Manmohan Sounds Poll Bugle, Will People Listen?

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented his government's report card on Wednesday on completion of four years of staying in power. Adding his previous regime, the UPA government is in power for nine years. One thing is clear that no prime minister can be honest enough to do genuine critical analysis of his own government. Those were different days when former prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru came down heavily on his own ministers following allegations of nepotism and corruption. Now, it's all about cover-up business and making bold (at times foolishly bold) claims of one's own achievements. Manmohan Singh seemed one such exposed politician on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister chose to focus on four areas, that were key to him in patting his back. His "four key achievements: one, the improved performance of the economy; two, making the growth process more inclusive; three, delivery of better governance and better delivery of welfare and development programmes; and, four, improved relations with a changing and challenging  world" are now public. Singh insisted that his government has "taken our country forward on all these four fronts in the nine years".

At the face of it, the claims look erroneous. The claim of fast GDP growth does not hold water in the face of all reports of increasing disparity among the populace. The constantly high inflation especially of food articles in past more than four years betrays bad financial and monetary management of the country. The last year's GDP growth rate of less than five percent was attributed to a global phenomenon. The Prime Minister cited China's slowdown as collateral proof and also recalled a lower average growth rate during NDA regime. But, the economist-turned-politician failed to notice that India did not grow at the rate at which China grew and also not on the similar fundamentals of economy. Secondly, many economists believed that the first two years of UPA's nine-year rule benefitted from the policies of NDA regime. Moreover, can the government justify one failure with another apparent failure?

Manmohan Singh could have done well speaking the truth behind stagnating economy. He should have explained why his government is suffering from policy paralysis, why several infrastructural projects have been stalled, why investment projects are not taking off, why corruption has become a rule in his government and most importantly, why governance has been receding for four-five years.
 

The government's claim of making growth more inclusive is debatable. Many communities in India are sulking under the present regime. Tribals in the east and the north-east feel deeply alienated. It finds expression in the spreading network of naxal insurgency. The naxalism has successfully found foot soldiers in Assam for the first time since it started in late 1960s in West Bengal. The only state where naxal violence has been curbed is Andhra Pradesh but the state is embroiled in nothing less than what could be termed as a 'mini civil-war' with Telangana simmering to have its separate identity and Royalseema hoping to gain some lateral benefits. There is none to deny that Telangana has been mismanaged by the Manmohan Singh government.

Singh's third claim of better governance and ensuring welfare of people can be easily reviewed in the chorus of 2G, Coal, Defence, MNREGS and many other scams. Most of the scams were examined and verified by the Comptroller and Auditor General's office, which came under sharp criticism from the government. Thankfully, the judicial decisions have not gone against the claims of the CAG. Now, the same constitutional body's independence is reportedly being compromised with the UPA's decision to appoint defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma as the next CAG of India. Sharma will be examining and auditing the deals that he cleared as the defence secretary as part of the UPA government's machinery. Combine this with reports suggesting government's neglect of intelligence gathering resulting in terror attacks climaxed in 2008-killings in Mumbai, and one will get a scary picture of governance and compromising condition of the welfare of people.
 

The welfare schemes of the government, chiefly under the right to education, the right to employment and proposed schemes under right to food and the right to health are all fraught with serious economic danger. The right to eduction has not helped improvement in quality education. The need of the hour is not simply bringing kids to school but to empower them with quality and competitive education. Only then will the teeming millions can take on the dominating world economies. The drop out rates and declining quality of education must be wrest immediately. For this to achieve the prime minister and his ministers should have worked in close coordination with the state governments but the politics prevailed over good 'welfare' sense.

Right to employment through MNREGS has only encouraged corruption and eaten up tax payers' money. Food security and health bills will aggravate the situation only. These two politically ambitious schemes will in all probability fall flat as there is an absolute lack of adequate administrative machinery to deliver the goods. The end result will be fleecing the tax payers, which include even those who may be the targetted beneficiary.

Finally, the Prime Minister feels that India's relation with the comity of nations has improved. This holds true only if one excludes everything except business. The neighbours constantly keep teasing India. China has made at least four serious incursions into Indian territories during UPA's rule, the latest being in Despang area, wherein Chinese forced India to compromise on border security vigil. Pakistan has not shown any intent of assuaging India's concerns. Bangladesh does not shy away from challenging India.

