The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Accepting ‘full responsibility’
PM’s statement would de-escalate CVC issue

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been true to his word in accepting before Parliament full responsibility for the ‘error in judgment’ in appointing Mr P.J. Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner in September last. His categorical assertion that the government respects the Supreme Court verdict (which had recently struck down the appointment) and would consider the guidelines given by it in appointing a new central vigilance commissioner should set at rest any apprehension that the executive and the judiciary are heading for confrontation. Considering that the appointment of Mr Thomas had been made on the basis of the approval of a committee comprising the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and the Leader of the Opposition with the last of these giving a dissenting note, it devolved on Dr Singh to set the record straight. It is a measure of his level-headedness that the Prime Minister did not stand on misplaced ego in accepting responsibility. That is indeed the hallmark of integrity.

The guidelines suggested by the Supreme Court as part of its ruling in the Thomas case must be followed in letter and spirit. While Leader of the Opposition must give reasons for dissent, it is equally incumbent on the Prime Minister and the Home Minister (as members of the selection panel) to give reasons for ignoring any such dissent. The court indeed rejected any veto power for the Leader of the Opposition, thereby turning down any suggestion of unanimity or consensus being necessarily insisted upon. Another significant recommendation is that the panel for CVC should not be restricted to civil servants only. With the stranglehold that the senior bureaucracy has on governmental decision-making, this would be a test for any government. Other recommendations like the emphasis on fairness and transparency merely amount to a reiteration of generally-accepted principles.

While the BJP has given indications that it will let things move, the Left walked out from the Lok Sabha on the ground that the Prime Minister ought to explain how the ‘error of judgment’ occurred. It is to be hoped that Parliament would now move ahead with important legislative business, putting this issue behind it.

Rehabilitating ex-militants
Innovative scheme, but prevent misuse

The Jammu and Kashmir government’s policy of allowing militants to start their life afresh if they abandon the destructive path has started paying off. Over 600 applications have been received from relatives and parents of militants who had sneaked into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for purposes of training, but now have a change of heart and want to come back home under the state’s rehabilitation policy announced in November last year. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has hinted that their requests may be granted after a close study of their cases. There are ways to find out the genuineness of all the applicants, who are prepared to resettle in their hometowns and villages with their wives and children.

The rehabilitation policy had evoked both appreciation and criticism when it was being drafted by the state government last year. Union Home Minister gave his full backing for the innovative idea whereas the BJP and some other political parties were opposed to giving any kind of concession to those who had joined the ranks of the nation’s enemies, but were now repenting their decision. Interestingly, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, now a Cabinet minister at the Centre, had also expressed his reservations about the policy, which, in his opinion, could lead to opening a Pandora’s box.

The truth, however, is that those who look at the rehabilitation policy without keeping their political glasses aside cannot see its advantages in the long term. There could be no better and peaceful way to weaken the militant forces having their control and command on the other side of the Line of Control. More than 600 youngsters who had taken to the path of militancy openly admitting their mistake will send a powerful message to the others to take to the path of reform. This can help make the misguided youth believe that militancy can solve none of the problems of Kashmir. Of course, each and every case must be considered on merit to prevent the policy’s misuse.

Thought for the Day

The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. — Alice Walker

ARTICLE

Oil war in Libya
Gaddafi’s tribal control skill on test
by S.K. Sharma

Western powers have perfected the art of bringing about regime change during the last two decades. On some occasions, it is in the garb of a flower or colour revolution, organised by overt/covert operations, as it happened in Eurasia. At other times, direct military interventions are made to either ostensibly destroy the so-called weapons of mass destruction or for the promotion of democracy as it happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the hidden agenda remains the same — to take control of oil reserves or ensure its transit through a hostile country. Whenever it serves their strategic interests, non-democratic dictators/ kings are not only tolerated but also promoted for decades together and sometimes dumped unceremoniously when the situation so demands. The end result remains the same — a trail of blood bath, where thousands of innocent people are killed and a sham democracy is established under the patronage of the invading army. Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, etc, are the cases in point.

What is happening in Libya currently appears to be a re-enactment of the drama that unfolded before the invasion of Iraq. The main villain this time is Colonel Gaddafi and the ploy is the saving of innocent population from massacre. While the real reason seems to be rooted in the need for controlling around 46.4 billion barrels of oil reserves of Libya, the largest in Africa. In addition, Libya also has 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. Recent new discoveries will substantially raise these estimates. Libya produces 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, which is 2 per cent of the total production in the world. It also produces more than a thousand billion cubic feet of gas per year. Nearly 80 per cent of Libya’s oil reserves are in the Sirte Basin which is the bastion of the Gaddafi clan. The other main fields of Ras Lanuf and Sarir are being protected by neutral factions. Rebels control some oilfields and pipelines.

