What are India’s resolutions for 2014?

It is upsetting when I look at the news and the first thing I read on a quiet evening is the rape of a 23 year old woman in India.  It is always reverberating to read a rape case, but this article to me resonated.  I was shocked to read the slew of words that followed discussing traditional ways of life, and the irony of this case.  I couldn’t digest it- a female was ordered to be raped as a form of punishment for having sexual relations with a married man.

The turning point of the article was when I read that she was tied to a tree and raped in FRONT of the community and raped BY people in the community.  People that others praise and look up to as leaders! To me a leader is someone worthy of being followed, an individual of high esteem that we hold as a role model for our actions, our decisions not someone who forces themselves unjustly on another.  I was dumbfounded that the horrific truth to this was that no one stood up for her.  No one even testified that this indeed did happen, when questioned people denied that this incident took place.

As I sat there in awe, I reread the article over and over again.  I realized I hadn’t found anything out about the married man. What happened to the male that cheated on his wife known or unbeknown to her? There is no story I could find on him. In fact, aside from one sentence about him in numerous articles aimed at the shameful girl there was absolutely zero information on the married male. Most evidenced in this case is the level of patriarchy.  Often we associate countries in the Far East as being male dominant and females subservient.  To my dismay this was widely apparent through this article.

I thought 2014 would bring change. When I read an earlier article about India being polio free for three years – a milestone for the developing country, I thought this is a country that is taking steps in the right direction.  I thought this was the true meaning of progress.  Instead this article shed light on a country with strong traditional roles and a mentality of a people that needs to be altered, needs to be educated.  The article talked about the female being shameful. 

In my opinion the tribal elders and eastern village where this incident took place should be ashamed.  Ashamed for accepting the current fabrics of a society with long standing issues, for using a method completely inhumane on someone for a mere action no matter how unacceptable it was.  This is a country that should be setting up goals for a better tomorrow not churn more gang rape cases that worsen each time around.

Case Details:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/23/india-gang-rape-case-sexual-violence

By: Juliet Abdeljawad

Photojournalist Gang Raped in Mumbai

Photojournalists participate in silent protest
of Mumbai gang rape (Saturday, August 24, 2013).

Yet another gang rape has incited mass protests on the streets of India and cries of frustration from the international community, this time in Mumbai—a city that is (or was?) widely viewed as being the safest in the country for women.

Last Thursday night, a 22-year-old photojournalist on assignment at an abandoned textile mill was working with a male colleague when a group of five men assaulted the pair, tying up the man with a belt before taking turns raping the young woman. The news naturally prompted comparisons to another widely-reported gang rape in New Delhi just last December involving a 23-year-old student who was assaulted on a moving bus and later died of her injuries.

Media coverage has been quick to point out that the women’s rights movement in India has been thrown into the spotlight over the past year as a result of these rapes, among other brutal crimes that have targeted women. However, can we be sure that these protestations are happening where they need to happen in order to ensure that there is lasting, impactful change for the sake of women in this country? While the rest of the world shakes its fist at the handling of these crimes, many have criticized Indian officials for not doing enough to address the apparent flaws in the system for the protection of women. It’s true that parliament revised laws last March to establish harsher punishments for these perpetrators, but many women are still being beaten, raped, and murdered without consequence.

In fact, according to Binalakshmi Nepram, a women's rights and anti-violence activist, a woman is raped every 20 minutes in India (Independent, 8/23/13). Government figures also report that incidences of rape in India have increased over recent years, some believe due to the rapid urbanization and lack of stringent law enforcement in its cities.

“Reported rapes have risen by 873 percent since independence in 1947 and there were 24,206 rape cases in 2011… At the same time rape convictions fell by 44.3 percent between 1973 and 2011” (NBC, 6/12/13).

These numbers suggest, nay, prove, that India’s judicial system still has a lot of ground to cover to make up for its historical lack of safeguards for women living, working and travelling in this country.

As hundreds spilled out onto India’s streets in silent protest that Friday, opposition lawmakers caused a similar uproar in parliament. Since the attack, many have spoken out to publically accuse the party in power of their failures and some are even calling for the current home minister of Maharashta (the state in which Mumbai is the capital) to resign. The rest of the world has taken to social media to express its frustrations. Law enforcement, for their part, has shown unprecedented haste in rounding up the suspects and pledged to punish those found guilty of this crime to the fullest extent of the law.

As much as we criticize India’s apparent lack of responsibility to protect women, it is ultimately the lawmakers and people like the home minister whom have the final say in setting this precedent. All the world can do is continue to put on the pressure. Perhaps one day the proverbial spotlight of women’s rights will extend into the dusty depths of India’s patriarchy, but it isn’t there yet.  

By Sabrina Willard

India Imagined

From a distance, India exudes all that is ‘progressive’ about a developing country: technology, democracy, and an alliance with western powers. It boasts big dams and development projects, and impressive figures about economic growth.

Look a little closer, however, and the mirage dissolves. The illusion that is India gives way to the dismal realities of a people drowning under the weight of their government, the Indian National Congress (INC) and the often devastating postures of the opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Both are guilty of neglecting their obligation to their people in the name of their country, of putting economic growth ahead of human development; or worse, of confusing the two. Women are among the many groups in India who have paid the price of the state’s dogged, unstoppable pursuit for wealth, regional domination, and recognition. The fantasy of the elites is of an India whose population consists only of useful people. 'Untouchables' no longer exist. It is this fantasy of an India wiped clean of most of its people that has motivated many, if not most, of the state-conducted crimes against women in India to date.

The BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister for Madhya Pradesh, announced in May that 50% of the candidates standing for election in November will be women. Half of the election tickets will be distributed to women after a law was introduced in 2009 to ensure greater political representation by women. As with most commitments made by politicians, this pledge is disingenuous. Anti-incumbency votes against male Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA's) has weakened the BJP. These MLA's will be able to take advantage of the 50% policy by putting female family members forward as candidates in their place, thus ensuring the BJP maintains at least some power: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-09/bhopal/39141636_1_atal-jyoti-abhiyan-shivraj-singh-chouhan-anti-incumbency

Not exactly a progressive move towards gender equality. The BJP have, historically, shown that they think little of women. They think little of most people.