Nepal keeps pricking it and uses China threat to counter its southern neighbour. Sri Lanka has openly contested India's rights in the sea waters. India too has failed to grab the opportunities to cement ties with the island nation in recent past paving way for greater cooperation between Sri Lanka and China. India remained practically a mute spectator while Maldives plunged into a chaos. India has faced many diplomatic embarrassments at the hands of Italy, Argentina, Iran and a host of other nations in past nine years, a period which the Prime Minister chose to reflect upon. The only bright diplomatic spot that is visible on the UPA's face if nuclear deal with the US and subsequent approval by the nuclear suppliers group. But, the deal is still controversial and can be judged only in longer term.

Considering that the UPA-2 has entered into its final year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's claims may not go down well with people, who can see through the veil of numbers and phrases. The UPA has sounded the poll bugle, it is now time for people to prepare for voting next year.

Two Years of 'Maa, Maati, Maanush' and Mamata

Maverick leader Mamata Banerjee completed two years as the chief minister of West Bengal after ending thirty five years of communist rule. This is not a long enough time to see the results of the change. But, it is not so short a period to not to throw up signs of improvement. Sadly, both the results and signs are missing from the spectre of hope in West Bengal.

Mamata Banerjee made the Trinamool Congress the force that it is chiefly on two counts; one, the obsolete model of governance by the Left Front and second, the rising aspiration of people in the state. Two developmental conflicts at Singur and Nandigram proved to be the point of critical mass for a revolution like change of power in West Bengal. On both the occasions, Mamata Banerjee gave the call, 'Maa, Maati, Maanush'. But, it seems she has forgotten every thing that she promised during her campaign for ascendancy.

In the very first year of her rule, Mamata faced one the most embarrassing and shameful incidents when a couple of hospitals in the state turned into mortuaries. More than a hundred infants died in the incubators in hospitals like BC Roy memorial and others. Mamata Banerjee first chose to ignore the deaths, followed it up by terming the deaths as drama and finally blamed it on the previous left front government. The 'Maa' of the slogan was left totally betrayed.

Mamata rose to the chair of chief minister in West Bengal using the ladders of Singur and Nandigram. Tata Motors' manufacturing unit was to come up at Singur, where land acquisition had been done, rather controversially. Mamata and the leaders of the Bhoomi Ucched Pratirodh Committee believed so the least. At Nandigram, Salim Group of Indonesia was to establish a chemical factory. Both industrial employment oriented projects were sacrificed at the altar of Mamata's politics. When she sworn in as the chief minister, many believed that an amicable and pro-people solution would be found for the two 'problems'. Nothing of that sort has happened till date.

At both Singur and Nandigram, two kinds of farmers were involved. One, who gave their land willingly and two, those who claimed that they did so under coercion or allurement. In any case, they have not got their land back even though the two projects have long been shelved. The matters are caught in legal tangles rendering many farmers on the verge of beggary. Mamata's promises to 'Maati and Maanush' fell flat. Her government did launch a scheme to meet the food requirements of the people of the affected region but the well known inefficiency of the public distribution system has not served any good.

Mamata Banerjee always accused the Left Front government of carrying out political murders and silencing opposition, thus denying the right to freedom of expression. She seems to have mastered the art herself. Political murders have only upped in West Bengal's interior. Her attacks on the intelligentsia have come under sharp criticism and condemnation nationwide. Even Mahashweta Devi has chosen to part ways with the TMC chief.

Corruption is only getting institutionalized in the state. Saradha scam and company's links with Mamata Banerjee and her party leaders are too well known to be mistaken. Amidst such adversity, never has been seen the leader that the people of West Bengal expected Mamata Banerjee to be as the leader of 'Poribortan'. She has always been found wanting.

In the midst of such a gloomy affair, the latest economic data gives some hope, with state's finance minister, Amit Mitra striving hard to modernize the economics of the state. The state has registered over 7.5% GDP growth rate in the last financial year. Still, employment generation has not been enough in two years, the agricultural production is not rising at an inspiring rate, manufacturing is yet to get a push and services have grown at less than 10% rate, which is not sufficient for a state like West Bengal with large and extremely dense population base.

