One of the qualities of male energy is creativity. The male energy in us always wants to achieve; always wants to reach some goals.

A man who has more of male energy sees a mountain, wants to climb to the top of the mountain and hoist a flag. If he sees the Himalayas, he wants to go to the top of the Himalaya. He sees the moon; he wants to go to the moon. A woman is not interested in going to the moon. She says there is no shopping on the moon. So, what is the point in going to the moon?

A person who calls himself a “swamy” is usually one people look up to for higher knowledge and advice (that’s a whole different story in itself, but let’s leave that aside for now). Ironically, in the DH, Sukhabhodhananda comes across not just as sexist, but ill-informed and, frankly, ignorant.

His remarks are demeaning to women and reek of unfair generalisations not backed up by any facts. Perhaps it has missed Sukhabhodhananda’s notice that women play — and have always done so — an active and equal function in the world ticking over. These misogynistic observations appear to have no bearing on the rest of the column, unless one stretches the imagination to conclude he is suggesting that the positive male energy equals ambition and creativity, while women are only good for frenzied shopping. This short-sighted notion shows the writer to have little understanding and respect for human beings in general.

Comments such as these also denigrate the efforts and struggle of countless women and men who continue to strive for a fair and equal society. As contemptible and irresponsible the words are, it is every bit so and even more disappointing that a mainline newspaper such as the Deccan Herald could publish it.

~PD

With the spotlights set to turn on the Indian capital in October this year, the city’s authorities and Games organizers are in a panic about the” begging menace”. According to Delhi’s social welfare minister Mangat Ram Singhal, “We Indians are used to beggars but Westerners are not and so we need to clean up. We’ll catch them all.” With three mobile courts patrolling the streets “prosecuting” beggars, one little aspect has been conveniently overlooked — that we are talking of human beings, and about the violation of their civil rights.

Any resident — or visitor, for that matter — to Delhi in the past couple of years will testify to preparations for the Games in full flow. Dug-up main roads, incomplete flyovers, relaying of pavements, traffic diversions and more have made regular commute a nightmare, but one puts up with it in the hope that the relaid and widened roads and new flyovers will benefit the city eventually. That said, it is no secret that the primary reason behind this massive operation is not to make life any easier for Delhiites in the long run, but to show off to the rest of the world that Delhi is right up there, clean, efficient, progressive, with a standard of living comparable to any first world country. And for this to happen, anything remotely unpleasant has to be hidden from view: in this case, how the city has failed to provide, and even actively denied, basic human dignity to a massive population.

The privilege of middle class makes most of us see beggars and beggary as a “menace”. It’s an uncomfortable truth we’d rather not deal with from the comfort of our AC cars and buses, and is therefore convenient to dehumanize them by using this epithet rather than seeing them as people like us. This makes it easy to deal with how society and the system puts the value of their lives far below ours. Indeed, see how easy it is to divide people into “them” and “us”! Delhi’s authorities frequently quote statistics citing how 95 per cent of the city’s begging population are migrants, in other words “outsiders”, “thems”, which is apparently supposed to justify the city’s disowning of responsibility towards them. Somehow that is also supposed to make acceptable the manhandling like animals of poor/homeless/hungry/disabled people who have to beg for survival. Instead of providing for them, we treat them like criminals, pursued, hounded and abused for the crime of having migrated to the city in search of a better life.

Whether Delhi has the resources to host the Games in the first place is questionable. The city, like most other Indian cities, faces a power and water crunch. Already having overshot its Games budget, the Delhi government is now intending to dip into the common wealth. According to the latest budget, residents of the capital can expect to pay more for diesel, CNG, LPG cylinders, tea, coffee, cutlery, school bags, dry fruits, ghee, vegetables, public transport and many other common-use items. It is also a pertinent question that if Delhi has been able to set aside funds to host the Commonwealth Games, why that same money has not been considered for use to give its own residents, especially those most marginalized, a better life that will truly make it a city worth taking pride in.

The following video encapsulates Delhi’s Commonshame Games — how the city prefers to punish people for being poor rather than help them:

~PD

Sorry, this is no follow up of Naomi Klein’s celebrated book No Logo, which exposes the dark secrets of the working environments in the factories of many big brands. Nor is this the expose by any investigative journalist. The hard truths were revealed by Apple itself, which conducted an onsite audit of its 102 facilities recently.

Apple’s 2010 Supplier Responsibility Progress Report, which audits third-party vendors to ensure that “the companies we do business with… provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made” makes for some shocking reading: 17 core violations, including child labour, falsified records, underpayment, overwork, and a whopping 57 vendors who have been cheating workers out of legally required benefits like sick leave and maternity leave.

