Fertility rates have fallen, but the inability of men of effectively manage and have a proper family planning continues. It is a deep rooted social, economic, and gender inequality issue that makes the issue difficult to resolve.
In September 1994, India was among the 179 countries that signed the first international agreement recognising the right to sexual and reproductive health at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. This meant that India agreed that couples and individuals had the right to decide whether, when or how many children they wanted to have. With 2019 being the 25th anniversary of the historic ICPD Programme of Action, how far has this right been realised in India? How many women are empowered to make their own choice and be in control of their bodies? More specifically, since the burden of planning families is on women, have they been able to exercise their reproductive rights? Has there been an enabling environment to facilitate women’s autonomy in reproductive decisions?
Many of the answers to these questions lie in the Government’s population policies and its skewed implementation. One of the biggest barriers to realising reproductive rights has been the inherent gender discrimination embedded in its approach to family planning. The push for female sterilisation by Government family planning programmes has undermined women’s autonomy. There has not been any major shift in the Government thinking although terminologies have changed. Even though it is claimed that the population policy is no longer target-oriented and offers contraceptive choices, female sterilisation remains high and the most popular form of contraception. The 2005-06 National Family Health Survey (NFHS 3) had found that 77 per cent of women had not used any other method of contraception before accepting sterilisation. Not much has changed since then.
Ninety three per cent of the total 14,73,418 sterilisation procedures between 2017-18 were conducted on women, according to a June 2018 report by the Government’s National Health Mission. Only 6.8 per cent were performed on men. In fact, there has been a decline in male sterilisation from an already low 1.0 per cent in 2005-06 (NFHS 3) to 0.3 per cent in 2015-16 (NFHS 4). It is not surprising that the percentage of male sterilisation (0.3) in urban and rural areas is exactly the same.
Further, drop in the prevalence of contraception, from 56.3 per cent in 2005-06 to 53.5 per cent in 2014-15 (NFHS 4), means the onus of ‘controlling fertility’ has continued to remain on women. That men are disinclined to take responsibility has been corroborated by NFHS 4 which clearly states that “female sterilisation remains the most popular modern contraceptive method”, even though compensation in high focus States is higher for vasectomy (Rs 2,000) than for tubectomy (sterilisation for women), which is Rs 1,400.
While much of the female sterilisations stem from entrenched patriarchal beliefs that males would lose their virility and masculinity if they opted for vasectomy, women’s lack of sexual and reproductive health knowledge about appropriate and available contraceptive methods and, their limited access to services has increased their vulnerability. Women have been given little or no information and counselling on contraception and that has prevented them from knowing its benefits and side effects. This could be why one of three women had not given informed consent before undergoing sterilisation, according to a Population Research Institute study.
For many women, this ignorance has had fatal consequences. In the last five years, approximately 1,000 women have died following sterilisation procedures. Government sterilisation camps were banned in 2016 by the Supreme Court following the death of 363 women during or after sterilisation conducted in such camps between 2010 and 2013.
In Andhra Pradesh, the fall out of the focus on female sterilisations as a means of family planning and fertility control has been the onset of early menopause. The State has the highest proportion of women aged 30-49 who are in menopause in the country at 31.4 per cent. Bihar comes second with 27.1 per cent. This high menopause in Andhra Pradesh is due to the numerous hysterectomies (surgical removal of uterus) conducted with the simultaneous removal of the ovaries. Removal of ovaries is the biological equivalent of castration and results in the immediate and sudden onset of menopause, in contrast to natural menopause which is a gradual process.
Hysterectomies have been driven by sterilisations for a long time in Andhra Pradesh, the fifth most populous State in India. Female sterilisation accounts for 98 percent of contraceptive method use according to NFHS 4. It’s a vicious circle — sterilisations conducted under unhygienic conditions have led to medical conditions prompting many women to opt for hysterectomies to end its debilitating after effects. Eighty-two per cent of the women who opted for hysterectomies had undergone a family planning operation prior to it, found a 2009 study by an autonomous institution in the State.
India had committed to enabling its people to make informed sexual and reproductive health choices as a matter of their fundamental human rights at the 1994 ICPD. But it hasn’t been able to fulfill its promise entirely. Although fertility rates have fallen, it is varied. Even now, inability to engage men effectively in family planning and, deep-rooted economic, social and gender inequality continue to deny women the power of choice. As the United Nations Population Fund 2018 State of the World Population report points out, fertility transitions can be sustained only when reproductive health services are universally accessible and women are empowered to take decisions. Only then will women be able to avert unplanned pregnancies, unwanted fertility and unnecessary abortions and, be free of ‘coercive’ sterilisations.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
Writer: Swapna Majumdar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Few acts on Electoral Reforms have raised as an intense debate in recent years. The focus of the debate has, however, been diverted away from the core issue of electoral reform. As political will and consensus is important, the process must begin soon.
The 133-year-old Congress during its heydays would have shuddered to think of a day when it would have to resort to crowdfunding to augment its finances. The cash-rich party, which had been in power for over 50 of the 70 years since Independence, is facing an unprecedented fund crunch due to various reasons. It has reached the bottom now with the party launching a 40-day booth committee fund raising programme from October 2. The Congress leadership appealed for funds in a tweet, “The Congress needs your support and help. Help us restore the democracy which India has proudly embraced since 70 years by making a small contribution”. Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor even tweeted that there should be no embarrassment in accepting the facts.
With elections due in three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled States — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — and 2019 Lok Sabha poll, there is an urgent need for the party to mobilise its resources. Facing a string of defeats in State after State since 2014, the Congress coffers are almost empty. Corporate funding too have dried up perhaps because the Congress is not perceived to be poised for a return. Gone are the strong State leaders who would collect funds in States.
The Congress has been tightening its belt for some time. According to the party constitution, the members are supposed to donate 10 percent of their earnings and the party has now asked them to step up their donations. The other easy route is to cut down expenses. With the party ruling barely in four or five States, the Congress has even stopped sending money to the State units for day-to-day expenses. Budget has also been cut by almost half for meetings and also on celebrations.
In olden days, many political parties used to collect smaller donations (chanda). Over the years, this system has disappeared with parties resorting to make money through deals if it is in power, or through corporate donations. They meet the poll expenses from donations, party membership fee and interest earned on fixed deposits, and other savings. However, with campaign expenses touching astronomical figures with huge election rallies, chartered flights, media advertisements and other expenses, opposition parties have been unable to meet the cost.
The following figures might give a clue. According to the Association for Democratic reforms (ADR), during the 2014 Lok Sabha election, national parties spent Rs 858.97 crore on publicity, Rs 311.8 crore on travels, Rs 104.28 crore on other expenses and Rs 311.47 crore on expenditure towards candidates. It was shocking that almost 69 per cent of the income for these parties had come from unknown sources.
