|
|
|
|
|
Demolition of
classroom Politically correct |
|
|
|
Stoking of communal tensions
Unbelievable: Law-fearing policemen!
Putting social agenda on the right track
|
Demolition of
classroom About
5,000 schools in Punjab have unsafe classrooms which are now being demolished, according to an affidavit submitted by the Director General of School Education in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. It is not that the structures had become unsafe overnight. For long years students had continued to study in makeshift, dilapidated buildings which would have continued to house students had the court not been approached with a PIL petition. The utter disregard for children's safety is amazing.
That the condition of government schools in Punjab is bad has been known for some time. But the extent of deterioration was perhaps unimaginable. Carrying on year after year in dangerous school buildings shows how callous we can be. There may still be many tragedies waiting to happen. The state's depleted treasury has its repercussions in many areas, including education. The decline in school administration is self-evident. Teacher absenteeism is common. Buildings are crumbling for want of repairs. The boundary wall is a luxury and so are toilets; many rural girls drop out because of the absence of this basic facility. Sports, libraries and laboratory facilities are either inadequate or non-existent. The cumulative result of all this is that private teaching shops have mushroomed in villages and towns. Wherever parents have a choice, they send their children to a private school, which charges hefty fee and exploits teachers. Government schools, which provide free or highly subsidised education, are on the verge of closure at many places for want of students. Some have been shut or merged with other
schools. Education is supposed to be a priority area of government spending. Yet the Punjab government is withdrawing from this crucial sector. Even funds available under the Central schemes are not fully utilised. Teachers are hired temporarily at low wages. Politicians, bureaucrats and teachers have a limited stake in improving the condition of government educational institutions since they send their children to good private schools, often outside the state or abroad. Those whose children study in government institutions have no influence over public policy or fund allocations.
|
|
Politically correct Among
the urbane and educated, khaps may still be construed as regressive. But the custodians of tradition are working towards an image makeover. In the times of media blitzkrieg, perceptions matter. So, denouncing the diktat of the Muzaffarnagar khap that banned the wearing of jeans and use of mobile phones by unmarried girls recently, the khaps in Haryana have passed another diktat, claiming girls should enjoy equal rights. If mobile phones and jeans have to be banned in schools, girls shouldn't be singled out. Good sense has prevailed to make another claim that the banning of phones and jeans won't bring down the rising number of crimes against women.
Traditionally, khaps support decisions taken by the khaps of other regions. This betrayal of community solidarity by the Haryana khaps is a harbinger of change, which may see khaps behaving like other democratic institutions that agree to differ in future. The change of mindset in Haryana khaps could be attributed to a brilliant performance by its female sportspersons in the recently held Commonwealth Games. The training of Phogat sisters in wrestling, initially opposed by the villagers of the dusty village Balali, which turned into a great success story, also changed the perception about having a girl-child in this rigidly patriarchal society.
As such, the state is facing an acute shortage of young brides due to a complex set of restrictions imposed on castes, sub-castes and regions within which marriages cannot take place, forcing its men to lead a life of bachelorhood. Khaps enjoy tremendous influence in the hinterland. When they decide to raise a voice against social evils like male preference which results in an alarming rate of female
foeticide, a lot can change. Gender inequality leads to other poor indices in human development like health and education. Despite being a high per-capita income state, Haryana has done poorly in these areas. With khaps advocating equal education for girls, the state may improve its performance in social development indices too, like it did in sports.
|
||
|
Thought for the Day
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
—Lana Turner
|
||
Indian soldiers and the war ON the question of employing Indian soldiers in the present war, New India writes: "There may be reasons why England should not accept the offers of Indian soldiers to serve abroad. On that matter, the Government must decide, and we must unmurmuringly accept their decision. In the moment of danger, no divided counsels may arise. France is fairly sure to use her coloured troops in defence of her violated soil, and Russia also will call on her Asian battalions. Still, Britain knows best her own work, and it would not be true loyalty to embarrass her by pressing on her forms of helps that might be inexpedient." There is no question that Government decision must be accepted without a murmur. The suggestion has been made, not to embarrass Government, but to help, if such help is considered useful and desirable. We know well enough that Great Britain has been waging not an aggressive but a defensive war. India's financial position A Finance Department communique shows that the Government of India's position is exceptionally strong alike as regards gold and rupees. Their total supply of actual gold amounts to 21,000,000 (twenty one million) sterling, half of which is in India, half in England and 4,000,000 sterling in gold is being transferred in exchange for rupees from Paper Currency Reserve to Gold Standard Reserve which, therefore, now consists wholly of gold and silver securities. As regards rupees the aggregate Government cash balance exceeds thirty crores, being seven crores more than the original forecast. The Paper Currency holding of rupees is also unusually large, amounting to thirty-four crores compared with twenty crores this time last year.
