EDITORIAL
Friends
Month of April signifies the beginning of financial year. Finance Minister Mukherjee (FM) presented his customary budget for the year 2009-10. As usual, euphoria of some positives are always overtaken by the negatives of the budget proposals and after effects. This budget was like all budgets. While FM managed a slight improvement on the deficit containment, the inflationary spiral may be a cause of concern with petrol and diesel prices increase. Of course the life of financial managers of this country is not easy. India is a complex country and its solutions are not expected to be easy. Let’s hope someday, we shall see better days.
Month began with the news of arson and violence in towns of Shimoga and Hassan in Karnataka, ostensibly as a reaction to an article in a Kannada daily on ‘burqua’. An old article by Taslima Nasreen had asked women ‘not to wear burqua or hijab even if it is mentioned in Quran’. The question here is how sacrosanct is this burqua? There are thousands of Muslims, the world over, who are opposed to the idea of burqua and Taslima is one of them. Most of these ladies and men who are opposed to the wearing of veil or hijab say that Quran has not insisted on wearing it and that it shows the individual’s backwardness. In olden days, to protect women from the eyes of lecherous men, it was recommended that they should cover their modesty with appropriate attire. But we are in 21st century, and lots of men and women in Muslim world have discontinued the use of hijab. But as one could find obscurantists in any society, there are men, who force their women folk to use veil. But it is also true that there are women, on their own volition do prefer to wear this veil, in different, fully covered and partly uncovered attire. However, given a choice, vast majority of Muslim women folks would prefer not to wear this hijab, and that is a fact of life, which Muslim world must recognise.
But to violently react to an article, leading to destruction of life and property is certainly an engineered development. This is a problem community should address. They should realise, in any violence, it is the poor who suffer the most, and cause never get promoted. Besides, the Quran, which they hold in utmost respect, never advocated violence, for any social correction or reaction. It shall only damage the cause of Muslims if violence takes precedence in their social response. Unfortunately media does not play it’s responsible role in helping the community in coming to terms with the changing environs without any bad blood.
One controversy following the other. Maverick painter Maqbool Fida Hussain (MF Hussain) is in the news again. As usual for all wrong reasons. He took up Qatari passport jettisoning Indian citizenship. His argument was simple. It is the tax implication, NRI status and to complete his three major projects in peace. That should have been taken on the face value and we in India could have got on with life. But that was not to be. Of all the people, the media and some of their friends appeared so disturbed, they felt, the painter’s exit shall bring bad name for the country, the government and its people. A national English news paper’s editor observed "Qatar citizenship offer to MF Hussian is a serious embarrassment for India". That’s a plain hogwash. No such thing has happened or shall happen. Nobody in MEA even bothered to issue a statement. Of course, some of the outfits like Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sene expressing statements of joy and vindication is rather boorish and equally uncalled for. We need not give too much importance to people like MF Hussain. As a painting genius we have to respect him. But in a pluralistic society like India where religion based faith has its own important place of respect and honour, to belittle it in the name of freedom of expression is to display a high degree insensitivity towards fellow human beings, and then not to own up responsibility for the hurt caused and the wrong done, then not to regret the acts of commission or omission is an act of contemptible arrogance. MF Hussain, can be accused of insensitivity and arrogance, in causing hurt to the psyche of a huge section of fellow Indians, by his nude portrayal of many of their religious figures. If a painter or a writer has the right to express, the person who is hurt has a right to protest, and as a law abiding citizen he went to court. Aren’t we a democracy?! Hussain is a practitioner of blatant double standard on which there is so much to write about. And our 24x7 media was going hammer and tong to know if the country, the government or the people failed him? These so-called sentinels of freedom of expression were not disturbed, when a tasteless cartoon in a second class magazine, appearing in a distant Denmark should have evoked violent protests in this country resulting in loss of life and property. In our media, like our public life, there are double standards galore. So keep smiling and get going. This is Yeh Mera India. Just an after thought. Now that Hussain has become a ‘Darbari Painter’, in the service of his ‘right of freedom of expression’, would he paint the Sheikh of Qatar or his patron Sheikha in their birthday suite without their clothes on?!
Unlike any of the 8th March of yesteryears, this year it didn’t come as any day and vanished into history as just another day. It stayed on to usher a new page in the history of women’s empowerment in India. Rajya Sabha voted, despite acrimony, in favour of a historic Women’s Reservation Bill, enabling the government to legally reserve 33% of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures. Of Course the lower house of parliament has to give its assent, which is not likely to be as easy, as originally thought. We have taken it up under Focus, for the importance it deserved.
"If the incumbent union govt. does not change its policy to initiate sincere steps to curb corruption, I would field candidates in the next parliamentary elections" Yoga guru Baba Ramdev was reported to have stated while speaking on the reasons behind the spread of Naxalism. "Poverty, political chaos and financial inconsistencies are the by products of corruption" he had added, while emphasising Maoism as the derivative of economic inequality and thuggery at th
e grassroots level. These words appear to be the words of a concerned Indian at the deterioration in the redistributive exercise in the Indian polity. Is Guru Ramdev telling something new? Don’t we all know these problems? Yes we all know, but we do nothing about it. At least he is saying, that ‘he will do something’. He has not stopped at that, he has recently announced the name of his political party, Bharath Swaabhiman party shall necessarily send signals of disquiet to all Indian political parties. His strength is, he has no selfish agenda and no family and friends, to take care of. Yes, there have been many learned professional men with resources at their command who are trying to bring about political change. There is this LokSatta from Hyderabad, Janaagraha from Bangalore, then you have this RK Mishra, who recently joined BJP. There are many men of vision, hopefully without any personal agenda. They all need to come together in the larger interest of the nation. May be Guru Ramdev could be a catalist. Hope some good could happen to the country.
