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A Tribune Special
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Strengthening India’s urban-rural link by Surinder Singla MR Rahul Gandhi’s recent interaction with agriculture students at Karnal reinforces that the dairy industry is the lifeline between urban and rural India. Gone are the “village republic” days of subsistence farming, when villages did not need to look beyond their boundaries for supplies, where consumption and production were finely but accurately balanced.
Importance of Eid
Profile
On Record
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A Tribune Special Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Maharashtra need to learn lessons from the Gujarat experience, says Amarjit Singh
The recently released SRS-2009 figures for sex ratio are instructive in this regard. It appears that some of the states like Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat have been able to make a difference to address the adverse ratio in their respective states. The states need to learn from each other on the steps being taken to address this issue. An attempt has been made here accordingly, to summarise the lessons from Gujarat. The sex ratio in Gujarat was at a low of 835 in 2004. That is when the state took a serious note of the issue. The civil registration system was streamlined and data on births and deaths updated. The registration of births was raised to more than 95 per cent and the data so available was analysed for policy action. It showed that out of 226 blocks in Gujarat, in 43 blocks, the sex ratio was less than 850. A meeting was convened by the Gujarat Assembly Speaker to discuss the issue; it was attended by 65 MPs and MLAs. The data on the sex ratio was presented in this meeting. That the sex ratio in some of the blocks could be so low shocked the legislators. There was considerable introspection and the elected representatives gave solemn assurances in the meeting itself that they would take concrete steps in their respective constituencies to create awareness about this issue. Subsequently, a unanimous resolution was passed in the House cutting across all party lines to address this issue. All parties pledged themselves to support this mission whole-heartedly. As a follow up, the state government declared a ‘Beti Bachao’ campaign in the state. The Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues and MLAs, especially from the blocks affected by the adverse sex ratio, went to each of the villages in their respective constituencies to create greater public awareness on this issue. The then Health Minister of Gujarat, a Rajput, went to all the villages in his constituency, on a scooter, with his two daughters to promote the cause of the girl child. This was a unique event in a backward area of Surendra Nagar where the conservative social mores prevented the Rajput girls from coming out in the public. The dominant Patel community, which was very adversely affected by this issue, organised a major convention at Surat, the worst affected district in the state. More than one million Patels, led by the leaders of the Patel community, gathered to take a solemn pledge that they would not allow this pernicious practice to continue in their community. The doctors indulging in this practice were warned of serious action. Similar meetings of women’s groups, NGOs and civil society organisations were organised in all the adversely affected blocks of the state. Women gathered in large numbers in these meetings to speak out against this issue. They were attended by state ministers, MPs and MLAs. NGOs like Chetna played a key role in organising these meetings. Religious leaders with huge mass base like Pramukh Swami and Morari Bapu talked about the issue in their regular discourses. Popular TV actors like Smriti Irani were also roped in to mobilise people against this practice. Simultaneously, the PNDT Cell in the state was activated to proceed against the medical professionals who violated the Act. The PC and PNDT Act was translated in Gujarati and orientation sessions kept for all the district health officers to create awareness about this issue and motivate them to take action under the Act. More than 200 court cases were filed and in 172 cases sonography machines were seized during this drive. The state-level cell organised a few sting operations with the help of private sleuths and decoy customers. They caught two doctors violating the PC and PNDT Act red-handed. The state political leadership provided strong backing for these actions; the senior functionaries of the state refused to intervene to give relief to those caught violating the Act. The biggest problem, however, was getting convictions in the courts. The paperwork lacked rigour; it could not stand the judicial scrutiny. Therefore, key police officials were used to train the doctors in ensuring that the paper work was up to the mark and of a standard which could ensure convictions. Simultaneously, meetings were kept with district-level government pleaders to orient them on the issue and ensure necessary co-ordination between the officers of the district government pleaders and the Chief District Health Officers. This was not all. The State Judicial Academy was roped in to hold the orientation camps for all the High Court and district-level judges to create awareness about this issue. The meeting was attended by the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court and two Judges of the Supreme Court of India from