Despite professing an equal respect for all faiths, the BJP version of Hindutva (the dominant version) discriminates against non-Hindu religious communities. Hindutva philosophy maintains that India is a Hindu state. Inevitably, this concoction of religion and nationalism leads, and has lead, not only to mere flag-waving, but to massacres and large scale atrocities. Senior BJP members have been accused of participating in some of the bloodiest attacks on communities and in the tearing down of Mosques. Women, in particular Muslim and Dalit women, pay the highest price of these right-wing ideologies. Ramesh Bais, a BJP MP, claimed that the rape of women was understandable, and that it is a crime only to rape children. Another ranted that mobile phones and jeans should be banned for women. Indian politicians (particularly from right wing parties/organisations like the BJP) have shown themselves publically, time and time again, to be victim blamers: http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2013/01/25/short-skirts-bad-stars-and-chow-mein-why-indias-women-get-raped/

The recent case of the gang rape of a young woman on a bus in December 2012 only highlighted a much bigger problem in India: discrimination by class. The young woman, who died soon after the attack, was middle class. Women from the lower classes are raped, killed, and assaulted at horrifying rates, and yet these incidents do not receive the same global media attention as the aforementioned incident. These women are not seen to be as valuable as others. 'They' are not like 'us'.

It is the distinction between 'us' and 'them', and how we decide who belongs to which group that is also responsible for the atrocities India sees. For groups like the BJP, 'they' are the enemies of the Hindu state. They are responsible for holding India back. They are non-Hindus, lower castes, women, Naxalites, Adivasi people, liberals, writers, journalists, western culture and those who promote it. They are not only disposable- it is the active duty of those who love their country to dispose of them. As is the case with most state-allowed, state-encouraged, or state-conducted 'cleansing' operations, women often suffer the greatest harm to their lives or livelihoods. This is even more critical when one considers that the social position of the women being targeted puts them in a vulnerable position to begin with; and that emergency services, relief and aid, and legal advice are not readily available to them (having said that, there are laws which prohibit the reporting of a crime committed by ministers, judges and so on. In other words, one can be arrested and charged with sedition, defamation, or something of that nature for reporting a crime committed by the state).

In 2007, India's first female President, Pratibha Patil of the INC, was elected. During her time in office, nationwide crime against women increased dramatically: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2013/03/india-women.html  Many have argued that the police and courts are ineffective, and that because perpetrators are rarely tried and sentenced (and, if they are, the sentence is very light) the state is complicit in the continuation of rape-culture in India. It does not acknowledge that an assault on a woman is a serious crime.

Manmohan Singh, the first Sikh Prime Minister of India (INC), created a committee to deal with issues of sexual crime against women in the wake of the publicity storm following the attack of the New Delhi student last year. He also promised harsher punishments for the perpetrators. How much of his commitment is just for show is hard to tell, and it may take some time before we see a significant improvement in the situation. However, between a largely ineffective government and a right wing, inherently discriminatory opposition with, at a minimum, a willingness to use violence against its own people, for many women in India every day is a dark day.

By Sawsan Bastawy

Women hit back at India's Rape Culture

Source

The male tormentor of the young women of the Madiyav slum did not spot the danger until it was too late. One moment he was taunting them with sexual suggestions and provocations; the next they had hold of his arms and legs and had hoisted him into the air.

Then the beating began. Some of the young women lightly used their fists, others took off their shoes and hit him with those. When it was over, they let him limp away to nurse his wounds, certain that he had learned an important lesson: don't push your luck with the Red Brigade.

Named for their bright red outfits, the Red Brigade was formed in November 2011 as a self-defence group for young women suffering sexual abuse in the northern Indian city of Lucknow, 300 miles south-east of Delhi. Galvanised by the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi last December and the nationwide protests that followed against a rising tide of rapes, they are now gaining in confidence.
From a core membership of 15, ranging in age from 11 to 25, they now have more than 100 members, intelligent and sassy and with a simple message for the men who have made their lives a misery: they will no longer tolerate being groped, gawped at and worse. Their activities are a lesson in empowerment.

Men who fall foul of the Red Brigade can first expect a visit and a warning. Sometimes the Red Brigade will ask the police to get involved, but if all else fails they take matters into their own hands. Their leader, 25-year-old teacher Usha Vishwakarma, has her own experience of the daily danger faced by many young women in the country. She was just 18 when a fellow teacher tried to rape her. "He grabbed me and put his hands round me and tried to open my belt and trousers," says Usha, sitting in the bare-brick front room of her small house. "But I was saved by my jeans because they were too tight for him to open, and that gave me a chance to fight, so I kicked him in the sensitive place and pushed him down and ran out of the door."
No one at the school took her accusations seriously, telling her to forget it and stop causing trouble. The experience left her traumatised and for two years she did nothing. But little by little her confidence came back. In 2009 she set up her own small school for local girls in an outbuilding next to her family home. Yet all around her, she says, she saw more and more young women suffering the same abuse she had faced. And it was threatening to wreck the chances of her young female students.

"Parents were telling girls to stay in their homes so there would be no incidents. They said, 'if you go to school, boys will be troubling you, so stay home and there will be no sexual violence'," says Vishwakarma. "But we said no, and we decided to form a group to fight for ourselves. We decided we would not just complain; we would take a lead and fight for ourselves." They bought red kameez (shirts) and black salwar (trousers) and began to plan the fightback. "We chose red because it means danger and black for protest," says Vishwakarma.

There is much to fight back against. "It is in the minds of men that girls are objects and it has been like that always," says Vishwakarma. "Religion shows women as very powerless and that whoever is strong can do anything."

Other members of the group drift in and join her, sitting on the bed along one wall of the front room. At the other end of the room is a table laden with the placards they carry with them when they go out to protest on the 29th day of every month. The demonstrations mark the date of the Delhi bus rape and murder on 29 December. Their slogans read: "Stop rape now" and "We want safety".

"In the electronic era there are pictures everywhere of women and girls being treated like objects. It is now very simple to see pornography and it is feeding the hunger for sex. The men think that if you are looking sexy, then you want sex," says Vishwakarma.