Related to that is inequalities in election expenditure. The ADR notes that the total funds collected by all national parties in 2014 Lok Sabha poll was Rs 1,158 crore, up from Rs 854.89 in 2009 polls. The BJP collected Rs 5.88 billion while the Congress received Rs 3.50 billion followed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with Rs 77.85 crore and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) with Rs 77.26 crore. The income of the BJP increased by 81.18 per cent to Rs 1,034.27 crore while that of the Congress decreased by 14 per cent to Rs 225.36 crore between 2015-16 and 2016-17.
The Congress is still the second richest party but far behind the BJP. The Government had announced an electoral bond scheme in 2017 but this was not enough and much more needs to be done.
The Election Commission has a long list of suggestions, including decriminalisation of politics, reforms of political parties, auditing of accounts of parties, checking black money in polls, making ‘paid news’ an electoral offence, and punishment for false affidavit by candidates and capping of anonymous donations to 20 per cent.
Several panels have recommended poll reforms, including Goswami Committee (1990), Vohra Committee (1993), Indrajit Gupta Committee on State Funding of Elections (1998), Law Commission Report on Reform of the Electoral Laws (1999), Election Commission’s Proposed Electoral Reforms (2004) and Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2008). One suggestion was state funding but there was no consensus on this.
It is time to push through these long pending big-bang electoral reforms to cleanse politics. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been talking of ‘one nation one poll.’ This could be the beginning but other issues like criminalisation of politics, use of money and muscle power, transparency in election funding, auditing of accounts of political parties, and their regulation also need to be tackled.
Even the Supreme Court in a recent judgement has left it to Parliament to check criminalisation of politics. Last year, the Court had also ruled that seeking votes in the name of religion, race, caste community, or language of a candidate would amount to corrupt practice. No doubt these cannot be done in a day but it has to start some time or the other, the sooner the better. What is needed more is political will and consensus for reforms.
(The writer is a senior political commentator and syndicated columnist)
Writer: Kalyani Shankar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The Government is taking many citizen-centric initiatives and shedding its erstwhile obsolete governance centred around lower-level bureaucrats.
My father is a retired professor in his mid 80s and one of his biggest challenges is the annual ritual of proving to the State Bank of India that he is alive so that the bank disburses his pension. This is true of lakhs of pensioners across the country. Often, one comes across elderly lining up in public sector banks to assert their existence. Not only in banks, go to any Government office dealing with pension, it’s not difficult to find a number of hapless elderly people struggling to negotiate the rude, stubborn and archaic mindset of lower-level bureaucracy.
In one stroke, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal dealt a severe blow to this mindset and age-old roadblock to good governance when he launched the ambitious doorstep delivery of Government services programme this month. Described by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as a first-of-its-kind in the country, people can avail of 40 services from seven Government departments, sitting at home. This is truly a historic initiative and transforms the way governance is delivered. In a tweet, Kejriwal wrote that there is a need to change the way we are being governed — administration and governance needed complete overhaul and both should become citizen-centric.
This programme can become a game-changer and a model for several States as it promises to bring about a paradigm shift in people’s engagement with the Government. It will mean a world of difference to them, especially the elderly, disabled, women and children. After the ‘happiness curriculum’ and ‘mohalla clinic’ programmes, this comes as an icing on the cake and takes governance reforms to new levels. One of the understated advantages of competitive federalism that Prime Minister Narendra Modi so passionately articulates is that it sets a new benchmark in public policies and programmes.
The Prime Minister has led from the front and his people-centric programmes are yielding effective results. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, for instance, is lighting up lives in areas that hitherto remained mired in misery and darkness. Narendra Modi once said, “Federalism is no longer the fault line of Centre-State relations but the definition of a new partnership of Team India.” Among others, this spirit may have triggered multiple innovations of governance. Recently, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje launched a unique programme to enable poor families to get access to information on Government programmes without any intermediary. Under the Bhamashah Digital Family Scheme, every Bhamashah family who are entitled to National Food Security, will be given Rs 1,000 in two installments by the State Government to purchase Internet-enabled smartphones.
Telangana Civil Supplies Department and Civil Supplies Corporation undertook a unique reform to plug loopholes in the public distribution system (PDS). “IT-based systems are the only way to cut corruption on a long-term basis. IT helps to cut interaction between Government and citizens while offering public services. Lesser interaction means lesser corruption,” says Akun Sabharwal, Commissioner & Secretary, Consumer Affairs, Food & Civil Supplies. According to Sabharwal, an IPS officer, “Technology has been effectively integrated at the four layers of the PDS architecture, from procurement till distribution to beneficiaries, and this has brought about transparency and efficiency besides blowing a death-knell to corruption, informs.” In fact, Telangana Minister for Finance and Civil Supplies, Eatela Rajender had said that the State Government had saved more than Rs 1,000 crore worth rice by plugging loopholes by effective use of IT in procurement and distribution.
At the first stage of procurement, 3,000 odd paddy purchase centers were provided with tabs to enter the details, besides effective streamlining of the procedure through what is called the Online Procurement Management System (OPMS). This caused impressive gains in procurement — from 24.28 lakh metric tonne in 2014-15 to 54.06 lakh metric tonne in 2016-17, besides eliminating middlemen in payment of MSP to farmers. To monitor movement of procured paddy in GPS fitted trucks, from buffer godowns to corporation godowns and subsequently to fair price shops, a special Command Control Centre was established by the department. The department introduced geo-fencing of 18,0000 routes to curb pilferage and smuggling. For last mile distribution through fair price shops, the department effectively used National Informatics Centre’s (NIC) ePDS software and Aadhaar seeding of beneficiaries.
“Telangana is the first State to have completed 100 per cent seeding of Aadhaar with 2.75 crore beneficiaries. Our electronic point of sale machine has also been introduced in all 31 districts and this offers massive ease to consumers besides securing the system against any foul play,” informs Sabharwal. CCTVs at PDS shop, a special T-Ration app and offering anywhere ration portability are some other revolutionary reforms that have brought about a revolutionary change in the PDS. Sabharwal didn’t lose time in acknowledging Herculean team effort, including those of his predecessors IAS Officer Rajat Kumar and IPS Officer CV Anand, who ensured this iconic metamorphosis. “I am just carrying the baton forward,” he avered. And he seemed to be doing that quite well.
Writer: Navneet Anand
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The representation of women in indian corporate boardrooms has increased over past few years but it still remain low. In order to draw more female participation in higher management, corporates need to develop an internal pipeline and make sure it will be followed for the long run. This can be done by positioning strong individuals to key leadership positions.
