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| Wednesday, June 21, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Shopping
anti-terrorist kit |
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DEBATE
ON EDUCATION POLICY
Writers’
block
Drinking
out of bottles to avoid drug rape
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Shopping anti-terrorist kit HOME Minister L.K. Advani is heading a high-powered team shopping for knowhow and technology to fight terrorists. The composition of the delegation proclaims this loudly. He has taken with him the chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau and the CBI and the Union Home Secretary. Also the places he has visited or to visit again underline this angle: Israel, the home of the dreaded Mossad (four days), France which houses Interpol (two days) and England, famous for its Scotland Yard (three days). The Minister has modelled his thinking and action on the legendary Sardar Patel and right now his one-point agenda is to get the better of a variety of violent elements in Kashmir, the North-East and Andhra Pradesh. His ultimate goal is to bow out of public life after making India safe for Indians. It is this that has set him on this highly unusual trip — hunting for ideas to neutralise “terrorists” and to cripple their capacity to wreak violence. Given to himself and a better political atmosphere, he would have loved to confine himself to visiting Tel Aviv, and perhaps for a longer period. This is not only because of his party’s idealised view of the Jewish country for at least five decades but also because of his conviction that it is the only country which has faced terrorist threat for a long time and has successfully overcome it without outside help and even in the face of outside criticism. This he made clear on his arrival at Paris on Monday. He said Mossad is the centrepiece of the Israeli success and it would be the centrepiece of Indo-Israeli cooperation in fighting terrorism and insurgency. This will make many Indians uncomfortable, not because they wistfully look back at the “isolate Israel” credo of the sixties and the seventies. They realise that the world has moved on and it is not wise to be trapped in the past. But for a totally different reason. Knowhow and technology
are not ideology-neutral. What this means is that a
country develops its own knowhow and technology to
further its strongly-held policies like all those
consumer goods of the USA and the concentration camps of
Nazi Germany. Israel perfected its technique and
electronic devices keeping the Palestine militants in
mind. And it never concealed its belief that they are its
life-long enemies and it will seek peace only on its
terms. It is its position even today. (How fatal this
tunnel vision could be was evident one November evening
in 1995 when a theology student walked up to the then
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and pumped a few bullets
into him.) India cannot pursue this line of thinking; its
rebels are its own people and they will mend their ways
one day and return to normal life, as some youngsters of
Punjab have done. This enemy-forever mindset is not the
only major difference. Israel had infiltrated into the
Palestinian ranks despite the general perception of the
Arabs that the Jewish country is their enemy number one.
And this is the biggest victory of Mossad and as Indian
experience shows, the various intelligence agencies are
more adept at alienating sympathisers. This is in sharp
contrast to the 1971 scoop when a RAW contact in Pakistan
warned of war three hours before the first Pakistan jet
crossed the border on December 3. It shows, that this
country has the knowhow, only it has fallen into disuse.
Another crucial factor in Mossad’s success is the
employment of extreme ruthlessness in liquidating the
“terrorists”. It would sneak into neighbouring
countries to kill “enemies”, blast Palestinian
houses on mere suspicion of terrorist activity, fell
olive trees to remove a possible shelter to militants and
occasionally mow down a whole village to punish rebels.
