People And Their Problems

New Delhi, 13 January 2007

Cauvery As A Garland!

Atheist Statue in Temple Complex

By Bobby Srinivas

When we think of a garland, we think of flowers.  Flowers in a string to be put round eager, receptive and willing necks of proud politicians! Time was when garlands were meant for temple deities.  And as a concession it was allowed for brides and bridegrooms at the marriage ceremony as var-maala, since ‘marriages are made in heaven,’ the couple are led to believe they exchange garlands in the ‘presence of the Lord.’ In recent times garlands are totally appropriated by politicians who consider themselves equal to the Lord!

In this connection it is interesting to go to the present events in a town called Srirangam in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu.  Not many in the North may have heard of Srirangam, a riparian island in the River Cauvery, off Trichy or Tiruchirapally, the new name for Trichinopoly, the name given by the British administration.  Srirangam derives its name from Lord Vishnu as Ranganathaswamy in reclining pose (Ananthasayanam) in the famous temple on the island. 

Since, the temple is on an island in the River Cauvery, the river water flows on all the sides of the temple like an aquatic garland.  For the devout this is an allegory of the Lord blessing the temple by a garland of the holy river itself.  Therefore, again for the devout, Cauvery becomes as holy as the Ganga.

The temple has an ancient history. There are also various shrouded legends about the temple.  One is that Ravana’s brother Vibhishana upon being anointed as king of Lanka conceived the idea of a temple for the Lord on the island.  The temple administration had some years ago set an example of communal harmony and national integration!  For daily worship, a Muslim Chinna Maula Saheb played the nadaswaram (a pipe instrument like shehnai) in the sanctum sanctorum. 

Maula rendered divine music with deep devotion.  Some compared Chinna Maula to the legendary shehnai player Bismillah Khan.  When a few ‘staunch’ devotees questioned a Muslim playing in the holy precincts, Hindu religious pontiffs, to whom the matter was referred, declared that vidwans like Maula are above man made religions. 

Srirangam is a small town and an important Vaishnav Kshetra, like Guruvayur in Kerala, Balaji in Andhra Pradesh, Nathdwara in Rajasthan, and Mathura in U.P. and so on.  This small town has other temples too like the Shiva temple dedicated to Sri Jambukeswara.  The sanctum in this temple has a perennial spring of water keeping the stone floor continuously damp and wet which devotees claim as divine blessing of the Lord.  Srirangam is just a temple city with no other tangible activity.  The shopkeepers and other small business cater to the devotees thronging to visit the temple or for the families permanently settled or residing in this small religious temple town.  This then is Srirangam.

Now comes the recent interesting event---a flutter in the tranquility surrounding the serene temple town.  The DMK political leadership backed by their Government in Tamil Nadu has erected a cement concrete statue of their revered leader Periyar Ramaswamy Naicker at the entrance to the Ranganathaswamy temple.  Before the formal inauguration or exposition of the statue some miscreant appears to have disfigured the statue.   And the militant cadre of the DMK has let loose mayhem of protests and agitation claiming the sanctity of their respected leader has been blemished.  It is something like the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar in Kanpur being disfigured and parts of Maharashtra set on flames.

Periyar (respected and revered elder) Ramaswamy Naicker may be said to be the father of the Dravidian movement of Tamil Nadu.  Originally, member of the pre-independence Congress, he started the group named ‘self-respecting’ party to halt what he called the ‘dominance’ of Brahmins in the political activities albeit under British colonial administration of Madras Presidency.  It was believed in those days that he had been set up or had the blessings of the British to thwart the burgeoning Congress agitation for India’s independence.  Many Brahmins were in the forefront of the freedom movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi. 

Since the British in their divide-and-rule policy could not whip up Hindu-Muslim differences in the South, they found Brahmins as easy scapegoat for Brahmin vs. non Brahmin agitations.  The ‘self-respecting’ group became the Justice Party, a precursor to Dravida Kazhagam whose ideologue and supremo was Periyar Ramaswamy. The Dravida Kazhagam and Periyar were avowed self declared atheists. Ramaswamy Naicker was no doubt a rationalist; he was also offensively a denigrator of temples and idols.  He encouraged his followers to break idols, particularly of Ganesh in public places inciting riots and mayhem.  

