Women- The Punching Bag for All

 

The past couple of years we are hearing more and more stories of atrocities against women. Gang rapes, murders, creating MMS have become part of everyday life. Recently there was this case of Badayun where 2 sisters were raped, hanged to death by upper caste people of the village involving a police man. If these horrific incidences were not enough for us women, we now have our elected representatives asking their men o rape and kill us. Tapas Pal, a celebrated actor of Tollygunj and a 2 time MP of TMC was recorded on camera asking his men to rape and kill women who were Communist sympathizers. In the Badayun case, Akhilesh Yadav asked a female journalist smilingly whether she was raped or not? His father a thespian of politics went a step further and said boys made mistakes and rape was one of them. Babulal Gour, an octogenarian, 8 time MLA from Madhya Pradesh and the current Home Minister of the state is known for his derogatory statements against women. The latest being that women are responsible because of the clothes they wear & men who rape do not inform the police before doing this. The Home Minister of Chhatisgarh echoed his thoughts. A Goan minister is against women going to pubs and drinking. He wants them to stop wearing short dresses. And if all of this was not enough we have a BJP leader O P Dhanker promising Harayanvi men that he will get them Bihari brides if they bring BJP to power in the state.

All these men and their statements are not one off. We can see them regularly mirrored in our everyday lives when constitution gives us the right education but the society takes away our right to apply this education and earn for ourselves. Laws have been made but the implementers of these laws are the perpetrators of such horrors in the society. Women leaders who sit on the citadel of power by breaking norms in the past, now do nothing more than paying lip service. There are agitations, gheraos, fact finding missions, corpus funds, new schemes but no stringent action is taken against any of these men by any political parties.

The thought that comes to mind with regards to these moronic statements is that is our society really so regressive? Are our elected representatives really so insensitive? Are political compulsions so strong that a trail blazing leader like Mamta Banerji does nothing? Is political will so low? Is the divide in the society so wide that women are used as means of destruction?

Over the years we have continuously seen political parties advocating education for girls, bringing them into jobs, giving them representation in elections and reservations in Panchayats. But has all this helped the cause of women at large? Are the leaders echoing what the society really thinks? In my city of Bhopal women have the liberty of moving out for their education and jobs but they are not secure.

Is there a solution to all this? Discussions, seminars, symposiums on gender equality, women emancipation talks about creating awareness in the society, sensitizing the boys, giving self defense courses to our girls, more stringent laws are some of the measures. Yes they all work but we also need to set an example of our leaders. Tapas Pal has a wife and daughter, both in public life and quite liberal. Babulal Gour’s daughter in law is a Mayor, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife is a two time MP. Ehat does this all reveal that it is fine to further the careers of the women of their families mete out Talibanise acts for women in general. Leaders and political parties have to take tough decisions and we women need to come together to fight for our cause.

“Hindi” Diktat for Social Media

Language is a means of communication, where one person wants to get his thoughts across to another. In 1947 when India got freedom from the Brits, Hindi was chosen as the “Rashtriya Bhasha” , not only because it was spoken by a vast  majority but also to come out of colonial hangover. In recent days, the newly elected Modi government came out with a diktat that Hindi is to be used for social media interactions by all the state governments. Next day it said that only Hindi speaking states should be doing this. But if we go through the tweets of M.P. CM, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, we find that he too is not following this absurd diktat.

Why this order is absurd has to be understood on many levels. In spite of Hindi being the declared national language, we all know that our country does not have a national language.

Secondly it is only Northern India for which Hindi is the first language. For the rest of us we have our mother tongue as the first language & many amongst us have learnt Hindi from Hindi films, songs and TV serials, therefore using this language does not come easy.

Thirdly pitting one language against the other is the recipe for disaster. When non Hindi speaking people are asked to use English, however pathetic they might be at it, they do not mind but when asked to speak Hindi, they rebel (Tamil Nadu is a good case study). English in India is a language that kinds people together.

Fourthly, it is important to be proud of one’s language but practicality always wins over nationality. Youngsters want to learn English because the one’s with the knowledge of English stand a much better chance of getting a job than a Hindi speaking or any regional language speaking person.