A million-strong Warfalla tribe from western Libya is in the forefront to oust Gaddafi’s regime. It is centered in the town of Az Zintan, south of Tripoli, and had earlier played an important role in the failed 1993 coup. It is supported by a number of other tribes. In terms of resources and numbers, this alliance lacks the strength to oust Gaddafi from Tripoli and control the whole of Libya. They are dependent on Western powers for material and tactical support and also to save them from air attacks by Gaddafi’s air force.

This would explain the decision of the US to move its ships and planes closer to Libya and the intention of British Prime Minister David Cameron for creating a “no-fly” zone to protect the Libyan people from genocide unleashed by the Gaddafi regime. Western powers are trying to use their old strategy which they did by enforcing a no-fly zone in the oil-rich Kurdish area of Iraq for exploiting oil resources, by paying the tribal war lords in the areas, without entering into a formal conflict.

DEBKAfile’s military sources (Israel) have stated on its website that hundreds of US, British and French military advisers were dropped from warships and missile boats on February 24 at coastal towns of Benghazi and Tobruk in Cyrenaica, Libya’s eastern breakaway province. Their main aim seemingly is to consolidate the hold of rebels in this region with a view to ensuring the flow of oil from the fields and oil terminals under their control. This appears to be a prelude to bifurcate Libya so as to ensure the flow of oil and gas to Western countries.

The immediate flash point for this interference by Western powers could be the changes in the production sharing agreements in Libya under the EPSA - IV licensing round. This has reduced the share of oil output of Western oil companies up to half of what it was there initially. In addition, oil companies are required to make a commitment of fresh investment in exchange for an extension of the licence period (some up to 15 years). This has severely affected the profitability of oil companies.

Another reason could be to increase oil supply in view of tightening of the oil market due to the increase in world crude oil and liquid fuel consumption by an estimated 2.4 million bbl/d in 2010. This is the second largest annual increase in at least 30 years, and it is difficult for the existing suppliers to fill the gap between supply and demand. As a result, oil prices are escalating in the international market. Libya is the only country apart from Saudi Arabia which has the potential to increase its existing production level of oil from 1.8 million bbl to nearly 3 million barrels per day, a production level existing in the late 1960s in Libya, that too, at a much lower cost than in other countries.

However, the present international political scenario is different this time for military intervention. Russia and China with veto power have their own energy and strategic interests in Libya. They have refused to agree to the no-fly zone idea in the Security Council. France has also ascertained that humanitarian aid must be the priority in Libya rather than military action to oust Gaddafi.

Western countries have strange ways — they courted Gaddafi when they needed him and now paint him as a despot when it suites their interest. However, Gaddafi must get credit that under his rule Libya has made great strides, socially and economically, irrespective of the diverse pulls from tribes and clans. Women in Libya gained full liberty in work and in dress code, subject to family constraints. Life expectancy is in the seventies. The literacy rate is 88 per cent and education is free up to the college level and beyond. Nobody is homeless today — there were corrugated iron shacks during the pre-Gaddafi period. According to the World Bank, the per capita income in Libya is estimated at $12,000(2009), not a mean achievement by any standard. It is a country of young people with a median age 24.2.

Libya is one of the most tribal-dominated nations in the Arab world. The political landscape is shaped by clans and alliances through the maze of 140 tribes. The tribal structure has played a crucial role in the country’s history in resisting foreign dominance. Over one million people had died during the struggle to overthrow Italian colonisation from 1911 to 1932. Colonel Gaddafi has controlled the country for more than 40 years by his mastery of tribal management skill. His ability to maintain that skill will decide the future outcome of the present turmoil. Western powers should learn from earlier fiascos in Iraq and Afghanistan and should not destabilise another country, which will give a further boost to jihadi elements.

The writer, an Emeritus Professor, is a former Director, Energy Research Centre, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

MIDDLE

A toast for Women’s Day
by Parbina Rashid

THE first time I came to know about International Women’s Day was when I joined the Women’s Studies Research Centre at Gauhati University as a Research Assistant. We, at the centre, had organised a seminar on women empowerment on that day and I was assigned the duty of chaperoning the chief guest, Indira Miri, a popular social activist, to the venue.

I had the feeling of being the most burdened woman of the world that day because the venerable chief guest was frail and old and I was a nouveau driver. There were no margins for error.

Somehow, I managed to bring her safely and the seminar turned out to be a huge success. By the end of the day, I could even mull over Miri’s passionate lecture on women's issues. It is still etched in my memory.

Later, I had an opportunity to attend a similar function in Delhi, presided over by the then National Commission for Women head, Mohini Giri. The daughter of former President V.V. Giri impressed me with her illuminating observations on the social conditioning of the girl child. She explained how the women of India were still reeling under names like Hemlatas and Premlatas ('lata' means a creeper that needs the support of a solid trunk to grow) that conditioned their young minds to remain in the shadow of their menfolk. I vowed never to saddle my daughter with such a name if I ever had one.