Mr Advani will oppose, if not feel revulsion at, everyone
of these measures because they go against the grain of
Indian culture and thought. Admitted, there is no
compromise on fighting terrorism but that laudable end
does not sanction any means. |
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THE Calcutta High Court verdict in what can be called "Shah Bano II" should be seen as an attempt to give a liberal interpretation to the provisions of the Muslim Women {Protection of Rights on Divorce} Act 1986. The Supreme Court ruling in the Shah Bano case was overturned by Rajiv Gandhi under pressure from Muslim fundamentalists. The apex court had rightly given primacy to the secular laws of the State over Muslim personal laws for granting relief to Shah Bano, a 75-year-old divorcee, who claimed maintenance from her former husband even beyond the period of "iddat", during which Muslim women are not allowed to remarry. The upshot was the introduction of the Muslim Women Act, which sought to take away from divorced women the right granted to them by the highest judiciary of the country. But the Calcutta High Court judgement has effectively proved that if there is the "judicial will", there is a "judicial way" for granting relief to petitioners within the provisions of the law. The current dispute arose when Shakila Parveen was divorced by her husband through the derided practice of "triple talaq". He refused to give her a reasonable amount of money as maintenance allowance beyond the period of "iddat". Shakila went to court with the request that she was entitled to maintenance from her former husband until such time as she does not remarry. The lower court ruled that Shakila Parveen was not entitled to alimony beyond the period of "iddat". There are two ways for looking at the implications of the Calcutta High Court judgement. The liberals would welcome it, but the orthodox elements, which are usually more vocal, may raise the kind of stink which resulted in the birth of the Muslim Women Act. The Calcutta High Court has interpreted "iddat" as the period between divorce and remarriage of an Indian Muslim woman. In other words, a Muslim
woman who does not remarry would henceforth be entitled
to a lifetime of alimony. Shah Bano too had demanded
maintenance beyond the period of "iddat"
because at 75 she was unlikely to marry again. It is a
progressive judgement couched in archaic language. For
instance, Mr Justice Basudev Panigrahi, who delivered the
momentous verdict, extended the period of
"iddat" to "the time the divorced
Mohammedan woman remarries". The use of the
expression "Mohammedan" for Muslims was
encouraged during the colonial era for mischievous
reasons. It is a trivial issue in the context of the
larger objective which the judgement seeks to achieve for
divorced Muslim women. However, to be forewarned is to be
forearmed. The political leadership should brace itself,
by way of abundant precaution, for a backlash from Muslim
fundamentalists - similar in fury and content to the one
which forced Rajiv Gandhi to take a patently regressive
step. A secular State cannot afford to follow the policy
of appeasement for keeping a section of the people in
good humour, that too for all the wrong reasons. Of
course, Shakila Parveen's former husband may decide to
appeal to the Supreme Court against the verdict. But who
can stop those who treat Muslim personal laws as sacred
and absolute from finding for themselves business which
may earn them 15 minutes of debatable fame? The liberals
would see the verdict as an attempt by the judiciary to
give to Muslim women the dignity and respect denied to
them through the misinterpretation of personal laws. In
fact, the political leadership should seize the
opportunity to lay down the general principle that
personal laws of any group or community cannot be allowed
primacy, in the event of dispute, over the laws of the
land. |
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HIMACHAL Pradesh has taken a welcome lead by introducing an insurance scheme for poor women of the state. The Matri Shakti Beema Yojana is to benefit as many as 5.72 lakh women from 2,86,447 identified families living below the poverty line, for whom it may very well be the safety net. Being poor is in itself a curse, which gets further compounded if one happens to be a woman in distress. In case of calamities like death, permanent disablement and loss of limbs or the death of the husband, the women will get Rs 25,000 each. The annual financial liability of the state by way of premium will be only Rs 48.69 lakh. Since the scheme is to benefit so many indigent women, the financial burden does not amount to much and even a poor state like Himachal Pradesh can bear it. In fact, the idea is so promising that one wonders why it was not introduced much earlier. This also provides an ideal way to widen the insurance network. To its credit, the hill state has introduced several schemes in the past to benefit the poorest of the poor, which are an envy of far richer states. That is how things should be. Almost simultaneously, the Centre is introducing a comprehensive insurance scheme for people living below the poverty line that will benefit over one crore desperately poor families. Those covered under the Jana Shri Beema Yojana will have to pay a premium of Rs 200 per year. One member of each family will get a 50 per cent subsidy and thus will have to pay only Rs 100 per policy (even this premium can be paid by the state government). The other Rs 100 per year will be paid from the Social Security Fund (SSF), which has Rs 311 crore in its kitty. There will be a Rs 20,000 compensation for a natural death, Rs 50,000 for an accidental death or a permanent disability through an accident and Rs 25,000 for partial injury in a mishap. It has not been clarified but it is hoped that the Matri Shakti Yojana of Himachal Pradesh and the Jana Shri Yojana of the Centre will run simultaneously. There should be no grudge if certain unfortunate persons can get benefits from two different schemes. Good intentioned these
proposals are, it is also the government’s duty to
ensure that middlemen do not get to misuse them. They
have put paid to similar schemes like the old-age pension
in Haryana in the past. Only part of the money reaches
the intended beneficiaries. There have been many cases
where the officials charged money either to certify that
a person was above the prescribed age or to corroborate
that his or her income was below the laid down limit.