Now that Mamata Banerjee's rule has entered into its third year, the chief minister can not afford to remain indifferent to the extent of being abusive in her approach to dealing with the problems of 'Maa, Maati, Maanush, which projected her to glory.

(I wrote it for merinews: http://www.merinews.com/article/west-bengal-two-years-of-maa-maati-maanush/15885821.shtml)

UPA's fact file: Bharat Smiling?

Politics is much like our lives. We try to look positive and vibrant whenever we decide to fight a gloom and strive to come out of it. The ultimate hope resides in prayers to god. In the case of politics, god is people, the voters, who, all the politicians, like mortal human beings, think can be fooled. The Bharat Smiling campaign of the UPA II, presumably the last of the UPAs makes one think on these lines. Millions of followers of Indian politics would immediately draw a comparison between the India Shining of  NDA regime and this one. However, the present ruling dispensation has vehemently denied that the latter is a caricature of the former.

The campaign in-charge and Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari claims that the India Shining campaign was a smug while Bharat Smiling is a humble one. The tag line for Bharat Smiling reads, "Many Miles We Have Come, But Many More We Still Have To Go'. An informed student of Indian politics would wish Tewari knew former prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru's liking for Robert Frost's composition, "Woods are lovely, dark and deep/ But, I have miles to go/ Before I sleep/ Before I sleep". Anyways, while UPA II claims Bharat to be smiling let's focus on some of the facts emerging from the wailing India.

India has many shades of reality. Politically and journalistically corruption seems to be the only and the biggest problem ailing the country. But if we bend our knees a bit and get a reasonably realistic view of ground situation, we would find more pressing problems like lack of viable employment, lack of quality education at affordable cost, lack of quality food to all and absence of adequate health machinery. Combine this with the exponential growth (in numbers) of aspiring youth and one will see a scary picture hanging across the length and breadth of the country.  

 

Economics and Employment

 

First, let's look at the economic reality of the country and see whether Bharat is really smiling.

Broadly speaking India achieved a growth rate of 4.96 percent in 2012-13 for its 1.23 billion people, who form the largest congregation of the poorest sea of humanity on the planet. Agriculture and allied sectors are contributing the least to the GDP signaling that largest chunk of population is either economically redundant or extremely inefficient. Manufacturing sector has not been giving enough hope for the redundant populace, who are anyways not skilled and trained for industries. Manufacturing sector though contributes over a quarter to the GDP, but finds itself in a whirlpool of government's policy paralysis. Services contribute nearly 60 percent to India's GDP, a sign of paradigm shift in development toeing the line of the developed economies. But, here it means that only a fraction of India has grown so much that it eclipses the rest. (Many believe that India is progressing and Bharat is trailing.)

Now, let's see the UPA's response and also contribution to this economic state. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was launched between 2006, becoming fully operational in 2010. The MNREGS guarantees one hundred days of work to one person per family in a rural area. The official figures say that nearly twenty lakh rupees have been spent on the scheme till now. This might have brought UPA more votes in last parliamentary elections but it has not served country well. 

The Comptroller and Auditor General finds the scheme flawed in implementation (by states, though) upto 96% meaning that practically all the rupees spent on the scheme flowed into drains. Further, it has failed in creating the number of jobs it was expected to during its operation. Reports suggest that there has been a 26% decline in man-days of work hitting the dalits and the tribals the worst. Their employment status has declined by 47% and 41% respectively over the period of MNREGS operation. (The government's reply to Parliament) The overall rate of unemployment in India was 9.3% in 2012 and is expected to be 9.4% in 2013.
 

Education and Empowerment

 
The worrying employment scenario could be bettered with quality education and skill training. The UPA introduced the Right to Education making education compulsory for children of 6-14 years. But, recent reports from the ministry of human resource development clearly tell that the standard of education has gone down in the past decade and that the recent policies are responsible for this decline. Moreover, school drop out rates are also alarming for a country which fosters the largest mass of illiterate people. The drop out rates for class five is 30%, which increases to 85% in class eight. If the monumental right to education act has achieved merely this at the cost of more than two lakh crores of rupees. The country needs to put its working heads together. Higher eduction is no better. Many ministers including the present HRD minister at the centre have already cast aspersions on the ability of premier technical institutions in producing creative professionals.
 