And then comes the news of Bharath Ratna for Tendulkar! nothing could be more ridiculous a thought than this. A cricketer is a cricketer, playing cricket, no doubt for the national team. He is primarily playing, because its bread and butter for him. As luck would have it, he played to the best of his abilities. In the process he raked in money like no other sports person in India, past or present. It is true he has been a model cricketer and remained a gentleman cricketer. It is also true that he has been probably one of the greatest hitter of the ‘cherry’ and t
he 1st one to have scored 200 runs in a one day cricket. But is that all that is needed to become a Bharath Ratna?! The Maharashtra Chief Minister called him ‘the pride of the country’ and had stated in Mumbai that he would recommend to the centre to honour Tendulkar with the Nation’s highest civilian award. His deputy Bhujbal echoed similar sentiments. Joining the chorus was Bal Thackray, the Shiv Sena chief. All three were indulging in vote bank rhetorics. Bal Thackray chipping in is rather funny. Same Thackray had earlier asked Tendulkar to keep to his cricket and criticised him for making statements like ‘Mumbai belongs to all Indians’. Long ago TJS George had remarked in Indian Express "Sachin Tendulkar may be a good cricketer, but he does not seem to be a good citizen", commenting on his request for duty exemption for the ‘Ferrari Sports Coupe’ that he received as a ‘gift’ and the subsequent grant of state-largesse by the then NDA government. Then again Tendulkar’s name, among others, cropped up in the press for wrong registration of his vehicle in Navi Mumbai to avail concessional levy. For somebody who could be worth anywhere in the region of Rs. 500 crores, to look for concession, in legitimate government dues, is to portray a poor image. It was amusing to read a Mumbai date lined news report quoted here verbatim "Milestone man Sachin Tendulkar an Tuesday (02/03/2010) said he would like to be on the list of ‘Bharath Ratna" awardees but he is not thinking about the highest civilian honour as of now and would leave it to destiny. More important, he wants to concenterate on the game".Would you be comfortable, as a civic minded citizen, that, it is alright for a Bharath Rathna to ask for tax concession or evade tax responsibility?
It was a clear case of fence eating the crop. How can we blame police department, if there is any miscarriage of justice if such things keep happening in Police Staitons? MLA Sampangi of Kolar, Karnataka was reportedly caught by men of Lokayukta in Jan 2009 red handed, accepting Rs 50,000/- cash and 4.5 lakhs in cheque, acting on a complaint. This happened in Legislators’ Home, report informs. Then a committee was set up to ‘find out’ the truth. Now after some 14 months, the ‘truth’, the ‘whole truth’ ‘nothing but the truth’ has come out. The committee headed by the former Deputy Speaker, who is presently the Speaker, has, according to reports, decided to close the case, because the committee couldn’t find enough evidence to fix the MLA, instead fixed the complainant, since he failed to appear before the committee despite many intimation to the effect, it is alleged. Of course no version is available from the complainant, nor any comment from Lokayukta was made available in the report. The law abiding citizen is left to wonder, what is happening? It is another matter that Lokayukta has later declared ‘since the case is in court, it is for the court to decide and this committee of legislators has no legal relevance’. What could happen if these MLAs become the ultimate arbiter of dispensing justice? Wouldn’t this scenario numb our senses?!
English literature is full of idioms, which can be easily used to describe a situation. ‘As you sow so shall you reap,’ then you have "One who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword." "Chicken come home to roost", is yet another. All these three sayings describe similar situation of living with danger and some day how one get sucked into become the victim of living dangerously. Pakistan is passing through this sorry state of affairs. Yes, Pakistan is at the receiving end of terror from those very groups, whom ISI and military raised, and used for targeting India. There have been series of terror attacks in Lahore, Peshawar and other places in Pakistan in the recent past. The very same Jehadi groups, created, nursed and funded by ISI to ‘cause thousand cuts’ of Zia Ul Haq, have turned against ISI and the military, for supporting Americans in their fight against terror. This had to happen someday. And it has happened. Pakistan has lost East Pakistan due to its own policy of unmanageable contradictions, now there is a potent possibility that Pakistan may even balkanise into more than one country. That’s the truth staring at Pakistanis. They have to mend their ways in their own interest, or else, day is not far for the creation of an irrepairable geo-political divide. Would the Pakistani leadership wake up to this inexhorable reality?
It was always believed that everything is not hunky dory with Amnesty International (AI). Reportedly they are known to have made-up stories about human rights violations in some of the countries of the world, including India. But the latest accusation by Gita Sehgal, Amnesty’s Gender Unit head, that she is fearful of her own and that of her family’s safety, is shocking to say the least. On the face of it, Amnesty is a champion of human rights, campaigning on behalf of prisoners the world over, who spoke out against oppressive regimes. But here, it is doing the very opposite. Ms. Sehgal was suspended because she spoke, and spoke against Amnesty itself, which ruptured her relationship of decades with the organisation she prided working for. She was suspended for speaking to London’s ‘The Sunday Times’ of her concerns about AIs relationship with Moazzam Begg, a former Gauntanamo detainee. It is true that Begg was released without trial nor was he convicted of any terror related offences. But he was, by his own admission, providing financial support to radicals. AI is sharing the public platform with Begg attempting to bring home the message that although Begg is radical he is not a terrorist and therefore we should talk to them to understand the problem better. While AI has a point, what Ms. Sehgal was at pain to state, that it was the AIs integrity that was at stake. According to her, AI has to be super-scrupulous about the people they choose to support. But there is a danger in what AI is doing. It’s action in defending Begg lends a certain degree of legitimacy to radicals. That fear is certainly not misplaced. In any case to target a senior lady colleague for her contrary stand, to that of the official stand of AI, is the very negation for which Amnesty International was established. That is patently unfair. Hope nothing happens to the safety of Ms. Sehgal and that of her family. Incidentally she is the grand daughter of Smt. Vijayalaxmi Pandit, who was the first president of UN General Assembly.
Mumbai for all Indians came out loud and clear. Asha Bhonsle the bollywood rock singer, gave mouthful to Raj Thackray of MNS right
on his face without mincing her words. Sharing the dias at a cultural evening organized by a Marathi TV Channel at Pune, Raj Thackray could hardly react except squirming in his seat. She had reportedly stated "People are bound to flock to Mumbai as Hindustan belongs to all". Yes, he has to be quitened of his boorish vocal attacks on North Indians. Irony was, how he would have reacted if it was say Jaya Bachhan or Jay Pradha. There is a great need for all right thinking Mumbaikars to join Asha didi in putting Raj and Uddhav in place.
