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Bleeding the motorist white
Historic accord in Nepal |
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Fatal choice
What after Manmohan Singh?
Caught with camera
Cyber crimes have grown in numbers and character. Women, the chosen victims of cyber crimes choose to remain silent about them due to outdated stereotypes — which complicates implementation of the IT Act.
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Bleeding the motorist white
The 13th increase in petrol price since June 2010 when the price of this dwindling resource was decontrolled by the Union government came on a day when monthly food inflation in the country was recorded to have soared to a nine-month high of 12.2 per cent. For a government that has been under increasing attack on corruption and inflation to have gone in for a second hike in two months without even preparing the ground for it through a well-argued case, it was hardly surprising that there was an uproar against it. Now Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is talking of explaining the reasons for the hike after all the opposition to the hike. He needed to have done this earlier.To make matters worse, the government claimed that it had nothing to do with the pricing decision and that the three major oil marketing companies had taken the decision on their own, something which was completely unbelievable. With the stormy petrel of West Bengal politics, Mamata Banerjee, coming out strongly against the hike, even threatening to snap ties with the UPA, and the Congress party spokesperson hinting at a rollback though the Prime Minister was manifestly steadfast against any such step, the mess-up was all too evident. At the heart of the issue is whether the government acted prudently in decontrolling the petrol price last year while continuing to exercise control over diesel, kerosene and LPG prices. By holding the prices of these three petroleum products and heaping all the burden of the increasing import bill and the depreciating rupee on petrol is the government being fair to the country’s middle class? Shouldn’t the government be looking at kerosene a small increase in whose price could fetch substantial resources? Is it not time for the Union and State governments to look at various taxes they levy on petrol which make this petroleum product more expensive in India than most countries? It is indeed time the government took a hard look at the whole issue. It is not for long that the country can sustain a growing volume of consumption while the production of crude in the country remains virtually stagnant. In terms of distribution, it would be worthwhile to look at non-oil companies being allowed to sell fuel to heighten competition. The whole tax regime too needs to be examined threadbare. |
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Historic accord in Nepal
Despite having done away with monarchy a few years back, Nepal has been finding it difficult to move ahead on the road to peace and progress. The political parties that have their members in the Constituent Assembly had to make a number of attempts to elect a leader to head the interim government. The Maoists who constitute the largest group in the assembly have been the main stumbling block. However, their attitude may now change with the seven-point historic accord reached between Nepal’s principal political parties — the ruling groups led by the United CPN-Maoist and those in the opposition — on November 1. Among the issues that have been sorted out is the one relating to the Maoist combatants, members of the militia that fought against the Royal Nepal Army for nearly a decade. Whether they should be inducted into Nepal’s regular army or not has been a major cause for tension. The issue has been settled to the satisfaction of all. It seems both sides — the Maoists and the non-Maoists — have yielded substantial ground. Only 6,500 of the total 19,000 Maoist combatants will be inducted into the Nepal Army. The rest have been offered financial compensation — between Rs 600,000 and Rs 900,000 — under a rehabilitation deal. The other issues like completing the constitution by November-end when the term of the Constituent Assembly will end were not as tricky as the one concerning the Maoist armed fighters. Now the government headed by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has to concentrate on the task of constitution writing quickly so that the much-awaited general election can be held for having a democratic set-up in the strife-hit Himalayan country. The government has less than a month to finalise the constitution. It may require more time and that means the Constituent Assembly will have to be given one more extension. This should not be a problem after the deal between the major political parties. Any concession required for establishing peace and democracy must be given to the Bhattarai government. |
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Fatal choice
It is indeed tragic that yet another young man made a fatal choice and jumped to death last week in Bengaluru, which is fast acquiring the unenviable tag of the country’s “suicide capital”. This is indicative of a deeper malaise. In the past two years India’s Silicon Valley has reported the highest number of suicide cases. While the exact causes of suicide can never be pinpointed with finality, the fact that Bangaluru, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai account for 43 per cent of suicides in 35 cities measured does suggest that suicides may have a link with the fast-paced lifestyle of these metros. While unfulfilled aspirations could be one reason for the increasing number of young people choosing death over life, academic pressures may be another factor. Be it bottled up emotions, heartbreaks or rigorous academic system, suicide indeed has many fathers. After the fatal seed has been implanted within the impressionable minds of the young, the flashpoint could be any. Nevertheless, whatever may be the reasons, which also often includes family problems and financial difficulties, the bottom-line is that suicides are preventable tragedies. Society that includes parents, friends, employers and teachers must work towards providing an amicable and amenable atmosphere for the youth. While many IT companies do provide recreation facilities to help their employees beat stress, psychological counselling should be mandatory in all companies with demanding and stressful work routines. Likewise, educational institutions must keep a close watch over and identify vulnerable students. The age group between 15 and 25 years is anyway the most vulnerable and those prone to suicide do give warning signals. Parents need to be proactive and must ensure that communication channels between them and their children do not break down. Meanwhile, society too needs to reorient its paradigm of evaluation and change the yardsticks of success vs. failure. Young lives are far too precious to be sacrificed at any altar, be it of great expectations or lack of reassurance. |
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If we do not change our direction we are likely to end up where we are headed for. — Chinese proverb |
What after Manmohan Singh?
