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Prison brawls
Reverse brain-drain |
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Kabaddi, kabaddi
Learning from byelections
Parent-Teacher Beating
Our Worst-Kept Secret
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Prison brawls
Prison
brawls are not unheard of. On the contrary, they are fairly common. They also indicate varying degrees of deficit in administration. But when a former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda, and three of his former Cabinet colleagues complained of being assaulted by the prison staff this week, it surprised some people and delighted, one suspects, many more. Politicians, after all, are given VIP treatment in prisons and Koda and company, who have spent two years in prison after being charged with acquiring disproportionate assets and money laundering, have been no different. The prison staff are also generally deferential to this lot, not being quite sure when their wards would get back to power. But by all available reports, Koda and his colleagues bit off more than they could chew when they complained of poor food and barged into the prison’s kitchen. The ensuing altercation was apparently followed by the assault on the politicians. The prison staff pleaded that the politicians were giving them a hard time and throwing tantrums, demanding something new on the menu every day. Koda is also said to have resented the decision to deny his wife permission to meet him on Sunday. The incident could be dismissed as comeuppance for Koda but for the serious implications. With most prisons unable to keep out drugs, mobile phones or even weapons, brawls can easily get out of hand. It is also not clear whether Koda was complaining of the quality of food getting progressively worse or whether he was used to better food during the past 23 months in prison. What is more, high profile prisoners like him should have found it relatively easy to convey their grievances to the high court, if not the administration. What is clear though is that prisons cannot afford to pamper a section of prisoners to the detriment of others and, more importantly, prisons need to devise ways of keeping all inmates, including undertrials, constructively engaged. While both the prison authorities and Koda have lodged complaints with the police, the Jharkhand High Court will do well to conduct its own inquiry and give suitable guidelines so that such ugly incidents do not get repeated.
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Reverse brain-drain
THE proposed ‘Start- up- grant’ by the DST ( Department of Science and Technology) to lure Indian scientists working abroad back to India may be a welcome step, but to think of offering a grant of Rs 50 lakh for three years of work on a scientific project is too paltry a sum to actualise this dream. Since the bait is offered to lure scientists to any publicly funded research institute, the scientific community will need to have a re-look at its basic infrastructure and standards of professionalism, lack of which sent many bright and established scientists offshore looking for better work opportunities. There is no denying the fact that some of the scientists are willing to return to India — this change of heart is mainly attributable to drying up of research sponsorships and fellowships, which came through endowments from large corporates, now facing dollar crunch due to meltdown. Yet, there is an opportunity to bring back the brightest of minds, who have had the advantage of receiving education in one of the best equipped universities and have gained experience of working in the best scientific organisations of the world. This pool can be used to accelerate the rather tardy speed of scientific research in India, which is often mired in lack of professionalism and red-tapism. Especially, the sunrise sectors like the biotech industry, with its current worth of $ 4 billion and a double digit growth since 2000, can benefit a lot from the reverse brain-drain. Since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has announced 2012-13 as the Year of Science, and programmes like INSPIRE have been put in place to spot scientific talent, freed of the test torture, the base for scientific excellence is being prepared. With factors like easier-than-ever-before availability of funding and forging collaborations in India, a maturing biotech industry and an emerging crop of research institutes can now help bring some lost talent back to India to enrich its much needed research base in science. And, perhaps, this may help Indian emerge as a scientific superpower! |
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Kabaddi, kabaddi