Murder of senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Madbouh in Dubai in January last within few hours of entering UAE in his hotel room had all the signs of professional execution. UAE authorities have reportedly stated recently at the Arab Inter Parliamentary Union meet at Cairo in Egypt that the killing bore all the hallmarks of Israeli intelligence apparatus and is indeed an ‘Act of Terror’. If this is true, and there are many reasons to believe, that this elimination of the Hamas leader is by Israelis, then the reach of it's MOSSAD is indeed very far and effective. To enter Dubai with all its security apparatus and kill the target with the smuggled arms shows its thoroughness, which Arab world cannot match. They cocked-a-snook at the Arabs’ might and got away literally with murder. That’s the power which Palestinians are trying to check-mate for all these years. As is evident, nobody can really make them fall-in-line by force. No wonder their housing development programme on the disputed areas of Golan Heights and Gaza strip go on unhindered, despite loud protestations from the US.
Are Palestinians fighting a losing battle? Certainly they deserve their own homeland. Israel was created out of Palestine. Now there is only partial Palestine. Even there they cannot live in peace and with dignity. Would the solution to Palestine problem lead to some kind of peace in the middle east and surrounding areas? Would Arabs unite one day to see the resolution to this burning issue of Palestine?
"UK to outlaw Caste System Among Asians" was an interesting piece of news coming from London. It is indeed historic. Following increasing evidences of caste practices within Asian communities with origins in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, British lawmakers have decided, in principle, to amend equality laws to make caste based discrimination illegal.
The House of Lords have asked National Instt. of Economics and Social Research to conduct a study and report the findings by Aug. this year. This development should augur well for all of us in India as well. Since many of our archaic laws are copied from the British Gazette, our law makers can find inspiration to make a similar study and consequent legislation. As we already know that this caste system is another more subtler form of apartheid which need to be abolished. In fact this pernicious practice of caste has indeed divided the Indian society, and if eradicated can truly help us become a power, to reckon with. It is indeed a welcome development and Indians in the U.K. must support such a move by the British government.
The bloodiest unsolved crime in the Canadian history, the bombing of Air India KANISHKA, has come back to haunt Canadians. The bombing is indeed pricking the conscience of Canada that justice was not done. A perjury trial is likely to begin shortly to try Inderjith Singh Reyat in the Vancouver court. Reyat has already served twenty years prison sentence for the charge of manslaughter. According to the prosecution, the Crown Counsel’s office, Reyat has lied 27times during his testimony. Reyat, a mechanic, is accused of telling the court under oath, with the intent to mislead, that he did not know or recall details of the alleged conspiracy beyond few matters.
Aijab Singh Bagri and billionaire business man Ripudaman Singh Malik, were detained in prison for 5 years as co-conspirators, but were acquitted for lack of fuller evidence. It was generally believed that Malik is the main accused who funded the whole exercise. The bombing by Khalistani elements blew up the airliner in mid-air-off Irish coast-on June 23, 1985, killed all 329 passengers. After 25 years, this reopening may, at the end of it, find the truth, and killers punished. So that the wandering souls of those 329 victims, may after all, Rest In Peace. Amen.
"25 dies as Iraqis defy violence to vote" was a sad piece of news coming from Muslim world. Iraq is a Muslim country, there are hardly anybody who are followers of other faith in Iraq. Yet, why they have difficulty in living together? Ever since the dethronment of Saddam Hussain, people supporting his Ba’ath party have been indulging in all kinds of violence. Saddam was an undemocratic despot, and he was ruling over Iraq with an iron hand. Although Iraq is a Muslim country, it is divided vertically between Sunnis and Shias. Numerically Shias are in greater number. Democratic election has thrown up Shia majority which is not palatable and acceptable to Sunny insurgents of Saddam’s party. And they are creating all kinds of hurdles, including large scale violence resulting in huge loss of life and property. This is not a recent development. Pakistan always had this problem of Sunny and Shia. In fact Ahmedia Sect in Pakistan is declared as non-Muslims by the Pakistani court, making them extremely vulnerable to attack. So it is a fact, even among themselves, they do have problems which need to be addressed by them only. So is it surprising that they do not accept the legitimacy of other ethnic groups, who could be in majority and therefore ruling?
Iraq is an experiment that need to be encouraged to show-case to the rest of the world. But there are lots of problems. It’s a starting problem that do not seem to end. It is a very strong case for the Muslim world to ponder. Hope in the larger global interest, and in their own interest, democracy takes deep roots in Iraq to survive and flourish without violence.
There is a good news for the domestic helpers the world over. ILO (International Labour Organisation) is reportedly coming up with rules and regulations governing the employment of domestic helpers. This group, who has helped the middle and upper income group families to live better, has always been a neglected lot, without any bargaining chip available to them legally. When these do’s and don’ts become law, it will entitle all domestic helpers, a minimum wage, periodic break, annual leave, sick leave and other benefits. Yes all these employers, of these domestic helpers, who may be employed elsewhere in comfortable situations have always fought and got the best of deals. But their democratic rights never forced them to think about the democratic rights of these humble yet essential helpers. There are innumerable masters, both men and women, who have exploited the helpless domestic helpers without giving them their legitimate dues. In fact, if all masters were reasonable and fair the ILO coming in probably was not needed. Like all laws, this too is needed to correct a situation of extreme unfairness and exploitation within the world of domestic helpers. Hope ILO comes up with the terms of reference very fast to address this issue as a gift on the occasion of International Women’s day. To cheers to them.
Gruesome beheading of Sikhs in Pakistan is an ugly and cruel reminder that Taliban only wants worldly possessions. Their claim that they fight for Islam is an uncontested rubbish. The statement of Gurvinder Singh, who was rescued by the Pakistani troops is a testimony. "All that these Talibanis wanted was money and money only. Our captors speaking Pashthu did not pray even once on all these 40 days, they kept us detained. They beheaded Jaspal Singh, a trader, since his family failed to pay the ransom of 30 million Pakistani rupees." There is something seriously wrong with this Pakistani management of its affairs, contradictions every where! And U.S. wants to be their friend! Isn’t it shocking that Obama administration is not addressing the Pakistani problem with the seriousness it deserves?!
