Anand Soondas
If only India's other stats - on economy, poverty alleviation, healthcare - grew at the rate crimes against women are climbing up in this country. At an increase of 31% it is exponential. It is also shocking, amazing and ridiculous. A 2006 report by the National Crime Records Bureau said in India a woman is raped every half hour and is killed every 75 minutes. And this is according to 2004 data. Factor in a one-third jump and do the math. Also, make space for the large number of women, perhaps larger than the ones reporting their violation, who keep quiet and bury their shame forever in their hearts for fear of another round of abuse, this time from family, society, police.
Such barbarism in a country that dreams to be a world power and demands every seat at every global high table should indeed be humiliating not only for its leaders but also its people. But few are moved by the plight of half the nation's population, still living in such dread, such suffocating coexistence. And this in 2009 - the 21st century.
Where do the perpetrators get such courage and confidence from that they stop a running bus, pull out a woman and leave her by the roadside after raping her, that they trap a foreign diplomat and rape her in a car, that they catch hold of a college student and violate her atop a building even as heavy traffic passes by a few feet below? How is it that a cop instead of protecting a young girl shuts her inside a police post and does the unthinkable?
The arrogance mostly comes from a knowledge that in a society like India's the victims will be silenced "naturally and culturally". It comes from the deadly and deeply ingrained dynamics of a feudal nation that treats women as second class citizens. And it comes from hundreds of years of brainwashing of the male mind after Manu said women were little better than cattle. Importantly, it derives an insidious power of its own by the silent suffering of women themselves, by their own reluctance to fight for the space they rightly deserve and are perpetually denied.
Top police officers say the number of rape cases reported may not even be a fraction of the one that's actually committed. Social activists echo this. For every woman who reports her violation, there are 10 who will not speak up. Somehow, the Indian male - and a predominantly male-dominated police and administration - continues to put the onus of the crime, rather incredibly, on the victims: you must have sent some signal; you must have been dolled-up and dressed provocatively; maybe you are crying rape because you have been caught; why did you have to answer nature's call when you know there could be thugs lurking around; what shame you have brought on us; why you.
This is enough to kill the spirit of most women and for those that can transcend this psychological brutality there is the crude questioning by cops and lawyers, something many victims say is like going through a second rape. Not surprising that they prefer to seal their lips and kill their sense of dignity and honour. And we are not even talking about the numerous others subjected to molestation, groping, eve teasing and degrees of verbal and physical abuse - at the movie hall, in the bus, in crowded bylanes, markets, trains, almost everywhere. As one female colleague who used to take the metro in Kolkata to commute said, "The first time I was groped, I created a ruckus. And fought like mad. But after a few times, it got hard. In any case, the stares you get after that is almost, like, killing. If you are a working woman in India not rich enough to take your own car to office, groping is a routine reality."
A group of informed citizens have started a cyber campaign against rape, clamoring for stricter laws, including death sentence if it involves minors and handicapped. It's already got robust support and, clearly, many think it's a step in the right direction. The courts will have to get stringent - many still persuade the rapist to marry his victim - but there is urgent need for another three-pronged effort. One, investigating agencies will have to be sensitized on how to deal with such cases. Two, society at large will have to change its attitude towards victims and make the leap from judgemental censure to empathy. Finally, women themselves will have to fight their demons and come out in the open about their various abuses.
India, as an article in TOI recently said, is now one of the most dangerous places for women to be in. We can do without this dubious distinction.
SILCHAR, July 26 : In a press release issued by Mason Zeliang, chief co-ordinator of the Citizen Rights Protection Volunteers (CRPV) yesterday strongly condemned Dilip Nunisa, chairman of the pro-talk faction of Dimasa militant outfit DHD for his baseless allegation that the Naga militant outfit NSCN (K) is involved in the recent ethnic clash in NC Hills.
Sources claimed that Mason Zeliang made this statement during his visit to 3 make-shift refugee camps of the Dimasas at Kumarcherra, Doloicherra and Joipur Shibasthan in Cachar recently. Mason made it clear that the CRPV received no help from any of the NSCN factions.
According to him, it was the DHD factions one led by Dilip Nunisa and his rival faction led by Jewel Garlosa which led to the Dimasa massacre, sources informed.
Lakhimpur (Assam), July 26 : Tension prevailed in this district along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border following destruction of standing paddy crop of Assamese villagers allegedly by officials of the neighbouring state.
Assam police officials claimed today that a group of men led by some officials of Arunachal Pradesh raided Milonpur village under Narayanpur police station and destroyed the paddy crop yesterday.
The villagers reported the matter to the district officials and the Naraynpur Circle Officer Pankaj Deka immediately rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.
Police, CRPF and civil officials are camping in the village to prevent any untoward incident, sources added.
