The Rape Culture has to stop!

February the 16th... Exactly two months to the heinous Gang rape Incident in which a 23 year Girl was brutally raped and savagely wounded. The wounds to which she finally succumbed. An incident that not just took a young life from the surface of the earth but also took the dreams and aspirations of a young paramedic with it! Not just the parents Nirbhaya lost their child but India as a whole lost another daughter to such inhuman practices that linger within our society. And that incident left us with lots of questions to answer. Are women in India safe? Do we not believe in humanity any more? Don't Indian people know how to respect women? Well the questions are numerous, But whats the answer?

We saw some violent protests in he country especially in the Nation's capital. We saw the nation rise to question about the safety of women and to persuade the govt. to ensure Women's safety in the country. We saw people demanding for death penalty for Rapists! But is that the only solution? Were protests and death row demands for the offenders the only duty for the inhabitants of a country with such rich heritage? Well, death penalty exists for Murderers but does that stop people from murdering?? No! Not at all. Then what should we do to stop such odious crimes in the country? Has our culture got something to do with it?  Is there something that needs to change?

Answering to the last question.. Yes somethings must change. And the change has to be us! We have to change. Majority of the country with a conservative set of mindset still believes women to be weak. We still live in a patriarchal society and many people still think dominating women is a sign of manhood! The thought is itself disgusting and that's where perpetrators of such crimes take birth!

All of us are taught from our childhood probably at the age of 2 or 3 that don't tell lies, don't steal, don't fight. And since that thought was implanted in our brain right at that tender age it becomes a moral value for us . But how many been taught that treat women with respect. I guess very few. In our country women have been put to ill practices like Child Marriage, Sati, Jouhar and Female foeticide. These ill practices are still followed in certain parts of the country which further motivates the dominating nature of a male chauvinistic society. In a male chauvinistic society clearly many male members can stand the idea of seeing women compete with them or even in some sectors go ahead of them. And thus try to dominate women in some way possible to get over the feeling. This is in my view one of the root causes of rapes in the country. India has the 3rd highest no. of rapes in the world for the year 2012. Definitely something is wrong. And something needs a change!


As a result, though I clearly support the idea of granting death penalty to those who offend the modesty of a woman because rapes are clearly a violation of humanity but that is definitely not enough! Being young Indians we have to bring that change. A change where we should teach people and make them understand that women are responsible and equally capable as men. They are an integral part of the society or in other words the backbone of our society. Our fundamental existence is the gift of a woman.. Our mother! And for their sake and to repay the loan we have to respect women! We can't expect to develop without giving the women of our country a fair share of their opportunities. And respecting women should become our moral value and ethical responsibility!

Finally, I dedicate this as a token of respect to every woman who was once subjected to such inhumanity. Condolences to the ones who lost their lives and salutes to those who had the guts to move on in life!

Quotas: Are they the right instruments to impart social parity?

Quota system has always been a favoured tool in the Indian Constitution to establish caste based egalitarianism in the society. Changes have been made from time to time  in the percentage of reservation given to the backward classes in government institutions to achieve social equality. When it was first introduced the sole aim was to bring changes in the lives of the people belonging to the backward class who have been exploited by the upper class for ages. At that time the amount of reservation given was 22%. In 1979, Mandal Commission was set up which on its report submitted in 1980 used to 1930 census to identify more backward classes which were put into the category of OBCs. And there were SC's and ST's. Thus the percentage of reservation was hiked to 49.5%. Recently, Congress called for Muslim Sub-Quota under the OBC reservation stating that Muslims are a minority in the country and they must receive equal opportunities. Well, reservation system has its own communal implications but keeping them aside lets try to analyze if they have fulfilled the aim for which they were introduced.

Well there would be two ways of analyzing the problem:

1) Accepting that the present method of reservation is correct.

2) Or some other way can be proposed! 

