The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Cricket in the dark
HP has to set it right, sans vendetta

THE nightly takeover of properties of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) by the state government has overshadowed the various disputes and controversies surrounding the manner in which the sports body had assumed ownership of public land. A case is clearly made out for investigation into the roundabout way in which former BJP Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur had gone about creating the association, getting plots leased in its favour at nominal cost and procuring clearances to build stadiums and a commercial hotel on them, all when the BJP was in power. However, in its hurry to act against Thakur — who only days before had offended the government by creating a ruckus at the state Vigilance Bureau office — the Congress government has made its actions look suspect.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has reason to harbour a personal grudge against Dhumal (he faced cases during BJP rule), but overt display of vendetta will rob his decisions of a sense of legitimacy, besides hurting the state’s development in the long run. What needs to be done is a thorough investigation of the manner in which properties were handed over to the HPCA. This has to happen through proper agencies such as the VB, as is already being done. If the cause is right, the government need not try and circumvent due procedure, however tedious it may seem.

The HPCA had taken over a lot of prime property in the state, and put it to restrictive use, primarily organised cricket. While this gave it a major source of revenue, it paid little to the government or for the larger cause of sport in the state, the stated purpose of leasing it land. Given its topography, Himachal has been lagging in sports for the simple reason that the youth have access to very few grounds. Commandeering what little is there for cricket alone is not fair. However, in its zeal to ‘set things right’, the state government must not undo the achievement already made by the state on the international cricket map. Promote it; this time within the ambit of propriety.

Missing painting
Is police equipped to track antique theft?

IT took the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to jolt Punjab police into taking some action for the theft of an antique. The 1895 painting of the erstwhile Maharaja of Faridkot that had disappeared from the official residence of a judicial officer of Faridkot, in September 2012, has reappeared in a London art market. Had it not returned into the public sphere, perhaps the police would not have woken up to the need to trace its track.

Secondly, what was a painting of such antiquity doing in the residence of a judicial officer when the government has established museums to preserve and showcase antiques? This is not the first time that precious antique art worth millions has crossed international borders, while our police had conveniently closed the case.

It is ironical, on the one hand the Sikh community worldwide is clamouring to have the artefacts taken away by the British and other colonisers during their reign to be returned to Punjab, especially the Kohinoor and other artefacts that belonged to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. On the other hand, the heritage monuments and artefacts already under the government care have either been plundered or lie neglected. It is believed, if the artefacts remain close to or embedded in the culture of their origin, they benefit a larger community. But, may it be antique art or other precious artefacts, successive governments have failed to show sincere efforts to protect and preserve Punjab’s heritage.

A visit to any of the museums in Punjab would introduce one to the rich heritage of the land showcased under dusty and even broken glass cases. The basic practice of keeping updated catalogues and providing proper signage is not adhered to in these museums, security and insurance of the precious artefacts is a different question. Police as well as the officials concerned are ill-equipped in understanding the worth of antiques and the heritage value of such items. Once lost, they lack training in tracking the organised crime of stolen antiques. We seek help from Interpol because we don’t value our own heritage enough to protect it.

Thought for the Day

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

— George Bernard Shaw

ARTICLE

Getting worse, not better
Let Coalgate investigations proceed under SC supervision
by BG Verghese

THE Coalgate affair like much else has got worse, not better. Even as the Prime Minister was in Russia and China on important missions, vicious personal attacks were mounted on him by the BJP and others. These followed the CBI’s wanting to question Dr Singh as he was holding charge of the Coal Ministry in 2005. Further, the then Coal Secretary, P.C.Parakh, had written a letter to the Cabinet Secretary alleging mischief in coal allocations by a powerful political “mafia” within the Ministry. Parakh had thereafter met the PM who had prevailed on him not to resign, hinting at coalition compulsions (probably in reappointing the tainted JMM leader, Shibu Soren, to the ministry).