Recently, I came across a beautiful advertisement by Mahindra on educating a girl child — Ladki haath se nikal jayegi. It is an inspiring take on how education can empower girls. But all this joint effort of the Government and corporates would be futile if we do not create a pathway for retention and growth for women in workplace, and elevate strong individuals to key leadership positions.
It is a well-researched fact that having more women in workforce has a direct impact on GDP growth. For example, in the US, since 1970, as much as 26 per cent of growth in GDP has been directly attributed to an increase of women in workforce. According to another study, teams with mixed gender are more productive and creative. In fact, economists found that simply moving from an all-male or all-female office to one that was evenly split could possibly increase revenue by 41 per cent. This is because greater social diversity implies a greater spread of experience, which add to the collective knowledge of a group of workers and make the unit perform more effectively.
However, women around the globe have remained underrepresented at every level in the corporate world. For most women, balancing both home and career takes a toll, and they decide to take a break. It is a huge loss for the company, society and nation as a whole. Although hiring women has been clearly beneficial, the benefits will not accrue with a mere increase in headcount. Women are largely untapped resources that are often not recognised. Hence, increasing the number of women in leadership positions is critical not only to give women a voice, but also because women’s involvement improves the way leadership and decision-making is practiced. As a nation, we should develop strong leadership and succession programmes to mentor or guide deserving women candidates to leadership positions in the country.
Women’s representation in the management pipeline drops substantially as one climbs the higher ladder. The proportion of women in seniormost management role falls to 18 per cent from 46 per cent at the entry level. Apart from some of the challenges that both men and women face in the workplace like work/life balance, parenting, juggling responsibilities and multitasking, there are specific challenges such as wage gap, discrimination and sexual harassment at workplace, that are distinctive for women. Women still earn only 73 percent of what men earn for the same job, and sadly, sexual harassment is still not a thing from the past.
In one of studies of 400 largest companies in California, only 9.7 percent of boardrooms or top paying executive positions were held by women. Thirty-four per cent had no women on their executive board and none of the companies in the study had an all-female board. In addition, none of the companies had a gender-balanced board or management team.
What steps should companies take to improve more women participation in higher management? The first step is to develop the internal pipeline and make sure that it is not choked. Leveraging existing HR information and data analytics can generate important insights about the workforce and help identify high potential women as leadership candidates. Developing the internal pipeline is not solely about the talent process. Workplace programmes and efforts such as work-life integration and pay equity are also important factors to consider in strategies to develop the talent pipeline in the industry.
Opportunities for individual coaching, affinity-based leadership development, executive sponsorship and mentoring are also essential components of the leadership development continuum — particularly for women who may lack access to training and advancement options. Stretch assignments are also effective interventions to develop new skills and perspectives, and including diverse high potential employees in networking events with company and industry leaders is another strategy to build competencies and forge new relationships.
To hire right women talent, organisations should determine the current and future needs. The identification and analysis of critical roles is the first step in developing the pool of next generation leaders and critical talent. Companies should assess the talent pool and characterise necessary skills and competencies needed for success in those roles. Also, companies should determine the mix for filling gaps and the cultural importance of hiring from within for critical roles. An important aspect is to define the pool of internal candidates. Steps are needed to track promotion and turnover rates, and lower-than-expected promotion rates may indicate that development programmes need to be revisited and refined.
Similarly, higher-than-expected turnover rates should drive changes in how the organisation approaches building pipelines for critical positions. Also, define the pool of existing external candidates, bearing in mind the skills needed, competencies, and talent profiles, mine information on past candidates in the organisation’s candidate database to identify matches and assess the potential of external hires to fill critical roles.
Also define and execute campaigns to engage candidates. Identify conferences, industry associations, and social networks that match the critical role profile. Moreover, work with hiring managers and employees for relationship building. In addition, assess and refine current sourcing strategies and analyse sources that have been successful in the past to develop a targeted sourcing strategy for external candidates based on ideal candidate profiles and historical trends. Companies should implement and monitor sourcing strategies to seek talent that can fill critical roles, and capture information about those people’s knowledge, skills and experience in addition to contact information for ongoing communications. Finally, it is crucial to track the overall size and quality of internal and external pools.
Once potential women leaders are identified, organisations should establish a development framework to nurture them. Organisations should actively engage potential leaders by identifying and investing in high performing women with the capacity and inclination to lead, and give them the skills, training and confidence to do so. They should treat leadership as a tangible skill and provide training opportunities and confidence building for women who wish to hone their skills. Networking is the most important skill and organisations should help potential women leaders to establish relationships and networks. They should actively connect junior-level employees with senior female leader mentors and create networking opportunities regardless of level.
Organisations should also consciously enhance the visibility of role models and highlight female senior leaders. Companies should articulate the steps for career development, starting with employees in their twenties or earliest stages of their careers and combine ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ rewards. It is necessary to reinforce and validate women’s performance with clear and consistent personal feedback, together with the more conventional rewards of raises and promotions.
Several companies have identified the importance to developing women leaders. For example, Sanofi’s ELEVATE initiative was launched as an accelerated, six-month development programme to prepare potential women in the organisation for leadership roles. Participants were nominated based on the existing talent review process, with a target cohort size of 20-25 women. Women were identified from the senior director and AVP level, the natural feeder pool for the leadership level where Sanofi saw the largest gender gap.
Participants represented all lines of business at Sanofi including STEM fields, commercial roles, staff roles and manufacturing. They were split into small teams that worked on projects outside their current business entity. Each team was assigned a senior-level sponsor and executive coach. The six-month action-learning project provided experiences for participants to develop senior-level leadership skill sets while identifying new growth opportunities and building new capabilities for Sanofi.
Leadership competencies developed included cross-functional collaboration, managing stakeholders, negotiation and exercising influence, navigating and influencing gender dynamics, communicating with vision, leading strategic change, and creating a culture of innovation and growth. Of all the women who went through the programme, about 60 per cent had been promoted or had made developmental moves that expanded their knowledge.
Organisations and policy-makers have a responsibility towards the nation to develop strong internal pipelines, which identify and nurture women employees and develop them into strong leaders. This will ensure that the efforts of every girl child to become empowered will have a clear roadmap to succeed in the corporate world.
(The writer is Assistant Professor, Amity University)
Writer: Hima Bindu Kota
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Atal Bihari Vajpayee did a lot in his time as a statesmanship, he was the person who made the bridge that enabled India to transit from the Left of Centre politics to Centre-Right. All he commanded was admitation and adulation of all.
The outpouring of grief across the country and across the political spectrum following the demise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was indicative of how well he had endeared himself to the people during his long innings in politics that had made him truly an Ajatshatru (one without an enemy).