THE kabaddi championships in Bathinda are a multilayered event, and there are many parallels to be found in the way the game is played on the field and in the political arena. On the one hand we have competitors who will deal with the game that dates back to thousands of years and finds a strong resonance among the youth in Punjab. They are the players who have practiced for a long time to build up the stamina and the skill with which they will seek to vanquish their competitors. There is significant involvement in the game at the grassroots level in rural Punjab, and kabbaddi matches are always a big draw at rural sports events, where the raiders and the “japhas” try to grab and often get impromptu monetary awards from spectators. Indeed, the revival of kabaddi, even with the ever-present allure of performance-enhancing drugs enticing the players, is significant insofar as it helps direct the energies of the youth in a positive manner. While there are many such ‘world cup’ events, the Kabaddi World Cup tournament at Bathinda also signals the beginning of the kabaddi match between Punjab’s political players. Both the Congress and the SAD-BJP combine are fielding their teams to sally forth into each other’s territory during the coming months — as the kabaddi teams will do so, and the stakes will soar, given the forthcoming polls. The political atmosphere in Punjab will soon become as surcharged with emotions, as it does around the kabaddi fields. State support for kabaddi will surely go a long way in helping young athletes and in giving them a chance to better their lives by focusing on this sport. However, the baggage of politics that such support brings along with it will have to be kept in check, lest it play spoilsport. |
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Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage — to move in the opposite direction. — Albert Einstein
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Learning from byelections
THE recent byelections consisted of a Lok Sabha poll for the Hisar seat in Haryana and three Assembly seats of Daraunda in Bihar, Khadakwasla in Maharashtra and Banswada in Andhra Pradesh. The Lok Sabha byelection drew maximum attention because the Anna Hazare team got involved in the electioneering process. Anna team member Arvind Kejriwal addressed public meetings exhorting people not to vote for the Congress. The results were on the expected lines —Janhit Congress candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi emerged successful. He is the son of redoubtable former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and his victory was more or less a foregone conclusion. The Hisar Lok Sabha byelection was, therefore, entirely local in character and had no traces of national politics. If anything, Mr Kejriwal’s participation only betrayed the unnecessary belligerence of Anna Hazare team members. Anna himself was observing “maun vrat”. The Daraunda Assembly byelection in Siwan district of Bihar witnessed a keen contest among the Congress, the RJD of Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Lok Janshakti Party of Mr Ram Vilas Paswan and the JD(U) of Mr Sharad Yadav and Mr Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of the state. The byelection arose due to the death of the sitting member, Jagmato Devi of the JD(U). In the contest, Jagmato Devi’s daughter-in-law, Kavita Singh, emerged victorious. This election was entirely confined to Bihar participants. In the Banswada Assembly byelection in Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) nominee was declared the winner. This was expected especially after the TRS had given a call for an agitation throughout Andhra Pradesh, Telangana in particular. This led to the total disruption of communication as well as administration. Banswada itself is in the heart of Telangana and it was natural that the seat would go to the TRS. It was the reiteration of the fact that no candidate other than TRS nominees stood a chance. The only tangible lesson from the byelections is that a decision in favour of Telangana is long overdue. In the Khadakwasla Assembly byelection in Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party candidate lost to the Shiv Sena-BJP combination. This was a warning to both the Congress and the NCP in Maharashtra. Fresh Assembly elections are due to take place early in 2012 in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. In the Hindi-speaking states of UP and Uttarakhand, all the major political parties will be in the contest. The Congress will be pitted against the BSP of Ms Mayawati, the Samajwadi Party led by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BJP and the RLD of Mr Ajit Singh, apart from some local organisations. The issues in 2012, though these are the Assembly elections, would be mainly of national importance like the price rise and corruption. Apart from these, some local issues are also likely to be raised. Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani is on a 40-day Rath Yatra and would cover UP and Uttarakhand in the first leg. In UP, there are two other yatras which would be under the leadership of Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Kalraj Mishra. While Mr Rajnath Singh’s yatra will start at Varanasi, Mr Kalraj Mishra’s yatra would begin at Kanpur. It was the plan of Mr L.K. Advani that at some point or the other, his Rath Yatra would connect with the two other yatras led by Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Kalraj Mishra. The BSP, the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh, will try its best to repeat its 2007 performance, which brought chief ministership to Ms Mayawati. In 2007, she made a path-breaking alliance with the Brahmins, who form a formidable voting percentage in the southern and eastern parts of UP. In the next Assembly elections, she will try to win a large percentage of Muslim votes as well as those of the backward classes for her