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are women safe anywhere?
This above all |
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the tribune debate: NCTC
TOUCHSTONE
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are women safe anywhere? These phrases may sound rather utopian and lofty and the goals a tad unrealistic when we peruse the daily papers, in any city, anywhere, in India. The main news (after the political corruption headlines and the continuing fiascos of the government and party in power) is of violence against women. Violence against rural women, urban women, young, old, upper or low caste; even infants, it seems, are not spared. The home, the street, the office, the park, no place it seems is safe for a woman. It may be safe to assume that the media has space only to report violence with the most dangerous consequences and the most sensational value. It is disheartening that despite not wanting to, one has to return to the depressing topic of ‘violence against women’. For readers, has such violence become boring, routine and ‘banal’ or commonplace as Hannah Arendt deemed the violence of the Nazis to have become? Has it become the thoughtless ‘everyday’ that ‘just happens’ which most of us read about and move on to the next story? Can we allow this state of affairs to continue?
Better, hence battered? Is this still the case? Is it that women are doing better and that getting battered is a price that current generations of women have to pay before men adjust to the idea and fact of gender equality? Before answering this question, let us review some development indicators for women and pose certain unexplained conundrums that confront us. Women have gained in several ways since India embarked on its post-independence development path; for example, female life expectancy in India is now higher than that of males (63.2 for males and 66.4 for females in 2010), fewer women die in childbirth (212 per 100,000 live births in 2007-09 as against 254 in 2004-06); maternal mortality declined from 254 in 2004 to 212 by 2009, per 100,000 live births. The literacy rate rose by 6.9 per cent for males and by 11.8 per cent for females – a little less than double that for men – not something to be scoffed at; and both rural and urban females showed a much higher improvement in literacy than males (Census 2011); the gender gap in literacy has come down from 24.6 to 19.8 between 2001 and 2011; among girls there are large increases in school enrolment as well as better performance in school and a lower incidence of dropping out. There has been continuous improvement in the overall sex ratio from 2001 to 2011 (933 to 940). Female infants, however, continue to experience higher mortality rates compared to male infants, although the rate of decline in mortality is higher for females than for males between 2005 and 2009 (Census 2011). The child sex ratio (0-6yrs) however, declined once again plunging to a new low of 914 girls for every 1000 boys in 2011 – an issue I will have occasion to return to later in this piece. Fertility has been declining rapidly and will most likely be close to 2.1 by 2015 – that is reaching replacement levels. Fertility decline may sound like a prosaic statistic but it has huge implications for women’s lives. As a result, not only do women have to undergo fewer pregnancies and childbirths, less of their time is devoted to the mothering role and more of it freed up for other things they may wish to do. Many women have the opportunity to return to work or undertake other goals they find
fulfilling.
More opportunities In the field of work today, women have many more opportunities than they did earlier, although overall female labour participation rates remain very low and have been stagnant in recent years. Yet, the diversity of occupations women are pursuing today is far greater than it ever was – women throng new fields such as IT, media and the hospitality industry, not to mention providing labour in traditional sectors such as factories and education. Call centres, garment factories, domestic work in towns and cities; employment in anganwadis and school teaching, hard labour on cotton and tobacco fields and in brick kilns draw women in large numbers. Wages may still not be commensurate with those of men and all sectors of the economy may still not be open to them but they are more willing than ever to work, in order to support their families, earn dowries for themselves or have pocket money for their own new found selves. There is a new found confidence in women everywhere but violence poses a huge and debilitating challenge to it.
