Pakistan rekindled

As dusk approaches, a gentle breeze brushes against passionate countenances of people who have gathered at D-chowk - today charged with adrenaline – all set to welcome the thrilling twilight, scores of which have of lately been capturing the media and imagination of the Pakistani mind. Young girls clad in hijabs, neck-scarves and aviators; some sporting caps and almost all holding netted flags, flags which have been dyed in red and green with a white Crescent and “Tehreek-e-Insaf” scribbled in Urdu. On the top of its voice shouts a man – once a cricketer, now a politician-  in a loudspeaker and out aloud the girls respond:

Loudspeaker: “Dekho dekho kaun aaya” Girls: “Sher ka shikari aaya!”

“Dekho dekho kaun aaya” “Sher ka shikari aaya!”

Loudspeaker: “Kaun Bachayega Pakistan” Girls: “Imran Khan Imran Khan”

“Kaun Bachayega Pakistan” “Imran Khan Imran Khan”

This is only a recapitulation of lately what has been a recurring drama in Islamabad. Local fields swelled up with Pakistani youth and middle class people have been much covered by the media in the past 2 months. As an observer who sits comfortably in his room, I have but little idea of what is brewing inside our neighbouring country. My sources have been news reports and media footages. I am hence only commenting on what I have observed and my opinions regarding it.

The situation stretches back to the 14^th General Elections of Pakistan held in May 2013, which declared the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) as the single largest party henceforth making Nawaz Sharif as the new Prime Minister of the 6th most populous nation of the world – Islamic Republic of Pakistan. However contrary to popular sentiments, which hailed these elections to be the most “free and fair” in Pakistan’s history, reporting of large scale rigging soon emerged out. The Election Commission of Pakistan came up with serious allegations of rigging and even mentioned the involvement of returning officers and civil servants in it. Thereafter the anger which was broiling bit by bit in opposition lead by Ameen Faheem’s Pakistan People’s Party and Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party broke out at last with the members of PTI resigning their membership of Parliament and calling the general public for demonstrations and sit-ups ahead of Parliament and the PM house. The scene depicted at the start of this article mentions one such sit-up.

Several sit-ups followed and scores of people from different shades of Pakistani public attended such gatherings. Pakistan Awami League’s sufi cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri was soon to follow (Imran Khan) and his presence bloated the attendance with more participants, this time his supporters. The masses, as many as 25,000 people, were composed of all and sundry belonging to different classes and opinions; young and old alike they stood for their aims were same- “Nawaz Sharif gaddi chhodo” or “Go Nawaz Go”. The demonstrators faced a heavy blow when few PTI supporters stormed the premises of state news agency PTV and took the services off the air. They had to face police action which lead to 3 casualties. Clashes also took place in front of PM house against which Pakistani Defence Minister Khwaja Asif ordered for selective crackdown. “The writ of the state must be enforced” said Asif. Recent developments have witnessed the emergence of a committee of opposition politicians called jigra (PTI, PPP, PAT) which looks forward to mediate talks between embattled Nawaz Sharif government and the protesters. Also while Nawaz government has conceded all the demands of protesters (~ changes into the election process), it still stands adamant against their penultimate demand of PM’s resignation.

So much for the crash course on history of recent Pakistani turmoil. All said and done, what catches my attention the most are the sit-ups. These were (now strength decreasing) bloated gatherings often with people in quantities as many as 100,000s sitting together to demand Nawaz’s resignation. D-chowk holds most of these gatherings where Imran Khan has taken a temporary shelter in a shipping container. This Cricket star turned politician who is now also addressed as the Punjabi Sher holds the reigns of the demonstrations. Peculiarly enough, he finds it hard to talk except in cricketing metaphors. As soon as the public calms down to listen him speak, he shouts aloud in the mic “Aapke kaptaan me abhi bohot jaan baaki hai!” -“There is still much life left in your captain” or “ye samajhte kyu nahi ki inki innings khatm ho gayi hai aur pavilion jaane ka waqt a gaya hai?”-“Why don’t they get it that their inning has ended and that they’re due to pavilion?” The charismatic leader of PTI (whose election symbol is a cricket bat!) emerges out in the evenings –amidst tunes of pop song Allah Hu Allah Hu- to address his supporters and spends his days travelling and mobilising people.