It was this winsome nature of his which enabled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which, unlike him, was virtually friendless to later acquire allies and even dislodge the Congress from its perch. He, therefore, played a critical role in ensuring the smooth transition at the federal level from Centre-Left to Centre-Right. When Vajpayee took oath as the Prime Minister after the Lok Sabha election in 1996, he was perceived by the media to be India’s first “right wing” Prime Minister. He headed the single largest party but did not enjoy a majority in the House. His Government lasted just 13 days. But Vajpayee knew that this was just for starters — a kind of a practice session. Although the party was the single largest party, the BJP was regarded as “untouchable” by other political parties and, therefore, found it difficult to cobble up a coalition for a stable Government. The lessons from this defeat were not lost on the party. Therefore, when the United Front Government collapsed and a fresh Lok Sabha poll was called in March, 1998, a lot of background work was done to overcome the deficiencies of 1996.
Vajpayee sent his emissaries around and succeeded in ending the “untouchability” stigma that the party suffered from. Leaders of many disparate parties backed him and found him to be a moderate leader. In no time, Vajpayee demolished fears in the minds of his coalition partners about associating with a “right wing” party. He made the “untouchable” in Indian politics eminently touchable and the party, which had a horde of shatrus (enemies), now had 23 allies!
This became possible because Vajpayee had genuine respect for smaller parties and regional forces and, hence, struck a good equation with Karunanidhi, Mamata Bannerjee and Naveen Patnaik and many other regional leaders. He also saw merit in the regional aspirations of people from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand regions and, therefore, facilitated the emergence of the new, smaller States — without any bloodshed or violence. It was Vajpayee’s statesmanship that enabled the smooth bifurcation of three big States — Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. This was quite in contrast to the muddled approach of the Congress and United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which led to the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and the emergence of Telangana and the extent of violence that preceded the creation of the new State.
Vajpayee was a great admirer of Jawaharlal Nehru. In fact, it is said that Nehru had spotted his potential even in Vajpayee’s first term in the Lok Sabha and even introduced him as a future leader of the country to some foreign guests. Nehru’s influence tempered Vajpayee and although he came from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-Jan Sangh stock — he gained acceptability from parties on the other side of the political divide. Therefore, many saw him as a Nehru of the Right Wing. When he wrote the poem, Kadam Milakar Chalna Hoga (We must walk in step), it was not just a day-dream of an idle poet — it conveyed the liberal inner voice of a true democrat.
While Vajpayee retained this liberal approach to politics, he was unrelenting when it came to national interest. That is why he was keen to make India a nuclear state and it is said that he had discussed this with nuclear scientists even during his 13-day Government in 1996. Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was keen to conduct the tests during his tenure from 1991-96. However, he had to hold his hand because somehow the Americans had got wind of it and he did not want to antagonise them. He needed the United States during the process of liberalising the Indian economy, which was in tatters when he took charge.
Narasimha Rao had acknowledged that he regarded Vajpayee as his guru. Anyway, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had been fully briefed by Rao in regard to the readiness of Indian nuclear scientists. It was, therefore, no surprise that Vajpayee went ahead with the nuclear tests in May 1998, when he returned as the Prime Minister heading a coalition of many disparate parties.
The nuclear tests skyrocketed India to the status of a major nuclear power but Americans were indignant and imposed sanctions. American President Bill Clinton was angrily wagging his finger and accusing India of escalating the nuclear race but Vajpayee stood his ground. He knew that the Americans would soon realise that India was a huge market and he sent his Minister Jaswant Singh to talk to the Americans and to bring them round and eventually succeeded in restoring Indo-US ties.
Pokhran–II showed the true Atal Bihari — a gutsy, strong leader who was confident that he would eventually bring the Western world to accept India’s new status. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach to international relations is largely in line with Vajpayee’s approach.
Unlike the humming and hawing of the Centre-Left establishment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy is far more muscular and has given India its rightful place at the high table in international politics.
Vajpayee was a strong leader who handed his responsibility with a lot of tact and firmness. That is why India comprehensively defeated Pakistan in the Kargil War. He also stepped up investment in infrastructure in a big way, opened up the telecom and transport sectors and laid the foundations for spectacular development of highways with his golden quadrilateral scheme and turned the focus on the north-eastern States .
Finally, one can say that Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s statesmanship was the ideal bridge which enabled India to transit from the Left of Centre politics of Nehru and Indira Gandhi to Centre-Right. That is why the transition has not been so harsh. And that is why he commanded the adulation and admiration of all Indians across the political spectrum.
(The writer is Chairman, Prasar Bharati)
Writer: A Surya Prakash
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The ancient India may give us things to admire, but constitutional stability is not one of them, and filled with other social ills.
Over the past four years, India has been in the midst of a tug of war. This tug of war is less in the form of political adversaries fighting for seats or attempting to win elections, but is more in the nature of a fight for India’s conscience. On one side of this battle are the forces of Hindutva and on the other is the Constitution of India. I will look at some of the spheres where the battle between the values espouses by the RSS/BJP and the values encompassed in our Constitution have come to the fore and how we as Indians must recognise the crossroads our country stands at and decide which way we will decide to go.
The RSS was founded in 1925 and represents itself as a cultural organisation. However, only the wilfully blind can really believe this to be true. The fact is that right from its inception in 1925, the RSS has been a very visible player in the political and social field. The RSS and its workers are often the foot-soldiers of the BJP during elections and it is not uncommon to find BJP leaders praise the RSS and attend their functions. The Prime Minister himself is a former worker of the RSS and it is obvious that Narendra Modi’s views on political and social issues are shaped significantly by the RSS. Therefore, for the RSS to continue to claim that it stays within the “sandbox” of a cultural organisation is to give very little credit to the intelligence of India’s populace. The fact is that the RSS has consistently shaped the BJP’s views on crucial national issues and I want to highlight some of these issues and request the BJP to clarify which side of the debate the current Government is.
The RSS has an uncomfortable history of admiration for fascists. From VD Savarkar who said, “The very fact that Germany or Italy has so wonderfully recovered and grown so powerful as never before at the touch of Nazi or Fascist magical wand is enough to prove that those political ‘isms’ were the most congenial tonics their health demanded”, to MS Gowalkar, affectionately called “Guruji” by RSS workers, who echoed similar views. In his book, “We, or our Nationhood Defined”, Guruji stated: “There are only two courses open to the foreign elements, either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race.” He went on to say that “the foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture…or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment not even citizen’s rights.” What is meant by “national race and its culture”? The question is whether this includes people from the South? Does it include people from the North-East? Does it include the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes? Do we need the permission of the RSS to be considered a citizen of India? These are the uncomfortable questions the RSS needs to address.