In course of time, as it happens to political parties in India, Dravida Kazhagam or DK split with a new party DMK – Dravida Munnetra (forward) Kazhagam being formed under C.N.Annadurai.  Annadurai, later to become the first non-Congress chief minister of Tamil Nadu, did not approve of some of the policies of Periyar and formed the new party which came to power in Tamil Nadu under his leadership in the early sixties.  The DMK further split into two fiercely opposing camps – the DMK-led by M.Karunanidhi who heads the present Tamil Nadu government; and the other his arch rival AIDMK led by the redoubtable J.Jayalalithaa, a former chief minister. 

The original DK has now become irrelevant or at least ceased to be a political force in this southern State.  But the two warring DMK and AIDMK draw their inspiration from the DK and its ideologue Periyar Ramaswamy. It is paradoxical the DMK should erect a statue of an avowed temple hater and idol breaker at the entrance of a famed ancient Vaishnav temple in Srirangam.  This appears somewhat of a vengeful act.  It is something like a BJP ruled state government wanting to erect a Ganesh or Maruti statue near a masjid or a church!  If this Dravidian party wants to honor their great leader, there are better and more congenial places where they could display their veneration, such as the beaches, public parks, and important road junctions or even in the middle of the River Cauvery away from the Srirangam temple.

Tamil Nadu is full of ancient temples of great archeological beauty and importance.  With planning and forethought these could be used as tourist destinations and money spinners instead of foisting atheist bigotry on those who wish to venerate temples and deities.  In contrast neighboring Andhra Pradesh with fewer temples but with the world famous Tirupati-Balaji takes full advantage of the temples for harvesting revenue.  Balaji competes with the Vatican, for the world’s largest collection in offerings from the Faithful. 

Someone remarked that it is by a stroke of good luck that Tirupati was included in Andhra Pradesh instead of Tamil Nadu at the time of the States reorganization.  The DMK in Tamil Nadu is not likely to have given the same sanctified importance to this shrine. This statue installation game surely disturbs a hornets’ nest.  It also demonstrates politicians’ appetite to stride into domains “where angels fear to tread!”---INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

New Delhi, 28 March 2008   

Rape On The Rise

TIME TO REVIEW LAWS  

By V.S. Dharmakumar

There has been a phenomenal eight-fold increase in rape cases in India since 1971, reveals the National Crimes Records Bureau. Every hour, crime against women has been on the rise-- two rapes, two kidnappings and four molestations. The report said 8.2 per cent of the total rape victims were girls below the age of 15 years, while 17.4 per cent were teenaged girls. Nearly two-thirds were in the age group of 18-30 years. Interestingly, women are most unsafe in the company of friends, neighbors and relatives, according to the report.

A spate of crimes against women tourists too appear to being reported from various parts of the country. That is truly disturbing, especially when India is poised to double the present figure of tourist arrivals from 4.4 million.

Amnesty International reveals that one billion women i.e. one in every three had been beaten, forced to have sex or otherwise abused, often by a friend or family member. A woman is raped every 24 hours in Delhi. Regretably, this is only the tip of the iceberg because rarely do rape cases get reported

What is frightening is that you, your friends or relatives can be victims of rape. Party-hopping young ladies should particularly be cautious. A new form of sexual assault is said to be raging in our metros. It is drug-facilitated rape by a man who may be a date, a friend, a friend of a friend or a mere acquaintance, whose demand for sex is spurned. As of now it is difficult to know the extent of this crime, as victims rarely report this vile trickery.   

The World Health Organisation says that unwanted teenage pregnancies following bouts of binge-drinking is “the greatest threat to mankind” contributing to the world’s unsustainable population growth. In the US, an estimated 70,000 college students are victims of this drug-facilitated sexual assault. So there is more reason to a Big No to Drugs.

Apparently, the modus operandi of the ‘rapist’ is to trick the victim into going out to a bar, a rave party or simply his home. He could well be a good looking friend with impeccable manners, always eager to listen. Though his mannerism and behavior may be flawless, flawed would be his intention, which you may not see because he camouflages it cleverly. You say `yes’ to his invitation and he is happy. That’s the moment he was looking forward to as he realizes that he could be just hours away from fulfilling his desire to have sex with you.     

