No Bodo, No Musalman, First Insan (Human)  
Syed Ali Mujtaba 

There was no positive story in the recent past that was reported n the recent Assam imbroglio, except one, but before telling that lets count the negatives that has shaken us from within. First was the mass exodus of the Bengali speaking Muslims population from their shanty homes residing in the lower Assam valley?  It followed the armed raid by the murderous Bodo tribe.  There was much of blood letting and mayhem in this tragedy that triggered one of the largest displacements of population in the independent Indian history.

Unfortunately, Assam is too far from New Delhi, the seat of power and also far from the so called national media that’s more comfortable in reporting Anna Hazare and Ramdev. Even though five lakh people left there home and over 100 perished, the tragedy did not moved the national media to report it like a national crisis.

The second important development was the angry and violent protest by Muslim youth in Mumbai and the subsequent violent protest. It sparked off the question, why Muslims in Mumbai should protest for the happenings in Assam; after all they are too far away and have no connection except common religion. The argument may sound fair enough, but living in Chennai, and witnessing protest in support of Tamils in Sri Lanka, who are citizens of another country, the Mumbai protest definitely make sense to me.

The protest was to tell the government and the media to do something to address the issue and not let it to recur again. This has to be seen into the context of 1983 Nellie riots in Assam, when more than 3000 people died and not an FIR was lodged against such program.  

However, the act of Mumbai protestors to become violent is something really condemnable. It would be prudent that those indulging in acts of vandalism must be given exemplary punishment. However, Mumbai protest also exposes the laxity of the police force that did not anticipated the situation and had not made enough preparations to handle the possible fall out if the peaceful crowed becomes unruly.    

Continuing with the negative news, the story of rumor mongering mills then came in. The so called national media that could not cover the Assam story properly started giving live commentary of the fleeing northeast people from various metropolitan cities. The citizenship issue of Assam became secondary, primary was to unearth the rumor mongering factories in the country.

It was discovered that the rumors were spread through the internet using social media and the mobile phones, the modern day tools of communication. This triggered a debate how to control them from having damaging influence on the society, while others arguing that such mediums should not be controlled.

The government took the decision to put restrictions on these two sets of communication and set a precedent for future as well. Do we like to remain under such control and restricts in a democratic country is something that requires a national debate.      

Oblivious of all these facts, a youth organization, in New Delhi took a bold step to cool the social temperature that was rising due the problems related to recent developments in Assam. It assembled a large number of it volunteers at India Gate in solidarity of the people of Assam in particular and northeast in general. Youth gathered there shouted slogans of peace and non violence and harmony. They joined hands and formed human chain near Amar Jawan Joti to show the solidarity for the northeast people.

The youth shouted slogans 'we are one.’ Many placards were displayed condemning the violence and riots in Assam. One placard read; 'Na Bodo Na Muslamaan, Sabse Pehle Hai Insaan' (no Bodo, no Muslim, we all are first human beings). Many present at India Gate also joined the human chain to convey the message for restoring unity and harmony.  

“This human chain is a way to show our unity and solidarity, we also want to say that these violence and riots cannot disintegrate our society and we through our unity will rise every time together,” said Shekhar Jain, of Mission Bhartiyam that organized the peace initiative.

“We are really hurt by the recent ongoing violence and thus we feel that it is us (youths) who have responsibility to come forward and to show that we are against all violence and riots,” he added.

Ansaar Ahmed from National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO) who joined the human chain said; “This is the time of national emergency, our society is in danger and people must know that they are human first, not the Bodos, Hindus or Muslims.”

“We were hurt by this violence in Assam and its aftereffects. Though some organizations and individuals went there and helped in relief works, we also have responsibility towards our fellow citizens. It will be a good gesture if we all can come together to tell that we are one,” said Ms Pathak, a Mission Bhartiyam activist.

 “We, as citizens of this country and as human beings, condemn riots and violence in all forms. We also condemn the shock, the pain, the terror that the people had to face. We empathies with the people of northeast and show our solidarity and extend our support to them” she added.  

