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Verdict against Congress Profit of sin |
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Male bastions under attack
The class of 2014
Myriad hues of celluloid world
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Verdict against Congress It
is a decisive vote against the Congress. The extent of the defeat — and of humiliation — was certainly unexpected. Sheila Dikshit, who has transformed Delhi with modern infrastructure, did not deserve an inglorious exit like this. She paid the price for crimes against women, corruption, price rise and anti-incumbency, her own as well as of the UPA. She arrogantly brushed aside the challenge from Arvind Kejriwal. The forceful debut of the Aam Aadmi Party was a major surprise in Sunday's four assembly election results. AAP has caught the imagination of Delhi-ites, cutting across caste, class, religious and social barriers, by its focus on corruption-free, people-oriented governance. The voters have rejected the politics of entitlement pursued by the Congress nationally. Its rights-based politics is expected to be pitted against Modi’s pro-growth agenda in 2014. The outcome, right now, appears unfavourable. Though the four states fall in the core BJP area, the Congress cannot ignore the fact that it has lost despite all its pro-poor initiatives: the rural job guarantee scheme, a farmer-friendly land acquisition law, the right to education and subsidised food. In Rajasthan it even offered pension and free medicines. Whether the BJP's Rajasthan win is because of the Modi factor or Vasundhara Raje’s charisma is open to debate, but a non-performing government has been punished. The message is clear: people support good governance as they have done in Madhya Pradesh and vote out sleepy chief ministers like Ashok Gehlot. Madhya Pradesh is among the fastest-growing states. Chhattisgarh has a system that delivers. As chief ministers, Shivraj Chouhan and Raman Singh have done a commendable job in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, respectively. Narendra Modi's contribution to the BJP victory is hard to measure, but he did sharpen the anti-UPA sentiment countrywide with tireless campaigning. Unlike Modi, Congress leaders are poor communicators who fail to connect with the masses and explain why diesel price is being hiked or how states are responsible if onion prices shoot up. They still have time to introspect. |
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Profit of sin The
Supreme Court calling for life imprisonment for adulteration of milk is evidence of the seriousness with which it has viewed the pernicious practice. Anyone who feeds his child milk would be able to understand the outrage. Milk — perhaps the easiest of foods to adulterate — has a special status in the Indian food hierarchy, considered the ultimate nourishment. A survey by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India in 2011 had found nearly 70 per cent of milk samples across the country did not conform to its standards. Distinction, however, must be made between the various kinds of 'adulteration'. There are additions of solids such as fat, milk powder or glucose as well as chemicals like urea, detergent or
formalin. It is the latter that need greater attention. The larger issue, however, remains that of food adulteration as well as contamination. Of which milk is just one small part, even for children. Mixing of non-food materials in food is rampant — whether to increase quantity or enhance appearance. The only way to check this criminal act driven by greed is stringent punishment. But before that would come the requirement of catching the culprit, which is where the system fails miserably. In many districts in the country there is not even one food inspector, and those dealing in food indulge in adulteration with impunity. If an adulterator were sure to get even six months in jail — as provided for under the Food Safety Act — few would dare to take the risk. The challenge of food contamination — whether chemical or biological — would still remain. Any improvement in that will require an overhaul of our agricultural practices, post-harvest handling and supply chain. This needs research, dissemination of knowledge among the stakeholders, especially farmers, and huge investments. One of the benefits of allowing foreign retail chains would be this, as they have a long experience in both directing production and subsequent delivery to the final consumer. But there are major political and economic decisions involved in this.
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Thought for the Day Public opinion is no more than this: what people think that other people think. — Alfred Austin
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Mrs. Besant has written in the December number of the “Theosophist” deploring the attitude of English papers like the Times and English men like Sir Valentine Chirol and Sir Bamfylde Fuller, who oppose the aspirations of India. She has particularly alluded to the Times' attack on Mr. Surendranth Banerji accusing him of conniving at crime. Such silly charges carry their own refutation and require no defence. The attitude of certain anti-Indian papers in and outside India is not a feature of today. It is their 'privilege' to attack those who are already maligned and there is no doubt that they find it profitable to keep up a policy of offending the people of India and their trusted leaders. The more reasonable the aspirations of Indians become, the more persistent are the false charges of some papers and some men who would have no fair play for Indians. Evidently Mrs. Besant has by her recent sufferings come to understand more clearly than before that the attempt to crush out Indian aspirations is a malignant one. She has announced to start a new weekly paper called the "Commonweal" with the sole object of reconciling Indian aspirations with Imperial unity. Punjab District Boards and Education The Government review of the Punjab District Road Report for 1912-13 shows that there was no satisfactory progress made in primary education for want of trained teachers. There was an increase of Rs. 3? lakhs under receipts for education, due to Government grants, and fees also increased from Rs. 2,17,391 to Rs. 2,55,303 but the expenditure has not kept pace with the receipts. The increase in expenditure amounted to only Rs. 1,92,000. It is suggested that this is due to the inability of the District Boards to utilise fully the buildings grants made to them.