Not safe anywhere It is interesting that an extremely common reason encountered today among parents for not wanting girl children is the insecure environment in villages, towns and cities. I have often wondered whether there is substance to this claim, this reasoning, and how one could test it. When parents say they don’t want to have a girl child because sending her to school is not safe; allowing her to go to work is not safe; even getting her married is not guaranteed to be a safe course of action, how much of this is fact? Or is it just a handy excuse as it is really the economic calculus that makes Indian parents reject daughters? Let us look at this conundrum a little closely. As is well known by now, the child sex ratio which tells us about the number of girls born for the number of boys born, has been consistently declining since 1961 (going by census decades). In the past, the elimination of daughters took place post-birth through infanticide or neglect. Much of the contemporary depletion of girls is achieved by the use of pre-natal diagnostic technologies such as ultrasound which make sex determination possible. The detected female foetuses are then aborted. Incidentally, the peak of such daughter elimination took place between 1990 and up to 2005. According to an article in the respected British medical journal, The Lancet, and estimates by P.M. Kulkarni, a demography scholar, about 12 million female foetuses have been aborted between 1980 and 2010 with higher numbers being aborted in the 1990s than in the 2000s. The fact that the sex ratio in the 7+ population has been improving between 1991 and 2001 (905 to 933) confirms that most of the loss is occurring in the pre-birth period.
More men spell more trouble Is it a fear for the girl’s future safety that explains their elimination? If so, can governments not take this bull by the horns and do something about female safety? Instead, Chief Ministers and police officials simply throw up their hands and prefer to shackle women and reduce their freedoms. Young ministers in Haryana kowtow to Khap panchayats as if women are the ones who pose a threat to society. Few, if any, have focused on the fact that an excess number of males can itself become a threat to female security. Having focused on the decline in the numbers of girl children for so long, it is time that we now focus on the excess of grown males and not only because they can’t find brides! In a book on the subject, “Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia’s Surplus Male Population”, authors, Hudson and de Boer, discuss how across history an excess of masculinity has been dangerous for women and for society. They predict dire consequences for both China and India as a consequence of the male surplus in both societies. In another recent article, Jean Dreze and Reetika Khera show that crime goes up in areas which have skewed sex ratios. They find that the strongest correlate of the murder rate is the female-male ratio: districts with lower female-male ratios have higher murder rates. Here we do have evidence that an imbalance in the sex ratio creates an insecure environment vis-a-vis physical security. And women are more often at risk than men, the latter being more able to defend themselves against certain kinds of violence. Anecdotal evidence from low sex ratios states reinforces the supposition that violence against women is growing. Abductions, rapes and honour killings are evident in states experiencing a shortage of young girls and adult women.
Fewer women, greater risk The shortage of girls defies the economic logic of higher value of scarce goods; indeed the remaining girls and women will be at greater risk as competition over them grows. They will be at the receiving end of greater sexual and reproductive demands, more domestic work and farm work, beginning at younger ages. The hard won gains of more years of education and being able to choose a career and follow their dreams could easily be reversed. Hence, if we have to dedicate this International Women’s Day to something, we should dedicate it to renewed efforts to restore the balance in the sex ratio and make society violence free for women. (The writer is a Sociologist and teaches at IIT Delhi)
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This above all
It occurs to me that one’s real home is defined by neighbours, among whom they dwell rather than the house or apartment in which they happen to be. Much of the important factor in making a house a home is the presence of parents and siblings under the same roof. If they are living apart, you can be sure it is a broken home, perhaps litigating against other. As it happens, the largest number of cases in our courts are between members of the same family. In Western democracies, people make ‘Wills’ and usually let their descendants know what they contain. Will-making is not so common in India and divulging their contents to their offspring even less so. This often leads to misunderstanding after deaths of the Will-makers.
WHATS IN A NAME
“Announcing the publication of a list of officially-disallowed names in New Zealand (2001-11)”, McPherson added that “royal titles featured heavily. The most-denied names were Justice (49 times), Princess (24), King (21), and Prince (20), while Duke, Bishop, Major, and Lucifer were also rejected at least six times each. Other disallowed names included Messiah, Christ, Anal, V8, the Roman numerals I, II and III, the punctuation symbols * and /, and the names ‘Mafia No Fear’ and ‘Number 16 Bus Shelter’. Altogether, 350 parents had their chosen names rejected in the decade ending June 30, 2011”.