Such developments are powerful narratives of contemporary India. It lives up the adage, that what is true of this country, the opposite of it is also true. Among the stories of hatred and violent protest this little tale, was hardly reported anywhere in the media.

As this story sends positive messages- a message of peace and harmony- a message of being human first- a message that we all are Indians and we share our joys and sorrows together, it at least deserves a glance.  
--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Crowd Management a lucrative Enterprise in India

Crowd Management a lucrative Enterprise in India
Syed Ali Mujtaba

Social activist and anti graft crusader Anna Hazare has caught the imagination of the nation and he and his team is a subject of discussion at every nook and corner of the country. The common man in India sympathises with the cause that they are championing, but some have reservations about the method being adopted to put across the point to check corruption in the country.

Let us analyze the anti corruption fast of Anna Hazare in New Delhi in August 2011. A careful study of the fast covering both the pre planning and execution, clearly indicate the enormous level of strategic planning that have gone into this public agitation.

While there maybe twenty thousand agitators sitting along with Anna Hazare during the fast in Delhi, and maybe around fifty thousand persons in different cities all over India, yet they remain a miniscule figure when compared to the total population of the country.

The hard fact is that the number of agitators who actually participated in Anna Hazare’s fast could be less than 0.01 % of the Indian population. People in the lower income group who are the real sufferers due to corrupt conditions prevailing in the country and who constitute around 30% of Indian population (more than 300 million people) did not participated in Anna Hazare’s agitation. Many people in the rural areas did not even know about this fast taking place in New Delhi.

Nevertheless, the impression that was spread around the country was that the whole country was behind Anna Hazare. The Government of India was brought to its knees by the people’s power on the streets. The protest method adopted in the colonial era, still remains the most potent form of agitation even today. It also serves a role model for groups and lobbies to launch a similar agitation to get their demands accepted by the government.

The impression that is being created is something that needs to be analyzed, because it has ominous portents for the future of democracy and the development of our country.

The credit of “highly successful” fast of Anna Hazare in New Delhi obviously goes to the skillful agitation managers or team Anna as its being called. The agitation managers had controlled the movement so tightly that no negative campaign was able to make an impact during the time of the protest. The coercive methods adopted by them may have been disliked by lakhs of Indians, but they were “silenced” by the Anna
Hazare’s strategists making more noise and diverting attention.

This is the most conspicuous part of Anna Hazare’s fast in New Delhi and it needs to be studied in detail because this could be a right subject in the management schools and can be learnt under the topic agitation management, a lucrative enterprise in India.

In recent times, the agitators in India appear to have become highly skilled and some of them seem to have turned professionals as well. It’s not a emotional outburst that forms crowd but there are certain methods and theories that needs to be applied for the formation of the crowd.

So the crowd management is an interesting area of study, because India is a democracy and power lies with the people and they need to be mobilized in the streets round the year for different reasons and different purposes. It has to be backed by sound logistics and appropriate strategies in tune with the ground realities. It’s a highly specialized job that needs to be studied in all its seriousness.

This realization is soon dawning upon and the day may not be far off, when the management schools in India will start a special course on “agitation management”, teaching the students about launching agitations in a scientific way. A money spinning opportunity appears to be awaiting the B schools in the country.

What is striking is that many of the recent agitations all over India have been “successful,” with the state and central governments yielding to the threat and succumbing to the pressures of the agitators. Consequently giving an impression that the agitators are right and the method adopted is becoming a role model to be replicated in all the future agitation in this country.

The growing trend now is that the agitators seem to be measuring and testing as to what should be the ultimate intensity of agitation to paralyse the administration and bring down the government or any other agencies to their knees. A scientific survey and right timing, well managed and well executed agitation is sure to be successful.
Given their recent “successes”, many agitators seem to think that whatever may be the cause, if they could organise ten thousand agitators in one strategic place backed by money power and skillful media management they can become successful.

In a country like India, organizing ten thousand agitators is a cake walk. The social media has come as a bonus in the crowd formation, money power and media support are the other necessities. In such circumstances, the political parties and agitating groups first organize the money power and media support before venturing to bring the crowd on the streets to launch a successful agitation.