As a long-time user of Apple products, I am deeply disturbed. However, considering that Apple themselves have revealed these violations, let’s hope it is because they are genuinely concerned about labour and human rights, and that it is not merely a PR exercise.

~PD

Twenty-five years down the line, the scars of the Bhopal gas leak tragedy continue to haunt the lives of the natives. As the ongoing campaign to bring justice to the survivors continues unabated, the following is a first-hand account of a unique protest:

A quarter century later Bhopal’s survivors are still fighting for justice. Ahead of 3rd December, the survivors of the tragedy and their supporters have launched a week-long protest to condemn the inaction of the state government to remove the toxic waste from the vicinity of the factory. In response to the preposterous claim made by the Joint Secretary of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department that the level of toxicity in the soil inside and around the factory compound is way below danger level and if 200 gm of it is consumed orally by a person weighing 70 kg, it will not have any effect, implying that any food or plant grown in that soil is “safe” for consumption, a Vish Mukti Bhoj was organized on 28th November in front of the factory by the survivors of the tragedy.

Around 30–40 women from Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karamchari Sangh, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha and Bhopal Group for Information and Action launched a unique and tongue-in-cheek protest to bring out the ridiculousness of the joint secretary’s claim. The protesters sat in a line with paper plates and bowls in front of them that contained the contaminated soil and water from the factory and surrounding areas. The plates came with name tags for Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan, Minister for Gas Relief and Civic Administration Babulal Gaur, Chief Secretary Rakesh Sahni and other bureaucrats to invite them to eat the soil and drink the water that their government claims to be safe and free from contamination. Huge black banners were put up that said: “Jhoot bolna bandh karo” (Stop lying) along with a dummy crow depicting the theme of “jhoot bole kauwa kaate” (A crow will bite you if you lie).

A report released today by the Centre for Science and Environment confirms what the survivors of the tragedy already know — the groundwater has been contaminated as far as 3 km from the factory site and contains almost forty times more pesticides than Indian standards. (For more details on the Bhopal gas tragedy visit ICJB and Students for Bhopal.)

Shweta Vachani, 28 November 2009

Chilling reminders

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department’s flippant, insensitive claim needs no refutal, for the evidence is apparent. CNN IBN’s Nilanjana Bose finds how the tragedy “has left a permanent imprint on the city of Bhopal”. In her half-hour piece “Scars from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy”, she documents how the next generation is paying dearly for it: Watch it here (viewer discretion advised).

~PD

While the city of Bhopal slept on the night of 3–4 December 1984, they were unaware of the 27 tonnes of toxic gases that leaked from the Union Carbide Plant, exposing half a million people to a poisonous gas cloud containing methyl isocyanate, and possibly carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen oxides, phosgene, hydrogen cyanide and momomethyl amine.

Ten thousand people were dead within 72 hours, and twenty-five years later the death toll lies at 25,000 and still rising, with over 100,000 people affected. Toxic chemicals abandoned at the UCC plant when the powers-that-be decamped to evade responsibility continue to pollute the ground water, leaving hapless residents still at risk.

Today, the picture remains as bleak as ever, a humanitarian disaster on a massive scale. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), now owned by Dow Chemical Company, in refusing to admit liability, have left thousands of lives and livelihoods on the brink. Survivors grapple with a multitude of long-term health effects, including respiratory, neurological and immune disorders, reproductive health issues, eye problems and more. Birth defects among children due to their mothers being exposed to the poisonous gas remain common.

Burdened by the effects on their bodies, livelihoods have been compromised, pushing those already on the margins into destitution. With key stakeholders such as the government and Dow/Carbide crying off from taking responsibility, the survivors of Bhopal are fighting an uphill battle.

Escape, the best form of defence

As 4 December 1984 dawned, Bhopal woke to its streets covered with dead bodies. Today one person per day still dies because of what happened that night. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary Dow and UCC claim not to be culpable, continuing to pass off the leakage as sabotage. However, investigations have revealed substandard safety standards in the Indian plant, as well as the fact that the MIC tank alarms had not been working for four years. In addition, none of the leak prevention mechanisms were working on the fateful night:

1. Flare Tower: Disconnected
2. Vent Gas Scrubber: Out of caustic soda and inadequate for unsafe volume of gas
3. Water Curtain: Not functional; designed with inadequate height
4. Pressure Valve: Leaking
5. Run Off Tank: Already contained MIC
6. Mandatory Refrigeration for MIC Unit: Shut down for 3 months to save money

( StudentsforBhopal.org)

Testimonies from workers and independent studies paint a pretty bleak picture:

According to former workers of the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, while the factory was in operation, massive amounts of chemicals – including pesticides, solvents, catalysts and wastes – were routinely dumped in and around the factory grounds. These include deadly substances such as aldicarb, carbaryl, mercury, and several chlorinated chemicals and organic poisons. In 1977, Carbide constructed Solar Evaporation Ponds (SEPs) over 14 hectares 400 meters north of its factory. Toxic effluents and toxic wastes were routinely dumped there. Two tube wells dug in the vicinity of the SEPs were abandoned because of the noxious smell and taste of the water.