AFTER Dr Manmohan Singh, who? The political parties and the people are prying into the affairs of the ruling Congress to make a guess. It is not that Dr Manmohan Singh is indispensable. Nor has he been out of step with the pace by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the real power centre. It is merely her calculation when to anoint her son, Rahul Gandhi. True, lately Dr Manmohan Singh’s stock has plummeted and even as an economist he has been found out of depth. But these are only aggravating factors. The real reason is Rahul Gandhi, who unfortunately has not revived the Nehru-Gandhi charisma. One question before Mrs Gandhi is that the President of India, Mrs Pratibha Patil, retires in the middle of next year. Should Dr Manmohan Singh be elevated then? Even otherwise, Dr Manmohan Singh will be almost 80-year-old in 2014 when the new Lok Sabha is elected. What ails the Congress is that it has very few leaders who are of Prime Minister timber. Names of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Home Minister P. Chidambaram come straight to one’s mind. Yet all the three do not make the top position for one reason or the other. At least, Mr Mukherjee and Mr Chidambaram are not in the reckoning of Mrs Sonia Gandhi whose say is beyond doubt. Mr Antony may be her choice if she ever decides not to put her son in the Prime Minister’s gaddi. No doubt, Mr Antony is honest, humble and measures his words before uttering them. But he has not yet attained the stature of an all-India leader, particularly in the Hindi-speaking states. Mr Mukherjee is the best troubleshooter the Congress has and he has been entrusted with some thorny problems which he has sorted out. Yet he is not considered trustworthy by the dynasty which lost confidence in him when he threw his hat for the prime ministership after the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi. As for Mr Chidambaram, it is unconceivable that Mrs Sonia Gandhi will supersede Mr Mukherjee to put him at the top if and when the time comes for choosing Dr Manmohan Singh’s successor. Dr Manmohan Singh, who has matured politically in the seven and a half years of prime ministership, knows about crisscrossing and dissensions in his party. Mrs Sonia Gandhi has been his great teacher and he has learnt from her when to tick off whom. Before going abroad this time, the Prime Minister had the Cabinet Secretariat to issue a communiqué to make it clear that there was no No. 2 in the government. Dr Manmohan Singh himself remained in control even when he was out of the country. However, during his absence, either the Home Minister or the Finance Minister can preside over the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs. Apparently, their feud was in the Prime Minister’s mind and he, therefore, did not nominate either of them as “No. 2”. However, Mr Mukherjee will preside when there is a meeting of the Cabinet Committee. Mr Chidambaram gets the chance if and when Mr Mukherjee is not available. The vagueness in the arrangement has been kept purposely so as to keep both on the best of their behaviour. Understandably, Mr Antony does not figure in the communiqué. I have a feeling that both Mr Mukherjee and Mr Chidambaram may be ignored and Mr Antony can be the dark horse. But this depends on whether Mr Rahul Gandhi can still make the waves. UP can be his waterloo. If the result in the state election early next year does not favour the Congress — it wants to occupy the second position, next to Ms Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party — Mrs Sonia Gandhi may not nominate him. Seniormost Agricultural Minister Sharad Pawar who has expressed his frustration may have been in the reckoning if he had stayed with the Congress. But he left it to protest against a foreigner, the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, becoming the party president. How can she tolerate him occupying the top position? His grouse has found expression in the remark that the present situation in the country is because of the weakness of the government which he also represents. His Nationalist Congress Party has not enough strength to rebel even if Mr Rahul Gandhi is made the Prime Minister. Many years ago, the Congress faced a similar problem on the selection of a successor when Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru fell sick a few months before his death. Yet the challenges were different at that time. There was no dearth of leaders. Lal Bahadur Shastri, Morarji Desai, Jagjivan Ram and Nehru’s own daughter, Indira Gandhi, were popular among the public. Anyone of them was eligible to be Nehru’s successor. The real challenge, which the Western media had hyped, was whether the democratic system in the country would stay after Nehru. Journalists from the UK and the