Editor’s Note: Farmer’s Lament is a three-part series on the agriculture sector of India.

Lal Bahadur Shastri once famously proclaimed, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”. Today, even as we hold our jawan, the soldier, in high esteem, the condition of the farmer in India is deplorable. Agriculture may today contribute to only 15.5% of  GDP (as of 2017) compared to 41.8% it did in 1960, but it is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population. India is among the top 15 exporters of agricultural products in the world and the total agricultural exports from India stand at a whopping $38.21 billion in the fiscal year 2018. The Indian food and grocery market is the world’s sixth largest, while the Indian food processing industry accounts for 32% of the country’s total food market. As per the Union Budget (2018-19), Rs 57,600 crore was allocated to the Agriculture Ministry. With such great figures, one would expect  agriculture would be given priority and would therefore be doing quite well in most places in India.

Not quite.

During the 2017-18 crop year, rice and wheat production in the country is estimated at 111.52 million tonnes and 98.61 million tonnes respectively, as per third advance estimates, while food grain production is estimated at 279.51 million tonnes in the same period. India is also the second largest fruit producer in the world, while the production of horticulture crops is estimated at a record 307.16 million tonnes in 2017-18 as per second advance estimates. India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of spices and their products, with spice-exports from India reaching $3.1 billion in 2017-18. Tea exports from India have reached a 36-year high of 240.68 million kilograms while coffee exports reached a record 3,95,000 tonnes in 2017-18. However, major problems ranging from lack of support for farmers to lack of facilities, infrastructure and units for procurement and effective storage plague the agro-industry in India. So, how do we resolve these problems?

A Closer Look

Let us start by looking more closely at the problem. Since most of the cultivable land in India is farmed and  the demand for food grains is ever-increasing, , raising productivity per unit of land is much needed right now. Water resources are limited and this limited supply of water is  needed as much for industrial and urban needs as it is for irrigation. Hence, all measures to increase productivity need to be brought into place, including increasing yields, diversification to higher value crops, and developing value chains to reduce marketing costs.

In today’s age, promoting new technologies and reforming agricultural research is key.  Research into best agricultural practises has declined due to acute shortage in funds for  infrastructure and operations, or broad access to state-of-the-art technologies that are needed to succeed in this respect. There is also the problem of  negligible connection between research and extension/dissemination of the research inputs to the stakeholders (particularly the farmers), or between these services and the private sector, thereby creating a lack of dialogue between the major stakeholders.

Due to the aforementioned problem coupled with the problem of water supply and a high reliance of agriculture on water, India also needs to improve the management of irrigation and drainage system. Drip irrigation, piped conveyance, and better on-farm management of water are among the various ways  that this can be realised. Also, given the depleting water table, one must use water with discretion to ensure sustained supply for irrigation. Unfortunately, farmers still use excessive amounts, way beyond their need leading to wastage. Modernizing ways of getting water from underground sources and other water bodies, irrigation and drainage is needed along with including the farmers in a participatory model where their inputs are taken all along the way.

Maintenance of a high output-to-input ratio on  government schemes and prioritizing government expenditure to only those areas where returns are high, besides allocating money and resources for sustaining  primary investments (say in terms of managing and fixing the irrigation management systems) are all steps that need to be taken. One important way to achieve a more profitable agricultural model is to diversify crops to include higher-value commodities. This helps immensely with poverty alleviation, due to the limited land holdings of certain farmers.

Further, liberalization of elements such as transportation, processing, marketing and export can be helpful in making the market competitive and to inject capital into the system. The government can play a basic minimum regulatory role but most of the agro-processing must be endowed with a competitive market value chain. This will lessen the burden on the government to invest in power, fertilizers and irrigation systems, wherein it spends four times what it spends in investment expenditures! Also, one must improve access to rural finance for farmers since it is still difficult for farmers to get credit.

Rethinking Reforms and Policy

The elephant in the room still is procurement, which I will be discussing in the second article in this series. Besides this and the primary, aforementioned points, adoption of food safety and quality assurance mechanisms is important. This includes Total Quality Management (TQM) that in turn includes Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) , Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and Good Hygienic Practices (GHP) in the food processing industry. This is going in the direction of not only helping the farmer but also safeguarding and promoting a sustainable agriculture sector in its entirety.

Unfortunately, and arguably for political reasons, India’s policy has not been able to evolve from the idea of  “farmer well-being” to “agricultural household sustainability”. There is a certain conspicuous lack of long-term policy planning, which along with welfare-oriented policy results in a periodic loan-waiver method that only perpetuates a poor credit culture in the primary sector and, hence, a fragile balance sheet for the state. This easy letting-be by convenient waivers is a quick solution for the short term but quite counterproductive in the long run. One, therefore, needs more comprehensive reforms.

This should start with a constitutional amendment that makes agriculture and water use a part of the concurrent list in the Constitution (currently agriculture, dairy, meat and fisheries are state subjects). This would provide a federal boost to states, with a primary emphasis laid on how to use water sources and resources effectively. This water project will not only focus on bringing more areas under irrigation in a sustainable manner but also focus on innovations and elements that will improve efficiency in agricultural practises and its use of resources such as sprinklers and drip irrigation. Also, though it may seem harsh, , misuse of groundwater can only be checked with a pricing of the elements that used to extract the water such as electricity, without giving state subsidies beyond a point. In addition, the water effectiveness emphasis should insist on agricultural power being priced to the farmer. And most importantly, there needs to be a strong political will to carry these measures out. As I will discuss later, it is due to the superficial MSP-based resolution of problems given by Indian governments that crops go waste and procurement becomes a huge issue.

Milk and Meat Production in India

In India, milk production and meat production were estimated at 165.4 million tonnes and 7.4 million tonnes respectively in the fiscal year 2017. Even though milk production has been booming due to the White Revolution and Operation Flood, milk processing has been lagging behind. Only 10% of all the milk produced is delivered to some 500 dairy plants that process 20 million litres per day. Even though today 80% milk production is done in unorganised and backyard farms, it is projected that in the next decade or so 40% milk production will come out of organised modes. One of the contributing factors behind this trend is the increased consumption of value added milk and milk products. This is facilitating the farmers and producers to fetch better realisation price of milk, which in turn makes the farmers more open to improve the nutritional optimisation of feed and fodder and this in turn improves milk production. This natural graduation of dairy farmers from unorganised to organised sector is happening in their minds due to the benefits therein.

However, there is a whole lot of farmers in the unorganised sector who still feed their cattle unbalanced diets and it is them that one needs to educate and inform about the importance of proper diet for the animals with an emphasis on their Dry Matter Intake (DMI) to protein to energy needs. For the semi-organized dairy-farmer, the issues of herd efficiency and maintaining a consistent milk production round the year can be addressed by proper transition management and management of reproduction efficiency. Even the organised sector has the problems of feed-to-income ratio and a proper supply of forage. This can be addressed by keeping good silos and facilities for storing and managing Total Mixed Rations (TMR) for cattle. There is also a problem of lack of fodder year long (with an estimation of a 65% deficit in fodder in 2025), which can only be resolved by cultivating high yield fodder crops. Not to forget, forward integration with the market in terms of properly marketing the milk and finished milk products needs to be done.

A very Indian phenomenon is the presence of a large unorganised sector of vendors and milkmen, who collect milk from local producers and sell the milk in both urban and non-urban areas, which handle around 65-70% of the national milk production. In the organised dairy industry, the cooperative milk processors have a 60% market share while the private dairies process and sell only 20% of the milk collected as liquid milk and 80% for other dairy products with a focus on value-added products.

Meat production and poultry is a booming industry in India. In 2017, chicken production increased by 7%, reaching a whopping 4.5 million tonnes. According to the Indian Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD), an estimated 2,38,00,00,000 chickens were slaughtered for their meat in 2016-17 in India. About 70% of this poultry production is controlled by large companies, which have slaughter facilities using huge amounts of water at every stage of production. This is, however, nothing compared to the meat industry of other countries. Today, a third of freshwater resources are used directly or indirectly by the meat industry globally. According to a very interesting fact, if every country in the world were to follow the high meat consumption patterns of America, the world would have already run out of water in the year 2000! Water is used for producing the grain feed for chickens, besides their drinking and maintenance of their surroundings. Water is also used for killing and cleaning the birds and then processing their meat. Not to forget, poultry creates a huge amount of water pollution at different stages of production, so much so that water cannot be recycled, drunk or even used for crops, due to being full of antibiotics and pesticides. These two factors combined — the amount of water used and the amount of water polluted — create the high water footprint of poultry.

It is estimated that 5,000-50,000 units of chicken are butchered every week in India, varying across different  states in the country. The living conditions of the poultry are despicable; they are allowed to lay eggs for six months after moving in and within a year they are sent off to butchers. . These chicken are often injected with chemicals that limit their growth or ensure that no further development of their eggs can take place! The high demand for meat and poultry in the country is the primary reason for non-adherence to standards and good practises, besides the exorbitant pricing and resultant spending on everything from electricity to grains and water. As we saw previously, a significant section of the Indian population is in agriculture for a relatively small pie in the economy, and this overcrowding often leads people to animal husbandry. The government has incentivized this further with subsidies and exemption on excise duty for meat processing units. With a certain growing acceptance of eggs as vegetarian food, the government has also launched schemes to make them available in midday meal programs in schools to get rid of malnutrition, which further increases the demand for the industry.

Improvement in infrastructure to keep pace with increasing demand, better regulation of food processing standards by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and a mandatory supervision to ensure that rules are adhered to, besides prevention of unhygienic conditions for animals are important steps that must be taken. You may ask as to what is the point of keeping hygienic conditions for animals if they are anyway going to be slaughtered.  A good illustration of the need can be had in the instance where healthcare workers had to kill tens of thousands of chickens in the last few years due to the spread of bird flu, which was due to unchecked hygiene standards. Standards have to be ensured to keep the demand high.

In Conclusion

The current government has taken some good steps like the issuing of soil health cards to keep a tab on the `health’ of the soil. Designation of the agriculture ministry as the agriculture and farmers’ welfare ministry has brought to the fore the idea that keeping farmers’ welfare is important for agriculture progress. I would go a step further and include sustainable community/ family interests as well, albeit for that a sizeable amount of dialogue will need to be done with the rural development ministry.  

They say India’s soul resides in her villages and agriculture still sustains most of our rural populace. Given this reality and the aforementioned specific realities, the path seems clear. All we need now is a clear political will and action.

The post Indian Agriculture Sector: What Is Wrong And How It Can Be Made Better appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

By Ayushi Shukla:

“Once upon a time…” makes a great beginning. But, it ain’t no fairy tale.

It was way past lunch hour, and I was returning home after field work, with a growling stomach reminding me of yet another skipped breakfast. As most dhabas here in Rajasthan use evenings as downtime for cleaning and for staff to rest, I knew it will be difficult to find food. But for a lack of options, I made a gamble, and applied the brakes after sighting a colorful board.

The dhaba was up and running. With a sigh of relief, I asked for the menu. While the waiter was searching for an abandoned, nearly-torn, plastic-coated sheet, my eyes covered the length and width of the hall. It was packed with middle-aged, liquor-gulping men who were more uncomfortable with my presence than I was with theirs. All the tables were occupied. I thought it best to get the food packed. The cook signaled by tapping his index finger thrice on his other wrist and uttered “time lagega (it’ll take time).“ By now I was starving but knew it was my best shot. I moved out of the humid, windowless hall for some fresh air and to feel fewer pairs of eyes on me.

He said he was eight. A boy who should not belong there, was peeling garlic. He was sitting on the only piece of furniture available there, a charpai. I sat by his side and started peeling garlic with him. He looked up curiously and resumed his work. When a couple of cloves made their route from a bigger tub to a bowl, I looked at him and said, “I’m Ayushi. What’s your name?”

“Ramesh*,” he said. I sensed a joy underlined with excitement in his voice. For the sake of both our entertainment, I continued the conversation.

“Where are you from?”

He named a village I had never heard of, his tone suggested it was far away.

“I live in a whole different state. Do you know where M.P. is?”

His eyes grew bigger, he nodded to the sides and asked, “What do you do here?”

“I work here…and you?”

“Me too! It has just been a month.” By now he had taken charge of the conversation, and continued, “I don’t have my father… uh… I mean he passed away.” He corrected himself, noticing my confusion. “So I have to take care of my family,” he said proudly, while his tiny fingers struggled with a large bulb of garlic. By family, he meant three younger siblings and his mother.

“Do you get paid here?” I asked.

“Yeah! Four thousand rupees,” the pep in his voice was nearly shouted.

I couldn’t resist asking, “Do you know how much four thousand is?”

“Bahut saare (a lot).More than I have ever seen.”

A dry voice called out his name. The kind of voice that has no sign of concern or compassion, one that comes from an occupied mind. I continued peeling cloves and did not see the face. A slightly bigger boy appeared at the door and the young boy followed him. Five minutes later, the little one showed up and continued working silently. I figured he was instructed not to engage with customers.

Child labor is banned. Everyone, but that little boy, knew that.

He is not even eight, I thought. Eight. I found myself amidst the thoughts of my niece back home. We celebrated her seventh birthday last October. I miss how lively she is, always running around, constantly chatting and laughing. Isn’t a child’s laughter the most beautiful sound in the world? But this little one was silent and still, doing as instructed. I couldn’t help but wonder how difficult it must be for him. Machines follow instructions, humans aren’t meant for that. What does he do when his mind wanders? Or has he mastered the art of controlling it? He is the man of the family, and he sure behaves like one.

“Do you like it here?”

“It has only been a month. I can chop vegetables and make roti now. Bhaiyya (the elder boy) is training me. ”

That’s not the answer to my question, I thought.

“I used to miss mother, in the beginning, especially at nights,” he added.