|
Stoking of communal tensions THE deliberate fanning of the politically motivated communal discord in UP and elsewhere is both disgusting and alarming but cannot condone Rahul Gandhi's storming the well of the Lok Sabha and disrupting proceedings last week. It was in order for him to demand a discussion on the communal situation but not at the cost of Question Hour instead of thereafter. The Speaker was not unreasonable in firmly disallowing this demand and Rahul, who is irregular in attending Parliament and seen snoozing when present there, had no business to insist on a here-and-now discussion or none at all.
Nonetheless, the deliberate stoking of communal tensions, not least by the BJP-Parivar, SP, BSP and even the Congress, is playing with fire. An analysis of police records by the Indian Express indicates that 600 communal incidents have been registered in UP since the recent general election, almost two-thirds in and around 12 constituencies scheduled to go to the polls shortly. Many appear to have been instigated by outsiders with disputes over land, construction or repair of religious places, the installation and use of loudspeakers for calls to prayer and worship, and eve-teasing and elopement being used as triggers.
Music and processions have long been used as forms of community assertion and to mobilise religious mobs and demonstrate street power. Lumpens, fanatics and politicians wait to stir rented piety to mob fury. Punishments are late and light, leading to impunity and immunity. Parliament should and must take note of these divisive trends. In all of this, the Prime Minister has been silent and silence will increasingly be read as consent.
Great indignation has been expressed by some over a Supreme Court judge's remark that were he a dictator he would make readings from the Gita and Mahabharata compulsory in junior schooling. The remark has got "secularists" frothing. Maybe the idea was crudely put, but the judge is right. Children should be made familiar with them not as part of religious learning texts but as great and uplifting moral and cultural texts, philosophical treatises, wonderful poetry and enthralling literature. Children should equally be exposed to stories from the Bible, the life of the Prophet and Islamic traditions, the Buddha, Mahavir, Nanak and learn of other faiths and sages that are part of our life and culture. Not to know anything of these treasures is to be illiterate and uncultured. Unfortunately our totally skewed definition of "secularism", increasingly hollowed out by vote-bank politics, has been reduced to "equal respect for everybody's communalism".
Aptitude test There has been another perverse debate and decision on the civil service aptitude test. The Centre has decided to exclude the 22 marks hitherto given for simple English comprehension while determining selection grades so that students from the Hindi stream have a level-playing field! There have not unexpectedly been protests from Tamil, Oriya and other Indian language speakers. Why debase standards? The CSAT English paper translates steel plants as "loha ke ped" and the North Pole as "Uttari Khamba"! Do not condone such nonsense, which is what the Centre seems to be doing under Dina Nath Batra's advice as it is precisely his formulation in a PIL petition that the government appears to have adopted.
Here again, the undeclared tragedy is that successive governments have had no language policy. Article 351 has been treated with contempt, no Hindi-made-easy learning aids have been produced, Hindi teaching and propagation have not been incentivised, inter-lingual dictionaries from Hindi into Tamil, Assamese, Kannada, Oriya or whatever are either not, or not easily, available. Translations are limited. Standard keyboards are rare, if they exist at all. Simultaneous interpretation facilities are grossly inadequate. The official language committee goes globe-trotting and has a wonderful time but has done nothing of consequence whatsoever.
Sachin's absence Parliament has meanwhile taken adverse note of Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha's studied absence from the Rajya Sabha of which they have been nominated members for two years. Tendulkar has made three appearances and Rekha seven over this period. Tendulkar says his brother had a surgery. When and for how long? And did that prevent him gallivanting around the world, watching cricket, going to Wimbledon, attending commercial brand ambassador functions, opening malls and so forth - everywhere except Parliament.
