Mumbai gangrape: Little hope for women in India

                                                                                                                 AP photo

The August 22 Mumbai gangrape was shocking. What were more shocking were the reactions that poured in.
If anyone thought that women were safe in India after the massive protests following the December 16 gangrape in Delhi last year, I’ll blame the prince charming who kissed back to life these Snow Whites (they were better off sleeping). For various reasons, our public spaces are not going to be any safer for women in the near future, unless there is some drastic change — and frankly, nothing is in sight.
The administration has reacted in an almost textbook fashion. Maharashtra home minister RR Patil’s suggestion to send the police with every woman journalist working alone or in isolated places betrays an agonising lethargy shown towards an application of mind. Why can’t the home minister ensure that ‘isolated places’ are not the dens for anti-social elements? Why wasn’t the mills and surrounding area, notorious for its drug pushers, etc, not better policed?
The suspects are being pursued and in all likelihood they will be caught. What after that? Jayanto’s Tooingin in the August 24 Hindustan Times very succinctly conveys at least two things: One, the arrogance of the culprits who care two hoots for the ‘tough’ laws and know that the speed limit for ‘fast-track courts’ are not-above-20kms/hr. Second, the helplessness the reader seeing the cartoon.
The media also needs to get its act right. Reactions of horror, almost presuming that until then everything was hunky-dory, is being unfair to the many women who have to face various forms of abuse, perhaps on a daily basis, but do not reach the media’s ‘horror’ scale qualifying to be ‘news’.
Unfortunately, there is no magic pill or a spell that can get things bright starting tomorrow. But there are things that can be done, small steps that can lead to a greater change. The average politician who cries that things should change should lead from the front. For starters, let them come together and pass the Women’s Reservation Bill. This might not stop rapes or make public spaces safer for women but it will sure be a big step towards reaching that goal. There are more steps that can be taken: women’s safety is appallingly low not because for want of ideas, but for want of a will to do so.
Until then, it’s not a sunny day for women in India’s cities, towns and villages. To borrow from John Lennon (and tamper with a beautiful line): ‘You may say I'm a pessimist / But I'm not the only one’.

Racism and Tom & Jerry: It's humans who are racist stupid!

Who would have thought that a popular cartoon show like Tom and Jerry would one day be accused of portraying racism? Generations of children have fell off the chair laughing to the crazy cat and mouse games. So popular is the cartoon that it has a loyal fan following even among the grownups. However, the Warner Brothers’ recent decision to drop two episodes that it deemed ‘inappropriate’ from its ‘Tom & Jerry Golden Collection Volume Two’ because both Tom and Jerry get ‘blacked up’ in the episodes, has stirred the debate on whether are we getting too weak kneed about out past.

 Tom and Jerry is not the first popular cartoon series to be accused of being racist. Tintin in Congo, from The Adventures of Tintin series, and the comic book series Archie has been accused of being racist. Enid Blyton, the famous author of the Famous Five and Secret Seven series, has been accused of being a racist and many instances from her works have been cited as examples. While critics may have a point, they overlook the fact that most of these works were produced at a time when racism was not an ‘offense’. Racism, in its myriad forms, is present even today. The constant reminders by cosmetic companies through their advertisements that to be successful one has to be fair are an everyday reality. Recently, Oprah Winfrey, the celebrity talk show host, claimed that she was racially profiled at a boutique in Zurich where the sales woman refused to show her an expensive handbag. Blackfacing, the act of darkening one’s face to stereotypically portray a black person — Robert Downey Jr’s Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder — is popular among actors, stage show hosts and comedians.

Robert Downey Jr as Kirk Lazarus in Tropical Thunder

 Racism is a truth and there was a time in history when it was not an offense. Informed opinion and equal rights have shown upon us how wrong and ashamed we have to be of certain aspects of our past. Rather than shying away from past mistakes, we should ensure that this will not be repeated in the future. As 20th century philosopher George Santayana said in Reason in Common Sense: ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it’. Meanwhile, the next time you see the slapstick frying pan violence in Tom and Jerry don’t think about violence against animals, just enjoy the humour and the wonderful orchestra playing in the background.

Learn to respect our soldiers

Bhim Singh

On Thursday, four of the five jawans killed in the Poonch attack on August 6 were cremated with state honours in Bihar. To see the pain in the eyes of the widows of the jawans and the blankness in the eyes in their children was enough to move even the staunchest of critics of the Indian Army. However, Bihar’s rural works and panchayati raj minister Bhim Singh was not moved and even went to the extent of ridiculing the sombreness over the killings by suggesting that they were doing what they were paid for. Singh’s statement that “Jawans are meant to be martyred” is abominable, to say the least. After Singh’s statement backfired, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar apologised. Singh also apologised and latched on to that favourite excuse used by politicians whenever they are caught on the wrong foot — that he was misquoted.