“And now?” The words slipped out of me.

“I’m usually tired, so it’s easier to sleep. Mother said to work hard.” The same dry voice called him and he rushed back in.

He left behind a charpai, some peeled-unpeeled garlic, countless unanswered questions and me, with only one thought: “How do I help him?”

But the more important questions were: “Does he need help? Is he really calling out for it? And if he is, how capable am I to help him? In what ways?”

The least I could do was to peel garlic, and I continued doing that.

Can taking him out of here, “rescuing” him, and returning him to the warm embrace of his mother, enrolling him in a school be called “help”? Could all that assure an improvement in his life, or is he better off here where he has found a purpose, and a more dignified life?

What if I put him out of work and his family has to try to survive in a worse situation? Scarcity and poverty often result in stress, which finds its expression through emotional and physical abuse. This one child, by working, might ensure a better life for his younger siblings. Above all, his sense of purpose, isn’t that vital? He sees himself as a bread-winner, a champion. How would he accept being a dependent, and dealing with the guilt that follows? Here, he can afford to have some dreams, maybe!

What about millions of such young children, who are working in every city that we know of in India, and in other third world countries? The brands that we fancy, the industrialisation that we take pride in, the amount of production that we measure a country’s growth with; they’re all built on a basic economic principal. If one achieves the reduction in cost of production, it brings down the cost of produced goods which means cheaper and more competitive products. This way, one can sell the goods at cheaper prices and still manage to earn good profits. That’s a win-win situation. ‘Cheap labor’. That’s what we call them. Labour cheap enough to buy innocent smiles, and snatch millions of children away from their mothers. Cheap enough to deprive generations after generations of a sense of security.

I consciously tried not to think about their working conditions—worse than you and I can possibly imagine—which we know no human being deserves to work in. While I was entangled amidst all these thoughts, the food was readied. I looked around for a goodbye, but he was out of sight.

On my way back, I kept asking myself who was responsible for this. The economy that feeds over the poor? Capitalism? Or us, consumers who easily get lured by discounts. What do we do with all the laws? Before I knew it, I was back in the office. I kept staring at the roti, probably made by that little fellow, and got back to work. That night, I couldn’t sleep properly. Perhaps I wasn’t tired enough.

*Name changed to protect identity.

About the author: Ayushi Shukla is an India Fellow, 2018. She is working with Shram Sarathi in rural parts of  Udaipur, Rajasthan, supporting the overall financial program of making credit accessible to migrant labor.

The post Sitting At A Dhaba, Peeling Garlic, This Was No Life For An 8-Year-Old appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

It is a yet another lazy afternoon in Jawaharlal Nehru University. I see an e-rickshaw trail past me as I get down from the cab on the university ring road. Except for the occasional honking of a car, I am engulfed by an eerie silence as I walk across the pathways that lead one to the central library of the university. There is nothing that would announce “elections” to me: no pamphlets scattered all over the place, no posters hung from the trees or pasted on the walls, and of course, no slogans to fill the air and break the lull.

I see a few students sitting on benches behind the library, and a few others walking in and out of the reading halls. I am scheduled to talk to some people, but that will come later. For now, I am just trying to figure out the pre-election mood of the campus, and quite frankly, for now, I am not able to spot anything different at all.

As I walk past the trademark JNU graffiti of different student political parties spread at their designated places all over SIS and SLLC blocks, I can’t help but notice black and white posters which are more of long letters put up on the notice board of the old SIS building. The first poster announces ABVP’s ‘Mashal Juloos’ along with the party’s agenda points for the upcoming elections; the second reads “Expose ABVP’s Fake News Factory on Najeeb’s Disappearance” signed as AISA; and the third is titled “Sexist AISA Exposed Again: Left Candidate Throws a ‘Flying Kiss’ at Girls” with the ABVP signature at the bottom of the poster. The notice board has become a debating platform. This is JNU’s own way of contesting claims and getting on the nerves of their political opponents, I decide and resume my stroll.

Behind the SIS building, I am politely requested to stop by two men. They handover two really small sheets of paper to me explaining that their friend is contesting elections for the councillor seat on BAPSA’s ticket. Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association is a new party to have emerged in JNU, about three years ago. One of the papers I have received urges the voters to “Vote, Elect, Assert” and “#Reject Brahmanical Forces ABVP, NSUI, & Left Unity.” I am soon to learn that these small sheets of papers are called ‘parchas’ in JNU lingo. Moments later when someone pushes forward NSUI’s parcha to me, it becomes clear that the party is trying to place itself at the centre of the spectrum, asserting that “JNU is not a battleground for the Left and the Right.”

“BJP has been destroying the university, and the Left-led union of JNU from the past four to five years has not been successful in fighting for the university because of which students’ politics has suffered at large, and it is exactly for these reasons that NSUI is a major force today in JNUSU,” Vikas Yadav, NSUI’s presidential candidate would later tell me in the evening when I meet him during their ‘Mashal Juloos’.

“In the past few years, NSUI has not been a relevant force in JNU at all. Suddenly, this year, we see they crop up and they are quite visible everywhere,” Kriti Roy, from SFI, contesting elections for the seat of councillor SSS, tells me as we sit outside the Sabarmati dhaba. Students have started to come out of their hostels as the sun is setting on the Aravali hills. “They even invited Shashi Tharoor to speak here. ABVP, similarly, invited three Chief Ministers at a time to the campus. They are spending all this money because of the upcoming 2019 elections, and that makes JNUSU elections this time around the most significant,” she adds.

Responding to this, Vikas Yadav says, “Personally, I have been associated with students’ politics for ten years and I don’t think students’ politics is totally isolated from the larger politics of the country, and if we can give a strong message for the 2019 elections, I don’t see anything harmful in that.”

When I meet Manish, a PhD candidate speaking to me on the behalf of ABVP, and ask him about allegations levelled against ABVP of using JNUSU elections as a launchpad for BJP’s campaign of 2019 elections, he chuckles and says, “You know this really makes me laugh. As far as 2019 elections are concerned, they are still some time away and if anybody is thinking these elections are going to have an effect on that, let me tell you, they are thinking too far. We focus on the issues specific to students.”

“These JNUSU elections are coming right before the 2019 elections, and to get ABVP to win from university campuses in general, and JNU, in particular, has become a semi-final of sorts for the current government. As such, from JNU, we want to give them a clear message that this isn’t a semi-final, this is rather the final for you. We are going to give you a verdict from here because in the past four years you have destroyed democracy, lowered the quality of education because of privatisation, and have launched a larger attack on the freedom of expression,” N Sai Balaji, the presidential candidate of Left Unity argues. This year, AISA, SFI, DSF, and AISF have come together to form an alliance.

“It is a mere joke on the part of the Left to form an electoral alliance to win the elections. In the real struggles that are fought on an everyday basis, they are nowhere united. Once they win the elections, they bring forth their differences. Last year AISF stayed away from the alliance citing the reason that they are “principled Left.” This year, suddenly, the principles have gone away. I am telling you, there is nothing like ‘Left’ or ‘United’ in the United Left,” Amir Malik, who has been associated with BASO, tells me over the phone. The poor network connection inside JNU campus hampers our call time and again. BASO is not contesting elections this year.

“As we know AISA, AISF and other parties in the Left Unity have major political differences. However, we have to come together to form an alliance because right now we are actually losing the ground where we can criticise each other. It is to reclaim the space itself where we can, later on, have the differences. The Left organisations are our adversaries, but our enemies right now are those who stand for the benefit of the corporates,” Kriti Roy explains to me.

For Manish, the ABVP is why the parties of the Left had to unite, although for altogether different reasons. “There was a point in time, six years back, when our activists used to distribute parchas and they used to be thrown back at their faces. Contrast that situation with today’s when four parties of the Left have to come together to fight against us. This is because of our honesty and because students have seen through them.” Before he leaves to join his other members, Manish quips, “You talk to any Vidyarthi Parishad student and you will definitely see that honesty.”

Meanwhile, outside the 24×7 canteen (which ironically closes at around 12 in the night now) I meet Arshe Alam, a Master’s student at the university. While casually talking about the elections, he tells me that apart from the famous “Lal Salams” and “Bhagwa Salams” reverberating on the campus, this time around “Satrangi Salams” are probably the most famous ones.

By now, the JNU main road is flooded by the streetlights and the campus has finally come alive. Along with yet another of his friend, we decide to go to KC for dinner. In order to share some light moments, one of them decides to tell us a few election jokes. “Last year, while taking on the Left Unity, a candidate joked during the presidential debate that first there was Sonu, who was joined by Monu, and then Pintu came on the scene. This year, it is a running joke among a lot of people that Rinku has finally been added as well.” We all laugh.

He continues, “These e-rickshaws you see on the campus nowadays, well, ABVP claims that it was because they talked to the administration that these were introduced. We say to them that when you can make things happen without even being in the union, why would you need to be in the union at all?”

After dinner, I get on a call with Sabina Yasmin, a PhD candidate at SSS. Talking about BAPSA’s emergence and gaining ground on the campus and the Left Unity, she says, “Outside campus, it could be that the secular forces are indeed coming together or at least trying to work together to oppose the undemocratic and regressive right-wing forces in power. But inside the campus, which seems to be a stronghold of Left politics, things don’t really work the same way at the micro level. Even though the Left Unity here claims to serve the same purpose, I think it is mostly a projection. The savarna leftist parties of JNU are probably threatened by the rise of BAPSA in recent years. So Left Unity could easily be seen as a way to throw BAPSA off, because it is a formidable force on campus now, a party more representative of the aspirations of oppressed identities than any of the older Left parties, which in the name of empowering them, seem to be only good at appropriating them.”

Kriti Roy, on the other hand, says that the Left Unity does not see any Ambedkarite formation as their enemy. When I talk to her about the fact that BAPSA calls the Left Unity ‘Savarna Left’, Kriti retorts, “Let us not be under the idea that when we talk about BAPSA we talk about oppressed communities. I can tell you that there are more bahujans and that there are more people from marginalised communities in my organisation. In fact, these people from our organisation are booed and shamed by BAPSA supporters when they get on public platforms to speak as if these people do not have the agency to choose their own politics.”

By the time I have finished talking to almost everyone I was scheduled to talk to, it is already 11 pm. As I call the cab driver, he tells me he is waiting behind the Mashal Juloos of NSUI, the parcha for which I had received earlier. The students, holding local versions of flambeaus, shout slogans in favour of NSUI. Candidates and supporters of other parties, stationed nearby, raise their own din. It finally feels like an election, albeit, a “JNU election.”

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Image 2 and 3 used for representation only.

Image source: Vipin Kumar, Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times via Getty

The post JNUSU Election 2018: Who’s In Line To Win The Ultimate Ideology Battle? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

Nowadays, organ or tissue transplantation is the only way to stay alive for those who have incurable illnesses of the kidneys, liver, heart and diseases such as leukemia, anemia, or genetic diseases. Transplantology is a such a widespread technique that it is used even as a cosmetological procedure where the body fat is used as a filler in an anti-aging therapy or hearing restoration. Organ transplantation embodies the eternal human desire to learn to “repair” the body.

The modern medical technological development level allows one to save hundreds of lives annually by using transplantation. However, this issue has a set of medical and ethical problems to face. The problems are associated with the key stages of transplantation technology such as research, withdrawal (fence) organs and/or tissues, distribution of organs and/or tissues between the recipients, the commercialization of transplantation, and ethics of xenotransplantation. This paper is to deal with socio-ethical problems of transplantology and define the most critical problems to be solved.

Debated Issues

First, organ transplant from a living donor may cause harm to his/ her health. On the one hand, an organ transplant (for example, a kidney) is saving the life of the person (the recipient) and is good for him/her. Also, the health of the living donor is severely impaired and transplantation violates the principle of “do no harm” (Lock, 2002). In addition, the problem of “black donation” is very acute in current transplantology since it creates additional ethical problems like the enrichment of illicit bodies trade.

Second, the problem of cadaveric organ donation is of current interest since the question of anonymity and the desire of donor’s family to honor the deceased remains unsolved. Additional mundane ethical issues to face are: the problem of ascertaining a person’s death and the problem of free will donation of their own organs after death for transplantation. Here, the issue of “the proper time of organ exhaust” is very acute.

Third, the contradictory issue is the idea of animals’ use as donors (xenotransplantation). It is based on the belief that the animal is a living organism less valuable than people, whereas both animal protection advocates and representatives of humanism are against this idea. In addition, the very use of this technology is debated since animals are said to be disease carriers and even the success of xenotransplantation is not the primary concern.

The Problem of Xenotransplantation (XTP)

XTP is currently one of the ways to address the shortage of donor organs. However, an issue arises in relation to the solution of scientific and medical problems associated with risk transfer of various infections and viruses to the human body and immunological incompatibility of animal organs and human tissues. In recent years, pigs became the most frequent animals for XTP since they are the closest to a human being by a set of chromosomes and the structure of the internal organs.

Recent studies in Mexico have shown that XTP indeed can reduce the insulin dependence of type I diabetic patients. However, as the researches were conducted in Mexico, the documentary for success was not enough to XTP authorities, and doubts about infection transfer from animal to human beings in these studies were not renounced. Unfortunately, the realization of XTP in Mexico was facilitated by different geopolitical, cultural and ethical contexts.

Cadaveric Donors

Obtaining the consent of the person or his/her relatives to use their organs for transplantation is associated with a number of ethical and psychological problems. In some countries, particularly in the U.S., it is a document of agreement for the subsequent transplantation people sign while being alive. Practice in vivo clearance consent to the removal of human organs after the person’s death is being implemented in Brazil, China, and Poland. However, in case of the donor card absence, obtaining consent from a person with a fatal disease is almost impossible for ethical and medical reasons since the person is physically found in such a state when one cannot make responsible decisions based on complete and accurate information provided in an accessible form.