My profession has changed and so has the tenor of International Women’s Day celebrations. Now, I get invitations not for some drab seminars for which I would be required to drive around and listen to fiery old ladies, but for some social do's like the launch party of "Pink Wine" for women to toast the day and a panel discussion-cum-fashion show, yet another lucrative one for Satya Paul’s latest sari collection, which promises to celebrate womanhood.

So, let’s deviate a little from Clara Zetkin's original concept of International Women’s Day which was meant to celebrate the economic and socio-political achievement of women and re-run my first two events in the present-day context.

Even if a seminar on women’s empowerment happens, today's Indira Miri wouldn’t come in my rickety car. The event manager would only be too willing to hire a BMW or a Porsche for her. And Mohini Giri would not have to worry about Hemlatas or Premlatas as she would be addressing Parminder Kaurs and Harinder Kaurs sipping pink wine.

Come to think of it — visionaries as they were — could they visualise the day which has become as market driven as St Valentine’s? I hope they didn’t.

OPED WOMEN

The moment the doctor says, it is a girl, a struggle begins. For survival, for equal opportunities, and for not letting the social needs cut her to size. In a male sociological order where she is meant to play a peripheral role she is trying to change the matrix. Hundred years back the longest revolution for women’s liberation began which took the road to women’s emancipation.
From emancipation to consumerism
Urvashi Butalia

Driving past a coffee place near my home yesterday I noticed a special invitation out for women customers, for International Women’s Day. At home, the newspaper had a full page advertisement with similar special offers on jewellery to mark the same day. And then, as I started to look around, I saw it everywhere – community centres celebrating the day with meetings on cookery or healthy eating for women, the Delhi government organizing large seminars on women, a newspaper hosting a ‘summit’ at a luxury hotel featuring women who had probably never held a women’s liberation banner in their hands… if you did not know better, you would think that somehow, International Women’s Day had finally got its due.

And yet, I wonder how many of the women who will attend high profile seminars, or cookery classes or special all-women sessions at the gym, actually know – or indeed care about - the history of this day. Or, how many of the companies that use the moment to market special products are even interested in the history they are drawing on. But today, a hundred years after this day began to be marked as being dedicated to women, it’s worth remembering that history, and reminding ourselves that many of the issues women raised then, are still alive today.

The early years of the twentieth century were years of considerable political activity across the world – including in India where women were active in the movement for liberation and had begun to set up a number of women’s organizations. But it was in the West that women’s day began to be first marked – after early demonstrations in the United States. One of the most significant of these was a 1908 demonstration in NewYork with over 15,000 women demanding voting rights, better pay and shorter working hours.

It wasn’t until two years later though, that at an international conference for working women in Copenhagen, Clara Zetkin, leader of the women’s office of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, mooted the idea of an international women’s day. She suggested that this should be an annual event, that women in different countries in the world should use this day to press for their demands. Her suggestion found widespread approval and the idea of International Women’s Day took root. Over time, the day would become one where women took stock, came together to celebrate, to lobby, to share their campaigns and politics. And in some countries it began to be marked as a holiday where women downed tools so to speak, and took the day off.

The day itself came to be fixed later – in the early years, it varied between February and March, and over time, the 8th of March began to be identified as the day for women the world over – kept alive as a political day, by activists and academics within women’s movements. Until, that is, it was taken over by the market.

In India, we’ve been celebrating International Women’s Day for many years. Marked by large rallies and marches in different towns and cities, over the years the day has taken on different aspects in different places. Many events – and they are not always celebratory – have become more local, with groups concentrating on issues that are particular to their areas. But also, in several places, seminars and discussions, festivals of film and theatre have replaced rallies, and discussions on the internet and in blogs have become an important arena for drawing attention to this day. Indeed everywhere women activists have ensured that the day, and its events, retain a political edge and do not lose their feminist moorings. This despite the fact that a day on which demands of various kinds were addressed by the State, has in some ways been taken over by the State to centrestage its ‘achievements’.

What’s most disturbing though is the way in which women’s day has turned into an opportunity to market different products. Today, the market uses this day to focus on those very things that feminists have long raised questions about – cosmetics, jewellery, decorative items for the home. All of these put together do little or nothing to help women win what they so desperately need, their full rights as citizens. Instead, they do everything to turn attention away from the real issues at stake.

So this women’s day, let’s mark the centenary of this important day not by going off to buy the next diamond necklace at a discount, but by remembering that a decade into the twenty first century, there still remains much to be done. There is no other country in the world where female fetuses are killed in the womb in such large numbers as India. None where the law punishes a woman if a complaint made by her against her husband, or in a case of sexual harassment, is judged to be false (and this can happen often in a country where the judiciary and police are so deeply anti-woman). None where rapists are routinely acquitted even if the rape is proved ‘because they have their whole lives before them’ – as if the woman’s life did not matter. None where the real face of poverty is still a woman: hungry, emaciated and worked to the bone, and yet resilient, strong and always ready for battle.

