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Can laws alone protect women?
Domestic violence in India is almost always a hushed-up phenomenon. Women rarely open about the abuse they endure within their homes, much less seek legal recourse. Friends and relatives constantly urge the woman tocompromise and often, she also convinces herself that there is no abuse simply because there is no beating up.
Other forms of violence like verbal assault, forced sexual intercourse, emotional trauma are swept under the carpet. Till recently, these were not even included in the legal definition of the term “violence”. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, which came into effect from October 26 this year, seeks to change that. The scope of the term “domestic violence” has now been widened to include actual abuse or the threat of abuse, whether physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or economic. Are laws enough to guarantee a safe domestic environment for women or do we need something more? Can laws as these, albeit well meaning and wide reaching in their scope, truly empower women to come forward and fearlessly fight abuse? How can we ensure that there is no laxity in their implementation? ZIYAULLAH KHAN,
Kondhwa (Pune)
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New wheat varietiesThe editorial, “Crisis in agriculture” (Dec 12) observes that the new varieties of wheat are not coming up out of research institutions and the wheat and rice productivity is not picking up. In this context, it is stated that at present the most popular variety of wheat is PBW-343 released by the PAU in 1995. Thereafter, four varieties of bread and durum wheat were released by this university out of which PBW 502 is meant for cultivation in predominant ecology, namely timely sowing in irrigated areas. This variety is superior to PBW 343 with respect to grain yield, grain quality and tolerance to Karnal Bunt. It takes 2-3 years for any variety to create an impact and PBW 502 is now occupying appreciable area of 4-5 lack ha. In PAU seed production programmes, PBW 502 and PBW 343 varieties are getting equal importance. As regards rice, the productivity was stagnant for the last 15 years at 51-52 q/ha of paddy. However, during the last 2-3 years, the productivity has gone up to 56-59 q/ha (released during 2002-03). Keeping in view the needs of the state agriculture and conservation of natural resources, there has been greater emphasis on water saving technologies such as bed planting and use of tensiometer. Last year, a campaign was launched for timely transplant of rice in collaboration with the State Department of Agriculture. This has, certainly, created an impact on conserving underground water resources. Punjab can have spectacular yield increase at this level. The increase in yield is possible by way of application of cutting edge technologies such as biotechnology which requires large human resources and financial support that are not forthcoming at this stage. Dr B.S. DHILLON, Director of Research, PAU, Ludhiana
Pension commutationThe Punjab government has very rightly restored the pension commutation formula which was scrapped during September 2003. But the restoration has been made effective from October 31, 2006, which is causing injustice to the pensioners who retired between September 2003 and October 31, 2006. These pensioners deserve a fair deal. The government must act fast and give them their well deserved right to ensure equality amongst its own employees. JOGINDER SINGH SHARMA,Talwara Township
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