Even at the time of disbursement, there are some who
nonchalantly ask for a cut. Such bloodhounds prey on the
defenceless without any qualms. The government discharges
only half of its responsibility by launching a social
welfare scheme. The more onerous task is to ensure that
it is not hijacked by the enemies of the poor. The
situation turns all the more pathetic when many of the
beneficiaries happen to be illiterate, innocent and from
remote areas. |
DEBATE ON EDUCATION POLICY MANY states are engaged in the process of reviewing their education policies. Haryana is planning to introduce the English language right from class 1 and information technology at the secondary level. Another related policy decision is to handover primary education to panchayats. In Himachal Pradesh the new policy will aim at vocationalisation at eight, 10 and 12 classes. Information technology is to be introduced in secondary classes. The Union Government is also contemplating making the right to education a fundamental right. There is a proposal to make parents responsible legally for the compulsory education of their children. In almost half of the districts in the country, the World Bank-aided District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) is being run to decrease the dropout rate by making classroom teaching more interesting and also to motivate the teachers for better teaching. The targets for achieving universal primary education have been set, and different agencies of the government claim to achieve total literacy in a period ranging from eight to 20 years. Since the process of modifying education is under serious consideration it would be worthwhile to consider some of the fundamentals of education and incorporate them in the new policies. The primary aim of education is to prepare the citizens for the future. Therefore, education has to be related to the vision that we have for our society in the coming years. Primary education prepares children to achieve the long-term objectives of society whereas the target of higher education is to meet the present needs or the manpower requirements that society is likely to face in the next few years. Therefore, it would be useful to relate today’s policy to the futuristic vision society. All sectors of society, including the government, perform to achieve some common goals which are likely to lead to the realisation of the common vision that society has. The current trends in education have to be in consonance with the national goals so that the overall tuning of the future citizens is for the achievement of the societal goals and the realisation of the common vision. One of the scenes that we visualise of the futuristic society is that of information technology-based systems. When policy-framers stress on the introduction of information technology as a subject at school and college levels, the effort is to prepare the students to be the positive contributors in the functioning of information society. Unfortunately enough effort is not being made to specifically lay down the societal goals. Similarly the futuristic vision of society is also blurred. In the absence of these two factors the education policy modified or otherwise is like groping in the dark. If we perceive that in the very near future the common language of interaction in Haryana is going to be English, then the policy of introduction of English from class 1 seems to be appropriate. If, on the other hand, we wish that the students should become more communicative and articulate within society, more emphasis has to be laid on creating proficiency in the mother tongue and on treating English as the second language for tapping additional sources of knowledge at college and higher levels. May be, the right formulation is to lay more emphasis on learning the mother tongue upto class IV and then introduce English. Child psychologists, linguists and researchers of child education will be able to provide data-based counselling on whether it is appropriate to start teaching two languages to five-year-old children. The other option can be to teach one language, the mother tongue, for four years and then start teaching the other language, English. The decision should be based on scientific knowledge, and not on the consideration of emotional support for Hindi or English. Higher education is another area where a very serious review need to be undertaken. Whether by design or by accident the Planning Commission circulated and accepted a paper in which it was proposed that higher education should be treated as a non-merit subsidy. This means that all the students who get higher education, whether general education or professional, do not benefit society directly. According to this proposition, an engineer or a doctor or a manager or even a civil servant does not benefit society directly but gets benefited by receiving higher education. This hypothesis needs to be examined seriously. Our country is on the threshold of a technical revolution. The revolution has already taken some steps, and it is expected that it will accelerate its pace very soon and perhaps overtake even some of the developed nations. The entire base of this resurgence is professionally and technically qualified and trained manpower. Today the entire information technology industry in the USA is dependent upon Indian professionals. It has been estimated that if a wave of patriotism moves the Indians in the USA and if they decide to come back home, the entire edifice of the information technology industry there will collapse like a house of cards. Similar, but of a slightly lesser intensity, is the