Questions arise. Who leaked the letter? Everything leaks and, while obsessive secrecy and coverup are undesirable, confidentiality has simply ceased to exist. This is a dangerous trend as governance and diplomacy cannot be conducted in the market place. That is the road to anarchy. Brash politicians and sections of irresponsible media simply have no time for such niceties, whatever the cost to standards and values. Further, instead of awaiting due process, immediate pronouncement of presumptive guilt is to conduct kangaroo courts and indulge in trial by the Press. This is not to deny blemishes in conduct on the part of anybody or to condone fraud but to protect the system from incoherence and collapse. The PM has said he is open to interrogation. Let investigations proceed under Supreme Court supervision in the current Coalgate matter.

Incidentally, the loud-mouthed sceptics and critics who had scoffed at a “lame duck” Prime Minister’s ability to negotiate on equal terms with his Russian and Chinese hosts were once again proved wrong, as they were on the PM’s earlier meetings with Obama and Nawaz Sharif. And to attribute Dr Singh’s steadfast efforts to negotiate India’s position in a fast-changing international scenario to a vain striving to fine-tune his “legacy” is poppycock. The new agreement with China is a step forward and something to build on. If China persists with stapled visas for Arunachalis, we have referred to the South China Sea as the West Philippines Sea in a recent joint communiqué issued in Manila.

Meanwhile, at home, the slanging match between NarendraModi and Rahul Gandhi and their raucous cheer leaders has touched a new low in tone and vulgarity. Both are probably losing votes and scoring own-goals. Rahul certainly did so by citing unnamed intelligence sources as telling him that the ISI is seeking out Muslim youth affected by the Muzaffarnagar riots thus suggestively targeting the wider Muslim Indian community as potential fifth-columnists. This was followed up with the sob-story of his readiness to face martyrdom from terrorist attack in the Gandhi family tradition. This is great Bollywood stuff!

In underlining the BJP/SanghParivar’s scarcely disguised effort to induce communal polarisation as a poll stratagem in all his harangues, Rahul needs to realise that he is guilty of reducing the 2014 election campaign to an unhealthy dharamyudh. If the BJP’s saffron shows, Congress secularism is a crude vote-banking sham as witnessed by its backing the utterly ridiculous Unnao gold digging at the behest of a so-called sant selling superstition for salvation, a campaign now backed by a UPA minister asking for diggings at two more sites as the Sant has had more dreams.

The BJP, driven by the elements of the Parivar, is not merely practising muscular communalism but also theorising sectarianism. Dattatreya Hosabale, the RSS joint secretary used the occasion of the organisation’s executive meeting in Kochi last week to call on Hindus to breed more children in order to correct the demographic shift in favour of Muslims that has been occurring over the years. He urged Hindus to review their stance on family planning norm and shift from a one-child to a three-child norm so that there is a sufficiency of Hindu youth to join the armed forces to ensure border security and counter Muslim extremism, a menace that the executive condemned in a special resolution.

How does the BJP associate itself with such arrant nonsense that is both statistically misleading in terms of trends and politically retrograde? This is a blatantly communal message and an anti-development theorem. Someone must explain how this fits into Modi’s “Gujarat development model”. But communal divisiveness is built into the Parivar’s ideology. Hence the over-zealous drive to prevent conversion, real or imagined, and the totally perverse fight against what the zealots call “love jihad”. The continuing caste oppression of Dalits is a huge social blot that the Parivar, BJP and Dharam Sansad have done little to ameliorate.

Recently, all 60 Dalit families in Hadmatiya village near Junagadh in Modi’s Gujarat converted to Buddhism as they were denied temple-entry, their children were made to eat separately at school and they could not get barbers to give them a hair-cut and shave. In the neighbouring Kodinartaluka of Gir Somnath district, about 200 Dalit families converted to Buddhism on October 13. This has attracted an inquiry by the District Collector as “mass conversion” is deemed illegal without due permission of the administration under the Freedom of Religion Act, 2008. Modi’s Gujarat is marching backwards. Is this development?

All sorts of other strange things are happening around us. In response to Mulayam Singh’s edict that SP ministers/leaders must ensure electoral victories for party candidates in the upcoming elections, Geeta Singh, a high party functionary has complained that, unlike in Mulayam’s time, officials “do not give us weightage” in getting their work done. “Fear of the authorities among officials is missing”. What is this but a plea for subversion of governance by political freebooters?