A 1990 study by the Bhopal Group for Information and Action found di- and trichlorobenzenes in water samples taken from wells being used by communities living near the factory fence lines, and phthalates, chlorinated benzenes and aromatic hydrocarbons in the soil samples taken from the SEPs. In 1996, the State Research Laboratory conducted its own tests on water and concluded that the chemical contamination found is “due to chemicals used in the Union Carbide factory that have proven to be extremely harmful for health. Therefore the use of this water for drinking must be stopped immediately.”

In 1999, Greenpeace and Bhopal community groups documented the presence of stockpiles of toxic pesticides… as well as hazardous wastes and contaminated material scattered throughout the factory site. The survey found substantial and, in some locations, severe contamination of land and water supplies with heavy metals and chlorinated chemicals. Samples of groundwater from wells around the site showed high levels of chlorinated chemicals including chloroform and carbon tetrachloride, indicative of long-term contamination.

( StudentsforBhopal.org)

Facing criminal charges of culpable homicide (manslaughter), the UCC has effectively fled the country. In addition, Dow/Carbide has consistently refused take responsibility to clean up the site and compensate the victims justly.

Some four years after the disaster the Government of India reached a settlement with Union Carbide that was a betrayal to the survivors. Without consulting the people directly affected by the disaster, they settled for a figure that was equivalent to a just 15 per cent of what was originally filed for, and also absolving UCC of other liabilities. Needless to say, the survivors filed a complaint, leading to a part reversal of the settlement, and as of now two cases remain pending. A civil case in the Southern District Federal Court, New York, and a criminal one in Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court, Bhopal. The extradition of Warren Anderson, then CEO of UCC, is also sought, to have him stand trial in India.

Justice blinded

Today, a quarter of a century on lives and livelihoods continue to be affected. The 390 tonnes of toxic chemicals from the factory that lie exposed, with burst and corroded tanks that seep their poisonous matter into the earth inexorably with each passing year of heavy monsoon rain, leaves thousands of residents still at risk.

The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal, a coalition of survivors and environmental, social justice, progressive Indian, and human rights groups, has relentlessly been campaigning for Dow/Carbide to own up to its responsibilities, and clean up the site; provide necessary health care to survivors; provide economic and social support to those who have lost their livelihoods due to the exposure; and not to mention stand trial for what the world unequivocally believes to be a horrific “crime against humanity”.

They also campaign with the Governments of India and of Madhya Pradesh to — among other things — ensure Dow’s liability; set up a national commission on Bhopal to clearly articulate a policy for long-term monitoring, care and rehabilitation of survivors; ensure treatment for survivors as well as those exposed to toxic water; clean up drinking water supply; dispose of chemical wastes from the UCC plant; seek the extradition of Warren Anderson; and blacklist Dow and Union Carbide.

Help Bhopal

For more information, including how you can help the ICJB, visit Students for Bhopal and The International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal.

~PD

There is a conspiracy afoot. A conspiracy of silence. Of turning away from a heinous crime happening under our noses. As close as our own homes, neighbourhoods, schools, parks and places of worship. Perpetrated by family members, family friends, neighbours, teachers and instructors, and domestic help.

The silence surrounding the issue of child sexual abuse (CSA) gives it tacit support to continue unabated. Despite evidence to the contrary, people are curiously reticent to talk about it and acknowledge its existence. A 2007 study by the Ministry of Women and Child Development pegged down 53 per cent of Indian children as having been sexually abused. But having exchanged notes with others brings one to the distressing conclusion that the numbers are in fact far, far higher. Here it is in black and white: A vast majority of women and quite a few men have been forced into non-consensual sexual acts during childhood and adolescence. Someone recently pointed out that you would have to have been extremely lucky to have grown up as a girl in India without being subjected to some form of sexual abuse. This is not to sideline male survivors, but just to point out the position of women in a deeply patriarchal structure.