Time for collection of different organs varies due to the specifics of human tissues and modern technology that is used for their preservation and transportation while allowing a stay that is suitable to the recipient. Therefore, when collecting donor organs from cadaver, the problem of establishing a possible moment of the body’s death arises. Is it “at the beating heart” or after the establishment of all criteria of biological death of the person?

Saving Lives or Economics?

When people hear about illegal organ transplantation, they imagine a dirty room, a doctor in bloody white coat holding rusty instruments. However, most of such transplantation procedures are held at the same operation rooms and using exactly the same techniques and safety precautions as the legal ones, but performed at night. Obviously, such illicit surgeries are more expensive than the legal ones, and this is the gold mine for those who want to make money from human health.

Illegal surgical facilities are able to make 400,000-500,000 euros for several operations only in one night (Dillard-Wright, 2012). Clinics and hospitals all over the world together with unofficial traders get their profit from illicit organs trade while donors may receive about 2,000 euros for the kidney or even less (Scheper-Hughes, 2000).

For example, in India a kidney can be purchased for 800 euros, which is the lowest price in the world (Dillard-Wright, 2012). Therefore, illegal organ trade is becoming stronger: the world’s “black market” of organs is formed on the economic principle “where there is demand, there will be supply.”

Unfortunately, people that are selling their bodies do not realize what awaits them.  Donor-sellers are in this case real people who, for various reasons (mostly financial), decide to sell one or parts of their organs. According to Scheper-Hughes, convey of bodies in the world happens by a scheme: from the south – to the north, from the east to the west, from the poorest regions – to the rich ones, from black – to the white-skinned (2004). In addition, she called transplant tourism an economic factor for the Third World countries. Indeed, the sum of 800-1000 euros is the real fortune for poor regions habitancy.

Thus, people do not see something discreditable in selling a kidney. However, most of such donors experience difficulties in their further life. According to the study conducted in order to determine the effects of “black” organ donation, in several years after the surgery families reported a worsened economical position in comparison to that one before the donation. In addition, the annual income of the donor decreased by one third, while they reported  back pain and weakness.

The practice of organ transplantation today is not a narrowly experimental framework, but a conventional medical industry. One can note that even such outstanding discoveries and inventions as a syringe and needle, the use of X-rays, the opening of microbiology and bacteriology, and even the formation of the “antibiotic era” are not accompanied by the creation and adoption of new legislation. This indicates that the yield of the transplantology onto a “physical” level of human death control is not a very specific and private medical issue, but a serious socio-cultural problem. Thus, organ donation may become a useful method to save lives of thousands of people, but only after ethical problems negotiation.

Author’s Note: From a very young age, I have been paying attention to any global problems, and I have always wanted to share my thoughts with others. I want people to not miss out on important issues, and this article is devoted to one more controversial topic, to which I would like to know your thoughts, so will I wait for your comments. 

The post Is Organ Donation More Of A Socio-Cultural Issue Than A Medico-Legal One? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

This week has been a particularly eventful one for the student community at the Jawaharlal Nehru University as everyone geared up for what is touted as the semi-finals before the Lok Sabha elections next year, the JNU Student’s Union elections. A total of four parties are fighting it out for the central panel – the Left Unity (AISA + DSF + AISF + SFI), ABVP, NSUI and BAPSA. I headed to the campus the day before the counting to catch it in all its glory.

You can check out more of the author’s work, here.

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Depression, something as common as a cold, if not treated in time can be as deadly as cancer. I have talked about depression a number of times. I have talked about my fair share of battles with it, what the difference between depression and clinical depression is, and how we can talk to people who may be suffering from it. But today I want to talk about why depression is so hard to treat, and why it needs a lot of effort not just from the sufferer but also from those around them. So without further ado, let’s dive in.

1: It Needs The Active Involvement Of The Sufferer

One of the main differences between a physical illness and depression is that depression demands the active participation of the patient. If you have a cold, the medicines you take would work whether you want them to or not. No matter how much you try, the medicines, once inside your body, will work. This is not the case with depression. Here if you take the medicines but don’t put in an actual effort into controlling your thought process, it won’t work. You could have all the drugs you want, you could even get electro-convulsive therapy, but until you put in effort in trying to control your mind, nothing will work.

2: There Is No Universal Cure

Many symptoms of depression are universal and found in everyone who is diagnosed with it. These include a lack of enjoyment in things people enjoyed before, extreme sadness, and a feeling of numbness. Despite these common symptoms, there is no universal cure that exists for depression. If something works for one person, it may not work for others. This means that every patient has to go through a trial-and-error process which requires a lot of patience and self care. Both of those things are not very common among depressed people.

3: It Rarely Has Any External Signs

Some mental illnesses like schizophrenia have clearly visible external manifestations. Depression on the other hand has hardly any. This makes it a huge barrier between a person who might be depressed and a counsellor or a therapist. If someone is trying to identify depressed students in a class, the chances are that they will get it wrong. Many sufferers hence go under the radar, since they aren’t identified as depressed at the right time. Further, the stigma that is attached to depression makes them averse from actually seeking help.

4: Stigma Feeds The Severity, And Vice Versa

The stigma attached to depression and its treatment still exists. It is because of people denying the existence of depression as well as people using “depression” as slang for sadness, or other non-severe emotions. Many people believe that depression is something that can be snapped out of or gotten over. This prevents people who are mildly or moderately depressed from seeking professional help. As more time is spent without help, the severity grows. The people then struggle to understand or appreciate the severity of the illness and this feeds the stigma attached to depression. Thus, this creates a dangerous loop.

5: High Rates Of Co-Morbidity

Depression rarely ever occurs by itself in patients. There is a high rate of co-morbidity reported among people who have been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Among them, anxiety and bipolar disorder are the most common ones. This creates conflicting thoughts inside the sufferer’s head. These conflicts lead to irritation and frustration. It often takes a long time before the person even realises that they have two illnesses at the same time. Many times, it is only on visiting a psychiatrist do people realise what else they have been fighting.

Conclusion

It seems pretty obvious that depression is very hard to treat. It tends to take root right in the intricate depths of our mind and wreaks havoc there. The fact that depression is never really 100% cured just piles the misery on.

There is a silver lining to all this though.

Depression can be overcome. Maybe not 100% but 99.9% sounds good enough as well. Every time depression comes back to attack you, you are better equipped than you were the last time as well. We can fight depression. It takes a lot of time and effort, but it is possible. Nothing is impossible when you have the means and will to fight off your own mind.

This post was originally published here, on Knights of Steel.

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The Disclosure of Lobbying Activities Bill 2015 (DLA) was introduced before the Parliament to regulate the practice of lobbying in India and to increase transparency in governance. To understand the significance of this Bill, it is necessary to first examine what is meant by lobbying and the current state of its regulation across India. Lobbying refers to a broad range of activities that  attempt to influence policy making. It is often used to influence the way a legislator votes on a matter before the House. Organisations that engage in such practices exist on a spectrum. They can range from think tanks, non-governmental organisations and citizens’ groups, to corporations, wealthy individuals, and special interest/ industrial groups. This means that it is a misconception to have a homogeneous view on the value of lobbying, especially one that presumes that the term only has a negative connotation.

There is a legitimate discussion that can be had about the excessive influence of certain organisations, especially corporate lobbying. However, lobbying also has positive impacts. It allows ordinary citizens to voice their concerns and provide information that is otherwise unavailable to legislators. In this form, lobbying serves as an additional measure to secure representation at the point of policy formulation.

To ensure that the ‘right’ kind of lobbying occurs, there needs to be effective regulation, which provides clear information about the nature of lobbying done by different groups. Through this, a norm can be created about how lobbying must function in our country. In the past this has been difficult because it is often hard to differentiate between ‘lobbying’ and ‘advocacy’. This has meant that lobbying is currently an unregulated practice. The only statutory regulation is the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2015. However, there is a gap between lobbying and the behaviour prohibited under the 2015 Act, leaving most forms of lobbying in a ‘grey area’.

The DLA Bill 2015 attempts to fill this lacuna by creating the Lobbyists Registration Authority (LRA). Any person or organisation which intends to undertake any lobbying activity would have to register itself with the LRA. In addition to mandatory registrations, each registrant would have to submit a half-yearly report. This report would outline the nature of lobbying done by the registrant, the client (if any) that the registrant represented, the funds used in this lobbying activity, the list of public servants the registrants interacted with, and the result of the lobbying activity. There are penalties, which include suspension and cancellation of registration to ensure compliance. Finally, the 2015 Bill makes the information provided by a registrant publiclly available on an online platform. This would allow interested parties to be able to examine the nature of lobbying activity done by any registrant.

The significance of the DLA Bill 2015 can be divided into two broad categories: direct impact and norm creation. The first category is of those benefits that are solely based on the provisions of the bill. The biggest impact of this nature is reducing the asymmetry of information that currently exists. This is especially true with respect to ordinary citizens. The primary stakeholders in policy making are legislators, industry/ corporate actors, and the citizenry. However, all too often, ordinary citizens are left voiceless because they do not have reliable information, and thereby are unable to influence the decisions that are made.

Second, this bill creates greater transparency. It helps voters and the media know which organisations are attempting to lobby public servants, as well as which public servant or legislator has been approached by lobbyists. This is a direct consequence of making information freely available. Transparency can help hold legislators and public servants accountable, because their interactions are now recorded.

Currently, there is scope for lobbyists to misuse the ‘grey area’ between advocacy and outright corruption, to their advantage. Therefore, the final benefit under this category is that the very existence of a regulatory system prevents actors from being able to ‘fly under the radar’.

The second category refers to positive trends that can be expected as a result of the enactment of the DLA Bill 2015. The largest impact under this category would be that the overwhelmingly negative perception of ‘lobbying’ is mitigated. This is because the formalisation of the activity will make its use more widespread and well-known. The consequence of this would be two-fold. First, actors that were not aware of this instrument, like local level citizens’ groups, would now be able to use this tool to their own benefit. Second, groups like non-governmental organisations and think tanks that might have decided not to engage in ‘lobbying’ because of public perception, would now use this as a tool to help further their causes.

Enabling a trend of greater participation by a diverse set of actors would allow lobbying to play a positive role in policy making, because it would help meaningfully provide representation. Additionally, the setting up of the LRA would allow for more specific regulation to emerge in the future. This helps create certainty about what kinds of activities are acceptable Given that certainty helps actors who  wish to engage in lobbying, but are afraid of accidentally breaching regulations. A paradigm built on certainty and clear information allows such actors to confidently engage in lobbying.

At this stage, what is critical is that this issue be  debated in the Parliament, and eventually enacted. An unregulated and unclear lobbying sector only worsens the perception of lobbying. Such a situation  only benefits those who are willing to operate in a ‘grey area’, and puts the ordinary citizen at a disadvantage.. Additionally, it fails to allow lobbying to become a beneficial aspect of policy making, through which multiple points of view can emerge. Therefore, It is of utmost importance that this issue gains traction because of the long term positive impact that lobbying can have on a nation.

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By Sandy Kundra Verma:

As the sun streaks the sooty sky, traveling over terraces, telecom wires, and washing lines, two Delhis wake up and get ready for the day. One brushes its teeth, is fed by doting mothers, and dropped at school gates with a kiss, the other is jostled awake, shunted to a stinking toilet and summoned to a dark room to work. Two sides of the same coin, they are like twin brothers, yet Delhi clutches one to her breast and boots the other to the door, knowing full well that he cannot leave.

Hari* used to dream of Delhi in his village near Darbanga, Bihar. A glittering metropolis, his uncle said, where even an illiterate like him could earn ₹8,000 a month doing simple tailoring jobs in exchange for food, accommodation, and income. To Hari, and his destitute parents, it sounded too good to be true.

Which, of course, it was. Hari spent nine to 12 hours a day in a dark room to sow sequins and embroidery on bags sold in Nabi Karim, Asia’s largest bag market. In the name of accommodation are a few tattered sheets on the terrace where Hari sleeps squashed with several children. The bathrooms stink and the children get headaches. They have skin rashes, skeletal figures, and constant coughs. “All bags are handmade,” a Nabi Karim shopkeeper shows off an intricately designed bag, and you wonder how something so beautiful could be so cheap, but what you don’t know, or perhaps you do know, in a corner of your cynical soul, is that they were made by hands with blistered fingers that should have been holding schoolbooks.

According to the 2011 National Census of India, 43,53,247 children are engaged in work in the country. Figures are hard to estimate since a lot of labour is invisible and unreported, in houses or family businesses. How many of us have seen young nannies feed a privileged child cake in Gurgaon cafés and chose to turn a blind eye? Legislation exists in the form of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. But corruption, often at the local level, ensures that the guilty go scot-free. Many rescuers allege that local police often ‘tips-off’ business owners before a raid.

UNICEF has observed that community intervention is often more effective in reducing the problem. So, the onus is on us, but some of us choose not to act, and others justify this by saying that child labour can be beneficial for destitute children who often have no alternatives. A volunteer from my organisation confides in me that a senior official from the Labour Committee once asked him, “Why are you cutting these kid’s stomachs?”

But the local administration has successfully rescued and rehabilitated hundreds of children who have now graduated from English schools, undergone training in five-star hotels, and are gainfully employed. On August 20, Hari and 19 other children were also rescued in a joint effort by the police and NGOs. He is currently in a shelter home, with the hope of waking up to the Delhi we choose for him.

*Name changed.

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Many men don’t understand why a woman takes years to come out and speak against rape or sexual abuse. Most of them perceive it as willful consent where she ‘enjoyed’ the ordeal. I feel that PC George, an independent MLA from Poonjar, Kerala, is someone who has succumbed to such a belief system as his statement confirms.

