Employees’ Rights to Strike

 

“India is perhaps a unique country where one witnesses a bandh or strike almost every other day. “

—A foreign Press reporter.

Our Constitution guarantees the basic rights to every citizen of the country in the chapter on Fundamental Rights. It is also a virtual fact that the fundamental rights of people as a whole cannot be subservient to the fundamental rights of a group or section of the people. There cannot be any right to strike which interferes in the lives of common people and also causing huge loss to the national economy.

In a democracy, government employees are part and parcel of the government machinery and so owe duty and responsibility towards the society. Too many strikes and bands are very disastrous for the smooth functioning of government and cause a lot of hardships to the common man. In our country, everyone is found talking of his rights in a democracy, but he forgets the fundamental duties enshrined in the same Constitution.

From worker’s point of view, strikes are ultimate weapons that are only resorted to by them when all other means of struggle and negotiation to meet their genuine demands have exhausted. It is experienced that the working class as a whole has been relatively responsible and only used strikes in extreme cases when negotiations have failed completely or when employers have appeared to be completely insensitive to genuine demands of labor.

Denial of this right would lead to a massive deterioration of the bargaining power of workers which has already been weakened by various macroeconomic processes such a global integration and the withdrawal of the state from important areas of regulation and provision. In any society, the socio-economic rights of the citizens including workers have never been freely gifted by the State or the employers; their recognition and implementation have always been the result of prolonged struggle on the part of workers and other groups.

Changing the conditions of such a struggle amounts to changing the possibility of ensuring these basic rights which are even recognized in the Constitution of India. Therefore, the right to strike for workers remains an important instrument for ensuring the basic economic rights of all citizens. Nobody says that government employees should not have the right to form their associations to protect their rights. The trouble arises when this right is misused and they resort to Strikes, Hartals, and Bandhs, thereby bringing the everyday life of a common man to a halt. In fact over the years under the patronage of politicians and political parties, the trade unions or organizations have begun to feel so powerful and perversive that they do not mind neglecting their work, but at the same time will like to demand more perks and facilities. The frequency with which various trade unions resort to strikes has resulted in a heavy toll on the socio-economic fabric of the country. All the political parties, taking excuse for their vote-banks, never resort to taking any tough action against such striking employees.

Fortunately, the Judiciary has intervened at the right time to underscore this reality. On Aug. 6, 2003, the verdict came from the Supreme Court, that government employees had no fundamental, legal, moral or equitable right to strike on work. The Divisional Bench of the Supreme Court made the observation while disposing of a writ appeal and petitions challenging the Madras High Court’s dismissal of the petitions against the summary dismissal of Government employees in Tamil. Nadu under the Tamil Nadu Essential Services Maintenance Act (TESMA) 2002, as amended by an ordinance on July 4, 2003. Lacs of Government employees and teachers in the State launched an indefinite strike on July 2, 2003. About two lacs of them were dismissed from service on July 4, 2003, under the provisions of TESMA.

The Supreme Court observed that “strikes hold the State to ransom” and “cause heavy loss of working days”. The Supreme Court also observed that strike is the most misused weapon in the country. The Supreme Court made it quite clear that the employees have no fundamental right to resort to strike. Quoting the judgment in a case relating to an All India strike by bank employees, the Bench said that the Supreme Court had specially held that even very liberal interpretation of sub-clause (c) of clause (i) of Article 19, cannot lead to the conclusion that trade unions have a guaranteed right to effective collective bargaining or to strike either as part of collective bargaining or otherwise.

Thus the Court had not rejected the employee’s right to form an association, indeed made it clear that government employees can have their legitimate grievances addressed through different statutory provisions. In making the arguments the Court further observed that the government employees can legitimately enjoy their rights as long as this enjoyment does not endanger the well-being of the largest democracy.

What we have is a cluster of rights, socio-economic, political, and civic. All merit legal protection. The right to strike is a political right, as “a facet of industrial democracy”. It can be exercised legitimately not only in protest against employer policies but also as a challenge to government policy. As civil liberty, it involves three rights—freedom of association, freedom from forced labor, and freedom of speech. No right is absolute. Every right is subject to reasonable restrictions in the interests of other segments of society or of society as a whole. That is no reason for denying the right, but a challenge to define the limits sensibly.

Even in the haven of private enterprise, the United States, its Supreme Court’s ruling in National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v/s Claiborne Hardware Co. (458 U.S. 886; 1982) should produce people here to reflect on the right. The NAACP had organized a boycott to put pressure upon local civic and business leaders to take steps to promote racial equality. The court upheld their action as a form of political expression and, therefore, entitled to protection as speech. “A strike seems to be no more coercive than a successfully organized economic boycott”.

The work discusses thoroughly the reasons for legal protection as well as restriction of strikes, the standard-setting in the ILO, and the import of international instruments. It is not widely known in India that the ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) held that the right to strike is an essential aspect of freedom of association, guaranteed not only in Conventions 87 and 98 but also in the ILO Constitution.

Whenever industrial disputes arose, the Indian government, under the guise of maintaining law and order, resorted to the arrest and detention of trade union members and organizers. The CFA pointed out that the complainant had made no reference to specific cases in which the right to strike had been prohibited and, therefore, there was insufficient information to warrant further examination of the case. The Committee merely observed that in most countries strikes are recognized as a legitimate weapon of trade unions in furtherance of their interests’. Also, the Committee added, “Strikes are regarded as legitimate in these countries only so long as they are exercised peacefully and with due regard to temporary restrictions placed thereon (for example, cessation of strikes during conciliation and arbitration procedures, refraining from strikes in breach of collective agreements).”

Over time, however, the Committee became more committed to the protection of a right to strike. India is a member of the ILO. The Supreme Court’s ruling, unless reviewed and reversed, maybe an international embarrassment.

If we see in the Indian context, when the economy is on the verge of taking flight, the trade unions and the labor class must realize that the future of the country depends on “an all-out effort to improve the quality of working and raise the living standard of each and every citizen of this country”. Only then the nation can make rapid progress. The government should also create impartial machinery to redress ‘.he genuine grievances of its employees. The service rules should be unambiguous and transparent. Nepotism and corruption should not have any place in the recruitment, transfer, and promotional matters of employees.

It is the duty of both employees and the employer to avoid conflicts and try to sort out the matter with an open mind, keeping in view the good and welfare of the society and the nation as a whole.

 

Hardship of Working Women

 

“Today there is no field where the women have not shown their worth. From holding highest public office in bureaucracy to holding highest political position, the women have shouldered all kinds of responsibilities with grand success. A lot of change has taken place, in their position in this man dominated society. With this gradual transition from household life to working women, the sufferings of women have increased manifold.”

During ancient days women have been adored and worshipped as goddesses. Our country itself is called ‘Mother Land’ in utter contrast to the fatherland of the West. In the ancient period, several women occupied distinguished positions in society and played a very important role. Maitreyi, Lilawati, Gargi, Katyayani, are some of the unforgettable names which can neither wither nor become absolute. The women have been adored since time immemorial as virtues incarnate. Saraswati is called the `Goddess of learning’; Parvati, the Goddess of Chastity; Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth; Durga Kali, the goddess of Power and Energy. Manu, the great scholar said, “Where women are worshipped there the deities are pleased”. The women were the center and foundation of the social and cultural life of the family. The home was the women’s sphere of activity. ‘Men make houses and women make homes’ is the traditional belief. The duties of the woman were just contained to bring up the children, and caring for every family member with her loving and amiable, characteristics which she naturally owes. It was the traditional faith that man is for the field and woman for the home.

