in building roads, temples and Hindu business establishments over the ruins of Muslim homes. Muslim businesses in many areas have been taken over by Hindus. Even 10 years later, four families that survived the massacre at Ode - a municipality in the Anand district of Gujarat, where 47 Hindus, all Patels, killed 23 Muslims – say they feel safe only in the fields outside Kanbhaipura village. Fear and mistrust is still pervasive among the victims of Gujarat (Indian Express. 28.2.12). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Many others still live in “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">transit</i>” relief camps which have become ghetto colonies – evidence of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">permanent</i> displacement. One such colony is “Citizen Nagar” - near Ahmedabad’s garbage dump at Pirana – where 183 riot-affected families have been re-located. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;">Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat live separately and unequally. </span><span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Last year, a senior academic from IIT Kanpur was forced to drop his plan of moving to the new IIT at Gandhinagar as he, being a Muslim, was unable to get a house on rent in the predominantly Hindu area where the IIT is located. A top official at IIT Gandhinagar told the Hindustan Times, “we even proposed to some societies that IIT will take the flat on rent but they bluntly said no Muslim family will be allowed to live in the flat”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Clearly, even if Modi himself did not have a ‘grand design’ to allow the massacre of Gujarati Muslims, he is culpable on several accounts. As the Chief Minister, he stands guilty in failing his primary responsibility to restore law and order and put an end to the violence – the riots continued for over six weeks. Moreover, Modi deserves strong censure for not condemning murder, arson, rape and torture during the pogrom. It is the very least one expects from a head of state. As the chief minister of Gujarat, he failed to show urgency in identifying the perpetrators and bringing them to justice, and has been unable to provide a sense of security to the victims of the 2002 violence, who continue to live in fear. Nor has he made any serious attempt to rehabilitate or compensate them. Narendra Modi stands guilty in his utter inability to show even an iota of sympathy and compassion. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Just as one can assume that the pogrom was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">beyond</i> the Chief Minister’s control, one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">can</i> talk of Modi’s inactions in terms of an ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">inability’</i> or him having ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">failed’</i>. However, if one assumes that Modi is the shrewd, astute political leader he is made out to be – the one responsible for turning Gujarat into ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ with a GDP of 11%, one will find it extremely difficult to deny the role of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">choice</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">agency</i> in Modi's actions and inactions related to the 2002 pogrom. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Cambria,serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">*RSS = Association of National Volunteers.</span><br />
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Updated information<br />
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Naroda Patiya Verdict, Aug 2012 -<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>-<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article3836698.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article3836698.ece</a></b></span></div>
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-<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/naroda-patiya-case-former-bjp-minister-maya-kodnani-convicted-along-with-31-others/articleshow/15969706.cms">h<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/naroda-patiya-case-former-bjp-minister-maya-kodnani-convicted-along-with-31-others/articleshow/15969706.cms</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-<a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/where-law-wins-out/994976/">http://www.indianexpress.com/news/where-law-wins-out/994976/</a> </span></b><br />
<b>- </b><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3863086.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3863086.ece</a> (victims say its only 50% justice)</div>
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Naroda Patiya survivors and witnesses face threats - <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3392165.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3392165.ece</a>
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Amicus Curae says proceed against Modi - <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3393808.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3393808.ece</a><br />
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The cast of characters changes from one SIT version to another. And so do the stories they have to tell - http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3409329.ece?homepage=true (May 12, 2012)</div>
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Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-19738506740642342702012-02-04T23:09:00.005-08:002012-05-14T00:55:13.334-07:00An Elegy for our Education System<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">From Class V all the way to Class XII, my report card invariably had the same adjectives for me: ‘hardworking’, ‘conscientious’, ‘diligent’, ‘bright’, ‘intelligent’. And the reason for that was that from class 5 onwards there was not a single year in school that I got below an average of 83%. I was often among the ‘top 5’ in my class. The CBSE wanted me to know <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything</i> in my text-book as anything could be asked in the exam. I figured that if I knew everything in the book, I could never go wrong. But even as a teenager, a part of me was aware that I was being rewarded, not for using my brain and thinking for myself, but for mastering a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">technique- </i>the technique of cramming. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Just for the record, home was where one mastered this art. School was definitely a place to socialise, fool around with friends, and perhaps poke fun at the teachers. Very little learning actually took place inside school premises. The best teacher I ever had was a maths teacher who was a private tutor at home. Most of the teachers at school seemed to lack passion for the subjects they taught. In the 12 long years that I spent at school (not counting ‘nursery’) I was taught by approximately 30 teachers, only two of whom I found inspiring. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Nevertheless, the system of education at the school level was convenient for me as it always yielded good results – a pat on the back from my teachers and friends, and a sense of personal satisfaction: I was a keen learner, always worked meticulously and was thrilled when it paid off. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">But as I grew older I became increasingly aware that our education system reduced knowledge to mere <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">information</i> that was to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">memorised</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">absorbed</i>. While a part of me enjoyed the compliments from teachers and friends, another (smaller) part resented that I was being praised simply for being an expert at memorising, recapitulating and reproducing information. I was being praised not for my insight or for the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">questions</i> I raised but for how perfectly I regurgitated <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">answers</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">While this did worry me (and exasperated me- it was hard work, stuffing all that information into a small part of my brain), I also reflected on the fact that cramming had served me well all my life. It had got me 88-point-something in the 10th Boards and I was willing to fall back on it again for the 12<sup>th</sup> Boards, which, at the age of 17, seemed like a matter of life and death to me. An 85 could get one into St. Stephen’s College and falling short of the cut-off mark by .25 could condemn you forever to what everybody at least saw as a just little less impressive. Even if someone told you that it was “okay even if you didn’t make it to Stephens or LSR”, you would find it hard to believe that these same people wouldn’t be a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">little</i> more impressed if you introduced yourself in the future as being from St. Stephens. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The name mattered</i>, and one cannot deny that at some small level it mattered for everyone – teachers, parents, friends, parents’ friends, friends’ parents. Apparently even universities abroad knew St. Stephens College but not the other colleges in Delhi University. If cramming got me the marks, I would rely on it. I was too scared to risk using my own brain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">And my well-honed skill of being able to stop myself from using my mind was rewarded again. After an interview that seemed to test my ability to withstand intimidation rather than independent thinking, I was offered admission to read History at St. Stephen’s college! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">Delhi University claims to model itself on the Oxbridge System – combining lectures with tutorials. For each topic, one was given a reading list consisting of about 20 books and articles by different scholars, each giving their interpretation of history. Being unfamiliar with how one was to make this transition from school- where one studied <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one</i> text-book for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">all</i> topics in a subject - to College where we were assigned <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">twenty</i> books for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">one</i> topic, some of the students asked a lecturer how one was to go about this. The answer was categorical: “you have to read each and every book and article, and there is no way around it”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">How was I to read and know everything in these books and articles? I tried to read an article on archaeology and got thoroughly bored. How could I possibly read all twenty books when I couldn’t even go through one article! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">How was one supposed to read so much in such short a time? I had always read and made notes on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything </i>in the CBSE textbook but how could one read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">every</i> article as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thoroughly</i>? If one couldn’t read it thoroughly and understand <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">each</i> word, what was the point? How was one to make notes on ten hundred-page articles? How was it supposed to all fit together? The task seemed utterly daunting. But I found an easy way out: I just simply avoided reading and made myself busy with social life in College- there were new people to meet, and new things to be discovered! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">But my awareness that, in school, I had always been lauded for my excellent ability to memorise and reproduce what Bipin Chandra said had happened in history grew stronger. And it was now turning into rather intense self-doubt. Since no teacher came forth to provide guidance, I dealt with it my own way: by losing myself in taking pleasure in the novelties of college life – the independence, the lack of emphasis on discipline, new people from different schools and even different colleges now ‘chilled’ together! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">My first year at Stephen’s brought me down from being a proud 80 percent-er to a 50 percent-er. And though I knew “marks didn’t mean <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">everything</i>”, I concluded that they did mean <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">something</i>. I knew the 80% in school did not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">prove</i> my intelligence, but the 50% in college definitely was not helping my self-esteem. I decided to lose the treacherous ‘backbencher’ in me and bring back the ‘conscientious’ kid. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">I attended <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">every</i> class, paid attention, took copious notes on whatever the lecturers said or dictated, read (definitely still not all of) the readings that were assigned, attended every tutorial and even ‘prepared’ for them. I realised that there was a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">technique </i>to be learnt even in College. For most tutorials, one had to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> the information that had been dictated in class as ‘notes’ and had to answer a sort of quiz based on it (if one hadn’t revised class notes, one could save oneself the awkwardness by raising some interesting questions of one’s own). For the three essays one had to write in a term, one merely had to summarise what a few of the major scholars had to say on the topic. Moreover, one was absolutely free to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">plagiarise</i> from books and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">collude</i> with ‘senior’ or fellow students! No one seemed to care very much about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">my</i> opinion and judgement, and so I figured it didn’t matter what I thought (Who was I anyway?). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">I passed out of Stephen’s with a first division, and came second in my class in my final year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">15 years of education in my country- first at a top-notch school and then at one of the best known colleges in India – tried very hard to make me believe that facts are more important than thought and imagination, that it’s more important to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">know</i> the answers than think critically, that exams are more important than knowledge itself. Some may say that in College the majority of us chose the convenient way out and they are right: one <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">could</i> have gone through the trouble of coming up with an original and coherent argument, no one was stopping us. But the system did not seem to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">require </i>it. One could be rewarded even if one chose the easy way out, so why not choose it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;">And that is the saddest and most dangerous thing of all. Our system of education, even<i> </i>at the undergraduate level, does not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">encourage</i> us - in fact, gives us <i>every </i>opportunity <i>not to</i> - think independently, critically, creatively or analytically. And so daily India produces citizens who lack the capacity to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">think for themselves</i> and instead defer to some authority, who lack the ability to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">critically examine</i> their own beliefs, habits, customs and traditions, who find it difficult to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">imagine</i> what it is like to be in the shoes of a person who is different from them, citizens who live together but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">cannot deliberate </i>or<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> reason</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">logically</i> with each other, who do not know how to develop an <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">argument</i> but instead tend to express disagreement through assertions, diatribe or, worse, violence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;"><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 19px;">If one has somehow developed a capacity for critical thinking, this can be attributed to a conducive environment at home, an intellectually adventurous peer group or a gifted teacher, an isolated figure in her department. One can be sure that one developed these skills <i>in spite</i> of our education system, and not <i>because </i>of it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />This article was published in The Hindu on April 25, 2012. Click on the link below to view it: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/education/article3352093.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/education/article3352093.ece</a></span></div>
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</div>Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-84005713771667452172012-01-26T04:50:00.000-08:002012-01-26T05:10:55.134-08:00The Origin of Sardarji Jokes?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I was wondering how Sardarjis became the butt of jokes considering the British had classified them as a 'martial race'. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The 'Lions of Punjab' were seen by British to be everything that the effeminate Hindu (and especially Bengali Hindu) was not. Sikhs were formidable fighters and, to top that, were considered extremely loyal to the British. Punjab was therefore the main recruiting ground for the British Indian Army. The Sikhs of Punjab proved their loyalty in during the First World War and, as an official report in 1920 on 'Disturbances in the Punjab' states,</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> had even helped </span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> the British to 'put down the Gadr movement'. How, then, did this 'martial race' with its macho, trustworthy members become the the butt of jokes? I put this question to my father and after some discussion we arrived at a theory as to what may have led to this! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The more learned, western-educated Bengali Hindu may have played a sneaky role in this. Bengali Hindus were the most educated and therefore posed the greatest challenge to the British Raj. To stymie this challenge, knowledge produced by the Raj made these western-educated Bengalis the object of its ridicule, portraying them as cowardly, effeminate men who ran from battle and therefore deserved conquest. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Humiliated by the British denigration of them as cowardly and feminine, and provoked further by their comparison with Sikhs whom the British orientalists praised, in contrast, as 'masculine', the English-educated <i>babus </i>may have lashed out at Sardarjis, in turn making Sikhs the object of <i>their </i>ridicule. Sikhs were not as literate or well-educated as these Bengali <i>babus, </i>and coming from a rural/pastoral background, the urbanised, westernised <i>babus </i>may have found it easy to ridicule them as as awkward, village 'bumpkins' who did not understand urban, western, or 'modern' ways of life - akin to Charlie Chaplin's faux pas in 'Modern Times'! </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Their turbans must have been scoffed at too. This is rather curious as even respected Hindu political figures be it Gokhale, Tilak, or Malaviya and other renowned figures such as Swami Vivekananda wore turbans. Perhaps an urban, upper-caste snobbery played a role here. How dare these uneducated, uncouth rustics... these boorish, low-caste yokel adorn themselves with turbans that ought to be worn only by the urbane and the genteel?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just thought it was interesting to think of the history of The Sardarji Joke. While thinking about this, I came across a history of how Sikhs came to be associated with "barah baje" (the joke, at least as I understood it in school, was that at 12 o'clock Sikhs go bisserk for no rhyme or reason :S). The association of Sikhs with 12 o'clock apparently dates back to a story about Nadir Shah's invasion of India in 1738. Apparently, Nadir Shah's troops had plundered Delhi and captured hundreds of women. The Sikhs decided to attack Nadir Shah's camp and free the women but since they were outnumbered by the latter's army, they decided to raid his camp at midnight (12 o'clock). Due to this intervention by the Sikhs , many captive women were freed and "dignity was restored" to the Hindu community. How such stories of valour and courage were forgotten and replaced by Santa-Banta jokes, and kids in school setting their alarms to 12 o'clock and Johnny Lever looking at his watch while the little 'serdy' kid counted stars in Karan Johar's first movie is what I was interested in! <br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Narendra Modi was re-elected as Chief Minister in the 2002 elections - ten months after the post-Godhra riots. He was re-elected again in 2007, after defeating the Congress by a wide margin. An argument made even by those who are willing to consider the charges of state-sponsorship or negligence levelled against Modi, is that the people of Gujarat themselves want him in power. If he is a democratically elected leader, who are we to question him?</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It was through democracy that segregation was entrenched in America; the majority voted for a system founded upon discrimination against Blacks. Similarly, free and fair elections have led to the emergence of dictatorships in some places in Central Asia. In both cases, democracy was at odds with freedom. Just providing the argument that democracy is flourishing through a system of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">elections</i> - does not automatically imply that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">freedom</i> is flourishing, or that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">equality</i> is being promoted. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In the 1990s, Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats were forced to flee their homes and expelled from Bosnia and Herzegovina by Bosnian Serbs. Almost 3 lakh people were displaced. In 1995, more than 8000 Bosnian Muslims were killed and 30,000 were forcefully expelled from the town of Srebrenica. All this took place under the auspices of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">elected </i>officials. This does not justify what happened, nor does the fact that the Serbian president enjoyed tremendous popular support. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That people <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">want</i> a particular leader does not <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">automatically</i> justify his holding office. Popular opinion can often be belligerent towards ‘others’, and may even support discriminatory policies, or agendas of ethnic cleansing. Public opinion may also be influenced through silent, gradual indoctrination against a particular race, nation, religion, or caste. But can a system that allows several heads to be broken after counting them be called ‘democratic’? Indeed, to be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">meaningfully</i> democratic, head counts must be followed by policies which reflect that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">each</i> head <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">counts</i>, that every person has been treated as an equal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Popular support through elections is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">necessary</i>, but <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not </i>a<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> sufficient</i> condition for a leader to justify his position. Any democratic leader must be judged against other criteria that qualifies a country as a liberal, constitutional democracy. In such a democracy, actions of elected officials are constrained by constitutional provisions and a commitment to civil liberties. In other words, no elected leader can act <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">arbitrarily. </i>He must follow the rule of law, respect the separation of powers (between the executive, legislature and judiciary), and ensure protection of the basic freedoms of speech, press, assembly, religion etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The same applies to Narendra Modi. Those who are raising questions about freedom, equality and justice under his rule must not be stumped by the retort that ‘the people <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">themselves</i> want him in power’. Questions about whether the other criteria of a constitutional democracy are being met by him need to be asked, and satisfactory answers must be given on those accounts. </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For one must remember that procedural democracy (regular elections and competitive politics) is just one among many values. Although an important one, it is by no means the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">supreme</i> value- it cannot override other important values like freedom, equality and justice. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">1) Modi re-elected in 2007 - <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/world/asia/24india.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/world/asia/24india.html</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">2) <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ethic cleansing during the Bosnian war </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_in_the_Bosnian_War">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing_in_the_Bosnian_War</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">3)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Charges of genocide in Bosnia </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">- </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosnian_Genocide</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">4) Who was the Serbian President?</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milosevic#Milo.C5.A1evi.C4.87.E2.80.99s_role_in_the_Yugoslav_wars</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Srebrenica Massacre </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">-</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">6)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">More on democracies and illiberalism (and for what constitutes a constitutional democracy) - </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracies at Home and Abroad </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">7)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">More on democracy and violence - </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jack Snyder, From Voting to Violence: Democratisation and Nationalist conflict </span></div>
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Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-82733704962781532632011-09-29T12:35:00.000-07:002012-08-29T22:50:10.523-07:00Is it time to forget Gujarat?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It has been almost ten years since the Gujarat riots in which more than 2000 Muslims were killed, many of them burnt alive by Hindu mobs. During Narendra Modi’s three-day 'sadbhaavana' fast, the BJP repeatedly emphasised that Modi wants to "move ahead" but "the so-called secularists keep harping on about the past”. A friend recently echoed this - “Gujarati Muslims want to move on. Only you so-called ‘secular’ guys keep bringing up the past. You won’t Let them move on”. So, are secularists just being unreasonable by holding on to an issue, and not letting wounds heal? </span></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Rupa Mody is a Parsi who had lived in Gulburg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad. A frenzied mob had attacked it resulting in her house being burnt down. Her 12 year old son Azhar is reported as 'missing'. The question is whether this mother wants to forget or forgive those because of whom she lost her son. Neither any secular atheists nor Hindus nor even other Muslims can speak of ‘forgiving and forgetting’ on behalf of the actual victims of 2002.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A pregnant woman’s stomach was slit open and her unborn baby paraded on a <i>trishul</i>. Another was stripped, made to run naked, tortured, then killed and burned. Women were raped, then tortured by inserting metal rods into their vaginas, then set on fire. These women cannot be <i>forgotten</i> simply because they were the victims of crimes almost a decade ago. They <i>deserve</i> justice. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Rupa Mody is stilling fighting for her son. The “open letter” sent by the Naroda Patiya riot victims to Modi during this ‘<i>sadbhavana’</i> fast says, “Narendrabhai... have you ever peeped into the hell through which we the victims and the community, as a whole, are going through? No, you have not, and we know you have no desire or intention of giving us justice. We, therefore, dismiss your ‘Sadbhavana Mission' as just another publicity stunt”. It is obvious that the victims are still demanding answers and want to fight for justice. Then who are <i>we </i>to say that it is time to ‘forgive and forget’?