A few days back, Mr.George told the media that a nun, who has accused a bishop of raping her, enjoyed it for 12 times and only realised for the 13th time that it was rape. He even went to the extent of calling her a prostitute. His statement is all kinds of problematic. One must not forget the fact that a woman can consent to having sex 12 times and refuse the 13th time and that will be rape. It’s not really about the number.

Experts say that the reason a woman takes time to come out and speak about rape is in the very nature of sexual assault.To understand this better, you should read – ‘Why women can take years to come forward with a sexual assault allegation’ in the New York Times. This article will give you a deeper understanding of how women are not psychologically prepared to accept how common harassment and assault are and they look for reasons to deny what has happened to them. But this is not the only reason. When the person committing the crime is someone they trust, it takes years for them to realize that they are being violated.

The offenders take advantage of this confusion to exploit the victim further and delude them into believing that nothing has happened. In many cases, the woman gets confused and asks, “Was I raped?” The victim may have little choice but to stay in contact if the offender is a boss, teacher, coach or relative, as was evident in this case. The offender here is a senior member of the church community, whereas the victim is a nun.

People like PC George should understand that it’s preposterous to ask questions such as, “Why didn’t she run away?”, “Why didn’t she push him away?”, “Why did she stay there for 13 years?” Fighting back is not something women naturally do, as they are taught from childhood not to be violent.

To condemn such statements, we should join the #VaayaMoodal campaign (mouth shut campaign) started by a group of women in Kerala, asking people to send duct tapes to the politician, along with a handwritten note. The campaign was initiated by activist and writer Aysha Mahmood along with a couple of her friends.

Send a 'shut-it' tape to #PCGeorge: Meet the Kerala women who are saying #VaayaMoodal to PC George https://t.co/AzEtuNlOmO via @xpress_edex

— Aysha Mahmood (@aisibi) September 11, 2018

The campaign has been supported by actor Parvathy, who became a victim of cyberbullying by a bunch of misogynist goons for criticising Malayalam actor Mammooty’s film Kasaba.

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In the contemporary times, the Indian agricultural scenario is running far away from the philosophy of “You reap what you sow”. The government’s data on almost 3 lakh farmer suicides in the last 20 years itself stands as a litmus test. So, where we are going wrong? This question may seem straightforward, but it encompasses many reasons, such as:

1. Government’s urban driven policies.
2. Maladministration of farming policies.
3. One size fits all approach to deal with different types of agriculture.
4. Short-term measure like loan waivers instead of long-term solutions.
5. Changing climate and variable rainfall pattern is also a serious issue.
6. Disintegration of landholdings, rising fertilisers cost and paucity of resources.

Therefore, Indian agriculture is now in doldrums. And despite being a majority of the population (61.5% as per agricultural census 2011) dependent on it, Indian agriculture hardly contributes to 7.68% of total global agricultural output. It is for this reason only, despite India ranking second in overall agrarian production next only to China, our country’s export basket hardly offers huge crop diversity and is still lagged by subsistence production.

So, in order to deal with this menace, technology exchange programme has been proposed as a vital solution. The mutual benefit programs with agriculturally advanced nations can really prove to be a game changer for Indian agriculture, as it can have intended benefits:

1. It will bring the required innovation in our agriculture.
2. The transfer to modern methods and more efficient farm techniques can help India, like Israeli water management in agriculture.
3. It would help India to move onto the aspect of profitability in agriculture than productivity.
4. Improvement in economy on the scale of agriculture and its integration with the global value chain, as China did.

But this remedy of transfer can only support India’s plan to a limited extent, as India’s vision to double its farmers’ income by 2022, will need more than an external antidote. Therefore, some intrinsic solutions mentioned below can genuinely help India in realising its agricultural potential:

1. Announcing a fair MSP (Minimum Support Price) for farmers.
2. Taking a different approach for irrigated farmlands and un-irrigated areas.
3. Focusing on Food Nutrition Policy.
4. Digitalising agriculture in a holistic value chain manner.
5. Strengthening the warehouse facilities and cold storage infrastructure.
6. Innovating the climate-smart agriculture technologies.
7. Development of allied sectors such as horticulture, fisheries etc.
8. Promoting organic farming and sustainable farming with more vigour.

Then only, India can reclaim its title of “Sone Ki Chidiya” and truly embark on the journey of Agriculture Revolution. In this regard, the introduction of Soil Health Card Scheme, PM’s Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Fasal Bima Yojana, National Urea Policy, CHAMAN and NAM initiatives are positive inputs. Even the development of Zero Budget Natural Farming by Indian agriculturalist Shubash Palekar should be celebrated for the fact it integrates sustainable agriculture keeping in mind the concerns of farmers and biodiversity.

So, we can clearly see the noble vision of our government and its people and truly hope that if all goes well, doubling farmers income by 2022 can easily become a reality. India’s agricultural distress needs to end for good. As Jawaharlal Nehru rightly pointed out,

” Everything else can wait, but not agriculture.”

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By Kiran Rai:

From playthings to grown-up stuff, the lines of what men can and cannot do are very clearly drawn. And the social pressure to conform has burst many a young dreams. If you thought otherwise, hear these men out!

Men Get The Daily Bread

Rohit*, 28, Sales Representative, Bangalore: After finishing college, all my friends picked up jobs or joined their family businesses. I loved photography and chose to be an unpaid intern for a well-known photographer.  However, my parents started pressuring me to take up a job as I had been ‘jobless’ for almost six months.

I asked them why didn’t they have the same expectations from my elder sister Jyoti, who was also pursuing painting after college. “Why is she not working?” I asked. My dad said it would be unethical of him to expect Jyoti to earn. “It’s the men who have to bring home food,” he said. I got so frustrated with all the sarcasm that I took up a sales job and gave up on my dream to become a photographer.

The post ‘I Couldn’t Take The Taunts Anymore’: Indian Men Open Up About Oppressive Gender Roles appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

A tremendous buzz is spreading across the country over the a statement made by socialist leader and national President of the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav. Last month he said that he would build a huge Vishnu temple and a township in the Chambal region across 2,000 acres of land, along the lines of the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia.

And on September 19, the former CM of UP announced his intention to build a magnificent Vishwakarma temple after returning to power in 2022, while addressing a gathering of Vishwakarma community.

This promise to build temple after temple to counter Ram Temple movement of the BJP-RSS is a certain submission to soft-Hindutva politics, according to a large number of observers who see a sudden shift in the political outreach of Samajwadi Party away from perpetual charge of critics over ‘Muslim appeasement’. Whereas Akhilesh’s political friend in the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, had been busy temple-hopping this past year, not to speak of his stair-trek of Mansarovar recently.

You can’t do away with the temple in Indian politics. You can’t do away with mosques either. With the temple comes the reign of a single dominant-caste priest, and with mosque comes the image of an Imam who is not necessarily from an upper-caste Muslim family. But the priest of a temple in our country is necessarily a Brahmin, barring few exceptions.

Many sympathisers of socialism in India criticised the temple declaration of youth icon and socialist leader Akhilesh Yadav. Their criticism has a certain degree of historical precedence, for the very party Akhilesh heads today was founded by his father Mulayam Singh as a counter-revolution to the rabid Ram Janambhoomi Temple movement of the BJP-RSS. Patriarch Mulayam didn’t declare he would build a mosque, but he did promise to ensure the rebuilding of the Babri Mosque after the structure was demolished in controversial manner, in complete contravention of the Constitutional norms, on 6 December 1992.

Personally, I feel there is nothing wrong with the ‘Temple Rant’ of socialist flagbearer in an election year. In his native village, Saifai, Etawa, Akhilesh already has built a gigantic statue of pastoral deity Lord Krishna. Krishna, as a popular folkloric god, is a strong bulwark to Lord Rama in the popular imagination.

With the politics of the temple, the economy can not be left out. Devotees’s generous offerings must be shared across the caste spectrum. A single-caste monopoly on temple wealth must be challenged now by the socialist stalwarts.

However, the moot point (which socialist forces are slowly and steadily veering towards) is the pressing issue of diversity in the appointment of temple priests, or guardians of the stone deity.

Why can’t Yadav raise the issue of appointing only an Ahir as the chief priest of a Krishna Temple? Similarly, why can’t he raise the issue of appointing only a Vishwakarma fellow as the priest and guardian of the stone deity consecrated in the Vishwakarma Temple?

Will he bite the bait of his large core constituency? It is high time that SC, ST, and OBC communities wage a claim to the ownership or guardianship of temples housing their own caste-born deities. Because not only humans, gods in India also have distinctive caste.

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Dissolution Of Muslim Marriage Bill – A Civil Remedy To A Civil Problem

The practice of Instant Triple Talaq is a manifestation of a larger malaise, one from which every community suffers- patriarchy. And when The Muslim Women (Protection of Women on Rights of Marriage) Ordinance, 2018, or the Triple Talaq Ordinance was promulgated on September 19, 2018, it symbolized patriarchy – a unilateral decision imposed on a minority community by an all-knowing state without any consultation with the actual stakeholder.

On August 22, 2017, when the Supreme Court, in a landmark judgment set aside the practice of instant triple talaq by a 3:2 majority, and held it invalid for all practical purposes, it did not leave a void. Quran has, since time immemorial prescribed a procedure for undertaking talaq, which is a necessary extension of the principle that marriage, as per Islamic Law, is a contract between two consenting parties and can be brought to an end when either or both parties withdraw their consent. Instant triple talaq, or talaaq-e-bidaat, as the name suggests, is an invention, a play on the Quranic injunctions which prescribe a much more robust and equitable talaq-e-ahsaan method. It is true, however, that in practice the procedure prescribed in Quran may not be followed in letter and spirit and the rights of the parties involved may not be protected. This is the reason that many countries, including many Islamic countries have codified the practice of talaq in order to bring a semblance of certainty, uniformity and parity between the genders.

But, it is noted with extreme caution that the government has now criminalized the pronouncement of instant triple talaq with imprisonment as well as fine. It is very problematic that a matter of civil discord is being treated as an offence and if we did not guard against such attempts, then before we know it, such a law will become an instrument in the hands of the majoritarian government to target members of the minority community. It is true that women, of any community, must not be subjected to arbitrary practices which have a direct bearing on their mental, financial, physical and emotional well-being, and the state must vigorously pursue the agenda of upholding the rights of women, of every community. That should not, however, translate into efforts which are ill-perceived and set a dangerous precedent of blurring the lines between civil disagreements and criminal acts.

Private Member Bill – An Attempt To Provide A Gender Just Solution

A year before the historic Supreme Court judgment, on August 5, 2016, I introduced a private member bill in Rajya Sabha to completely overhaul and replace the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act of 1939 (an Act which provides grounds and procedures for Muslim women to seek divorce by approaching courts). The Bill was drafted, over a period of one year, in consultation with Muslim women organizations, experts and scholars on Islamic laws as well as a team of lawyers.

The Bill prescribes two procedures for dissolution of marriage – one which is initiated outside the court and one which is initiated through the court – and parties are given the option to choose either of the procedures.

Both the procedures provide mechanisms for protection of rights of all parties, especially women and children, as per the Shariat. Simultaneous proceedings can also be initiated under other laws like Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for maintenance) or the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. The Bill invalidates, and not criminalizes, any procedure for pronouncement of talaq other than the one prescribed in the Bill. And thus Instant Triple Talaq, or the pronouncement of talaq, three times, in quick succession will be of no effect.

Recently, the Supreme Court also decided to take up constitutional review of practices like nikah halala, nikah muta, etc. I would like to mention that the Bill I have introduced also invalidates the practice of temporary marriages, or muta marriage, which leads to automatic dissolution of marriage after a set time period. The Bill, however, attracts penal sanction for all those who force a woman, who has been given Talaq, to consummate a marriage with another man, before she can remarry her previous husband. This practice, commonly known as halala, is nothing but sexual exploitation of women and must be treated as an offence. Otherwise, the Bill treats matters of marriage and divorce as falling within the realm of civil discords and prescribes access to the civil judicial machinery of the state to either of the parties.

This struggle against the practice of Instant Triple Talaq is also an emotive subject for me as it was my elder brother, Hamid Dalwai (now deceased), who spearheaded this movement way back in 1966. Accompanied by seven Muslim women, including his wife and our sister, my brother took out a protest march against the ills of the practice of Instant Triple Talaq, in which I had also participated as a young and eager 25 year old man. After the unfortunate demise of my brother at the age of 44, I carried on the work of advocating for reforms focusing on education and gender justice, and the Bill introduced by me is a step in that regard.

Going Forward – With The Community

I understand that any process of change takes time to seep in and it is my belief that the state must facilitate the change in a fair and peaceful manner, rather than using such heavy-handed measures to further alienate an already marginalized community. I have been urging the Government to undertake specific steps to spread awareness about the ills of this practice among the community by involving organizations working for the welfare of women, religious leaders, political representatives, etc.

The Bill introduced by me is also not perfect, but it is a beginning and I am open to suggestions from the community on how to make it even better. The government must also shun the idea of criminalizing the practice and look for effective alternatives. It is disappointing to note that instead of engaging in a constructive debate, Government has chosen a short-cut. When the government-drafted Triple Talaq Bill was brought to Rajya Sabha, I supported the demand to refer the Bill to a Select Committee because any and every provision and amendment needs to be thoroughly debated and deliberated. The end result of this churning should be a law, which truly represents the ambitions of the community going forward instead of a hurried patchwork put together to assert a political point.

The post ‘The Current Triple Talaq Bill Has Been Imposed On Muslims Without Consulting Stakeholders’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

Rita Mae Brown once said, “Language is the roadmap of a culture”. She could not have been truer, given the important role languages have played in defining not only cultural heritage of people but also their socio-political realities. Languages have been important in international history and politics since time immemorial. Geo-political demarcations and units have been largely co-terminus with a people mostly sharing a language and culture. In India, we have come a long way since the writings using the Indus script were emblazoned on seals of the Indus Valley Civilization [1, 2] and the early days when diacritical symbols were used to associate vowels with consonants, a characteristic feature still seen in modern languages such as Hindi, in the Brahmi script [3, 4].