On a petition among others by that habitual busybody, the Press Council Chairman, Markandey Katju, the Central Government is examining whether Sanjay Dutt should be granted a remission in his jail term for his role in the 1993 Mumbai rail blasts. The man has already been treated with consideration by the Court but simply cannot earn remission merely because he is a good chap and did some foolish things as a callow youth. This trivialisation of justice by people who should know better is deplorable and it is disturbing that the Government should give ear to such special pleading.

Then, short shrift should be given to the AIDMK-Tamil Nadu Assembly plea that India boycott the forthcoming CHOGM in Colombo and seek Sri Lanka’s expulsion from the Commonwealth for atrocities against Tamils. Fair elections have been held in the Northern Province and were won hands down by the Tamil National Alliance. This has created the basis for forward movement on other Tamil demands for autonomy. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu “sentiment” is one-sided and misplaced. It is forgetful of the enormous damage the LTTE has inflicted on India and on the Tamils in Sri Lanka as a ruthless, stop-at-nothing, terrorist organisation. This is not to defend violations of human rights or atrocities but to base judgements on balanced perspectives. The Centre should not yield to Tamil Nadu pressure on the basis of anti-Sinhala chauvinism. Matters in Sri Lanka are moving towards a resolution. Let us not tip the apple cart.

MIDDLE

Mackenna’s Gold and other dreams
by Rajnish Wattas

Yesterday I had a dream. There was gold buried in our backyard beneath the old papaya tree. This was a godsend. Firstly, the tree never bore any fruit and, secondly, I hate papayas. The epiphany was to be my game-changer. No more false promises of a gold necklace for my wife on birthdays, dhanteras, karva chauths or wedding anniversaries. I woke up all excited and shared the secret with her. “Forget the jewellery, how many kilos of onions will it get?” She had replied with her usual dampener to all my brain waves. And added accusingly, “How many did you have last night?”

I was not deterred. After all, everyone else was digging around for gold in the country, why not me? Getting golden dreams was not the sole preserve of sadhus and holy men of Unnao only — even non-believers and nationalists in a secular India, had as much a right to nocturnal glitter.

“I have a dream,” I thundered to all our domestic helps. The cook was not moved and returned to the steaming daal in the pressure cooker. But the gutka-chewing maali was among the believers of the bait. He too could do with some extra cash to fulfil his own dreams of buying a new bicycle and an year’s supply of his favourite tipple. We started digging after a brief prayer to the oracles of Athens and Unnao. As the morning sun’s rays began to fall on the papaya tree and at the hour its shadow fell precisely on the small mound in the vegetable patch — where only an occasional kaddu sprouted during the monsoon— it was a sure sign from the stars. Perhaps, like the spirits in the Western classic Mackenna’s Gold guided Omar Sharif, we too were being shown the map to the hidden gold.

Digging deeper and deeper, patiently and carefully — as one must while excavating buried treasures so as not to harm the precious antiquities — we soon hit upon some metallic sounds! Panting with excitement and impatiently scratching the last remaining layers of loose earth with our bare hands, a sheet of cast iron sheet mysteriously began to etch out beneath the soil. Frenetically blowing it away—we found a rusted lid. Surely it was the mandatory lid put on top of all buried treasures by the trusted royal guards, to hide them from future robbers and buccaneers.

Alas, it turned out to be just an abandoned manhole cover, and what lay beneath did not quite require archaeological expertise to fathom. Disappointed, we quickly put the lid back on the goo lying beneath, for what was foolishly mistaken for gold. The manhole cover was not even of the famous Le Corbusier heritage vintage of Chandigarh, that sold for huge fortunes in France and America! For the coming Diwali, my best bet now is on appeasing goddess Lakshmi or play reckless teen patti. But I will never ever stop dreaming of fortunes.