In the strategic planning of the agitation, they also take into consideration the quality of the political leadership and their lack of credibility which they exploit superbly working out the timing of the the agitation and in framing their pamphlets and speeches.

The Anna Hazare’s fast in New Delhi fast had all such planning done in a very meticulous manner. Every thing was in place, with Sonia Gandhi out of the country and weakest Prime Minister at the helm, they know that Tinamen square cannot happen at Ramlila grounds. So with remarkable planning they launched the agitation sustained it for two weeks a time well thought out to make the government relent and declare mission accomplished.

The example that is set by the Anna Hazare’s fast in New Delhi fast has now its echo is the agitation against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. Although opinions are divided on this issue, those against the nuclear power station had a field day. With the government unable to decide how to handle the protestors, this agitation is also considered to be “highly successful.”

The Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant in the Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu is under construction since 2001 with Russian assistance. No one opposed to it and in the wake of Indo-US nuclear deal it was considered to be country’s asset in the generation of nuclear power.

However the radiation leak in March 2011 at Japan's Fukushima nuclear installation due to tsunami disaster, led to the opposition of the construction of the power plant at Koodankulam. Thousands of protesters and villagers living around the Koodankulam nuclear plant blocked the highways and staged hunger strikes, preventing further construction work demanding the closure of the plant

A group of agitators by their skillful planning and methods have been able to stall the entire progress of the massive power plant. The central government has repeatedly given an assurance of the safety of the nuclear power plant but the protestors remain unconvinced.

The Koodankulam agitators taking the cue from the successful agitation management of team Anna are also managing this agitation in the same way. They have managed the media well ensuring that the media focus remain on them and their demands. Their methods include even disrupting the meetings that would support the Koodankulam power plant.

The agitation management theory propounded by team Anna has become so successful that may political parties and agitating groups are taking note of it. In Tamil Nadu, the agitators are getting emboldened and one group is now demanding the closure of Kalpakam nuclear power plant, believed to be having India’s nuclear assets.

Now the big question is how to bring such misguided people into seeing the reasons? India is not Singapore or China where such agitations would be put down with heavy hand mercilessly. India is a democratic country and we all enjoy the right to protest.

The argumentative Indian the debating Indian is the trademark of the citizens of India. There could be different opinions and view points on every issue and in the traditions of the Indian democracy all this has to be discussed and debated in the Parliamentary forum of the country.

Parliament alone is the right forum to debate and discuss every issue that concerns the citizens and the nation as whole. The constitution has given us the rights to remove those in power if majority of people dislike any action of the government but this could be done only by due electoral process.

In such background, if this trend of a small group of people skillfully organizing agitations by their money and muscle power and media management are allowed to have a free run, it can seriously retard the stability and progress of the country.

While we all are proud of the liberal Indian democratic traditions, at the same time, we should realize that in the interest of the nation, it is necessary to ensure that frequent agitations and protests do not hamper the growth of the country.

By resorting to coercive agitations of colonial era, and at the drop of a hat, using methods like so called satyagraha and fast unto death, are highly counter productive. In fact such agitation management is leading to ‘mobocracy’ and creating a condition of unrest in the country. It’s undermining our democracy our liberal values and all the good that goes into the making of wonder that is India. It is high time that we wake up to such realities and arrest this trend gaining ground and doing more damage to the country.

----
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Network to Reduce Drugs Dependency in South India

Network to Reduce Drugs Dependency in South India
Syed Ali Mujtaba

The launch of the South Indian Harm Reduction Network (SIHRN) in Chennai heralds a welcome initiative for people dependent on drugs, especially those living with HIV and AIDS in the Southern States.


There is a serious concern in the southern states of India over under reporting numbers of people injecting drugs and infected with HIV/AIDS.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been delivering services for drug injectors for many years now, and injecting epidemics have been reported more recently in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Civil Society and Community Organizations stated their concern over the numbers of deaths being reported and the lack of facilities for care and support currently available through national and state administered services.