situation of Indian physicians and medical professionals in the UK. The move to create hurdles in the growth and development of higher education becomes suspect, a matter of conspiracy. Looked at from another angle, higher education in our country has been a highly subsidised system so far. For about 40 years after Independence the elite of society got benefited and educated their kith and kin, making use of the government-supported higher education system. But today’s elite prefers institutes and universities in foreign countries for higher education of their children. Moreover, the middle class and lower middle class people have also started staking their claim on institutes of higher learning. Realising this, bureaucrats and certain techno-administrators advocate that higher education should pay for itself. Already half of the seats in engineering colleges all over the country as also in medical colleges and other professional courses have become “paid seats”. Even the fee structure of the so-called open seats has been increased manifold. The University Grants Commission recommends a five-time increase in the fee. It seems those who prepare the policy framework for higher education do not want professional education to be in the reach of even the lower middle class people. Today a student with low merit can pay through his higher education, but an intelligent student who is not in a position to pay a higher fee is deprived of his right. This is not only unfair but also goes to lower the quality of the professionals that pass out from the engineering, medical and other professional colleges. The question is: is society not benefited if we produce more and better technologists, physicians, managers, media persons, teachers etc? No doubt, the individuals and their families will also be beneficiaries. But, ultimately, for the Indian society of the near future a strong base of better trained professionals is required. The same set of the elitist bureaucracy does not recommend any preventive measures when the engineers from the IITs and the managers from the IIMs either migrate to Europe and America or serve the multinationals in India. For the governance and management in India and for India these professionals, on whom lakhs of rupees have been spent, are not available. Instead, preventive steps are being taken to make higher education out of the reach for the poor and the not-so-rich. There is much noise being created for the universalisation of primary education. The concept in itself is noble but not without a serious fault. To give education to all children is essential, but to give the same education to all children is more important. At present primary education is being delivered at five levels. In municipal and government schools students do not have benches to sit on, writing boards are missing, teachers are either absent or non-performing or demotivated. Then there are privately managed schools in almost all the towns. They are also being established in big villages. These schools charge more fee than the government schools. They engage unqualified and untrained teachers, make them work very hard, but the quality of education remains wanting. Thirdly, there are organisations committed to education and these run schools in various parts of the country. These organisations are quality conscious and provide much better education than being given in the government and private schools. Some of these organisations are also propagating their own ideologies through the chain of schools. Then there is an entire chain of central schools where the quality of education can be called very good but normally the children of only Central Government employees are benefited by these schools. Lastly, there are so-called public schools which are not public by any logic. They are exclusive and expensive institutions, and the admission is based on the social status of parents. If we are aiming at the universalisation of such education, we are sowing the seeds of disparity right at the beginning. With this system of education, we cannot expect an egalitarian society where the basic principle of achievement is the equality of opportunities. When the enabling facilities are unequal the question of equal opportunities does not arise. Therefore, the issue of uniform education for all needs to be considered irrespective of the socio-economic status of the child. Every child must be educated in an identical and similar environment and the same kind of inputs must be given to all the children without any exception. This can be considered only if the future vision of society is that of a system of equals where there is no one more equal than others. The writer is
Professor and Dean, Faculty of Media Studies, Guru
Jambheshwar University, Hisar. |
Australia dithering on Fiji THE worst aspect of the thuggery in Fiji is that there is an element of “understanding” by its big neighbours (Australia and New Zealand) of the perceived fears and aspirations of native Fijians. Which is that Indo-Fijians might come to dominate the country and oppress the native Fijians. Therefore, even though George Speight’s methodology of gangland-style coup (threatening all his hostages with execution if he didn’t have his way) was wrong, his cause nonetheless was right. It led his sympathisers in Australia to separate the person from the cause. With such fine distinction, it seemed possible to bring about a “constitutional” resolution of the Fijian crisis. To this end, Canberra threw all its support behind President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara (now deposed) to “creatively” interpret