They have started martial arts training so that the men do not have a physical advantage over them. Pooja, Vishwakarma's 18-year-old sister, laughs as she recalls the reaction of the boy they grabbed in the street when his taunts became too much. "We all stopped and turned round and we surrounded him and grabbed his arms and legs and he thought it was a joke, but we were not kidding and four of us lifted him in the air and the others started to hit him with their shoes and fists," she says.

The rough justice the Red Brigade metes out might seem extreme to western sensibilities, but many Indian women are making it clear that they are no longer prepared to put up with endemic abuse. That much is clear from the crime figures: reports of molestation in Delhi are up 590% year on year and rape reports by 147%. The rape cases have hit tourist numbers, which were down 25% in the first three months of the year – 35% fewer women are travelling to India.

The Red Brigade say sexual abuse is a part of daily life for young women like them. They all have stories of abuse, attempted rapes and daily harassment. "This is what happens in India," says 16-year-old Laxmi, one of Vishwakarma's lieutenants. "These things happen all the time. All of us know this, so don't let anyone say otherwise. This is why we have formed the Red Brigade."

Seventeen-year-old Preeti Verma nods in agreement. Her family are too poor to have a toilet in the house, so she has to go out into the fields, she says. Every time she went out, the man in the neighbouring house threw stones at her to try to scare her into jumping up. "He wanted to see my body," she says. "I told him: 'What are you doing? You are shameless, don't you have a mother and sister in your house?' But he replied that his mother is for his father, his sister is for her husband and that I was for him." She told Vishwakarma, and the man received a visit from the Red Brigade and another from the police. She has had no trouble from him since.
"We've caught a lot of men recently," says 17-year-old Sufia Hashmi. "I joined up because men always used to pass comments on me and touch my body, but now we beat them the men cannot do anything and they run away. You feel powerful and you feel good."

The next day, they gather on the roof of a gym across the city to run through their moves, a mixture of kicks, punches and throws. An instructor shows Pooja how to use a wooden stick to keep a boy at bay. She holds it against his assistant's throat and the boy looks terrified. The others gasp and giggle.

Yet it is not just the young men of the neighbourhood that the Red Brigade must overcome. Many of the members are very young and, although some of their parents are supportive, others are convinced they are wasting their lives. "The attitude of my parents is very demoralising," says 16-year-old Simpi Diwari, a tiny young woman who a few moments ago was kicking away the legs of one of her colleagues. "I want to be like Usha, fighting against the cruel things, I want to be a teacher and a motivator too, but I am fighting with my parents just to be allowed out of the house."

On the way back to the slum, the rickshaws pass a public park and for a moment these tough young women show themselves for what they really are – children forced to grow up fast. They beg and plead to stop. "Please, please," they say, their eyes gleaming in excitement. Shrieking gleefully, they race off towards the swings, slides and roundabouts. Later they stroll back through the market, eating ice-creams, heading for their homes. The sun is low in the sky, the shadows long. The men watch sullenly as they pass, like wolves who have just discovered the sheep are armed. No one risks a word.

LET IT NOT BE IN VAIN

These last few days, the world was abuzz on the tragic fate that has befallen the medical student who was gang-raped by 6 men in a moving bus in the center of Delhi. News of her death has caused so much outrage at how authorities handled the incident. 

I felt so much disappointment at the thought that there could actually be men who can be so brutal as to subject a helpless woman to such torture. But there are such people, and not just in India.  I asked myself if they would have done the same thing if they were not under the influence of alcohol…but one was sober enough to be able to drive around the major streets of Delhi without being noticed of driving under the influence. There is NO EXCUSE for what was done to her and she and her family deserve justice.

Statistics show that there is an incidence of rape every 18 hours in Delhi. Over 24,000 rape cases in India in 2011 and less than 26% convictions.  Just days before the Delhi incident, a 17-year old teenager was also gang-raped. She committed suicide in despair that no one, not even the authorities who are expected to help and protect her, did anything to charge the criminals. Pathetic is not a strong enough word to describe what the police had done. Instead of charging the criminals, the police suggested that the victim marry one of her rapists and to drop the case against her rapists. Is that not adding insult and more humiliation to the injury inflicted on her? It is tragic enough that the victims suffered so much from these criminals. But it is so much worse that the very people expected to protect them have shamelessly dishonored themselves from the very people they have SWORN TO PROTECT.   

The article posted by Olga Khazan and Rama Lakshmi on December 29, 2012 in the Washington Post put it quite directly, “It will be hard to end discrimination against women at police stations when it starts in the crib.” It is not just the handling of the rape incidents by authorities that is flawed and despicable. The mindset of a highly patriarchal society HAS TO CHANGE. Women are neither objects nor chattel to be abused, sold or traded. No man will exist without women bearing and giving them life. WHEN will these men even realize that? To make matters worse, some women even seem to accept the state of women being in a lower social stature than men. Do the women have to rise up in arms against such men to defend themselves from brutal violence and at the very least be treated with respect? Is that why there are men who take such pain in making sure girls are deprived of an education, sold in brothels, or made to work at home to do chores? To make sure they do not surpass the superiority of men? Because they’re dispensable?  JUST GIRLS?
As outrage burst in the streets of India, the gang-rapes continued. A10-year old was gang-raped and fished out from a canal in Bihar state's Saharsa district. Another 14 -year old schoolgirl was in critical condition in Banka district of Bihar after she was raped by four men. Gang-rapes seem to have become so common. Delhi has earned itself the title of being the “rape capital” of India. Not a title to be proud of. Or is it to the men who think violating women makes them superior and strong?  

The truth cannot be ignored. Women have EVERY RIGHT to be educated, to be respected, to walk the streets at night and live without fear because their gender exposes them to people who never learned what respect for human life is.

WE HAVE TO LEARN TO FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS AND BE INDEPENDENT!  We cannot just take things sitting down and accept a degrading fate of being dependent on men for our daily food and survival.   

Let the memories of what happened to Aruna Shanbaug, Hanufa Khatoon, Bhanwari Devi and many others like them, some nameless and never to be found ever be forgotten. They deserve no less. Do not let all they suffered for be in vain.

