And the angel flew away...

Today the country woke up to the heart wrenching news about the death of the 23 year old rape victim died at the Mt. Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. The brave heart who fought for survival for so many days and finally the angel today flew away to the heaven. But the kind of outrage that she sparked before passing away is incredible. And today as I write this article, I really wish if she could see the massive support which brought together people from each and every corner of the country. Today as we haven’t seen her or known her real name for even once, that is how she has become the daughter of every family in this country.

The massive protests in the streets of Delhi and the rest of the country have been remarkable. Young voices across sections of society came together to show solidarity towards the rape victim and also demand justice against the perpetrators. The movement, extremely peaceful and spontaneous had in real sense today shaken the pillars of our political establishment. So much so that the three times elected Chief Minister of New Dlhi, Ms. Sheila Dixit was not even allowed to enter the protest site and was rather booed away by the protestors. And no one was allowed to garner political benefits out of the situation.

Throughout the week preceding the death of the 23 year old brave heart have indeed been a mixed bag of both bitter and some really sour experiences. Instead of feeling the anger and anguish of the people, our so-called elected representatives didn’t shy away to pass bizzare comments as the nation demanded for justice. Whether its Congress MP, Abhijit Mukherjee’s ‘Dented and Painted’ remark about the protestors or TMC MLA, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s comment wherein she tried to call the Park Street Rape less serious than the Delhi one. I mean what kind of a world are they staying in? They’re in total disconnect with the voice of millions who are there on the streets of Delhi.

What does it take for the all-powerful politicians with every possible facility required to call for a special session of parliament and pass stringent laws when there is so much public uproar? When the parliament was attacked in 2002, they could call a special session of parliament to pass the Prevention of Terrorism Act (2002) but when the women of the country are attacked, it takes so much of discussions and deliberations to call a session, why? I ask when the government will act firm on these cowards who commit the most heinous act a human being can ever indulge in. As a matter of suggestion, they shouldn’t even be referred as human beings anymore.

Through this forum I would like to raise the opinions of what the Young India wants from our government in quick bulleted points:

• The government must call a Special session of the Parliament to amend certain sections of CrPC and make it more stringent.
•   Rape should be made a non-bailable offense. Attempt to rape should be held par se with rape.
• Terms such as eve-teasing should be replaced with Sexual Assault and a proper Sexual Assault Bill must be passed to punish the guilty.
• There should strict punishments such as Chemical Castration and Public Execution to inculcate fear among people.
• A serious of Police, Judicial as well as Political Reforms must be initiated to sensitize them against any case of violence against women.
•  Effective helplines should be made available for the victims so that help is neing meted out in time.
• No person should be allowed to fight elections having criminal charges assigned against him which deal with violence against women.

Today as the entire country mourns, where are the politicians who are more often seen in television debates than in the parliament? Its time they feel the heat of the moment and act back. No more will the youth of the nation can be fooled and cornered away. Because this time the politicians are not setting the agenda for them instead they’re setting the agenda for them. No more can they be called mere urban candlelight protestors marching on the streets because we must now remind ourselves with the new clarion call of the youth that:

‘Its better to hold a candle than to hold a lathi’.

Another rape in Delhi, where are we heading?

17^th December 2012: Another dark date in the history of modern India. In a horrific incident that took place in New Delhi, a 23 year old girl was gang raped in a private moving bus by five men and then flung off the bus. Accompany her was her friend who was mercilessly beaten up with iron rods when confronted. As of now a case has been registered under Article 376 of the Indian Penal Code and four accused arrested. The Chief Minister of New Delhi has also ordered the immediate cancellation of the license of the bus after the incident. But the bigger question persists, is it enough?

According to a relative of the victim, at around 9-9.30 at night, both the victims got on the white deluxe luxury for returning back home. While inside the bus, there were already 5-7 staff members present who later started to misbehave with the girl. When the guy protested, her was mercilessly beaten up and the girl was dragged to the bus cabin and then gang raped by five men. The girl now is fighting for her life in the hospital. Such is the pathetic condition of law and order in the country, especially in New Delhi which could by now be well tagged as the national capital of crime.