Guwahati and several other parts of Assam and the northeast gave star gazers one of the best views of the complete eclipse with people able to witness the dramatic diamond ring.
“It was a momentous event, a strange darkness enveloping the morning as crickets and birds chirped and stars became visible for a fleeting few minutes,” said Arunim Das, an amateur astronomer.
Imphal, July 22 : The Manipur Legislative Assembly has today passed over Rs 653 crore budgets on Education, Panchayat, Art and Culture, and Tourism.
Moving the token cut motion during the day's business of the Assembly, Dr Ng Bijoy said that many government schools in the state are in shamble while saying that no parents would want their children to study in such pitiable school building condition.
Observing that the situation seems to lead back the people to olden days when classes were taken in open air, he asked who would not like to send their children where free meals and text books are provided to children.
Dr Bijoy said it is time to equip the children with electronic multi-media centres and to provide them scientific education.
He also said that the Manipur Film Development Corporation should be developed and the JN Manipur Dance Academy should be upgraded to college level.
MLA Dr I Ibohalbi, who also moved the motion, urged the concerned department to review matter relating to unreasonable down-gradation some schools.
He also enquired whether the rationalisation process is ended.
He said though NREGS is very popular in Manipur, the daily wage of the labourers is low.
He urged for the revision of labourers' wage and suggested to fix it at Rs 150.He said this will make the scheme more successful.
Among others, MLAs RK Anand, Morung Makunga, Dr Khasim Ruivah, N Mangi, and Nandakumar have also participated in the discussion.
Participating in the discussion, MLA Shyamkumar said that nothing, other than seeing it on signboards, has been known and felt about SSA in the state.
He also urged to give attention to the historical monuments in Andro constituency which have attracted foreign tourists too.
Clarifying the motions on Art and Culture, Chief Minister O Ibobi said that the government has been planning to convert art and culture into industry.
He said, to promote and preserve the cultures of the hills and the valley people, the government is sincerely making efforts to develop the Manipur Film Development Corporation.
The government is also planning to declare Manipur Film policy.
Education Minister, L Jayentakumar clarified that the government is planning to set up model primary schools to develop education in the state.
It is also going to start tele-education shortly.
The minister said awareness has been given to the people on SSA and midday meal.
The government has also provided training to several teachers so as to enable them to teach according to the demand of the time.
He said rationalisation process will be slower in hill areas due to the proposed district council elections.
Saying that the rationalisation process has been completed in zone 1, the cabinet will decide on the others.
Budgets relating to various demands including Rs 480, 14,07,000 for Education, Rs 41,68,85,000 for Panchayat, Rs 18,60,00,000 for Art and Culture, Rs 12,69,20,000 for Tourism were passed today.
| NGO endeavours to compile trilingual dictionary in association with Dimasa Sahitya Sabha | ||
Guwahati, July 22 : The land of the Dimasas may be in a state of deep and perpetual turmoil, but that hasn’t stopped efforts to bring out the first trilingual dictionary on their language. Once out, seeking the Assamese or English equivalent of Dimasa words would no longer be a tall order as the dictionary would be in Dimasa-Assamese-English versions. The initiative has been taken by the Anundoram Barooah Institute of Language, Art and Culture, a city-based voluntary organisation, in association with Dimasa Sahitya Sabha, the apex literary body of the Dimasas. “Though there had been a couple of word books on the Dimasa language, the need for a complete dictionary was felt for long. This is the first attempt to compile a comprehensive dictionary on the ethnic language,” the institute’s director, D.K. Kalita, said. He said the Dimasa Sahitya Sabha has extended cooperation by nominating a panel of experts to help compile the dictionary. “It will take nearly a year to develop the dictionary and we have targeted around 20,000 words,” he added. Kalita said the primary objective behind the project was “to boost the language spoken by around 75,000 Dimasas in the state since grammar and dictionary are the basic requirements for development of a language.” “Moreover, we feel that such projects will promote amity among the ethnic communities of the state,” he added. The institute also has Mising-Assamese-English and Rabha-Assamese-English dictionaries to its credit and is developing similar dictionaries on Bodo and Karbi languages. Kalita said they would take the help of Bodo and Karbi sahitya sabhas for the compilation of Bodo-Assamese-English and Karbi-Assamese-English dictionaries. For compilation of the proposed dictionaries, the institute is holding a workshop on lexicography at its headquarters at Rajaduar in north Guwahati. Nominees of Dimasa, Bodo and Karbi sahitya sabhas, former director of Mysore-based Central Institute of Indian Languages P.N. Dutta Baruah and head of the department of linguistics, Gauhati University, Jyoti Prakash Tamuli, will be resource persons. Renowned scholar T.R. Taid, eminent linguists Upen Rabha Hakacham, Madhu Ram Boro, Lilabati Saikia Bora and Malini Goswami, compiler of dictionaries Sumanta Chaliha and Asam Sahitya Sabha president Rongbong Terang are also participating in the workshop. Kalita said the dictionaries would contain the head words, international phonetic alphabets, grammatical notes and meanings of the words in Assamese and English. |
Guwahati, Jul 21 : The total solar eclipse will be visible in four places of Assam tomorrow with Dibrugarh witnessing the total phase for over three minutes.