However, you innocently and happily go out to a bar or a party with your ‘perfect gentleman’. Half-an-hour before the intended departure from wherever you are partying, he slips a colorless, tasteless, odorless tablet which dissolves easily into your drink. Visually it looks like a normal drink, not tampered with. You sip the drink and prepare to leave. But the dissolved tablet begins to have an affect on you. You feel ill and impaired. You cannot drive. He offers to take you to his home and you agree. You slip into sleep and in your semi-conscious state. He rapes you.

You wake up the next morning to find yourself in a strange place with clothes strewn around. You can’t remember what happened. You were “date raped”. The drug used is called `date rape drug’ and is `rapist-friendly’, as the victim doesn’t remember anything.

A few tips from victims could do you well: Do not let your drink go out of sight at any time; don’t accept an open drink. Women should be extremely careful as to how much they should drink, because the man will try to offer one too many, but it is her call to take it or leave it. Do not accept eatables or beverage from a stranger or take a lift in a car with darkened window panes. Don't go home with someone you both (husband and wife) don’t know and trust. Don't accept drinks when you are amongst strangers in a house and don’t drop your guard else you may pay a price for the rest of your life.

Selling safety measures to revelry-loving youngsters is hard, but if taken can help save one from trauma. The 15-year-old Scarlet Keeling, who was raped and murdered on a beach in Goa in February last could well be a glaring example of what a mix of drugs and revelry could do. The alleged rapists had possibly drugged her heavily first and then took turns to rape her. The teenager collapsed and she was left to die. Her death is India’s shame and the culprits must be severely punished.  

The Keeling murder seems to have jolted the Union Tourism Ministry and it is  heartening to hear that the Ministry has advised the States to set up a Tourist Security Force comprising of retired men from the armed forces.

However, as per statistics, only one in 69 rape cases in India are reported to the police and a mere five per cent get convicted. It is the fear of an unfriendly, intimidating police and the agony of pursuing a long-drawn out, and accused-friendly, victim-mocking legal proceedings that prevent many from reporting rapes to the police.

It is, however, an encouraging sign to note that some victims of rape muster the courage to report abusers to the police. Is this not reason enough for the society to protect them instead of stigmatizing them? The police particularly should change its attitude in handling rape-related crimes and should not place the burden on the victim to describe how it happened. The legal system unfortunately in India offers more scope to the accused to wear out the victim in a rape case.

It’s pertinent to mention here how a Cuban court dealt with two local men who killed two Italian tourists a decade ago. The guilty men were sentenced to death by a firing squad. In another case in Thailand, two fishermen who raped and murdered a British tourist in January 2006 were awarded death sentence after a fast-track trial. In this case the victim was attacked while she was talking to her mother on the mobile phone. The victim’s screams were heard by the hapless mother before the line went dead. What the mother later heard was that her daughter’s body was found floating in Lamai Bay.

The modern criminal justice system is unfair to rape victims. It’s often invoked Sir Mathew Hale’s quotation: “rape is an accusation easily to be made and hard to be proved and harder to be defended by the party accused, though never so innocent” is the main reason for that.

A review of the law punishing a rapist is long over due. Harsher sentence alone will serve as deterrents. From ancient times of Greece and Rome into the colonial period, rape was a capital offence. In England, in the early 14^th century, a victim of rape was expected to gouge out the eyes or cut the offender’s testicles herself. As long as laws are rapist friendly, such cases will continue to register astronomical increase. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

People & Their Problems

New Delhi, 19 March 2008

In Delhi Police Republic

WALKING WITH ARMS RAISED

By Ashok Kapur, IAS (Retd)

We, the people of Delhi, have had a narrow hair-breadth escape. The Delhi police was on the verge of enforcing a fiat, which was a throw back to the Nazi rule of fascist governance in Hitler’s Germany.

The proposed fiat would have required all the citizens of Delhi to carry or wear identification badges at all times. Whether going to work or visiting the neighbourhood grocer or out for a stroll.

