The System is broken.

Regarding the Mass Molestation at Bangalore & related incidents. 

The system is broken.

But you don’t need me to tell you that.

You know it.  You’ve experienced it.  You’ve seen & experienced things that you shouldn’t have.

When the Home Minister of a state says,  nay,  declares with impunity that “Such Incidents do happen”  and then an SP  MLA, then comes in with his own BS opinion,  and then men on twitter respond with #Notallmen,  you know the system is broken. It is not long ago that Mulayam Singh Yadav, the patriarch of the Samjiwadi Party said that “boys will be boys”.

I don’t need to point to more examples. You know it. Insensitive and undignified comment after comment.

But back to the issue at hand.

You have in all probability experienced it.  Or if you’re a boy,  you’ve (most probably) seen it.  It might have been your mother,  your sister or a friend.  You’ve seen how Women are treated in a public place.

I wouldn’t say that things haven’t improved.It definitely has. Women are given and afforded freedoms that they weren’t given even 25 years ago.  But that is not enough. Thre Nirabhaya Protests of 2012 resulted in an amendment in Criminal Law that was years past necessary. But that’s not enough.

To be a modern and developed country,  to give justice and equality to all sections of society, that isn’t enough.  That is never enough.

The Republic of India has not given its due to the female gender. We have failed in ensuring to our female citizens the states basic function: of providing the freedoms they are guaranteed. Forget that, we have ensured that our Police and Judicial system is apathetic to the victims of these crimes.

Our society, is patriarchal and conservative in its very nature. The response of the political class- that of shifting blame to the women, and that of men – that of shifting blame to a minority of men, exemplify its very nature.

Being Apathetic, being a mute spectator to such an  act is as big an offense as the actual one.

Back to the issue:

All these incidents follow a similar pattern now, doesn’t it?

An incident that is extremely shameful & undignified occurs, All of us collectively outrage, some idiotic politician make insensitive comments, we outrage over that, some protests happen- here there, We discuss this for one or two more weeks, then the next thing takes over the media circus & kills any further discussion.

This HAS  to change. We have to change this. Don’t abandon hope saying that Society can’t be altered. Keep in mind that you too are part of ‘society’.

Organize yourself.

Teach your children about the Importance of bodily autonomy.

Teach them that mental, physical and verbal abuse is wrong.

Teach them that all Humans have their dignity.

Support your local Women’s self help groups.

Support Women’s advocacy groups.

AND DON’T STAY SILENT. SILENCE IS THE FIRST STEP TO ACCEPTANCE.

NEVER NORMALIZE THESE INCIDENTS.

DON’T VOTE FOR POLITICIANS WHO DO.

IF they can’t accept that Men & women have the same rights under law, well, DON’T VOTE FOR THEM.

Never accept sexism & misogyny.If you find people accepting, or making such comments: Name them and Shame them.

NEVER LOSE HOPE. No person is irredeemable. No person is unreformable. NO goal is unachievable. 

The system is broken. But We can fix it.

As a person of the male gender, I cannot aspire to understand all the pressures and experiences that women experience as a result of misogyny, sexism & victim-shaming. I can only aspire to empathize with it. This privilege that I have – of being  a male in a patriarchal society must be kept in mind while assessing my opinion here.

धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah

Those who protect Dharma will be protected by it. 

Originally posted in Wordpress

Dhulgarh:The Great Deception

In a post on 31 December, blogger extraordinaire Arnab Ray noted that Media "[Do not report] anything that does not conform to their[media establishments] political narrative, of the fascism of the Hindu majoritarian rule in Delhi, no matter the human cost of what they choose to ignore."

The fact that most of us, constant news guzzling citizens are unaware of what happened in Dhulgarh is frightening: We know of the riot and the loss of life only due to the information spreading on Social Media. The Mainstream Establishments continue to gloss over the happenings in Dhulgrah almost 4 weeks after it occurred. This points to a political agenda to the Media that is pursuing.