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The accused have been charged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for murder, attempted murder, causing grievous hurt with deadly weapons, kidnapping in order to cause grievous hurt. Our country is a constitutional democracy, and the rule of law must be followed. Till the accused are convicted of these grotesque crimes, to talk of ‘forgiving and forgetting’ is to encourage the circumvention of our constitution and law. Questions of forensic evidence, proof, and justice cannot simply be <i>forgotten</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Modi currently faces charges of violating the International Genocide Convention ratified by India. Leading the prosecution is a lawyer of impeccable training, Indira Jaising, who alleges that the crimes resulted directly from "acts of omission and commission on part of the Gujarati governmental officials named, including Modi". </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Modi’s own chief of police, R.B. Shreekumar said in his affidavit that the police force had been pressured by political leaders into not registering riot offenses and going easy on those accused. He had apparently recommended Modi to arrest “Hindu leaders who had been involved in the heinous crimes committed”, but was told that such action "was against state policy". There is no way of <i>knowing</i> the truth yet, but these charges - especially that of genocide - are <i>extremely</i> serious. And they need to be taken seriously. Yet, there is talk of Modi as a priministerial candidate. Yet, during the fast, on the stage stood Dr. Jaideep Patel and Atul Vaidya, the two main accused in the killing 120 and 69 persons, respectively, in the Gulberg Society and Naroda Patiya massacres. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As responsible citizens of a constitutional democracy we must be vigilant, and certainly not try and wish away charges of rape, torture, murder and genocide. While these facts <i>cannot </i>be simply forgotten by the victims, they <i>should </i>not be forgotten by the rest of us till court cases are taken to their logical conclusion. It is a matter of law, but also one of <i>empathy </i>towards fellow citizens and, even more importantly, towards fellow<i> humans</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Imagine that it has been ten years since your sister was raped, sexually tortured, and murdered and your parents burnt to death in front of you. <i>Still, </i>those whom you can identify as perpetrators are out on the streets or, worse, running for office. And you’re being told that it is time to bury the past. But surely you can move on only <i>after </i>the killers of your family are identified, tried and put behind bars. You would want others to empathise with you, and would be grateful if they cared enouugh to take an interest in the injustice you have suffered. You would certainly not interpret it them 'harping on about the past'. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">So why should it be different with the victims of Gujarat? Their past <i>must </i>be talked about. Cases must be followed very closely till the accused are put behind bars. This is the only way they can heal and even think of forgetting, leave alone <i>forgiving</i>. Those who use the discourse of ‘forgive and forget’ without this being done first not only show a lack of respect for law, but also betray a reprehensible lack of empathy – and ‘<i>sadbhaavana’ </i>-<i> </i>for the victims. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">1) What was the Gulbarg Society Massacre?</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulbarg_Society_massacre">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulbarg_Society_massacre</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2) Charges framed against 60 accused in Naroda Patiya</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> - <a href="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-10-08/india/28109196_1_naroda-patiya-gujarat-riots-godhra-train">http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-10-08/india/28109196_1_naroda-patiya-gujarat-riots-godhra-train</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">3) BJP's statements about 'forgive and forget' and Modi wanting to 'move ahead' on NDTV</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> - <a href="http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/the-modi-makeover-has-it-worked/211319">http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-buck-stops-here/the-modi-makeover-has-it-worked/211319</a> (see also for Rupa Mody's reaction to Mody's fast)</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">4) The international convention Modi is accused of flouting: UN convention on Genocide</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> (see also for the definition of ‘genocide’)- <a href="http://www.un.org/millennium/law/iv-1.htm">http://www.un.org/millennium/law/iv-1.htm</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">5) More on Rupa Mody</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- Begged for police help but to no avail- http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_i-begged-for-help-from-police-commissioner-rupa-mody-tells-court_1310039</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- Search for her son - <span style="color: black;">http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/mosiqiacharya/84/1318/search-for-azhar.html</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">6) Riot victims arrested in September 2011; also, their open letter to Modi -</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">- <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2465109.ece">http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2465109.ece</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">-</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-day-2-of-modis-fast-sarabhai-riot-victims-detained/20110918.htm">http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-day-2-of-modis-fast-sarabhai-riot-victims-detained/20110918.htm</a></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>7) Naroda Patiya survivors and witnesses threatened, May 2012 - </b><a href="http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3392165.ece" style="line-height: 115%;">http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article3392165.ece</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>8) Naroda Patiya Verdict, Aug 2012 - - -<a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article3836698.ece" style="line-height: 115%;">http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article3836698.ece</a></b></span><br />
-<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/naroda-patiya-case-former-bjp-minister-maya-kodnani-convicted-along-with-31-others/articleshow/15969706.cms">h<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/naroda-patiya-case-former-bjp-minister-maya-kodnani-convicted-along-with-31-others/articleshow/15969706.cms</span></b></a><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">-<a href="http://www.indianexpress.com/news/where-law-wins-out/994976/" style="line-height: 115%;">http://www.indianexpress.com/news/where-law-wins-out/994976/</a></span></b></div>