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Male bastions under attack A
recent case of sexual abuse by a leading journalist of India involving his junior colleague hogged the media space with shrieking headlines in the print media and TV anchors getting breathless while dilating on the grisly details of the case. It seems that a rapist and his victim must belong to the elite class to get nationwide attention in our country.
The cases of sexual abuse — eve teasing, molestation, rape, gang-rape with its videography being the most obnoxious — are rampant in the rural hinterland and small towns of India. However, most of them go unnoticed and unreported. This malaise is symptomatic of a patriarchal society. In a patriarchal society the female body is the site through which the male establishes his hegemony, a field in which he runs his miniature marathon. This mindset is strongest in the khap land around Delhi and Haryana is the most notorious in this respect. However, a silent revolution is taking place in this belt, posing a serious challenge to the male hegemony. Craving for the male child is paramount in the khap belt as reflected in the female foeticide. The child-sex ratio is an important indicator of gender relations. According to the 2011 census, Haryana has 830 females for 1,000 male babies. This record is the worst not only in India but possibly in the whole of the world. Under attack for honour killings and antipathy to the female, the khap panchyats attempted an image makeover by holding a big conclave at Bibipur village in Jind district on July 14, 2012. An 11-member committee of khap chiefs was constituted to fight the menace of feoticide in the state. The government of Haryana released a grant of one crore rupees to the village panchayat for taking this initiative. On November 17, 2013, I with some friends went to Bibipur and met its sarpanch to ascertain the progress of the fight against foeticide during the interval of almost one and a half years. The sarpanch told us that the committee had not met even once and there was no progress on this front. This was a shocking revelation. On being asked about the cause, he observed that the members were not serious about it. This is a facile explanation. Khaps are hyper active and very serious in marital affairs. They often pass resolutions with reformist content to look modernist but never act. Sources reveal that the khap chiefs who participated in the Bibipur conclave now are demanding a share in the one crore grant released to the village panchyat on the plea that this was possible on account of their involvement. So instead of fighting against foeticide, they are fighting over money! The real fight against the male hegemony is being waged by its victims and various male bastions are under attack. A married couple, Sonia and Rampal of Asanda village in Jhajjar district, were declared siblings by the khap panchyat in 2004. The husband wilted under pressure and it was the frail-looking Sonia who revolted against this odious fiat. It was after a High Court directive that the couple were allowed to live in the village. The well-publicised case of Manoj-Babli murder took place in 2007. It is a tale of Manoj’s poor, widowed mother and his younger sister which is a heroic saga of female assertion in the khap belt. There was every kind of pressure on this duo by the khap elements — tight social boycott, threats and blandishments, offer of money etc — but they fought relentlessly and got life imprisonment for the killers. The case is pending in the Supreme Court for a final decision and the duo lives under police protection. When Satish and Kavita of Meham Kheri in Rohtak district with one-and-a-half-year-old son were declared siblings by the village panchayat, it was Kavita who took a firm stand. Examples can be multiplied. In the Commonwealth Games Haryana won 30 medals — 15 gold, 17 silver and eight bronze. Sports women of Haryana played the most significant role in earning this glory. This remarkable performance of rural girls has infused confidence in women in the khap belt. There has been a custom of “ghurcharhi” in the khap belt. A bridegroom mounts a horse and takes a round in the village a day before the wedding day. This has been the exclusive preserve of the male. Now this male bastion stands breached. On April 4, 2010, bride-to-be Monica in Kaparwas village of Bhiwani district made history. Attired in red and blue suit, with a turban on her head and a garland of currency notes around her neck, “mehndi” adorning her hands, she mounted a horse to break the age-old tradition. An elated crowd broke into thunderous applause as Monica marched on the horse back in the village streets. A crowd of villagers followed her in procession and there were people hanging out of windows, on the terraces and on tree-tops to watch this girl sending out the message that women were out to assert their dignity. At the village temple, Monica and other newly-weds pledged not to indulge in female foeticide and the crowd broke out into another song and dance round. “Kuan Poojan” (worship at the village well) has been a custom to celebrate the birth of a male child. There are instances of this male-centric custom undergoing a change. At several places the custom has been followed by celebrating the birth of a girl child. A “Maha Bhoj” (community feast) is organised to celebrate the birth of a son. Now there are several instances of this custom being observed to welcome the birth of a daughter. These are examples of female assertion in the land of patriarchy, harbingers of social transformation, a wind of change which is likely to become tornado to sweep off the outdated traditions aimed at oppressing the female. The number of male participants in this campaign is on the increase as female liberation would entail male emancipation also. A man who lords over his wife debases and demeans himself also in the process. If the self styled leaders of the caste and khaps do not see the writing on the wall and refuse to change in tune with the changing times, they would be cast into the dustbin of history as dinosaurs of a bygone era.