US, particularly from the former, predicted that democracy would end once Nehru breathed his last. An American journalist, Wells Hangen, wrote a book, “After Nehru Who?”, and listed among the claimants two Army officers, Gen K.S. Thimmaya, a popular commander, and Gen B.M. Kaul, close to the dynasty. What it conveyed was that the Army might take over the country after Nehru’s death. The West never understood — it still does not — that the diversity in India would not allow any system other than democracy to stay. This only ensures the different communities and castes, their freedom as well as identity. India is democratic, not because it is competing with China, which is communist, but because it is the only system which is suited to its genius. The problem India faces is trivialisation of society. Elections have refurbished the sectarian caste or even sub-caste. Even religion has begun to play some role. That Dr Manmohan Singh has inveighed against these tendencies is not enough. Had he been politically popular he might have countered them. Nehru at one time got the columns of caste and religion in the application forms for government jobs or admissions to schools deleted. Dr Manmohan Singh’s success could be in unleashing new forces like engineers, doctors, lawyers and academicians or those who are returning from abroad without old rigidities. The economic growth that Dr Manmohan Singh has initiated in the country is impressive, but it has not curbed parochial tendencies. His policies have yawned the distance between the haves and the have-nots. In Nehru’s days, the ratio between the top and the lowest was 10:1. Now it is a thousand times more. The pertinent question which needs to be posed is: What after Manmohan Singh, not after Manmohan Singh, who? His wasteful policies, although populist, have had an emaciating effect on 80 per cent people. They are hardly bothered about the debate, “After Manmohan Singh, who? They want
bread. |
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Caught with camera
I
remember while growing up in a school hostel at Dalhousie, our group of friends was very vociferous in their claims to be different. We boasted that we would be doing what we wanted to in our lives instead of following the routine graph of life. We joined the same college in Chandigarh and started travelling to different parts of the country. What began as a hobby became a passion. We went packed like sardines in the general compartment of the Tinsukia Mail to Dimapur near the eastern tip of the country. We rode on camels in the desert in Jaisalmer near the border with Pakistan. We crossed a part of the Burhi Dihing, a large tributary of the Brahmaputra in Upper Assam, on elephant back. We cycled the entire belt of the Jharkhand coal mines. Life changed after our college. We did not have mobile telephones or the Facebook, so, we gradually lost track of each other’s lives. Last summer while I was sipping my cup of tea in Chitkul, near Sangla, in the interiors of Himachal Pradesh, I was amused with the antics of a lean middle-aged man trying different angles on his camera while capturing the peculiarities of the human settlements there. He noticed me peeping and stood up. We recognised each other, and he came briskly towards me and gave me a tight hug. “Charlie, what are you doing here?” I asked. “I am just shooting,” he replied back. The expression reminded me of lanky Rajat Jamwal’s passion for the Army. He could not make it. He was working with a multinational, in Chandigarh, after our classes. We often used to meet in Indian Coffee House in Sector 17 and he was always cribbing about his boss asking him about his missed targets and poor sales figures. “I worked hard, but I could not sell my work to my boss. He had a habit of listening to people who gave him inputs about office even if they were half-baked”, was his favourite line. “I went back to my home near Shimla about 10 years back. After about a month while I was in a quandary as to whether I had taken the right decision, I met a German tourist who had quit his career as a leading surgeon to follow his passion for discovering the world. Walking with him, I was awe-struck with the beauty of the Himalayas.” I learnt photography and realised that it could be my job, which could also fulfil my passion for shooting. I run a studio with a select but dedicated clientele to keep the kitchen of my house running besides small returns from the family orchard. We did not notice a young man walking up to us. Charlie said, “Lakshay, where have you been?” “I was shooting the Golden Eagles,” he said, showing the screen of his camera. “Where did you get them? I have been trying for a shot since morning,” Charlie said. “Dad, you started to learn very late in life. I’ll help you,” he winked.n |