If for a second imagine if these riots and attacks happened against Muslims in say, Madhya Pradesh. How would the media report it ? What would be the reaction of the great Rajdeep Sardesai, who tweeted with impunity:

Little later did his own news channel, India Today report the incident, probably mindful of TRPs that its competitor, Zee news would have gained. Zee, of course, is associated closely with the BJP and had its own agenda in covering the incident. Regardless, not many have condemned the FIR filed against Zee for reporting on the incident, probably because principles in Media is a rare commodity nowadays. The Editors Guild, otherwise the first to condemn any perceived violation of Freedom of speech: FakingNews, a satire website published this report, which might seem to be a satirical piece, but seems to be the real situation in Indian Media.

The Press Council of India, too, has been rather conspicuously silent on it.

All this information, of course has been facilitated and has come out in the open only because of the media-neutral entity that the Internet is. I shudder to think if we had no such source, how would we have known of these incidents? what would become of those who lost their home & hearth because of this?

This is the Great Deception. While the mainstream English Language Media assume itself to be the center of the Universe, continues to drone over the effects of Demonetization & air incoherent discussions on it, the real, human cost of Dhulgarh is lost to us. The belief in Media, of course, is at an all time low, as demonstrated by the success of Donald Trump & Brexit in the Western World.

In Urban Upper Middle Class India, the same phenomenon has been replicating. The trust in the Media is declining because of self inflicted injuries more than anything.

Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minsiter of West Bengal, when asked what happened in Dhulgarh replied: "Nothing".  From the Hon'ble Chief Minister,  though, its a classic answer.

All these incidents create the violent perception of the "tyranny of the Minority", which will of course, result in more liberal members of the majority community being swayed to the BJP (Eh!, no surprises there)

Ironically, the creation of this perception and the continued appeasment of the Minority community results in Hindutva politics raising its head in Bengal.

In conclusion, Kudos to the Internet!

And I sincerely hope the communal Tinderbox that is Bengal changes.

(Note of appreciation to Sitaram Yechury & CPM, who attempted to conduct their own enquiry, but was stopped by the Police.)

Supreme Court: Overreach par extraordinaire*

This is not an Article on the Legality of the Order/ Judicial or Legal Perspective. This is an opinion piece. Read more about the Legal Perspective in This Article, this one or other articles mentioned below. 

The Supreme Court in an recent Order (which is thankfully interim, and hopefully will be revised) has issued Guidelines to " [show] requisite and necessary respect when the National Anthem is sung or played." Under it is Guidelines that make sense ( To avoid Commercial Exploitation or Use of the Anthem) But how does it affect the Copyrights of Musicians performing the National Anthem Affected?
Then the Order pushes on to the part we're all talking about : The National Anthem in Cinema Halls. In the final concluding comments, the Justices state

: " The directions are issued, for love and respect for the motherland is reflected when one shows respect to the National Anthem as well as to the National Flag. That apart, it would instill the feeling within one, a sense committed patriotism and nationalism."

Of course, it makes sense for the Supreme Court to foster and instill patriotism and nationalism in the citizens of the country. But singing the National Anthem before a Feature Film in a Cinema Hall will instill it?
I mean, c'mon!

What if we're going to sing the anthem before what general society considers to be an immoral sleazy picture like "The Dirty Picture"? Is that respectful to the national anthem? The basis of the whole order?

The order then quotes the famed Article 51 of the Indian Constitution, the uneforcable "Fundamental Duties" placed on citizens.
Article 51(a) of course, places an obligation to respect the Constitution and respect the National Flag and National Anthem - and according to the SC order, we'll have to respect it and display our patriotism before we watch well, whatever.
An Interesting thing about this whole plea is the history behind the Petitioner and Judge:
Some years ago, while watching the movie Kabhi Kush Kabhi Gham, the petitioner, stood up for a part where the National Anthem was played, in patriotic vigor. People asked him to sit down cause he was obstructing their  view - and in his own words, "I was hurt".  He went against the scene in the Bhopal HC(as any patriot would), where the then High Court Judge Dipak Misra passed an order cutting the the  scene, which the SC later stayed. Revenge is sweet, as J. Misra has clearly crafted it fit into the scenario.