Regional Meteorological Centre's Assistant Meteorologist R K Goswami said here today that besides Dibrugarh, the eclipse would be visible at Guwahati, Sibsagar and Silchar.
In Dibrugarh, the eclipse would begin at 5.31 am and its greatest phase be observed at 6.32 am. It would end at 7.41 am.
In Guwahati, the eclipse would begin at 5.30 am. With its greatest phase at 6.29 am, the eclipse would end at 7.36 am.
Beginning at 5.31 am in Sibsagar, the greatest phase of the eclipse would be at 6.32 am. It would end at 7.40 am here.
In Silchar, the eclipse would begin at 5.30 am with its greatest phase be observed at 6.29 am. Here the eclipse would end at 7.37 am.
Guwahati, July 18 (PTI) Independent MLA Jiten Gogoi, arrested yesterday on the charge of contempt of court, was released today after the Golaghat district court rejected the arrest warrant issued by a civil court.
The Golaghat district court rejected the warrant issued by the civil court, directing the arrest of Gogoi for not appearing before it in an assault case, and ordered that the MLA be released with immediate effect.
The civil court had issued several summons to the former ULFA militant-turned-MLA on previous occasions in connection with the assault of local Congress leader Akash Phukan and related violence.
The Independent MLA from Bokakhat was arrested earlier also on May 16 in connection with the assault of officials of Kaziranga National Park.
As the ongoing ethnic clash between Dimasa and Zeme Naga community in Assam's North Cachar Hills district continued unabated, suspected miscreants today attacked a Dimasa- dominated village in neighbouring Cachar district, killing one, injuring three and torching 25 houses.
They also kidnapped two others during the raid.
Police said at 1100 hrs a group of armed miscreants raided Sonapur village near Harinagar under Lakhipur police station in Assam's Cachar district and set a number of houses on fire. When the scared villagers started fleeing, the miscreants started indiscriminate firing from automatic weapons, in which one Dimasa villager was killed and three were injured.
The miscreants kidnapped two others at the time of leaving the place. Soon after the incident a contingent of police and para-military forces, led by Superintendent of Police (Cachar) Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan, rushed to the place, 45-km from here, and started operation to nab the miscreants.
Police were yet to confirm the actual number of houses torched in the attack.
It was suspected that Zeme Naga miscreants were behind today's attack.
With this the toll in the ongoing ethnic clash between Dimasa and Zeme Naga tribes that started since March 19 this year rose to 66.
While more than 500 houses were torched, 12,000 people took shelter in different relief camps.
Earlier also Cachar district felt the heat of ethnic clash as on June 9 suspected Naga militants attacked Lower Lodhi village and set ablaze 32 houses belonging to Dimasas. Nearly 1000 Dimasa villagers had been living in relief camps in Cachar's Jaypur-Shivasthan area, officials said.
NEW DELHI: The Campaign for Survival and Dignity, a national platform of tribal and forest dwellers organisations, has expressed concern over the Union government’s recent decision to spend huge sums of money collected in the name of “compensatory afforestation.”
In a statement issued here on Thursday, the Campaign said such a policy would accelerate deforestation and result in destruction of wildlife. It would institutionalise a system that encouraged use of forests on payment. It would also displace more tribal people and forest dwellers.
When forests were cleared for changing land use, the locals were neither informed nor consulted. This would also be the case if funds were allocated for compensatory plantations, the statement said. “In both the cases — where forests are destroyed and where compensatory forests are developed — the people lose their land and livelihoods.”
The Campaign said the policy would increase violations of the Forest Rights Act through illegal eviction of cultivators, as the Forest Department would rush to access the huge funds coming in from plantations. Monoculture tree plantation would also cause environmental damage and biodiversity threats.
This would also deny the State governments and local bodies their rightful share of the money, the statement said. “A crucial opportunity to make India’s forest management system more environmentally sensitive, transparent, democratic, and accountable has now been lost.”
“Back door deals” The Campaign said the Ministry had acted in a blatantly unconstitutional manner, ignoring both Parliament and the State governments and proceeding through back door deals to ensure easy access and continued control over the enormous funds.
This would only fuel more deprivation, conflicts and violence in the forest areas, while accelerating the loss of some of the country’s precious resources, the statement said.