Reacting to the incident, I found the comment of the National Spokesperson of the Congress very interesting. When asked for comments on the case, she said “That she thinks that the old fashioned way that earlier used to be followed in the district of shaving off the heads of the accused, blacken their faces and made to sit in a donkey while they are being roamed in the entire area is the best punishment for such third grade cowards who think that by raping women they prove themselves to be men”. It was indeed a very strong reaction that came from a very senior Congress Spokesperson.

The biggest irony of the case is the fact that area where the incident took place is a very thickly populated area. The entire stretch from Munirka to Mahipalpur, no part is sparsely populated and it is not possible that the police or the general citizens were not present there. Yet none choose to stand up to it and lend a helping hand. This proves how ignorant we have become that even the plight of a person can’t melt our hearts. That we have become so dumb that even the screams of pain and horror are never been heard by us. How could we even blame others when we are ourselves can’t stand against it?

The Parliament also witnessed uproar about the case with a united opposition stalling the question hour in Rajya Sabha demanding an immediate statement by home minister Sushil kumar Shinde on the issue. In the Lok Sabha, members led by Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP) raised the matter and demanded suspension of question hour. But, members took their seats after Speaker Meira Kumar assured them that they would be allowed to raise it during zero hour.Reacting to it, Speaker Meira Kumar said "This is a serious issue. This is a heinous act. I will allow you to raise the matter during zero hour,”

Today not only this case but the many other innumerable cases that are happening one after other asks only one question. How much is enough? Today if you go to a police station to register a case of eve-teasing, the police refuses to register complain and instead blames the victim of improper dressing. Who gave them the right to question the dressing of the girl, his job is to follow the law and not question the victim. But who seems to care. Today no one dares to stand up and say ‘Don’t tell the girls how to dress, instead tell men not to rape”.

As the year comes to an end, such incidences one after another are only reiterating a single point of how bad our country’s law and order situation is. But as I said earlier, who cares after all? Neither the administration nor the police and not even we as the citizens of this country seem to care as so many innocent girls need to bear the wrath of such cowards. It’s high time we rise up and fight against these injustices. Only a cooperated effort can let us remove it from its very grassroots.

The Ghosts of Gujrat!

The deadly year of 2002, saw the slaughtering of innocent lives in the name of religion in Gujarat. It is the year which still brings shiver in our body when we think about the pain and the plight that the people specially the minority Muslims went through. People where mercilessly killed, women raped, kids slaughtered into pieces and even pregnant women weren’t spared. Such was the horrific scene of Gujarat ten years before while the state today is in its run of becoming the richest state of India.

Over the years, the voices of these people somewhere got trapped and weren’t allowed by the strong Executive in the state to reach out to others. Those, who were guilty never got convicted and those whose lives were completely shattered were left to die. The very existence of the community was questioned and these poor people had no other option but to remain quiet and support the brutal and oppressive rule of the state government.

But finally after ten long years, justice has been delivered in this country. Yes, the ghosts of Gujarat if not all are finally been caught and punished for their brutal act of killing innocent people mercilessly. Just a couple of months back, the Gujarat High Court keeping into consideration all evidences sentenced the BJP sitting MLA, Maya Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi of the Bajrang Dal (a part of the so-called Sangh Parivar of BJP) were sentenced to life imprisonment with others finding them guilty in the Naroda Pattiya Case. The Ghosts of Gujarat finally seem to be convicted.

It took our judiciary ten long years to breach the strong executive in the state and finally punish the convict. Today when the family members of those who were killed let a sigh of relief, I wonder about the other ghosts of Gujarat who are still roaming freely. The Godhra riots would be the epicentre of this tragedy where thousands of people from the minority community were brutally murdered. Is it a crime in this country to belong to the minority community? Does a sheer number gives someone the right to kill and maim others? Is this the great secular nature of our nation that we always boast about?

This is the kind of hypocrisy that the state government led by the BJP is always known for. The best bluff to hide their dreadful sins has been the path breaking development in the state and the Congress’s inefficiency to run the country. The BJP has reached an altogether different milestone in this arena. Even after so many revelations they’re still running away from the state’s active role in spreading hatred against the minority community during the riots. And look at the plight of our country, just because Hindus are in majority in the state and that keeps the BJP in power, the original culprits behind it are never been caught.