Gujarat along with all the High Court and district judges as well as the officials from UNFPA. The judiciary was shocked when they saw the block-wise figures on adverse sex ratio; the Chief Justice exhorted his team to ensure strict action was taken to implement the PC & PNDT Act in its true spirit. The media showed excellent support for the campaign. It carried out a relentless campaign on the issue. The media in general actively highlighted the work being done by the government and various civil society organisations on this issue. Simultaneously, the state government launched an innovative campaign through the television, radio and print media. A rally was organised from Surat to Somnath covering most of the adverse sex ratio blocks to create greater awareness and ensure public support for the campaign. The CRS figures on the taluka-wise sex ratio were effectively monitored and feedback given to the respective district-level officers. The meeting of the state-level action committee was convened regularly under the chairpersonship of the Health Minister to review this issue. At the district level, this was a regular item of review in the monthly coordination committee meetings. That the prevalence of HIV/AIDS was the highest in the two districts with the worst sex ratio Surat and Mehsana, further spurred citizens’ groups into action in these two districts. The plight of Mehsana farmers some of whom were forced to buy brides from the tribal areas of the neighbouring states further added to the gravity of the situation. The campaign was further strengthened by monitoring all the private obstetricians. The number of births by sex was monitored regularly. This had startling effect on the sex ratio at birth in the institutional deliveries in the private nursing homes. Meetings were kept with the FOGSI members in all the districts to create awareness about this issue and seek their support. This has been further refined in some districts by installation of an electronic device on the sonography machines which faithfully records all the interventions and cannot be tampered by the gynecologist. All these effort bore fruit; the sex ratio improved to 865 in 2005 and 891 in 2006 and 898 in 2008. There was heightened awareness on the issue. Of the 43 talukas which had a sex ratio of less than 850, 26 talukas showed an improvement. Similarly, the sex ratio improved in all but four districts. We need to have a clear idea of the sex ratio in each block and focus on the district, blocks and villages where the sex ratio is adverse. The elected representatives can play a critical role in spearheading the effort. There is a need for active involvement of the community and judiciary in this process. The media has a critical role and needs to be actively involved in the process. Simultaneously, all actions need to be taken to vigorously implement the PC and PNDT
Act.
The writer, a senior IAS officer, is Executive Director, National Population Stabilisation Fund, New Delhi
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Strengthening India’s urban-rural link
MR Rahul Gandhi’s recent interaction with agriculture students at Karnal reinforces that the dairy industry is the lifeline between urban and rural India. Gone are the “village republic” days of subsistence farming, when villages did not need to look beyond their boundaries for supplies, where consumption and production were finely but accurately balanced. However, modern Indian villages are inextricably linked with urban areas not just because of the media, communications, access to transport and mobile telephony in rural areas but through opportunity for the rural areas to provide goods and services to urban ones. Milk is, indeed, a perfect example of such trade. There is an imperative need to build infrastructure in rural India like roads, power projects, irrigation facilities so that the economic activity in the rural areas could be started, adding new wealth to the rural India. Every effort must be made to ensure that this new partnership model between the rural and urban economies achieves success. Historically, as urbanisation spread, the rural economy started supplying grains, raw materials for cloth and other items sought by those, now landless, in urban areas. This limited economic relationship continued for decades though agriculture remained primarily for subsistence farming and the commercially available surplus was limited. In decades to come, India may well achieve functional literacy in excess of 90 per cent. However, in the interim, there will be millions of landless people in our villages who neither have the inclination nor capability to upgrade their skills. These people will never be employable in any meaningful manner in our cities beyond ordinary unskilled chores. It is critical that we enable this large contingent of society within the rural remit. The focus on the rural-urban link and dairy development is pregnant with immense opportunities — of not only empowering the poorer people in the rural India but also adding a new source of wealth creation in the villages. The Government of India has been working with leading international agencies to develop a national dairy strategy using the best practices in our own Indian context. What India really needs is a scalable, village-based dairy model that allows the local population to benefit from it, not just a few farm owners. Managing animals is labour intensive. That is why the corporate sector is absent from the business of milk production. The model of future