The constabulary (who else?) were to be empowered to stop and check any denizen of the Capital. If a hapless citizen were found to be without the badge, it would have been a cognizable offence. In other words, powers of arrest without warrant.

The very fact that such a Draconian fiat could even be contemplated in the nation’s capital raises several disturbing questions about the system of governance as it obtains today. But for a vigilant and an assertive media, combined with pressure from people’s representatives, we would have been left to the tender mercies of the constabulary, now increasingly armed.

The basic questions thrown up must be addressed if the nation is to continue to live under the rule of law. Delhi is under the Police Commissioner ‘system’, if at all it can be called one. In reality, the Delhi police are functioning without a modicum of check or accountability. The fact that such a measure was publicly announced reveals a serious malfunction in the system and the men who man it. Apparently, the senior officers of the local police are innocent of the basic scheme of the Constitution and the rule of law.

The Constitution explicitly guarantees the fundamental right of all citizens to “freely move throughout the territory of India”. A law whereby a constable is authorized to stop and check any citizen at any time without suspicion or evidence is a violation of the spirit of the Constitution, if not the letter. The law courts have consistently held that the freedom of movement of a citizen could only be curtailed or subjected to surveillance if there was a reasonable suspicion about his antecedents.

Indeed, unrestricted freedom of movement is a basic norm of the rule of law in a civilized democracy. In the U.K., the highest legal authority, Lord Denning, former Chancellor has recently explained: “A man’s liberty of movement is regarded so highly by the law of the U.K. that it is not to be hindered or prevented except on the surest ground.”

Such a law would have necessarily implied that a citizen without identification papers would be liable to be arrested on the spot. In other words, the police would have been armed with authority to arrest straightaway, for the law to be effective. Such a mindset reveals a complete divorce from the ground reality of the working of the police.

Eighty per cent of the arrests being made by the police without warrant have been found to be “unnecessary”, all over India, according to the report of the Constitutional Review Commission (2002) headed by the distinguished former Chief Justice of India, Justice M.N. Venkatchalliah. Evidently, the police are grossly misusing their powers of arrest without warrant. This is resulting in avoidable congestion in courts and chaotic over crowding in jails. Which, incidentally, is the least of the problems. Innocent citizens are being subjected to harassment and worse. To contemplate a law to arm the police with even wider powers of arrest without warrant, reveals a contemptible disregard for the norms of the rule of law.

Another reported feature of the aborted law was the proposed requirement of endorsement of driving licenses by the local police. All vehicle owners coming from outside the Capital were to be subjected to it. In other words, the police were to be additionally armed with the powers of licensing, a purely executive function. The Law Commission that examined the separation of the judiciary from the executive in India had reiterated that purely executive functions like licensing etc should continue to vest with civil magistracy.

This is the position today under criminal law in India. Under the police commissioner ‘system’, however, licensing powers have already been surrendered by the civil government to its police force, including powers to licence places of entertainment etc.To arm the police with still wider executive functions, would have been tantamount to arming the force with powers of harassment if not extortion.

That the police in Delhi are indulging in widespread extortion, particularly at the lower levels, is a matter of common knowledge. Two recent sting operations carried out by the brave-hearts of the local media have brought to light that large sections of the force are regularly extorting money from the traders of liquor and licensed bus operators.

The ordinary citizen is helpless. Complaints of police harassment right upto the Prime Minister’s level are passed on to the vigilance and anti-corruption branch manned by the local police themselves. Thus, the accused is the investigator as well as the judge and the jury.

Recently, the head of the anti-corruption unit of the Delhi police was himself caught with his hands deep in the till! He was found extorting money from an applicant for a trading licence. In another local police station, on a surprise inspection by the CBI, the police officers decamped, leaving behind unaccounted cash and unlicensed weapons. The recovery was made from the drawer of the officer-in-charge. Evidently, there is no system of inspections and checks in place. Otherwise, the police officers would not have felt so emboldened as to stash incriminating material so openly.

More than a quarter century after the police commissioner ‘system’ was introduced in the capital and the control of the magistracy removed, the system is seriously malfunctioning. Recently, a national daily had carried out a survey on the working of the capital’s police. Seventy per cent of the respondents stated that they found it difficult even to register FIRs in cases of criminal offences. Even after registration, through influence or money, more than 70 per cent felt that the investigation by the police left much to be desired, especially in serious offences.