OPED — WOMEN

Disappearing women from the labour force
Universalisation of education and a growing middle-class should have improved female participation in the Indian work force. But, a reverse trend is observed due to multiple factors
Vinoj Abraham

Women lack social autonomy to join the work force. Thinkstock photo

THE results of the recent National Sample Survey on Employment and Unemployment for 2011-12 in India reconfirms the trend of declining number of females in the labour force that started to surface since 2004-05. That this decline is the culmination of a long term process of gradual withdrawal of women from the labour force, at least for the last quarter of a century, had however remained understated. The rural female labour force participation rate (LFPR), the proportion of women in the labour market to total women population, had been declining by and large continuously since the first quinquennial National Sample Survey in 1972-73 from 32 percent to 18.1 percent in 2011-12. For urban female the LFPR had been stagnant in the extremely low and narrow range of 12.6 percent and 13.4 percent for nearly three decades starting from 1983. Also the share of females in the labour market had declined from 28 percent to 24 percent during 1983 to 2011-12.

Why did such de-feminisation of labour force occur? Long term data shows that de-feminisation of labour force is negatively associated with levels of income of the households. Higher the level of income lower is the female participation rates in the labour market, whether we take a cross-sectional or inter-temporal view. While the female participation in unpaid domestic activities shows a positive association with level of household income. The declining labour participation, with rising income levels may be a strategy to reduce the ‘double burden’ of paid work and unpaid domestic activity among women. But to reduce the double burden why do women choose to withdraw from labour market when withdrawal from domestic activity is also a plausible solution, theoretically?

Stigma and social status

The historical process in patriarchal societies has attributed gender specific roles wherein most unpaid domestic activities are assigned as women’s work. Societies incentivise such roles through the social mechanism of valorizing domestic activities and stigmatising paid work among women, such that social mobility is linked to the gender roles played out. Rising income levels apparently provide women options of choosing between paid and unpaid work. Yet, even after considering the opportunity costs of wages and probability of finding jobs, the household decision may be for women to withdraw from the labour force responding to the incentives for improving social status. Women thus engage in status production for the household more intensely by withdrawing from paid labour and expending more on domestic activities that produce status such as child care, health care, religious activities etc. This enhances status for the household and in turn ensures economic security for women. Women, especially those belonging to the richer sections of the population, both in the rural and urban areas entering only pure domestic activities and not the labour market probably point towards stigma associated with paid work. With the rise in income level, the stigma imposed by the society may be more stringently followed.

Yet, with the rise in income there is no particular increase in the allied domestic activities that include engaging in free collection of goods, sewing, tailoring, weaving, etc. for household use. This may partly be attributed to the improvement in household amenities it may also be indicative of another gender norm, invisibility in public spaces. This receding preference for allied activities that require public interaction is particularly visible among the urban and the high income rural women.

Intervention of education

Between 1983 and 2009-10 the share of female children in the age group 5-15 attending school had increased from 29 percent to 85 percent in the rural areas and from 62 percent to 92 percent in the urban areas. Very important public interventions aimed at improving education among females such as Sarv Shiksha Abiyan, National Programme for Education of Girls at an Elementary Level, Kasturbha Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Mahila Samakhya Programme etc. have been in place, some of these programmes running at least since mid 1980s. These programmes and policies may have been instrumental in increasing the participation of female children in educational activities up to secondary school level. For the age group 16-20 also the participation rate in education increased from 4.3 percent to 34.7 percent in rural areas and from 21.7 percent to 58.5 percent during 1983 to 2009-10. With the rise in educational attendance among this age group, a large share of young adult females had been successful in postponing their entry into the labour market and domestic activities. While education participation seems to increase with income levels in a linear manner during 1983, we see that the income based difference is phased out, and by 2009-10, the gap between the lowest income decile group and highest income decile group in all age groups of rural and urban areas had declined and had become more or less uniform across income groups. This implies that female education is increasingly becoming universal in nature, and independent of their income levels females were engaged in educational pursuits.

Even in the upper age group of 16 to 25 we find income based convergence in educational participation, but to a low level of female participation, because of the absence of incentive for women to pursue higher education. Higher education remains unproductive for them. Education participation is converging to a low level of around 22 to 25 percent across all income groups by 2009-10. Educational pursuits for the young adult females above 15 years did not increase much in the later period. Moreover, even if the income levels are high, share of women in educational pursuits remained at the education participation levels of that of the middle income level. In other words, there was not much of incentive to follow higher educational pursuits among females. Even in middle-income and high-income households women’s education beyond the age of 15 was not encouraged, whether it was urban areas or rural areas. Only school education seems to be considered worthwhile educational pursuit but not beyond school, universally.