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Cyber crimes have grown in numbers and character. Women, the chosen victims of cyber crimes choose to remain silent about them due to outdated stereotypes — which complicates implementation of the IT Act
In the beginning of the twentieth century Marshall McLuhan expected the world to become a 'global village.' It happened towards the end of the century, thanks to the explosion of information technology which brought the information of the world to our living rooms. Mobile phones, internet connectivity and the invention of World Wide Web changed our world. These sophisticated technological devices not only offered us benefits, they also created threats - what in general parlance are known as cyber crimes. Exposure to cyberspace is a part of general routine and women professionals are known to excel in IT services. At the same time, women are vulnerable and can be easily exploited — their contact details with the latest technologies have turned them more vulnerable. Internet has exposed women to cyber defamation, cyber stalking, email spoofing, pornography, harassments and sexual abuse etc. Often women remain ignorant of these' vegetable' crimes, called so because till they become a target of these, they remain ignorant of their inherent dangers. In my study I analysed the crime against women through new electronic media devices like mobile phones and internet, using empirical data. The women - arts and science graduates and postgraduates in the age group of 18 to 24 years, who have regular access to mobile phones and internet were the respondents of the study. The information was collected from the girls using unstructured interviews and focus group discussion (FGD).
You could be stalked Cyber crime is a global phenomenon and victimisation of women is on the rise. Though India has enacted IT Act 2001 ( amended in 2008) to combat cyber crimes, issues regarding women still remain untouched in this Act ( see box). Various studies in this field state that absence of judicial activism and deficient cyber laws against the fast-spreading scourge of cyber violence against women could not be ignored. Digital revolution is proving to be a double-edged weapon against women. In India, cyber crimes remain less reported because of hesitation and stereotypes attached to women's honour. This attitude makes the anonymous offenders safe. During FGD the respondents stated that they are aware of some of the cyber crimes specially targeting women through - harassment via e-mails, cyber-stalking, cyber pornography, defamation, morphing, and email spoofing, yet, lack of awareness about the laws make them vulnerable. Young girls are volatile in the chatting rooms. The new users of chatting find it interesting and easily get into the trap. The discussion showed variety of views; chatting is considered fun, entertainment, enjoyment, way of gratification and addiction. But when the limits are crossed, the trap works. Here is a case of a science graduate who chatted along with her friends in an Internet café with a group of boys. She was attracted to a boy who was smart and intelligent. They started chatting in person and became closer and shared personal information. The girl developed feelings of love for him. The boy had good time with her and bid her goodbye to join a foreign university. This affected her studies and mental health. She underwent depression. Email is the most influential mode of communication. During personal interview, the respondents stated that trafficking, posting obscene material, and pornography are some of the cyber crimes that are attached to emailing. The respondents consider mailing as part of their life for sharing information, as academic resources, and for keeping regular contacts etc. Yet, emailing creates an opportunity for most cyber crimes. A simple mail can also change the fate; here is a case of a girl student from a reputed college with an aspiration to become a civil servant. She used to maintain decent relationships with people in higher position, who helped her in studies. But she experienced indifference among her friends, though she was not aware of the reason behind that indifference. She, in fact, became a victim of cyber defamation . She came to know about it only when one of her friends called her over the phone and enquired why she was mailing insulting information to others. After receiving this call she came to know that her mail id was misused by somebody for damaging her reputation. Identity theft took place and her ambition to become an IAS officer was smashed. The girls feel that the cyber stalking through mails and chatting are done mainly for reasons of sexual harassment, obsession for love, revenge and hatred, and ego and power. But, at times envy also triggers these crimes.