In legal parlance, we have heard in the past and shall continue to hear into the foreseeable future, the word ‘Approver’. In simple terms this approver is an accused turned witness. Just like how Pakistani American Gilani urf David Headley, to escape the imminent death sentence, became a witness, an approver. Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, while addressing a seminar in New Delhi has reportedly observed "Give due regard to victim’s wish to marry rapist". Women’s groups all over India must be little dumb struck, coming as it did, from the CJI. Surely some of them would be outraged. While CJI/KGB may have his own logic to say, what he had said, it does raise several questions. According to him, he has in his mind ‘welfare of rape victim’. How would marrying the rapist shall be for the welfare of victim is a question requiring larger debate. But was it right for the Chief Justice of India to make such a radical statement? If the rape victim decides, not to marry the perpetrator, the accused shall be punished. The law is clear about it. Doesn’t this mean, only to escape the punishment the accused is offering to marry the victim? Its only when the accused has brainwashed the victim into accepting his proposal, the victim could and probably would agree. But how can CJI/KGB ensure that this is not a ploy? And no sooner the marriage takes place and rapist is a free man, he may even walk out of marriage or even marry another and force the earlier victim to accept it. Possibilities are many. Therefore these radical approaches as suggested by CJI/KGB need to be carefully considered with the involvement of women’s group. After all they are the real stakeholders, we have to get them involved in any issue relating to women in general and rape victims in particular.
Nitin Gadkari, the newly elected president of BJP is probably the youngest president of any political party. BJP need to be congratulated for keeping the opportunity to grow for all in the party. Reportedly Gadkari has grown from the rank. Yes, now the whole of India know this virtually unknown Gadkari. But a news of May last year has suddenly resurfaced, now that he has become a high profile man, that too in BJP. The print media news "CID asked to probe mystery of girl’s body in Gadkari’s car" says it all. Law must necessarily take its own course and guilty should be punished. Only the other day Union Law Minister Moili was reported to have said "Nobody is above the law" commenting on Narendra Modi’s appearance before the SIT. But how come law was silent whole of last year, but became suddenly active, now that Gadkari is a national personality! To embarrass the opposition BJP?
Man to Man, not knowing the complete details, this piece of news sounds ridiculous. "Demand with no links to marriage isn’t dowry" in the print media report is the observation of learned judge Justice V.K. Jain of Delhi High Court. According to the report, a married women(newly married!?) was driven to commit suicide for demanding Rs. 50,000/- from her family by the groom's family for buying a shop. Three members of the family were arrested in connection. From the details of the report, the accusation that groom’s family did demand Rs 50K appears to be true. Here, there is a bride who is pressured to bring Rs. 50K, by the groom’s family. If she has committed suicide, pressure could have been unbearable. Prima facie its an open and shut case. But as law is an ass, it can be interpreted to once convenience. Since the defence lawyer tried to interpret the law, to really drive the argument, that this demand for Rs. 50K was nothing to do with the marriage, and the honourable judge decided to go by it, and hence acquitted those arrested. It was always debated, judgement and justice are not the same thing, and every judgement need not bring justice. And in this case it gives an impression, in the absence of fuller details, of clear injustice to the victim. Would the groom and his family ask the defence lawyer to fund their desire to own shop and pressure him?! You can only pressure a weaker side, in this case wife. She committed suicide unable to bear the pressure. Obviously the groom’s family did not ask for a loan or begged for charity. They knew their position well so also that of the vulnerability of wife and her family to yield to the pressure. Probably what they didn’t wager was bride’s suicide. Isn’t this a straight forward assumption and therefore a tenable considered view, without the verbose of legal argument that this was indeed a dowry death?
Some time ago there was this proposal for a large scale amnesty for militants in POK from the Chief Minister of J&K-Omar Abdullah. This proposal had hit a road block in the person of Gulam Nabi Azad, another senior Kashmiri. Argument of the CM was that it is an emotive issue and hence will help the reduction in militancy in the state. Whereas Azad was of the view that "it is a security risk". Both arguments have relevance in it. Actually more than talking to the Pakistanis it is sensible to bring militants into mainstream, but any blanket decision should be a big ‘No’. We should take it up on a small scale selectively, on experimental basis after collecting all relevant details and see how things shape. It will also make sense that all amnesty proposal should be wetted by a select committee of both state and central members including Azad and may be even some liberal BJP members. Any positive action in this regard can give a world of hope to genuine returnees without any intention of mischief. Central govt. must seriously apply its mind to the proposal. Of course, it could be true that J&K CM may be little over- enthusiastic due to his age which needs to be curbed by people like P. Chidambaram, the central home minister.
Nuclear bill is back to the parliament with liability issue. Wasn’t it always the issue? U.S. or any other country, more so U.S, have its own interest to protect. Don’t we remember Union Carbide’s Bhopal disaster? Isn’t it still a simmering problem needing meaningful resolution? In the world of high business stakes accident liability has got to be guaranteed in the larger interest of suffering humanity, which is generally the poorer section of any society. And look at Price Anderson Act of U.S. where the liability of operator is 12.5 billion US $ which is applicable in the U.S. But under the proposed liability bill for India, the cap is only for 109 million US $, that’s 25 times more in the U.S. In simple terms if an American life would be worth Rs. 25 lakhs and Indian life shall be Rs. 1 lakh only. But Sardar Manmohan Singh is happy, so is his government, hence asking the parliament to ratify.
Yes, in the larger interest of justice in the international trade and commerce equity has to be the overriding principle. This aspect has to be taken into consideration before finalising the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010. Hope parties in the parliament, mainly BJP, CPM and SP, who bailed out UPA to pass the earlier Nuclear agreement, understand this aspect and act accordingly in national interest.
As mentioned earlier WRB shall be the Focus. Rest of the issue are as usual. Do revert with your valued inputs.