LET IT NOT BE IN VAIN

By Lylin Aguas

Sources:

1. India Bus Gang Rape: Outrage Spreads Over Public Sexual Assault - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/29/india-rape-victim-dies-sexual-violence-proble/      

2. 2. 10 reasons why India has a sexual violence problem - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/19/india-bus-gang-rape_n_2329002.html?ref=topbar

2. 
   

Vrindavan:The “City” of Widows

Manu Ghosh has told her story many times and now she is exhausted. “You will write and go away, but for me, nothing changes,” she says, sitting on her hard wooden bed at the Meera Sahbhagini Mahila Ashray Sadan in Vrindavan.

Forty years ago the newly widowed Manu Ghosh, now 92, came here from her village in West Bengal, living in a rented room, begging and singing bhajans. In 1999 when the ashram opened, she moved in but still depends on the charity of strangers. “I am here because of my devotion to Radha-Krishna,” she says. “This is where I will die and attain moksha.”

This’ is the city of widows where custom seems frozen in time despite its proximity to such symbols of resurgent India as a six-lane expressway. ‘This’ is an ashram of broken rooms and shattered hopes, where white-shrouded widows sleep in a covered courtyard open on all sides. ‘This’ is where life is reduced to a hope for death because only death brings salvation.

But it’s not death as much as devotion that guides this morning’s activities at the ashram, a dilapidated two-storey building with many rooms and nearly all toilets broken and unusable. Singing and chanting in the late morning light, the 135 women are gathered around Bindeshwar Pathak, the man behind Sulabh Shauchalaya and a person whose life’s mission has been to improve the lives of manual scavengers.

Pathak is here in response to a Supreme Court request to find out if he can ‘ameliorate the pitiable conditions’ of the widows. “This is not my field,” he admits. “But when I saw these women, it was heart-breaking and I could not deny the request.”

Already Pathak has opened an office in Vrindavan, earmarked Rs.20 lakh from Sulabh’s funds for the widows, ordered four ambulances and distributed a one-time allowance of R1,000 each to women who live in the four government-run ashrams. But, he says, he is here to learn.

Learn, for instance, about how nobody was prepared to cremate the widow who died in January and how, according to a report filed by the District Legal Services Authority, a sweeper had to be paid R 200 to take her body, cut it into pieces, stuff these in a sack and dump them in the river.

Depending on who you speak to, the number of widows who live in Vrindavan and its adjoining towns vary from 3,000 to 21,000. But widows are not the only abandoned women. Kamala from Orissa moved to Vrindavan after her husband left her because she couldn’t have children; 19-year-old Anamika came here after her in-laws threw her out for bringing insufficient dowry.

The women are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs.300 a month. They also sing at the various bhajan ashrams for which they getRs.10 a day plus a handful of uncooked rice and dal.

“We have been recommending investment in skill training so that at least the younger women can find dignified work,” says V Mohini Giri who heads the Guild of Service that works to improve the lives of widows. The 80 women at Ma-Dham, run by the Guild, can choose from courses from computers to beauty culture. Food is provided free.

Nobody goes hungry in Vrindavan, found a report filed by journalist Usha Rai for the Guild of Service. Twenty million pilgrims come here every year, many are eager to give to charity. It’s this generosity that has, tragically, led to an increase in the influx of widows and abandoned women, says the report.

Nearly 90 per cent of the widows surveyed said they didn’t want to go back. ‘Back’ is their parental home or with their husbands’ families where they are derided, ill-treated, often starved.

More than food or clothing or shelter what these forgotten women need is assimilation and inclusion. Mohini Giri, a widow, recalls being invited to a family wedding but when the time came for the bridegroom to tie the mangalsutra on the bride, she was asked to leave because ‘even my shadow could not fall on the ceremony’.

It’s this stigmatisation that must change before anything else does. The widows of Vrindavan who lead tragic, neglected lives have become a cliché. In any modern country, they would be considered productive citizens, capable of contributing to society. “A widow wants society’s acceptance more than its charity,” says Giri. Agrees Pathak: “At Sulabh, we work to restore dignity. But when you place a begging bowl in the hands of a woman, you steal her soul.”

Getting more money, building ashrams, funding kitchens is the easy part. Reclaiming the dignity of women caught in a time warp and granting them their rightful place within families and communities is the far greater challenge. For Manu Ghosh and thousands of others in Vrindavan it may already be too late.

Courtesy:Hindustan Times

By Sreejesh K

Her Story

For some girls, their day begins with fears of impending harassment. Harassment takes place everywhere - at bus stops, stations, colleges and any, and every public place! The incident I am writing about will send shivers up your spine.

I spoke to a few girls who take several precautions to safeguard themselves against harassment, ever since one of them suffered at the hands of some mischief-mongers a few months back near a coffee shop. "I always keep a knife in my handbag to deal with any emergency situation. I have come here to study. I can't bother my parents or college administration on this." one said.

Here’s a story of a brave and courageous woman who deserves a grand salute. She is suffering in immense pain, and I have reproduced her story below, as she narrated it, in her own words:

I was severely injured in an acid attack that left me with a burnt face and body, blind and partially deaf. I was just 23-years-old then. Two assailants poured acid on me while I slept. Before I could realize I felt as if my body was on fire and I collapsed.

They punished me because I dared to complain against their teasing. I saw two men surrounding a girl. The men smiled at the girl, but it was only a matter of minutes, possibly seconds, before the smiles turned into a blur of pawing, grabbing hands. Their indecent behaviour was punctuated by cheers, laughter and explicit comments in disgust language.

When I warned them, they told me I was haughty and proud about my looks. They said they will ruin my face beyond recognition. I overlooked their words but what they did to satisfy their ego is evident in front of me. My body has been ruined physically.

After my complaint, the accused were immediately taken into custody, but were released on bail after two years. My brother and I approached the higher authorities for justice but no one listened. Since then, they are roaming Scot-free.

It’s been more than 15-years that they have been fighting a case against them and requesting the authorities to cancel their bail but no success has come their way yet.

They are in extreme pain since the incident and don't have the capacity to withhold it anymore - neither the money nor the hope. Her brother has spent everything they had to keep her alive – land, jewelry, everything! Her treatment has already cost them too much - as a result of which they owe a lot of money to their relatives. Additionally, substantial amount of money has been spent on the court cases and still money is required for her further treatment and follow ups. Justice has been denied.