Instead of taking these questions head on, we have to hear the RSS’ language of division and parochialism. India is fortunate to be blessed with different races, different religions, different cuisines and different people. What MS Gowalkar identifies as a problem or a weakness is actually a Courtesy of strength. From Dr APJ Abdul Kalam to Dr Homi Bhabha, India’s varied diaspora have helped her take great strides towards the respected status it occupies today. Do we think that the next Homi Bhabha will be allowed to thrive, succeed and contribute to our country’s prosperity he is looked upon as an outsider? Of course not. This brings us to the tone of politics today. If the BJP does not share the view of India espoused by Gowalkar, should it not come out unequivocally against it? Instead, what we find the Prime Minister who on the birth centenary of Deendayal Upadhyaya, a man who considered secularism as an attack on the soul of India, offer tributes to these ideologues. It is possible that the BJP no longer subscribes to such views but by offering tributes, naming programmes and institutions after such individuals, you would forgive me for thinking otherwise. The fact is that irrespective of religion, race, gender, caste et al, we as Indians owe duty to the country and not just to our communities. The Constitution, which in its preamble talks about a “secular, democratic republic”, acts as our North Star and guiding light in this respect and reminds us that our true affiliations lie with the rule of law and the values prescribed by our Constitution.
If you’ve tuned into speeches by members of the BJP or the RSS, you will invariably have heard how things were in the good old days. It is amusing to hear fantastical stories of how ancient India already had nuclear weapons and wi-fi and while we should all be grateful to these leaders for providing the Internet with a gold mine of memes, the underlying sentiment behind these views does not inspire laughter or levity. The fact is that the RSS often waxes lyrical about ancient India and in some cases even about the Manusmriti, which according to some leaders of the organisation should override provisions of our Constitution. This betrays an ominous outlook for India. We must remember that while there may be things to admire about ancient India, the idea of India which the RSS wants to go back to, was rife with social ills. The Manusmriti, for example, essentially prescribes privileges for Brahmins and only “duties” for the ‘lower’ castes and untouchables.
While discussing caste, Gowalkar said: “Castes, there were in those ancient times too, continuing for thousands of years of our glorious national life. There is nowhere any instance of its having hampered the progress or disrupted the unity of society. It, in fact, served as a great bond of social cohesion.” Terming the caste system as a “great bond of social cohesion” is akin to saying dowry enables women to show how much they value their husband. It’s just as ridiculous and there should be no half-measures in condemning it. Similarly, ancient India was not particularly wonderful for women either. Women in ancient India had no right to get an education, to practice a vocation and to establish their own, independent identity. They had no agency and were subject to unfair social rules of conduct that have no place in a modern democracy. Is this the vision of India we should aspire to?
The Constitution, on the other hand, is antithetical to such views. It, inter alia, provides for abolishment of untouchability, guarantees certain fundamental rights such as the right to be treated equally before the law, right to life and also crystallises crucial freedoms like the freedom of free speech and expression. There is no denying that at times these freedoms and rights guaranteed by the Constitution are not enforced in the most ideal manner. However, this is an issue with implementation of these prescribed rights and freedoms. It does not, however, in any way take away from the noble objectives outlined in the text. This is primarily why the RSS had issues with the Constitution. In 1949, while speaking about the Constitution, the Organiser (an RSS newspaper) stated: “But in our Constitution, there is no mention of the unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat. Manu’s laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing.”
The RSS’ problem with the Constitution is that it embodies a vision of India that is inclusive, equal and strives towards a modern democratic society. For the RSS, however, India is only a Hindu State. As a Hindu myself, I am affronted by this idea because there is no doubt in my mind that the Constitution represents the best parts of all religions like inclusiveness and compassion and rejects the worst parts of ourselves, like discrimination and hate. The ongoing fight, therefore, between the idea of India envisioned in the Constitution and the one advocated by the RSS, is increasingly becoming a fight for India’s conscience. Let’s hope she makes the right decision.
(The writer is Jharkhand PCC president, former MP and IPS officer. Views expressed are entirely personal)
Writer: Ajoy Kumar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The way Indian society looks at and treats transgenders is slowly but surely changing. That said, we still have a long way to go when it comes to creating more opportunities for transgender people of our society, especially starting from their education.
After West Bengal and Maharashtra, Assam became the third State to get a transgender judge. On July 14, Swati Bidhan Baruah was appointed a member judge in the Lok Adalat in Guwahati. “My appointment as a judge in the Lok Adalat is a positive message for society and will help create awareness on discrimination against transgenders,” she told reporters. She also talked about the poor treatment and problems faced by transgenders in Assam and how she aims to resolve them and sensitise the Assamese towards trangenders, helping them lead a life of dignity and acceptance.
Swati’s appointment coincides with the Supreme Court’s decision to revisit its 2013 verdict on Section 377. The present scenario reflects a major change in the judiciary and upliftment of one of the most silent and neglected communities.
The transgender community was officially recognised in India after the Supreme Court decided to create a “third gender category” on April 15, 2014. According to this, transgenders can officially identify themselves on documents. “The spirit of the (Indian) Constitution is to provide equal opportunity to every citizen to grow and attain their potential, irrespective of religion, caste, or gender,” the court said in its verdict. With this decision, all federal and State Governments were to include transgenders in their welfare programmes, including education and healthcare.
In August 2015, following the Supreme Court’s order, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had asked all central universities to form a committee and an equal opportunities cell to address issues and ensure provisions and infrastructure to help the third gender feel safe and accepted. Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, improved its infrastructure to support the decision. Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) also made special provisions to help the third gender enter the mainstream by providing them five marks under the ‘deprivation point system’, which was aimed at ensuring their admission in numbers. Delhi University (DU) also introduced the third gender admission in its postgraduate courses in 2014, followed by the undergraduate courses in 2015.
In an article written in 2015, Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi, a transgender rights activist, wrote: “One thing that we have to look at is the kind of enabling environment we give to the transgender community. For that, advocacy is necessary. The pre-conceived notions of society have to change. They should ensure transgenders are not dropping out because of ragging”. However, three years down the line, it seems not much has changed despite these positive steps. Transgenders say they still face harassment and do not feel safe even on the college campus. On the condition of anonymity, an official from DU told us, “Even though there is nothing on paper, the university does not allow transgender women to join women colleges due to lack of infrastructure like unisex washrooms.”
In 2015, DU scrapped its gender neutral anti-harassment law and replaced it with a new law which considered only women as victims of harassment. This came as a huge disappointment for the LGBTQ community. Although, DU has an informal group — DU Queer Collective — where issues are often raised, desired results are yet to be seen.
The past three years saw an upward trend in the registration of transgender students, but hardly any of these converted into actual admission. Sources who work in the administration section of the university are vague on why registrations don’t translate into admissions in the case of these students. They say there is no particular reason for ‘other’ applicants not showing up and that many who clicked the ‘other’ option did not belong to that category; they had made an honest mistake and came back to correct it soon.