Mr. Modi using a translator while meeting international leaders & delegates is a smart move and he should continue with using Hindi but asking common man to do so is not fair.

  

VYAPAM Scam – The Biggest Scam in the Education Sector

VYAPAM is the Vyavasayik  Pariksha Mandal or the Professional Exam Board (PEB) of Madhya Pradesh which was established in 1970 for conducting professional exams especially for engineering and medical entrance. However over the years this board has made exams professional. 2013 proved to be  a watershed year for the board as well as the BJP state government when irregularities were found in pre-medical tests. Slowly the can of  worms opened and irregularities were found in police exams , teachers, postal department & others. Lacs of students are affected by it. When the kingpins of the scam, Dr. Pankaj Trivedi, Dr. Jagdish  Sagar, Nitin Mahinder, O.P.Shukla and others were arrested, the nexus with BJP ministers,  gunda,  mafia kings also came to the fore.

Now in this entire episode, there are 3 things which are very disturbing.

Firstly STF is under pressure to perform and catch all the culprits without succumbing to the pressure of the incumbent government. Therefore it is sifting through the call details and the statements made by the crooks caught and catching hold of the students. They are to be blamed, their degrees need to be taken away but they should not be treated as criminals. And this is what STF and police are doing.

Secondly what is the government going to do with the students who lost their chance because undeserving candidates with money were given preference. There are large number of genuine, hard working, meritorious students who were declared unqualified in various government jobs. Doubt has also been raised on the candidates who have passed on merit but the general perception in the state is that every person who is pursuing medicine or has become a doctor recently is a fraud. How will Chief Minister re-build this faith? How is he going to repay to all those students who lost opportunity?

Thirdly why are all the stakeholders that is the students and youth who are affected silent on this matter. We Indians as a society are quite volatile and we take to streets with the slightest provocation , then why are we not coming out on the streets over this grave issue? Is the youth so indifferent that he is not bothered about his career or his future? Political parties in the opposition are raking this issue but till the effected party does not become vocal on the issue, nothing concrete will get done.

Now the next obvious question that arises is how to clear the mess. And the simple answer to that is political will. If the ruling party and its leaders decide to take some harsh decisions in which may be their own kith & kiln may have to go to jail, but in the large interest of the state & society, it will be a huge step. It will also help to reestablish the lost goodwill of politicians and political parties. For the future online exams is being contemplated but a state besieged with problem of power shortage, computer shortage will take time to build the entire infrastructure for such large scale exams. Till the set up gets ready, the government and the administration has to be in high alert and checks  & counter checks have to be done.  

Economics of Populism

The year 2013 and 2014 are the years of election. And as election season comes, announcement of sops is in full swing. Most of the sops that are declared have no economic logic behind them and the most unfortunate part is that even after 6 decades of independence, the common man falls into this trap and then ultimately curses the political system.

Narendra Modi has been declared as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP and he is being marketed as the man who delivers good governance and has excellent economic model which would catapult the economy to double growth figures overnight. However one thing that is missing is this very economic model that he talks about from various platforms. Is it only based on the dictum of privatisation where the state will decide on its economic policies on the basis of the needs of the corporate sector. Or the need of the common man will be given priority. The recent recommendation coming from his camp are absurd to say it politely. Scrapping income tax, opening up of all the sectors to private players, supporting and then opposing FDI in retail, taking away land from farmers in the name of industralisation, building a tall statute of Vallabhbhai Patel on the banks of Narmada and diverting the attention from Sardar Sarovar Dam, giving away government land at throw away prices to private players, building roads on PPP model and charging exorbitant toll tax are some of the economic policies of the various BJP led state governments and PM in waiting.

In the past 10 years, the Congress led UPA government has been targeted for corruption especially in the distribution of telecom spectrum and coal. Crony capitalism has been highlighted by the opponents and to a certain degree it is true. But crony capitalism is just not the character of central government, it is very much evident in BJP ruled states too. In my state of Madhya Pradesh, ironically all the road contracts go to the same builder and all the mines go selected few. As a result corruption is at its highest in the state.