Written by Aakshi Kalra

[headlines] India: Government, Maoists target civil society activists

Prosecute Threats, Torture, and Killings
(Ranchi) July 30, 2012 – Indian authorities and Maoist insurgents have threatened and attacked civil society activists, undermining basic freedoms and interfering with aid delivery in embattled areas of central and eastern India, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 60-page report, “Between Two Sets of Guns: Attacks on Civil Society Activists in India’s Maoist Conflict,” documents human rights abuses against activists in India’s Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh states. Human Rights Watch found that grassroots activists who deliver development assistance and publicize abuses in Maoist conflict areas are at particular risk of being targeted by government security forces and Maoist insurgents, known as Naxalites. Maoists frequently accuse activists of being informers and warn them against implementing government programs. The police demand that they serve as informers, and those that refuse risk being accused of being Maoist supporters and subject to arbitrary arrest and torture. The authorities use sedition laws to curtail free speech and also concoct criminal cases to lock up critics of the government.

Human Rights Watch called for an immediate end to harassment, attacks, and other abuses against activists by both government forces and the Maoists.

“The Maoists and government forces seem to have little in common except a willingness to target civil society activists who report on rights abuses against local communities,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch and the author of the report. “Aid workers and rights defenders need to be allowed to do their work safely and not be accused of having a political agenda simply because they bring attention to abuses.”

The report is largely based on more than 60 interviews with local residents, activists, journalists, and lawyers who were witnesses to or familiar with abuses by Indian security forces and the Maoists primarily in Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh from July 2011 to April 2012.

While human rights defenders have rarely come under direct attack from Maoists, they operate in a climate of fear and are at great risk if they criticize Maoist abuses. The Maoists have been particularly brutal towards those perceived to be government informers or “class enemies” and do not hesitate to punish them by shooting or beheading after a summary “trial” in a self-declared “people’s court” (jan adalat). Jan adalats do not come close to meeting international standards of independence, impartiality, competence of judges, the presumption of innocence, or access to defense.

For instance, in March 2011, Maoists killed Niyamat Ansari, who helped villagers access the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Jharkhand. The Maoists abducted him and later admitted to his killing by claiming that he was punished for “being under the influence of the police administration, carrying out anti-people, counter-revolutionary activities, and challenging the party.”

Government authorities in Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh have arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and otherwise ill-treated many civil society activists, Human Rights Watch said. They have frequently brought politically motivated charges against them, including for murder, conspiracy, and sedition. Sedition charges are brought despite a 1962 Supreme Court ruling that prosecution under the law requires evidence of incitement to violence. Often these cases are dropped only when prosecutors are unable to support the allegations in court. But by then the activists have already served unnecessarily long periods in detention because their bail pleas are routinely denied. Police have often attempted to justify these actions by discrediting activists as Maoists or Maoist supporters.

For example, Rabindra Kumar Majhi, Madhusudan Badra, and Kanderam Hebram, activists with the Keonjhar Integrated Rural Development and Training Institute in Orissa, were arbitrarily arrested in July 2008. All three were severely beaten until they falsely confessed to being Maoists. Majhi was hung by his legs from the ceiling and so badly beaten that his thigh bone fractured. However, when James Anaya, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous people, expressed concern about their safety, the Indian government, relying on police claims, insisted that the men had confessed to committing crimes. All three were later acquitted, exposing the government’s failure to independently investigate police claims, but each suffered two-and-half years in pretrial detention.

“Anyone, including activists, who engage in criminal activities should be fairly prosecuted,” Ganguly said. “However, local authorities should act on specific evidence of criminal activity, not a blanket assumption that critics of the state are supporting Maoist violence. The national government needs to step in and bring an end to politically motivated prosecutions.”

Activist Himanshu Kumar had to stop his grassroots work with the predominantly tribal population in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh because of state intimidation. He had built a network of local activists to implement government food and healthcare programs, and work on other development projects. After the Chhattisgarh government began to support the Salwa Judum vigilante movement against the Maoists in 2005, he started filing complaints against Salwa Judum abuses. He became visible in the media and during protests. In retaliation, the district administration declared that his organization’s office was located illegally in protected forest land. In May 2009, police demolished the structure. Unable to secure any other space in the area, and because of threats and arrests of several of his workers, Kumar had to leave Chhattisgarh.

“The Indian government has repeatedly asserted that a parallel approach is needed to resolve the Maoist problem by delivering development while undertaking security operations against Maoists,” Ganguly said. “However, the government has failed to stop local authorities and the security forces from attacking and intimidating civil society activists who are often implementing the very programs that could deliver development in these remote and long ignored areas.”

Accounts:
“The police say, ‘You travel all over the place. Why don’t the Maoists kill you?’ But the thing is the Maoists are angry with me, too. The local leaders say I am inciting people against Maoists. All I am doing is telling people that they should protest to protect their lives. They are stuck between two sets of guns, and they should say that they are suffering. I was told by the police, ‘We are watching. You talk too much, and you will be in jail, defending murder charges.’”
– Human right activist in Chhattisgarh, August 2011 (details withheld)

“They started beating me… They kept asking, ‘Are you a Maoist?’ I said, ‘No.’ They said if you deny it, we will beat you more. Finally, I said, ‘Yes.’”
– Madhusudan Badra, Orissa, July 2011

“My colleagues were arrested under false charges, even murder…. The number of violent reprisals kept increasing. I began to feel my strategy had backfired – instead of protecting them, I had made these tribal people more vulnerable. Continuing to work in Dantewada would only bring more harassment, more attacks, more arrests of people I was trying to help. I decided to leave Dantewada.”
– Himanshu Kumar, Chhattisgarh, August 2011
Human Rights Watch Press release

INDIA - THE UNWANTED GIRL CHILD

http://www.global-sisterhood-network.org/content/view/2736/59/

INDIA - THE UNWANTED GIRL CHILD

By ANUPAMA KATAKAM

India Census 2011 data bring into the open Maharashtra State's terrible record in sex-selective abortions.