Transgender students say that most of them drop out either because they do not feel safe or because they have to face harassment on a regular basis. The other hurdle is that not all DU colleges are transgender-friendly. They do not have the kind of facilities or sensitisation programmes that would make transgender students feel welcome. Due to these reasons, transgenders generally opt for the School of Open Learning (SOL), but the struggle does not end even there. The admission process in itself is a challenge. “Officials judge us in verbal as well as non-verbal ways. They stick to our previous gender in the records even after we submit the relevant documents,” said a student on the condition of anonymity. Another student added, “Officials ask us uncomfortable questions during the process. And other students call us chakka and hijra.” Third gender applicants also say that at times, they register themselves under their previous gender category and take admission to escape the barbs.
Professor Rajesh Kumar, a Professor at the Department of Adult Education and Extension, says: “DU is one of the largest universities in India. When put together, the number of students in a regular college and SOL would exceed a lakh. Bigger the system, more the problems faced by it. The university is obviously relatively better equipped to help male and female students. Admission of transgender students is a new thing, and the university is preparing itself for the same.”
Kumar informs that a team from the university was sent to areas with a large transgender population, such as Burari and Seelampur. He says, “We found that most transgenders follow a unique guru system. According to the system, the gurus have a share in each transgender’s earnings. It is the same gurus who often make it difficult for us to reach potential students. There’s a need to break this system and make the third gender aware of the different means of livelihood and life.”
When we spoke to some of these students about how they could be made more comfortable in the university environment, they said one solution could be hiring transgenders as administrative officials and professors. University officials say that while that is their aim too, it is not something that can be done overnight. Just like the university has been constantly evolving to become more inclusive of women students and students from Scheduled Castes or Other Backward Classes, it will eventually become “fit” for transgender students too.
Writer: APOORVAA NAVEEN JOSHI
Source: The Pioneer
Although the amendments proposed to child adoption/marriage are progressive, they are short-sighted and do not abide with the existing family law legislations.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has proposed two amendments to the existing statutory enactments relating to marriage and adoption laws. The first proposal seeking approval of the Union Cabinet attempts to amend Section 3 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA). Reportedly, the WCD is stated to have circulated a draft Cabinet note proposing to make child marriages void ab initio, ie invalid from inception. Currently, Section 3 of the PCMA makes child marriages voidable ie, which can be terminated or annulled at the option of an aggrieved party.
The second suggested change is in the realm of enabling speedier adoption of children by proposing to amend provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, (JJ Act) to recognise District Magistrates/Collectors as the competent authority for issuing adoption orders under the JJ Act.
Beneficial, benevolent and progressive as the proposals may be, they are shortsighted and do not seem to be in tandem or harmony with parallel existing family law legislations. This may tend to create statutory conflicts with contradictory and inconsistent interpretations in issues relating to marriage, adoption and guardianship. The wholesome solution then may be to let them remain as it is or incorporate similar amendments in other existing laws for harmonious views.
The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, (HMA) while prescribing the age of marriage for a bridegroom as 21 years and the bride as 18 years at the time of marriage, neither renders the marriage void or voidable in case of marriage of minors. Section 18 of the HMA, however, prescribes punishment for child marriages which may extend to two years rigorous imprisonment or call for a fine up to one lakh rupees or both. Likewise, Muslim personal laws, too, do not invalidate child marriages.
Consequently, both under Hindu and Muslim personal laws, child marriage remains valid. In this perspective, the laudable piecemeal amendment of the PCMA to render child marriages void will be an exercise in futility as both Hindu and Muslim communities governed by personal laws would have legislative protection for child marriages. Hence, making child marriages illegal and void under the PCMA alone will achieve no goal. It will become a dead letter in the statue book and a ship set to sail without a course.
Adoption of children under the JJ Act made dehors the provisions of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, (HAMA), is guided by Sections 56 and 57 of the JJ Act wherein irrespective of the religion, orphaned, abandoned and surrendered children can be adopted even by single or divorced persons as per procedure laid down under the Adoption Regulations, 2017.
The process entails a robust and protective mechanism routed through the Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA). Ultimately, under the JJ Act, all Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) approved adoptions require an adoption order from a court, which under the JJ Act, “means a Civil Court, which has jurisdiction in matters of adoption and guardianship and may include the District Court, Family Court and City Civil Courts”. Section 61 of the JJ Act mandates that before issuing an adoption order approved by CARA, the court shall satisfy that the adoption is for the welfare of the child, as per the wishes of the child and without consideration, payment or reward for the adoption.
The definition of “court” in the JJ Act is shared by a similar interpretation of “District Court” under the Guardians and Wards Act (GWA) and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 (HMGA), wherein “court” means the City Civil Court or a District Court or a Judicial Court notified by the High Court under Section 4 of the GWA.
Clearly, the functions, authority and powers to oversee and lend finality in matters of adoption and guardianship have jurisprudentially ie, in the study of law, rested with the Judicial Courts and not the Executive Courts. This is because judicial and not executive minds, are lettered or trained to exercise legal powers, which require adjudicatory acumen to adjudge welfare of children, a prime duty vested by law. Subrogation of judicial functions to executive authorities in routine, for stamping judicial finality will offend the fundamental division of powers of judicial and executive courts, besides encroaching on powers of judicial courts under the GWA and the HMGA.
The pivotal role of a judicial court under Section 61 of the JJ Act to X-ray an adoption, before passing an adoption order, cannot be delegated to executive courts, militating the fundamental concept of determining the best interest and welfare of the vulnerable child by making it an administrative exercise with no introspection. The end will defeat the means. Children, an asset of the nation, deserve a cautious adoption process.
(The writer is an alumni of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and practices at the Punjab and Haryana High Court)
Writer: Anil Malhotra
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The success of the idea of a composite India over a duplicitous and insularity bravado was commemorated today as the Kargil Vijay Diwas.
Kargil Vijay Diwas today commemorates the Indian military victory over Pakistan in the summer of 1999 as part of ‘Operation Vijay’, the only time two nuclear-armed nations had ever gone to a theatre level war. Beyond celebrating the raw courage of the Indian infantry battalions, the pulverisation done by its artillery and the daredevilry of its air warriors — the Indian victory is as much about the under acknowledged sovereign resolve and the busting of convenient Pakistani myths and theories that have sustained the Pakistani ‘establishment’, despite its inglorious track record of 1965 and 1971. Nineteen years since the bloody nose in Kargil, Pakistan has reverted back to dubious tact of its erstwhile dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq, in trying to ‘bleed India with a thousand cuts’, resulting in the vicious pattern of action-reaction, since then.