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Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5484188395508703899.post-81654515862133558242011-09-17T05:39:00.000-07:002011-09-22T12:32:16.117-07:00Why Not Make Anna Irrelevant?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Anna movement drew criticism from many people for various reasons. Most of my peers kept a conscious distance from the movement or remained sceptical of it. Some saw thousands of people out on the streets as a sign of ‘belligerence’ or a ‘law and order’ problem created by mismanagement of the government. Some questioned the motive of Team Anna, claiming that they intended to subvert parliamentary democracy. Others criticised the involvement of the Hindu right, citing instances of mobilisation by the RSS. I took a stance, questioned it again and again and tried to make it as informed an opinion as possible. This is what I think. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Anna and the Hindu Right<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It is true that right wing elements were <i>part</i> of the movement. Anti-corruption has been the central plank of the BJP since the 1980s. Moreover, it came to power in the 1990s precisely due to people’s dissatisfaction with scandals, corruption and cronyism under the Congress. That the right wing will try to piggyback on an anti-corruption movement when the Congress is in power was predictable. It is the party of opposition and it has been provided with a stick to beat the Congress with and a golden opportunity to come back into power. The Right affiliated itself with the movement. But while this is true, to say that the Anna movement is therefore a ‘<i>right-wing movement’</i> seems to be an incorrect inference. The Right’s affiliation with Anna is purely <i>instrumental</i>, and does not automatically lead to the conclusion that there is also an ideological affiliation between the two. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Some have criticised the movement for being inadequately representative of weaker or marginalised sections of society such as Dalits and Muslims. Their response to Anna breaking his fast by taking a glass of coconut water from a Muslim and a Dalit girl was as predictable as the Right’s piggy-backing. Such ‘token’ representation means nothing, they said. But this movement aimed to highlight a specific issue that affects us all at different levels: corruption. All were formally invited to join in - it did not exclusively invite only higher castes or only Hindus or only men to join. It did not claim to be an overtly exclusive movement. If the right-wing RSS was mobilising people, the secular people of India had every right to put Muslims and Dalits at ease and bring them within the fold of the movement. If the religious right was mobilising people, what was stopping the left-leaning secular elements from mobilising as well?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But even if a mass movement did not start off as a right wing movement, the possibility of being hijacked by the Hindu right was a legitimate concern. Many left-leaning secularists remained wary of the movement because of this. However, neither their mere presence nor any mobilisation by the right wing automatically leads to the conclusion that the Anna movement had already been hijacked by the right. Using this as a reason not to support Anna Hazare and to brand it as ‘fascist’ – a term casually used for almost anything undesirable - just because of piggybacking by right wing elements sounds like a lazy excuse. It betrays a tendency to protest and oppose without careful consideration and reveals an inability to provide constructive suggestions. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: red; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Others criticised the movement for focussing too narrowly on ‘monetary corruption’, attacking it for ignoring ‘socio-religious corruption’ of the caste system. The caste system is despicable, inhumane and inexcusable: it is based on subordination, humiliation, degradation and exploitation. It is definitely as important an issue as monetary corruption. My reply to those who were against the Anna movement due to this reason would be that they are expecting Anna to be a magical Mahatma and this movement to strike at the root of too many problems at one stroke. This betrays a lack of understanding about how a mass movement can engage with the government successfully. Second, monetary corruption diverts funds allocated for development and schemes meant for lower castes and Dalits, and tackling it will help these sections of society as well. And finally, why not join the movement and raise it as an issue, instead of attacking the very movement itself?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
Another reason why some kept a distance from the movement was due to the use of national symbols. The argument is that Hindu nationalists have used these very symbols – like the national flag – to create fear among the minorities, and therefore they must not be used.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">It is true that the Indian flag can and does create among certain minorities because of its possible association with aggressive nationalism or majoritarianism. However, does it really make sense to be sceptical or cynical about the use of the flag simply because it <i>has</i> <i>been</i> misused in the past or <i>can</i> be misused in the future? The point is to gauge how the flag is being used in the <i>present</i> movement, and the dominant vibe at Ramlila was of the flag being used simply as a symbol of the hope for India’s regeneration.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Indian flag is not a Hindu symbol, nor is it a cultural one. It is a national, constitutional symbol and every citizen has a <i>right</i> to carry it. To say that one should be wary of carrying it because it has been misused in the past is to play right into the hands of the very Hindu Nationalists that you are opposing. It amounts to letting Hindu nationalists <i>dictate</i> to secular forces whether or not they should carry their national symbol! Moreover, it sets a dangerous precedent by succumbing to the fear that Hindu Nationalists thrive on and by letting them <i>appropriate</i> the national flag! Surely the way forward is to make minorities who feel alienated from the flag and from India, less alienated, not <i>more </i>alienated. For those concerned about the use of the flag further alienating these communities, the more responsible move would have been to put them at ease and try and include them, rather than encouraging them to exclude themselves further simply because of a fear that they had of the possibility of how the movement <i>might</i> turn out. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">When I asked a butcher at the meat shop that I go to about his view on Anna he said ‘I support him. I went to Ramlila every day. Maybe our India now has a chance to become the ‘golden bird’ it once was”. When I asked another Muslim <i>bhaiya</i> at Ramlila Maidan whether he was scared this was a Hindu movement and might turn into something like the <i>Ramjanmabhoomi</i> movement, he dismissed the idea: “Madam, that would be mixing up different issues. This is for the good for our country”. The Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari who appealed to Muslims to stay away from the Anna movement has drawn flak from other community leaders. The General Secretary of the All-India Ulema Council, Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi said that Bukhari’s personal view should not be taken as the view of the whole community. The Maharastra Urdu Writer’s Guild stated that slogans such as ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ are the ways of expressing love for the country and should be taken in the right context. Guild president Salam Bin Razzak stated that “Muslims may not worship the motherland but their love for it is second to none. Bukhari is needlessly communalizing the movement against corruption." My point is not that all Muslims feel this way. But at least some <i>do</i> and we must acknowledge it and encourage it, rather than discourage it on the basis of our own anxieties or assumptions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Anna and ‘the masses’<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Rejecting such arguments for not supporting the movement does not mean one is unaware of its possible dangers. Many criticisms of the phenomenon by the upper middle class that filled English news studios arose out of the awareness that mass movements are tricky, and are not easy to control. While their spontaneity can be beautiful, it can also cause great unease because there always lurks a possibility of it spiralling out of control. At its peak, a mass movement seems like an aneurysm on the verge of bursting. This is a legitimate apprehension. But should the fear of another Chauri Chaura prevent us from supporting a mass movement that is currently peaceful and aims to remain so? In other words, should the mere possibility of a danger prevent you from seizing an opportunity to change the status quo? Being aware of the danger of the possibility of a movement spinning out of control is important – it cautions one against any step that might lead to such an outcome. But to not participate in a movement for a good cause simply out of fear that it <i>might</i> spiral out of control is something that has prevented those who want to see a certain change stand in its very way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The majority of the upper middle class intelligentsia that appeared on English news channels seemed to be petrified by the sight of masses being out on the streets. This utter distrust of all popular sentiment was akin to the reactions of the Moderates or ‘Liberals’ who feared Gandhi’s ‘radical’ methods of mass mobilisation and distanced themselves from it. If you were sceptical of the Anna movement because you feel that ‘mass hysteria can never achieve anything’ (as one friend said), you might want to rethink where you would have stood as a contemporary on Gandhi’s mass ‘national’ movements against British colonialism. If while reading about Gandhian mass movements in history class, you imagined yourself as part of the non-cooperation movement or the civil disobedience movement or the Quit India movement, you might want to think again. This is not a judgement (Gandhi wasn’t always right); it is merely a provocation to think about your own perception of your counterfactual self.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But the belief that nothing can be achieved by ‘mass hysteria’ is quite different from the worry that masses of people were participating in a movement which aimed to bring about a bill which the majority of people had not even read! Further, some correctly pointed out that many of those supporting the movement had in all probability themselves paid bribes at some point of time or the other. How can one be part of such hypocrisy? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But the fact that this movement struck a chord with so many ‘hypocrites’ also reveals something about at least some of them: if they have paid bribes, they are not entirely happy about their own hypocrisy and they do not mind giving ethical conduct a shot if someone else does the dirty job of cleaning up the system for them first.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Anna and parliamentary democracy<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Till now I have argued assuming that the movement was for a ‘good cause’. But was it? Some journalists, academics and intellectuals were vehemently against the movement, alleging that it was ‘anti-parliamentarian’. There were those who argued that Team Anna sought ‘regime change’, wanted to topple the government or wanted to replace parliamentary democracy with some kind of benign dictatorship. Rahul Bose on CNN-IBN was convinced that the motive of Team Anna was to subvert parliamentary democracy. This is quite different from the fear that in the hurry and determination to get this billed passed Team Anna was making proposals which might amount to subversion of the normal parliamentary procedure. The label ‘anti-parliament’ confuses these two issues.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The concern about the subversion of parliamentary procedures is a legitimate one. Determination to eradicate corruption should not lead to diversion from the standard parliamentary procedures, and should not lead to the passage of the bill which might, because of the hurried nature in which it was passed, lead to the rise of a super-state body that might ultimately subvert parliamentary democracy. However, articulating this legitimate worry is quite different from attributing motives to Team Anna purely on the basis of speculation. Accusing them of <i>wanting</i> to subvert the democratic process and establish their own autocratic coterie is quite<i> </i>different from accusing them of being politically naive, even though the latter might turn out to have as dangerous a consequence.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So was Team Anna conspiring? Who are the key members of ‘Team Anna’? Prashant Bhushan is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, Arvind Kejriwal was an officer in the Indian Revenue Service, Kiran Bedi is a retired IPS officer. Members of Team Anna consists not of ‘twitterati’ but of persons who have tried their hand at the system, have tried to work within it, have tried to bring about reform from within it. In an article in ‘The Caravan’, Mehboob Jeelani describes how Kejriwal did not fit in easily with his colleagues in the IRS due to ‘...his discomfort with what he has described as a culture of corruption. He began to realise nothing got done in his office without bribes and kickbacks, and by 2000, his frustration had reached a boiling point. Kejriwal started exhorting unhappy citizens who had been poorly served by his corrupt co-workers to file petitions against them in court’. As an IRS officer he ‘helped people obtain their old-age pensions without paying bribes, and filed complaints against income tax officers who colluded with tax evaders’. If one puts oneself in the shoes of Kejriwal and other members of Team Anna, it is not hard to imagine their frustration and anger with the system, something that showed when they spoke of MPs and politicians in their Ramlila speeches.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Were their comments about MPs during their Ramlila speeches a reflection of their desire to mobilise public opinion against democracy? Or had they just got a bit carried away in the heat of the moment? While many friends suspected the former, it turned out to be the latter. Since none of us knew Team Anna personally how could one have predicted this? Gauging the intention of someone is an intuitive skill. An observation of their past and present actions would obviously help.