With the political emancipation of India, the women of free India ushered into a new role. Today the women enjoy equality of status, equality of opportunity with men. She became financially independent and economically sound, she became the major decision-maker, she became the policymaker in various new fields. She ventured into the outer field, but the traditional views about her role as homemaker, about her so-called sacred duties of other, Sister, Wife, are still kept on demanding on her. The women are divided between their official work and home duties. Her duties start from early in the morning with many responsibilities on her shoulder before going to office, like preparing breakfast, lunch, getting kids ready for school etc. During office hours she has to work equally or say more sincerely than her male counterparts. She has to fulfill her duties at home even after office homes. Her pathetic position, working at home as well as at the office, is not admired, even by her husband or mother-in-law, or father-in-law. The support and cooperation if extended by her husband in household work are at his sole desertion. Husband is free to make excuses of overburdened work, the pressure of official exigencies, but the wife is expected to be found fresh and amiable all the time. The men consider the household work as the sole responsibility of the women. He considers working at home below his dignity and if he does something it is done as per his wish and convenience.

The working atmosphere in the offices, particularly, for the women is also not so congenial. Most of the male counterparts treat the woman as an easy scapegoat for fulfilling their sexual desires. The incident of intentional touching, double meaning dialogues, unwarranted comments, piercing in her private affairs is some of the common examples which create a lot of irritation and make the women unnecessarily defensive.The incidents of one sider sexual advancement by the boss, staring at her body parts, alluring her with the quick promotion in return, are generally to be faced by a working woman. With women entering into new fields, she becomes more vulnerable to the dangers like eve-teasing, sexual advancement, transfers, etc. The women can only explain to have frights and hardships experienced by her while working in an office.

In the present male-dominated, patriarchal society, people find it difficult to accept women as an independent personality. In addition to these hardships, the women are bound to play the traditional role of childbearing and child-rearing. She can’t desist from her role as a mother and as a wife. So while performing these natural roles, sometimes she had to be out of the office for a long period which causes adverse effects on her career, though not openly but in reality. One more peculiar problem, a woman faces while keeping the children with her, in case when her husband is transferred out of town, and she is unable to shift being a working woman, as the children prefer to stay with mother. Now she has to play the role of both the parents and her duties are tripled.

The problems of a career woman are endless and peculiar and differ from place to place, office to office, person to person. In this fast-changing world, particularly the role being accepted and played by the women, the analysis is but necessary to find a suitable balance in order to save the career women from their ever-increasing hardships.

It has become irrelevant to talk that the traditional role played by the women, was a better course. The woman has her own personality, more confident, financially independent, accepting any kind of challenge, can no longer remain under the illogical dominance of man, but at the same time, she suffers a lot mentally and physically divided between home and office.

The situation demands effective measures to protect the working women in her official environment from the lust and greed of male bosses and colleagues. There is an urgent need to make new amendments to provide extra-legal teeth to 1PC Section 292 (Sale of obscene books), Section 293 (Sale of obscene objects to young), Section 294 (obscene acts and songs), and to the indecent representation of women (Prohibition) Act 1986 and other laws. Educational serials and programme must be launched to educate society through audio and visual media so that the women could feel safe in their office and live peacefully with dignity. Unless man’s attitude towards woman changes any kind of law, however, strict and stringent may be, cannot change the conditions of working women in our society.

Our society had been a male-dominated society, the changes are gradually being digested. With the necessity of time absence of joint families, the financial independence of women are making the male absorb the change slowly but gradually. The actions initiated by the government against the eve-teasing, sexual harassment of working women, have also brought a lot of favourable change in the life of working women. In spite of all the hardships being faced by the working women, it must be noted that women have fought a great battle and are still fighting at their own against the fright and hardships faced by them and got remarkable success in every field of life.

Human Rights Violation

“It is the obligation of the State to ensure everyone the right to adequate food, education, and enjoyment of highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These rights have to be respected and made available to the citizens by the State”.

—Justice Anand Chairperson Human Rights Commission

Human rights violations have to come very commonly nowadays. The Newspapers and T.V. tell us that every day and at every moment, somewhere in the world, Human rights are being violated. Broadly speaking ‘ Human Right’ means the right to life, liberty, equality, and the dignity of an individual irrespective of caste, creed, or sex. These human rights are natural rights, required to be protected for the peaceful existence of a person. Our Constitution safeguards human rights, but in spite of all such provisions, the violation of these rights is very frequently taking place. The protection and preservation of Human Rights is a great challenge to every country in the world. Cases of violence, murder, torture, rape, child abuse, death due to starvation, death due to dowry, sexual harassment, custodial death have become rampant in society.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been able to touch the tip of the iceberg of the problem of Human Rights violations. But NHRC can’t be blamed, when the entire society is culpable in respect of Human Rights violations in one way or the other. It is not possible for NHRL to keep a vigil on every human being in the country.

The Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Justice A.S. Anand has emphasized that it is the obligation of the State to ensure everyone the right to adequate food, education, and enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health. These rights have to be respected and made available to the citizens by the State, said Justice Anand while inaugurating the two-day Capacity Building Workshop on “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” jointly organized by the National Human Rights Commission and the Indian Institute of Public Administration.

Under the International Covenant on economic, social, and cultural rights a State party is obliged to use all steps to achieve the progressively full realization of the rights recognized in the covenant, Justice Anand said, these include the adoption of legislative means, to be exercised on a non-discriminatory basis.

“India being a signatory to Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international instruments, is legally as well as morally committed to ensure basic human rights to all its citizens and enact laws accordingly”, he said.

With every passing year, the conviction has grown in the Commission that for the right to live with human dignity, it is essential to focus on equal measures on economic, social, and cultural rights and civil and political rights. The indivisibility and interrelated nature of these rights is a reality and there is a symbiosis between them. Those in the field must, therefore, ensure that the concern and anxiety, which they show for political and social rights, are also manifested in economic, social, and cultural rights as well he said.

The abject poverty prevailed in the country, denies basic Human Rights to millions of poor in our country. Poverty is the major cause of various Human Rights violations. Child labor, Bonded labor, and Illiteracy are various vulnerable points of Human Rights violation. The Human Rights of women are violated from birth to death. Even the Rights of female to born is taken away by sex determination tests, with the termination of a female fetus. Female infanticide is common in many parts of the country even as on date. Sexual abuse of female children, dowry deaths, flourishing flesh trade, rape cases, pitiable conditions of widows living in Vrindavan and Varanasi are some flagrant examples of violations of the Rights of the fair sex. Ours is a male-dominated society, where women are being treated as their subordinates. Most of the women in real terms, do not enjoy any rights at all, they are just living first as per the wish of their parents and after marriage as per whims of their husband and in old age, as per the convenience of their sons and daughters-in-law.

The NHRC has tried to check the human rights violations in a wide range of spheres. The Commission has asked the States and Union Territories in April 2000, to compulsorily video film the post-mortem examination in all cases of custodial deaths. There have been more than 1000 custodial deaths during the last two years, with Bihar tops the list. The Commission has asked the State governments to sensitize the police and jail officials. The NHRC took up the cases of victimized women from all perspectives. It has also recommended that the maintenance allowance for divorced women be increased from Rs. 500 to Rs.5000 per month. Cases of violation of children’s rights, like trafficking in children, imprisonment of juveniles, child marriage, have also taken up by the NHRC. NHRC took up cases of rape, death, and detention without trials, vehemently. Recently the NHRC has taken up the case of Best Bakery in Gujrat and moved an application to Supreme Court. The Apex Court heard the matter and found that the State carried out the investigation and prosecution in a manner that ruled out the conviction.