The grip however is loosening now and gradually people are losing interest. The demonstrations were an expression of anger in the popular mind-set of common people facing wide scale corruption, poor governance, terrorism, failed public service delivery (health, electricity, water, sanitation) so on and so forth. Once the anger is vented out, it gives relief to the mind and people soon lose faith in the demonstrations especially after government crackdowns. Many amongst the demonstrators were young college going men and women, who could not continue to take breaks from their studies for long.

In the wake of negotiations and mediations, the strength of supporters in streets is decreasing continuously thus marking the concluding phase of these undemocratic popular demonstrations. There are more pressing concerns such as Indo-Pak border shelling and ceasefire violations for which Pakistan will have to answer. Under pro-active gestures of friendship and mutual dialogue shown by their Indian counterparts (whether it is invitation to Narendra Modi’s swearing in ceremony or his UN general assembly speech), Pakistan must take a serious stand against terrorism and be equal partners with India to solve the border issue with dialogue and deliberations. This is the right time for us to revoke the biannual Defence Secretary level talks which have been in a state of limbo since some time and respect the sacredness of ceasefire. But for this to take place seriously, Pakistan must soon solve its internal crisis first, even if it demands a re-elections.

Ebola in town

The West Africa Ebola Virus outbreak in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria has consumed more than 1,200 lives with more than 2,200 suspect cases. World Health Organisation has declared the epidemic as an international emergency.

 

1785, Gola Forest, Sierra Leone, group of Kru tribals settle in the woods having recently migrated from Lofa, Liberia. They collect timbers, tubers and hunt Diana monkeys for food. Life has given enough troubles to every member of the clan but now Krus have settled for peace and serenity, which is but temporary in their new habitat. Dumola Muwalu Bukele, the local tribal elder of the Vai tribe is unapproving of the recent Kru developments in his neighbourhood. Krus do not share ethnicity with Vai but they are ferocious and brave although a minority. Vais on the other hand are the deadly hunters and conjurers who on wish can change themselves into demons. Eventually on the night of full moon when Krus are dancing and drinking to celebrate Jacqui - birth of their clan deity, Bukele attacks the settlement. The Vai demons attack with claws, jaws, spears and knives on the unarmed Krus including women and kids. Beaded hair and white decorated Kru faces are reddened with blood and soon the settlement is flooded with dead bodies around the fire. The witch-hunt consumes every single Kru save mother Sherma who says to the demon Bukele:

We came for water, we came for food, we meant no harm, sorghum we brewed.

We didn’t take arms for tonight Jacqui we celebrate, had we picked up our spears, our might we had demonstrate.

You are no demon, you’re just another coward, mark my words for darkness on you shall be showered.

For a time shall come when the beast of the fallen Kru shall arise,

In the dread of the night it will walk with black eyes.

It will eat, it will bite and will wipe your name in mud,

All your men will die and their women will weep blood!

Having cursed Bukele, Sherma, still breathing and the entire settlement was put to fire. As the fire consumed Sherma, Bukele watched her burning and screaming in agony. Soon the screams were muted and silence engulfed the settlement. But unnerved he stood, for Bukele could still see clearly the curse of Sherma still hanging above the ashes.

229 years after her death, the beast has finally arisen.

         

2014, 9:30pm meanwhile in Sierra Leone…

(Donda, Running and panting, speaking to himself) Where are you! Sshhhit! (Breathing heavily) Keep runnin, keep runnin little Donda, almost there! This isn’t real…this can’t be! My God, stop shouting, Edward for Christ’s sake shut up these women!

(Meanwhile women shouting…) Eee Bow Laaa! Eee Boww Laaaa!

Edward: I’m trying my man, they’re excited Donda. Where’re you up to Donda?

Donda: Edy my man, I’m off to report a signature!