It could be speculated that an overarching reason for the low rate of reporting and documentation of CSA — and thus a minuscule amount of redressal and counselling for survivors — is that the perpetrator is often someone the child knows well or is closely associated with. It could be a neighbour, a family friend “uncle”, or even a family member. The position of the perpetrator in the family or social circle and the power exercised by them over the child results in a majority suffering in silence. Or worse, being made to suffer in silence because the immediate family would rather not risk rocking the boat by making such “shameful incidents” public. Yes, incidents, because statistics also show that CSA survivors are usually abused repeatedly.

In a culture that glorifies the sanctity of the patriarchal family, the dos and don’ts are very clear-cut, especially with respect to the position of women vis-à-vis men. A testimony of a CSA survivor I read recently recounts how the perpetrator, an uncle, continues to hold his exalted position in the family despite the truth being known to all. This is an all too common story, and perpetrators are often secure in the influence they have over the child or in their standing in the immediate community. All this, of course, is reinforced by the aforementioned conspiracy of silence, of sweeping uncomfortable issues under the carpet of respectability.

But what’s a dark tunnel without a light at the end of it? There are number of groups and individuals coming to the aid of CSA survivors through support and counselling. Equally important is raising awareness for prevention and intervention. RAHI (Recovering and Healing from Incest) is one such organization, working with adult women survivors of incest and sexual abuse.

On 1 November 2009 I will be running the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on behalf of RAHI. Please consider supporting my run with your contribution. Your money will help RAHI provide individual and group services to survivors of CSA, and also in their work of education, training and research into incest and sexual abuse of children. In addition, it will be used for office equipment, space to conduct workshops and programmes, print literature and so on.

Your donation can be as small or big as you like, but rest assured it will make a big difference; it will be your contribution towards breaking the silence on our society’s worst kept secret.

To support my run:

Run donations closed; please visit RahiFoundation.org to support RAHI in their work

There is no good reason to stay silent about children being abused.

~PD

About 600 or so people—according to media estimates—gathered for Bangalore’s second gay pride parade on 28 June 2009. On display were an array of mismatched rainbow paraphernelia, including T-shirts, scarves, flags, posters, umbrellas, hats and bandanas. Add to that the music and the enthusiasm of the participating crowd, and it would be safe to say that fun was had by all.

The march was the culmination of the week-long Karnataka Queer Habba (habba = festival) organized by the Campaign for Sex-workers and Sexual Minorities Rights (CSMR), a collective of individuals and organizations. Events in the habba included a cricket match, film screenings, discussions, a story-telling session and more. Among the organizers were Alternative Law Forum, Sangama, Good As You, Karnataka Sex Workers’ Union, Karnataka Sexual Minorities Forum, Swabhava, Aneka and a number of others.

The participants of the march included LGBT representatives and supporters, activists, students and many more people. It appeared to generate a decent amount of interest in bystanders as well, many of whom were overheard talking about “gay rights” and such. Pamphlets in English and Kannada with information about the significance of the day, about rights of sexual minorities, and about Section 377 were aslo being distributed. Since only part of the road was occupied, curious onlookers leaned out from buses and cars, and waved, including a bunch of saffron-clad folks who probably didn’t know what it was all about!

For a very modest collection of photos: clicky here.

~PD

Starting off with a note on Hollywood celebrities who have had affairs with nannies and various other domestic help, Sharma shifts the focus to India. Her opening point itself is completely off target as she says how “the issue that was till now the domain of the West has come closer home”. Wrong, so wrong.

It is no secret that class and gender distinctions plague everyday life in our society, and that the brunt of it is borne by those in the margins, including domestic workers, who have no recourse to redressal for the sort of ill-treatment meted out to them on a daily basis. Sharma’s bizzare display of ignorance only reinforce the prejudices and worse faced by these women who have no-one to turn to.

She then goes on to focus on the rising infidelity of men “at the hands of maids”, thus again making the assumption that the blame is automatically ascribed to the woman. In the very premise of her article she appears to absolve men of all blame for cheating on their partners, thus reinforcing the very harmful and regressive gender stereotype of men being unable to contain their desires. This, in fact, reminds one of the ill-considered dress codes imposed by certain colleges on women students with the thinking that it is their manner of dress that provokes sexual harassment; or worse, the theory that some women ask for it by their mode of dress and behaviour.