The Founding Fathers of the Indian Constitution had a vision of the Indian society, which they wanted to realize through the Constitution. That vision was primarily reflected in the Preamble, the chapters on Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. In a way, the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy are the product of the human rights movement in the country. It is the duty of the State to guarantee what is said in the Constitution. But the shocking evidence that the State is itself the culprit, according to Mr. J.S.Verma, the former

chairman of the NHRC. According to a statement made by him on Jan.15, 2003, just a few days before his demitting the office: “It is often the State which is a violator of Human Rights in maximum cases in the country. But the maximum responsibility to protect and safeguard the rights of its citizens also lies with the State“.

The Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Justice A.S. Anand stressed the need for making human rights the focal point of good governance. He called for a greater role for National Human Rights Commissions in the work of the United Nations, its treaty bodies, and specialized agencies, stressing the need to further develop cooperation between them.

He made these observations while delivering a Statement to the 60th Session of the Commission on Human Rights at Geneva on 14th April 2004. He emphasized that the protection of human rights not only requires vigilance by various agencies but also sustained cooperation at regional and international levels.

No Commission or no Police station can police every nook and corner of the country. No NGO, no other agency can be present everywhere to protect Human Rights. It is we people, it is the duty of every civilized person to rise to the occasion. This can be brought about only through general awakening which makes everyone understand the eternal values of life and dignity of an individual irrespective of caste, creed, or sex. In the word of Swami Vivekanand that the “Self in you is the Self everywhere.“

Cities on the Verge of Collapse

 

“After more than 56 years of independence, with launching and implementing many five years plans, the cities of modern are on the verge of collapse. The cities epitomes an area wherein the habitats, whether rich or poor, are bound to face the scourges of exploding population, air pollution contaminated water sources, bumps solid wastes, intolerable noise pollution, inadequate transport system, creaked road unable to cope with the proliferation of private and public vehicles, shortage of water, breakdown of electricity, choked sanitary, drainage and sewage system, increasing crime against fair sex and unsafe senior citizens, with the criminally indifferent attitude of government officials to every kind of problems.”

One more peculiar thing about cities is the scant regard for keeping the cities clean and tidy. The indifferent attitude and deliberate neglect by the civic authorities have caused the cities a bump of solid and other wastes choking and overflowing sewage and drains, resulted in mud, water storage, and dirt everywhere, giving rise to epidemics like malaria, typhoid, dengue every alternate year.

Various reasons and factors are responsible for the sordid state of cities. Unplanned growth of colonies, ill management of resources, lack of prudence in planning, sidelining the issues like pollution, education, slums, cleanliness, are to a great extent responsible to make the cities a nightmare.

We can find temples, mosques, or shrines at every nook and corner, even in the middle of a road while the basic amenities like water tab or electric pillar are not made available. Resources are not properly managed, corruption in institutions responsible for providing basic amenities are of the highest order. Public funds are being misutilised for the aggrandizement of personal or political benefits. Any positive developmental action for replacing or removing the slum or removing the illegal encroachments has immediately become a political issue and vehemently opposed and sabotaged by the politicians.

There are approximately 350 cities, having a population of more than one lac, proper sanitary, drainage health care seems to be the privileges o fa handful of people, living in the posh colonies.

New Delhi, the capital of India, a metropolitan is passing through the worst crisis of inadequate mass transportation and pollution caused by vehicular traffic. lt is noteworthy that the Supreme Court has to issue very strict directives to keep the city free from vehicular pollution as the earlier advice of the apex court, were not acted upon by the Delhi Govt. More than forty lacs vehicles run daily on the roads of Delhi, more than the total number of vehicles in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chen*, all together. Delhi is growing day by day with more people streaming in search of another livelihood. The city is on the verge of bursting with a population explosion and authorities are the least concerned to make provisions for the eventuality. The plight of Mumbai is no better than other metropolitan cities. The Suburban rail network of Mumbai, which carries over six million commuters daily, is not perfect and whenever it failed a violent reaction as taken place in 1994, is always feared. The unplanned and unchecked growth of distant suburbs depends mainly on the suburban railway network, for their daily traveling, has caused intolerable pressure on the railways. The existing Railway machinery is unable to maintain the system properly and efficiently. The haphazard growth of suburbs with or without the basic amenities provided by the builders has rendered the peace and tranquillity of the city to ransom. A daily commuter comments, “The policymakers should take a ride during the morning or evening hours to find the problems and hardships faced by us every day“.

India’s commercialized Mumbai is an open Mafia territory with more than two murders on an average daily. Open gang wars, extortion, kidnapping, sexual blackmail are the daily local news, that is becoming too common to raise any protest. Mumbai police had a name of repute in yesteryears, but now many philanthropists, planners, bureaucrats demanded a need of total revamp of the police administration to make it free from Mafia links.

Frequent power breakdown, shortage of drinking water, overcrowded transportation are some of the problems faced by most of the cities nowadays. The inhabitants of metro Chennai has accepted their fait accompli, to live with chronic water shortage, spending not less than Rs. 500/- per month for water requirement. Over in Kerala, having 42 small rivers and lakes even most of the cities are facing irregular water supply. The same is the problem in many newly built colonies of Mumbai.

Yet another problem in most of the cities, particularly the metros is the proliferation of slum localities. Recently, the DDA authorities refused to take any action on the complaints of residents of West Delhi posh colony against the slum dwellers using a pavement for defecation. In his report, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India disclosed in 1994-95, that over 40000 new Huggies proliferate in the capital every year. The court in Nov.1994 had advised the Delhi Government to check slum _growth and to take immediate steps to improve the conditions of the urban poor. It is a fact that millions of people from countryside rural areas migrate to Metros and other nearby cities to earn their livelihood. There are no employment opportunities available in rural areas. Cities provide job opportunities for all, the professionals, the traders, the skilled or unskilled laborers, and anyone ready to work into his body and soul. Slums are the result of migration at no cost. Despite all the sufferings and hardships, these poor jobless people would prefer to slog in the city fringes, sleep under flyovers, or on pavements, for want of bread to starving stomach their family. The slum dwellers is a harsh reality, no government has taken any resultant step to solve the problem in a planned and positive manner. The government is duty-bound to provide basic amenities to these poor? Are these people not contributing or serving the needs of the rich or economically affluent society of the cities in the form of a press wall, a rickshaw puller, daily wage labor, or the others?

The complex socio-economic growth of cities has given rise to small or big crimes like rape, dacoity, theft, kidnapping even murder. The lack of impersonal relations, indifferent attitude of the co-passengers, neglect, and corrupt police officials had made cities the dens of crime. A lone youth with an open knife in a crowded bus may after pickpocketing an innocent passenger, could alight from a bus nonchalantly and none dare to stop him. Crime thrives because of the apathy of the citizens and the collusion and irresponsibility on the part of law enforcing machinery.

Are the cities on the verge of collapse? Are we heading towards a doomsday? Can the peculiar problems of cities be tackled? Can the cities be places for peaceful and pollution-free living? Though a lot of clamoring has been there to improve the lives in the Metros and cities, yet little can be done in the immediate future to halt the process of urbanization. A national urban policy needs to be reformed keeping in view the entire spectrum of urban problems and peculiarities to tackle the problems. To check the exodus from rural areas to urban areas, a lot is required to be done to make available the job opportunities in the rural area itself. Developing satellite towns, with all necessary infrastructure and proper transportation may prove to be a good measure to check the overcrowdedness in the cities. Nothing can be done without the cooperation of the general mass to ameliorate the conditions of the cities. Proper prudent planning, sincere strategies, with the involvement of society, check on corruption can make our cities worth living. If all concerned join hand sincerely with determination, our cities may be turned from the present day ‘Hell‘ to the ‘Heaven‘ of the future.