(Donda to himself) Keep runnin, keep runnin Donda, you’re almost there! I know the world is spinning, but this ain’t your regular psychedelic smoke, this is lack of air, ma mouth is dry, I’m thirsty and I’m about to fall… (Thud!) I’m down, man down, get up, no let me lay, let me die… at least it’s less painful… (Silence)… The taste of mud, they say it’s salty and its smell… more like my hair… this is heaven. No!! Get up you good for nothing jackass, find the white shirts. This is a task, to fall and die is a direct breach of protocol! My legs are weak but functional still and run I shall, yet again. Keep runnin keep runnin little Donda, there it is, the white van.

Donda to white-shirts: Sir! Sir Hello sir, the… theyr… there’s a signature sir, yes sir, premature.

(Donda contemplating) Then I sit in the white van with the white shirts and we trace back the path that I recently ran past. There yonder pond lies Sister Mary in her hut and we’ll fetch her with doctors, with medics and throw Ebola out’a her. Eee Bow Laaa Eee Bow Laaa vehemently shouts the women of the neighbourhood. This is my small animated locality in western Daru, Sierra Leone and I am 40 year old Ebanahu Donda. I own a meat shop and my neighbours call me little Donda, owing to my little body. White shirts say I do not grow because I shit in open. I believe the white shirts. Our van speeds past bushes on one side and muddy-plastered huts on other side. It’s 2143hrs and there’s no electricity (hardly surprizing) save the orange glows of Naftaada Lamps (kerosene lamps), which the lahai women light up every evening in their small huts for what has become a ritual now. There are rumours that shouting EBOLA aloud will make the disease go so every evening invariably, women flock near the cotton tree and repeatedly shout aloud Eee Bow Laaa! As our van approaches the pond and we dismount the van, white shirts jump out with extreme swiftness and carry Sister Mary inside the van on a stretcher.

White-shirts: “The girl is showing Ebola signatures. We will take her and her father to the treatment facility. Do not enter the premises of this hut. Do not touch anything and women... stop wailing.

(Sffwoosh!) The van drives away in the dark of the night leaving me with animated men and hysterical women. Soon the neighbours retreat to their dingy huts and I can hear the crickets as silence falls. Naftaada lights flicker over my face revealing the dread and tears in my eyes. While I weep, shadows dance on brown mud walls as if mocking my pain, Mary’s pain. And in the shadows I can sense an old women… and her curse.

Donda: Bad… This is very bad, I say.

9:23am next Morning…

(Taka taka dhum!! Sounds of Congo-drum being playing nearby)

(Donda blabbering) I slept whole night outside Mary’s porch? Aah…I am weak... and hungry. My hands… they are so small, calloused and rough. I stink! Where are my shoes? My head is spinning. Aah…Thieves! Hold it Donda, hold it, I am alright, drink some water. Am I colour-blind? Why is everything brown? No wait…there’s something Red. Red and Blue, yes this is the poster that the white-shirts pasted. It reads “Ebola don’ts”. It shows a shitting man and says “don’t defecate in open”. The white-shirts say Ebola spreads through body fluids. Unlike flu virus it doesn’t spread with air. It spreads through Blood, sweat, urine, semen, sneeze and shit!

All hell broke loose since this beast of a disease entered our country. Initially the doctors did not know what they were dealing with in their dilapidated hospitals. Later the white-shirts were deployed in all districts. They wear white Hazmat suits and helmets…thus the name. They look at us from beneath their giant snorkelling masks and dare not touch us without latex gloves. They carry blue buckets filled with Ebola culture, which is transported to treatment facility for finding the cure to the beast. They don’t have the cure yet. Anybody who catches the virus here, does not survive. These white-shirts… (Sad)…they’re working hard but they’re just stalling the imminent end.

(Somewhere near, Radio chatters…BBC Morning Edition, Americans Dr. Kent Brantly and Dr. Nancy Writebol who were infected with Ebola while working in a missionary clinic in Liberia are recovering fast. The duo had been treated with the experimental “chimpanzee adenovirus vector vaccine”. To use the drug in African nations or not is however still an issue of debate…)

(Dhum dhum taka… Congo sound increasing)

Our locality is infested with a moribund state of gloominess. Today there’s no sun. Breeze is cool under an overcast sky.