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The class of 2014 It
is that time of the year again. The days are shorter and there is a chill in the air … it is the end of the school term. On the surface it seems like just another year. But while I walk along the corridors I can’t help but look at the outgoing batch: the class of 2014. Yes, they face what is probably going to be the most difficult examination of their lives; one that will clearly establish the career paths that they will follow. But they are also standing at the edge of something remarkable. They have the world at their feet and it is good to see the happiness, enthusiasm and excitement that this feeling generates. The enormity of the board examination has not settled in yet and the rough draft of the date sheet looks like it is meant for someone else or for some other time. They are busy building a bank of memories of school life for themselves. One sees students taking photographs in the classrooms, some asking their favourite teachers for a snap, with the shy ones spending the entire day mustering up the courage to do the same. This is an attempt to hold on to the last remnants of a childhood, which seems to have gone by way too fast. It will be many years before they realise that what they really remember about school are moments that could never be captured on a digi-cam. And there will be millions of these moments that will light up dark moments and lift their tired souls. As a teacher and a house master I experience great pride seeing my boys and girls leave the sheltered environs, but there is a tremendous sense of loss too. I catch myself wondering what I will do without Nehmat, Karanbir, Aman, Amrita and Sukhmani… my wonderful prefects. Besides all the work they did, I realise I will miss their affection and unconditional love. I will miss the implicit trust that they placed in me, making me aware everyday of the immense responsibility I had; I could never let them down. They were ‘teachers’ to me as I learnt to better myself as an individual and as a teacher because of them. Like always, students will pass out and new batches will take their place. Like always, they too will develop close bonds with us teachers and leave us with ‘staffroom anecdotes’ to share. What they will never know is that they all leave us richer from the experience of having them in our lives. They leave us enriched, loved and valued -something that teachers rarely receive from the outside world. For that I will always be grateful to my boys and girls. Thank you and God bless.
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Myriad hues of celluloid world Dismissing
film festivals as an exercise in futility and an indulgence that serves little purpose except ego massage of some stars and a few officials might be tempting. However, over the years these have become both a fertile ground for germination of new ideas as well as a showcase for cinema that otherwise fails to find a market. Perhaps, but for film festivals some of these cutting-edge films might never get made, let alone be seen, heard and applauded.
In fact, right from the day the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was founded in 1952 to its recently-concluded 44th edition at Goa, it has been a reaffirmation as well as celebration of cinema that doesn't toe the beaten track, dares to think out of the box and engages viewers in a manner they are not quite accustomed to. Variety is the spice Feature, non-feature, animation, homage, retrospectives, classics and a fair cross-section of international cinema, IFFI has all kinds of films. Detractors might have issues with its 'please all' formula, but few can deny that for 10 days, IFFI becomes a hub of meaningful cinema, vastly different from the kind Indian viewers as a rule root for. For a nation for whom cinema is synonymous with entertainment, entertainment and entertainment...star-studded events such as the latest edition of International Film Festival of India at Goa might be about star gaze on celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood. However, pondering seriously, film festivals do provide a counter reference point and certainly are a window to the often ignored facet of Indian (particularly regional) as well as the world cinema. Not merely because here over 300 films were showcased from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Timor, Latvia and Bhutan besides the regular invitees such as Japan, Poland and Czech Republic. More pertinently what makes the potpourri of festivals such as IFFI unique isn't just variety and diversity which is its USP of course but the underlying thread of cinema that is as purposeful as relevant. Sure certain mainstream movies such as Bhaagh Milkha Bhaag, Raanjhana and even super hits of yesteryear like Zanjeer are included in its different sections like Homage and Incredible India. But primarily most films tread the unfamiliar path, defy stereotypes and formulaic representations, if are not outright brave and encompass a wide range of issues. Significant concerns that are as topical as universal, politics and of course emotions are the stuff that cinema here is made of. Silence speaks To those who think festival films are for a different kind of audience and have a piquant flavour are not completely off the mark. Indeed, films such as Belgium-based filmmaking team Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth's The Fifth Season or Fever are not everybody's cup of tea. So, The Fifth Season, which figured in the competitive section, isn't just about a very serious concern of environmental catastrophe born out of the idea what would happen if the spring doesn't come. In fact, its language too is abstract, focusing more on silences and visuals than dialogues. However, incomprehensibility isn't really a signature writ large on festival films. Nor are festival movies dull and boring as is widely presumed, targeted at the gloomy and depressed. Intelligent yes, intellectual not necessarily! Humour is as essential a part of festival films as was with the opening film Don