The current services for HIV management through needle syringe exchange programs and medication for replacing illicit or grey market opiates have been largely successful but they are simply not enough.

The challenge of co-morbidities including the presence of TB and Hepatitis C along with HIV require wider access to health systems including hospitals.

There is also a huge demand for medically assisted detoxification and rehabilitation services and a scale up of the fledging Opioid Substitution Treatment Programs in the region.

It is in this context that the South Indian Harm Reduction Network that has been launched has a huge role to play.

In a freewheeling interview with A. Sankar, Convener, SIHRN and L. Samson, President, SIHRN, the goals and objectives of the new organization was spelled out.

SIHRN aspires to bring ownership of treatment to affected communities. It wants to mainstream services that include wider health care, psycho-social support, reintegration related to employment, family support and legal aid, Mr. Sankar said.

SIHRN wants to register state level networks that will work closely with state governments and the affected communities. It also wants to strengthen services for people injecting drugs under States AIDS Control Societies. SIHRN likes to advocate for an improved quality of life for drug dependent people, Mr. Sankar added.

L. Samson, President, SIHRN said the challenge is to keep people secure in access to various types of treatment. SIHRN resolve to widen the scope of services to draw together agendas such as homelessness and drug treatment with the key stakeholders managing HIV and AIDS services for people injecting drugs.

Counseling is the glue that will hold the populations adherent to services, as optimism is required to counter the despair felt by the severe stigma and discrimination experienced at mainstream health services, and the abuse on the streets by ill informed law enforcers, Mr. Samson concluded.

The meeting of South Indian Harm Reduction Network SIHRN was held under the auspices of the Indian Harm Reduction on January 28, 2012 in Chennai. It was supported by Sharan, a NGO working on HIV/AIDS in India.

The meet was coordinated by Indian Community Welfare Organization-I.C.W.O, a NGO based in Chennai. More details on this can be obtained from Mr. A.J. Hariharan of ICWO, who can be contacted at fieldmaster2000@gmail.com.

--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Painting Between Strangeness and Familiarity

Painting Between Strangeness and Familiarity
Syed Ali Mujtaba

No part of art can express any emotion if there is no some part of reality mixed into it, Emil Schumacher, the famous German painter; a representative of abstract expressionism in post-war Germany is reported to have said.

Another German artist, Ruth Bisping, showcasing her work at the Cholamandal Cultural Center for Contemporary Art in Chennai dwells upon the same thought when she says, this irreducible element is a key to any work, however tiny, however imperceptible the indication might be. In other words, this element within the painting unlocks our mind, our body and our emotions’, she adds.

This hugely talented artist who now lives in Chennai shows her work from different periods of her stay in India. Ruth lives in Germany and France but lately since over a year she is living in Chennai.

In its modern version, painting is spontaneous reflection and interaction. What appears on the canvas is not preconceived or much determined by ‘real thing. The ‘real things’ are hidden in colors and shapes of imagination, they are there, but the creative artist’s projection rules over reality, that is how Ruth explains her work displayed at the art gallery in the Cholamandal artist’s village.

Calling her painting between strangeness and familiarity, Ruth goes on to say, ‘when a painter changes her physical environment, as radical and abrupt, as I did by moving to Chennai, the content and style of my painting is adoptive to whatever changes I have witnessed after coming over here.

Who ever has seen my work in Europe that unfortunately I could not bring them to Chennai, will see the difference put on the canvas here that is reflective of Indian environment, Ruth comments on her painting.

Her paintings reflect a dedication to vibrant fluent colors to raw materiality to spontaneous imagination. Her paintings have come up over a period of one year of hard work put up at her studio here in Chennai.

As one can see, the impulsive process of her paintings showcased at the exhibition there is a transformation of her very personal sensation of the moment on to the huge canvas right in front as one enters into the art gallery.

With her works, she lures us into the quest for traces of nativness, a search in the world completely regimented by the rules of a civilization. And to view it from another perspective, a search of an uncertainty, a freedom, to be felt in space and time, an unorganized strangeness rooted in each of us and with whom we all are so familiar.