THE MURKY PICTURE
Servants of the State/ Having a shiny clean slate,/Just watching the dirty picture/Which was to be their best teacher./Whilst the house was in session/They were learning their own lesson./A lesson of pure governance,/And not any kind of indulgence./A governance of funds procurement from the establishment,/ For women upliftment and the child development./A fleeting glimpse into their sincerity/Having a threesome mobile festivity,/Puts a media to insensitivity/And an invasion of privacy/And shows them on the verge of idiocy. (Composed by Sandeep Dewan)
WOMEN’S LOO
In a Chicago hospital, a gentleman had made several attempts to get into the men’s restroom, but it had always been occupied. A nurse noticed his predicament. “Sir”, she said, “You may use the ladies room if you promise not to touch any of the buttons on the wall”. He did what he needed to, and as he sat there, he noticed the buttons he had promised not to touch. Each button was identified by letters, WW, WA, PP and a red one labelled ATR. Who would know if he touched them? He couldn’t resist – He pushed WW… Warm water was sprayed gently upon his bottom. What a nice feeling, he thought. Men’s restrooms don’t have nice things like this. Anticipating greater pleasure, he pushed the WA button. Warm air replaced the warm water, gently drying his underside. When this stopped, he pushed the PP button. A large powder puff caressed his bottom, adding a fragile scent of spring flower to this unbelievable pleasure. The ladies’ restroom was more than a restroom; it is tender loving pleasure. When the powder puff completed its pleasure, he couldn’t wait to push the ATR button which he knew would be supreme ecstasy. Next thing he knew, he opened his eyes, he was in a hospital bed, and a nurse was staring down at him. “What happened?” he exclaimed. “The last thing I remember was pushing the ATR button”. The button ATR is an Automatic Tampon Remover. Your private is under your pillow”. Men Never Listen. (Contributed by Vipin Buckshey, Delhi)
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the tribune debate: NCTC India is afflicted with all types of terrorism: ideological, religious, and ethnic terrorism. The roots of 'Jehadi terrorism' are in our neighbourhood and the neighbour harbours deep animosity for our country since its birth. It has no hesitation in using terrorism as a tool to achieve its expansionist designs. And yet, even after more than three years since the daring 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai, which held the commercial capital of the country to ransom for two days, we cannot put in place an effective strategy to counter terrorism. Instead our rulers, both in the states and at the Centre, are shamelessly playing politics with this threat to gain electoral advantage. Whether it is counter-terrorism, law or administrative mechanism for effectively dealing with this growing menace, we are stuck because of partisan politics. I am not aware of any other country in the world, where an issue of such importance for national security has become an issue for electoral battles. We witness the strange spectacle of more than one cabinet minister publicly stating that the Batla House encounter in Delhi in 2008, in which a brave Inspector of the Delhi Police paid the supreme sacrifice, was fake. If senior ministers believe that the encounter was fake, what stops the government from holding an inquiry and taking action? Instead of making statements before the media, they should have taken up the matter with the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. NEED NOT DISPUTED It is in this background, therefore, that one can make sense of this new controversy about the NCTC. Do we need a National Counter Terrorism Centre, and if so, why? We need setting up of the NCTC for the simple reason that terrorism today has not just local and state-level dimensions, but also national and international dimensions. And the states in India have neither the resources nor the expertise to tackle this most serious national security challenge on their own. They require assistance and guidance from the central agencies. The need for very close and continuous cooperation to pre-empt, prevent and investigate incidents of terrorism cannot be over emphasised. Moreover, terrorism is a multi-dimensional problem; security is only one dimension of the problem. Political, economic, social and external dimensions are as important and they are all interlinked. Only a balanced and flexible strategy that does not allow strategy to lean in any one direction, creating distortions in the other areas, can succeed. A counter-terrorism strategy must monitor and coordinate things on all fronts. Even foreign policy initiatives can have direct and immediate internal repercussions on the ground in the affected areas. Similarly, internal security management can influence international opinion that no country can ignore in today's world. Moreover, there is a need for a centralised agency that can assess inputs from various agencies on continuous basis. Our counter terrorism strategy needs to be a step ahead of the terrorist groups and not behind them, if they are to pre-empt and prevent incidents of terrorism. NO SUBSTITUTE FOR STATES However, in a large and diverse country like India, it would be foolish to think that central agencies can be a substitute for the state agencies. NCTC or no NCTC, counter terrorism strategy cannot succeed without close and