Food (In)security

 

India is a nation of surplus production and hungry population. Hunger and Malnutrition report (HUNGaMA) released by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a couple of years ago highlighted the health of this ever growing nation. More 42% children were malnourished in 2011. The situation has not improved much since then. India can boast of a total food-grain production of 260 million tonnes and also of the theoretical availability of food-grain per capita at 444 grams (in 20112), but the ground reality is betrayed by various media reports of deaths caused by hunger every now and then. And, this could happen even in the busy city of Varanasi.

Meanwhile, politics is in full swing over the food security bill, which could well prove to be another MNREGS. The UPA government plans to fill the stomachs of 67 percent of Indian populace with the proposed food security scheme through its defunct public distribution system. The food for all scheme hopes to cover two-third of the entire population and is expected to tax the rest 1.25 lakh crore of rupees every year. This huge amount of tax payers money is at the risk of going down the PDS drains given that the system has inefficiency of 44 percent. One can imagine where the proposed scheme may be heading to. 

Providing wheat @Rs 2/kg, rice @Rs 3/kg and millets @Re 1/kg may sound very good for people only at face value, but it is, actually, bad management of a country which has one-fourth of the hungry people on the globe with number exceeding 230 millions. While the food production in India is breaking all records, the warehouses and store-houses fail to accommodate all the grains. Every year, lakhs of tonnes of foodgrains rot at several places in the country prompting the Supreme Court to direct the government in 2011 to distribute the grains among the poor.

 

Health

 

India has the dubious distinction of being the world leader in maternal and child mortality despite a booming health and hospital industry, and resultant highly acclaimed and appreciated medical tourism. The official records show that nearly half of India is undernourished. According to the World Health Organization's finding India annually records the maximum number of deaths of pre-term babies, malnourished and stunted children, anaemic women, children with birth defects, TB infections and MDR-TB cases, rabies deaths, new leprosy cases and oral cancer.

On the other hand, the country is heading to become the diabetes and dementia capital of the world in near future. The basic cause for all this is attributed to very low public spending on health. This explains why private hospitals have mushroomed all over the country, but quality treatment is still out of the reach of general masses. The government's expenditure on health is 3.9% of the GDP, which is lesser than that in even Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Right to information

 

Amid the gloomy picture, the UPA government can really boast of having given the right to information to people by passing an act in 2006. It is, however, altogether a different story that the same instrument has proved to be Frankenstein's monster for the UPA. The Act has exposed the not only the UPA government but many state governments as well. The UPA bosses understand the predicament of this Act much better now. This explains why most of the ministries do not provide complete information to the office of the central information commissioner.

According to one estimate, the rate of default at the ministerial level in the UPA government as to replying to RTI queries is over 30%. So, with an apparent intention of slaying its own angel, RTI, the UPA is hoping that the electors in India will look at Bharat smiling and refuse to see through the game.

Last but not the least, consider this. 35.5% India still lives without electricity; the Transparency International ranks India at 94th among 174 nations on corruption perception index; large portions of farmland in the country awaits its share of green revolution; the area of farmers' suicide continues to widen and comity of nations led by China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh continues to ignore India's interests, notwithstanding, the UPA managers expects (may be like an ostrich) Bharat to be Smiling!

WHITHER RESERVATION POLICY

I wrote this piece long back in April 2006. Surprisingly, my opinion on government's reservation policy has not changed much. I am reproducing the article here. It is a immature in construction, but I feel it is good enough for my blog.

Thanks to the new amendment in the article 15 of the Constitution the reservation policy is back in debate. The Constitution of India provides for the laws being made for the uplift and sound development of the weaker sections of society. The founding fathers of the Constitution carved out such provisions to correct the historical wrong/injustice done to a segment of our society, generally clubbed as Dalits, in modern day politics. The governments in the Independent India have on record tried to achieve what the Constitution makers thought would help developing a balanced and equality based society of India. Needless to say that something has definitely gone wrong in the process else India would have succeeded in developing a dream society of its own.