Coming back to the economics of populism, the common man has to understand that the sops declared by whichever party are mere allurements for getting votes. They do not lead to capital formation and therefore do not aid in economic development. Moreover the cacophony over growth figures is misleading. The real test for any economy is its performace on developmental parameters. While we exercise our democratic right of casting our vote, we have to think about the policy measures declared by a party and its past record. I firmly believe that we are having too rightist mindset which is not helping the cause of the common man. The role of the state needs to be increased especially in sectors of mass connect.

Social Media and Political parties

(This is my lecture on Social Media and its use as a tool by political parties given at an International Conference organised by Makhanlal University)

Respected Vice Chancellor sir, Anil Dave ji, Vikas ji, friends of the media and all those present here, a very warm morning to you all

Today is 15^th Dec, the death anniversary of the Iron Man of India, Shri Vallabh Bhai Patel. I would pay my humble homage to one of the greatest visionaries of modern India. He was an Indian and will remain to be an Indian, in spite of all the efforts to confine him to a region.

1.I would like to congratulate Prof Kuthiala and his entire team for organizing this conference and deliberating on such an important issue. Currently the entire country is going through a political metamorphosis where the rules of the game are changing everyday. New dimensions are coming up and the way politics was perceived even a decade back has changed drastically. When I started off in this field, a lot of things were un-thought of and there was certain style of politics that was practiced across the board- a top to bottom approach where you had a coterie who took the decisions and it was left for the entire party to follow. A direct interaction between the 10th tier worker and a member of the august group was unheard of but now all these perceptions have been turned on their heads. This is ladies and gentlemen what social media has done to politics.

2. Now this is all within a party, what about “Social Media and Politics”? In the bygone era there were tea stalls, paan ki dukan, nukkads, mohallas which had a very special place in politics. Adda was a big thing, if I may borrow this term from Bengal, where anything and everything was discussed. Politics was and still remains “the” topic of discussion and as joked in Bhopal that you can sit at Kamla Park and decide from a corporator candidate to a presidential candidate over a cup of tea. However with the internet and mobile phone revolution- all thanks to the vision of a gentleman called Rajiv Gandhi- now this entire discourse has shifted on Internet and Social Media sites. It all started with Orkut- then Facebook- Twitter- now Whats App, We Chat, Vibgyour, Google Hangout, Youtube Channels- you name it and there is an app to help you communicate. What these social media sites have done is they have widened the platform of discussion. You are now no longer confined to Raju tea stall or choursia paan bhandaar. And this is so far the only media which is self regulated as cyber laws in India are not very stringent. If somebody ever argues with you on Freddom of Speech and how it is being curbed, just leave them on a social media site and enjoy.

Now coming to the main theme of today’s discussion that is Social Media and How Political Parties are using it as a medium of communication. The first thing that political parties did with this media was they shared ideas, events, created a buzz about something. Slowly it was used as a PR machinery for the party as well as for individuals. There are enough examples of individuals who are purely creations of social media and some have even reached the stage of PM in waiting. Political parties are also using this media for spewing venom at their rivals. Now the question is till the time we continue with “meri saree teri saree se safed kaise” banter it is fine as this does not endanger the grain of democracy.

However a few recent incidents have demonstrated that there is a certain section which is using it spread communal disharmony. I am talking about the Muzzafarnagar riots where two mentally sick people belonging to one of the largest National Party shared an old video from Pakistan which went viral on the social networking sites and what happened next is something we all know. Another incidence is about a couple of years back when North Eastern people were targeted in the south over some fabricated story that went viral on these sites. Both these incidences show the ugly side of Social Media and Politics.

On the brighter side we have “AAP” which has its genesis in social media. The entire Ramleela Maidan movement was operated from social media and today we have Arvind Kejriwal as one of the most important political figure in the country especially in Northern India.

Nirbhaya case is also an eye opener for all the political parties as it showcased social dissent over a very brutal, heinous crime and how all the parties had to accept the might of this media. The new Anti Rape law was formulated only after this incidence.

3. How Congress party is using Social Media? At the outset I would like to say that YES we were late in understanding the reach and influence of this media. People like me were exceptions in the party and were branded as uber urban with limited reach. But as soon as the top leadership understood the might of this medium of communication, it has lapped it up and now the grand dads of this grand old party are very much active on social media.