 

Nationalism

 

“Nationalism is a sacred passion, a great moral and ethical belief, a social expression on a national plane, immense love for the country. It is an infrangible notion to treat loyalty to one’s nation superior to all other loyalties”.

A true nationalist is one who regards his country as the cause of his existence and ready to abandon his own interests for its welfare. An avowed nationalist never minds sacrificing everything including his life for the cause of the nation. People adore and glorify him as an incarnation of super-being. Poets compose verses in honor of his deeds and everyone prays for his immortality. After death he is treated as an eternal foundation of inspiration, an ideal to be followed by all, a beacon light that shows the right path even after his departure.

Nationalism can’t be treated as a passive thing or an inconspicuous way of leading life. It is such an active and self-motivated, inner emotion that urges him to do and dare anything for the cause of the nation. They die so that others may live. There are many instances even in the history of our freedom struggle where for the cause of motherland, many suffered unimaginable hardships and many sacrificed their lives for the cause of the nation. Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bipin Chandra Pal, Chandra Shekhar, Mahatma Gandhi and so many, who had never cared for their own comfort and they lived for the cause of the Motherland and die, were the true nationalists.

Since time immemorial, in all the histories of civilization, nationalism has remained and regarded as a subject of eloquent praise on the lips of everybody. The love and attachment to one’s motherland are not unnatural, its root lies in the affection he receives since he is born, plays nurtures in that land. Everyone has the feeling of nationalism, love for his country. An unknown poet has beautifully coded the following lines, that shows the feeling of immense love for the motherland: “O for a glimpse of my Motherland so fair! 0 for a breath of its sweet-scented air! There let me live and oh, there let me die! There is sweet silence my dead body shall lie“.

Evils of Nationalism:

Nothing is wrong in loving one’s country, nothing is wrong in having loyalty to one’s country, but if the love and loyalty become so strong, that it resulted in hatred for all other countrymen, and other nations it becomes evil. Blind nationalism dwarfs the mind just as a Chinese woman’s unnatural shoes compress and distort her feet. Nationalism, when outruns its reasonable limits, becomes organized hypocrisy, creates hatred for other nations. Extreme nationalism glorifies war. Nationalism when diverted from the path of reason and the common good, quite often loses its sacred instincts and degenerates into an aggressive attitude of nationalism. A nationalist without high moral and ethical considerations adores his country blindly and treats all other people of the earth as downright barbarians, deserving for his countrymen no better treatment. Cecil Rhodes wrote in his will: “I contend that the British race is the finest which history has yet produced.” Victor Hugo said: “0 France, it is the need of the universe that thou shouldst live. I repeat it France is necessary for the human race“. It never felt by these men that other races and people are also created by the same Almighty and not less than their countrymen.

Many European nations carried out the mission of their dominance and tried to implant the same by force over other countries. Nationalism, if mixed with unworthy motives, and self-centered greed for power and imperialistic motives becomes the worst cause to destroy and destruct the existence of civilization in the world. The foolishness of an irrational nationalism can well be seen in the writings of Rupert Brooke who wrote that when he died he wished to go to an English Heaven.

Owing to such parochial feelings, some of the eminent philanthropists and enlightened thinkers of the present time have advocated the idea of cosmopolitanism that means the whole world is the nation of everyone. The theory of cosmopolitanism discards the boundaries of countries and everyone is a citizen of the world. It says that in the present age of globalization, scientific inventions, space research has brought the world closer wonderfully, so it shall be a folly to talk of nationalism. The ideals of nationalism are nothing but an orthodoxical narrow thinking concept that has no relevance in this world of scientific and technological advancement. If we honestly look the things from the present perspective, lacs of Indians are living well in various countries throughout the world, they have their allegiance with the respective country and are emotionally attached to India, their motherland. Lacs of foreign nationals are visiting India, some settle here, many foreign companies and their employees are earning from our country, our companies have their employees and offices settled in foreign countries, the boundaries among the nations have just remained the boundaries for the sake of getting passport and visas. In such a situation, talking about nationalism looks redundant. Now people have started thinking of good for all human race, for all the civilization of the earth. The idea of cosmopolitanism is, slowly and gradually started, getting recognition and acceptance nowadays.

Conclusion:

Despite various evils of nationalism, or extreme nationalism, it is a natural feeling acquired not by any technical means, but by birth and is a virtue by itself. As loving one’s mother, father, can’t be bad, likewise loving one’s country is also not bad, but hatred of other nations is indeed the worst form of nationalism.

Nationalism, if spiritualized with higher moral and ethical values, and if in apposition to the motto of Abraham Lincon, ‘With malice towards none, with charity for all‘, becomes one of the most sacred emotions, worthy of the utmost praise. The nationalism of Hitler and Mussolini is the worst shape of nationalism, we need nationalism with love for our country as well as love for all who live and let live with peace, prosperity, and affection towards all.

 

Menace of Drug Addiction

 

“The problem of Drug addiction has gradually been taken an alarming proportion. Today there are more than 1,00,600 drug addicts in Mumbai alone. Five of them die each day owing to repeated intake of lethal drugs. The parents of nearly all young addicts never imagined that their sons or daughters could fall victims to this dangerous vice. We all know that drug addiction had been evil of the West for a long time.”

Drug addiction is a very complicated and complex illness. It is characterized by compulsive, at times uncontrollable drug craving, seeking, and use that persist even in the face of extremely negative consequences. For many people, drug addiction becomes chronic, with relapses possible even after long periods of abstinence.

Drug addiction begins with the act of taking drugs at a very young age. Over time, a person’s ability to choose not to take drugs can be compromised. Drug-seeking becomes compulsive, in large part as a result of the effects of prolonged drug use on brain functioning and behavior.

What Leads to Drug Addiction?

1. Emotional. Insecurity, Lack of Love: Nobody takes drugs in order to become an addict. They are usually taken n order to escape from problems that are either real or imaginary. Lack of parental love at home, impaired and tense relationships between parents, and dictatorial handling of children have been traced out as significant root causes.

2. Misuse of Money—Lack of Guidance:

Easy availability of and access to money is equally dangerous. They lead to habits such as cigarette-smoking the first step to drug addiction. The next stage, hash-smoking sets in easily. The ‘culture mix’ you belong to, will make you try more and more ‘harmless’ experiments. Lack of proper guidance to the children is also one of the causes of it.

3. Curiosity of Experimentation is the most common cause.

Just to know how does it taste also leads to the beginning.

4. Peer Pressure.

The pressures of Bosses or friends just for the sake of the company also leads to the beginning.

Most drug addicts are male, but there are several girls as co-partner hooked on the drug too. Most girls are persuaded by their boyfriends to try it. Few try it under the pressure of the senior students. The ratio is 1:25.

Drug addiction or the compulsion to use drugs can destroy the individual’s life. Addiction often involves not only compulsive drug taking but also a wide range of abnormal behaviors that can interfere in the family, the workplace, and the broader community. Addiction also can take people towards an increased risk for a wide variety of other illnesses. These illnesses can be brought on by behavior, such as poor living and health habits, that often accompany life as an addict, or because of toxic effects of the drugs themselves.