Post-independence, languages were used as the major basis for reorganizing states in the new Republic of India [5-7]. The States Reorganisation Act (1956) was a major reform of the boundaries of India’s states and territories, organizing them along linguistic lines [8]. Since then, we have had everything from the anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu in 1965 [9, 10] and the Official Languages Act that was eventually amended in 1967  that ensured the current “virtual indefinite policy of bilingualism” of the Indian Republic [11]. The linguistic diversity in the country has flourished over the years, albeit brief spells of political turbulence based on it, from time to time. As per the 2011 census, 43.63% spoke Hindi, 8.03% Bengali, 6.86% Marathi, 6.70% Telugu and 5.70% Tamil, while the remaining 29.08% spoke various other languages [12].

West Bengal is the one state where the interplay of the two languages with the largest number of speakers – Hindi and Bengali – is most visible. Lately, there have been certain developments that have perturbed the dynamics of linguistic influences on the politics of the state. In this article, I would like to focus on the same and highlight the major points regarding this topic of relevance. I would conclude the article with a perspective on languages in contemporary Indian politics, in general, and a possible way forward.

The Banglabhashi and Linguistic Heritage of Bengal

 Sanskrit was spoken in Bengal since the first millenium BCE, besides the Middle Indo-Aryan dialects called Magadhi Prakrit that later evolved into Ardha Magadhi and Apabhramsa in what was then a Magadhan realm, and Bengal subsequently became a hub of Sanskrit literature during the Gupta period [13-16]. Bengali evolved from Sanskrit and Magadhi Prakrit in about the turn of the first millenium CE, with a strand of Apabhramsa evolving into local dialects and subsequently into three major groups: Bihari, Odia and Bengali-Assamese languages [17, 18]. While proto-Bengali was the court language of the Pala and Sena dynasties, Bengali itself was promoted by the Bengal Sultanate as the official court language and as the most widely spoken vernacular language.

The irony of our times is that a government that claims to be more close to ‘Ma, Mati, Maanush’ than most others is doing much less for the language than was done previously by trying to do a lot more. The kind of linguistic chauvinism that was displayed in Mamata Banerjee’s push for the compulsory teaching of Bengali from Class I to X was deplorable. This is irrespective of which board a school is affiliated to or what a student’s mother tongue is. It did more harm to the idea of Bengal, which has always been tolerant and inclusive, than good. She also jeopardized talks with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, in the process. Bengal has never had divisions along linguistic, communal or caste-based lines as much as in other parts of the country. In this context, such an imposition is unwise.

Even with all of Mamata Di’s fervor on this policy and front, she has not established more comprehensive measures for tackling the rot in the system, beyond just school education. Cultural hubs are on the down slide [20] and  majority of the youth in Bengal, who graduate from the universities in the state, year after year, cannot write correct Bengali. The deterioration in Bengali studies in the state worsened after the collapse of the mother-tongue medium school system that had been around since the time of Iswarchandra Vidyasagar, who, in the process of developing the Bengali language, had promoted Sanskrit and English too. But unfortunately, perhaps since English is no longer taught in these schools, the the middle class no longer prefers such institutions. Yet, there is a ray of hope still for the Bengali people to maintain their pride in their language and its associated heritage: the Banga Sanskriti Utsab has recently been revived after a long gap, Banga Sammelans are being organised [21] and the ‘Little Magazine’ culture of Bengal is also stable [22].

To understand the pride of the Bengali people in their language one needs to briefly look at the post-Independence history regarding the same. After the Congress’ collapse in the state, with the heydays of Siddharth Shankar Roy and Bidhan Chandra Roy well behind, the Communists under Jyoti Basu made a major push to recognize the linguistic heritage of the state. Reading Jyoti Basu’s memoirs gives an interesting perspective on this front:

On December 6, the Communist leader Ranen Sen said that the Congress government had always promised to reorganise the states on the basis of language, but had adopted double standards. The report of the commission had only toed the Congress government’s line by pushing the question of cultural and language in the background. I told the Assembly, “The Congress is entirely responsible for the poisonous atmosphere that has been created by the report. A solution can be reached only on the basis of language and regional affinity. We must not forget that India is one. This is not a question of limiting boundaries of states but a question of our national security and unity. The Centre has not done any scientific research though during the British Raj it was a same Congress which had earned the people’s mandate by promising states on the basis of language. Just setting up commissions will not do”.

I said that the commission’s report was opportunistic and the Centre was entirely responsible for its irrelevance. In fact, the Centre and the Congress government in West Bengal were at odds over the question of West Bengal’s boundary. The logic that the limits of the state be extended because of the refugee and unemployment problems did not hold water; I said that it would be impossible to solve these problems by just getting that extra mile from Bihar.

I demanded that necessary steps be taken to ensure local self-government in the Nepali areas of Darjeeling. This was our party’s stand. Naturally the Congress government had to reject this demand. At that point of time, our demand was dubbed as “anti-national”. After four decades, the Congress government has had finally to give in to this original demand of the Leftists. The Left Front government has successfully ensured this.

On December 10, Dr. Roy told journalists, “It is necessary to make some amendments to the recommendations of the States Re-organisation Committee keeping in mind the security and stability of West Bengal and aspirations of the people of neighbouring Bihar.”

Subsequently in 1956, Dr Roy and his Bihar counterpart Sri Krishna Sinha issued a joint statement advocating the merger of West Bengal and Bihar. This created a major stir in the state.

Though the idea of the merger of the states did not last, the continuous campaigning by the Bengali leaders led to the moving of some parts of Bihar into Bengal:

Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of territories) Act, 1956

Section 3

(1) As from the appointed day, there shall be added to the State of West Bengal the territories which on the 1st day of March 1956, were comprised in— 

                (a) that portion of Kishanganj  sub-division of Purnea district which lies to the east of the boundary line demarcated in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) by an authority appointed in this behalf by the Central Government and that portion of Gopalpur thana of the said district which lies to the east or north, as the case may be, of the said boundary line; and 

                (b) Purulia sub-division of Manbhum district, excluding Chas thana, Chandil thana and Patamda police station of Barabhum thana;

and the said territories shall thereupon cease to form part of the State of Bihar. 

(2) The boundary  line referred to in sub-section (1) shall be so demarcated as to be generally two hundred yards to the west of the highway in Purnea district connecting Dalkola, Kishanganj and Chopra with Siliguri in Darjeeling district and two hundred yards to the south or south-west of the highway in Purnea district connecting Dalkola and Karandighi with Raiganj in west Dinajpur district; Provided that the boundary line shall be so demarcated as not to cut across any village or town; Provided further that from the point where the first -mentioned highway meets the southern boundary of Kishanganj municipality to the point where it leaves the northern boundary of that municipality, the boundary line shall be the same as the boundary of that municipality on the east. 

(3) The territory specified in clause (a) of sub-section (1) shall be included in, and from part of Darjeeling district, and the territory specified in clause (b) of that sub-section shall form a separate district to be known as Purulia district within Burdwan division of the State of West Bengal.

(4) Nothing in sub-section (3) shall be deemed to affect the power of the State Government to alter after the appointed day the name, extent and boundaries of any district or division in the State of West Bengal.

An amendment was introduced in the First Schedule to the Constitution. The fervor and intensity of Bengali (language) activism was more on the other side of the border. On February 21, 1952 five students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the University of Dhaka. Eventually, even though Bengali became an official language of Pakistan in 1956, the subjugation of the interests of the Bengali people led to the formation of Bangladesh. The day of February 21 has since been observed as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh and was proclaimed the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO in 1999, making Bengali the only language in the world to be known for its language movements and people sacrificing their lives for their mother language! In this context, the pride of the Bengali people in their language is understandable. And yet the people have an inherent sense of inclusivity and justice to their brethren who reside in the state.

Today, as per the West Bengal government, the official languages of the state are Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, Odia, Santali, Punjabi, Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi and Kurmali. One also has Nepali has an official status in the three subdivisions of the Darjeeling district. One must nurture and provide for the teaching of all of these in the state to truly keep the nature of the society that resides in Bengal. Haphazard band-aid treatments like the one that led to the clashes in Islampur, where language teachers were sent to a school where apparently the need of the hour was for teachers in the sciences and literature, reeks of a politics of convenience. The District Inspector may have been suspended but the bigger question still remains: what is Mamata Banerjee’s vision and plan to safeguard the unity of, and diversity within, Bengali society, particularly along linguistic lines? Notwithstanding the terrible law and order situation that prevails in the state, one must not get swayed by the rhetorical game-play and political manoeuvring being done by quite a few of the parties in Bengal today. It is a grave matter that needs to be handled with utmost sincerity and urgency.

Mamata Banerjee did start her term with a lot of zeal on this front. Just after assuming office, she declared that though English and Bengali would be the official languages of the state, it would also have six “second official” languages: Urdu, Gurmukhi, Nepali, Ol-Chiki, Oriya and Hindi. This policy and its implementation was as poorly thought-out as it was (or atleast seemed to be) whimsical. For one, this would make government offices a virtual tower of Babel, with the bureaucrats being possibly forced to learn these languages. Secondly, someone needs to tell Mamata Di that Gurmukhi is not a language but a script, while the people of Nepali descent in Bengal’s hill districts speak Gorkhali not Nepali. Also, Urdu, which superficially might be assumed to be spoken by the state’s large Muslim population, is spoken by less than 5% of the 2,30,00,000 Muslims residing in the state. If this isn’t tokenism for appeasement, then what is? And that too misplaced, uninformed tokenism! There has to be a more comprehensive reform in the way that the state’s languages are considered and promoted. Just by changing the status of some languages, are we addressing the key issues that are plaguing these languages? Are we not writing off a proverbial blank cheque for a deficit of ideas on how to handle the treasure trove of languages that Bengal has and the negligence that that trove has faced? These are all hard-hitting questions Mamata Di must answer!

The Fallacy In The Imposition Of Hindi And Sanskrit

Since the times of the anti-Hindi movement in Tamil Nadu, one of the key points of debate and discussion has been the use of Hindi in various parts of the country. One must understand that Hindi was never the natural language of many parts of the country. Their cultures and history remained independent of the Hind-speaking areas in India. Given this background, the earnestness to teach and use Hindi and Sanskrit is good only up to the point it does not infringe on the interests and identities of the various other languages that exist in India today. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has had a proclivity to use Hindi probably due to the historical emergence of the party from within the Hindi-speaking belt. While I appreciate the attention given to the language, having enjoyed reading various literary pieces in the language, be it of Premchand or Hazari Prasad Dvivedi, one just cannot try to do that in all parts of India. Narendra Modi’s recent attempt at saying a few lines in Bengali was appreciable and something his party should learn from. There needs to be that one state leader who can stir people’s hearts with his/her oratory in Bengali and/or other state languages.

Recently, a Bengali rights group Bangla Pokkho has been formed to stand up against “Hindi imperialism”. The group is gaining influence at a rapid pace in West Bengal and has had some early success in furthering its ideology. It highlights the influence of anti-Urdu movements in ertwhile East Pakistan as its inspiration. While some groups have tried to put up stickers of ‘Hindi hain hum, watan hai Hindustan humara’, Bangla Pokkhohas regularly removed them and tried to stand up against the mentality that underlies such statements. Even if we were to concede to the civilizational meaning of the term ‘Hindu’ rather than the religious one, the ‘Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan’ slogan is misplaced due to the placement of the language Hindi as the preferred language per se. The BJP and other parties must understand this and respect the wishes and interests of the people they wish to represent. The fallacy in the imposition of Hindi and Sanskrit across the country is that what is seen as a unifier of the country may lead to widespread discontent and anger among its constituents and thereby to fracturing instead. It is only with the acceptance of all the languages of the state that we can truly embody the idea of ‘unity in diversity’.

I do see the argument in saying that one needs a certain sense of unity, of one-ness in the country, and language can be a way to unify, as some people put it. Yes and no! Yes, it can unify if historically there has been a language of natural choice among the people and people openly accept it. And no, if it is imposed when both linguistics and history says otherwise. Tamil derives its roots from Brahmi as does Sanskrit. Forget Hindi, saying that Sanskrit should be the official language of India will be a statement either in ignorance of historical realities or one of political convenience. Does this mean that one cannot find a way out? One can. But it has to be through a politics of consensus. Not a politics of coercion. It has to be through dialogue, discussion and debate. One has to remember that one can take a horse to a pond but cannot make it drink water. Similarly, as much as one would like to unify the country using language, one has to understand the subtleties and dynamics of linguistics that prevail in the current demographics of the country. Language has been a powder-keg, ready to blow up at any point, simply because India is a country with many nationalities in it, based on socio-cultural aspects. To believe that one can homogenize the country based on language or race or religion or any other social identity is a futile pursuit, if the principles of democracy and free will are truly espoused and practised. It has to be consensus, consultation and camaraderie that can take us forward and make India a stronger country. 

Dying Languages

One of the major points of concern, for me, today, relate to the subject of dying languages in India. In one of the most tragic occurrences, the death of Boa Sr, the last person fluent in the Bo language of the Andaman Islands, broke a link with a 65,000-year-old culture! There are about a 100 different languages in India that the Ministry of Human Resource Development has identified that are endangered. Languages such as Koda and Kharia in Bengal are endangered as we speak. While the former had just 47,268 speakers as per the 2011 census, the latter has a slightly more respectable 297,614 speakers according to the same census. I have not heard one positive step suggested by Mamata Banerjee, while she goes on about Bengali and Urdu, which are spoken by the majority of the state. Clearly, a person who talks of minority interests does not quite either understand or want to act for the interests of those whose vote has little value in the grander scheme of things.