It would be insane to think that the Constitution makers were wrong in intent or logic. They adequately identified a problem of grave concern and provided for a constitutional solution hoping that fifteen years would be ample time to do away with the economic-social injustice, and that the government would do enough to realize this constitutional ideal. But, the spirit of framing a constitution and that of running a government are two different things. One treads in the realms of idealism whereas the other in the sphere of pragmatism. Running a government is driven for sure by ambition (previously called lust), for power, status, popularity et al.

The result is, another constitutional amendment providing for the admission into IIMs and IITs. This clearly goes against the spirit of the Constitution, as getting admission into IIMs and IITs has nothing to do with the basic needs of life and livelihood what was the primary concern of the Constitution makers. Moreover, one who has to fight for his daily meals does not and can not think of getting into these premier institutions. Obviously this move of the UPA government has something else in its intent, may be due to upcoming elections in the states or god knows what

So to say that government in India has failed the idea of governance as envisaged in the Constitution would not amount to committing a crime. For, fifty-six years (in 2006) are not spent in a day. Shortage of time has never been a problem for India's political community but the will.

The problem warrants a wider debate and deeper analysis. In the first place the meaning of reservation/quota needs to be understood. Literally it implies giving opportunities to a defined class of citizens or public. But, practically it means preferring less competent people to more competent ones for a particular purpose. Such policy does not augur well for a developing country in modern age especially if it is India.

The argument that by giving reservation to the underprivileged segment of society, it can be brought at par with rest of the society does not hold much water. The sense that we get from the working at medical and engineering colleges or even the government departments does not toe the political line of pro-quota policy. It is commonly said that the people getting jobs through reservation do not perform as well as others. That they do not meet the minimum qualifying standards for the jobs at hand and the reason for this quality gap does not lie in their birth but in the process of their qualitative strengthening, which the quota policy doesn't focus on.

The reservation policy has been here for quite long now and it has not yielded what was expected of it. The main problem is that it is caste based. The benefits of the quota have gone overwhelmingly to the better-off people among the reservation category castes. So, the policy has always missed the real target and it's been known to all (the stakeholders). Nevertheless the rules and laws have kept coming up on the same line and the present one is just an addition to the list.

The son of a marginal farmer or a farm-labourer in a remote village without doubt is not going to draw any benefit from quota in IIMs and IITs as he/she would not be able to fill-in the application form and meet the traveling cost for appearing even in the written examination and group- discussion thereof. So, who is the real target of such an amendment is hard to fantasize even.

This move is certainly going to aggravate the problem of unemployment among the educated youth. The unemployed educated people are more susceptible to anti-social activities. All the government and other reports suggest that the unemployed muslim youth fall easy prey to the propaganda of jehad. In fact, in Jammu and Kashmir it is a popular perception that getting into the rank and file of terrorism draws more money than getting into the all-elusive jobs. The government definitely should have looked at this angle too.
The call of the hour therefore is not to implement the amendment in haste. The issue should be looked in wider perspectives. The problems being faced by the weaker sections must be looked at with great care and in such a manner that it does not give rise to another problem in our society

The weaker sections of our society first need to be clearly defined and identified if the government's intent is to improve their lot and not to gain some hidden insane benefits only. Caste can no longer be taken as a basis for any such demarcation. No caste is weak or strong today, it's the position of an individual that is weaker or stronger. The lopsided reservation policy has only corroborated this. The people from the weaker sections must be at first ensured jobs at their own places. Their children must be ensured a healthy life and a healthy school education. Other embedded aspects are the population size and the growth rate of population among the weaker sections. The people sensitized to understand the relation between the size of population and the rate of population growth on one hand and jobs, poverty, health and effectiveness of governmental measures on the other. Let's hope the government would show enough courage and sense to provide the " governance with real human face".

DMK Forces To Ponder Over The Afzal Question

The mask finally came out today. It became clear to everyone within India and outside that this Indian government handles its diplomatic relations on the basis of internal politics and aspirations. The Dravida Munetra Kazhagam has withdrawn support to the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh over the issue of alleged killing of LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil) by the Sri Lankan establishment. The open secret lies unravelled now.