Sharma also objectifies domestic helpers — already powerless women, often illiterate and usually forced to work without any sort of expectation of fair treatment — as sexual objects by using some shockingly inconsiderate — and one hopes misrepresented — quotes from a noted psychologist. The author writes, “The fact is that men don’t really fall in love with a maid but feel like exploring the alternative world of headless, harmless women.” Notice the carefully chosen words “headless, harmless” — implying that playing around with such women is “safe”. She also adds how, since domestic workers in India are unable to stand up and fight for their rights, it gives men the power and control they crave. A female professional is quoted as saying that it enables men to “unleash the beast” in ways that they know their wives and girlfriends won’t put up with!

On the whole, it is demeaning and disrespectful on multiple levels. Putting the stereotype aside of “men will be men” and “women must behave appropriately”, there is also a deep contempt displayed for the working class. From the tone and the words used, it would appear that the writer thinks of the domestic help as a lower form of life, “harmless and headless”, and therefore not worthy of respect as a fellow human being.

She ends with some friendly woman-to-woman advice: “choose your maid with care”. Nothing about choosing your partner with care?

It has been long since one stopped expecting any sort of standards from Times of India, but this time they have plumbed fascinating depths. With popular culture and the media intent upon maintaining the status quo in a society mired in patriarchy, glorifying the “Indian culture and tradition” in its current imbalances of class and gender, one wonders what hope remains, especially for those who need it most.

~PD

Mother’s Day. Yet another largely Western concept conveniently commercialized and cleverly hijacked into the calendar. And funnily enough, this is not something even the most rabid right-winger is going to object to. Because, after all, we are the epitome of the worship of mothers and motherhood. Right?

Sadly, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Speaking in the Indian context, “worshipping” mothers is just another handy excuse society has thought up to keep women in their “place”, a place defined and restricted by men, it must be added. It’s an easy way to brush under the carpet the many ways and means to keep women marginalized. It is an interesting dichotomy indeed: you “worship” a woman so long as she limits herself to the role you decide she may have. You make a song and dance about dedicating a day to her, yet gloss over whether she has the freedom to live her life by her choices and be respected for that.

This hypocritical stand is enough to make one inarticulate — less with rage than with a complete frustration at those who cannot see how two-faced the reasoning is. Thus, I borrow the words of Urvashi Butalia, director of Zubaan [shameless self-promotion: my publishers] and co-founder of Kali for Women, India’s first feminist press:

It’s not enough to worship mothers, they need attention and consideration in real life too. But worship becomes a convenient excuse – for then you can say, ‘look, how much we look up to mothers in our society’ and actually continue to do the opposite. People may remember the case of Gudiya, the young girl whose husband disappeared during the Kargil war, and then reappeared four years later when she had remarried and was about to become a mother. No one listened to her pleas to be allowed to stay with her current husband, the father-to-be of her child, and she was forced to go back to a man she barely knew and with whom she had no relationship at all. So much for our respect for mothers.

She goes on to say:

It’s worth remembering that celebrating or marking one day does not change the hard reality on the ground. Every day as we look around us, we see increasing violence towards women, whether in our villages, or towns, or cities. The statistics on rape in India are staggering, and among the highest in the world, and as we know only too well, motherhood is no guarantee against rape.
So if we’re really to make this day meaningful, rather than just a gimmick and an opportunity for advertising to find another peg, let’s take a good hard look at the reality around us. Let’s ask ourselves how we treat our women, how we relate to our mothers, what rights they have, what are their needs, and really, what our attitude to them should be. Let’s start to make motherhood respected and meaningful, rather than just an empty sham.

The full story: Don’t Worship Them, Just Learn to Respect Women

~PD

Take the latest one to make its way into my inbox. I wasn’t particularly surprised to find a mail from an eminent Indian historian with the subject line “Very Urgent”. Having worked with him in the past, I just assumed he was contacting me for work. My hopes were dashed, though, for this is what the mail said (original punctuation retained for added entertainment!):

Please, i am in a Critical situation right now which i will need your urgent response.Actually, I had an urgent trip to United Kingdom but unfortunately for me Armed Robbers attacked the hotel i lodged and all my money and some of my luggages was stolen .I had been so restless and hopeless because i have been without any money. All the Hotel telephone lines here got disconnected by the robbers and they are still trying to get them fixed so i only have access to emails, my mobile can’t work here so i didn’t bother to bring it.All i want you to do is to help me with some money,please kindly send me 1450 pounds, so i could pay my hotel bills and return home.I would refund it immediately i get home,please help me send it through Western Union Money Transfer because it is the fastest and safest way i can receive it.

Send it with my name and the address of the hotel below:

NAME: [...]
ADDRESS: [...]
CITY: Middlesex
COUNTRY: UK
ZIP CODE: TW2 7QT

I will be waiting for your help soon,i will really appreciate your quick response.

cheers
[...]

~PD