the Fijian constitution. An Australian law academic in the university at Suva became his legal aide to reinterpret the constitution and draft the necessary legal documents. The need for such constitutional nitpicking was attributed to Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhary’s “abrasive” style, without regard to native Fijian sensitivities. Indeed, the Australian Press picked up Chaudhary’s so-called abrasive style as the be-end and end-all of his miseries, without actually specifying his acts of omission and commission. In any case, it defies all legal norms to justify a coup (however implicitly, by separating the cause from the person) to punish the elected government and the Indo-Fijian community for the presumed abrasive style of Prime Minister Chaudhary. Once Chaudhary was demonised as an insensitive and difficult leader unacceptable to indigenous Fijians, a constitutional alternative to his government didn’t seem all that unreasonable. Canberra, therefore, threw all its support behind President Mara, who made it quite clear that he had no intention of restoring the Chaudhary government, blaming him for Fiji’s political crisis, in the first place. Chaudhary was, therefore, really and truly condemned, even when his government was the victim of the most bizarre, but terribly dangerous, coup. But he was still needed for his “voluntary” resignation to make the “constitutional” transition to an interim government. However, he refused to oblige with his resignation, even after some serious bashing by his captors. Meanwhile, Australia’s Foreign Minister Downer continued to swear by constitutionality with President Mara at the centre. The latter, of course, continued to confabulate with the Great Council of (tribal) Chiefs under the chairmanship of Sitiveni Rabuka, the 1987 coup leader and the trend-setter. All of this was happening without any reference to Indo-Fijians, but still with the fiction of constitutionality. In his interviews on Australian television, Mr Downer largely avoided the question if constitutional restoration would mean the return of Mahendra Chaudhary’s government. The problem was supposed to be solved by Chaudhary’s resignation or by a parliamentary vote against his government, if President Mara could engineer all this. Which, we know, didn’t eventuate. George Speight was simply encouraged by such pusillanimity, and refused to be sidelined. Australia’s vacillation infected the USA, too, which regards the South Pacific region as Australia’s backyard. It was, therefore, quite happy to take its lead on Fiji from Canberra. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker was repeating the Australian script when demanding a return to a constitutional government and the release of the hostages. However, like Canberra, he avoided questions about the restoration of the Chaudhary-led government. He wouldn’t even call its overthrow a coup, describing Fiji being in “a real state of flux, and it is impossible to make a broad determination there”. The point to make here is that a regional heavyweight like Australia probably made things worse by sending mixed or weak signals to indigenous Fijian institutions and leaders. There is no suggestion here, though, that Australia was, in any way, behind George Speight’s coup. Indeed, according to reports, Canberra was caught off-guard. But once it had happened, Canberra simply wanted to contain it within the fig leaf of constitutionality. Within Australia, there is widely shared support for indigenous rights in Fiji. It probably has something to do with Australia’s own guilty conscience in regard to its own treatment of the Aboriginal people. Therefore, they would rather salvage some of it by saving indigenous Fijian from a perceived threat from the country’s ethnic Indian population. But this is a misreading of the situation. First, the Indo-Fijians are a minority, though a significant one at 43 per cent of the population. Second, 90 per cent or more of Fiji’s land is owned by indigenous Fijians and their ownership is guaranteed. Indo-Fijians simply work as tenant farmers on leased land. Even these leases are expiring. There is no knowing what will happen to them in the new political climate. Contrary to the general impression in Australia and elsewhere, the Indo-Fijians are not a wealthy minority exploiting the country’s indigenous people. If anyone is exploiting anyone in Fiji, it is the Australian and New Zealand corporate and business interests (and their US and British counterparts), working in cahoots with the indigenous Fijian political elite. These interests felt threatened by the Mahendra Chaudhary government. George Speight was under investigation for his corrupt business deals. If it had been allowed to run its course, many more powerful interests faced exposure. The problems with the “civilian” coup arose because George Speight refused to be “constitutionally resolved”. Australia, as the regional superpower in the South Pacific, could have played a more determined role. A case is made out that any strong action would have risked the hostages’ lives. It was certainly a factor. But it also became an excuse for doing nothing. George Speight and his men were in and out of the parliamentary complex (where the hostages were held) a number of times, and they could have been easily arrested. But when the guardians of law and order in Fiji were parleying with criminals like George Speight, it all turned into cruel mockery. The writer is
based in Sydney, Australia. |
Writers’