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Before Ramlila, had Team Anna resorted to any undemocratic methods? Was there anything undemocratic about protesting outside Jantar Mantar, negotiating with the government, carrying out their ‘referendums’? Wasn’t this evidence of them still working within the system? Some said, ‘but even Hitler initially came to power through democratic means’. Still, while the worry is appreciated, why doubt the ingenuity of Kejriwal when he came out in the end to clarify that he respects the constitution and the parliament? Why doubt Kiran Bedi, despite her controversial remarks and her ‘ghunghat’ act, when she reiterates that she does not want to be ‘put in a box’ by ever joining any political party? Was there anything in their past that gave us reason to? It is important to look for those reasons, but when nothing significant is found, it might be worthy to lower those anxieties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">There were many among the educated upper middle class strata/intelligentsia who were criticising or questioning the movement. Arundati Roy, Tavleen Singh, Seema Chishti, Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose are some of the prominent names that come to mind. They raised important questions: <i>what is their background? Are they being driven by some other organisation? Is there an underlying motive? Who funds these guys? What are the implications of this bill? Is it democratic and constitutional? </i>But some of them not only raised important questions but also had ready and uninformed answers to their own questions! Scepticism is healthy and raising concerns about the unintended consequences of a movement is an important component of democracy. But keeping your eyes and ears open is quite different from assuming and attributing a malicious motive to the movement. Nevertheless, such scepticism and criticism is healthy in a democracy and might have helped to keep a check on the direction that the movement might have been taking.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Team Anna’s present actions also provided some hints as to its intent. The fact that the fast ended as promised when their 3 conditions had been met by the government, that Team Anna is not hogging the limelight but continues to work on behalf of ‘civil society’, and has left it up to the standing committee to discuss the various bills is surely enough reassurance that Team Anna had never intended to topple the government and still has faith in the institution of the parliament.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Why I supported Anna<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But even if one concludes that Team Anna had no intention of undoing democracy, it could still consist of people who were well-intentioned but politically naive. The thought of a bunch of good-hearted, well-meaning people, in their hurry and determination to eradicate corruption, getting a law enacted that ultimately leads to the emergence of a super-state, ‘big brother’-like Lokpal is as frightening. If it is true that this was a possibility with the Jan Lokpal Bill, it is a great relief that all the four Lokpal bills <i>are</i> going to be discussed by the standing committee, as should be done in any case. It is a relief that Team Anna is accepting, as it should, a clause-by-clause discussion of the various bills. Perhaps this is reassurance that Team Anna is responsive to concerns being raised and <i>does</i> believe in deliberative democracy. If at any point Team Anna goes against this, one must object strongly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I personally have no great love for Anna Hazare. I admire his belief in non-violence and his hatred for corruption. But if he praises any leader alleged to have been involved in communal riots, it would worry me. If people are flogged in his village for drinking, I oppose it. If he, like Gandhi- at least till the late 1930s, believes that each caste has the duty to follow only a particular occupation, I am against this. I disagree with his hyperbolic statement of ‘Hang all corrupt politicians’ and was relieved when he withdrew it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">But Anna Hazare has captured the imagination of people neither because of his view of Modi nor because of his belief in prohibition. He is not admired because of his views on caste. Not even because he is considered almost like a second Gandhi. He is admired by the <i>aam aadmi </i>because he has attached himself to an issue that affects every ordinary person at some level or the other. Many Indians, even if they have sometimes found them personally beneficial or convenient, have also found the state institutions frustratingly inefficient, ineffective and extortionist. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Whether or not the Jan Lokpal bill is flawed, Anna’s movement was successful in tapping on the discontentment among ordinary people about the status quo ‘<i>kaam</i> <i>chalaoo’</i> attitude that is so institutionalised in India. Its success lies most in getting us ‘hypocrites’ to think and change our stance from ‘this is just how India works, and it benefits me sometimes so why go through the trouble of changing it?’ to ‘though it benefits me at times, I am not entirely comfortable with corruption. I am not willing to devote my time to change this state of affairs, but if these guys are, I will support them. I am willing to give the alternative and more ethical way a chance’. To make so many people rethink their own mentality is an extremely significant development. This is the reason I chose to support the movement. This, and the hope that the political class will take note of the crisis of legitimacy that it suffers from. People crave a political leadership that they can look up to and institutions which they can trust. Anna Hazare, through his fast– the controversial threat tactic that many have deemed as blackmail and bullying– created a ‘crisis’ for the government, but also presented it with a brilliant opportunity to reinvent itself. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">If one fears that an Anna cult might be emerging, one should also look into the reasons why this would be possible. The persona of Anna, the virtuous anti-corruption crusader, has been <i>made</i> <i>possible</i> by the crisis of legitimacy that not only the Indian political class suffers from but also the police, the administrative bureaucracy, even the courts. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I do not want a benign dictatorship. I want Indian parliamentary democracy to be reformed and function without a cash-for-votes scam, without illegal mining, without vote bank politics, without the juvenile political discourse which hampers level-headed discussion on important issues. Anna Hazare has legitimacy because state institutions and politicians have been delegitimized by their own actions. And those who would ‘rather not be Anna’ and think that he is regressive or medieval, have a special responsibility to push for reform and proper functioning of Indian parliamentary democracy so that our political class and institutions can regain their lost legitimacy. A personality cult cannot easily emerge in a country where citizens trust their political system. If India was such a country, Anna Hazare would be irrelevant. So if you fear Anna or are against him, why not seize this opportunity and make him irrelevant?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div>Vanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11516938133737228360noreply@blogger.com6