Donda (shouting in half cracked voice): “Aye Edward! Why’re you squatting o’er there?”

Edward (clad in his favourite Qatar Airways Barcelona jersey): “I’m waiting”

Donda: “You’re waiting! You’ve been squatting over there for over an hour now, whachha waiting for?”

Edward (pensive): “I don’t know! (Pthu…spitting betel-nut juice)”

Edward grins, exposes his few pairs of reddened crocked teeth but soon retreats in contemplation.

(A bunch of drunk boys arguing with the white-shirts)

The white-shirts are having a hard time to convince the boys that Ebola is real. Women believe in it but men don’t. They think women are scared and it’s a political scam to divert international funds. Now the local administration has started printing T-shirts with “Ebola is real” logos. Edward was interviewed yesterday by a team of journalists from Doctors without Borders? It went like this:

Edward to journalist: “Lissen Medem- (Hoarse voice) there’s no Ebola! Take Ebola to Emerica, take Ebola to Britane, no Ebola over here, and no Ebola in me. If I die that’s my right.”

(Donda disturbed and blabbering) If people don’t believe in the disease then they don’t report the signatures and the disease spreads. But I reported Mary yesterday. Oh Jesus what a deadly disease it is! It makes you bleed from inside. Your eyes will bleed, nose, mouth and ears will bleed. Oh God, your skin bleeds from within and large bubbles filled with blood appear on it. It’s an agonizing and painful death. Jesus save us from the curse!

When the reporters were interviewing Edward, Daru was scared. Daru is Edward’s pet monkey, so no one eats it. Nobody eats anybody’s pet, is the unwritten law in the neighbourhood. But everyone eats a wild monkey even if it is diseased. The white-shirts said “stop eating the primates, primates spread Ebola!” Edward reprimanded “(Hoarse voice) the white-shirts want to eat all monkeys, so they stop us”. Bushmeat (Monkey meant or Groundhog meat) is commonly eaten in our country. Everyone prefers monkeys over chicken and fish. White-shirts say “Bat eats fruit, Monkey eats fruit, Donda eats fruit, and Donda catches Ebola” HIV virus spread like this, they say. I used to shout on a loudspeaker and sell a lot of Bushmeat, freshly traded from Lofa forest Liberia. It is protein and is sweet. But now administration has put ban on Bushmeat and police has closed my meat shop. They have instead opened a chimp testing facility in the neighbourhood. Soon Daru will be snatched from Edward

Edward (still squatting motionless).

(Taaka dhum dhum taaka…Congo plays loudly) Eee Bee Oow Ell Aaa! Ebola in town! Don’t touch your friend! No touching! No eating something! It’s dangerous! Ebola… Ebola in town, don’t touch your friend! No kissing! No eating something! It’s dangerous.

(A bunch of boys are walking past the neighbourhood and they’re singing ‘Ebola in town’)

Donda: Isn’t this the latest chartbuster sung by Shadow Morgan that has gone viral with the youth? I wonder why people dance on the tunes of the beast. Seems the beast is playing with our minds and everyone is going blind and crazy. Young boys and girls still eat Bushmeat in their homes and dance all night on the tunes of Ebola in town.

Shadow Morgan is earning a killing out of it. There’s a new brand of cola called the Ebola Cola, the haemorrhage that refreshes. A new Chinese movie called Ebola Syndrome has released. It’s poster says “it wasn’t murder, it was war!” Infested dead bodies are being buried in separate burial grounds but it seems many of us don’t care. It seems as a dark comedy.

(Donda looks at his face in a mirror hung upon the brown muddy wall of a hut nearby) My face is weather beaten, oily and bloated. My hair is falling, I ought ‘a drink less.

In the mirror I see, far behind me Edward has stood up and is chasing and pelting stones on an ongoing white van.

Edward (sprinting):“Get out you baboons or I’ll eat you”

Donda: Ey Edward!

Edward: Donda, what is it my man?

Donda: You’ve taken my shoes, you mule?