will allow landless women to become dairy farmers, owning their own animals, working in Self-Help Groups (SHGs). Farmers provide the fodder. The impact on the families of these women dairy entrepreneurs is immense. It may represent the means of liberating tens of millions from poverty within the medium term. With the growth born out of more demand for agricultural production, and the ability to produce more from the same land due to access to technologies, new income was added to the rural economy. Similarly, the Bharat Nirman programme had to be scaled up so that new opportunities started flowing to and from the rural economy. The United Progressive Alliance Government’s PURA scheme (Provision of Urban Services in Rural Areas) will continue to assist such growth and the cycle will continue. While land still remains the major source of income for the rural population, with the growing imbalance between land resources and population new avenues have had to be found out to absorb human capital, skilled and unskilled, in adding more wealth in the rural India. Thus, it was essential, with land assets being limited and confined to a few segments of population, that non-land assets like our huge animal population be fully utilised. India enjoys the highest per capita animal population in the world, but the quality of those animals is often very poor due to the lack of fodder and access to education on livestock nutrition. Moreover, though India is the world’s largest producer of milk, the per capita availability of milk is still the lowest in the world. Today, the Indian economy is marching fast towards wealth creation on a scale that never happened in its history before. This calls for for both the rural and urban economy to move in synergy with each other as inter-dependence is bound to grow. But the synergy will only be there if we collectively make the effort. Failure to do so will surely leave rural India lagging behind as before. Urban India will continue to need products of agriculture and its related activities. With increasing population growth, these demands will only grow. Similarly, the aspirational push of the rural population to buy new products of urban economy will also grow. There is, perhaps, no better illustration of this than the mobile telecommunications industry: it has been so dynamic in rural India. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had a belief that computerisation of India would lead to an economic revolution for the nation. This belief was mocked at by some of his opponents. But today we find that the rural and urban picture is reaping the rewards of the technological challenges India has risen to. Whether it is farmers using mobile phones to check market prices and thereby saving long, costly journeys to market to check the same in person, or the ability to apply for government services online in a village, instead of via multiple trips to the nearby towns, we can see both the current positive impact and the future potential for the use of technology in towns. India needs to continue its search for and inventing methods of adding urban-rural trade routes in India if it truly wants to end
poverty.
The writer is a former Finance Minister of Punjab and former MP |
Importance of Eid
IT was a beautiful village evening. The sun had set a little while ago. A number of people were curiously looking towards the sky. They were there not to watch the scene after sunset. They were anxious for sighting the new moon, Eid ka chaand, as they call it in Urdu. Then somebody from among the villagers said, “Yes, it is there. I have seen it. You can also try it. The new moon is there. Mubarak ho (Congratulations). Eid is tomorrow. The holy month of Ramzan has concluded.” This was how people began preparations for Eid celebrations in a village in Uttar Pradesh over 40 years ago. This is what happens even now both in the urban and rural areas. The mechanism to decide the day of Eid remains the same as it was during the time of Prophet Mohammad, who completed the process of founding the religion of Islam (it is not fair to call him as the founder of Islam). The only difference is that in some important cities Muslims have formed moon-sighting (Ruet-e-Hilal) committees. In Delhi, the national capital, the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee has its offices in a historic mosque, near the ITO, where the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind, too, has its headquarters. The committee has a wide network for the sighting of the new moon. This is how it is decided about Ramzan fasting or Eid and Baqr-Eid celebrations. When people not connected with the committee sight the moon, they contact it and then proper verification is done before making an announcement. Moon-sighting is essential for celebrating an Islamic festival because the Arabic calendar is a lunar calendar. What do the Muslims do when they celebrate Eid (also called Eid-ul-Fitr)? After taking bath in the morning, they enjoy the sweet dish called siwaiyan. Prophet Mohammad used to begin his Eid day after eating dates. Then they (mostly men, both young and old) go to their area’s Eid-gah (a place for the Eid prayer) or the main mosque for offering the Eid prayer. When they are back home after an hour or so, they start having visitors to exchange Eid greetings. People invariably visit their relatives, friends and acquaintances to greet them on Eid. They are offered choicest dishes wherever they go. In cities like Chandigarh, the scenario is slightly different. Most