As I noted on facebook, the SC has continuously overreached and made Judicial Legislation for quite some time. The Court Generally exercises the power when there is a vacuum of legislation, and the Legislature to replace the Courts order with comprehensive statue, most famously in the case of the Vishaka Guidelines where the court laid down procedural guidelines for Sexual Harassment cases ( which the Legislature finally made into law in 2013 by passing the The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal Act) Read more about it here.
Here, the SC has added to the Prevention of Insults to National Honours Act, 1971, which among other things, penalizes the disrespect shown to National Anthem. Did the Constituent Assembly intend to give the SC under Article 141(under which the SC can declare Law) the ability to add provisions as it sees fit? Which makes absolutely no difference in the problems or issues faced by Citizens?

Curious times indeed.
This order is a brazen display of the extent of the powers that the Supreme Court has appropriated for itself. With one swish of a pen, two judges have made every film screening into a forced display of patriotism for its citizens.



References:
"National Anthem Order doesn't seem practical" by Free Press Journal (Editorial)
"SC Anthem Order a case of overreach" by Deccan Chronicle
"Supreme Court's National Anthem Order mocks Judicial Process, Constitution" by Alok Prasanna Kumar , FirstPost
"Playing of National Anthem and Laws" by Sruthi Radhakrishnan, The Hindu
"A Legal Overdose of patriotism" by Apar Gupta, Live Mint
"SC's National Anthem order: What we need is Culture of Patriotism" by Sandipan Sharma, FirstPost

Also, the report that said SC  rejected a plea to make National Anthems mandatory at courts ( as reported here by Scroll) was actually rejected on technical grounds, as reported by LiveLaw here.

Fireworks, the (Hindu) religion and the Governement

The unfortunate event in Kollam has resulted in many calling for complete ban on fireworks in the state. Right from the Manufacturing of Fireworks, to their rather unregulated storage and use, fireworks has resulted in the death and injury to many. I remember an incident in Kannur a few weeks ago, when a 12 year child was severely injured and a whole house collapsed due to a stash of fireworks.[1] One can stretch his memory to such incidents to as far back as to the incident in Sabrimala in 1952. An incident of this magnitude, of course, has not happened.

Kerala has been prone to such disasters, with some 40- odd incidents happening in the last 50 years.

The fireworks that were stored in this temple was apparently for a fireworks competition. (Read more on this here.)

Credits: AFP

Shashi Tharoor listed out his three concerns after this incident-Firstly, regarding “religion as a public spectacle”, secondly, “laxity of procedure and respect for law” and lastly, “politicization of the tragedy”.  I agree with him on the second point- the utter disregard for the law has been shocking. I do not want to comment more without the full details.[2]

In his first point,  Mr.Tharoor wrote about Hinduism was about one’s personal relationship with God. I agree with Mr. Tharoor- I believe my religion to be my personal relationship with God. But I do not seek to enforce this view on others. Mr. Tharoor goes onto talk about how if “It is really necessary” for us to celebrate festivals with dazzling displays. He moves onto remark that Hinduism is a “sorry pass” if “If temples feel they have to dazzle the faithful by fireworks to retain their belief in God”. I Believe that Temple festivals are not only festivals to celebrate God’s power and Victory, or whatever reason there is, in name, to celebrate a Festival, but these are also events where the community gets together, and celebrates. A temple festival is not purely one intended for religious purposes. He does not stop there. He states: “Sati, after all, was also sanctified by tradition once: would our democratic politics have allowed for its abolition?” I do not know if it would have been, but surely, Fireworks in temples are not a social ill and disgrace like sati.[3]

Thirdly, about politicization:  I believe the tragedy went rather un-politicized, at least in a national scale. The effect of disaster tourism is rather undocumented, and you could rely ion anecdotal evidence to how a visiting politician diverted attention away from the injured, but is it wrong of the Prime Minister to visit the site? I do not believe so. The relations between the Union Government and State Government have been remarkably cordial. Those adopting an adversarial stance to this can argue this was a PR stunt. Anyway, not much politics have figured in this issue. Mr. Tharoor also states that RSS workers have blamed the Congress Government for the disasters. A Google search yielded nothing but a blog post on how the RSS & Congress have been complicit in this issue.[4] I am making no mention of the attempt to politicize the issue by the CPI(M), but only from the viewpoint of national politics.