Girls carrying home water in Mumbai. Maharashtra, a seemingly progressive State, has one of the worst child sex ratios in the country (BIKAS DAS/AP)

In early June, Vijaymala Patekar, a mother of four girls, haemorrhaged to death at a hospital in Parli, Beed district, Maharashtra. She was reportedly in her second trimester of pregnancy. Her family had allegedly forced her to abort the foetus when they learnt it was a girl child.

Sudam Munde, the doctor who performed the procedure, fled Parli but was arrested later. He reportedly confessed to the police that he along with his doctor-wife Saraswati Munde had conducted hundreds of sex-selective abortions in the past few years. He also said that women from neighbouring districts, too, approached his clinic for the purpose, and the demand had enabled him to set up a huge practice. Investigations revealed that the doctor had crores of rupees in bank accounts.

Vijaymala Patekar’s death has exposed tragic facts and explosive data. It categorically points to the fact that Maharashtra, a seemingly progressive State, has one of the worst child sex ratios in the country. The State has been perpetuating a terrible crime by ignoring it, say activists who have been working for decades for the “Save the Girl Child” movement. Vijaymala Patekar’s case, reports of girl babies being abandoned regularly, and the 2011 Census data on the declining child sex ratio clearly show that female foeticide exists in a demonic form and is increasing across the State.

There was a spate of cases of abandoned infant girls and aborted female foetuses in different parts of Mumbai in June alone. A three-day-old girl was found by municipal cleaners in a garbage bin on a highway near Mankhurd, while a two-month-old girl was found abandoned outside Dadar railway station in the city. The body of a one-day-old girl was found dumped near a nullah (stream) in Rabodi, Thane.



This is not unusual. A few months ago, a group of boys playing football in a playground in south Mumbai accidently unearthed the body of a newborn girl buried there. Another infant girl was found near a rubbish bin, half-eaten by rats, but alive. An orphanage in suburban Mumbai, which practises cradle adoption, says it receives three or four girl babies every month. “It is a poor reflection on our society,” says Usha Salve, a social activist who works in one of Mumbai’s slums.

In early July, in Solapur, the police arrested another doctor couple, who were on the run, for conducting sex-selective abortions. Drs Ajit and Priyadarsini Upase had been absconding ever since the police discovered one of their hospital staff burying a female foetus at a burial ground in the town. Two of their staff, who were arrested, told the police that the doctor couple had done several sex-selective abortions.

Frontline spoke to women from all strata of society as well as activists, lawyers, doctors and administrators in the State to find out whether saving the girl child was no longer a priority. The quest revealed that many people – both rich and poor – viewed girls as financial and emotional burdens.

The police and the local administration say they have graver issues to worry about than abandoned babies. Activists and lawyers say lax laws and the lack of a powerful monitoring system allow sex selection to thrive. Of course, it is also difficult to change the preference of many Indians for a male child.

Census 2011 data
According to Census 2011, there is a shocking decline in the child sex ratio in Maharashtra. For every 1,000 boys in the State, there are only 883 girls. This is a lot worse than in 2001, when the figure was 913 girls per 1,000 boys. However, this phenomenon is not exclusive to Maharashtra.

The latest Census results show an alarming decline in the number of girls born in India. While in 2001 the national ratio was 976 girls for every 1,000 boys, it dropped to 914 in 2011. The ratio is calculated as the number of girls per 1,000 boys in the 0-6 age group. As per global trends, the normal child sex ratio should be above 950.

“There are so many reasons for the discrimination against the girl child. The foremost, though, is the deep-rooted gender bias in this country,” says A.L. Sharada, director of Population First, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working on women’s issues. “We need to do something as a nation to make people want a daughter. She must not be seen as a burden or an emotional drain.”

According to Sharada, one of the primary reasons for the decline is the drop in fertility rate. Moreover, people want smaller families, mainly for economic reasons. And if they have to have just one child, they want it to be a son. Another problem that needs to be addressed on a war footing is the aggressive marketing, with little monitoring, of ultrasound machines. Although NGOs have been working extensively on this, the lack of sincerity or proactive steps by governments in combating the issue has unfortunately allowed foeticide to flourish. Maharashtra was the first State in India to enact a law to protect the female foetus – the Maharashtra Regulation of Use of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act in 1987, which paved the way for the enactment of the Prevention of Misuse of Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT) in 1994 and the amended Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act in 2002. Additionally, NGOs and women’s rights activists in the State have been relentlessly campaigning to save the girl child. It was also the first State to introduce 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies. So why do people of this State not want girls?


The answer is the same across the country. There is a strong preference for a son if the parents want only one child – to uphold the family lineage, to support parents in their old age, to inherit the family business, and to light the funeral pyre so that the parents attain salvation. Girl children are seen as nothing but burdens, with dowry being the biggest problem.

What has made sex-selective abortions easier is the proliferation and affordability of ultrasound machines. There is no diligent monitoring of how these machines are used, and doctors who perform the abortions are not penalised, says Sharada. “People in Maharashtra’s sugar belt are the biggest culprits. Their deep pockets and political influence help perpetuate this crime,” she says.

Beed district has the lowest sex ratio in the State (802 as per Census 2011), but that does not necessarily mean that rural regions alone are to be blamed. For instance, Mumbai, a rich district with higher literacy levels, has 874 girls per 1,000, while in 2001 the ratio was 922 per 1,000 (see chart).

“Being rich or poor has nothing to do with sex-selective abortions; it happens across socio-economic strata. What is bad though in this State is that the districts that did not show a decline in 2001 have shown a downward trend in the recent Census figures. For instance, the largely tribal districts of Gadchiroli and Chandrapur are also seeing a sharp decline in sex ratios,” says Sharada (see map and chart).

As per Census 2011, 32 of the 35 districts in Maharashtra recorded a sharp drop in the child sex ratio. In fact, the number of districts with a ratio lower than 900 – nine in 2001 – more than doubled in 2011. Foeticide, which was restricted to urban pockets and western Maharashtra, has now spread to most parts of the State.

Do the recent Census figures indicate that the three-decade-old movement to save the girl child has failed?

“It is unfair to say it has failed. There are several related social ills and larger issues concerning women that need to be addressed if the movement is to be effective,” says Sharada. For instance, discriminatory and humiliating practices such as dowry still exist. Equal inheritance or distribution of property is still not accepted. Though there is a law against domestic violence, it has not really checked the violence against women. The environment in the country is not safe for women. These are issues that make a girl child seem a burden to most families. If these are addressed, there will be a change in attitude, feels Sharada.