Most of the problems faced by the ordinary citizens of Delhi stem from the fact that the commissioner ‘system’ has no built-in mechanism for any accountability whatsoever. The local police do not report to the elected government but directly to the Union Home Ministry. As the latter is responsible for control of the police forces of all the States and UTs, besides the central police organizations, it has neither the time nor the resources to exercise any effective check or accountability on the local police.

There is another distortion of the system, largely unnoticed. Conceptually, the Ministry of Home is supposed to be manned by civil servants who are all trained and experienced executive magistrates. Even today, they exercise authority under more than 12 chapters of the Criminal Code of the nation. The ministry is the last vestige of some magisterial check on the police force. Even this vestige is being eroded, as the ministry is being increasingly manned by police officers at the senior-most levels.

Yet again, Lord Denning analyzed the serious problem faced by democracies where a fragile rule of law is in force. According to him, whereas the procedures for enforcing fundamental rights are sufficient, procedures for preventing the misuse of powers leave much to be desired. The government should draw proper lessons from the aborted fiasco. The commissioner ‘system’ is, in essence, the negation of some of the basic norms of civilized jurisprudence, and needs to be urgently reviewed. Otherwise, the denizens of Delhi will continue to be vulnerable to the men is uniform.

It is just as well that the Constitution Review Commission recently reminded the government that “control of police” was a basic ingredient of the rule of law, now a basic feature of the Constitution.

Remember, Bacon? He brilliantly quipped once: “A bad law (system) is the worst tyranny!” ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

People & Their Problems

New Delhi, 8 March 2008

Breaking Cycle of Hunger

CHALLENGES & STRATEGIES

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

India may be the second fastest growing economy in the world but it has a long way to go in eradicating hunger. Among 118 countries, it ranks 94th in the Global Hunger Index prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Though India has improved its score by 25.03 in the index with 33.73 in 1990, it is still lagging behind China and Pakistan who are ranked 47 and 88 respectively.

In a country where 834 million people have per capita daily consumption of Rs 20 or less (as per the Report of the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganized Sector), hunger still remains one of the major challenges. High growth rate of GDP and the increase in the number of billionaires and millionaires has become meaningless for the country unless this important issue in addressed effectively. In fact, India’s high growth of nine per cent has bypassed 77 per cent of the population.

Hunger, as is well known, is a phenomenon related to food insecurity. It affects the normal functioning and development of the human body and contributes to the global disease burden by drastically reducing the body’s ability to resist infection. In extreme cases, death results from starvation brought about by prolonged hunger or by succumbing to infectious diseases. About 95 per cent of the developing world’s hungry population can be termed “chronically hungry”.

The Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that over 850 million people worldwide suffer from hunger today, 820 million of these in developing countries. That there are nearly a billion hungry people in the world despite the gains made in agricultural productivity is startling. Recognizing the problem’s enormity, the World Food Summit in 1996 set a goal to reduce by half the number of hungry people in the world by 2015, later reaffirmed in the first Millennium Development Goals. But half way to 2015, it is becoming clear that the goal will not be met – the estimated number of undernourished people has risen from 708 million to 2000 to over 852 million today.

Widespread hunger undermines the development potential of nations. An FAO study of developing countries over 30 years found that if countries with high rates of undernourishment had increased food intake to an adequate level, their economic output or GSP would have increased by 45%. Losses in labour productivity due to hunger can cause reductions of 6-10% in per capita GDP, according to a UN Task Force on Hunger.

The IFPRI measures the Global Hunger Index based on three equally weighted indicators: a) proportion of undernourished as a percentage of the population (reflecting the share of population with insufficient dietary energy intake); b) prevalence of under weight children under the age of five (indicating the proportion of children suffering from weight loss and/or reduced growth); and c)            under five mortality rate (partially reflecting the fatal synergy between inadequate dietary intake and unhealthy environment).