party. She had recently written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserting for reservation of jobs and seats in colleges, etc, for the Muslim community as well as for the OBCs. As for Mr Mulayam Singh of the SP, rallies are already being held by him and his son Akhilesh Yadav all over UP. Mr Mulayam Singh’s chief lieutenant for wooing Muslim voters is Mr Azam Khan from Rampur, a former Cabinet minister. It is believed that the SP has a sizeable following among the Muslims in UP, more than any other party. Mr Mulayam Singh and his lieutenants would obviously try to ensure that their Muslim vote bank remains intact. The Congress is making preparations for carrying out continuous rallies led by party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and others. There is also a proposal to hold a massive rally accompanied by a public meeting in Lucknow, likely to be addressed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and other leaders like Mr Digvijay Singh. The Congress is reportedly negotiating with the RLD of Mr Ajit Singh which has its stronghold in the Jat-dominated districts of western UP. In the past, there had been an alliance between the Congress and the RLD. Efforts are said to be on to renew this alliance. Mr Ajit Singh, known to be a tough negotiator, may be accommodated as a Cabinet minister as a part of the package deal between the Congress and the RLD. In Uttarakhand, the ruling BJP was shaken by allegations of corruption against Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, who had to step down in favour of Mr Khanduri. The Congress may try to exploit the allegations of corruption against the ruling BJP. While the Congress may succeed in several constituencies, it is doubtful whether it will be able to capture power in Uttarakhand. In Punjab, it is a contest between the Congress and the Akali Dal-BJP combine. The Akali Dal-BJP combine is in power and there have been several allegations of irregularities and corruption against Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. Capt Amarinder Singh of the Congress is trying to repeat the party’s past performance, but whether it will be able to capture power is rather doubtful. Whatever issues that may be raised in the 2012 Assembly polls — in UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa — these are unlikely to be influenced by the results of the recently held
byelections.
The writer is a former Governor of UP and West Bengal.
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Parent-Teacher Beating
If schools are the temples of modern learning, teachers are its resident deities. These days, schools believe in more interaction with parents than ever before. Discussions on your child’s scholastic progress, nutrition, socialisation and even her emotional state are normal at such meetings. My own child is almost grown up but I think I attended more parent-teacher meetings during her school years than my parents attended during mine. Every parent goes to three such momentous events in a year. These are the statutory ones at the end of each exam where you go and view your child’s chaotic answer-sheet musings and struggle to retain your composure when the teacher explains in funereal tones why your Jasleen will need divine help to get promoted to the next class. “Why can’t teachers be kind?”, demands my six-year-old nephew. With standards declining and stress-levels increasing in the teaching profession like in all others, teachers often come across as bossy and rude in their conversations with children. My perceptive nephew believes in being very well-behaved at school about a fortnight before a parent-teacher meeting, “otherwise my teacher will say something ulta-pulta to my parents”. Children are usually fair in their assessment, though my nephew just cannot stop raving about his Mala Ma’am who is “so cute, kabhi gussa nahin karti.” If you are very lucky, you may even hear, “Arsh is a wonderful student, it is a joy to have him in my class!” As you and the recently complimented Arsh leave the school, you get told, “Papa, that Ma’am is a fraud, she has never taught my class, she was there just to hand out the report cards because Hema Ma’am is unwell.” You may ask, “Then why did she praise you, Arsh?” “Because Papa, you listed your occupation on the form as Laparoscopic Surgeon, PGI and everyone knows it is useful to know someone at PGI.” You just shake your head and wonder how even nine-year-old boys can get so cynical today. If your child believes in taxing the discipline system of the school to its elastic limit, you might get called more frequently than is desirable. “But Mrs Singh, your daughter was seen kissing a boy from a senior class in the Chemistry Lab when no one was around! ”, the Principal may say in icy tones. “If nobody was around, who saw her kissing the boy?”, your husband asks indignantly. You kick him under the table to shut him up and say, “Sorry, Ma’am, don’t mind my husband, he is very upset, I shall counsel my daughter.” Both of you may then beat a hasty retreat and slug it out in the car once the school watchman has slammed the gates in your face. When I hear of such episodes from friends, I listen in sadness but we later comfort each other by saying, “Handling one brat is bad enough. Imagine having to deal with a class full of such
monkeys!