As the more conservative and exclusivist (two-nation theory) offspring at the vivisection of Independence, Pakistan is naturally more pugnacious, interfering and voluble nation as compared to moorings of the deliberately ‘inclusive’, pacifistic and democratic India — the genealogical reality has lulled the Pakistani ‘establishment’ to spin a very self-fulfilling narrative of a more martial identity. This lazy logic and irrational belief has extrapolated itself into assuming that the sovereign resolve prevailing in Islamabad (and in the garrison town of neighbouring Rawalpindi) is, therefore, more resolute and uncompromising than that in Lutyens Delhi.
The composition and essentialities of sovereign resolve, usually go beyond colourful optics of posturing, rhetoric or religious sanctification — and instead, are enmeshed in more mature and vapid instincts of self-control, righteousness, honour orientation and risk-responses. The Indian approach is deceptively passive, moralistic and philosophical as compared to the self-assumed stridency of the Pakistani ‘establishment’. It took the Pakistani misadventure of ‘Operation Gibraltar’ of 1965, butchery and exodus of Bengalis in 1971 and the ill-fated ‘Operation Badr’ to lead to Kargil, all with same results for Pakistan. Importantly, all three wars and victories were a reactionary response from a supposedly ‘irresolute’ Indian state.
Sheer contrast of physicality between the strapping Sandhurst-trained-Pathan, General Ayub Khan, and in the small and frail frame of Lal Bahadur Shastri, were symptomatic of the perception mirage that consumed Pakistanis. General Ayub’s plan was predicated on the absence of an Indian resolve for conflict as he noted, “Hindu morale would not stand more than a couple of hard blows at the right time and place”, till a 32-year-old Grenadier Havildar Abdul Hamid (Param Vir Chakra) corrected many elements in Ayub Khan’s statement.
Similarly, in Kargil, Pakistanis miscalculated the Indian resolve, which General Pervez Musharraf himself describes in his book, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir, as “unreasonably escalated Indian response.” Contrary to the popular sense in the Pakistani mainstream, situational and moral reaction of the Indian ‘national will’ in moments of such crisis in a heterogeneous India are ‘surprisingly’ more powerful and compelling for sovereign resolve than those assumed simplistically in the ‘land of the pure’. Unlike the faction-riddled ‘establishment’ within Pakistan (eg Nawaz Sharif’s turf war with Pervez Musharraf during Kargil), seamless convergence of the disparate political parties in India during the wars is a glaring differentiator that ensures a unified political resolve.
Importantly, Kargil battles were more ‘equal’ in terms of deployment of men and materials with no side with an overbearing superiority, but for the hugely advantageous position that Pakistanis had occupied prior to the Kargil war. Overcoming such geographical odds makes the Indian infantry charges go down in the annals of modern military as the most fiery, doughty and surreal operations that blasted multiple indolent myths. The old yarn of ‘one Pakistani soldier being equal to 10 Indian soldiers’ was the foremost casualty of the Pakistani propaganda. Clearly the culture of honour and motivation was intrinsically rooted in the inherent regional-religious-racial diversity of Indian regiments like the Rajputana Rifles, Naga, JAK Rifles, Grenadiers, Rajputs, Jats, Sikhs, Madras et al.
Overt religiosity embedded in Zia-ul-Haq’s regressive contribution to the Pakistani Army motto of ‘iman, taqwa, jihad-fi-sabilillah’ (faith, piety, holy war), could not substitute for simple soldering imperatives like ‘leaving no one behind’ or ‘owning up to its own’ when the bodies of the fallen Pakistani soldiers were refused by them to cover up their complicity. The implausible theory of ‘local uprising’ to support the Pakistani efforts has entertained multiple misadventures since the first Indo-Pak war of 1948, 1965 and then in the Kargil war, only to come a cropper.
Lastly, the status of a ‘state within a state’ for the unmatchable privileges afforded on the Pakistani military has not led to any higher level of leadership for the Pakistani military. Virtually-unassailable Pakistani positions with their uninterrupted supply lines afforded by the geographical advantages were simply blunted — not just by the steely nerves of the Indian combatants but also by a decidedly higher order of military leadership. The Indian ‘officer-to-soldier’ fatality in the Kargil war was the highest in any modern battlefield. The released transcript of amateurish debriefing by Lt Gen Mohammad Aziz, Chief of Pakistani General Staff to his COAS General Pervez Musharraf is a testimony to the level of make-believe that Pakistanis have fallen for their own Goebbilian myths.
Kargil Vijay Diwas is, therefore, more than just a military victory; it is the success of a composite and complex idea of ‘India’ as opposed to a contrarian idea of insularity, religious dogmatism and duplicitous bravado that remains true of Pakistani tract, even today. An oft-forgotten nugget in the Pakistani thinking lies unread in the inherited British training manuals of both armies that suggests, ‘moral force in modern war preponderates over physical force’. Morality or the ‘high-ground’ cannot be couched and invoked in puritanical or religious contexts. Instead, it needs honesty, diligence and nobility of purpose that underlies the sovereign idea of India and that of its Armed Forces to deliver and honour, whenever faced by a ‘Kargil’.
(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry.
Writer: Bhopinder Singh
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Although data and theories say otherwise, India is slowly and steadily winning the battle against extreme poverty
Traveling is often fun, thanks to the training one received, as a journalist and a research scholar at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, most often, professional trips turn into an exercise in real-life and academic explorations. On a pleasant early morning drive from Sundargarh, Odisha to Ranchi, Jharkhand early last week, I requested my driver to pull up at two places. The first halt was on the picturesque Kutra road. While clicking some pictures, we also got an opportunity to spend a few minutes with a group of women who claimed to be from Bhogra village and were out on daily errands. Always curious to explore, we asked them if they knew Prime Minister Narendra Modi and their faces lit with a smile. They blurted out their praise for the Pradhan Mantri, who they said was doing “baro baro kaam” (big work).
A little further in Simdega, Jharkhand, we halted at a roadside dhaba for our morning tea. During a casual conversation with the owner of the shop, we enquired about the pace of vikas and changes witnessed since Prime Minister Modi took over. A socially conscious Balram Singh acknowledged a distinct “change in the mood and approach” and said some of the programmes like Ujjwala and Mudra were truly remarkable and that he knew of women who have benefited from the Ujjwala scheme.
Everywhere we went, from Rourkela to Sundargarh and then to Ranchi, we never came across pot-holed roads. There we no snake-charmers either. A slew of roadside eateries, many with flashy boards, honking trucks, speeding Innovas and over-crowded Boleros conveyed a picture of India that was changing. I truly wish James Crabtree of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore travelled with us to see how his idea of India “becoming the most unequal society” was pregnant with flaws and may have been a victim of tyranny of scepticism perpetuated by a few in the country. Or who knows this could be influenced by narratives of India’s ‘poverty industry’, to borrow a phrase from one of India’s most competent, charming and articulate economists, Surjit S Bhalla.