Month of April signifies the beginning of financial year. Finance Minister Mukherjee (FM) presented his customary budget for the year 2009-10. As usual, euphoria of some positives are always overtaken by the negatives of the budget proposals and after effects. This budget was like all budgets. While FM managed a slight improvement on the deficit containment, the inflationary spiral may be a cause of concern with petrol and diesel prices increase. Of course the life of financial managers of this country is not easy. India is a complex country and its solutions are not expected to be easy. Let’s hope someday, we shall see better days.
Month began with the news of arson and violence in towns of Shimoga and Hassan in Karnataka, ostensibly as a reaction to an article in a Kannada daily on ‘burqua’. An old article by Taslima Nasreen had asked women ‘not to wear burqua or hijab even if it is mentioned in Quran’. The question here is how sacrosanct is this burqua? There are thousands of Muslims, the world over, who are opposed to the idea of burqua and Taslima is one of them. Most of these ladies and men who are opposed to the wearing of veil or hijab say that Quran has not insisted on wearing it and that it shows the individual’s backwardness. In olden days, to protect women from the eyes of lecherous men, it was recommended that they should cover their modesty with appropriate attire. But we are in 21st century, and lots of men and women in Muslim world have discontinued the use of hijab. But as one could find obscurantists in any society, there are men, who force their women folk to use veil. But it is also true that there are women, on their own volition do prefer to wear this veil, in different, fully covered and partly uncovered attire. However, given a choice, vast majority of Muslim women folks would prefer not to wear this hijab, and that is a fact of life, which Muslim world must recognise.
But to violently react to an article, leading to destruction of life and property is certainly an engineered development. This is a problem community should address. They should realise, in any violence, it is the poor who suffer the most, and cause never get promoted. Besides, the Quran, which they hold in utmost respect, never advocated violence, for any social correction or reaction. It shall only damage the cause of Muslims if violence takes precedence in their social response. Unfortunately media does not play it’s responsible role in helping the community in coming to terms with the changing environs without any bad blood.
One controversy following the other. Maverick painter Maqbool Fida Hussain (MF Hussain) is in the news again. As usual for all wrong reasons. He took up Qatari passport jettisoning Indian citizenship. His argument was simple. It is the tax implication, NRI status and to complete his three major projects in peace. That should have been taken on the face value and we in India could have got on with life. But that was not to be. Of all the people, the media and some of their friends appeared so disturbed, they felt, the painter’s exit shall bring bad name for the country, the government and its people. A national English news paper’s editor observed "Qatar citizenship offer to MF Hussian is a serious embarrassment for India". That’s a plain hogwash. No such thing has happened or shall happen. Nobody in MEA even bothered to issue a statement. Of course, some of the outfits like Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sene expressing statements of joy and vindication is rather boorish and equally uncalled for. We need not give too much importance to people like MF Hussain. As a painting genius we have to respect him. But in a pluralistic society like India where religion based faith has its own important place of respect and honour, to belittle it in the name of freedom of expression is to display a high degree insensitivity towards fellow human beings, and then not to own up responsibility for the hurt caused and the wrong done, then not to regret the acts of commission or omission is an act of contemptible arrogance. MF Hussain, can be accused of insensitivity and arrogance, in causing hurt to the psyche of a huge section of fellow Indians, by his nude portrayal of many of their religious figures. If a painter or a writer has the right to express, the person who is hurt has a right to protest, and as a law abiding citizen he went to court. Aren’t we a democracy?! Hussain is a practitioner of blatant double standard on which there is so much to write about. And our 24x7 media was going hammer and tong to know if the country, the government or the people failed him? These so-called sentinels of freedom of expression were not disturbed, when a tasteless cartoon in a second class magazine, appearing in a distant Denmark should have evoked violent protests in this country resulting in loss of life and property. In our media, like our public life, there are double standards galore. So keep smiling and get going. This is Yeh Mera India. Just an after thought. Now that Hussain has become a ‘Darbari Painter’, in the service of his ‘right of freedom of expression’, would he paint the Sheikh of Qatar or his patron Sheikha in their birthday suite without their clothes on?!
Unlike any of the 8th March of yesteryears, this year it didn’t come as any day and vanished into history as just another day. It stayed on to usher a new page in the history of women’s empowerment in India. Rajya Sabha voted, despite acrimony, in favour of a historic Women’s Reservation Bill, enabling the government to legally reserve 33% of seats for women in Lok Sabha and state legislatures. Of Course the lower house of parliament has to give its assent, which is not likely to be as easy, as originally thought. We have taken it up under Focus, for the importance it deserved.