Juans directed by Czechoslovakian director Jiri Menzel. But then merely tickling the funny bone or raising a few laughs too isn't what drives makers like Menzel who is adamant that he doesn't make films for festivals. Beyond formula Indeed, the idea behind most films is to tickle your grey matter and to reflect on human predicament, even when these take on historical subjects. However, no particular formula dictates festival films, and as such certain films, like Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar's Marathi film Astu, have been shown at several Indian film festivals. Similarly Girish Malik's Jal, dealing with water, the most basic human necessity, and a heartrending scarcity in the Rann of Kutch, too was screened earlier at the Busan Film Festival. Same holds true for many more films. Screening at one prestigious film festival might open doors for entry into others. But there is no method or prototype really. Whatever detractors may say or crib, festival films don't wear a particular kind of hat nor come from one stable..... One film could be a slice of life, another mystical and surreal. In fact, the same director can deliver vastly different films. Take the well-known Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, whose films were part of a special retrospective on her. Fever, which she made many years ago, is a more direct account of revolutionary fervour and terrorism set in 1905 about Fighting Organization of the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). However, her latest directorial signature, The Burning Bush, otherwise based on the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1969 is, apart from being political and moving, allegorical too. Even the title of the film has a symbolic reference. Universal concerns Of course, each country has its own way of approaching films. Like a whole lot of films being made in Greece are about the economic upheaval that the country has witnessed in recent times. However, at the festival once again films dealt with a host of more universal subjects. In short, each country may have its own stamp but universality too rings true. Why else would three films have the same subject dealing with the emotionalscape of a woman who kidnaps a child? Undeniably, the subtext is clear, feelings like love are common to all civilizations but there is no generalisation, really. Japan, the country focus at the festival, produces a whole gamut of films in all conceivable genres. Even at the festival, seven films that were screened were as different as chalk and cheese. One, Unforgiven was even a remake of a Clint Eastwood film. Director Izuru Narushima's Rebirth a critical success, winner of 11 awards at the 35th Japan Academy Prize with a woman-centric subject is packed with emotional power. In contrast, an animation film The Garden of Words, a genre which is extremely popular in The Land of Rising Sun, merely flirts with emotions. Endearing, rather heart-warming also were films from the Indian Panorama. Like Listen Amaya directed by Avinash Kumar Singh. Starring actors of powerhouse art cinema Farooq Shaikh, Deepti Naval and Swara Bhaskar acclaimed actor of films like Ranjhana, it explores the complexity of relationships between a widow, her daughter and a widower. Mohan Agashe-starrer Astu dwells on father daughter bonding. Even the Portuguese film Beatriz's War, that went on to win the Golden Peacock, deals with intimate relationships between men and women against the backdrop of violence in East Timor. Of course, with multilayered textures none of the films are cut off from social reality. Nagraj Manjule, who has made a sterling debut with Fandry, focuses on many dimensional reality of caste system. Seven time National Award winning director P. Sheshadri's film Bharath Stores looks at the impact of globalisation more precisely of foreign direct investment in retail, while telling the story of a small time store owner. Visual raconteurs Whatever be the subject, the venue, language or country, at the end of the day cinema remains the art of storytelling. How compellingly and powerfully can the maker voice his or her conviction is what matters most. Fortunately a whole lot of filmmakers in India that too in several languages are telling their stories they want to. Not for winning the award, for even jury members remain divided on which is the best film, but the litmus test is whether they can hold the viewers' interest. Even more heartening than the growing number of filmmakers venturing into offbeat subjects is the growing audiences for films (at least at the festivals) that tread on an unfamiliar territory. So much so that even documentary films like Pan Nalin's Faith Connections that looks at the Kumbh Mela from a refreshingly different vantage point found an instant connect with viewers, some as young as 24. This is where most Indian film festivals score over others. Cannes film festival might be more professionally organised (is actually meant only for professionals) but with major thrust on market it is peopled with festival audience. However, Indian film festivals have a fair share of regular cine buffs. Sure many are uninitiated to the kind of cinema projected here. But festivals are a good way to get them started and interested. Intrinsically, of course, festivals are a toast to thoughtful cinema and film lovers whose hunger for cinema is not limited to sugar syrupy melodrama. To all those who wish to explore the myriad presentations of the celluloid world in all its hues....three cheers to film festivals.
IFFI at a glance The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was founded in 1952 and interestingly the first festival was organised by the Films Division of India.
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The school corridors are abuzz with excitement. The little ones have a glint in their eyes as they count the days for the much awaited winter break without the dreaded holiday homework. The enthusiasm is infectious and one can't help but remember the joy that the thought of vacations always brings to our faces. 