Because addiction has so many dimensions and disrupts so many aspects of an individual’s life, treatment as such is a long process. Drug treatment must help the individual stop using drugs and maintain a drug-free behavior in lifestyle, while achieving productive functioning in the family, at work, and in society. Effective drug abuse and its treatment programs typically incorporate many components, each directed to a particular aspect of the illness and its consequences.

Three decades of scientific research and clinical practice have yielded a variety of effective approaches to drug addiction treatment. An extensive study revealed that drug addiction treatment is as effective as for most of the other similarly chronic medical conditions. In spite of scientific evidence that establishes the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment, many people believe that treatment is ineffective. In part, this is because of unrealistic expectations. Many people equate addiction with simply using drugs and therefore expect that addiction should be cured quickly, and if it is a riot, treatment is a failure. In reality, because addiction is a chronic disorder, the ultimate goal of long-term abstinence often requires sustained and repeated treatment.

Of course, not all drug abuse treatment is equally effective. Research also has revealed a set of overarching principles that characterize the most effective drug abuse and addiction treatments and their implementation.

There are many addictive drugs and treatments for specific drugs that can differ. Treatment also varies depending on the characteristics of the patient. Problems associated with an individual’s drug addiction can vary significantly. People who are addicted to drugs come from all walks of life. Many suffer from mental health, occupational, health, or social problems that make their addictive disorders much more difficult to treat. Even if there are few associated problems, the severity of addiction itself ranges widely among people.

A variety of scientifically based approaches to drug addiction treatment exists. Drug addiction treatment can include behavioral therapy (such as counseling, cognitive therapy, or psychotherapy), medications, or their combination. Behavioral therapies offer people strategies for coping with their drug cravings, teach them ways to avoid drugs and prevent relapse and help them deal with relapse if it occurs. When a person’s drug-related behavior places him or her at higher risk for AIDS or other infectious diseases, behavioral therapies can help in reducing the risk of disease transmission. Case management and referral to other medical, psychological, and social services are crucial components of treatment for many patients. The best programs provide a combination of therapies and other services to meet the needs of the individual patient which are shaped by such issues as age, race, culture, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, parenting, housing, and employment as well as physical and sexual abuse.

Drug addiction treatment can include behavioral therapy, medications, or their combination.Treatment medications such as methadone, LAAM, and naltrexone are available for individuals addicted to opiates. Nicotine preparations (patches, gum, nasal spray) and bupropion are available for individuals addicted to nicotine.

The best treatment programs provide a combination of therapies and other services to meet the needs of the individual patient.

Medications such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, or neuroleptics may be critical for treatment success when patients have co-occurring mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder, or psychosis.Treatment can occur in a variety of settings, in many different forms, and for different lengths of time. Because drug addiction is typically a chronic disorder characterized by occasional relapses, a short-term, one-time treatment often is not sufficient. For many, treatment is a long-term process that involves multiple interventions and attempts at abstinence.

Nearly all addicted individuals believe in the beginning that they can stop using drugs on their own, and most try to stop without treatment. However, most of these attempts result in failure to achieve long-term abstinence. Research has shown that long-term drug use results in significant changes in brain function that persist long after the individual stops using drugs. These drug-induced changes in brain function may have many behavioral consequences, including the compulsion to use drugs despite adverse consequences, the defining characteristic of addiction.

Long-term drug use results in significant changes in brain function that persist long after the individual stops using drugs. Understanding that addiction has such an important biological component may help explain an individual’s difficulty in achieving and maintaining abstinence without treatment. Psychological stress from work or family problems, social cues (such as meeting individuals from one’s drug-using past), or the environment (such as encountering streets, objects, or even smells associated with drug use) can interact with biological factors to hinder attainment of sustained abstinence and make relapse more likely. Research studies indicate that even the most severely addicted individuals can participate actively in treatment and that active participation is essential to good outcomes.

Increasingly, research is demonstrating that treatment for drug-addicted offenders during and after incarceration can have a significant beneficial effect on future drug use, criminal behavior, and social functioning. The case for integrating drug addiction treatment approaches with the criminal justice system is compelling. Combining prison and community-based treatment for drug-addicted offenders reduces the risk of both recidivism to drug-related criminal behavior and relapse to drug use. For example, a recent study found that prisoners who participated in a therapeutic treatment program in the Delaware State Prison and continued to receive treatment in a work-release program after prison were 70 percent less likely than nonparticipants to return to drug use and incur rearrest.

The majority of offenders involved with the criminal justice system are not in prison but are under community supervision. For those with known drug problems, drug addiction treatment may be recommended or mandated as a condition of probation. Research has demonstrated that individuals who enter treatment under legal pressure have outcomes as favorable as those who enter treatment voluntarily.

The criminal justice system refers drug offenders into treatment through a variety of mechanisms, such as diverting nonviolent offenders to treatment, stipulating treatment as a condition of probation or pretrial release, and convening specialized courts that handle cases for offenses involving drugs. Drug courts, another model, are dedicated to drug offender cases. The mandate and arrange for treatment as an alternative to incarceration, actively monitor progress in treatment and arrange for other services to drug-involved offenders.

The most effective models integrate criminal justice and drug treatment systems and services. Treatment and criminal justice personnel work together on plans and implementation of screening, placement, testing, monitoring, and supervision as well as on the systematic use of sanctions and rewards for drug abusers in the criminal justice system. Treatment for incarcerated drug abusers must include continuing care, monitoring, and supervision after release and during parole.

Many drug addicts such as heroin or cocaine addicts and particularly injection drug users are at increased risk for HIV/AIDS as well as other infectious diseases like hepatitis, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections. For these individuals and the community at large, drug addiction treatment is disease prevention.

Drug injectors who do not enter treatment are up to six times more likely to become infected with HIV than injectors who enter and remain in treatment. Drug users who enter and continue in treatment reduce activities that can spread disease, such as sharing injection equipment and engaging in unprotected sexual activity. Participation in treatment also presents opportunities for screening, counseling, and referral for additional services. The best drug abuse treatment programs provide HIV counseling and offer HIV testing to their patients.

Family and friends can play critical roles in motivating individuals with drug problems to enter and stay in treatment. Family therapy is important, especially, for adolescents. The involvement of a family member in an individual’s treatment program can strengthen and extend the benefits of the program.

More than ever before, India’s future depends on the strength and dynamism of its youth. In a fast-changing world accelerated by new advances in electronic technology, only a dynamic exuberant generation can put India on a strong footing. A strong religious base combined with strong family ties and high morals can help wrench out this evil from our society. Both, preventive and Rehabilitation procedures depend strongly on these factors. Save youth from drugs, save India.

 

Corruption Vs Economic Growth

 

“Corruption free government is not a necessary condition for rapid economic development. If the corporate and institutions work and uncertainty is checked, progress is possible“.

—S. Swatninathan

Corruption in any form is treated as an incurable disease, a cause of many social and economic evils in the society and it damages the moral and ethical fibers of the civilization. Indisputably, it is correct that corruption breeds many evils in the society and once corruption starts taking place, slowly and gradually whole country passes through its net and it becomes after sometime an incurable disease. From the point of view of economic growth, there seems to be no clear-cut correlation between corruption and the economic growth of a country. There may be the presence of some social maladies like inequality of income among the people, moral degradation of people due to the prevalence of corruption, but the parameters of economic growth which are taken on a percentage or an average basis are entirely different.

We can find several countries having corrupt regime but yielding excellent economic results and other countries with clean regime showing very poor results in terms of economic prosperity and growth.