Nomination to the Rajya Sabha is not a trophy or award but a highly privileged call to participate in national governance and oversight. Both Tendulkar and Rekha were wrongly selected for all the wrong reasons. In Tendulkar's case, he had erred in fighting to get a very expensive gifted Ferrari into the country without paying customs duty and had overstayed his cricket innings, playing Tests for glory for nearly a year to get his elusive 100th test century at the cost of shutting out younger talent. And now having availed of all the benefits of Rajya Sabha membership and scorned attendance in the House, the only honourable option left to him is to resign his seat. Parliament of India cannot be reduced to a joke and governments must learn to make less frivolous nominations.
Appointment of Governors The same must be said about the appointment of Governors. Raj Bhavans are not "dharamsalas" for the fallen and faithful or perches from which to dislodge or embarrass elected state governments. If a number of UPA-appointed Governors have been crudely dismissed by the new BJP regime, the appointments made by the latter are as disappointing. There are of course honourable exceptions but the selection of Governors has by and large ignored their true constitutional role.
The dismissal of Kamla Beniwal is a particularly bad case of vindictiveness and pettiness. If she is charged with alleged corruption over several years, why was she summarily transferred from Gujarat, where she was a thorn in the side of Mr Modi, to Mizoram within weeks of her retirement? And what message did that send Mizoram and the Northeast
generally? Increasing efforts by the Modi government to control the judiciary and the bureaucracy do not augur well. The latest news is that the DG of the Press Information Bureau has been removed for issuing dinner invitations to media persons in her name and not in that of the Minister, Prakash Javdekar. Simultaneously, while an already crippled Prasar Bharati had had the head of Doordarshan's news division put on "compulsory wait" since he edited Mr Modi's interview during the recent general election in an allegedly partisan manner. This is post-facto censorship by other
means. www.bgverghese.com
|
|||
Unbelievable: Law-fearing policemen! Jingle
bells, jingle bells; jingle all the way…..”, Maxwell Pereira was in his elements. Seated in the back seat of a Punjab Roadways bus, in tunic and trousers with a peak-cap, he sang carol after carol, to the merriment and mirth of the fellow passengers. And I, also in formal police uniform, occupied a seat next to
him. The five officers of the Punjab cadre received their postings for district training from the state headquarters. I had been assigned to
Gurdaspur. I decided to pay a visit to Gurdaspur and meet the district Superintendent of Police even before formally joining there. Maxie agreed to give me company. Attired in full police regalia, we set off one afternoon from Phillaur to catch a bus for
Gurdaspur. Not well aware of the topography of Punjab, we made inquiries at the local bus stand and were advised to climb up to the GT Road, and get on to a bus up to Jalandhar, and thence, change over to one going to Pathankot via
Batala. We came on the GT Road. Several buses whizzed past but none stopped. Seeing our predicament, a passer-by approached us: "You are police officers; signal a bus to stop." With trepidation, we did as we were told. And the very first bus which we signalled came to a halt. That was the first taste by us of the powers of a police
officer! As soon as we got in, Maxie swung in the mood and began singing. For a long time, the conductor didn't come to us to issue us tickets. Maxie asked me to go up to him and purchase the same. The conductor looked at me unbelievably, tore off two from the bundle and gave the same to me (against
payment). We reached Gurdaspur by the evening, hired a rickshaw from the bus stand to reach the bungalow of the Suprintendent of Police, met him and came back to the local bus stand. It was 8 pm by now. We wanted to get back to Phillaur. We were advised to board a bus for Pathankot and catch a train from there going to Delhi side. Phillaur would be on the
way. We reached Pathankot, purchased two tickets for Phillaur and hopped into the train which had just started
moving. It was some super-fast train; we were amazed at its speed. As it neared Phillaur, we moved to the doors of the compartment, ready to alight. The train didn't slow down and went past
Phillaur. We were worried now, not so much because we could not get down at Phillaur but because we did not have the tickets for the journey beyond
Phillaur. The train next stopped at Ludhiana. We got down. We discussed among ourselves as how to get out of the station; the ticket collector was at the exit gate. We paced the platform up and down for any unmanned exit; there was
none. Finally, we decided to get out of the gate where the ticket collector was standing and to pay the penalty, if asked to do
so. As we tried to exit, the ticket collector saluted us! We sheepishly handed over our tickets to him. He looked at us perplexed. Perhaps, he did not expect that police officers would be traveling on tickets. We came out and heaved a sigh of relief!
|
|||
Putting social agenda on the right track In his budget speech on July 8, the Railway Minister rued that his charge was “expected to earn like a commercial enterprise but serve like a welfare organisation.” He described these as “conflicting objectives”. What the Minister called “the burden of social service obligations” was 16.6 per cent of gross traffic receipts in 2010-11; in 2012-13, these obligations cost Rs 20,000 crore, which was more than half the Plan outlay for the Railways. Therefore, while the “Indian Railways would continue to fulfil its social obligations, sustaining these objectives beyond a point is not possible”.