But despite of all the odds, the courage of a few people must be saluted without whom the little justice that has been delivered would probably never have been possible. This endless list can be topped by people like Tista Setalvad, Mallika Sarabhai, Sanjiv Bhatt etc. These people put in their lives in fighting against the injustices of the state government and their role in spreading hatred among the masses. They were threatened, thrown out of their jobs, sent hate mails and messages and also attacked by goons, but these people swore of putting the culprits behind bars and were successful too. Also Tehelka must also be congratulated for their courageous sting operations and fearless reporting which proved to be key evidences in punishing the culprits.

While many intellectuals today are talking about the impact of the verdict in the assembly elections of Gujarat towards the end of this year, that one question is still bothering me. In the race of elections which is all about permutation and combination of numbers, the key conspirators are still ruling the state, following their orthodox ideologies and still ignoring the voices of those affected who demand for justice. Does the concept of ‘unity and diversity’ and ‘a secular Indian state’ ever be able to be achieved in Gujarat? In return of so many questions, we get only silence at the end.

The Indian Youth.

As I go on writing this article, every other minute a child is dying out of malnourishment. For every kid in the sprawling urban centres of India who travel in Mercedes and have their lunch and dinner in multi-speciality restaurants, there are countless children on the Indian streets who go to sleep with an empty stomach. So, this is where we belong to, India with the largest youth population in the entire world. When the whole world is making a huge hue and cry about the sheer might of the Indian Youth and India on the run of becoming a Super Power by 2020, many intellectuals are sceptical about the same.

India has a very young population i.e. the majority of Indians tend to be young, and the average age is also less than that for the most other countries. According to some of the recent surveys, the share of the 15-40 age group is nearly more than 60%. The demographic dividend or ‘advantage’ to be derived from the age structure of the population is due to the fact that India is and will remain for some time, one of the youngest countries in the world. If recent reports are to be believed, by 2020, the average Indian will be only 29 years old, compared with an average age of 37 in China and the United States, 45 in Western Europe and 48 in Japan. This thereby implies a large and growing labour force, which can deliver unexpected benefits in terms of growth and prosperity.

But this potential can be converted into actual growth only if the rise in the working age group is accompanied by increasing levels of education and employment. But the condition of the Indian society with the social evils looming large on the horizon, is this possible? To dig a little deep into this issue, the concept of the declining sex ratio or the biasness towards the girl child in India is of special relevance.

Nationally the sex ratio still remains a mere 940 females for every 1000 males. The state-level child sex ratios offer even greater cause of worry. As many as six states and union territories have a child sex ratio of under 900 females per 1000 males and this particular trend is seen in some of the most prosperous states in India. Punjab is the worst affected state with an incredibly low sex ratio of 793, followed by Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The only curtain of praise could be raised for Sikkim with the highest sex ratio of about 986 females per 1000 males. Though several factors may be held responsible for the decline in the child sex ratio, some crucial include- Severe neglect of girl babies in infancy, leading to higher death rates; sex specific abortions that prevent girl babies from being born; and female infanticides . So when such cruel treatment to the sex that comprises half the population of human kind is given, the potential of the Indian Youth to rise above the horizon would only remain an illusion.

When we talk about the Indian youth to be an asset of our country, we tend to lift only the 20% of the elite class and forget about the rest of the 80% which comprises of the real population of the Indian Youth. In today’s era when we talk about Chetan Bhagat, MS Dhoni, Rahul Gandhi, Ranbir Kapoor to be the Youth Icons of India, we once again forget to show our solidarity towards those who are actually working for the upliftment of the Indian Youth and it’s high time that we should start appreciating their efforts.

India is indeed facing a window of opportunities created by the demographics dividend but the dream that our late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi saw of the Indian Youth to be the mightiest in the entire world would be only possible when every child goes to school, when no child sleeps with an empty stomach, when no one out of the three malnourished child who happens to be an Indian dies out of malnourishment. Only then can our country raise its voice and shout aloud the clarion call of “Our youth, our strength. Our youth, the voice of the nation.” So let’s come forward and take a pledge to help this country recall the glory of its past and the prime driving force in this mission would always be the Indian Youth.