Edward: No, my man

Donda: Still, walk me over to my hut

Edward: Right away Donda

…and we walk (Edward humming Ebola in town…)

Raped and Consumed

A dusty denim jean, black jacket, soiled boots, my watch an instrument that continuously reminds me of the ebbing time before the game is over, holed gloves with hands in pocket, a muffler to contain my throat, I am walking briskly under the flickering florescent lights of platform number 2 at half past 4 in morning. Thanks to my tardiness, I jump on the meter gauge and run past the signal wires just to find the ticket window crowded with men buried under layers of blanket and peeping into the small ticket window to obtain their passports of escape. Breathing heavily in the cold air, my mouth smoking, I take my ticket and manage to grab a window seat in the intercity express. The train starts and I can feel the wind blowing past my hair. It is a cool December morning and the air has a typical smell of mist and coal, one that can only be experienced while leaving Agra. I observe houses of all shades as I pass them, bricks, quasi-clayed, a Mosque, a pond, buffalos and dogs. Then comes the moor and the smell. It is a large tract of barren land parallel to railway line, now occupied by men, women and children to answer the call of nature. 5 in the morning as multitudes of individuals squat with loo mugs by their sides to mark the break of dawn, I am drawn into a state of contemplation over the miserable realities.

There are 600 million Indians who defecate in open every day. This accounts for 55% of our population. It is a disturbing reality because it spreads diseases like diarrhoea and hepatitis. More recently open defecation has been into news of cases involving abductions and kidnappings. Time and again, there have been reports about girls who went to answer the call of nature at night and were abducted and eventually raped by unscrupulous men. The recent incidents in Hisar, Haryana (4 girls of Dhanak community, SC) and Badaun, UP (2 girls, lynched and hanged on a tree) have brought this crude reality to the fore. Comments such as “Even animals can’t be forcefully dragged”- Naresh Agarwal MP, Samajwadi Party are smacked with craven attitude of political unwillingness and apathy to address the issue. Such political ignorance exposes itself when one realizes that in both the cases the victims belonged to a caste inferior than that of the perpetuators.

Gender discrimination?

Gender and Sex are two different things even though both are used interchangeably. Gender is a social-cultural construct that runs on the stereotypes of femininity and masculinity. Gender differences are based on social roles and status. On the other hand sexual differences are based on biological differences such as the reproductive system. When physical differences are used as a tool to discriminate with women in socio-political affairs in comparison to men, it is called gender discrimination.

Gender discrimination breeds very inconspicuously in Indian families. From the time a boy and a girl is born, the former is seen as preserver of the blood line and the later as Else’s Wealth (Paraya Dhan). The education, health and childhood of the later will be readily compromised by the family for the former. Girls are taught to rear children, be good homemakers and wives, while boys are taught to be the bread owners. Women will be identified with their fathers or brothers or husband (She is such and such’s wife). They do not have share in family property (Hindu succession act 1956 is indeed present but only for the better placed citizens. The voices of more needy rural women are never even heard let alone answered). Manusmriti does not accept independent status of women and dictates that a women should be controlled by her father in childhood, in youth by her husband and by her son when she goes senile. In such a patriarchal atmosphere many boys grow up unconsciously believing that women are objects of homemaking and male satisfaction. This feeling is all pervasive in the Indian society and it eventually circumscribes the engagement of women in public and social life.

(The very fact that you are reading this article proves that you are less likely to directly experience such atmosphere of bias, which is more present in the rural and urban poor families. But we must not forget that 742 million Indians still live in villages and rural hinterlands, constituting the larger part this democracy where such bias exists.)

Gender Discrimination! Where’s the proof?

Gender discrimination slowly reflects the ugly side when it translates into domestic violence. The data from NFHS-3 (2005, most comprehensive national level survey on Family and Health) is most useful to study these sad realities. 33.4% of women have experienced physical violence (slapped, arm twisted, hair pulled, punched, kicked, dragged, choked or burned) majorly by their husbands, 10.4% have faced sexual violence (forced sexual intercourse, forced to perform sexual acts she did not wanted to do) in their own households and 15.24% women have confessed being subjected to emotional violence such as humiliation in front of others, threatened to hurt or insulted and made to feel bad about herself. Domestic violence can lead to short term health outcomes such as unwanted pregnancies, injuries and long term serious outcomes such as organ damage, mental disorder, depression and vaginal-anal and urethral traumas leading to infections. Such subjugated women are less likely to get parental care, which leads to underweight deliveries (Empirical data suggests that there is a linear relationship between sexual violence and gynaecological morbidity).