"If the incumbent union govt. does not change its policy to initiate sincere steps to curb corruption, I would field candidates in the next parliamentary elections" Yoga guru Baba Ramdev was reported to have stated while speaking on the reasons behind the spread of Naxalism. "Poverty, political chaos and financial inconsistencies are the by products of corruption" he had added, while emphasising Maoism as the derivative of economic inequality and thuggery at th
e grassroots level. These words appear to be the words of a concerned Indian at the deterioration in the redistributive exercise in the Indian polity. Is Guru Ramdev telling something new? Don’t we all know these problems? Yes we all know, but we do nothing about it. At least he is saying, that ‘he will do something’. He has not stopped at that, he has recently announced the name of his political party, Bharath Swaabhiman party shall necessarily send signals of disquiet to all Indian political parties. His strength is, he has no selfish agenda and no family and friends, to take care of. Yes, there have been many learned professional men with resources at their command who are trying to bring about political change. There is this LokSatta from Hyderabad, Janaagraha from Bangalore, then you have this RK Mishra, who recently joined BJP. There are many men of vision, hopefully without any personal agenda. They all need to come together in the larger interest of the nation. May be Guru Ramdev could be a catalist. Hope some good could happen to the country.And then comes the news of Bharath Ratna for Tendulkar! nothing could be more ridiculous a thought than this. A cricketer is a cricketer, playing cricket, no doubt for the national team. He is primarily playing, because its bread and butter for him. As luck would have it, he played to the best of his abilities. In the process he raked in money like no other sports person in India, past or present. It is true he has been a model cricketer and remained a gentleman cricketer. It is also true that he has been probably one of the greatest hitter of the ‘cherry’ and t
he 1st one to have scored 200 runs in a one day cricket. But is that all that is needed to become a Bharath Ratna?! The Maharashtra Chief Minister called him ‘the pride of the country’ and had stated in Mumbai that he would recommend to the centre to honour Tendulkar with the Nation’s highest civilian award. His deputy Bhujbal echoed similar sentiments. Joining the chorus was Bal Thackray, the Shiv Sena chief. All three were indulging in vote bank rhetorics. Bal Thackray chipping in is rather funny. Same Thackray had earlier asked Tendulkar to keep to his cricket and criticised him for making statements like ‘Mumbai belongs to all Indians’. Long ago TJS George had remarked in Indian Express "Sachin Tendulkar may be a good cricketer, but he does not seem to be a good citizen", commenting on his request for duty exemption for the ‘Ferrari Sports Coupe’ that he received as a ‘gift’ and the subsequent grant of state-largesse by the then NDA government. Then again Tendulkar’s name, among others, cropped up in the press for wrong registration of his vehicle in Navi Mumbai to avail concessional levy. For somebody who could be worth anywhere in the region of Rs. 500 crores, to look for concession, in legitimate government dues, is to portray a poor image. It was amusing to read a Mumbai date lined news report quoted here verbatim "Milestone man Sachin Tendulkar an Tuesday (02/03/2010) said he would like to be on the list of ‘Bharath Ratna" awardees but he is not thinking about the highest civilian honour as of now and would leave it to destiny. More important, he wants to concenterate on the game".Would you be comfortable, as a civic minded citizen, that, it is alright for a Bharath Rathna to ask for tax concession or evade tax responsibility?It was a clear case of fence eating the crop. How can we blame police department, if there is any miscarriage of justice if such things keep happening in Police Staitons? MLA Sampangi of Kolar, Karnataka was reportedly caught by men of Lokayukta in Jan 2009 red handed, accepting Rs 50,000/- cash and 4.5 lakhs in cheque, acting on a complaint. This happened in Legislators’ Home, report informs. Then a committee was set up to ‘find out’ the truth. Now after some 14 months, the ‘truth’, the ‘whole truth’ ‘nothing but the truth’ has come out. The committee headed by the former Deputy Speaker, who is presently the Speaker, has, according to reports, decided to close the case, because the committee couldn’t find enough evidence to fix the MLA, instead fixed the complainant, since he failed to appear before the committee despite many intimation to the effect, it is alleged. Of course no version is available from the complainant, nor any comment from Lokayukta was made available in the report. The law abiding citizen is left to wonder, what is happening? It is another matter that Lokayukta has later declared ‘since the case is in court, it is for the court to decide and this committee of legislators has no legal relevance’. What could happen if these MLAs become the ultimate arbiter of dispensing justice? Wouldn’t this scenario numb our senses?!
English literature is full of idioms, which can be easily used to describe a situation. ‘As you sow so shall you reap,’ then you have "One who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword." "Chicken come home to roost", is yet another. All these three sayings describe similar situation of living with danger and some day how one get sucked into become the victim of living dangerously. Pakistan is passing through this sorry state of affairs. Yes, Pakistan is at the receiving end of terror from those very groups, whom ISI and military raised, and used for targeting India. There have been series of terror attacks in Lahore, Peshawar and other places in Pakistan in the recent past. The very same Jehadi groups, created, nursed and funded by ISI to ‘cause thousand cuts’ of Zia Ul Haq, have turned against ISI and the military, for supporting Americans in their fight against terror. This had to happen someday. And it has happened. Pakistan has lost East Pakistan due to its own policy of unmanageable contradictions, now there is a potent possibility that Pakistan may even balkanise into more than one country. That’s the truth staring at Pakistanis. They have to mend their ways in their own interest, or else, day is not far for the creation of an irrepairable geo-political divide. Would the Pakistani leadership wake up to this inexhorable reality?
It was always believed that everything is not hunky dory with Amnesty International (AI). Reportedly they are known to have made-up stories about human rights violations in some of the countries of the world, including India. But the latest accusation by Gita Sehgal, Amnesty’s Gender Unit head, that she is fearful of her own and that of her family’s safety, is shocking to say the least. On the face of it, Amnesty is a champion of human rights, campaigning on behalf of prisoners the world over, who spoke out against oppressive regimes. But here, it is doing the very opposite. Ms. Sehgal was suspended because she spoke, and spoke against Amnesty itself, which ruptured her relationship of decades with the organisation she prided working for. She was suspended for speaking to London’s ‘The Sunday Times’ of her concerns about AIs relationship with Moazzam Begg, a former Gauntanamo detainee. It is true that Begg was released without trial nor was he convicted of any terror related offences. But he was, by his own admission, providing financial support to radicals. AI is sharing the public platform with Begg attempting to bring home the message that although Begg is radical he is not a terrorist and therefore we should talk to them to understand the problem better. While AI has a point, what Ms. Sehgal was at pain to state, that it was the AIs integrity that was at stake. According to her, AI has to be super-scrupulous about the people they choose to support. But there is a danger in what AI is doing. It’s action in defending Begg lends a certain degree of legitimacy to radicals. That fear is certainly not misplaced. In any case to target a senior lady colleague for her contrary stand, to that of the official stand of AI, is the very negation for which Amnesty International was established. That is patently unfair. Hope nothing happens to the safety of Ms. Sehgal and that of her family. Incidentally she is the grand daughter of Smt. Vijayalaxmi Pandit, who was the first president of UN General Assembly.