continuous coordination between the Centre and the states. Close cooperation is also essential between the various central armed forces, investigating, intelligence and all other central agencies. This coordination is an absolute must and cannot be sacrificed for any reason whatsoever, if the country has to win this fight against terrorism. It must be emphasised that the NCTC cannot replace other central or state agencies. Even if there was no constitutional provision, which places the police under state list, for practical reasons there is no way the central agency can win this battle on its own by excluding the state agencies. Any such attempt would be a non-starter. We have been fighting terrorism since Independence in the Northeast, J&K and Punjab, but there has never been a problem of coordination between the centre and the states. It is only in the last few years that this problem has arisen, largely due to partisan politics. The solution to this problem has to be found at the political level. The recent controversy about the setting of the NCTC is on two main grounds: one that it will function in the Intelligence Bureau, which is a secret organisation not under parliamentary oversight, and, therefore, is a retrograde step repugnant to democratic norms. And two, it encroaches on the powers which are under the constitution in the State List and, therefore, pose a threat to India's federal structure. HAM-HANDED The manner in which the NCTC was proposed to be set up through an executive order of the Union Home Ministry, without even a pretence of taking the states on board, has only given rise to the suspicion that the Central government has a hidden agenda that has little to do with fighting terrorism. The net result has been to weaken and not strengthen the national resolve to fight terrorism. The trust deficit between the centre and the states has increased. And again, what was the need for placing the NCTC under the IB? Giving it police powers like search and arrest would only further heighten the suspicion that the Central government wants to assume powers to target the states. It has already revived memories in some quarters of misuse of intelligence agencies during the Emergency years. Instead of working together, as they have been doing till the issue of terrorism was politicised in the last few years, the turf battles between the central agencies and the states will only get worse. It would be wrong to take only a legalistic view of the problem and argue that the legal basis for such powers of search, seizure, and arrest are already there under section 43A of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. It is also not true that its counterpart in the US has police powers. Nor is there much substance in the argument that it is essential to confer police powers to eliminate delay in operationalising intelligence reports. The biggest hurdle is mistrust between the state and the
central governments that can frustrate all major initiatives of the NCTC. This mistrust will increase. It is a classic case of good intentions but bad implementation. Ham-handed attempts to set up the NCTC by the central government has only weakened the fight against terrorism. All these controversies would only please the terrorist groups who are plotting against the very survival of our country, within and outside the country. While there is scope for different views on such an important subject, one hopes that the differences would be sorted out in an environment of mutual trust. An attitude of one-upmanship would not help. Let better sense prevail and broad political consensus reached both on the laws and the administrative framework required for combating terrorism. The writer is a former Governor of Jharkhand and Manipur and also a former Special Secretary, Internal Security, Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Director General, National Security Guard
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TOUCHSTONE Over the years, however, the National Book Fair has lost some of its popular appeal. Perhaps it is the fate of all state-sponsored events to eventually become annual rituals where indifference, lack of imagination and a certain boredom kill all enthusiasm and interest. Or perhaps it is to do with other, more lively book fairs and festivals available to book lovers now. In an earlier time, when it was the only one of its kind, people came from all over the country and it was a chance to hear, meet and exchange ideas with writers and publishers from various languages. Now, when most important cities have started their own literary events, the National Book Fair is mostly restricted to local people, who come for many other reasons rather than book browsing alone. However, there is much about this book fair to cheer: there are some terrific bargains if you know where to look for them. And even in these Flipkart and Kindle times, no serious book lover will pass up the chance of a good book discount. This is also the place to look for arcane titles and specialised books on subjects that have a very small but dedicated readership. Then there are the antiquarian book sellers, whose stalls offer priceless first editions and out-of-print titles. The evenings are dedicated to cultural events and film shows offered free or at nominal prices. And, if even all this fails to attract visitors, there are the ever-popular food stalls with chowmein and mo-mos and chaat: food for the body if not the mind.