block THERE are times when my mind attains a state of complete nothingness which, I am told, is possible only for experienced practitioners of transcendental meditation (TM). I have been sitting at my desk for over an hour with a pencil in my hand and a sheet of ruled paper before me. I have been trying to find something to say in the hope that it will be read in this column, but not the ghost of an idea has entered my head on which I could expatiate. I envy those middle writers who, week after week, churn out very readable pieces with the dexterity of a conjuror producing rabbits out of a hat. George Bernard Shaw said that it is only in moments of inspiration that we get out a sentence. All the rest is padding. I can provide the padding but that sentence, born of inspiration, eludes me. I have read today’s paper from the first page to the last, skipping only the financial section, but not a single item of news has caught my eye which I could use as a subject for comment. I don’t go to parties any more so that I could record the impressions created in the mind of an octogenarian by some Sweet Young Thing dressed (or undressed) to kill. Nor has my wife had one of her periodical arguments with me. The rising mercury has left her singularly devoid of energy. Normally, one of our little tiffs is good enough for a paragraph or two bemoaning the sweet unreasonableness of women. So, the best I can do today is to take another look at what some famous writers have said about their craft. My reason for doing so is not entirely selfish. It is possible that the pearls of wisdom contained in their words may be of some use to those who, like myself, derive a tremendous thrill from seeing their names in print. Ogden Nash: I don’t deal in great social issues. The minor idiocies of humanity are my field. At least they are comments by a minor idiot or, maybe, a major idiot. Gibbon: The habits of correct writing may produce without labour or design the appearance of art and study. Somerset Maugham: I am by way of being a realist, and in the stories I write, I seek versimilitude. I eschew the bizarre as scrupulously as I avoid the whimsical. George Orwell: There are no rules in novel writing, and for any work of art there is only one test worth bothering about — survival. Orwell couldn’t
have said a truer word. There are dust-laden books in my
miniature home library that I take down from the shelves
again and again to savour yet again in thoughts, and
plots, of their authors. And I don’t mean only 20th
century writers like Maugham, Priestley, Howard Spring
and Kingsley Amis. I have forgotten the number of times I
have read and re-read The Pickwick Papers and Wuthering
Heights, or Kipling’s Plain Tales From The Hills. |
Drinking out of bottles to avoid
drug rape IN THE BARS and clubs of Merseyside in north-west England, women are giving up drinking out of glasses. They’re buying bottles — it’s safer that way. Between each sip, they keep a finger over the neck of the bottle. That way they can be sure no one is slipping anything into their drink. It’s not just Merseyside, of course. Our fear of drug-assisted rape, it seems, has taken on epidemic proportions. But has the crime itself? If the amount of media coverage it gets is any measure of its prevalence, there is justification for the alarm many young women feel. Drug rape is one of those subjects of which newspapers and documentaries cannot get enough: there’s something vilely irresistible about the idea of a single act being both a woman’s worst nightmare and a rapist’s ultimate fantasy. Earlier this month, writer and campaigner Andrea Dworkin wrote of her own experience of being drugged and raped in a European hotel. ``Rape with amnesiac drugs is new,’’ she wrote. ``This is foolproof rape. The gang that couldn’t shoot straight can do this kind of rape. You can do this hundreds of times with virtually no chance of getting caught.’’ Last month, there was the case of Kevin Cobb, a nurse who raped women after drugging them with a powerful sedative used in minor surgery. Before that there was DJ Richard Baker who was given four life sentences for a string of sex attacks — the pockets of his jacket were stuffed with pictures of unconscious naked women and packets of Rohypnol, the pills often associated with drug-assisted rape. In Merseyside there was a spate of attacks on women out for a drink who found themselves coming round, unable to remember events but with a used condom nearby. In one incident, a woman could not recall leaving the pub, but awoke in a field as she was being assaulted. The fear that already stalks Britain’s pubs, clubs and bars will be stoked up again with the publication of the Sturman report into drug-assisted sexual assault — the long-awaited report on the first detailed inquiry into drug rape. The Home Office-funded research will conclude that drug-assisted rape is definitely on the increase but is not an epidemic. It will call for tighter controls on some of the drugs known to be used in rape cases and will make a series of recommendations designed to promote greater cooperation among the agencies involved in handling cases of drug-assisted rapes and to improve criminal investigations to ensure successful convictions. For while the government has admitted that drug-assisted rape is the fastest growing recorded crime against women, as yet there have been only a handful of convictions here compared with 1,000 in the USA. One helpline says it received 757 calls last year from people claiming they had been drugged and raped — a sharp increase from 507 in 1998. But according to women’s rights campaigners, drug rape is nothing new. ``Men have always drugged and raped women,’’ says Julie Bindel of Justice for Women. ``It’s nothing new. These drugs just make it a little bit easier for them.’’ Peter Sturman, the Metropolitan police officer who led the research, spent more than a year travelling all over the UK, interviewing 123 victims of drug-assisted rape, as well as visiting America and Australia. He has since set up, with his wife, a charity called the Drug Rape Trust and has been rewarded for his efforts with a promotion to the rank of detective chief inspector. What he wants to see now, he says, is a more ``victim-driven’’ approach. Sue Lees, professor of women’s studies and rape trial expert, recently interviewed a victim of a suspected drug-assisted attack who had passed out after a couple of drinks and came round while she was being assaulted. It took three or four months to get the forensic results back — after which it emerged that she had been raped by three different men. No evidence of drugs has yet been established. According to Lees, the forensic services are hopelessly underfunded and ill-equipped to cope with what appears to be a growing crime. There is powerful evidence, she says, particularly in the USA where the problem is more widespread, of organised drug-assisted rape. ``Watching your drink is something you have to do nowadays. There’s a lot on the net about drug-assisted rape in the States and there are some sophisticated serial rapists around.’’ But it’s not fair and not enough always to put on women the burden of responsibility for protecting themselves. According to Lees, what is needed is a specialist police unit that can handle the forensic analysis involved in investigating drug-assisted rape and can deal sympathetically and skilfully with the women who come forward with complaints. Betsy Stanko, professor of criminology, first gave lectures to the police at Hendon Training College 20 years ago. ``There’s been a fairly substantial turnaround in the Metropolitan police about how important it is to take sexual violence seriously,’’ she says. ``But the way they’ve dealt with that is to issue warnings - if there’s a rape by a minicab driver, they say don’t go in minicabs until we catch him. We end up never discussing what should be discussed: why men want to rape women. We are accepting a natural predatory state of maleness and letting men off the hook again.’’ Stanko is not exercised by the rise in drug-assisted rape. ``I know there’s been a lot of discussion about it, particularly in the USA. Much of it focuses on the evilness of the drug, rather than the man using it,’’ she points out, ``which is very strange because it’s not the drug that’s evil. It’s another variation, a new technology that assists men to commit sexual violence. There will always be new technologies that will do that.’’ Research by Zero Tolerance, the Edinburgh-based group that campaigns against domestic and sexual violence, suggests that one in two young men thinks raping a woman is acceptable in certain circumstances. ``So some of them carry pills,’’ Stanko says. ``But quite frankly, drugs are not doing the raping. They may be doing some form of disarmament, but not the raping. The boys are doing that.’’ Whether the Sturman report will make any real difference when a woman comes to report a suspected drug rape remains to be seen. At a time when conviction rates for reported rapes are at an all-time low of 6 per cent, it’s certainly a tall order. Getting a conviction for a rape that does not involve drugs is hard enough; if the woman has little or no memory because she was drugged, it must be nearly impossible. Who was it that said a life lived in fear is a life wasted? If we go on a night out, we can appoint someone to guard our drinks; we can clutch our beer bottles to us and never accept a drink from a stranger. The Sturman report has to be welcomed, but what will really make a difference for women is a seismic shift in the way the criminal justice system responds to rape — drug-assisted or not. — By
arrangement with The Guardian |
Women in valley find a voice A DISTURBING fallout of the turmoil in the Kashmir valley spanning almost two decades has been the increase in destitution among women. This is manifest in the staggering rise in the number of orphans, widows and traumatised women. According to Dr Dabla, Head of Sociology Department, University of Kashmir, the number of young widows in the state today is between 16,000 and 20,000. The state also has more than 15,000 orphans in the 0-14-year age group. In 90 per cent of the cases the widows have been thrown out of their marital home. This despite the fact that the Islamic law provides for such women and children under ‘kutiba’. As per the law, if a widow’s father-in-law is alive then she and her children are his dependants and it is his duty to provide for them. In actual practice, however, this law is not implemented, and widows are left to fend for themselves. The atmosphere of conflict in the state has had other unforeseen consequences for women. For instance, Sadia lost her husband, a tailor, in a crossfire. He did not die of gunshot wounds but collapsed out of fear, and suffered a massive heart attack. Sadia and her four daughters now live with her father. Their misery is compounded because they do not qualify for any government aid or compensation. Yet, intervention in these situations is difficult because there is no way to determine the extent of the problem. “There is no reliable data or statistic to compare the present situation with earlier times since the 1991 census was not conducted here. There are few NGO initiatives in the state and the government estimates and projection are at great variance,” says