The problem in India has basically two broad aspects: one, more attention and resources for child development including their health and nutrition, and two, ensuring that apart from increase in agricultural productivity, soil degradation is effectively met and there is more attention on dryland farming. In fact, the farm sector needs more attention and this has been well-enumerated in the National Policy for Farmers (and recent statements of the Prime Minister) – all of which call for a paradigm shift from commodity-centred to a human-centred approach in agricultural planning and programmes.

As regards the first problem, the Government has done little towards child development. In a written reply to a question in Parliament (on November 26, 2007), it admitted that only 60 million children out of 164 million have received supplementary nutrition under ICDS scheme as on June 30, 2007. It may be mentioned here that the Supreme Court had directed the Government to sanction and operationalize 14 lakh anganwadi centres by December 2008. However, presently not even 8 lakh centres are operational.

There has been severe criticism of the government fir such meagre resource allocation when at least Rs 7000-8000 crores are needed in any financial year for expansion of the ICDS and improving the conditions of anganwadi employees. In a country where tax concessions of around Rs 1.7 lakh crores are being given to SEZ developers, increased allocation for 17 crore children (i.e. Rs 650 per child per annum) is imperative at this juncture if India wants to climb up the Global Hunger Index. Though in this budget the remuneration for anganwadi workers has been increased from 1,000 per month to Rs 1,500 per month, and for anganwadi helpers will be increased from Rs 500 per month to Rs 750 per month, its benefits need to be seen.    

The other aspect of the problem lies in accelerated agricultural advance based on conservation farming which well known scientist Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, had been referring as “ever-green revolution” pathway of improving productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm. There have to be efforts to harvest and store rainwater during the southwest monsoon period and to use it for a second crop during October-March period. High value and low water requiring crops such as pulses, oilseeds, medicinal plants or vegetables could make all the difference for ensuring adequate nutrition and viable livelihoods for a million farm families.

In States like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh etc., farm families are in great distress because they have to depend on a single crop. It is necessary that effective rainwater harvesting and/or sustainable use of groundwater coupled with latest dryland farming technologies need to be made available to the farming community and encouraging them through incentives to harvest a second (or even a third) crop there. This would not only raise the income of farm families but also ensure food for them throughout the year. Assistance may be sought from various schemes of the government which include the National Food Security and Horticulture Missions and the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana. 

Ending hunger and malnutrition is an achievable goal but only if Governments make the right policy decisions in this regard. However, effectively countering hunger will require greater political will, clear plan of action and sustained effort along with availability of adequate resources. The key elements of the plan should include:  

Helping developing countries grow more food: There has to be international efforts to ensure that there is increase in productivity in the developing countries and all regions should try to have at least two crops per year. Technology on dryland farming, rainwater harvesting and other issues relating to sustainable use of water and pesticides should be made available to Third World countries.

Extending power of technology: Notable advances have been manifest but there is need to produce plant varieties that are more resistant to drought, have higher nutritional content, require fewer chemicals and more resistant to pests.

Making agriculture & nutrition national priorities: While assistance is indispensable, hungry countries must take the lead in making agriculture and nutrition national priorities. China and India have shown what can be done though a lot more needs to be done. In China, the government launched major reforms that have given farmers more freedom over what they grow. In India, the government has launched seed distribution schemes to assist farmers and milk distribution schemes to help consumers. Each country has begun to harness its scientific capability to address issues of hunger and nutrition.

Tapping the power of trade: The trading system must be a tool in ending hunger. The rich trading regions such as Europe and the United States must reduce trade-distorting agricultural subsidies that impoverish farmers in developing countries. Rich trading nations, including Japan, must slash stiff trade barriers against agricultural exports of developing countries so that food production capabilities of those countries can be enhanced.

Last but not the least is to make elimination of hunger top priority. It is essential to know that it is not shortage of food but lack of political will that needs to be addressed. Eight hundred million people, many of then women and children need urgent help and support at this juncture.

Thus combating hunger and malnutrition is a critical challenge at this point of time. Greater all-round efforts on all fronts are needed to tackle the problem so that the poor and the deprived sections of society get two square balance meals a day that could enable them to lead a healthy and disease-free life. It needs to be pointed out that in spite of all achievements, if human hunger cannot be eradicated, there is bound to be more violence and social tension in society in the coming years.-- INFA    

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)