Without the political will and government support, a major section of our heritage may vanish forever. Unfortunately, because of the dearth of numbers of speakers of these languages, there cannot be mass movements or political electioneering based on the representation of these languages. Much like the problems faced by minorities based on other social identities such as caste and religion, linguistic minorities are facing an existential threat today. I would suggest the constitution of state and national assessment committees to see the state of these various languages and the appropriate steps that need be taken as soon as possible. Be it the introduction of the option of these dialects in modules or promotion of media, either printed or electronic, that can put forth content in these languages are some of the ways this can be tackled. 

In Conclusion

As a proud Bengali, and someone who was brought up with the works of Tagore and Bankimchandra as much as with those of western littérateurs like Tolstoy, Shelley and Shakespeare, I would like the current government in Bengal to introspect. To introspect what it means to be truly Bengali. If there is one state where after the years long rioting just after Independence in the late 1940s and early 1950s, there has been fairly less communal clashes and divisions along caste lines, it has been Bengal. If there is one state that has produced a number of liberal, progressive thinkers and public figures, it has been Bengal.

I stand for that Bengal where inclusivity is not tailored according to the convenience of vote-bank politics but is ingrained in the heart and soul of each and everyone who is a part of the state, and one front where we need to do more is on the language front. I hope Mamata Di hears the laments of those whose voices cannot shake the corridors of powers as much as she hears the rhetoric of those whose does.

I hope to see a day when I can truly say: Amar Shonar Bangla (my golden Bengal), as can the Gorkha, the Nepali, the Oriya, the Kharia and the various others in the state, in their own languages.

References:

[1] Parpola, Asko. Deciphering the Indus script. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.

[2] Rao, Rajesh PN, et al. “Entropic evidence for linguistic structure in the Indus script.” Science 324.5931 (2009): 1165-1165.

[3] Salomon, Richard G. “Brahmi and Kharoshthi.” The world’s writing systems (1996): 373-383.

[4] Daniels, Peter T., and William Bright, eds. The world’s writing systems. Oxford University Press on Demand, 1996.

[5] King, Robert Desmond. Nehru and the language politics of India. Oxford University Press, USA, 1997.

[6] Sarangi, Asha, ed. Language and politics in India. Oxford University Press, 2009.

[7] Gooptu, Nandini. The politics of the urban poor in early twentieth-century India. Vol. 8. Cambridge University Press, 2001.

[8] Arora, Satish Kumar. “The reorganization of the Indian states.” Far Eastern Survey 25.2 (1956): 27-30.

[9] Arooran, K. Nambi. Tamil Renaissance and Dravidian Nationalism, 1905-1944. Koodal, 1980.

[10] Forrester, Duncan B. “The Madras anti-Hindi agitation, 1965: Political protest and its effects on language policy in India.” Pacific Affairs 39.1/2 (1966): 19-36.

[11] Gargesh, Ravinder. “South Asian Englishes.” The handbook of world Englishes (2006): 90-113.

[12] Registrar General, India. “Census of India 2011: provisional population totals-India data sheet.” Office of the Registrar General Census Commissioner, India. Indian Census Bureau(2011).

[13] Gupta, Sunil. “The Bay of Bengal interaction sphere (1000 BC-AD 500).” Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association 25 (2007): 21-30.

[14] Mukherjee, B. N. “A New Source of the History of the Bengali Script and Language.” Literature East and West: Essays Presented to RK Dasgupta. Allied Publishers, 1995.

[15] Klaiman, Mimi H. “Bengali.” The Major Languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Routledge, 2003. 69-87.

[16] Atreya, Lata, Smriti Singh, and Rajesh Kumar. “Magahi and Magadh: Language and people.” Global Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences 3.2 (2014): 52-59.

[17] Choudhury, Monojit, et al. “Evolution, optimization, and language change: The case of bengali verb inflections.” Proceedings of Ninth Meeting of the ACL Special Interest Group in Computational Morphology and Phonology. Association for Computational Linguistics, 2007.

[18] Sen, Sukumar. History of Bengali literature. South Asia Books, 1979.

[19] Bengal nanny state. The Telegraph. 17 May 2017.

[20] Cultural Hubs on their Knees. The Telegraph. 10 February 2013.

[21] AK Ghosh. A Language in Peril. The Statesman. 12 June 2017.

[22] Chandrima Pal. “Interview: Can the famed ‘little magazine’ culture of Bengali literature thrive in the digital age?” Scroll. 15 September 2018.

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As nine-year-old Hardit Singh joined a march to protest the second World Hindu Congress held from September 7-9, at the Westin Hotel in suburban Chicago, he searched for words to articulate the caste system. “They have like four different — you know how they have like temples, and kings, and leaders, and then they have this tower,” said Hardit. “It’s like Egyptians. Like in a pyramid.” As he gesticulated, trying to wrap his head around the system by gesturing with his hands, he grasped that caste is connected to inequalities in power and wealth distribution. “Who gets the lesser money and who gets the most money. Like the kings, they’re at the top. And the poor, they’re at the bottom or not even in the thing. There’s like four stages. I don’t remember all of them, but the last one is separated into a Touchable and an Untouchable.”

“Sikhs do not support that,” concluded the turbaned young Sikh. “We think everyone is equal. The kings and the poor are all together. They’re one thing on this earth.”

Marching close to Hardit was 26-year-old Gohar from Illinois, who explained that they were protesting the presence of the RSS at the World Hindu Congress. “They degrade human lives,” said Gohar. “There are so many Sikhs and so many Dalits who are living in fear.” Gesturing to Hardit, he said, “he’s a Sikh, and I’m a Muslim. We’re marching together against brutality. We just don’t want killings.” Walking alongside was Hardit’s grandfather, Gurnam Singh from Virginia, who added, “christians are also with us.”

A controversy began swirling around the Congress shortly after RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat was announced as the keynote speaker. Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, the first Hindu elected in U.S. Congress, was originally scheduled to chair the event. She resigned, however, after calling the Congress a “platform for partisan politics in India” in a letter to Abhaya Asthana, president of VHP-America, the host organisation.

Reports also circulated that Swami Vigyananand, the VHP Joint General Secretary who conceived and organised the Congress, once praised his organisation’s controversial “trishul distribution” program, stating, “you can’t kill with the trishul, but symbols and ideas are interconnected by the law of association. When the mind gets ready, everything is possible.” More recently, a speaker in the Congress’ educational channel, Sankrant Sanu, made headlines last month after describing critics of the RSS role in Kerala flood relief as “cockroaches,” a term infamously used for the Tutsi victims of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. On the inaugural day of the Congress, Sanu declared, “India needs to be declared an official Hindu State.”

Such demands prompted protesters to turn out en masse on the second and third day of the Congress. “They want to convert everybody,” warned Mohammad from Chicago. “They want to make India a Hindu nation. They are saying that what they are doing is for Hindu people, but Hindu religion doesn’t in any way promote terrorism, Hindu religion doesn’t support killing, Hindu religion doesn’t support pushing the minorities. Hindu religion is good, but these people are trying to bring extreme values.”

Prominent speakers at the Congress who knew there would be protests, called protesters anti-Hindu. A week before the event, Indian-American author Rajiv Malhotra released a video claiming the event was “being attacked”. Interpreting the “vicious attacks” as a campaign “started by Indian leftists in the United States,” he suggested protests were an assault on the rights of Hindus to practice their religion. “There is absolutely no reason why Hindus should be ashamed,” said Malhotra. “There is really no reason why a World Hindu Congress would be a bad idea.”

Protesters like Mohammad, however, countered Malhotra’s suggestion that they were against a Hindu religious gathering. “We are not protesting against Hindus,” he said. “We are protesting against the RSS and the VHP who are the main chief guests for this conference. They are the people behind the whole bloodshed in India.” That refrain was echoed again and again by protesters. “They’re pretending this is a faith conference, but it’s not,” said Protiti from Chicago, adding, “They’re preaching hatred against minorities.” An elderly Sikh man said, “RSS has a convention here. We are not protesting against Hindus. We are protesting against RSS.” All three held the same sign: “RSS is a threat to India”.

Nearby, Ahmed from Indiana held a sign reading “RSS kills Christians, burns churches”. Commenting on the Congress, he said, “they’re trying to make it a political philosophy that, in order to be a true Indian, you have to be a Hindu… Nothing’s wrong with being a Hindu. I’m protesting the idea that, in order to be an Indian, which I am, you have to be a Hindu, which I’m not. It’s a protest against Hindu nationalism.” Adding that “there’s a lot of nationalism based on religion throughout the world,” he said it should be opposed in all forms and that “even Muslim nationalism is not something that should be encouraged.” However, he argued the need of the hour was to stand against the RSS.

The same message galvanised other protesters. Daljit Singh from California, dressed as a Nihang, stood on a grassy slope near the sign to the Westin Hotel. Displaying a sign reading “RSS out of India,” he declared, “They’re terrorists. They’re more dangerous than anybody else. They killed Sikhs in 1984. They killed Muslims in Gujarat. They killed Christians in Odisha.” Daljit was confused as to why Bhagwat was allowed into the country. “They killed thousands of people in India. I don’t know why they are here. They try to do here the same thing they did in India. We don’t want them to kill our people here.” Standing on the sidewalk, Davinder Singh of Virginia held a banner reading “end Brahmin theocracy: save India from fascism.” He warned, “RSS is a terrorist. Sanatan Sanstha is a terrorist. They attack all the peoples.”

Pawan Singh, also from Virginia, carried a sign reading “quit killing humans to protect unholy cows.” As the protesters concluded their first day of protests with a march around the hotel property, Pawan stated, “I am here to raise my voice against the terrorist forces of Hindutva who are trying to corrupt the mainstream American institutions.” He claimed Hindutva — the political philosophy which unites the RSS and VHP — is being exported to America, warning, “terroristic forces of Hindutva, including Mohan Bhagwat, have come here to legitimise the genocides of minorities that they have committed.” He suggested that atrocities may have occurred in secret, stating, “there are many more that we do not even know of because most of the media is under the strict control of the Indian government which is essentially being run by RSS.”

While protesters displayed a banner reading “prosecute Mohan Bhagwat for crimes against humanity,” the RSS chief took the stage at the Congress to state, “We even allow the pests to live.” Claiming that “you have to tackle” the “people who may oppose us,” he called for centralisation of Hindus under the RSS banner. Although lions and tigers aren’t known for moving in packs, he argued, “Even that lion or a royal Bengal tiger, who is the king of the jungle, if he is alone, wild dogs can invade and destroy him.”

Bhagwat did not specify if the protesters were one of the intended targets of his “wild dogs” terminology. What was obvious, however, was that “dogs”, “cockroaches”, and “pests” — that is, terminology typically applied to vermin — was recurrent rhetoric employed to describe those opposed to the RSS both at the Congress and in the weeks leading up to it.

Hundreds of protesters from all walks of life, religions, and nationalities rallied and marched for hours over the two days of protest. Dozens of children were present, including one girl of perhaps 6-years-old who briefly led chants of “RSS, go away”. Both days of protest concluded with distribution of langar by the Sikhs. Protester after protester reiterated that they were protesting the RSS, not Hinduism. Nevertheless, Congress speaker Sankrant Sanu, who imitated Malhotra by releasing a video about the “attack” on the event, concluded, “These are very, very radical, extremist hate groups that cannot tolerate the Indian traditions and the Hindu traditions which we talk about in a positive light. So I would ignore the noise.”

If we are to go by the words of nine-year-old Hardit Singh, however, these noisemakers were raising their voices for radical equality. Equality in which rich and poor, high and low, king and peasant are all considered to be on the same level. That might explain why another one of the banners carried by protesters declared, “no human is untouchable: reject caste system.”

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I am Ngurang Reena from Arunachal Pradesh, India. I am a 27 year old research scholar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and a former Assistant Professor, Delhi University. I am writing to you as a disheartened citizen and as a grieving daughter who has just lost her father. I write on behalf of the nine daughters and sons that have been left behind tormented over our father’s death.

When decisions become arbitrary, all accountability is lost, and today I have lost confidence in all the institutions on which I can rely for justice. Hence, I have quit my job, to fight for him. I don’t know what else can I do!

I lost my father Ngurang Pinch last November. He was murdered. My family and I have every reason to believe that he was politically murdered as he was the front-runner for the upcoming 2019 election under the banner of BJP. He was immensely popular in his constituency. My father had no clue how many people, and who, were to join for the expedition and it was only on his arrival that he learned they were 21 of them (including him). The group consisted of ex-ministers, government employees, one police personnel, two state-recognised criminals, and four of his clan brothers (including the rafting guide).

My family and I believe that the pre-planned expansive rafting expedition, arrangement of food, rafting boats, and continuous pressure on my father to join the expedition by his friends was a well thought out and staged plot for his murder. He was an invitee and had no prior plans to join until the very last day when his plan to go elsewhere with the Home Minister of the state was called off. Above all, the statements provided to us by the 20 members on what had transpired on that fateful night gives out tremendous loopholes leaving us with no choice but to believe that my father’s death was a murder. While I cry and beg the country for justice for him, his friends continue to live a normal life and still claim that they don’t know anything about my father’s death!

After eight long months of persistence—sending incessant emails and messages to media houses, publishing stories and reaching out to the PM’s office, the President and Kiren Rijuju, the state’s minister of home affairs—I had the urge to give up; I was exasperated. I felt like the country didn’t care about the helpless and voiceless. Many news channels and journalists shut their doors on me. They said I am a JNU student; it is a political/criminal case; “We don’t want to get involved”; it is a trivial “North East story!”