RANG BARSE An important cultural marker at this time of the year is Holi. Long before the festival actually arrives, you can see vendors at traffic lights selling quaint and funny holi arsenal. My favourite this year was a pair of zany plastic shades with plastic Mickey Mouses on each frame. A thin cord on the side ended in a little bubble to press and out squirted a thin jet of water to stun your friend! I am sure it was invented by a humorous sardarji like Jaspal Bhatti. Another annual feature is a Holi Milan with dance, music and food to set the mood for Holi, and is organised by Birju Maharaj’s Kathak Kala Kendra. Several Kathak compositions are centred on Holi and Maharj ji’s enthusiasm on the occasion is infectious. The Habitat Centre hosted an evening of horis, kajris and chaitis by Malini Avasthi on the eve of Holi, which featured the traditional music of eastern UP. Although the high-octane election results the day before had upstaged these celebrations, every colony and community had made arrangements for ushering in this spring festival. We ourselves host a Kumaoni ‘Holi ki Baithak’ with classical Horis sung non-stop by a band of ‘Holiyars’. It is an open-house that evening and people flock to eat, drink and hear good music. The finale is a benediction by the singers, who bless everyone with a Hori composed by Wajid Ali Shah, ‘Ho mubarak sab hi ko yeh shubh ghari, aisi holi khelain Janab Ali…’ Sadly, in a country where once such festivals crossed religious and ethnic boundaries, and where a Hori composed by a Muslim poet was sung by Hindu singers, there are now bands of hooligans, who make it difficult to even venture out. Drunk on bhang or liquor, they zoom dangerously, endangering the lives of others on the roads and tease and intimidate women. Perhaps the time has come for all of us to revive the Barsane ki Holi, where women stand armed with lathis to thrash the louts, who come to their village to drench and tease them!
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THE celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8 every year may not make much difference to women’s lives in India, but it is a good occasion to evaluate the balance sheet and assess our distance from the goals of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The forms of violence are myriad and sometimes boggle our imagination – girls being pulled into cars, being shot, acid thrown on their faces, being murdered, raped, harassed at work, ‘honour killed’ by parents or siblings in the home, the list is endless. 
A long time ago I had written that the intensifying violence against women could possibly be read as a result of the narrowing of the gender gap. Women were catching up on several development indicators, growing in independence and spreading their wings. This posed a challenge to male patriarchy and masculinity and men were resorting with violence (in the short run, hopefully) to defend their hegemony and power in the existing social arrangements.
I
have a large number of relatives and friends who have settled abroad – mostly in England, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand. Most of them are prosperous and able to visit their ancestral home in India. What do they regard as their real homes – ones in which they live when abroad or where they had spent their younger days?
The latest issue of Private Eye has an amusing item about names not allowed in New Zealand. It reads: “In general, people can register whatever names they like for their children”, Ross McPherson of the Internal Affairs Department told reporters in Christchurch, “but some rules do apply. A name can be rejected if it might cause offence to a reasonable person, or if it resembles an official title, or if it’s unreasonably long. So one couldn’t register a swear word as a name for a child, or a name more than 100 characters long, or a name like Colonel or Royal”.
IT is truly amazing that in a country, where terrorism poses the most serious threat to national security, setting up of a National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) should become an issue of such fierce controversy.
The break -up of the Indian Union and annexation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir have been part of its national agenda from the very beginning, irrespective of who ruled Pakistan. Insurgency in the Northeast and the challenge posed by left wing extremism by the Maoists are no less serious than jehadi terrorism even if their external dimensions are not as visible. The situation could dramatically change with the Maoists in control in Nepal and China taking a more active interest in these groups. 
Valentine’s
Whatever the reason, one was not surprised to learn that the number of footfalls was quite low this year. So, despite the fact that this year’s theme was ‘Cinema and Literature’, with several literary and film personalities invited as speakers or participants, there were few young people storming the gates to be let in. It is also commonly believed that February is a good time for publishers to offload their dead stock, because this is the time when libraries across the country rush to spend their grants before they lapse in March at the close of the financial year. This cosy understanding is responsible for a lot of the trade figures that are totted up.