No social autonomy for women

Education is widely regarded as one of the key tools of empowerment of women that enhances their agency and autonomy. The change in preference among the female children and young adult females towards education should essentially prepare females for entry into the labour market equipped with more years of education and skills than their preceding generations. During the period 1987 to 2009-10 the LFPR for the highest educated, graduates and above, declined along with all other levels of education, including non-literate while female educational attainment and participation in domestic activities moved in the same direction. The above analysis throws up apparently a paradoxical situation. On the one hand female education up to school level seems to be valued as expressed through high participation rate in school education, on the other hand, the LFPR trends suggest that higher education seem to incentivise women to withdraw from the labour market. Education, arguably a liberating process, per se, does not guarantee entry to the labour market for the educated. Why is women’s education encouraged if entry to labour market is discouraged?

Three lines of argument support this trend. Firstly, studies do point out that education among women does not necessarily increase their ‘autonomy’ in substantive ways, rather it may only lead to modernisation and internalisation of patriarchal norms. Secondly, the withdrawal of women from labour market across all levels of education, especially the most conspicuous withdrawal of women with educational attainment of graduation and above probably point towards discouraged worker effect owing to various forms of discriminations within the labour market including occupational segregation, wage discrimination and social stigma towards women’s work. Thirdly, it may also be due to the gendered patterns of parental investment in education. Women are encouraged to enter general arts and science education, which have much lower labour demand, compared to technical and professional education. But technical and professional education also incurs substantial costs compared to general arts and science education and therefore maybe preferentially allocated to males in the society. Moreover, education for women in patriarchal societies may be aimed at enhancing the women’s status of reproduction capacity and hence may not require technical and professional education.

Gender bias at work place

In this backdrop of withdrawal of women from the labour market with rising income and education, the residual that lie within the labour market do so, under various conditions of duress. Segments of the female population that suffer multiple vulnerabilities of class and caste hierarchy, that are excluded from the benefits of economic growth may remain within the labour force, relegated to informalised jobs in the subsistence fringe. Preliminary evidence show that landlessness and land marginalisation encourages women’s entry in the labour market as casual labour and women’s work among poor vulnerable agricultural households is increasingly being transacted through the labour market, than as unpaid family labour. This segment of the female labour class forms a reserve army of labour, probably being tapped through various flexible accumulation strategies such as putting-out system and home based production.

The writer is Associate Professor, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram

Education failed to change patriarchal norms

From 1983 to 2009-10, the share of female children in the age group 5-15 attending school increased from 29 percent to 85 percent in the rural areas.

In urban areas it increased from 62 percent to 92 percent.

nFor 16-20 age group also the participation rate in education increased from 4.3 percent to 34.7 percent in rural areas.

For urban area it increased from 21.7 percent to 58.5 percent.

nYet, labour participation for rural women declined from 32 percent in 1972-73 to 18.1 percent in 2011-12.

Urban female LFPR has been stagnant in the extremely low and narrow range of 12.6 percent and 13.4 percent for nearly three decades, starting from 1983.

Share of females in the labour market has declined from 28 percent to 24 percent during 1983 to 2011-12.

Working woman and family status

The female labour force participation rate had been declining for quarter of a century.

The share of females in the labour force also dwindled considerably during the last twenty five years

Female labour participation is declining along with rising incomes in the households and increasing engagement with domestic activities.

The declining labour participation is a strategy to reduce the ‘double burden’ of paid and unpaid work among women.

Societies incentivise gender roles by valorizing domestic activities and stigmatising paid work among women such that social mobility is linked to the gender roles played out.

Women engage in status production for the household more intensely by withdrawing from paid labour and expending more on domestic activities that produce status such as child- care, health- care, religious activities etc.

School education might be focused on efficient transfer of patriarchal values and production of status goods.