SMS — The hidden dangers Instances of MMS abuse are well known, but abuse is also possible through SMS. When a girl receives message from unknown number she is tempted to reply and then it expands to the level of attractive messages and then to messages with sexual overtones. One such case of Priya (name changed on request), an affluent young girl who was pursuing graduation in mathematics, used to receive SMS texts from unknown numbers. If they were not responded to, they would stop. She committed the mistake of responding to one number that regularly sent her messages. She was attracted to him, later they started talking and he impressed her as a good friend. Their friendship grew through mobile phone and without knowing who /where / how he was, one day when he called her outside the city, she declined initially but on another occasion she felt compelled to go. There he spent the entire day with her and clicked photographs with her. She came back safely but in the following days she did not get any call or SMS texts from him. When she tried to call, he avoided her. Later he started blackmailing her with the threat of posting her pictures on the web pages. This case was taken to her parents and they had to pay money to get back the photos and CDs. The paradox was - the case was not taken to the police or media. Modern value system creates an ambivalent situation among young girls. They develop an attitude of "what is wrong in it?" and "nothing is wrong". But, instances like these call for a balance between value systems and the limits of using latest technologies. An interesting part of this study and the earlier works is, that the persons who indulge in these crimes are educated elite. As the chances of identifying the criminal are hard, such crimes become more common. When it targets women, the offender involved feels that the girls will not put up the case for any legal action because of the stigma attached. This was unanimously accepted by the respondents that they are not willing to take their cyber problems to police, or before the law. This attitude has to change and the utilisation of cyber laws and awareness will act as a deterrent for the cyber offenders. The tragic end of the cyber romance of Kausambi Layek and Manish Thakur should be a reminder of the hidden traps of the cyber world. The writer is Assistant Professor in Sociology & Deputy Director, Women’s Studies
Centre, Kamaraj University, Madurai
Tips for the Women
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Set up a special e-mail address for cyber contact. Don’ts n
Do not share personal information online. How does the IT Act help? 1 The present law (Information Technology Act (amended) 2008) has widened the wings in the ‘offence’ chapter. For instance, section 66A for the first time brings in a unique provision, “Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service, etc”. If seen from a wide perspective , this section goes on to protect cyber bullying, cyber defamation as well as cyber flame. The wordings of the section are gender neutral. But given the circumstances, this section can even prevent eve teasing online. In other ways, a woman, when harassed, need not dig in the Indian penal code to categorise the offence as cyber defamation or cyber harassment. 2 This new Act also deals with identity theft under section 66C. The wordings very much advocate for a provision to protect online economic crimes. But, this section can be stretched to cover identity theft related offences attacking women online, for instance, hacking email ids, personal blogs, social networking profiles and using the cloned profiles to disturb others. 3 Cheating by impersonations under section 66D is another section in which wordings are again very much for protecting eCommerce, but it says “Whoever, by means of any communication device or computer resource cheats by impersonation, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees”. This section can be fantastically used to punish those who play nasty games in the online matrimonial forums, the chatting rooms, and social networking websites, besides regular email frauds where older men play as young people to deceive women or to harass women. 4 The biggest advantage of the new law is, it has given wider protection for the online privacy. The traditional online privacy concept has a better facelift under section 66F which not only prevents voyeurism, but also goes to prevent morphing of individual’s photographs for pornographic purposes. The new Act however has preserved section 72 in order to protect privacy of personal records from the perpetrators who may dare to disclose the information without the consent of the individuals. 5 The law has taken utmost care to prevent online sexual abuse of women. There are three provisions dealing with obscenity (section 67), sexually explicit material(section67A) and child pornography(section 67B). 6 On the flip-side, there is no mention of women staff in the cyber tribunal constitution; neither cyber cells have compulsory women posts. Probably this could have reduced the number of victims ‘not so interested to proceed with reporting’. |
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