Dabla. Thus, efforts to mitigate the suffering of such women and rehabilitate them socially and emotionally are few and far between. Women are vulnerable not only because of the political situation of armed conflict, but they are also the victims of a conservative backlash. They are increasingly being pushed into purdah and have no access to contraception and abortion. There are restrictions on their movement especially when unaccompanied by a male family member. Recently, two teenage girls who were shot at by unidentified gunmen in downtown Srinagar sustained serious injuries. Their only crime was that they dared to wear jeans, and were targeted for violating the decree of a fundamentalist militant organisation that women must cover themselves in an appropriate Islamic fashion. This violent enforcement of a dress code for women is only one in a series of similar incidents in Srinagar. And what is even more disturbing is that there was no public outcry or condemnation of the attack on the girls and nor have any arrests been made in these cases. In another incident, Shagufta Bano, an 11th standard student of Girls Higher Secondary School, Pulwama, was driven to suicide last month. Her ordeal began when she lodged a complaint with the Pulwama police against three local youth who had been harassing her. The police arrested the accused and registered a case, but released them in just two days. After their release, the boys threatened to kill Shagufta’s father in revenge. The child, troubled by the three boys on the one hand and her family on the other, consumed poison on the day the boys were released. Disturbed by the unfair manner in which Shagufta was forced to end her life, 15 of her classmates approached the Deputy Commissioner of Pulwama, G.A. Gulzar, and informed him of the facts. Despite his promise of arresting the accused, no action was taken. Undeterred, the girls marched to the court of the Judicial Magistrate, and the accused were ultimately nabbed. However, in a travesty of justice, the students who had the courage to seek justice are now being punished. The Principal of their school has issued orders to rusticate the protesting students. Despite the growing incidence of violent crimes against them, women in Kashmir have yet to find a voice. Historically, the women of the valley have enjoyed liberty, education and freedom of expression. Today, they have been pushed into a corner, with severely restricted rights. “Women have held families and communities together in time of crisis. They have managed budgets that were inadequate to bring up children and managed to keep people together in times of conflict. And yet, as power moves up the ladder from the local community, women’s voices and the women themselves are disappearing,” observes Shaheen Ali (name changed), a retired lecturer. In this bleak scenario, an incipient battle for women’s rights has begun in Jammu, where the Nari Jagran Manch is agitating against the discriminatory attitude of the State government. According to a state law applicable in Jammu and Kashmir, if a woman who is a state subject marries a man who is not a state subject, she loses the right to vote, the right to a government job, the right to purchase land or property and she even loses her share of parental property. On the other hand, when a man marries a woman who is not a state subject, he and his wife enjoy these rights. Women of the region are
now mobilising themselves to fight this discriminatory
law. Declares Sneh Bali, convener of the Nari Jagran
Munch: “We will not rest till we get this draconian
law abolished and restore democratic and fundamental
rights to the women of the state”. — Women’s
Feature Service |
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And the reward of the Hereafter is better for those who believe and ward off (evil). —The Holy Quran, Surah XII: 57 *** Jesus says "Resist not Evil"..... No other awakened person has given such a rebellious statement....There is a secret in it. If you resist evil you give energy to it. Every resistance gives energy to the things resisted. "Do not resist evil" means if you do not resist it, it will drop of its own accord because you will not be nourishing it with your energy; you are disconnected immediately. —Osho, The Book of the Books, Vol X *** * To be spiritually high is to be permanently happy. * Heaven does descend upon him who is strong enough to pull it down. * Grow to a knowledge of thine own powers. * The medicines of the wise are a clean life, fresh air, and healthy but not too excessive exercise. * We cannot live without sowing; we cannot sow without reaping; we cannot reap without Heaven and Hell. * Moral defeat is the only defeat. * The measure of a man’s vision and work is the measure of his spirit. * Spiritual discernment may be increased by mental penetration. * Error is not sin; but it is punished by Nature in the same degree. * Think great thoughts for what you think, you become; it is negative thought that is the barrier to our real progress. * Live life with all thy might, doing good, seeking peace and discerning that which shall bring you peace. * Let not pride rule thee, neither let arrogance be upon thy lips, though many seek to draw thee to a lower level, that they may hurt thy mind and soul, or do thee material injury. Keep rather, thy steadfast disposition and discourse, and inveigh no man. Thus shall justice walk upon thy right hand. * How lovely is the garb of sweet simplicity! * Blessed is he that hath wisdom, piety and peace. —Excerpts
from Herbert Porter, The Philosophy of Life |
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