Passing through Ruth Bisping’s painting one may experience this kind of uncertainty, continuously changing position and perspective, the beholder is exposed to permanently varying ways of viewing and possibly also experiencing similar feelings.

Her paintings are rooted in gestural and in tachisme painting. The styles are characterized by the spontaneous application of color fields on to the canvas.

Apparent are the elements, a scratch, a sign, and an iridescent surface that makes her artwork so legible. This element throws light upon her painting and its meaning.

The element reveals to us an aesthetic perception of the world, a thought which in terms of Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher, only ever existed in our minds, in our bodies and in our emotions.

Undoubtedly Ruth Bisping’s painting has roots in the tradition of Jean Fautrier, Alberto Burri, Antoni Tapies and certainly of Emil Schumacher.

Ruth Bisping studied at the College of Fine Arts in Braunschweig and Bielefeld in Germany. She has held solo shows of her work in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Toronto, Bordeaux etc. She has participated in several group shows in Germany France, Lithuania, Italy and Canada. She took part at Biennale for Installation at Gera in 2011. Her work can be accessed at www.ruth-bisping.de

---
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com


.

Agonizing Wait for Communal Violence Bill

Agonizing Wait for Communal Violence Bill
Syed Ali Mujtaba

There seems to be a conspiracy of silence when it comes to tackling Hindu- Muslim communal riots in India. Since the past sixty years or so a systematic annihilation of human population is going on but no one seems to be bothered as to how to address the issue.

The recent communal clash in Gopalgarh at Bharatpur district of Rajasthan on September 14, 2011, is one such incident that graphically narrates the horrifying aspect of this problem.

The riot actually broke out between Hindu Gujjars and Muslim Meos over a dispute for six bighas land near a Muslim graveyard. The land belonged to the Muslims that the Gujjars forcibly tried to capture and the turn of event took a communal color.

According to reports Muslims were praying in Gopalgarh town’s main mosque when a Gujjar mob entered the place of worship. The mob was accompanied by local police. It started indiscriminately on the praying worshipers.

According to eyewitnesses, rioters even poured the kerosene oil on the worshipers and set ablaze at least four of them. In this communal mayhem, nine Muslims lost their lives.

A fact finding groups from ANHAD and Jamiat Ulam-e Hind visited the place of violence the very next day. It reported that there were strong evidences to suggest, that police and the local administration in Gopalgarh acted in a partisan manner while dealing with the clash between Muslim Meos and Hindu Gujjars.

The fact finding team stated that the fighting had broken out due to a dispute over a small plot of land. This could have been controlled, if the police had taken firm action against the aggressor.

However instead of acting as upholder of law and order, the police reportedly joined the Gujjar community in gunning down the Muslim Meos. The police watched the burning of many Muslims alive inside the mosque.

The fact finding team reported that there are enough instances to prove that police and Gujjars tried to destroy evidences of the crimes committed against the Muslims.

This is not the first time that a communal riot of such a nature has taken place and one is also sure that this would the last time for the crime of such a nature.

However, one is appalled by the dead conscious of the people that even a crime of such a nature do not jolt them to wake and stand up and press upon the point that for god sake stop this madness once and for all.

Like any other riot, the plot at the Gopalgarh was the same, the script was the same, the aggressors were the same, and the victims were the same. The complicity of the security forces and the belligerent action of the dominant community has resulted in the butchering of helpless people.

Even such a cold blooded murder failed to attract hue and cry from the civil society and preferred to look the other way round, as if nothing has happened and every thing is fine.

The height of idiocentricity was when Congress leader Sachin Pilot refused to accept this event as a Hindu Muslim communal riot. Inspite the fact that the killing had taken place inside the mosque, the Congress Minister refused to accept it as a religious riot. He termed the event a ethnic clash between two communities of Rajasthan the Gujjars and the Meos.

The state government after the riot took some half-hearted actions action to sooth the anger of the victims but it was a case of too little and too late.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi too visited the site of the violence and talked to the victims, but nothing has moved beyond such tokenism.