Muslim families have visitors from other faiths offering Eid-greetings. One can see how people in India participate in the celebration of each other’s festivals with a lot of enthusiasm. Eid celebrations remain incomplete without friends and acquaintances from other communities offering Eid greetings and partaking sweet dishes together. But the big question is: what is the central idea behind the Eid celebrations? Is it, in any way, related to the Ramzan fasting? Yes, it is. The Eid prayer is offered to thank the Almighty for rewarding humanity with the Quran, the book for guidance. The Quran began to be revealed to Prophet Mohammad during the Arabic month of Ramzan and hence the month-long fasting. The Quranic revelation continued for 23 years. The Quran wants the believers to observe the month-long fast so that they are pious in their thoughts and deeds. The fast is considered as the best form of worship and the best proof of one’s being a believer in The Book. It can help man acquire the attributes of an ideal human being. It is intended to inculcate a sense of discipline among people. The fast makes even the richest on earth realise what hunger is or how the poor live their life. How do the devout observe the Ramzan fast? They follow a calendar of sunset and sunrise prepared on the basis of mostly the railway timetable. Those who are particular about fasting get up early in the morning so that they can eat something and take water to sustain them for the day. After eating what is called sehri before sunrise they offer prayers (namaz) and then go to bed again for some time. During the day they are not supposed to take even a drop of water. When evening comes it is time for feasting. There is hectic activity in almost every Muslim home during the second half of the day. Choicest dishes (iftari) are prepared for breaking the day’s fast. The tradition is to break the fast with dates wherever available because the Prophet preferred dates for the purpose. But any eatable can serve the purpose. Some people prefer sweetened water, particularly when the Ramzan fast falls in summer. A visit to localities with a large Muslim concentration shows that feasting is also there along with fasting. That is why the monthly expenditure on food in almost every house where fast is observed goes up considerably. At the end of fasting and before the Eid prayer, it is mandatory for Muslims to offer to the needy as much money as is sufficient to buy one day’s food. The Eid prayer is considered meaningless without this — sadqa-e-fitr — aimed at helping the people at the bottom of the social strata to properly take part in the Eid celebrations, which continue for three days. The sad part of all this, however, is that very few people are able to change their lifestyle after the fasting period is
over.
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Profile IS the CPM losing touch with the people and its leaders only pay lip-service to Marxism? Senior CPM leader Subodh Roy strongly feels so. He has been an active member of the party for decades. Having joined the undivided CPI in 1962 when he was barely 20, Roy moved to the CPM when the party split. He rose from the ranks to become a Central Committee member in 1985, along with Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechuri and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
Roy is a disillusioned man now. He found that the party is losing its way; its leadership in his home state Bihar has become totally feudal and sycophancy has become the order of the day. Having seen that the party is not advancing any more, he decided to join the Janata Dal (United), headed by Nitish Kumar. He is now a bitter Marxist, having been expelled by the CPM leadership for what they call “grave anti-party activities”. Besides being a member of the Central Committee, Roy represented Bhagalpur constituency between 1999 and 2004 in the Lok Sabha but lost in the 2004 general election to Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP. In a 2006 by-election, necessitated by Mr Modi’s resignation, the seat was won by Shahnawaz Khan of the BJP, who retained it in 2009. Roy has been unlucky. Subodh is sore against the CPM leadership and says the party has lost mass base because non-issues are made issues, both at the local and national level. Ideally, the party should be working for the uplift of the poor and downtrodden. It should take up issues concerning the people but what happens is exactly the opposite. The party cadres are mostly poor and downtrodden, and there is no respect for them. He feels that the leaders of the CPM in good old days were totally different. They understood the cadres’ difficulties and, at the same time, used their dedication and talent for strengthening the party base. But whether one likes it or not, it is a fact that the era of militant cadre is over. Sycophants now thrive at all levels of the party and sycophancy has become the order of the day. The Bihar unit, too, is faction-ridden and the party works on caste lines. Having been with the CPM since 1962, nearly half a century, he felt hurt when he was sidelined and sycophants moved up the ladder. This malady is not only confined to Bihar but has spread to the Marxist-ruled West Bengal, Kerala and other states, he says. The leaders pay only lip-sympathy to Marxism. They talk of Marxism but their mindset has become feudal. Roy is very bitter against the state secretary, Vijay Kant Thakur. He joined the party in 1978 after having been expelled from the CPI. Now he is the