I cried in pain. But in the month of July 2018, when the Arunachal Pradesh government headed our appeals and recommended my father’s case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), I breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, it’s been two months, and there has been no development. My family and I are still awaiting confirmation from the CBI on whether they will take up the case.

My late father Ngurang Pinch died too young. He was just 53. He had given forty years of his life to politics. He was popularly known more as a public leader than a politician. At the time of his death, he was the Chairman of the Agriculture Marketing Board (APAMB), and a BJP party in-charge and coordinator for Kurung Kumey district, Arunachal Pradesh. My father was born in an extremely poor family in a village called Nyapin. When he was just 16, he was child-married to my mother, who was only 13. With only two pairs of underwear, one vest, and bare feet, he finished his schooling in the Nyapin Government Higher Secondary School, where he was a popular student leader. He further migrated to a town for better prospects.

His political journey began at a grassroot level, from having nothing to achieving accolades. He began as an Anchal Samity Member (ASM) from 1987 to 1992. Then he went on to become the Zila Parishad Member between 1992 and 1997. Thereafter, between 1992 and 1996, he was the President DCC (I) Papum Pare District. Later, he became the Congress President District Papum Pare from 1996 to 2000. During the 2004 general elections, my father proved his efficacy and his leadership to the state by winning the seat from the 14th Doimukh constituency as an MLA. Subsequently, he was also made the Sports Chairman (2004). He became the National Congress Party’s General Secretary and State President (2009-2010), and had a close friendship with the late Member of Parliament P. A. Sangma. In the last two decades, though not in power, he was loved and respected by his public. Therefore he worked hard to come back for the 2019 assembly elections.

Friends, my father gave all of his life for public work. In his political tenure, he was a giver, an honest leader, a hardworking father, and, above all, a great visionary. He imparted good knowledge and lessons to his children and today we are all ready to give back to our society. He did not deserve such a tragic death, no one does. My family and I have all the right to know the reasons of his death. On the day he was buried, we cried in pain but mostly in anger, not knowing the reason for his death. We are disappointed in ‘friendship’ and in ‘humanity’ as none of those 20 expedition members have came forward offering their condolences, and mostly for concealing the truth behind my father’s death. Today, I have lost all faith in humanity, let alone God.

Through this petition, I am only pressing for an independent and a fair investigation on my father’s death.

Tranquility is what delineates Arunachal Pradesh and one is often drawn to this part of India by its abundance greenery and serenity. But beyond this delicate picture is a bigoted view—the one that conceals swelling failures of governance, and a decayed social system. The unending political upheavals compelling a state CM to commit suicide, the impending or already established ethnic and communal violence, exacerbated by emerging insurgency, murders, assassinations and extortions, this land is no longer the home I used to live in. My family and I, along with many aggrieved families of the state, have somewhere forgotten to enjoy and bask in this ‘land of the rising sun—Arunachal.’ The people of Arunachal are aghast and dismayed at the systemic violence and the distorted system with daily reports of extortion, theft, murder, and growing incidents of violence. The failure is, coherently, one of political prudence and planning. In the past three years, the state has seen 161 murders, 26 in Itanagar itself. Very few of them get reported, let alone solved, because they happen in a distant land, ‘somewhere in the North-East part of India’. New Delhi does not care!

My father’s murder case is not an exclusive one, certainly not. I am not claiming any ‘VIP treatment’  for the case, but rather I am disgusted and furious at the plight of my state and speak for all those at the receiving end of this corrupt system. Political assassinations and murders have happened here before, almost making us ‘used to’ the idea, and convincing us of the politician-militant nexus here. There was the murder of former MP Wangcha Rajkumar and many more such as DSP (APPSCE) Bomto Kamdak (shot by a criminal at loose and still absconding). One eminent journalist of an esteemed daily was shot here at broad daylight. She survived but the criminal is free, unafraid of law. An RTI activist was also falsely accused and framed for possessing illegal arms by some powerful person in the state. The government is failing in its duty towards protecting us and we are failing miserably as society, with no hindsight.

My family and I are for pushing for a CBI investigation because we don’t have faith in the local administration. We know how local influences can stop us from getting justice. My state is young and evolving, where tribes and clans still take control of our everyday lives, making administration difficult. And when the fight is against the powerful, the system also fails. However, I as an optimistic citizen of India would request all of you to help us in this fight for justice. Many are as frightened as I am, and the media here is also curtailed. One can only write as much as one is ‘allowed’ to. Today, I have nowhere else to turn to but you. When the horrors and pain of the people are louder than babies crying and when the cry of your neighbours make you more uncomfortable than murder itself, something is awfully wrong.

Please help my family and my state, before it’s too late. Please help us because my father was a good man, a hardworking parent, and a benevolent citizen of this country, who dedicated his entire life to the public of Arunachal. My fight will also provide strength to those who are fighting against similar injustices. My family and I repose our faith on vigilant and thinking minds like you; on the constitution of this country; on the CBI and the judiciary, hoping that we will get justice soon.

With utmost faith,
Sincerely,

Ngurang Reena

Sign Ngurang Reena’s petition for an investigation here.

The post My Father Was Murdered On An Expedition In Arunachal, And I Demand Justice appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

आधार से जुड़ी याचिकाओं पर आज सुप्रीम कोर्ट का बड़ा फैसला आ चुका है। सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने आज केन्द्र की महत्वपूर्ण आधार कार्यक्रम और 2016 के कानून की संवैधानिक वैधता को चुनौती देने वाली कुछ महत्वपूर्ण याचिकाओं पर फैसला सुना दिया है। अदालत ने कहा कि आधार संवैधानिक रूप से वैध है और सरकार डाटा सुरक्षा के लिए कड़े कदम उठाए।

सुनवाई के दौरान केन्द्र सरकार ने आधार नंबरों के साथ मोबाइल फोन के जोड़े जाने के निर्णय का बचाव करते हुए कहा था कि यदि मोबाइल उपभोक्ताओं की जांच नहीं की जाती, तो उसे सुप्रीम कोर्ट अवमानना के लिए ज़िम्मेदार ठहराती।

बता दें कोर्ट ने यह भी कहा था कि सरकार ने उसके आदेश की गलत व्याख्या करते हुए उसका मोबाइल उपभोक्ताओं के लिए आधार अनिवार्य बनाने के लिए एक हथियार के तौर पर प्रयोग किया था।

पढ़िए आधार फैसले पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट की अहम बातेंं –

सुप्रीम कोर्ट की पांच जजों की पीठ ने आधार कार्ड की अनिवार्यता पर फैसला सुनाई। इस मामले में तीन जजों ने अलग-अलग फैसला लिखा है। आईए उन फैसलों पर डालते हैं नज़र –

• सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने कहा कि आधार आज लोगों की पहचान है। आधार पर हमला को संविधान के खिलाफ बताया। कहा कि आधार से गरीबों को पहचान और सम्मान मिली।
• आधार से निजता के हनन के सबूत नहीं मिले हैं
• आधार से डुप्लिकेशन का खतरा नहीं है। समाज में हाशिय पर खड़े लोगों को अधिकार देता है आधार।
• कोई भी मोबाइल या निजी कंपनी आधार नहीं मांग सकती।
• इसके अलावा शैक्षणिक संस्थानों में आधार की अनिवार्यता नहीं।
• पैन कार्ड लिंकिंग के लिए अनिवार्य है आधार। बैंक खाते के साथ आधार लिंकिंग ज़रूरी नहीं।
• कोई भी प्राइवेट संस्था यदि आधार मांगती है, तब उन्हें ब्यौरा देना पड़ेगा।
• अगर आप एडल्ट हैं और आपको लगता है कि सरकारी योजनाओं का लाभ नहीं ले रहें हैं, ऐसी स्थिति में आधार सेवा खत्म कर सकते हैं।
• यूजीसी, निफ्ट और सीबीएसई परीक्षाओं के लिए आधार अनिवार्य है।
• नई सीम कार्ड लेने के लिए आधार होना ज़रूरी नहीं है।
• अदालत की अनुमति के बिना बायोमेट्रिक डाटा किसी भी एजेंसी के साथ साझा नहीं किया जा सकता।
• आधार डेटा को 6 महीने से अधिक नहीं रखा जा सकता। सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने कहा कि सरकार जितनी जल्दी हो सके डेटा प्रोटेक्शन लॉ लेकर आए।
• आधार कार्ड और पहचान पत्र के बीच मौलिक अंतर है, बायोमेट्रिक जानकारी एकत्रित होने के बाद यह सिस्टम में रहेगी।
• सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने कहा कि आधान नामांकरण के लिए UIDAI द्वारा नागरिकों के न्यूनतम जनसांख्यिकीय और बॉयोमीट्रिक डेटा एकत्र किए जाते हैं। आधार ने किसी भी तरह के डुप्लिकेसी के मौके को खत्म कर दिया है।
• किसी व्यक्ति को दिया गया आधार नंबर उसका यूनीक नंबर होता है और वह किसी और को नहीं दिया जा सकता है। इसके खिलाफ आई याचिकाओं की चिंता निजता पर खतरे को लेकर थी कि सरकार सब पर नजर रखने लगेगी।
• सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने आधार अधिनियम की धार 57 को रद्द कर दिया है।
• जस्टिस चंद्रचूड़ ने कहा, आधार प्राइवेसी और डेटा प्रोटेक्शन के अधिकारों का उल्लंघन करता है। तकनीकी गलती की वजह से संवैधानिक गारंटी से समझौता नहीं किया जा सकता है। आधार प्रोग्राम पूरी तरह असंवैधानिक है।
• उन्होंने कहा, बायोमेट्रिक डेटा के यूनीक नेचर के साथ समझौता हुआ है और इससे हमेशा समझौता होता रहेगा। आधार एक्ट के कई प्रावधान के तहत बड़े पैमाने पर बायोमेट्रिक डेटा जमा होता है। लेकिन यह पता नहीं चल पाता है कि उन बायोमेट्रिक डेटा का कहां पर प्रयोग होता है।

The post आधार पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट की अहम बातें जो आपको जाननी चाहिए appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

The Supreme Court on September 26 upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar in a 4:1 majority judgement. Justice Sikri read out the majority judgement on behalf of the CJI Dipak Misra and Justice Khanwilkar upholding the constitutional validity of Aadhaar but struck down several provisions that are violative of the constitution.

SC’s Dissenting View On Aadhaar

In a separate judgement, Justice DY Chandrachud, who wrote the historic verdict that held the Right To Privacy was a fundamental right, dissented with the majority view and declared the Aadhaar Act unconstitutional. He expressed his concerns over the exclusion of people due glitches in biometric authentication, misuse of data by corporates and state, and linking welfare schemes with the Aadhaar.

“Constitutional guarantees cannot be left to risks posed by technological advancements,” observed justice Chandrachud.

He further came down heavily on the government for introducing Aadhaar as a money bill. “Bypassing Rajya Sabha to pass Aadhaar bill as a money bill was a fraud on the Constitution,” he said.

Here’s a breakdown of the judgement:

What The Majority Verdict Said

Right to dignity crucial: Justice Sikri noted that Aadhaar can’t be dismantled as it has benefitted the marginalised segment of the society. “Aadhaar fails only 0.2% But dismantling Aadhaar now would mean disturbing 99% of the population enrolled. It is like throwing the baby out with the bath water,” said justice Sikri.

No scope for data breach in Aadhaar: The majority judgement put an end to the concern over Aadhaar data breach as the court noted that Aadhaar is a unique identification and it cannot be duplicated. Justice Sikri pointed out, “Aadhaar authentication process is not exposed to the internet world. Regulations are strictly followed. There is a sufficient defence mechanism. There is an oversight by technology… no information on the nature of the transaction is obtained.”

The Apex court noted the importance of data protection and stated that government is already working to bring a law in this regard. It also capped the duration for keeping the data and ruled that authentication of records not to be kept for more than six months.

Aadhaar does not violate Right to Privacy: SC upheld the Sections 7 and 8 of the Aadhaar Act stating that they do not violate the fundamental right to privacy. “It is better to be unique than to be best,” noted justice Sikri. Justice Bhushan also supported Sikri’s observation and said, “The state has given sufficient reasons to uphold Sec 7 of Aadhaar Act which deals with grant of subsidies, welfare benefits.”

Aadhaar data cannot be disclosed for national security: The bench struck down Section 33(2) which allows identity and authentication data to be disclosed in the interest of national security on the direction of an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India.

No Aadhaar for illegal immigrants: Under Section 2(B), the Supreme Court asked the government to take measures to ensure that illegal immigrants do not get Aadhaar card.

Individuals can file complaint against data theft/misuse: The apex court scrapped Section 47 of the Aadhaar Act as well. Earlier, under this section, the court could take cognisance of complaints filed by UIDAI authority and not the individuals. However, the court scrapped this provision and empowered the citizens to file a complaint if they feel their data has been stolen or misused.

What Is Aadhaar Needed For

Aadhaar mandatory for availing government benefits under the CFI: The apex court ruled that Aadhaar card would be mandatory to avail facilities of the welfare schemes and government subsidies that come under the consolidated fund of India. This means Aadhaar would be mandatory for ration, LPG subsidy, MGNREGA, among many others.

Aadhaar mandatory for filing ITR: This was upheld by the Supreme Court under Section 139AA of the Aadhaar Act that makes linking of the Aadhaar card with the PAN mandatory for the filing of the Income Tax Return (ITR).

What Is Aadhaar Not Mandatory For

Private companies cannot access Aadhaar data: The bench unanimously struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act.which permitted private companies to seek Aadhaar details from consumers for identification purposes. The apex court noted that allowing private enterprise to use Aadhaar numbers will lead to exploitation of data. It further observed that the section violates the Articles 14 and 21(mention what these mean) of the Constitution.