Social obligations Rather worryingly, the Minister did not specify where that point lay, or, when it was in his perspective reached, which obligations the Railways would jettison. In his speech, the Minister seemed to have in mind the lines and trains, serving a tiny fraction of the population, bequeathed to him by predecessors who camouflaged patronage as social concern. That filthy bathwater should be thrown out, but there is a baby to look after. The Railways has much larger social obligations, which it cannot ignore.
Redirecting his gaze to the needs of the customer, as a commercial transporter must, the Minister announced that two of the “focus areas” of his budget would be the cleanliness of railway infrastructure and the security of passengers. Each of these would also make the Railways a more socially responsible organisation if properly implemented, even more of a black hole if they are
not. Degrading profession The Railways continues to be the largest user of manual scavenging, that most degrading of professions, into which persons are bonded by descent. Even now, an Indian train is like a herd of cattle, dunging its trail as it goes. Putting modern toilets on all trains should have the highest priority because it would rescue huge numbers from hereditary bondage, make railway tracks and stations less toxic, and be a relief for passengers. That is a prime social responsibility, but all the Minister said was that “bio-toilets will be increased in sufficient numbers in trains in order to mitigate the problem of direct discharge of human waste…” Mitigate, not remove, and no specifics. What numbers? How quickly? The budget is opaque. And silent on whether the Railways will accept any responsibility to rehabilitate the manual scavengers it has
used. Budget for cleanliness The Minister went on to say that he was increasing by 40 per cent the budget for “cleanliness” and would outsource the work of cleaning 50 major stations to professional agencies. That, of course, is now standard procedure at airports, but there is no human excrement to be lifted from tarmacs and concourses. It is important therefore that the Railways employs only those companies that will not use manual scavenging to clean tracks at stations. This must be a contractual requirement.
The Minister announced that he was setting up a Corpus Fund for the upkeep of stations and CCTV would be used to monitor cleaning. These are welcome innovations. The fund should be used to invest in the mechanical cleaning of tracks, and CCTV used to ensure that manual scavenging is
not. There is the even larger problem of migrant bonded labour, with which the Railways are complicit. The Global Slavery Index 2013 estimated 14 million in bondage in India, which is more than half the global total. An ILO report this year puts annual profits world-wide from forced labour at $150 billion; pro rata, a practice officially banned in India probably brings in $75 billion, which makes it 4 per cent of GDP, and partly explains the state of denial in government and society on bonded labour. These invisible millions do exist, however, and a very substantial number are taken on the Railways as migrant, inter-state labour or as victims of trafficking.
The Railways ignores this tragedy, though when trains are used to facilitate crimes (which trafficking, child labour and bonded labour all are), and the security of citizens, the victims, is compromised, they have a moral responsibility to act, apart from the legal onus, placed on them by Section 153 of the Railway Act, which lays down punishments if “any person by any unlawful act or by any wilful omission or neglect, endangers or causes to be endangered the safety of any person travelling on or being upon any
railway.” The Railways neither can nor should ask all passengers to explain or justify their trips, but a distinction must be made between those who travel voluntarily and those who do not.The 2001 Census established that 191 million, or 19 per cent of the population then, were migrants. If the 2011 Census finds that this percentage continues, the count now should be 250 million. Even though bonded labour is only a segment of internal migration, it runs into millions. And when so many of its citizens are at risk, institutions of the State cannot be agnostic or
indifferent. The Minister announced six new Jansadharan trains, from Jaynagar and Darbhanga in Bihar and Gorakhpur and Saharsa in UP to urban centres in Gujarat, Punjab, the NCR and Mumbai. This caters to need, because the Census established that the largest outflows of migration were from these two desperately poor states. A significant percentage of these migrants, however, and of the passengers on these Jansadharan trains, are bonded labour or victims of trafficking, which make these trains modern counterparts of
slave-ships. Grave problem What can the Railways do? The first step would be to acknowledge the gravity of the problem and its responsibility to address it. In his speech, the Minister said the Railways would ask “individuals, NGOs, Trusts, Charitable institutions, Corporates” to adopt and maintain stations and provide passenger amenities there. This remit should be extended to bring in reputable NGOs, particularly in states that send and receive bonded migrant labour, as partners of the Railways to monitor and rescue passengers who might be
victims. These NGOs, specialised in the field, would identify and rescue from stations and trains child labour, women and girls being trafficked and bonded labour. Once rescued, the Railways should give them free passage back to their homes and prosecute, under Section 153 of the Act, those who were trafficking
them. Trains and stations are in fact where this critically important work can be done most effectively, because the victims are concentrated; once they are brought to their destinations, they are dispersed and it is much harder to trace and help them. But the NGOs will be effective only if the Railways accepts them as partners, and its officials are instructed and made to cooperate with their staff. The instinct of station-masters, ticket examiners and Railway Police will be to obstruct their work, since it would choke off a lucrative source of illicit income.