Today, international women’s day is on facebook, on twitter, there are websites dedicated to it, and soap and shampoo makers are furiously thinking up advertising campaigns that will draw on this day to sell their products. Perhaps it’s time for feminists to reclaim their day, to draw on its history, to remind themselves that even if much has been gained, there’s much still to do. It’s time to remind ourselves that we cannot afford to let up the pressure on the State and indeed on ourselves. It’s only when we see the results of this continued pressure, that the celebrations can begin. And one way of beginning them would be to do what our foremothers began with – to reassert the agenda of a social order where women are given their due in decision making!

(The author is director of Zubaan Books, an imprint of Kali For Women, the first feminist publication in India. She is a writer, publisher, historian and feminist.)

Woman Power: Reality check on a modern city
Neena Singh

Chandigarh does not carry the baggage of tradition or history, it was tailor-cut to suit modern aspirations and has evolved differently from all other cities in the country. The city prides itself on its status as “one of the best cities to live in” with highest bank density, highest car ownership etc, despite the boom in migrant population over the last few years. The literacy rate in the city is at 81 per cent, yet the sex ratio stands at 777 females to 1000 males -the worst in the country. Why does this happen in a modern city?

In a city of pronounced prosperity and culture, are girls not treated at par with boys? The lack of logic behind this phenomenon will baffle sociologists. A city where girls and boys seem to be having fun, study, excel and work together, why is female foeticide so rampant? Sometimes, one feels that behind many of these big houses where status is measured in ‘kanals’ and the number of the sector one resides in, people are still living with mindsets of medieval male superiority such as:

n A girl does not carry forward the family name

n Her marriage can be a financial burden

n After marriage the family property will pass to her husband

n She can be a victim of dowry

n She is never safe from crimes against women

n Boy’s birth has higher social sanction

n The in-laws pressurize for pre-natal ultrasound scans etc

Are we truly educated and cultured? The irony is that many doctors/nurses are a party to this feudal mind-set despite higher education. If we believe in gender equality in our country, then statistically over 1 billion population of our country should have 528 million women, whereas we are at 496 million - where are the missing 32 million women? Some are never born and some die prematurely because they are not allowed to live, or, are not cared for to survive!

In our work with the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan centers, medical check-ups are conducted on children from disadvantaged and economically underprivileged families in the age group of 6-14 years, and 80 per cent girls are found anaemic and malnourished. On the basis of this our recommendation for folic acid tablets has now been supplemented with the mid day meal being provided by the Administration. A study conducted on 3-6 year old children of 145 Anganwadis in the slum areas of Chandigarh revealed malnutrition rate of 60 per cent among girls was much more higher than the boys.

In a city of such developed infrastructure, is there a forum or platform for women to get together, network and form action groups to fight against the social ills against women? There are so many laws for prevention of crime against women but where is the awareness and the awakening, or the institutions which could spread this actively? A city becomes beautiful and cultured not by concrete and mortar or by organising musical soirees, but, by providing equal dignity to female gender. The city has a strong need for such a forum which corporates/NGOs could fulfill by providing legal and moral support to women especially those belonging to the economically weaker sections.

The working women in Chandigarh are aware and are much more empowered than her rural counterparts because they are financially independent. However, the urban woman of today finds herself stretched in different directions. From the clutches of dowry –which rested on the greed of the other, to the lure of the market, that brings greed and compromise to her own doorstep, seem to weaken her own stand. In the race for consumerism whether cosmetics, jewellery, garments or luxury goods, hyped on television and print media, many women of substance are losing their own identity. They seem to have lost the freedom of choice for the bonding of money and are being pulled into a typhoon of consumerism and greed. The confusion has resulted in an undue focus on personality and grooming at the cost of substance. Like Alice in Wonderland, many women seem to have lost their way in a market place.

(Neena Singh is Trustee, Bharat Prakarsh Foundation, Chandigarh)

Some of the global United Nation themes used for International Women’s Day to date:

2011: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women

2010: Equal rights, equal opportunities: Progress for all

2009: Women and men united to end violence against women and girls

2008: Investing in Women and Girls

2007: Ending Impunity for Violence against Women and Girls

2006: Women in decision-making

2005: Gender Equality Beyond 2005: Building a More Secure Future

2004: Women and HIV/AIDS

2003: Gender Equality and the Millennium Development Goals

2002: Afghan Women Today: Realities and Opportunities

2001: Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflicts

2000: Women Uniting for Peace

1999: World Free of Violence against Women

1998: Women and Human Rights

1997: Women at the Peace Table

1996: Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future

1975: First IWD celebrated by the United Nations