The main problem that is witnessed during every communal flare up is that it occur due inefficiency of the security forces in some cases due to their connivances with the rioters. In Gopalgarh riots, the land dispute was not new one.

Tension was building around it for long time. It was because of the preventive action of the security forces that it was kept under control.

However, this time this was not the case. The police force did not take any precautionary measures inspite knowing the fact that tension over the issue was brewing for long. On the contrary, the police played an active role in killing the Muslims, firing upon them indiscriminately even inside Mosque.

The incident is a pointer to the fact that repeatedly the problem starts with the fight over the graveyard land, the Eidgah land, processions near the Mosques and some other set situations. All along a conspiracy is hatched to punish the Muslims.

The aggressor come in large number accompanied by the police and launch a onslaught over the Muslim and any resistance results in their cold blooded murder.

Its really disturbing to see that even though communal peace is regularly being breached in this country but no action plan is yet in sight to deal with such events.

How long will this go on in this country? What a shame on a nation that boasts of unity in diversity, tolerance, pluralism and co existence and other such words.

One of the promises that the UPA Government had made in the first term in office was to bring an enactment of a legislation to prevent communal violence in the country.

The government did some half hearted attempt to bring such legislation. Contrary to meeting the expectations of the victims of the communal riot, the bill seemed to empower the police and the state machinery with draconian powers as a remedy to “control” riots.

There was no provision in the bill to bring to task of misuse of power by the police and punishing the guilty. There was no provision for the rehabilitation of the victims of targeted violence.

With all these glaring loopholes, the bill was hurriedly withdrawn with the promise to bringing it back in a much more comprehensive format. Its almost eight years to the promise and noting has materialized on the ground.

Now after some efforts and engagements with the authorities by various human rights organizations, the National Advisory Council (NAC) has proposed a bill entitled “Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice And Reparations) Bill, 2011.”

The bill supposedly has taken into account the experience of the victims of the communal riots. It has also taken acognizance of the fact that the power invested in the police was either not used or are misused against the weaker sections of the society. The NAC has forwarded the Bill to the Government but so far no action is taken by the government .

The Muslims, Christians and the Dalits who have been suffering for a long time from the atrocities of the majority community are yearning for a legislation to put full stop to such cold blooded murder .

Their agonizing wait is reaching a saturating point. It’s high time that the government bring the much touted “Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill, 2011.”

The Act will instill confidence among weaker section of the society and build a new rapport with the UPA government. It will be a step in the right direction if this bill is brought in this winter session of Parliament.

--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Participative Approach to Understanding Gender

Participative Approach to Understanding Gender

Syed Ali Mujtaba


The term gender is quite value loaded term. When we discuss this word, often the context happens to be women. Most often gender is being talked about in terms of discrimination faced by the fair sexes.

In order to create an understanding of the term gender, a workshop was organized by the All India Secular Forum (AISF) in Mumbai on October 30, 2011. The female participants from Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA) and some students SNDT college, Mumbai took part in the workshop.

Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, Dr. Ram Puniyani and Dr. Chandrakant Puri were the resource persons of this workshop.

The participants were divided into groups and were posed certain postulations were made and each group was asked to come up with their own understanding of the hypothesis. Some very interesting observations were made during the discussions that were moderated by the resource persons.

Following postulations made were put up for discussion; 1) Difference between gender and sexes 2) Biology makes women weaker than men 3) Women who dress or behave in culturally inappropriate ways are inviting assault 5) A woman who leaves the house because her husband beats her up is over reacting 6) Women are better care givers than men.

Difference between gender and Sexes

The explanation was given in repose to the understanding the term ‘gender and sexes were vague. Some said that gender is the sexes- male and female, some mentioned gender is the discrimination that women face, still other held the view that its discrimination faced by men and women differently.

The resource persons corrected the understanding of the term explaining that gender is a social construct and it’s essentially the roles, opportunities and the expectations of the society from the sexes. These can be changed. On the other hand, sex is a biological construct which is not changeable.