Transparency International publishes every year lists ranking corruption in various countries. It has just come up with a list of the 10 most corrupt rulers. According to reasonably authoritative local estimates,” Numero Uno is Indonesia’s Suharto’ who is estimated to have skimmed off $15-35 billion. He is followed by the Phillippines Marcos ($ 5-10 billion), Zaire’s Mobutu ($ 5 billion), Nigeria’s Abacha($ 2-5 billion), Serbia’s Milosevic (S 1 billion), Haiti’s Duvalier ($ 300-800 million), Peru’s Fujimori ($ 600 million), Ukraine’s Lazarenko ($ 114-200 million), Nicaragua’s Alemai ($ 100 million) and the Phillippines Estrada ($ 78-80 million).

This list is neither complete nor exhaustive. Saddam Hussein and his cronies might have skimmed more than some of the above rulers.

Now the point of discussion is: Why do some corrupt regimes do very well and others badly?

If we take the case of Indonesia, we see the income of Indonesian’s quadruple to $ 1000 per capita under the regime of Suharto. Indonesia’s economy during 1980-1990, showed a miraculous uptrend, graduating from a mere commodity producer it became a big exporter of manufacturers. During this golden period under Suharto poverty, infant mortality and fertility plummeted while literacy soared high. The era ended in ruins during the Asian Financial Crisis, but that event upended regimes from Korea to Bangkok. The achievements during the period had remained impressive and remarkable.

On the other hand, Mobutu left Zaire poorer and in more desperate condition than ever, like Nigeria and Haiti, where too, no progress was made. Marcos and Fujimori tried to rebuild the collapsing economies amidst a lot of praise for their efforts, but the prevailing corruption and maladministration eroded the initial gains seriously.

If we look at transparency international’s list of 133 countries ranked in order of corruption, we will find that the well -off western countries all figure in the top of 35. Singapore, the most successful developing country, ranks at 5, Botswana Africa’s star performer, ranks at 30, the Scandinavians are generally regarded the most honest (Finland is No. 1 ) and the USA comes a bit lower at 18. Paradoxically, some of the poorer countries are also among the most corrupt and some of the less corrupt is progressing.

Again it is difficult to find any correlation between corruption and economic growth. Some of the fastest-growing countries in the world are also in the bottom half of the corruption list. China stands at 66, India at 83 (alongside Malawi), Russia at 86 (alongside Mozambique) Vietnam at 100 (alongside Guatemala and Kazakhstan).

Corruption in long run may destroy the whole society morally ethically and economically. Maybe, in the long run, a country needs a clean government to reach the top of the income ladder, maybe rapid income growth by itself induces better accountability and governance, maybe corruption in long run degenerate the society into several misfortunes and evils. But one fact still stands out: Clean government is not a necessary condition for rapid economic growth.

Bangladesh stands at the list of 133, yet it has been growing at five percent annually for a decade. Italy, the most corrupt country in Western Europe, has been one of the fastest-growing economies. Corruption is often a good predictor of eventual economic crisis, yet when Argentina (92) went bust, the ensuing financial crisis also consumed its neighbors Uruguay which ranks at 33.

The puzzle to ponder is why does corruption coexist with both good and bad economic performance? Why has India over the decades grown more slowly than Indonesia despite less corruption?

A survey conducted for the World Development Report some years ago, find one answer. Businessmen in surveyed countries said that the main problem with corruption was that it increases risks and uncertainties. The risks declined dramatically if corruption produced reliable outcomes (as in Indonesia). If all players have to pay 10% and could sure of getting their licenses (Madam Suharto was called 10%), entrepreneurs could treat this as just one more tax, factor it into their calculations of profit and so could invest with the confidence of sure gain. Most businessmen fear the arbitrariness where some entrepreneurs pay huge sums in vain, while others pay little or nothing and succeed. This happens when there is much discretion in decision making. It also happens when some decision-makers are corrupt and others are not. India is such a country where entrepreneurs are not sure of things, some decision-makers are corrupt and others are honest. One more crucial thing about India is the rule of nepotism, the rule of criminals, and blackmailing through other modes even after paying demanded money. Arbitrariness in decisions unreasonably demands to make the business wary of dealing in such cases. There is a saying in India that we have honest politicians, who take the money and do the needful, dishonest politicians who take the money and do not deliver the goods, and madmen who do not take money at all. In this lexicon, Suharto was both honest and sane and delivered the goods.

The worst situation is when the ruler extorts without giving anything in return, this seems to be a case in Zaire and Nigeria.

Finally, the quality of institutions seems to be the most important factor in the growth of a country. If the institutions work even moderately well, progress is possible even if money is skimmed off at the top. But if the institutions are incapable of enforcing any rights, corruption will hasten economic collapse.

So far as the Indian economy is concerned the slow progress is the result of a lack of decision-making at higher levels. Many politicians take money but could not enforce their will because of the powerful lobby of bureaucrats at many places and in a democracy like India, the voice of media, the voice of opposition could suppress the wish of the leader. Ours is a peculiar democracy where politicians are corrupt but not authoritative, ours is a multi-party system where leg pulling for no cause, accusation without any evidence is common. Instability in the political system is also responsible for the slow economic progress where the Prime Minister is always busy in satiating the coalition partners to keep attached. So far as the quality of institutions is concerned we are having well-matured corporate and the fast development reflected during the last years, has brought stability in the country and good relations with the neighboring nations.

India’s economic growth on an average 6% GDP despite considerable corruption is because of the stability and the liberalization measures taken by the present government, gradual privatization of various sectors, reducing bureaucratic intervention in routine work, and other measures adopted by the government. It is important to note that growth in some States, where institutions are strong and decision making is least arbitrary is faster than in other States.

In brief, it can well be concluded that corruption and economic growth have no clear correlation. Strong institutions, political stability, fast and reasonability in decision making are some of the requirements for fast economic growth.

 

A Natural Calamity

 

“Even after 57 years of independence and passing through ‘navy Five Years Plans, the vagaries of drought and floods could not be tackled by the nation effectively, thereby causing lot of destruction to the already poverty stricken community of our country.”

Drought has become a recurring natural calamity faced by many States in India, costing a huge amount to the exchequer, but never taken among the priorities in national planning seriously. Slogans of India Shining, Feel Good factor may look good while sitting in Delhi but meaningless to the common people whose all properties comprise of cattle, mud houses, etc. lost in wake of flood and drought every alternate year.

Thousands of marginal farmers and landless laborers in Jawhar Thana district near Mumbai were reportedly on the verge of starvation when several droughts gripped the area during 2001.

Their small farms yielded only 25% of the normal crops and the drought lost the EGS jobs too. To earn two times meal these tribal had no option but to work very hard under the EGS (Employment Guarantee Scheme). According to the officials, the water levels in reservoirs has lowered from an average of 28 percent to merely 6%. Water was supplied by tankers in 35 villages, and crop loans were also given through banks to save these villagers from the severity of the drought.

Likewise, Gujrat was hit by drinking water scarcity during the drought in the year 2000, which resulted in an estimated loss of agricultural production to the tune of Rs. 4500 crore. But the government of Gujrat didn’t learn any lesson, and no suitable and positive action was taken to manage the scarce water resources. To solve the periodical drought in the state, UNICEF has recommended many programs like watershed management, Rainwater harvesting, Well water recharging, Rehabilitating the traditional systems of water management, and shifting to less water consuming crops.

The State of Rajasthan also faced a grave situation of the drought last year which cost the state exchequer to the tune of approximately Rs. 5000 crore in terms of loss of agriculture output and loss of cattle lives.