Manisha Gupte from MASUM, an NGO that has worked to ensure the successful implementation of the PCPNDT Act, says things have come a long way from the 1980s when public transport used to be dotted with advertisements such as: “Better 500 now than 50,000 later”, meaning if one is ready to spend Rs.500 on an abortion now, one could save Rs.50,000 in dowry later.

Priyadarsini Upase and (right) Ajit Upase, a doctor couple, taken to court after their arrest in a case of sex-selective abortions, in Solapur on July 4 (PTI)

“Society doesn’t always go forward. Behavioural changes take a very long time. Sadly, very few families actively want daughters even today. Girls are born as unintended errors in the pursuit of the highly desired sons,” she says.

Manisha Gupte was amongst those who pioneered the campaign in Maharashtra. “When we began the movement in the early 1980s, we were labelled anti-technology, anti-development, anti-doctor, anti-choice and finally anti-woman. We were told that we were influenced by Western notions of feminism and that we had no clue about Indian culture and values,” she says.

Yet, the Forum Against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-Selection (FASDSP) and later the Doctors against Sex Determination and Sex Pre-Selection (DASDSP) carried out a relentless campaign in the mid-1980s. Manisha Gupte says public awareness drives, exposure of doctors who conducted sex determination tests, public speeches, poster campaigns, protests outside hospitals that conducted tests, and rallies, media campaigns and constant meetings with the Health Ministries at both State and Central levels resulted in Maharashtra banning the tests and eventually enacting the PNDT. “But we still have a long way to go,” she says.

“Activism doesn’t always work. You need a strong law prescribing harsh punishment to combat this evil. Sex selection of the foetus should be treated as nothing less than a crime. Only then will it stop,” says Varsha Deshpande, a lawyer who runs the Lek Ladki Abhiyaan, an organisation that has become well known for carrying out sting operations on clinics and doctors who do sex-selective tests and abortions. A member of the National Inspection and Monitoring Committee to implement the PCPNDT Act, she says her organisation has conducted 36 sting operations since 2005, which resulted in the conviction of 17 doctors.

“The easy availability of ultrasound machines has been the main reason for the sharply declining numbers. The phenomenon is more widespread in the richer districts. As it is, Maharashtra has a history of discrimination – be it against Dalits or women,” says Varsha Deshpande.

Laws and committees
As per the PCPNDT Act, there is a Central Supervisory Committee, headed by the Union Health Minister, which is the main body to oversee the framing of the guidelines and the implementation of the law. Each State will have a supervisory committee to look into State rules and guidelines. There is also the State Inspection and Monitoring Committee to scour the State and book those who violate the law. There are also four National Inspection and Monitoring Committees (NIMC), which carry out inspections including sting operations, in high-risk States such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Then there is the State Appropriate Authority, a statutory body operating at the district and block levels, which has a civil surgeon and a health officer as its members.

Varsha Deshpande says Maharashtra has several committees in place to combat foeticide. “Unfortunately, the authorities lack the will to take action against erring doctors,” she says. “It is up to civil society and NGOs to change the scenario. But there is a limit to what we can do,” she says.

“We should encourage a democratic family set-up. We have to teach gender equality. Why should the father of the house be revered like some god? Television shows that depict women as subservient are another hurdle in the progression of society. Modern values should be instilled in people if our attitude towards women is to change,” she points out.

Soon after the Census results last year, the State became more proactive. As a result, 77 of 111 doctors who were found to have violated the PCPNDT Act were convicted.

Varsha Deshpande’s team had busted Dr Munde’s dubious practice last year. The doctor couple were released on bail soon after, and they went back to their business quite blatantly. It was only when the media exposed Munde’s role in Vijaymala Patekar’s death that the State government decided on a crackdown on sonography centres and hospitals and clinics that did ultrasonography.

The State Health Minister, Suresh Shetty, announced that three squads – made up of the police, a local administration representative, advocates and doctors – had been formed to carry out the operation. But when they will strike is not clear, Varsha Deshpande says.



Attempts to reach the administration and the Health Minister were fruitless. A press release from the State Health Ministry said that it had submitted complaints and reports of sex-selective abortions to the Medical Council of India (MCI).

“A knee-jerk reaction that will have no result,” says Dr Paresh Desai, a paediatrician in South Mumbai. He says sonography centres have come up with ingenious ways to inform people about the sex of the foetus after a test.

For instance, an e-mail stating the number 16 would mean one boy as the number 6 resembles the letter ‘b’. The number 19 would mean one girl as 9 resembles the letter ‘g’. Then the e-mail is deleted, leaving no trace of the test.

Interestingly, many of the women Frontline spoke to did not think a son was a must. But they agreed that there were anxieties, mostly financial, when a girl child was born.

Anju Dhangar, a 35-year-old mother of three girls, has been singularly responsible for her children’s welfare after her husband drank himself to death a few years ago. She earns around Rs.3,000 a month as a domestic help. “Although I have no desire for a son, and there was never any pressure from my in-laws to have one, I am not sure how I will educate and marry them off in my present financial state,” she says.

Her late sister was less lucky. She was sent away to her village by her husband to bring up their two daughters. The husband remarried, and the second wife produced a son. Her sister was never asked to return, and she was given no money to support the girls. Eventually, ill-health claimed her life a year ago.

Smriti Deora, a student who volunteers for Karm, an NGO that works with women, says her family has given her the best of opportunities. As an only child from a business family, she faced no ill will, quite unlike many privileged Indian families where typically a male is considered the only heir. She says: “It is a myth that only the poor believe the girl child is a burden. Even the wealthy do. Investing in a girl child is considered a waste as she will be ‘given’ away in marriage to another family.”

True Stories from the field

As part of my Grassroutes fellowship road trip, I traveled to Sangli, Maharashtra. Although not as advanced as a Bangalore or a Mumbai, it is moderately well developed. The district of Sangli has a taluk named "jat" (pronounced as zath) which in turn has 147 villages under it. The villages are drought hit and have hardly any water available. 