state secretary. Roy joined the CPM when the communists were hounded out following the war with China but failed to climb up the party ladder. Roy has praise for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who, he says, has been doing a commendable job. Under his leadership, Bihar has been making rapid strides in the development front. But the anti-people forces have launched an anti-Nitish campaign. In such a situation, he thought he should join him and strengthen his hands. Roy, who pledges his commitment to the welfare of the poor, is himself poor. His total assets, unlike his Marxist comrades, amount to only Rs 9.80 lakh. Besides Subodh Roy, former CPI MLA Lal Babu Sahani has also pledged his allegiance to Nitish Kumar. A sitting CPI MLA, Ram Vinod Paswan is also likely to join the JD (U). Sixty-four-year-old Subodh is a bachelor and in his free time listens to music. Other areas of his interests are the propagation of education among children and adults; and working for social harmony and fraternity, particularly in social and cultural activities. He also works for the betterment of poor, landless labourers and women.  |
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On Record Soni Shrivastav is the president of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Wives’ Welfare Association. A corporate communication specialist, she had a stint in India Today. As her father was also in the IPS, she watched closely the policemen’s life since childhood. Soni used to see her mother work very hard for the welfare of the police families. Her training started when she was a kid. This gives her an advantage to understand the problems of the CRPF personnel better.
In an interview to The Tribune in Mumbai, she says, her husband, Vikram Shrivastav, Director-General, CRPF, is deeply committed to his job and extremely compassionate to his men. “Most projects that I undertake are motivated by him and based on his sound advise”, she says. Excerpts: Q: How strong is your Association? A: It came into being in 1995. We have two lakh plus members comprising wives of all CRPF men and officers spread across the country. The CWWA is functional at all locations where CRPF families live. Q: What is your body doing to ameliorate the problems faced by women who have lost their husbands to Maoist attacks? A: To provide a support system to these widows and constantly monitor their well being. Officers keep in touch with them constantly so that their grievances can be redressed. This support system is not only for the widows of the Maoist attack but widows in general. I write to them frequently and encourage them to share their problems. Once they get in touch with me, I ensure that the grievances are put up to the DG of the Force, who has a dedicated cell to monitor the progress of such problems. This helps us ensure speedy redressal under very close supervision. I have also tied up with the CII Young Indians to adopt some families and provide them with skill development towards making them employable. The first such pilot project was done in Moradabad and Aligarh with the families of CRPF martyrs living in these districts. The families in other parts of the country will be contacted soon. Q: What about the welfare fund for widows of CRPF personnel killed in action? A: We will raise funds through a welfare exhibition later this year. We propose to offer soft loans and financial assistance to families who may seek our help. The government provides for adequate assistance to such families. Q: What about the families of CRPF personnel who return home with disabilities? A: Depending on the disability, softer duties are assigned and if the disability is severe and the individual is boarded out on medical grounds, adequate compensation is provided and a member of the family is given a job on compassionate grounds, where ever possible. Q: How easy it is for the CRPF personnel to live with families? A: While barrack accommodation is for bachelors, families live in family quarters which are equipped with ration shops, clinics, transport facility, recreation centers etc. Families live like one large unit with enough bonding, sharing and merry making. The CRPF runs two schools in Delhi and the results here have been excellent over the years. The schools also have hostel facility. One is in Dwarka and the other in Rohini, New Delhi. These schools take care of the children’s needs. Q: The personnel deployed in the Naxalite areas are reportedly unhappy at their lack of adequate training, equipment and motivation. Does this impact the families? A: The families are bound to be disturbed when the media doesn’t highlight the hard work done by their men or is negatively projected. There are many second or third generation CRPF families whose children join the force motivated by their fathers. Q: The personnel have to spend a lot of time outside their home environment. What is being done to solve these problems? A: The men take the help of the senior officers who liaise with the district authorities to take up such issues. It is a close network where the CRPF tries to ensure that the men and their families do not face undue hardship. |
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SEX ratio in all the states on the western border of the country — Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra — is a major cause of concern. A number of steps have been taken to address this issue. However, only a marginal difference has been made. It continues to be a major social issue in these states.