There are two fronts on which we are using social media. Firstly, to communicate with our own party workers and to give them inputs on various issues. For internal communication we use What’s App, SMS and Khidkee. We constantly communicate all over the country and we have been doing the same in Madhya Pradesh as well. Khidkee is a social networking site only for party workers, especially the Youth where they can voice their opinions freely.

Secondly, on a larger scale we are communicating with the masses. We have official Facebook pages, Twitter handles, Google Hangout sessions, Youtube Channels where we are propagating our ideology, our achievements, making people aware of true historical events, pointing out the corruption cases in the opposition state governments, new initiatives of the party and the government. Like yesterday we trended #studentsmanifesto and #INC4Lokpal. This helps a lot to the strategy makers of the party. We also have Mouobile Apps about the party.

Rahul Gandhiji, the Vice President of our party wants us to work on a volunteer pattern where we are asking our party members to act as volunteers and connect with people. He wants to bring in the positives and achievements of our party in public domain. Congress is the oldest party of the country and we have to let the younger generation know what our contribution has been in nation building. Our party is trying to build rapport with the marginalized sections of the society. We have been asked to open conversations with tribals, women, minorities, dalits.

4. The political parties have found a new way to interact but are the people fine about getting bombarded with political discourse. If I talk as an individual belonging to a political party I feel that it has helped me to get a better understanding of issues and people. Common man finds himself connected to the whole decision making process. Be it Egypt, be it a referendum on Right to Food, be it coming up with a new Anti Rape Act, people have had their say. It is only through Twitter and Facebook that people directly interact with say a Shashi Tharoor, a Digvijaya Singh, a Jay Panda, a L K Advani, a Kapil Sibbal, a Arvind Kejriwal to name a few. Let me recount an incident about how one of the youngsters was tweeted back by Shashi Tharoor ji while his stay in Bhopal a few months back that he would not be coming to the party office. The youngster was not believed though but that is the power of social media.

There are certain negatives too. A lot of people do not want to discuss politics- period. They feel that a lot of closet journalists, megalomaniacs have come to the fray who dilute important issues. They do not take seriously what is being discussed on these platforms. This section only uses social media as a platform for interacting with friends.

5. I suppose that when the University decided on this topic for today’s discussion, they must have somewhere thought about how social media is helping or harming Democracy. Nao after 6 decades of being a Democracy, seeing the highs and the lows, we know that we are a strong country and there is not much that can be done to harm it. Communication, transparency are important facets of Democracy. And I personally, very firmly believe that social media has strengthened our Democracy. I will share how this transparency has come about. A lot of media friends are sitting here and there was news of accident which was blocked by the media but played extensively on the social media. I am talking about an Aston Martin car belonging to one of the biggest business house which was over speeding and rammed into an Audi and Elantra. The security guards following the car came and took away the driver. However the next day the entire matter was hushed up and none of the traditional media took up this case. Another incidence is of how one of the Minister of the previous government of Madhya Pradesh was not allowed to enter some villages for canvassing and he ultimately lost the elections. This was also not focused by other media was taken up in the social media.

There are umpteen examples of how Democracy has been strengthened by this new media. I would once again like to talk of the current phenomenon AAP. When they started some 3 years back, they were anti establishment, anti democracy- who can forget the graphic of their leader cutting the electric connection of a home. But it is this very Democracy which has allowed them to form a party and fight elections and hopefully form the government. I now sincerely hope that they would now respect Democracy.

6. In conclusion to my speech I would like to say that do not expect miracles overnight. Do not put the weight on this new media of revolutionizing the society. It is there only in about 100 cities covering just 1 percent population, but surely it is creating a buzz. We have to give it time to mature, to bloom, to make mistakes, to flourish. Let me end with a few lines of one of my favorite poets Dushyant Kumar

कहां तो तय था चरागाँ हर घर के लिए

कहां चराग मयस्सर नहीं शहर के लिए

यहाँ दरख्तों के साये में धुप लगती हैं

चलो यहाँ से चले और उम्र भर के लिए

खुदा न सही, आदमी का ख्वाब सही

कोई हसीं नज़ारा तो हैं नज़र के लिए

वो मुतमईन हैं की पत्थर पिघल नहीं सकता

में बकरार हूँ आवाज़ के असर के लिए