Biology makes women weaker than men

Some of the points that emerged during this discussion were; women are not biologically weaker than men. Some were of the opinion that women were ‘naturally’ more tolerant. They were made in a way that they get less angry and are calm. However, this view was challenged by the other participants and the trainer since this indicates towards bio determinism which is self destructive to feminism.

The point that was underlined was women and men are both inherently violent and tolerant. What makes women more tolerant or calm in certain situations is their socialization and upbringing which essentially discourages women to question or disobey making them submissive and meek.

Women who dress or behave in culturally inappropriate ways are inviting assault

In this, there were also two opinions. Some felt that it was not acceptable for women to outrage the sensitivity of her community and dress in an outrageous manner. Others felt that it may depend on the woman if she was comfortable in what she wore. This was also debated. The discussion led to the larger issue of control over the bodies of women and if deviance in any form is acceptable and if it’s acceptable to oppose this deviance through violence or assault. This discussion was enriched when the participants shared their personal experiences and insecurities and how they all at some level feel the city spaces to be unsafe for women.

A woman who leaves the house because her husband beats her up is over reacting

The next discussion saw less of debate where everyone accepted that violence against women in any form was unacceptable. Here interestingly, the general reactions of society and especially of the police were discussed.

A patriarchal society normalizes violence against women and thus mounts pressure on them to adjust with the abusive husband. Many factors are cited for convincing the woman to put up with violent husband like her economic dependence on the husband, no awareness of legal options, social stigma for the woman’s family etc.

Women are better care givers than men

The last discussion was on women were better care givers than men. There was general agreement on this theme but some participants challenged this notion as swell, One participant cited the example of her own husband who is often ridiculed by the neighbors for doing all household chores like cooking, cleaning, washing etc.

In this context the concepts of masculinity and femininity were explored and subsequently how patriarchy also deprives men of their choices was discussed.

The next session was the film screening of ‘Bol’ a film based on patriarchy in its various forms. The film depicts violence against women. The discussion that followed the screening of the film was very lively.

It was an emotionally charged atmosphere where most of the participants could relate to the oppression faced by the women characters in the film.

The discrimination faced by a girl child in a household in terms of education, opportunities and roles were discussed. It was agreed upon that such discrimination should be studied in order to understand gender based violence.

Also, how religious fundamentalism affects women adversely was discussed, citing examples from personal experiences.

The importance of questioning and critical outlook as well as listening or having an open mind to differences and other perspectives was sufficiently agreed upon during the discussions.

The issues how women are penalized due to deviance is in society was discussed. It was highlighted that women must have control on their bodies and reproductive functions. The participants gave examples of some of the cases they have witnessed where preference to male child is so prevalent that the women are compelled into having multiple pregnancies having detrimental effect on the health and choices of women.

This was the second workshop in the series to consolidate the understanding of communalism. The first workshop discussed the concepts like communalism, religion, identity politics and caste, etc

The next workshop will focus on the theme social identity. This topic will be further explored in terms of the understanding on gender issues and consolidate the understanding of patriarchy.

This report is prepared with the help of the inputs provided by the organizers of workshop who run a forum call secular perspective. Any quries regarding this workshop can be addressed to Mr Irfan Engineer (irfanengi@gmail.com) or to (secularperspective@googlegroups.com)

Needless to say that this is a very laudable attempt by some concerned members of the civil society in Mumbai to create peace and harmony in their city. This model is worth emulating in other parts of the country as well.

--
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com

Cleanup Indian Politics of Criminal MPs

Cleanup Indian Politics of Criminal MPs
Syed Ali Mujtaba

Corruption and Criminalization are two distinctive features of the Indian politics. The crusade against corruption was loudly articulated by the social activist Anna Hazare however, there is little noise being made by the civil society about the criminalization of Indian politics.

As a matter of fact, one out of four MP in India face criminal charges. There are 162 MPs in the current Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament that has criminal records. Out of these, there are 76 MPs having serious charges against them.