It would be interesting to listen to those voices, which questioned the validity of Pakistan's National Assembly in passing a resolution condemning hanging of Afzal Guru. Our Parliament wasted no time in giving a befitting reply by passing another resolution condemning the Afzal resolution of Pakistan's National Assembly. And, everyone including this writer has reliably learnt that the DMK under M Karunanidhi voted favouring the resolution passed by Parliament. Now, where is the so-called ethical or moral difference between the equations.

We generally elect our leaders on the basis of our ability to believe or disbelieve in them, and we judge our leaders on the basis of their past (the most recent) performance. Sometimes, their intent also plays a significant role in the election process. Now, let's think separately the intent and performance of our political class in the aforesaid two cases, and then have a look at the real diplomatic and political spectre.

The Afzal Resolution
 
National Assembly of Pakistan passed that resolution because of two broad reasons: one, Afzal's connection to Kashmir (and attack on Indian Parliament) and two, religious appeal, which played the key role in partition and subsequent political confusion over the status, standing and stature of Jammu and Kashmir.

First of all, Pakistan feels that Kashmir is an Islamic problem and that's why an unfinished agenda of the partition and hence, it has its stake in deciding the fate and future of the state. It has fought not less than three wars on this issue, and has been supporting, helping, channelizing, designing and propagating terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and rest of India.

So, when someone from the same school of thought carries out or allegedly helps carrying out an act of terror, Pakistan is bound to have some hand in the act and stake in the future of the same person. It may present a different face to the world but within, it knows the reality. Hence, Pakistan’s resolution on Afzal Guru, whose hanging was confirmed by the Supreme Court and executed by the Indian government.

The resolution was viewed as an affront on India by millions of electors or stakeholders in our democracy. Sensing their mood, the elected ones showcased their intent in snubbing Pakistan with a counter-resolution asserting that "Jammu and Kashmir has been and shall always remain the integral part of India", that hanging of Afzal Guru.was an internal matter of India, and also that Afzal Guru was a part of the conspiracy hatched in Pakistan and sponsored by Pakistani establishment that saw attack on Parliament. Isn't there some inherent contradiction in our approach?

The Tamil Angle
 
Now, consider the government's stand on Sri Lanka's approach in dealing with remnants of LTTE, which was a proscribed outfit in India till it existed in force. The island nation's government has been accused of committing war crimes on the surrendered members of LTTE and the Tamil population of the Elam region. It is a serious human rights issue of international importance. But, it is happening within the sovereign boundaries of Sri Lanka and hence, an internal matter of that country. But then, the population involved is Tamil, which evokes emotional appeal across the international waters in an Indian state.

Tamil Nadu is under AIADMK rule while DMK is in opposition and so, quite naturally it feels the pulse of Tamil people's emotion and anger. The same DMK has been a partner in all crimes with other UPA partners at the centre. It could easily dictate the matters vis-a-vis India's southern neighbour in past nine years. But, in the wake of Italian marine goof up, better sense has started prevailing over the UPA government. So, after going far ahead of expressing concern over human rights' issue in Sri Lanka, the Manmohan Singh government has finally decided to see whether antagonizing the island nation is in India's favour given the Chinese propensity in the region.

If India genuinely felt that Pakistan's National Assembly's resolution on  Afzal was an attack on India's sovereignty, can it forget the same principle in dealing with Sri Lanka simply because DMK is part of the ruling coalition? And, if India can interfere with Sri Lanka (to safeguard its strategic interest) why can't Pakistan do same with India? Also, why should India choose/ pick the nation with which it has to interfere; simply put, why does India choose not to apply pressure on Maldieves, Italy, Nepal or Bangladesh for that matter to safeguard its strategic interests, while it goes on to interfere with an essentially (going by India's own definition) internal matter of Sri Lanka?

The present politico-diplomatic-strategic state of affairs of the UPA 2.0 points to utter indecision. The government seems to be so indecisive that it has failed to realize that indecision was its earlier decision. Under the circumstances, can India be taken seriously on the matters of external affairs, outside or within?