Mumbai for all Indians came out loud and clear. Asha Bhonsle the bollywood rock singer, gave mouthful to Raj Thackray of MNS right
on his face without mincing her words. Sharing the dias at a cultural evening organized by a Marathi TV Channel at Pune, Raj Thackray could hardly react except squirming in his seat. She had reportedly stated "People are bound to flock to Mumbai as Hindustan belongs to all". Yes, he has to be quitened of his boorish vocal attacks on North Indians. Irony was, how he would have reacted if it was say Jaya Bachhan or Jay Pradha. There is a great need for all right thinking Mumbaikars to join Asha didi in putting Raj and Uddhav in place.Murder of senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Madbouh in Dubai in January last within few hours of entering UAE in his hotel room had all the signs of professional execution. UAE authorities have reportedly stated recently at the Arab Inter Parliamentary Union meet at Cairo in Egypt that the killing bore all the hallmarks of Israeli intelligence apparatus and is indeed an ‘Act of Terror’. If this is true, and there are many reasons to believe, that this elimination of the Hamas leader is by Israelis, then the reach of it's MOSSAD is indeed very far and effective. To enter Dubai with all its security apparatus and kill the target with the smuggled arms shows its thoroughness, which Arab world cannot match. They cocked-a-snook at the Arabs’ might and got away literally with murder. That’s the power which Palestinians are trying to check-mate for all these years. As is evident, nobody can really make them fall-in-line by force. No wonder their housing development programme on the disputed areas of Golan Heights and Gaza strip go on unhindered, despite loud protestations from the US.
Are Palestinians fighting a losing battle? Certainly they deserve their own homeland. Israel was created out of Palestine. Now there is only partial Palestine. Even there they cannot live in peace and with dignity. Would the solution to Palestine problem lead to some kind of peace in the middle east and surrounding areas? Would Arabs unite one day to see the resolution to this burning issue of Palestine?
"UK to outlaw Caste System Among Asians" was an interesting piece of news coming from London. It is indeed historic. Following increasing evidences of caste practices within Asian communities with origins in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, British lawmakers have decided, in principle, to amend equality laws to make caste based discrimination illegal.
The House of Lords have asked National Instt. of Economics and Social Research to conduct a study and report the findings by Aug. this year. This development should augur well for all of us in India as well. Since many of our archaic laws are copied from the British Gazette, our law makers can find inspiration to make a similar study and consequent legislation. As we already know that this caste system is another more subtler form of apartheid which need to be abolished. In fact this pernicious practice of caste has indeed divided the Indian society, and if eradicated can truly help us become a power, to reckon with. It is indeed a welcome development and Indians in the U.K. must support such a move by the British government.
The bloodiest unsolved crime in the Canadian history, the bombing of Air India KANISHKA, has come back to haunt Canadians. The bombing is indeed pricking the conscience of Canada that justice was not done. A perjury trial is likely to begin shortly to try Inderjith Singh Reyat in the Vancouver court. Reyat has already served twenty years prison sentence for the charge of manslaughter. According to the prosecution, the Crown Counsel’s office, Reyat has lied 27times during his testimony. Reyat, a mechanic, is accused of telling the court under oath, with the intent to mislead, that he did not know or recall details of the alleged conspiracy beyond few matters.
Aijab Singh Bagri and billionaire business man Ripudaman Singh Malik, were detained in prison for 5 years as co-conspirators, but were acquitted for lack of fuller evidence. It was generally believed that Malik is the main accused who funded the whole exercise. The bombing by Khalistani elements blew up the airliner in mid-air-off Irish coast-on June 23, 1985, killed all 329 passengers. After 25 years, this reopening may, at the end of it, find the truth, and killers punished. So that the wandering souls of those 329 victims, may after all, Rest In Peace. Amen.
"25 dies as Iraqis defy violence to vote" was a sad piece of news coming from Muslim world. Iraq is a Muslim country, there are hardly anybody who are followers of other faith in Iraq. Yet, why they have difficulty in living together? Ever since the dethronment of Saddam Hussain, people supporting his Ba’ath party have been indulging in all kinds of violence. Saddam was an undemocratic despot, and he was ruling over Iraq with an iron hand. Although Iraq is a Muslim country, it is divided vertically between Sunnis and Shias. Numerically Shias are in greater number. Democratic election has thrown up Shia majority which is not palatable and acceptable to Sunny insurgents of Saddam’s party. And they are creating all kinds of hurdles, including large scale violence resulting in huge loss of life and property. This is not a recent development. Pakistan always had this problem of Sunny and Shia. In fact Ahmedia Sect in Pakistan is declared as non-Muslims by the Pakistani court, making them extremely vulnerable to attack. So it is a fact, even among themselves, they do have problems which need to be addressed by them only. So is it surprising that they do not accept the legitimacy of other ethnic groups, who could be in majority and therefore ruling?
Iraq is an experiment that need to be encouraged to show-case to the rest of the world. But there are lots of problems. It’s a starting problem that do not seem to end. It is a very strong case for the Muslim world to ponder. Hope in the larger global interest, and in their own interest, democracy takes deep roots in Iraq to survive and flourish without violence.
There is a good news for the domestic helpers the world over. ILO (International Labour Organisation) is reportedly coming up with rules and regulations governing the employment of domestic helpers. This group, who has helped the middle and upper income group families to live better, has always been a neglected lot, without any bargaining chip available to them legally. When these do’s and don’ts become law, it will entitle all domestic helpers, a minimum wage, periodic break, annual leave, sick leave and other benefits. Yes all these employers, of these domestic helpers, who may be employed elsewhere in comfortable situations have always fought and got the best of deals. But their democratic rights never forced them to think about the democratic rights of these humble yet essential helpers. There are innumerable masters, both men and women, who have exploited the helpless domestic helpers without giving them their legitimate dues. In fact, if all masters were reasonable and fair the ILO coming in probably was not needed. Like all laws, this too is needed to correct a situation of extreme unfairness and exploitation within the world of domestic helpers. Hope ILO comes up with the terms of reference very fast to address this issue as a gift on the occasion of International Women’s day. To cheers to them.
Gruesome beheading of Sikhs in Pakistan is an ugly and cruel reminder that Taliban only wants worldly possessions. Their claim that they fight for Islam is an uncontested rubbish. The statement of Gurvinder Singh, who was rescued by the Pakistani troops is a testimony. "All that these Talibanis wanted was money and money only. Our captors speaking Pashthu did not pray even once on all these 40 days, they kept us detained. They beheaded Jaspal Singh, a trader, since his family failed to pay the ransom of 30 million Pakistani rupees." There is something seriously wrong with this Pakistani management of its affairs, contradictions every where! And U.S. wants to be their friend! Isn’t it shocking that Obama administration is not addressing the Pakistani problem with the seriousness it deserves?!