Last year approximately 100 million people got affected by drought. The worst affected states are Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh. In India, the drought-prone area accounts for 19 percent of its total population.

The reckless exploitation of groundwater and its overuse without any plans for replenishment are some of the reasons for recurring droughts. Indian agriculture mainly depends on rains if rainfall is less than normal the area faces drought. One of the important reasons for the recurrence of drought is the mismanagement of scarce water resources, or the use of available water resources, etc.

The sarcasm of reality is “Everyone loves a drought”. Every politician and every administrator except the real sufferer loves occurrence of drought is a bitter fact for the bonanza it offers them. So drought is here to stay because none is serious to keep it away. If the floods or drought be disappeared then how will the bureaucrat-politicians caucus pocket a lion’s share of the funds released to tackle these natural calamities.

Couldn’t we find a durable solution to the problem of drought? Or Isn’t it the duty of the State to protect our poor from the vagaries of drought and flood? Time and again our leaders have assured us to find a lasting solution but failed to keep the assurances. We have been hearing about the ‘National Water Grid” since 1970, the present government has also taken this point in their manifesto, to woo the poor voters during the elections to be held in May 2004, but the experience shows that no priority has ever accorded to tackle these problems. How paradoxical it is that the number of funds spent to fight floods and drought during the last three decades and the colossal loss to the exchequer during the period, could probably have built the National Water Grid at least five times?

The Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organisation(WM0), Mr. G.Obasi said in Feb. 1985, in a conference in New Delhi that the drought was a natural phenomenon and the world would have to live with it but it need not be so with the spectacular advances in space technology applications.

The remote sensing applications of our IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) satellites, can now cover diverse fields like drought warning, flood control, and damage assessment, etc.

The traditional methods of saving and collecting water should be adopted to fight the menace of drought. Rainwater harvesting through tanks, ponds, check dams, percolation dams, and many other structures may be designed to catch and store the rainwater. On-farm water management should be improved and water-saving micro-irrigation technologies such as drip irrigation should be promoted. There is also a need to develop disease-resistant crop varieties to offset the decline in the production of agricultural crops. The DPAP (Drought Prone Area Programme) in 1972-73, has not been successful. The Hanumantha Rao Committee, under the Ministry of Rural Development, found the progress under DPAP very dismal. DPAP also suffered from funds shortage with a lot of variation in agro-climatic and socio-economic conditions, across drought-prone areas. A uniform prescription for the entire country will not be successful. The approach should be area-specific with the cooperation and active involvement of the local people.

It is the poor who is worst affected by drought or flood. Can Ile country which is reportedly making overall progress, given India shinning slogan, afford to sacrifice its helpless poor at the altar of the recurring visitation of drought? It is not too late even now to build a National Water Grid. Effective and positive steps are necessary at the Central level to pursue the States to agree to build National Water Grid forgetting the petty issues of regionalism federalism for the overall good of the country.

 

Elimination of ‘Female Fetus’

“In India, we have inherited the cultural legacy of having strong son preference among all communities, religious groups, and citizens of varied socioeconomic backgrounds. Patrilocality, patrilineage, and patriarchal attitudes manifest in women and girls having a subordinate position in the family, discrimination in property rights, and low paid or unpaid jobs. Women’s work is limited to household duties. At the time of marriage, dowry is given by the bride’s family to the groom for shouldering ‘the burden of the bride. In many communities as a custom female babies are killed immediately after birth either by the mother or by elderly women of the family to relieve themselves from the life of humiliation, rejection, and suffering.“

Social discrimination against women results in systematic neglect of women’s health, from the womb to the tomb. Female infanticide and female foeticide are widely practiced in many States. The overall sex ratio, at present, is favorable to women in Kerala. But in Kerala also, in the 0-6 age group, the sex ratio was 963 as per the 2001 census. Out of a total 36.5 lakh, 0-6 Age group population 18.6 lakhs were male babies and 17.9 lakhs female babies. Thus, 79760 female babies and infants were missing in 2001 in Kerala. This masculinization of sex ratio is a result of selective abortion of female fetuses after the use of ultrasound techniques of sex determination.

The reason for female infanticide can be linked with the evil of dowry, hypergamy, prevailing in our society. A more degrading and disparaging feature of society has seen existing for the last two decades is the immense love for male children and the elimination of female fetuses. With the invention of new technologies to monitor the Toetar health, it was expected to be used for taking care of the health of the unborn child but became terminator of a female fetus. Are female fetus being deliberately eliminated or aborted, is the question? To a great extent, yes! is the answer.

Are the technologies (ultrasonography, amniocentesis, chorion villi biopsy, foetoscopy, maternal serum analysis, etc.) assisting in elimination? Again the answer is; yes, to a great extent.

The answer is well supported by the trends that surfaced in the 2001 Census. The following statistics reveal the truth:

Census	Girl child/ male child ratio in 0-6 age group
1981	962 Girls/1000 Boys
1991	945 Girls/1000 Boys
2001	927 Girls/1000 Boys

Biologically girls are stronger and with all the thrust on the well-being of the girl child, the 1981 trends should have at least continued, but in the past 20 years, the ratio has dropped considerably.

While there can be no moral or ethical justification for foeticide still, it continues to be practiced. In fact, sex determination which was mainly restricted to metros only now is prevalent in villages as well. If sex determination tests are allowed to proliferate, and the elimination of female fetuses allowed, society should be ready to pay for this sin, after around two decades.

The greatest supporters of a child (whether male or female) are the natural parents. If a girl has a father who loves her and grants all her fundamental rights that girl is inviolable. Fathers often provide material comforts but deny daughters their right to choose their life partner. A few lines from a poem come to the mind when one thinks of the way a girl fears her father—

Oh, haste, thee haste, the lady cries

Though tempests round us gather

I will face the raging of the skies But not an angry father.

(From Lord Ullin’s Daughter)

For a daughter, there can be no greater misery, than to know that her father does not support her. If she was an unwanted child, the despair is compounded. To go through life and realize that she was thrust on her unwilling parents, is a fate much worse than death. What can be more disgracing than the feeling of nothing more than a contraceptive failure?

Some months back, Delhi University Students and teachers came out of their classrooms to support the amendment to the Pre-Natal Diagnostic (PNDT) Bill which was tabled in Parliament, recommending more stringent measures against doctors who selectively abort female fetuses.

The amended PNDT Bill suggests certain important modifications in the existing 1994 PNDT Act which make it mandatory not only to register all kinds of techniques but to maintain records of every such scan. It also enhances the penalties for violation of the act. Of course, a powerful lobby of doctors resisted the amendments.

Since 1979, when the first private sex determination clinic was set up in Punjab, such clinics have proliferated rapidly. By the early eighties, such diagnostic centers had mushroomed even in rural areas, conducting sex determination for a few hundred rupees.

According to Saheli’ a Delhi-based women’s group, between 1978 and 1982, 78000 female fetuses were aborted. During 1987-88, an estimated 13000 sex determination tests were conducted in seven Delhi clinics only. Today the North. The Western States where such clinics had first appeared to have the lowest sex ratio. Punjab has 793 girls for every 1000 boys, Haryana 820 girls/1000 boys, and Delhi follows with 845 girls/1000 boys.

The decline in the ratio in urban areas is more than twice that in the rural areas. It is true that women should have the right to abort their unwanted fetuses, but if the technology is being used only to eliminate the female fetus, then it should be questionable.