Violence at its extreme

Penile and non-penile penetration in bodily orifices of a woman by a man, without the consent of the woman, constitutes the offense of rape under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013. Rape is an abhorrent combination of sexual, physical and emotional violence subjected over a women. The NCRB data suggests that there were 24,923 rapes committed during 2013 in India. Mark that these are the official figures and a gamut of cases (various estimates claim 54%-90%) never even reach the columns of official registers for the fear of retaliation or humiliation. Large scale rapes take place invariably in times of riots and wars. 100,000 women were reportedly raped during India’s partition, 200,000-400,000 Bangladeshi women were raped by Pakistani military in 1971.

Is rape a sexual urge? Why does the convict do it? Is he seduced?

Rape is certainly not about sexual urge or seduction otherwise men rapes (male victim) would have been equally widespread. It is a reflection of power and domination specific to the immediate surroundings. Tribal people in India treat their women much better than caste Indians and we hardly observe rape cases in such areas (Scheduled areas (Schedule 5 Indian constitution) not counting times of crisis such as insurgency). Perpetuators repeatedly perform the nefarious act over victims again and again because they do not fear the crippling justice system. They do not fear the police. It is a way of saying that I am superior. The court proceedings surfaces out the victim’s wounds and have exceptionally low probability of delivering justice (around 1% as per NCRB data). The prosecutor (victim) is provided with a public lawyer who has several other criminal and civil cases under him as often there is only 1 public lawyer per court. The public lawyer meets the victim in the court for the first time itself and thus ask all sorts of questions. Cases come to pause if the perpetuator is an escapee or if the public lawyer is busy and years pass before the next hearing if the file mysteriously gets misplaced. This does not let the victim forget the heinous past and move on. If she decides to fight, her life is wasted between the corridors of courts and stigmas of society.

Why does more women get raped than men? Is a man physically stronger than a women hence it’s easier for a man to rape a women than the contrary?

There is certainly a superior male machismo in the minds of a male perpetuator but he is not necessarily physically stronger. There are indeed evidences of men rapes, which are equally brutal and despicable. In maximum cases circumstantial evidences show that when the women was raped, the perpetuator was assisted by accomplices who either held down the victim or the victim was drugged or the victim was significantly younger in age/minor than the perpetuator.

When does a rape end?

An act of rape does not end immediately, but it continues until it is publically consumed. It endures until it becomes salacious gossip of the peon, the typist, the court staff and the defence counsel. The insensitive questioning by police officers who often refuse to even file FIR (which is in fact a mandatory job), the mistreatment in public hospitals where doctors (often not specifically trained to handle rape cases) frown at observing rape victims and peons make no efforts to maintain the latter’s confidentiality, the 2-finger tests and scary instruments to scare the victim and convince her to drop the case, are all part of public consumption. People express sympathies and offer condolences and at the same time remain alert enough to side themselves with the person. This happens in a very crafty and inconspicuous manner. As put very cogently by a friend “Will you still marry your soon-to-be bride if she gets raped few days before the marriage? What if a few days before the engagement?” The responses will be very situational and subjective however the idea is to explain that a victim requires ready acceptance into the society without any stigmatization rather than only sympathies. Sad is the fact that we chose to call her a rape victim and him not as a rapist. What is required is to ostracise and outcaste the rapists not the victim. The psychological trauma of a battered woman is greater than the physical pain she undergoes in the aftermath of her being subjected to atrocities.

The establishment of One Step Rape Crisis Centre (OSRCC), an idea formulated by Justice Usha Mehra, has been adopted by 2 NGOs and Jai Prakash Hospital in Bhopal as a dedicated institution to provide support, care, treatment, security and legal advice to women who have been subjected to such atrocities. It is a welcome step in this field. However the real change must come from within. It is a larger question and appeal to everyone one of us, that we must act immediately against unscrupulous elements and have zero tolerance. To ignore this is to support the crime as tomorrow you yourself can be at the end of such injustice.