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Our Worst-Kept Secret Brushed under the carpet The message young girls begin receiving from our families, friends, and society becomes engrained by the time they reach womanhood: that we must not make the unforgiveable mistake of becoming victims of violence. While violence by strangers at least provides some room for women expressing their agony and demanding redressal, violence within the home remains a taboo topic. And this taboo crosses geographic, ethnic, and racial borders. Victims of domestic abuse On 17 August 2011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights published its opinion finding the United States on the wrong side of human rights and domestic violence survivors. The Commission had considered the case of Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales) whose three young daughters were abducted by Lenahan’s abusive husband, Simon Gonzales, in Castle Rock, Colorado in 1999. Despite Lenahan’s repeated calls and pleas to the police, reporting that she already had a domestic violence restraining order (a legal remedy the US has made relatively easily accessible to its residents) against Simon, the police failed to act for 10 hours. Eventually, Simon Gonzales drove up to the police department and opened fire. He was shot dead by the police. The three girls were subsequently discovered shot to death inside Simon’s truck. Jessica’s legal battle for this tragic loss yielded no results. In 2005, the US Supreme Court even found that the police involved had not violated the US Constitution by their inaction. However, the Inter-American Commission found that the US had indeed violated human rights by failing to uphold its laws to protect its nationals from domestic violence. Laws alone not enough In India too, domestic violence is a punishable offense under the law, even if only rather recently. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, which became effective starting October 26, 2006, clearly recognised domestic violence as a punishable offence. However, the recent shaming of the US—a country that has innumerable times more extensive legal protections and services for domestic violence survivors-provides a moment of pause from comparing the wide (perhaps incomparable) chasm between the two legal systems and rather understanding a sad commonality. Laws alone cannot curb violence in the homes as long as domestic violence continues to be treated ‘special’. When it comes to such crimes, we often hear: “There must be two sides to the story” or “they both have strong personalities” or “he is frustrated since he lost his job.” But, consider this scenario: if my neighbour loses his job, and proceeds to pick fights with me every day, gets drunk and curses me, breaks a window, wouldn’t you agree with my decision to call the police, whether or not he ever physically touches me? But if my partner does the same, why shouldn’t he conform to the standard of behavior, the law and society demand from my acquaintance-neighbour? Breaking uneasy silence Such uncomfortable discussions are thus largely missing in our living rooms. The domestic violence movement in the US has been asking precisely such questions more publically, loudly, and brazenly, than in many other parts of the world. For example, during October, nationally recognised as ‘Domestic Violence Awareness Month’ in the US, several public awareness activities are undertaken country-wide. During ‘Standing Silent Witness’ hours, women and men line up in busy city squares holding placards or wearing T-shirts with slogans acknowledging someone they know (or know of) who has faced domestic violence. During ‘Remembrance Days,’ survivors, allies, advocates, join together to remember those who have died because of domestic violence and also celebrate those who have survived. Purple ribbons, which have become the symbols of solidarity with anti-domestic violence work, are made into pins and passed out at local events; worn on bags and jackets; and hung on doors. In India, we saw the Bell Bajao campaign, by the non-profit Breakthrough in 2008. TV, radio, online and print media were employed to circulate catchy calls for action by society to take a stand against domestic violence. To break the uneasy silence. Measuring domestic violence The anti-violence movement in the US has also promoted the measurement of domestic violence crimes, and the publicising of the statistics, so as to respond to the universal reaction—“We aren’t that kind of a family!” On an average, according to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than three women and one man are murdered by their intimate partners in the US every day. The Center for Disease Control has found that one in four women and one in nine men in the US report being victims of domestic violence at some points in their lives. Also, more recently, teen dating violence has been studied as a priority: approximately one in five female high school students report being physically, sexually, or emotionally abused by a dating partner. In India, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2005-06, recorded that 37 per cent women reported being survivors of spousal abuse; that is more than 1 in 3. These statistics show that most of us know someone who is a survivor of such violence, and all of us then are in fact ‘that kind of a family.’ Violence knows no bar When I began representing domestic violence survivors in Californian courts, one of my mother’s friend’s asked her in all earnest, “So is wife-beating really a problem with Americans too?” (She clarified later that she meant ‘white’ Americans, of course.) My work has borne out the statistics that domestic violence knows no race, class, or religious boundaries. However, socio-economic factors can increase vulnerability for such violence: for example, if someone has no source of income, her abuser knows that her economic situation will prevent her from speaking about the violence or seeking help. Domestic violence is a human rights problem that exists across borders, as the Inter-American Commission recently reminded the US—It is not a ‘women’s issue’ rather affects boys and men very severely. Indeed, India’s Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, does not cover men, and most commentaries on domestic violence-including this one-refer to the perpetrators of violence as male and the victim as female. This is simply because domestic violence victims are disproportionately female. However, men can be and are victims of violence by their partners in some cases as well, both in homosexual and heterosexual relationships. Moreover, this violence does not take place in a vacuum. Children, girls as well as boys, are witnesses to such violence. Even if they are themselves never the direct targets of the violence, they bear the emotional costs of growing up in an environment of repeated cycles of fear, escalation of tensions, outbursts of violence, and misleading periods of calm. Studies show that children who grow up in violent homes, either themselves become vulnerable to being abused as adults or have a higher likelihood of becoming abusers in the future. This ‘cycle of power and control,’ which broadly describes domestic violence, has its immediate and collateral victims. Move beyond campaigns Campaigns such as ‘bell bajao’ or ‘standing silent witness’ or ‘remembrance days’ focus on cases where there are identifiable victims, in already violent relationships. Some of us might then still participate in these campaigns and still claim, “We aren’t that kind of a family!” What would truly make us not one of ‘those’ families is if we start to check our everyday responses to gender inequalities and discrimination. Unless we stop calling street harassment ‘eve teasing;’ stop worrying about protecting our girls’ reputations even at the costs of their safety; stop spending more time, money and energy on weddings than on talking about healthy relationships and marriages, we will not stop domestic violence. Only when three friends can walk with safety as well as the security of the knowledge that they will not be judged should they face harm by someone, whether on the street or in the home, can we begin to feel assured that we are progressing towards equal justice for all.
The writer is a lawyer who focuses on gender and minority issues in the United States and South Asia.
Cycle of Power and Control Intimate partner violence or domestic violence (DV) is controlling, abusive, and aggressive behavior in an intimate relationship . It includes verbal, emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse. DV usually comes to public notice only in extreme cases of physical abuse. However, behind closed doors, such violence typically follows a regular pattern of three phases that repeat themselves: One, the ‘tension-building’ phase. The abuser becomes increasingly irritable, moody, impatient, resulting in his partner “walking on eggshells,” not knowing what might make the abuser more angry. Two, the ‘acute’ phase. There is some sort of explosion and violence that may be verbal, physical, and/or sexual. Third, the ‘honeymoon’ phase. There is calm again. The abuser may apologise or pretend like nothing happened and may bring flowers and chocolates. The partner starts to feel relief. That is till the ‘tension-building’ phase begins again. There is thus a clear difference between common, everyday disputes between couples and domestic violence. Three things to tell someone who is facing such violence: I believe you You are not alone You have options
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