This callousness, or rather crude apathy, shown by our political class is a reflection of a general indifference towards the armed forces. The ‘it’s-their-job’ attitude belittles the sacrifice of our armed forces to ensure that our country is safe. Guarding our borders is not an easy task. With Pakistan relentlessly sending militants, and even its own troops as in the recent attack, across the border and with Chinese incursions on the rise, the job of guarding our borders is getting tougher with every passing day. The armed forces also endure harsh weather conditions, be it the biting cold in the Himalayas or the scorching Sun in the deserts, and this is lost to the political class and public who think that ‘that’s-what-they’re-paid-for’. The Siachen Glacier, at a height of about 5,400 metres, is a strategically important post for India and is one of the harshest border posts in the world to patrol, and it is our troops who guard this front.
The Centre, after the initial flip-flop by the defence minister, has pinned the blame on the Pakistan army. This was an avoidable mishap, especially at a time when the armed forces are in need of more personnel. Statements, like the one give by Bhim Singh, will have a detrimental effect on the youth who aim to join the forces to serve the nation. The government should also look at ways in which the families of our slain armed forces personnel are taken care of. Though no monetary benefit will be a substitute for the lives lost, it is imperative that the families are not forgotten. Politicians should also refrain from politicising the martyrdom of our soldiers and the public should be more sensitive towards the service they render towards making life better for many of us.

Kudankulam N-Power Plant: Fearing a necessary evil

With less than three weeks for the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KNPP) to start production, the protests from the people in and around the reactor is a clear sign that the government has failed to allay their fears of a catastrophe. With India’s energy needs growing by the day, there is no option but to tap into the available energy sources. This, however, should not be at the cost of great environmental damage and human life. Energy generation using nuclear power has always been contentious because of the great dangers it involves. Accidents at nuclear power plants, be it the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster or the Three Mile Island or Chernobyl or the Rawatbhata nuclear plant leak in 2012, have turned the public against this source of energy.

For India, to remain and progress on its economic trajectory, power generation is essential and with a dwindling supply of coal, coupled with the rising prices of oil imports, the government is forced to turn to other sources to meet the ever-growing energy needs. The reliance on alternative sources of cleaner energy have been a failure due to several reasons, like the lack of ideal conditions for tapping wind energy or the government’s failure to give solar power generation the required thrust through incentives and better technology. It is this energy vacuum that nuclear power fills. As noted by MS Swaminathan earlier this year, there was a greater need for better communication between the people and scientists, which to a very great extent will help in removing most of the fears surrounding nuclear power plants. Though prominent personalities in the field of atomic energy, like MR Srinivasan, former Atomic Energy Commission chairman, have been reiterating that KNPP is the ‘safest nuclear plant in the world’, the government has not been able to spread the message successfully.
The protests cannot be overlooked by any government because ensuring the peace and safety of the people is its duty. The allegations that corruption, linked to the Russian firm involved in the construction of KNPP, which is  has led to the procurement of substandard equipment is yet to be addressed to the satisfaction of the local communities that fear the safety of their lives. Through effective communication and by ensuring the highest of safety standards, the government and the people can have a win-win situation. The question is will the government wake up to such a need.

Snowden exposes Obama's hatred towards whistleblowers

For all its sermons on democracy and freedom the United States has been exposed so much so that the totalitarian and communist regimes that it has been in the forefront of blaming, pale in comparison to the magnitude of US’ highly classified eavesdropping. Edward Joseph Snowden, alarmed by the duplicity of the establishment, decided to share the data he had acquired while working as a technical contractor for the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on its mass surveillance programmes like PRISM and Tempora. After releasing the data Snowden went to Hong Kong and from there to Russia.
Snowden’s is not the first and will not be the last case in which a whistleblower has been on the run after exposing the grey areas in which a particular government works without the knowledge of the people of that country. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Bradely Manning, who provided the vital information to Assange, are the most prominent recent examples that come to mind. No government is comfortable with a whistleblower. Washington’s rage is evident in that it has slapped charges on Snowden using the Espionage Act — an Act of World War I legacy — though prima facie his actions are not related to espionage or anti-American. What Snowden has done is to effectively pull the mask off the US administration, especially the Obama administrations claims of respecting civil liberties and the privacy of its citizens. His revelations about NSA’s snooping have confirmed what many people suspected. That Obama has been increasingly intolerant towards leaks and whistleblowing is evident in that Snowden is the seventh person to be indicted by his administration under the Espionage Act.