Rapes and lynching in Badaun

The girls raped and lynched in Badaun Uttar Pradesh belonged to lower castes than their perpetuators. A lower caste women has several conflicting meanings:

·         Unclean, forbidden, subjugated an object of vengeance.

·         Yet desired, exploited and an object of upper class consumption.

Their (Victim’s) parents knew that the police officers were cognizant of their daughter’s whereabouts. But they waited, as were asked, for 2 hours in obedience – a mark of helplessness. This inhuman act ended when they were told to look for their daughters near the tree, where they found them hanging; it ended when the villagers, media and the whole world noticed the horrible dehumanization. The horror display was the final public consumption. 

Teach her, love her, let her play, let her fly, she is an equal human as anyone else, she is half of India.  

-YB

References:

·         The complete Report on NFHS 3 domestic violence can be seen here

·         "Population estimates". Government of India (2001). Census of India. Retrieved 2008-10-26.

·         The Press release of OSRCC: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=105674

·        For domestic violence related content: discussions with a population scientist in Institute of Health Management and Research.

·         First-hand information mentioned by victims in “Satyamev Jayate: Fighting Rape”

·         Tehelka http://www.tehelka.com/delhi-gangrape-outraged-india-reacts/

·         Complete report on relationship of stunted growth and open defecation can be seen here.

·   More on open defecation here: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-long-and-short-of-open-defecation/article4505664.ece

·         The WHO and UNICEF report on Drinking water and sanitation for open defecation figures.

·         The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 can be read here.
Collected essays and articles from "The Hindu" and "Frontline"

Elecshunned

The results of the 16^th Lok Sabha election were recently declared and Narendra Modi led BJP-NDA government has taken the new charge. Whenever India approaches elections a sudden discussion on electoral reforms starts to take place in the esoteric circles. Academicians and critics talk about criminalization of politics, the role of money power and need for public funding of elections to curb the former. Recently the discussions included NOTA. While some of it manages to linger in the public mind, much of it fades out with the declaration of results. However a closer examination of election results of the 16^th Lok Sabha elections will show a surprising reality of the current election system in India, which should become the next topic of discussion among the Indian intellectuals.

India follows FPTP (First-past-the-post) election system which is also called territorial representation. Candidates contest elections from constituencies and only people belonging to the particular constituency votes and chose among the available options. In FPTP each state is divided into territorial constituencies such that:

a.    The ratio of number of seats in parliament for that state and its population remains same for all states. (not including states with population < 6Million)

b.    Each state is divided into territorial constituencies such that the ratio between population of each constituency and number of seats allocated to that constituency is constant.

The rationale behind adopting FPTP was deeply linked with the regional diversity of India. It was understood that FPTP will allow people from all genres to contest elections from their native places and engage in the political system; that under FPTP the candidate-voter relationship will be stronger and that the candidate elected will better understand the socio-economic conditions of the constituency and thus will be in a better position to take requisite steps to address them.

Noble were the initial intentions of the constituent assembly members, who created and drafted our constitution, but as B.R. Ambedkar rightly said “The constitution represents ideas of the current time, it shall however be amended by the future generations as per their requirements”. Whether our election system should be amended or not is for you to judge, I can but only express the unseen realities.  

Let us have a look at the wonders of FPTP in this general election’s results:

Political Party	Percentage of votes received	Seats won in Parliament
BJP	31%	282 (51.74%)
INC	19.3%	44 (8.07%)
BSP	4.1%	0 (0%)
AITC	3.8%	34 (6.23)
AIADMK	3.3%	37 (6.78%)
SP	3.4%	5 (0.91%)

Analysis of the figures of the table aforementioned brings to notice some surprising realities. Bhartiya Janta Party managed to secure 31% of vote share which translated into 282 parliamentary seats. Since BJP emerged out as the biggest winner, if one does a little math upon their figures then it tells that for each 1% of votes there must be 9.09 seats in parliament. According to this simple linear logic INC (the 2^nd largest party) garnering a support base of 19.3% votes should have received (19.3x9.09 ie.) at least 175 seats. On the contrary it has received only 44.