Fireworks have been part and parcel of temple festivals. I believe with proper regulation and supervision, Fireworks in temple festivals are acceptable.

Vishu has always been celebrated with crackers and beautiful displays. This is one thing as a child you look forward to. (Of Course, money is the coolest thing.) This is has been tradition for decades, if not centuries. The Thrissur Pooram, which was devised by the legendary Shakthan Thampuran, has been celebrated since 1790 with a wondrous display of fireworks.

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The Government’s commitment to its people is according to me, to protect the society at large-  is banning fireworks the  most effective way to ensure the protection of society? I am in no ways denying that fireworks are dangerous. But was it not the executive’s failure to regulate fireworks at blame here?

One can only hope that the Laws with regards to explosives are better enforced in Kerala. Till then, we should ourselves, handle them with care and caution.

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[1] http://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/blast-at-building-in-kannur-house-owner-taken-into-custody-english-news-1.952076

[2] http://www.ndtv.com/opinion/kollam-temple-fire-3-lessons-indian-society-must-learn-1386389 ; http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/kerala-temple-fire-kollam-temple-fire-temple-counted-on-election-politics-for-ok-kollam-officials-bullied-with-communal-slur/

[3] C’mon man, really? Sati?

[4] http://blogs.rediff.com/mkbhadrakumar/2016/04/12/congress-rss-tough-love-in-kerala-takes-a-heavy-toll/

First posted here.

Further reading

CM Says PM Modi's visit a relief

http://www.firstpost.com/india/kollam-temple-fire-tragedy-in-kerala-highlights-helplessness-of-a-weak-state-to-enforce-its-own-laws-2722310.html

Some further comments: looking through the statics of disasters caused by explosives,  one  could feel that there is a "Fireworks"  culture in Kerala.  Much like the "Gun culture" in America,  it has a huge fan following,  apparently.  But  unlike America,  the fireworks culture results in deaths by accident only,  and they too are limited.
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On Sri.Tharoor's question on whether fireworks are necessary: If we think about it,  is it necessary to follow any tradition?
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The last article referenced is regarding how local authorities have been helpless to enforce laws.  My sincere hope is that the Government takes cognizance of this broken system.
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On the environmental impact of fireworks: I did not include this originally because none of the mainstream media coverage talked about it. Air pollution by fireworks are generally a non-issue and a temporary pollutant. the issue is so under the bar that there is no single reference to pollution caused by it on Wikipedia, the Internets source of all information. (funnily enough, the page has a link to 'Tire Fire') But here are two article's advocating it's ban, but that will be stupid.Article 1; Article 2) We have more reasonable actions to take; for example, why not raise Motor vehicle emission standards right now? 

Neither the "Dissenting" nor the "Nationalist"

This post is my response to all the crap happening in JNU. (Read this if you don't know what has happened) 

DO THESE PEOPLE KNOW WHAT INDIA IS?

India is far off from its goals. A lot more is desired, and a lot more is to be achieved. We are a conservative society which is Misogynistic, Homophobic, and Racist in many spheres.  We need to work together to stop all forms of discrimination and bigotry.

But does that mean we scream “Death to India”?

I think the college students in JNU don’t know what the HECK India stands for. A nation is an idea, it is a spirit that unifies the people of a land. Whether it be Tawang in Arunachal or Amritsar in Punjab, or Srinagar in J&K, or Kanyakumari in TN, India has the same heritage. 

“We will fight until India’s destruction.”

Replace India with bigotry or hatred, I would support it. But India? Seriously?

Fight all you want people. There are 1.2 billion individuals in this country.  Find out the traction you get and let me know, okay?

This is not a case of stifling dissent. This is a case where students in a public institution raised slogans against the same country who pays their way through college. This is a case where the faculty of the institute supported its students when they said BULL CRAP like this.

This is about action against sedition. Condemn them at the very least, please.

Meanwhile, The beating up of the journalists, by the so called "nationalists" in front of the Delhi High Court was wrong. They need to be condemned as well. 

Hooliganism is not NATIONALISM.