Lets take the first case where we think that caste based reservation indeed imparts social equity. But has it? Though the quota system exists, the fraction of backward class population actually drawing any benefits from it is woefully small. What is the reason? The reason is that there is a majority of the people belonging to the backward class don't have access to proper living let alone education. Very clearly they remain deprived of the right to equality. While majority of the upper class if not all continue to prosper in someway or the other, the scenario is quite the opposite for the backward classes despite of all the safeguarding measures taken by the government and also the constitution. A member of the backward class only comes to utilize the benefits of the reservation system at the age of 16 or 17 which is the age when we are exposed to the needs of higher education. But what before to that? By the time a child from the backward class turns 16 he will have faced all the injustice which may have created a rift in his mind between the higher and the lower class. The sense of us and them. And clearly, if the child has not been exposed to quality education right from birth, how can he be expected to take up higher studies when he grows up. Naturally reservation system failed! Only a child from a well settled family of the backward class has used his right to use the reservation system. Purpose not fulfilled. 

Well there are many including me who think that a caste based reservation is not right because firstly it creates communal tensions. Again the sense of us and them prevails. And as a matter of fact there are many families belonging to the General class who lead their lives below the poverty line. What about them? Is it their fault that they were born in a family belonging to the general caste? And talk of achieving social parity, sorry but the was  a huge blunder.

So what must be done to actually exercise equality in the society? 

The best thing in my view would be to establish reservation system on economic backgrounds. I have known families belonging to general caste and yet very poor and people of backward classes but well settled. This would naturally give opportunities to the economically backward ones who are  in one way are actually socially backward. And talking about properly enforcing this reservation system, I would like to link it to the CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES of a company. Today, every company is being asked to bring about changes in their nearby under-developed regions and providing quality education to the poor  is covered in the five point system of the CSR which would definitely pave a path to establishment of social equality. Nonetheless, the feeling of Us and Then will still loom over the minds of the upper class( in economic terms) but at least communal violence can surely be avoided to some extent.  

Afzal Guru's execution and politics !

President Pranab Mukherjee on February 3rd,2013 had rejected more clemency petitions than any of his predecessors in the last 15 years. He has rejected 3 petitions in the last 7 months and the only president leading the record is Shankar Dayal Sharma who had rejected all the 24 mercy petitions he ever received. Well, President Mukherjee has been hailed for his steps to curb terrorism and set examples to deal with any offender who attempts to do such acts in the future. But, things have not been so cool in the Kashmir Valley. The first to oppose was PDP chief and leader of opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly Mehbooba Mufti. In her claims she clearly stated that executuin of Afzal Guru was not right and would worsen the situation in the much troubled state. All hell broke loose when CM Omar Abdullah spoke on the same lines and said that he was only informed about the execution on Friday Night, 8 PM IST. Immediate curfew was exercised and publishing rights of the media were curbed looking and the complicated nature of the problem. The government has also been criticized for the secrecy in the operation and not letting the convict bid a final farewell to the family! Not giving back his bod to the family has added more fuel to the fire. Guru's family ws kept in dark about the execution and truly speaking it sounds wrong.

But the question is why does it affect the people in the valley so much?

The answer is execution of Maqbool Bhat, a separatist leader in 1984 and now Afzal Guru in 2013 has left an impression that govt. has always been seeing Kashmir differently than the rest of the states. With the execution of assassins of Rajiv Gandhi and also the murderer of Beant Singh, former CM of Punjab still on hold the impression gets much stronger.

What the govt. can do?

Clearly, staying Guru's execution is not the answer. You can't let such perpetrators to live and inspire more terrorism. But uniformity in Justice can be established by executing the assassins of Rajiv Gandi as well as Beant Singh. And also bringing Abhinav Bharat, prime suspect of the Samjhauta Express blast and Malegaon Blasts to justice.

Well, this will clearly send a message that the govt. understands that terrorism is not confined to any religion,community or state but its a crime against humanity as a whole. This would also help the people of Kashmir understand that they are not seen differently but with the same eyes as any other Indian is looked at!