Crabtree must have heard a recent address by Prime Minister Modi to a group of youngsters where he gave hard data for sceptics like him: Three crore children vaccinated; 1.75 lakh kilometres of rural roads built in the last four years; electricity reaching every single village; 85 lakh homes electrified since October 2017; 4.65 crore gas connections reaching the poor; and more than one crore homes built for the poor in the last four years. If Crabtree doesn’t believe these data, he should perhaps take a leaf out of recent credible reports to review his hypothesis. A Brookings report said, every minute an estimated 44 Indians are being pulled out of poverty, this being one of the fastest rates of poverty reduction — even though Bhalla terms it “overly pessimistic” and estimates that the real number could be 100 per minute. The 44 figure, claims Bhalla, is based on National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data of 2011-12 and is, therefore, problematic.
Crabtree should meet Homi Kharas, Kristofer Hamel and Martin Hofer of Brookings who published a well-articulated study, ‘The start of a new poverty narrative’ last month. Referring to a fascinating World Poverty Clock (worldpoverty.io) data, they say that there are “two new storylines about what is happening to global poverty.” The first is that extreme poverty in today’s world is largely about Africa. Fourteen of the 18 African nations are seeing a rise in poverty. The second is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve SDG 1 goal of ending poverty.
It will require little imagination to derive the fact that impressive reductions in poverty, socially conscious and informed communities, and rapid spread of welfare programmes cannot be concomitant with rise in inequality, unless of, course, some adamant economist comes out with a bizarre model for the same. Crabtree can also refer to a June edition of the World Bank’s report, ‘Global Economic Prospects: Turning of the Tide?’ which said that India is one among the emerging economies in South Asia where strong per capita growth rates are expected to bring down poverty (read inequality). Bhalla, who has a Master degree in data and analytics, opined that when the findings of the NSSO Consumer Expenditure (NSSO-CE) survey for July 2017 to June 2018 will be released, most likely it will see India from an absolutely poverty obsessed “poor” country towards a middle-class, middle-income country. He was confident that this analysis would reveal that “absolute poverty in India, according to the official Tendulkar poverty line, is in the low single digits.”
Data and facts on the ground do seem to suggest the flaws in arguments of those who continue to paint a grim picture about India’s poverty records. Across the length and breadth of the country, irrespective of which party governs, India has made steady progress and the theory of the country being the most unequal is biased and distorted at best.
(The writer is a strategic communications professional)
Writer: Navneet Anand
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The provision of triple talaq of Islamic law has now abolished. Now, it is time to take some action on the broader issues such as education and employment of Muslim women to make them self-dependent.
Should we smell politics behind the Triple Talaq Bill which the Modi Government is so keen to push through in the ensuing Monsoon Session? Will it be passed or sent to the select committee for further scrutiny or will it be buried? The Lok Sabha successfully passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill last December by voice vote where the BJP has a majority. However, it has been an uphill task for the party to get it through the Rajya Sabha as the NDA does not have the numbers in the Upper House. While the measure was allowed to sail through the Lok Sabha, the Congress-led Opposition now wants the Bill to be sent to a select committee. The Government obviously fears that if it goes to the select panel, it will undergo changes. But one thing is sure: There is an absence of a reach-out in building a consensus.
The Triple Talaq Bill is a part of the BJP’s political gambit ahead of the 2019 General Election. If the Bill were to be passed, the Government would tomtom its success. If the Opposition blocks it, the Government would malign the opposition parties as pseudo-secular and real enemies of Muslim women. Either way, it is a win-win situation for the BJP. The Congress does not want to be seen as playing a repressive role it had played three decades ago in the Shah Bano case. Also, the Opposition cannot go beyond a certain limit as it is a social reform Bill which is why even while stalling the Bill, it played a lip service for the need to end the practice of triple talaq.
The demand to send the Bill to the select committee has the support of parties like the Congress, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Biju Janata Dal and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi. Even a few NDA allies like the Shiv Sena stand opposed to it. The Telugu Desam Party, which quit the alliance with the NDA in March, too has joined the Shiv Sena. The Left, the Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are also opposed to it in its present form.
The proposed Bill aims to outlaw the practice of Talaq-e-bidat, making it a cognizable and non-bailable offense with a three-year jail-term for erring Muslim husbands. Many political parties have pointed out the flaws in the Bill. They have argued that some provisions of the Bill can be easily misused. While the Congress, SP, BSP, Left parties, Rashtriya Janata Dal among others argue that this is a religious issue and should not be tinkered with, the Modi Government came out with an unambiguous position in public and in the Supreme Court. The argument in favour of the Bill was that making triple talaq an invalid practice under the civil code had not really worked even after the Supreme Court rendered the practice as void in August 2017 and asked the Government to frame a law on it. It was only after the apex court’s order that the Government came up with this Bill.
Why should the BJP bat for the Muslim women? Why should secular parties like the Congress and the SP stand opposed to it? This is all vote-bank politics. Every political party wants the votes of the Muslims. Even the BJP is looking for these plus votes it might need in the 2019 General Election. Indeed, Muslims have a decisive presence in 90 districts, 100 Lok Sabha constituencies and 720 Assembly seats all across the country. Traditionally, Muslims have voted against the BJP and voted for secular parties. In the Modi regime, they experienced several incidents of communal violence, cow vigilantism, and persecution in the garb of love jihad that created fear within the community. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had pitchforked on the issue and used it during the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election and had declared that he and his party are in favour of the abolition of the triple talaq. The BJP claimed that this promise got them some Muslim votes. He is also trying to get the backward Muslims on board.
Significantly, in his recent Azamgarh rally, Modi said, “I want to ask if the Congress is a party only for Muslim men or for women too? Is there a place of respect and dignity for Muslim women? They stop the Triple Talaq law, create a ruckus and don’t allow the Parliament to function.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attack on the Congress is understandable. In the run-up to the 2019 election, the BJP wants to isolate the Congress. Even Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s meet with some Muslim intellectuals recently was portrayed as Muslim appeasement. At the same time, the Congress has not been able to counter the BJP; although it tried to adopt a soft Hindutva stand in Gujarat and Karnataka Assembly campaigns.
Unfortunately, triple talaq is not the only problem faced by the Muslim women. The real problem is of education and employment and overall empowerment. Both Prime Minister Modi and the Opposition should think of measures to empower Muslim women. According to Census 2011, at 52 per cent, Muslim women are the least educated amongst the women in India. Only a few reach the graduation level (2.75 per cent). Vote-bank politics and making it a gender issue alone will not help the Muslim women. Much more needs to be done. Triple talaq is just the beginning.
(The writer is a senior political commentator and syndicated columnist)
Writer: Kalyani Shankar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
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