The total number of criminal cases against the MPs is 522 and out of these 275 MPs face serious IPC sections charges against them.

The Bhartiya Janta Party has the highest number of criminal MPs that is 43, out of which 19 have serious criminal cases against them.

The Congress party comes next with 41 MPs having criminal cases, out of which 12 MPs face serious charges against them.

As compared to 2004, the number of MPs with pending criminal cases has gone up. There were 128 MPs with pending criminal cases against them in 2004 Lok Sabha out of which 58 had serious pending criminal cases. There is an increase of about 26% in MPs with pending criminal cases and 31% increase in the number of MPs with serious pending criminal cases.

Obviously, these are not the type of people that should represent we the people of India, but some how these heavy weight crooks have got themselves elected into the Parliament and have become part of the governing apparatus of the country by default.

The comptroller and auditor general of India (CAG) have lambasted the government on this declining trend. "Governance is at its lowest ebb. The morale of civil servants is low. The situation is too deleterious for the nation. There is too much at stake for too many in such a situation," CAG reportedly has said.

There has been an erosion of people's faith in government. Their confidence in public institutions has declined. National trust in bureaucracy including the police force has collapsed. The integrity and professionalism of civil servants is being questioned," it adds.

"We have chief ministers who have had to vacate their positions allegedly for graft, on whom courts and other judicial bodies have made adverse pronouncements. We have Members of Parliament who are being indicted by the judiciary for various acts including accepting cash for exercising their vote in Parliament." CAG concludes.

So in such a situation the principal issue is how to make it harder for those with criminal cases to contest elections. Obviously, there is an urgent need of electoral reforms in this country that bars any convicted person from holding office till they are finally acquitted by a court of law.

The current legal position relating to a person convicted of criminal charges is that if the criminal charge, and not just the sentence, is suspended on an appeal, he has the right to contest elections.

One has to understand the nuance in the law and that depends on what order the court gives. If the conviction is suspended, then one can fight elections, if the sentence is suspended, which means no jail, but conviction stands, until such time that the appeal is heard, then one can not fight elections.

Union Law Minister Salman Khursheed has drafted a bill that plugs the loopholes and it could make it impossible for any convicted politician to run for office.

At the moment, those convicted of criminal charges have three months to appeal but that will not be available if the structure of amendments prepared by the Minister goes through the motion and get passed. In such a case the convicted members will be immediately excluded from Parliament.

According to the draft bill if one is convicted, then he can not fight elections, irrespective of what the appeal order is, until he is finally acquitted by the court of law.

Another amendment that is proposed in the draft bill is; crimes committed under section 153 (A), which pertains to creating enmity between communities to be put under the category of heinous crimes, and if that happens, politicians convicted under this clause will not have the right to contest elections.

All this is fine. The big question is will these proposals be acceptable to all the political parties. In fact, there is already a law in place to rein in the corrupt MPs, but many of them have found loopholes into it and have got stay order on their conviction to contest election.

Even the proposed amendment bill is being challenged by some unscrupulous MPs. They have threatened to derail the new bill, if and when, it comes for discussion at the all party meeting.

It’s an argument by those who have something to hide and they will use all kinds of tactics to continue their domination in power.

What is needed is to build consensus around the proposed amended in the electoral process initiated by the Union Law Minister. We have seen with the Jan Lokpal movement that people power can force the government to sit up and make changes.

We need to use the same strategy and generate massive public opinion to clean up Indian politics of its criminal crooks.

Unlike the herculean task of weeding out corruption from the Indian system, the task of getting rid of politician facing criminal charges is much easy.

The redemption of Indian politics from all its banes is long haul and cleaning Indian politics of criminal MPs could be a way forward for good governance and betterment of the country.

We have to watch every move about this bill as it gets drafted, placed before the all party meeting and discussed in the in the Parliament.

Even all this happens we have to built a momentum on the lines of Jan Lokpal movement and send a strong signal to the political party bosses to have a consensus on the draft bill and pass it in this winter session of the Parliament.

-
The figures quoted above are cited by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW).

Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba@yahoo.com