I traveled to a village named ‘Jalihal’. Right from the beginning, it was the lifestyle of the people that struck me to be verily amazing. It made me feel as though I had traveled back to the 1940s. “Yerala Projects Society” is an NGO based in Sangli (about 150 kms), which has adopted 22 villages in this taluk. There are approximately 45000 people living in these villages.

They have responsibility for overall development in these areas.

Hoshyakka: Smiling pretty

The NGO runs a mess for all the people who work for the NGO. The mess workers included two young girls – Hoshyakka and Bhagyashree. I must say I found their life stories quite remarkable!

Hoshyakka was 12 years old when her grandfather got her married to a man who already had an 18 year old son and a daughter from his first marriage. She had no idea what a marriage meant. She could not understand why she was being sent away from home. People say that her husband was a drug smuggler and an alcoholic. It was only after the marriage was over that her family realized they had been cheated. Once they did know, it was not like they could do anything about it, they were too steeped in poverty.

Hoshyakka went to stay with her husband. He would get drunk and beat her up everyday. He would accuse her of infidelity, even when she did not know what it meant. Unable to bear all the torture she returned to her parents. She was probably 14 or 15 then. She was so confused and scared of the world that she would speak to none nor come out of her home. I shudder to think about the indelible scars that this experience would have caused on her psyche. If a simple negative comment from a peer can cause me so much trauma, I can only imagine what Hoshyakka’s mental condition might have been!

The story has a happy ending - after a lot of encouragement and support from the NGO, she now works for the NGO at their mess. She is 20 years old and earns Rs.60 per day. She is the sole bread winner for her family which includes her mother and her sister who is mentally retarded. All that her alcoholic father left for them is a house which has one room and a porous roof.

Hoshyakka at Work

 When I asked her why she was working here, she said – “I do not want to go back to my in –laws, I don’t even know where my husband is. He has been absconding for years. I have a family that depends entirely on me. Also, I feel like I am reliving my childhood here, something that I had lost. I talk, laugh and interact with the school kids and the NGO staff. It gives me confidence and makes me feel good about life”.

“Why do you like this school so much?”  I asked out of curiosity. To me, it was just a normal school in a village. I could not understand why she felt it was so special. The smile from her face faded. “I went to school only till the 7th grade. I don’t even remember anything of what I have studied. I cannot read or write now.”

I did not know what to say. I noticed that she had a mobile phone. If she had learnt how to use that,  she could learn anything! I asked her - “What are your future plans? Do you see yourself working here throughout your life? Don’t you want to study?”

She smiled and said – “For someone like me, the life I am leading right now itself is a big achievement. Village folk here do not respect a woman who has been abandoned by her in-laws. As of now, I am happy here. Having said that, I do want to study. Right now I am too busy running a home and trying to make ends meet. Perhaps, someday….” She concluded.

  “What is your daily life like?” - She told me she was out of firewood and would be back in a minute. She came back and continued - “ This is how busy I am. At home, I cook for my mother and sister. I come here at 9 and work till 6 in the evening. Then I go back home and cook again. Also, I have to nurse my old mother and sister. There is never a moment when I am free.”

A busy day in my life is much different from hers.  I was lost in thought.

It was when Bhagyashree poked me that I woke from my stupor. I asked her  “What is your story?”

To me Bhagyashree seemed like a more cheerful and bold person. She listened to songs while cooking, talked enthusiastically with people who come to the mess and is outgoing when compared to Hoshyakka. I presumed she has a happy life.

Bhagyashree

Bhagyashree was from  a village called Morabagi, which is about 5 kms from Jalihal. She studied till 10th grade in the high school at her village, with the medium of instruction being Marathi. Her parents, unlike the others, encouraged her to study further. She can read and write in Marathi. She was 18 years old when she completed her pre university education in the arts stream. She decided to study further and joined a course in Nursing. After her 1st year, her parents decided to get her married, against her wishes. Nobody listened to her and by force she was married along with a dowry of Rs.80,000.

She stayed at her in-laws for 5 days. Since it was against her wishes, she could not continue living there with somebody she was not ready to accept as her husband. She returned to her home. Her parents and grandparents forced her to return back, but she did not budge. This continued for several months.  At this point, it was much more than what she could take. She did not know where her life was going. Her parents would not support her education and she did not want to go back. She decided to work for the mess which would keep her busy, give her time to think and also earn some money which would make her financially independent. She, like Hoshyakka, earns Rs.60 per day. Bhagyashree is now 20 years old.

This kind of a story was not something that I had expected to hear from such a chirpy soul. I was stunned. “ What have you decided to do now?”, I asked. She replied calmly - “I have been working here for several months. My parents have realized that I will not go back at any cost. I want to continue my studies. I have decided to complete my Nursing course

 “What do you plan to do after you complete your course?”

“ I want to work. I shall take up a job, earn money and give a meaning to my life”

This girl has a lot of dreams and  I hope she will chase each one of them.

It was after these conversations that it occurred to me that these two young women are winners in a true sense. Having lived at the village for about a month, roamed around across 15 villages and interacted with people, I have noticed how conservative and superstitious these people are. Girls are not educated beyond 7th grade.  Girls are married off at an age as young as 14. A heavy dowry is a must. Girls as young as 17-18 are already mothers. All they do is cook, wash and clean. They are unaware of what is happening in the big world outside. Young widows (20 years and above) are not allowed to get married again. Female foeticide is very common even today. In most cases, daughters do not get any share in their parent’s property even. 

   We often read of athletes who fell down during a race but got up to run to the finish line. We read of kings who lose everything but still find strength to win everything back. Although very inspiring, these stories are a little far from the stories of the Bhagyashrees and the Hoshyakkas of the world. The athlete who ran the race was already a successful athlete when he began. He could afford the training, he could garner enough support to participate in the race. It is one thing to come back from a temporary failure and when there is love and some semblance of hope. It is completely another thing to come back from a situation of deep despair - a situation when everything is against you and there is no one to help.

The fact that the village society look down upon such women makes their task only harder. It is really inspiring to see how these two young women have broken all the barriers and have taken control of their lives. I can imagine the intensity of opposition they must have faced from the village folk. Their tenacity and determination is remarkable.  How many of us know of such people who are struggling in the remote parts of our country?