Aadhaar not needed for mobile connections: SC unanimously observed that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory for getting mobile connections. It declared the DoT notification, asking to link the Aadhaar details with mobile numbers, unconstitutional.

Linking Aadhaar to banking services not mandatory: The court also struck down the provision that mandates linking Aadhaar with the banking services. Now, people won’t be required to furnish their Aadhaar details for KYC authentication purposes in their banks or digital wallets like Paytm.

Aadhaar not mandatory for school admissions: The court further noted that school admissions do not qualify as a benefit under Section 7. Therefore, Aadhaar cannot be mandated for the same. As a result, CBSE, NEET, UGC cannot ask for Aadhaar. Further, children can opt out of benefits of Aadhaar upon turning into adults.

The post Aadhaar Verdict Simplified: What Stays And What Doesn’t appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

आरक्षण, ये शब्द और इस पर होने वाली बहस काफी पोलराइज़िंग है। कुछ महीनों पहले तक मैं भी इस बहस में काफी उत्साह के साथ हिस्सा लिया करता था और उम्मीद करता था कि लोग मेरे तर्कों को उसकी गुणवत्ता के आधार पर निष्पक्ष होकर सुनने और समझने की कोशिश करेंगे। लेकिन या तो वो आमने सामने की बहस हो या फेसबुक और कोरा जैसे सोशल मीडिया प्लेटफॉर्म पर होने वाली बहस हो, इन सब में मैंने पाया कि जब मुद्दा आरक्षण का आता है तो लोग इसे काफी व्यक्तिगत तौर पर लेते हैं।

हम अभी भी देश या समाज के तौर पर आरक्षण पर कोई प्रगतिशील विचारधारा अपनाने को तैयार नहीं हैं। चाहे वो आरक्षण समर्थक हो या आरक्षण विरोधी, उनका इस विषय के प्रति नज़रिया इतना अडिग है कि उनको सही या गलत होने से फर्क नहीं पड़ता। वो विपरीत विचारों को सुनना ही नहीं चाहते। आज जब मैं ये लिख रहा हूं तो मैं ये जानता हूं कि इसे पढ़ने के बाद अधिकतर लोगों के विचार वही रहेंगे जो पहले थे।

बहरहाल, मैं इस आर्टिकल की शुरुआत में ही ये साफ कर देना चाहता हूं कि मैं आरक्षण का समर्थक हूं और मेरी नज़र में दुनिया में कहीं भी वंचित वर्गों को उचित मौका दिलाने की इससे ज़्यादा कारगर व्यवस्था फिलहाल तो नहीं है।

सबसे शुरुआत में मैं आरक्षण से जुड़ी भ्रांतियों को दूर करना चाहूंगा।

पहली भ्रांति: डॉ. अम्बेडकर ने आरक्षण की व्यवस्था सिर्फ 10 वर्षों के लिए रखी थी।

यह वो तर्क है जो आरक्षण विरोधी धड़ा सबसे ज़्यादा इस्तेमाल करता है और इसका मकसद होता है कि वो दलितों और शोषितों के सबसे बड़े पैरोकार डॉ. अम्बेडकर को अपने पक्ष में कर ले। लेकिन ये तर्क एक सोच समझ कर फैलाई गई भ्रांति है। अम्बेडकर ने कभी ऐसा नहीं कहा कि हर तरह के आरक्षण को 10 साल में खत्म हो जाना चाहिए। हां, लोकसभा और विधानसभा की सीटों पर अनुसूचित जाति और अनुसूचित जनजाति को मिलने वाले आरक्षण को 10 साल तक जारी रखने की बात ज़रूर की गई है लेकिन वो बात इस उम्मीद के साथ की गई थी कि 10 सालों में भारत जातिवाद और जाति-प्रथा से मुक्त हो जाएगा। आज़ादी के दस साल बाद के भारत को अगर देखें तो साफ हो जाएगा कि जाति प्रथा तब भी जारी थी और इसके साथ साथ दलितों का दमन भी। तो दस साल होने पर इस व्यवस्था को खत्म करने का सवाल ही नहीं उठता है। इसके अलावा शिक्षा और रोज़गार में मिलने वाले आरक्षण पर ऐसी कोई पाबंदी नहीं लगाई गई थी।

दूसरी भ्रांति: जाति-प्रथा आरक्षण की वजह से है।

ये कुतर्क कथित ऊंची जातियों के लोगों की जातिवाद के प्रति असंवेदनशीलता को दर्शाता है। उनका यह मानना कि आरक्षण की वजह से हमारे समाज में जातिवाद है, उनकी अज्ञानता है। हमारे देश में जातियों का इतिहास हज़ारों साल पुराना है। निचली जातियों पर ऊंची जातियों द्वारा किये जाने वाले अत्याचार का सिलसिला भी इतना ही पुराना है। इन हज़ारों सालों में ऊंची जातियों के लोग जाति-प्रथा से खुश थे क्योंकि उस व्यवस्था में वो सबसे ताकतवर थे। लेकिन जैसे ही आरक्षण को इस जाति-प्रथा के शिकार हुए दलितों के लिए लाया गया वो उल्टे इसी व्यवस्था को जातिवाद की वजह मानने लगे।

तीसरी भ्रांति: आरक्षण की वजह से नौकरी पाने वाले लोगों की क्षमता कम होती है और यही भारत के विकास ना करने की वजह है

इस तर्क को देते हुए आरक्षण विरोधी लोगों ने दलितों के प्रति अस्पृश्यता को बरकरार रखा है। जब ये लोग कहते हैं कि आरक्षण से मिली सीट से बने डॉक्टर या इंजीनियर अपने पेशे में खराब होते हैं तो वो एक खास जाति समूह के लोगों को अछूत मानने की ही वकालत कर रहे होते हैं। एक दलित डॉक्टर हो या इंजीनियर वो भी अपने कॉलेज में वही पढ़ाई पढ़ता है और वही इम्तिहान पास करता है जो उसका सवर्ण सहपाठी करता है। ये मानना कि एक ही पढ़ाई कर के कोई इंसान बस अपनी जाति की वजह से कुशल नहीं हो सकता ये उसी सोच का हिस्सा है जिसने जन्म से ही एक तबके को अछूत और अपने से निम्न मान के समाज मे जाति-प्रथा का ज़हर घोला है।

और रही बात भारत की प्रगति की तो ये तर्क देने वालों को ये नहीं भूलना चाहिए कि हर सरकारी विभाग में अभी भी ऊंची जाति के लोग ही अधिकतर पदों पर हैं और प्राइवेट सेक्टर में भी आरक्षण न होने की वजह से उनका ही वर्चस्व है। तो असक्षम तंत्र के लिए वो ज़्यादा ज़िम्मेदार हैं ना कि दलित। ऐसा आरोप लगाने वाले लोग मज़दूरों, किसानों, सफाई कर्मियों और कारीगरों जैसे पेशों, जिनमें दलित सबसे ज़्यादा एम्प्लॉयड होते हैं, उनका देश की प्रगति में ग्रास रूट लेवल पर होने वाले योगदान को भी नज़रअंदाज कर देते हैं।

चौथी भ्रांति: दलितों का दमन पुरानी पीढ़ी के लोग करते थे तो इसकी सज़ा अभी की पीढ़ी क्यों मिलती है

सबसे पहली बात कि आरक्षण को किसी तबके की सज़ा के तौर पर नहीं लाया गया था। आरक्षण का मकसद किसी का हक मारना नहीं बल्कि वंचितों को उनका हक दिलाना है। ऐसा नहीं है कि सरकार सवर्णों के हिस्से की चीज़ दलितों को दे रही है। दलित भी इसी देश के नागरिक हैं और जो उन्हें मिल रहा है वो उनका हक है। आरक्षण कोई बैसाखी या खैरात नहीं बल्कि इस देश का अपने नागरिकों के प्रति ज़िम्मेदारी है। इसके साथ-साथ ऐसा भी नहीं है कि दलितों का दमन कोई गुज़रे ज़माने की चीज़ है। आज बस हमें नज़र फिरा के देखने की ज़रूरत है और दलितों पर अत्याचार के मामले हर जगह नज़र आएंगे। अभी भी दलितों को समाज में दोयम दर्जे का नागरिक समझा जाता है, अभी भी उनकी समस्याओं को अहमियत नहीं दी जाती है और अभी भी दलित दूसरों की गंदगी साफ करने के लिए बाध्य किये जाते हैं। दलितों का दमन रुका नहीं है बस आपका उस पर ध्यान नहीं है।

हमारा समाज अभी भी जातियों के आधार पर बंटा हुआ है। हमारे यहां अभी भी जाति आधारित मुहल्ले, गांव और कस्बे हैं। अभी भी जाति आधारित पेशे हैं। शादियां अभी भी जाति के आधार पर की जाती है। जब जाति आधारित भेदभाव अभी तक जारी है तो दमन भी जाति आधारित ही है और जाति आधारित दमन से लड़ने के लिए हमें जाति के आधार पर दबाये गए लोगों की पहचान कर उन्हें ऊपर उठाने का मौका देना होगा। और आरक्षण ये काम करता है।

जाति से समाज पर पड़ने वाला असर आर्थिक से ज़्यादा सामाजिक है। तो इसलिए जब कुछ लोग आरक्षण को आर्थिक आधार पर करने की बात करते हैं तो वो इस बात को जानबूझ कर नज़रअंदाज कर देते हैं कि हमारे समाज में अभी भी एक गरीब सवर्ण और एक गरीब दलित की सामाजिक हैसियत एक सी नहीं है। यहां तक कि अगर कोई दलित इस देश की सबसे प्रतिष्ठीत सेवा IAS में भी स्थापित हो जाता है तो उसे उतना सम्मान नहीं मिलता जितना कि एक ऊंची जाति के IAS को मिलता है। दफ्तरों में हो या शैक्षणिक संस्थानों में, हर जगह जातिवाद की वजह से दलितों को मुश्किल हालातों का सामना करना पड़ता है।

आरक्षण कोई आदर्श व्यवस्था नहीं है। एक सभ्य समाज में किसी ऐसी व्यवस्था की ज़रूरत नहीं पड़नी चाहिए जो किसी इंसान के जन्म से ही निम्न माने जाने की धारणा की वजह से अस्तित्व में आया हो। मैं भी तहे दिल से ऐसा हिंदुस्तान चाहता हूं जहां आरक्षण की ज़रूरत ना पड़े लेकिन उसके लिए पहले जाति-व्यवस्था को हिंदुस्तान से जाना होगा। लेकिन वो देश जहां लोग अभी भी जाति आधारित उपनाम और जनेऊ से जकड़े पड़े हैं उसके लिए आरक्षण के अलावा कोई और विकल्प नहीं है। देश की हालातों को देखते हुए लगता है कि आरक्षण भी कम पड़ रहा है। 

अभी भी जिस हालात में दलित हैं, जैसे उन्हें आज प्यार करने के लिए, सिर्फ मूंछ रखने के लिए, बारात में घोड़ी पर चढ़ने के लिए, सवर्णों का पानी पीने के लिए मार दिया जा रहा है। शहरों के सीवर में दलितों को अभी भी दूसरों की गंदगी अपने हाथ से साफ करने के क्रम ने अपनी जान गंवानी पड़ रही है। अदालतों, शैक्षणिक संस्थानों, ऊंचे सरकारी पदों पर दलितों की जितनी कमी बरकरार है। इन सबको ध्यान में रखते हुए आरक्षण के अलावा दलितों की जान की रक्षा और उनके उत्थान के लिए और उचित अफ्फर्मेटिव एक्शन लिए जाने की ज़रूरत है।

The post “मैं भी चाहता हूं आरक्षण ना रहे लेकिन पहले हिंदुस्तान से जाति व्यवस्था खत्म हो” appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.

First 377, now 497 – the Supreme Court of India passed two landmark judgements this month.

Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which penalised a man for having sex with another’s wife without his consent but entailed no punishment for the woman, has been unanimously struck down by a five-judge constitution bench. The court also declared Section 198 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which deals with Adultery, unconstitutional.

Under Section 497, adultery was criminal only if the abettor had sex with another’s wife without consenting the husband. The law was deemed sexist, where women were seen as man’s property and only the men were punished.

Here are a few important points they made while pronouncing the judgement:

1. 1. It’s time to say husband is not the master.
   2. Legal sovereignty of one sex over another is wrong.
   3. Any system or law which affects individual dignity of women in a civilized society invites the wrath of the Constitution.
   4. Adultery law is absolutely manifestly arbitrary.
   5. The beauty of our Constitution is that it includes “I, me and you”.
   6. Adultery law affects the Fundamental Right to Life and Personal Liberty of a woman.
   7. Adultery can be a ground for divorce but not a criminal offence.
   8. Adultery dents the individuality of women.
   9. Women can’t be asked to think and do according to the will of society.
   10. Mere adultery can’t be a crime, unless it attracts the scope of abetment to suicide under Section 306 of the IPC.
   11. Mere adultery can’t be a criminal offence. It is a matter of privacy.
   12. Dignity of individual in preamble is a facet of 21. What will denude the status of woman should be struck down as it will cry foul of Constitution.
   13. Adultery law deprives a woman of agency and autonomy and dignity.
   14. Adultery law is destructive of woman’s dignity.
   15. The law in adultery is a codified rule of patriarchy.
   16. The notion that a woman loses her voice, autonomy after entering marriage is arbitrary.
   17. Respect for sexual autonomy must be emphasized. Marriage does not preserve ceiling of autonomy.
   18. Adultery law perpetrates subordinate nature of woman in a marriage.
   19. Adultery law institutionalises discrimination.
   20. Society attributes impossible attributes to a woman, raising woman to a pedestal is one part of such attribution.

The post 20 Absolutely Woke Things The SC Said While Striking Down The Adultery Law appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz and is a copyright of the same. Please do not republish.