Coaches on vulnerable routes should have safe migration procedures and NGO contact details painted inside, offering victims a helpline. Ticket examiners must be trained and instructed to check migration licences and ask the right questions, especially in case of suspicious bulk bookings on these trains. NGOs can help with this training and should be asked to run courses for key Railways staff. The Minister announced that 17,000 more RPF constables would be deployed, and 4,000 women constables recruited. This is welcome, of course, but only if the RPF, often venal and violent, protect the vulnerable, not prey on them. Unless the Railways invests heavily in training and sensitising the RPF on the rights of citizens, a larger force means there will be more predators around. NGOs can help with this training as well, as can the National Human Rights Commission. The Railways should enlist their
help. Monitoring migration As this work starts, the Railways should commission studies to map routes and trains most commonly used for the victims, the districts and stations most at risk and the patterns of seasonal migration. For instance, child labour when BT cotton has to be transplanted in Gujarat, families to Haryana and Western UP in the brick-making season. NGOs with specialised knowledge will advise the Railways on the areas where the greatest focus should be. They should be closely involved, as should state governments and the Central ministries concerned. The Railways staff should be briefed on the findings, and sensitised to their duty to prevent trains from being used to transport bonded labour and others at risk. Last month, the Supreme Court expressed its outrage at the brutal case of Nilambar and Dialu, two Odiya labourers who were being trafficked by rail to Andhra Pradesh in December 2013. When the others in their group managed to escape, the traffickers chopped off their hands in revenge. The court apparently commented that this did not happen even in the most primitive societies, and asked what kind of country we were living in. It’s a fair question. If the Railways can help bring down the incidence of bonded labour, and of human trafficking, it would perform a social service that would be at least as valuable as the bullet trains the Minister also announced in his budget, and at a fraction of the cost. Train to reform *
The Global Slavery Index 2013 estimated 14 million in bondage in India, more than half the global total.
* An ILO report this year puts annual profits world-wide from forced labour at $150 billion; pro rata, a practice officially banned in India probably brings in $75 billion. This makes it 4 per cent of GDP, and partly explains the state of denial in government and society on bonded
labour. * The Railways ignores this tragedy. Though when trains are used to facilitate crimes (which trafficking, child labour and bonded labour all are), the security of citizens, the victims, is
compromised. * They have a moral responsibility to act, apart from the legal onus, placed on them by Section 153 of the Railway Act. Coaches on vulnerable routes should have safe migration procedures and NGO contact details painted inside, offering victims a helpline. Ticket examiners must be trained and instructed to check migration licences and ask the right questions, especially in case of suspicious bulk bookings on these trains. NGOs can help with this training and should be asked to run courses for key Railways staff. The writer is former Member,
National Human Rights Commission
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Communal harmony cannot be protected or promoted by disrupting Parliament and to cite the BJP's own boorish and disgraceful behaviour in blocking all debate session after session in the last Lok Sabha is irrelevant. If Rahul was trying to project his "leadership" to his own increasingly disgruntled and even rebellious ranks, he singularly failed once again. Nor was Arun Jaitley's snide riposte on this account justified in view of his party's past record in wrecking parliamentary
proceedings.
Maxie, as we lovingly called him, belonged to the Delhi Police. He had undergone the rigours of the training along with us -Punjab IPS officers of the 1969 batch -- at the Police Training College, Phillaur. The training was over sometime in February
1971.