If this is not surprising enough then have a look at the figures of BSP, AITC, AIADMK and SP. AIADMK had a vote base of only 3.3% but they managed to secure 37 seats, fairly close to INC. This shows that a difference of 16% of votes has only affected 7 seats in total (while according to our logic even 1% should mean 9.09 seats). SP on the other hand has a vote base of 3.4% (0.1% larger than AIADMK) however manages only 5 seats. Ironically Bahujan Samaj Party has the largest vote base (4.1%) amongst the above mentioned parties but it hasn't won any seat at all!

Why does such discrepancies happen between the votes and seats obtained by a political party?

Say there are 5 candidates fighting from one constituency and if under the fray one of them gets 1/5^th +1 votes, then she/he will be declared the winner. Which means she/he wins at 20% of the total valid votes polled, leaving the remaining 80% as waste. This brings into question the legitimacy of the claim of the winner over representing the electorate.

This also introduces the concept of wasted votes. Sadly enough under FPTP a vote gets wasted if it goes to the loosing candidate because only one candidate is elected and rest all are equally at a loss. A gentlemen once quoted that “even if my candidate loses my vote is not wasted because then I and my candidate represents the voice of dissent”. This condolence sounds more like a losing battle as not getting an entry into the parliament does indeed leave my candidate as a voice of dissent but only in tea shop discussions, dinner table frustrations and demonstrations in front of secretariats which seldom translate into anything useful for society.

There is a plethora of evidences from around the world about such discrepancies caused by FPTP system. One click on the internet can display a gamut of cases in various countries which follow FPTP including Canada, UK and USA.

The Proportional representation is one substitute to the FPTP. As a matter of fact India utilises the Single Transferable Vote, a form of proportional representation to elect members of Rajya Sabha, members of the State Legislative Councils, The President and the Vice President. Under Proportional representation people vote the political parties rather the candidates; and based on the proportion of votes garnered by the party it gets the corresponding proportion of seats in the Parliament. The seats are then filled by party members as per the priority provided by the party. This essentially means that if XYZ party gets 2% of votes only, they will get seats in parliament corresponding to 2% of total seats. There are both advantages and disadvantages of using PR system. 

Advantages:

a.    Minority parties will get a representation in the parliament.

b.    Concept of waste vote will get eliminated and a true voice of dissent will be present in Parliament.

c.    Regional Parties like CPM and Jaago Party will get due representation.

d.    Will help in reducing vote bank politics and identity politics, no need for reserved constituencies.

e.    Only the deserving members of the party shall get seats.

f.     Will address the issue of criminalization of politics and irrational corporate spending on elections.

Disadvantages:

a.    Will eliminate the concept of by-polls.

b.    Will eliminate the intimate relationship between voters and candidates.

c.    Increase the significance of party system and decrease that of candidate.

d.    Will increase the possibility of dynastic politics and reduce the entry of newcomers, youth and eliminate independent nominations.

e.    Will increase large scale proliferation of political parties in Parliament and further political fragmentation.

As a matter of fact if one goes by the election manifestos, both Bhartiya Janta Party and Indian National Congress oppose the move towards accepting the PR or even partial PR system. While regional parties like CPM and SAD have been in favor of it. There is no objective claim over the usefulness or superiority of these systems. A country must choose the best provisions from them to suit its political realities. As for India the way lies ahead in having a partial PR system with provisions of both FPTP and PR system. (The Law commission report on this suggestion can be viewed here)

The FPTP system is failing a fundamental test of fairness and it is time that appropriate measures be taken to introduce at least a partial PR system. This will only serve to diversify the parliamentary composition and our democratic essence by also bringing up the subjugated voices and the darker hues of the society up to the highest platform of discussions.  

References:

·         Collected essays and articles from Frontline and The Hindu

·         Official Election Commission data eciresults.nic.in/

·         Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth ~ Proportional Representation

·         http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/lc170.htm