In legal parlance, we have heard in the past and shall continue to hear into the foreseeable future, the word ‘Approver’. In simple terms this approver is an accused turned witness. Just like how Pakistani American Gilani urf David Headley, to escape the imminent death sentence, became a witness, an approver. Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, while addressing a seminar in New Delhi has reportedly observed "Give due regard to victim’s wish to marry rapist". Women’s groups all over India must be little dumb struck, coming as it did, from the CJI. Surely some of them would be outraged. While CJI/KGB may have his own logic to say, what he had said, it does raise several questions. According to him, he has in his mind ‘welfare of rape victim’. How would marrying the rapist shall be for the welfare of victim is a question requiring larger debate. But was it right for the Chief Justice of India to make such a radical statement? If the rape victim decides, not to marry the perpetrator, the accused shall be punished. The law is clear about it. Doesn’t this mean, only to escape the punishment the accused is offering to marry the victim? Its only when the accused has brainwashed the victim into accepting his proposal, the victim could and probably would agree. But how can CJI/KGB ensure that this is not a ploy? And no sooner the marriage takes place and rapist is a free man, he may even walk out of marriage or even marry another and force the earlier victim to accept it. Possibilities are many. Therefore these radical approaches as suggested by CJI/KGB need to be carefully considered with the involvement of women’s group. After all they are the real stakeholders, we have to get them involved in any issue relating to women in general and rape victims in particular.
Nitin Gadkari, the newly elected president of BJP is probably the youngest president of any political party. BJP need to be congratulated for keeping the opportunity to grow for all in the party. Reportedly Gadkari has grown from the rank. Yes, now the whole of India know this virtually unknown Gadkari. But a news of May last year has suddenly resurfaced, now that he has become a high profile man, that too in BJP. The print media news "CID asked to probe mystery of girl’s body in Gadkari’s car" says it all. Law must necessarily take its own course and guilty should be punished. Only the other day Union Law Minister Moili was reported to have said "Nobody is above the law" commenting on Narendra Modi’s appearance before the SIT. But how come law was silent whole of last year, but became suddenly active, now that Gadkari is a national personality! To embarrass the opposition BJP?
Man to Man, not knowing the complete details, this piece of news sounds ridiculous. "Demand with no links to marriage isn’t dowry" in the print media report is the observation of learned judge Justice V.K. Jain of Delhi High Court. According to the report, a married women(newly married!?) was driven to commit suicide for demanding Rs. 50,000/- from her family by the groom's family for buying a shop. Three members of the family were arrested in connection. From the details of the report, the accusation that groom’s family did demand Rs 50K appears to be true. Here, there is a bride who is pressured to bring Rs. 50K, by the groom’s family. If she has committed suicide, pressure could have been unbearable. Prima facie its an open and shut case. But as law is an ass, it can be interpreted to once convenience. Since the defence lawyer tried to interpret the law, to really drive the argument, that this demand for Rs. 50K was nothing to do with the marriage, and the honourable judge decided to go by it, and hence acquitted those arrested. It was always debated, judgement and justice are not the same thing, and every judgement need not bring justice. And in this case it gives an impression, in the absence of fuller details, of clear injustice to the victim. Would the groom and his family ask the defence lawyer to fund their desire to own shop and pressure him?! You can only pressure a weaker side, in this case wife. She committed suicide unable to bear the pressure. Obviously the groom’s family did not ask for a loan or begged for charity. They knew their position well so also that of the vulnerability of wife and her family to yield to the pressure. Probably what they didn’t wager was bride’s suicide. Isn’t this a straight forward assumption and therefore a tenable considered view, without the verbose of legal argument that this was indeed a dowry death?
Some time ago there was this proposal for a large scale amnesty for militants in POK from the Chief Minister of J&K-Omar Abdullah. This proposal had hit a road block in the person of Gulam Nabi Azad, another senior Kashmiri. Argument of the CM was that it is an emotive issue and hence will help the reduction in militancy in the state. Whereas Azad was of the view that "it is a security risk". Both arguments have relevance in it. Actually more than talking to the Pakistanis it is sensible to bring militants into mainstream, but any blanket decision should be a big ‘No’. We should take it up on a small scale selectively, on experimental basis after collecting all relevant details and see how things shape. It will also make sense that all amnesty proposal should be wetted by a select committee of both state and central members including Azad and may be even some liberal BJP members. Any positive action in this regard can give a world of hope to genuine returnees without any intention of mischief. Central govt. must seriously apply its mind to the proposal. Of course, it could be true that J&K CM may be little over- enthusiastic due to his age which needs to be curbed by people like P. Chidambaram, the central home minister.
Nuclear bill is back to the parliament with liability issue. Wasn’t it always the issue? U.S. or any other country, more so U.S, have its own interest to protect. Don’t we remember Union Carbide’s Bhopal disaster? Isn’t it still a simmering problem needing meaningful resolution? In the world of high business stakes accident liability has got to be guaranteed in the larger interest of suffering humanity, which is generally the poorer section of any society. And look at Price Anderson Act of U.S. where the liability of operator is 12.5 billion US $ which is applicable in the U.S. But under the proposed liability bill for India, the cap is only for 109 million US $, that’s 25 times more in the U.S. In simple terms if an American life would be worth Rs. 25 lakhs and Indian life shall be Rs. 1 lakh only. But Sardar Manmohan Singh is happy, so is his government, hence asking the parliament to ratify.
Yes, in the larger interest of justice in the international trade and commerce equity has to be the overriding principle. This aspect has to be taken into consideration before finalising the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010. Hope parties in the parliament, mainly BJP, CPM and SP, who bailed out UPA to pass the earlier Nuclear agreement, understand this aspect and act accordingly in national interest.
As mentioned earlier WRB shall be the Focus. Rest of the issue are as usual. Do revert with your valued inputs.
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