Now this:

I’ve heard about bad Economics, but what the heck is this?[1]

“Each time they something sensible or critical” As I said earlier, it is not “sensible or critical” to scream “death to India” or resort to violence. Peaceful protests and discussions are acceptable, anti-Indian and violence is not.

It’s not about the “paltry money” spent on them. It’s about what they’re doing and what they are supposed to be doing. I am not denying the right of students to protest, to have an opinion, but our Campuses have been overly politicized. Higher Educational Institutions are to improve academic standards of this country. I think it would sadden and angry any taxpayer in the country to see the JNU incident. . If you do not believe in the Republic of India and live out elsewhere. This nation and people do not require the commitment of people whom does not believe in its ideals.

The ABVP and all those who used violence as an instrument to “enforce” nationalism do not represent my beliefs either. Their actions, I hope will invite the action of law.

Saib Bilwal, a research scholar in Modern and Contemporary History at Centre For Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, wrote this article in Firstpost: “Bloodbath in the brook: JNU, the 'national project' and the anti-national debate”

MR. Bilwal says in his article: 

“Was it not everyone's right to question the US government's account of 9/11? Was that not democratic? Were all of them anti-nationals too?” 

I would like to remind everyone that 9/11 was an incident involving the death of thousands of peoples, and those who questioned the US government’s version was generally considered to be a “fringe minority”[2] at best, or a “lunatic fringe”[3]. They questioned the accuracy of the Government’s account, not scream “Death to America!”

Mr.Bilwal continues:

“That this is politics cannot be more obvious from the fact that JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar has been arrested. Eyewitnesses state that while he made speeches critical of the Modi government, it was not he who shouted the ‘anti-national’ slogans including those of ‘azaadi’ for Kashmir.”

While in an earlier paragraph, he says:

“There is something called a fair trial. Maybe one has to face trial once to be able to truly value that.” 

Why not wait for the trial to end before declaring Mr. Kanhaiya Kumar’s innocence.

It doesn’t end there: 

“The Indian state has killed more Indian citizens than foreign troops, since independence. The case was the same during British rule. So I guess "anti-nationals" must be "purged" every now and then, for the good of the nation? Only the masters have changed.”

According to Mr.Bilwal, The Indian Government has killed more than 20,000 of its own citizens[4],[5]. According to an NLU Delhi[6] study, 1,414 people have been executed (according to available records)[7].

I’m impressed by the dictatorial government’s power- Vanishing 20,000 people won’t be that hard now, would it be?

“What matters is whether the nation remains representative of its people or not. Our country at Independence inherited more territory than areas where the national movement was strong. On the other hand, we lost areas of strong nationalism in partition. It's a fact and must be faced. There is no nation without a national hegemonic project. The constituent assembly wasn’t elected on universal adult franchise. 66% of our Constitution is directly lifted from the Government of India Act 1935. We need to and HAVE to adapt. Let's face it.”

Forget the obvious ignorant statements made[8]. Pakistan apparently inherited most of our nationalistic forces, and the Constitution is crap because the members were elected not on the basis of universal adult franchise. The Debates in the constituent assembly, which have been published, is witness to that.[9]

He has a point though. Yes, we will face it with sense that we have fallen behind. Then, we will work hard, work tirelessly, and work together for a better India. 

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[1] This is cherry picking the Government’s investment to portray a bad picture, and the realty is different, check the Budget here : http://indiabudget.nic.in/budget.asp

[2] Star Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN) - September 6, 2006 Author: Bob von Sternberg ; Staff Writer Edition: METRO Section: NEWS Page: 1A.

[3] ·  "A leading Japanese politician espouses a 9/11 fantasy". Washington Post. March 8, 2010.

[4] Calculation: All foreign troops killed in all Indo-Pakistani wars and the sole Sino-Indian War.

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1947, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1965, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kargil_War.

[6] http://www.deathpenaltyindia.com

[7] http://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/72-Muslims-Hanged-in-India-against-1342-Hindus-and-Others/2015/07/26/article2940289.ece

[8] I don’t have any sources- I don’t know how this statistic was made. Anyway, WOW.

[9] http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/debates/debates.htm

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First Posted Here.

(Special Thanks to Rose Joy for the Editing)