(Un)happy International Women's Day

March 8^th every year seems to be a day of rhetoric by people of all shades; politicians, activists, journalists, students, teachers and the rest of the educated lot. They all swear to give equality in all sense of terms to women, promise to stand for their so-called legitimate rights, give themselves to oppose all attempts of stereotyping women, fight female infanticide, female foeticide, and most of all ending domestic violence and cruelty against women. The very next day, all the beautiful signs are wiped out from all the places. Even the traces are hard to find. Every year cases of violation of the body of women registered and recorded on March 8^th are forgotten the next day. So, the International Women’s Day is an occasion of mere rhetoric.

Reading the Indian Express only a couple of days ago, I found a columnist bringing to notice the practice of bride abduction in many parts of the globe taking Kyrgyzstan as its epicentre. The narration goes like this, “Just imagine your daughter is coming home from college. A gang of men suddenly grabs her, forcibly tosses her into a car even as she screams, cries, throws about her hands and legs, tries to bite her abductors, but she's overpowered. There's a bridegroom at the other end waiting to marry her. Marriage (Wedding) preparations complete with ceremonial rituals are ready to be performed, family and friends invited to enjoy the wedding reception. Only the bride is missing. So a girl is kidnapped and brought to fit the role. It's a bona fide marriage where she'll become part of a respected family, but she's given no choice.”

This is a traditional ‘ritual’ in Kyrgyizstan, where it is called Ala Kachuu, which is illegal and punishable according to law. But, none are ever prosecuted and sentenced. “NGOs working there figure ala achuu is seen in 68-75 per cent of weddings.” The author goes on to ask, how does above story strike you? This Kyrgyz ritual certainly reminds me of ancient Indian practice glorified by DDLJsque Rukmini Haran (Abduction of Rukmini) by Krishna, emulated by his disciple Arujna and carried out by thousands of others. (Raavan was an exception for he abducted a woman but did not force her to cohabit or marry.)

This is still going on in India with unsuspecting brides being lured, threatened, abducted from Jharkhand, Orissa, Assam and other economically backward states and forced to marry female foeticidal, female infanticidal brethren from Haryana, Punjab and some other parts. The Indian Express columnist was exasperated, anguished, so am I (and so are probably few millions others from the billion plus nation).


According to the United Nations Organization and UN Women, 7 out of 10 women around the world are beaten, raped, abused or mutilated in their lifetimes. However, no woman perhaps can say that she was never violated. Violence against women is universal, prevalent in all countries and settings.  According to the International Labour Organization women and girls comprise 98 percent of all people suffering ‘forcible exploitation’. 

Shockingly, this state of women on the planet earth is despite ‘the best efforts of the member states of the UNO’. Today, 187 countries out of 193 UN members have ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Besides, the United Nations Security Council now recognizes sexual violence as a deliberate tactic of war.  Notwithstanding UN’s sensitivity, more than 60 crore women live in countries that do not recognize domestic violence as a crime at all. 

So, on the rhetorical day in 2013, when the earth is striving to expand its sphere of influence beyond its own galaxy and when the question of gender equality and sense of gender sensitivity lie buried in the proverbial dark ages, I wish everyone a very happy International Women’s Day!

Bharat Bandh... Where?

Today is Bharat Bandh. I don't know where!!! One of my friends said that he wanted to find out as to in which police station Bharat is Bandh!!!! (भारत बंद है, न जाने किस थाने में? ढूंढ़ने जा रहा हूँ) Meanwhile, on serious note, I would like to tell all those, who were as 'uneducated' as I on this issue, that all the major trade unions have called this shutdown against the policies of the UPA government.

It is a two-day shutdown and strike called by 11 registered trade unions, cutting across party lines. The are protesting against the 'anti-people' policies of the Manmohan Singh government. These all trade unions feel that constant rise in prices of almost all commodities, poor implementation of labour laws and disinvestment in PSUs and relaxed norms for FDI in various sectors are the blows that the present UPA government has unleashed on the masses. 

The trade unions have also demanded that pensions for everyone, removal of ceiling on bonus and provident fund benefits be provided to every worker. And, surprisingly, besides trade unions affiliated to the Left and pro-BJP, Bharat Mazdoor Sangh, the pro-Congress INTUC is also supporting and  participating in the Bharat Bandh.