The amendment to PNDT Bill is one of the means towards an end. We must take a nationwide campaign against gender discrimination and inequities. The root cause for the elimination of female fetuses is to be traced unless the evil of forced marriages, dowry, illiteracy among the females are done away with the lives of women will not improve. Banning prenatal sex determination might add a feather in the caps of rights activists; it will not materially improve the lives of women. A social awakening for true respect to the girls is required, a lot of honest hard work with full political ‘will’ in this field can only solve the problem.

 

Rights of the Disabled

“Disability is a class in itself that anyone may fall victim to at any time. It can come about as a result of a sudden accident, a fall down a flight of stairs, or disease. Disability maintains no socio-economic boundaries. Since disability catches up with most people in its fold in old age, it is a class that any of us may fall in it someday.”

Even today the disabled in India see their physical or mental limitations as either a source of shame or a source of inspiration for others. By concentrating on overcoming the disability, we fail to notice that a disability itself cannot be overcome by a disabled person, however, heroic she or he may be. In the West, the Disability Rights Movement has realized this, and, therefore, they proclaim that “it is okay, even good, to be disabled”.

The Disability Rights Movement :

Unlike other movements like Feminism or Lesbian Movements which have distinct agendas of either gender justice or the right to sexual orientation, the Disability Rights Movement does not have a systematic path. Disability Rights Movement even in the West has a very recent origin and tries to draw strength from the traditional legal order rather than by critiquing or deconstructing it. Joseph Shapiro neatly summarises the characteristics of this movement in the West: “The disability movement is a mosaic movement for the 1990s. Diversity is its critical characteristic. No leader or organization can claim to speak for all the disabled“.

The Disability Rights Movement in India and Third World countries is discursive and disorganized and there are no written documents to trace its origin. Instead of coming together, sections of disabled viz. blind persons, persons with a physical disability, deaf and dumb persons, and those with mental disabilities have launched their movements and struggles separately, mainly through NG0s. It was all the much difficult for all disabled groups to come together with the stupendous diversities in their problems. Two important reasons can be assigned for such a scenario.

Firstly, in our country, the disabled are bound to struggle to fulfill basic needs like food, shelter, and education and therefore, they are bound to be disable specific in their struggles. Secondly, the Advocates of Disability Rights in India do not have any coherence in their agenda, some stress solely on Rehabilitation and Research, others are solely concerned with the generation of employment, and still, others are wholly occupied by efforts in the education sector. A few in India ever talk about the ‘Civil Rights’ or ‘Crisis of identity’ of the disabled. Under such circumstances, the various groups have to work segregated, and so they could not come together chalk out a common agenda.

Actually in India, the Disability Rights Movement has been launched by NGOs and therefore, a large number of NGOs have mushroomed all over the country. Instead of working together to strengthen the movement, there is often seen an unwarranted and unhealthy rivalry between NGOs. Similar conflicts were also noted across different sections of the disabled. While several organizations are making serious rehabilitation efforts and genuinely working for the upliftment of the disabled there are also NGOs that are simply cashing in on the cause just trying to pocket the funds and doing nothing for the disabled.

Assumptions about the disabled:

Some stereotyped presumptions prevailed about the disabled in our country like:

1. Disabled people are the most vulnerable section of society and have been ignored by the state and society alike for a long.

2. Disabled people have always been dependent and, therefore, need helping hands and gracious charity.

3. Disabled people are victims of their own bad luck.

4. Disableness is the punishment for sins he has never committed in this life.

Such assumptions about the disabled do nothing to help them. This approach perpetuates the stereotype of the disabled as victims and objects of pity and charity.

Persons with disabilities are considered to have a very small sphere to operate within owing to their limitations. So if a disabled person achieves something beyond his/her small ‘sphere’ he/she is considered to have almost overcome his/her disability. He/She is then presented as a role model and a source of inspiration for the non-disabled community even. This image hits the average disabled person very hard who does not have the capacity to live up to such heroic standards. Average disabled people tend to compare their ‘little successes’ to the ‘large successes’ of their fellow disabled. This leads to an inferiority complex among them.

Government’s Solace for the disabled:

Until 1995 no law even defined discrimination against people with disabilities. It is only with the ‘Persons with Disabilities Act,’ passed in 1995 that discrimination specifically against persons with disabilities came under the purview of the law.

Till 1995, most of the welfare measures taken by the States were by way of affirmative action. The Ministry of Social Welfare was largely concerned with problems of persons with disabilities and with providing them privileges. Rehabilitation of people with disability by opening shelter workshops and educational and research institutions like the National Institute of Visually Handicapped, Dehra Dun, the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad, the National Institute for the Orthopaedically Handicapped, Calcutta, and the Ali Anwar Jung National Institute for Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai providing basic education to individuals with disability by funding NGO s, opening special schools and awarding scholarships for students with a disability, providing employment through job reservations mainly in Class 3 and 4 in Central and State Government Departments and giving disabled people travel concessions and installing awards for disabled workers and institutions working for the welfare of the disabled. During the early ’80s, some major developments in the International Disability Rights Movement brought about a change in the attitude of the Government of India. The first earnest sign was the enactment of the “Mental Health Act, 1987”. The Act is aimed at protecting mentally ill persons in matters of admission and detention in psychiatric hospitals and the custody of his/her persons, his/her property, and its management and human rights.

Persons with Disabilities Act 1995

A meeting was convened by the Economic and Social Commission for the Asia-Pacific region in Beijing in December 1992 to launch the Asia-Pacific decade of disabled persons. The meeting declared 1993-2000 as the Asia-Pacific decade and proclaimed the “full participation and equality of people with disabilities” as the objective. To give legislative effect to the above proclamation, the ‘Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity, Protection of Civil Rights, and Full Participation) Act was enacted in India in 1995 and came into force on 1st January 1996.

Objectives of the Act:

To spell out the responsibility of the State towards the prevention of disabilities, protection of rights, provision of medical care, education, training, employment, and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.

1. To create a barrier-free environment for disabled persons.

2. To remove any discrimination against disabled people in the sharing of development benefits vis-à-vis non-disabled persons.

3. To counteract any situation of abuse and the exploitation of disabled persons.

4. To lay down strategies for the development of comprehensive programs and services and the equalization of opportunities for disabled persons.

5. To make special provisions for the integration of persons with disabilities into the social mainstream.

Critics:

A close study of the Act makes us feel “as if the Government is a gracious donor and disabled persons are absolute dependents”. This is a major stumbling block in the process of providing equal opportunities to the disabled. Instead of focussing on the capabilities of disabled people, the Act focuses very much on the activity limitations of the disabled and perpetuates the victim image of disabled people.

Unfortunately, the Act does not pay any serious attention to securing some basic rights like the right to human dignity, the right to equal concern and respect, the right against discrimination in public employment and educational institutions, the right against exploitation, the right against victimization, etc.

The Act has completely ignored some vital aspects such as Pre-school education of disabled children, special problems of the parents of the disabled, special problems of the female disabled, games, sports and cultural activities, exploitation of disabled by their own families, higher education of the disabled.

Although the implementation of the Act has been gradual, it does not mean that the Act has not helped the disabled at all. It has provided a platform to unite and mobilize disabled individuals across the country. It is also significant to witness the participation of the disabled in decision-making processes through their representation in various policy-making and shaping bodies under the Act.

The success of this Act would, however, depend much upon the extent to which the political leaders and bureaucratic executive internalize the values, sensibilities, and goals enshrined in the Act. If persons with disabilities are to be regarded as full citizens of India, their right to equal concern and respect must find its expression in the supreme law of the land.