As of now Snowden’s next port of call is not clear. Speculation is rife that he will travel to Cuba or Ecuador or even the United States. The earlier two countries are top on the list because of their open disdain for the ‘Big Brother’, and by nature a ready willingness to embrace anything anti-US. The bets are also that the US will use its diplomatic muscle to get the whistleblower back home. So while William Hill, the British online gambling website, has opened betting on Snowden’s location on New Year’s Day 2014, a lingering question remains: Has the United States grown too intolerant that it is no longer safe for whistleblowers who expose government irregularities?

Floods: India lacks the science to deal with nature

                                                                                                                                                                          photo: from ibnlive

The torrential rains that have lashed across the north of India, especially in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, have caused great havoc with more than 120 people feared dead and over 60,000 people stranded without food and other basic facilities.  Videos of large buildings toppling into rivers have compounded to the fear. There are a lot of contributing factors to the present tragedy — the most obvious ones are that environment safety norms that the government should have maintained were flouted. The May 20 order of the National Green Tribunal for demolishing all illegal constructions on the flood plains and river beds of Yamuna and Hindon in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi is proof of this. Massive deforestation, thanks to unplanned and uncontrolled urbanisation in these ecologically fragile terrains, has also led to landslides in the region. That laws have been flouted and environmental concerns have been ignored points to the fact that the Doctrine of Public Trust when it comes to safeguarding natural resources, in this case rivers, has not been viable judicial tool.

The question that needs to be asked is what are the steps that the government will take from here; what are the lessons learnt and what will be done to minimise, if not prevent, such a catastrophe from happening again? The torrential rains over the last few days were two weeks ahead of its schedule, but it is no alibi for the government as it was not prepared to meet such a situation. While the armed forces pressed into rescue missions have been doing a commendable job, the government’s lack of technological expertise in forecasting such climatic variations has been exposed. The glitches faced by the R15-crore doppler radar system, meant to predict thunderstorms and other changes in weather patterns, acquired by the India Meteorological Department, has not proved the game-changer it was meant to be. While there have been efforts by the department to upgrade technology, the S-band doppler radar replaced the S-band cyclone detection radars, it does not seem to be on top of the game when it comes to weather forecasting. There are lessons that India can take from neighbouring Bangladesh in shoring up its early warning systems. Dhaka has, with the help of organisations like the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, set up advanced long-lead flood forecasting systems. Such systems can help authorities in India to be prepared to meet the challenges such seasonal vagrancies throw up.
Another area where the authorities concerned need to focus is on dissemination of information to the people in affected or flood-prone areas. Timely information reduces the causality during such situations. There are no two opinions that the foothills of the Himalayas are great tourist points and the state governments earn a sizeable part of their revenue through tourism. However, keeping in mind the infrastructural challenges and limitations, the government should think about regulating the flow of tourists to these places. For the government to invest in the state-of-art technology is also an economically prudent move as studies have shown that for every rupee invested in early warning systems the return in the form of less fatalities and minimal damage is beneficial.

Telegram: Matter Serious, No Hope

From smoke signals and cave paintings, used centuries ago, to the latest instant services messages, like SMS, email and fax, communication has undergone a metamorphosis few would have foreseen. In the arena of telecommunication, history is witness to the falling of many a gladiator that once stood tall commanding the awe of anyone who witnessed it. July 15 will witness the fall of a humble giant who conveyed both good and bad news with professional ease and speed — the telegram. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has decided to discontinue telegram services from mid July given that it is a white elephant. However, the news of the scheduled demise of telegram will not be received with a lump in throat by many. That many telegraph offices are not receiving a single customer throughout the year and that many offices have been converted into customer care centres is proof that this mode of communication has for long been put on life-support. With landline telephones and mobiles phones reaching the deepest of crevices in rural India telegram lost the last of reasons for its use.
The quest to ‘make the world smaller’ led to the invention of quicker means of communication. When the telegram was introduced in India in the 1850s it was a game changer so much so that it holds a prominent role in aiding the British in India to suppress the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. Even though telephones were introduced a few decades after telegraph was introduced, it was no match to the speed and convenience the latter offered. Until the 90s, which saw the rapid growth in the field of telecommunication, telephones were few and far between. The rapid growth in the sector, however, rendered the telegram obsolete overnight.
Interestingly, cinema has played a vital role in keeping the telegraph alive in popular imagination. Often the message in a telegram is conveyed to the audience by the accompanying background music or the expression on the receivers face. Nostalgia apart, it is a prudent move by the BSNL to shut down telegram services, which are estimated to bleed the company by R300-400 crore annually. Telegram joins the illustrious company of woodblock printing, hourglass, typewriter, pager, VHS, 8-track tape, camera film rolls, etc — things that were once of prime importance and today are of little practical use, but are fondly remembered.