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We APRIL 22 TO APRIL 28, 2013<br />
BY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT<br />
Tribal affairs minister Vijay Shah's relent-<br />
less efforts at trying to pacify an angry<br />
Shivraj Singh Chauhan could not save the<br />
day for him. In the early hours of Wednesday he<br />
had to tender his resignation to the chief minister,<br />
who promptly sent it to the governor recommending<br />
acceptance.<br />
Though Shah earned the wrath of the chief minister<br />
and the state party leadership for his demeaning<br />
words on women in general, what did<br />
him in was a loose comment on Chauhan's wife<br />
Sadhna Singh. "Bhabhi ji chalo. Bhai-sahab ke<br />
saath to roz jaate ho, kabhi dewaron ke saath chalo.<br />
Maine bhabhi ki taraf dekha …kya bolti?<br />
(Bhabhiji, why don't we go out sometime? You go<br />
out with bhai-sahab everyday, once in a while accompany<br />
the brother-in-law too)," he had said at a<br />
public function in Jhabua recently.<br />
he State<br />
Vol-01. Issue-30. Bhopal. Monday Page-12. Price-`5/-<br />
www.wethestate.com<br />
Rahul Gandhi's itinerary indicates<br />
serious electoral mission<br />
Shah reached Bhopal on the instructions of state<br />
BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar, but by then<br />
the decision to sack him had been taken in a meeting<br />
attended by Chauhan, Tomar and party general<br />
secretary (organisation) Arvind Menon. As per<br />
party insiders, Tomar was not actually in favour<br />
of sacking Shah from the cabinet as he didn't find<br />
anything objectionable in the video recording of<br />
Shah's speech in Jhabua. He, however, had to bow<br />
to Chauhan's wishes.<br />
The minister drove straight to Tomar's residence<br />
and as instructed by the latter gave his resignation<br />
letter and also a letter of apology addressed to<br />
Chauhan. He tried to put the blame of the media<br />
for "distorting his statements as part of a conspiracy<br />
against him".<br />
Thereafter, Tomar and Menon took Shah to CM<br />
House. Shah reportedly told Chauhan that he had<br />
not made any indecent statement, but an upset<br />
chief minister was not in a mood to give a second<br />
thought.<br />
However, Chauhan sent his principal secretary<br />
Manoj Shrivastava to Raj Bhavan to hand over the<br />
resignation to governor Ram Naresh Yadav, who<br />
accepted it immediately.<br />
At the inauguration function of a MEMU (mainline<br />
electric multiple unit) train at Bhopal railway<br />
station recently, Chauhan told assembled reporters:<br />
"Vijay Shah came to see me. He tendered<br />
his resignation. I have forwarded the same to the<br />
governor with my recommendation to accept it."<br />
Meanwhile, the state Congress termed this as a<br />
"victory" of their "Sadhna ke samman mein Congress<br />
maidan mein" campaign. Party leaders like<br />
district Congress president PC Sharma, state Congress<br />
media-in-charge Manak Agarwal, Shantilal<br />
Padiyar and Abha Singh also reached Shyamala<br />
Hills police station and lodged a complaint against<br />
Shah for his remarks against women.<br />
Shah is a five-time MLA who has been winning<br />
assembly elections right from 1990. A tribal leader,<br />
he hails from a royal family and wields much influence<br />
in Harsud and adjoining areas. Shah said,<br />
"I am in politics for the past 30 years and I have<br />
closely worked with the chief minister when he<br />
was not the chief minister and I was neither a minister<br />
nor a MLA. I have utmost regard for him and<br />
bhabhiji. I cannot in the wildest of my dreams<br />
mean any disrespect to them."<br />
Blaming the media for the controversy, he said, "I<br />
can do nothing if selective parts of my speech are<br />
shown. One would have to watch the entire CD for<br />
more than one hour to understand what I had actually<br />
said and in what context. There was nothing<br />
wrong in it."<br />
As per party sources, the fact that Shah wields<br />
enormous influence in his constituency Harsud<br />
and also some adjoining assembly constituencies<br />
is working in his favour and keeping him insulated<br />
against disciplinary action. Secondly, the BJP<br />
leadership is of the view that if it takes any action<br />
against Shah at the moment, it would be giving legitimacy<br />
to the Congress' protest against the state<br />
government's attitude towards women.<br />
With Shah's removal from the state cabinet, the<br />
strength of Shivraj Singh Chauhan cabinet has reduced<br />
to 32. They include 23 cabinet ministers and<br />
nine ministers of state. In September 2012, the<br />
strength of the cabinet rose to 33 with re-induction<br />
of Anoop Mishra.<br />
Vijay Shah happens to be the sixth minister to be<br />
dropped from the cabinet in the past eight years on<br />
the charges of omission and commission. The others<br />
include Ajay Vishnoi, Anoop Mishra, Kamal<br />
Patel, Jugal Kishore Bagri and Omprakash<br />
Dhruve. Vishnoi and Anoop Mishra. However, they<br />
did not face any direct charges and later made a<br />
comeback.<br />
Also, Shah happens to be the second minister in<br />
the BJP government after 2003 who had to step<br />
down because of his controversial statements.<br />
Earlier, the then chief minister Babulal Gaur had<br />
Pooja Bhatt Hesitates to<br />
Talk about Rape Victims<br />
Vijay Shah gets the boot<br />
for taunting CM’s wife<br />
dropped the then minister Sunil Nayak for his<br />
statement in favour of Uma Bharti.<br />
Whatever is the political fallout of chief minister<br />
Shivraj Singh Chauhan's decision to sack minister<br />
Vijay Shah from his cabinet over his reported<br />
sexist remarks, a section of party leaders feel this<br />
has served as a right message to those party leaders<br />
who might have thought of raising their voice<br />
against him ahead of the elections.<br />
Notably, in the recent constitution of team Rajnath<br />
at the central BJP level, many of Chauhan's<br />
detractors found prestigious positions whereas he<br />
himself could not make it to the parliamentary<br />
board. This sent out a message to the party's rank<br />
and file that Chauhan is gradually losing his command<br />
over the party, and in the time to come, his<br />
opponents within the party would grow stronger.<br />
How <strong>WE</strong> look it !<br />
...Cartoon by K G OJHA
2<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
Capital<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Air taxi service from Bhopal to Ujjain takes off<br />
BHOPAL<br />
The air taxi service started between<br />
Bhopal and prominent pilgrimage centre<br />
Ujjain, received encouraging response<br />
on the inaugural day on Friday. The MP<br />
State Tourism Development Corporation (MP-<br />
STDC) has launched this service in coordination<br />
with Ventura Airconnect.<br />
The response was more than satisfactory for<br />
the inaugural flight, as the first flight which<br />
left Bhopal at noon found occupants for all the<br />
nine seats, while the return flight had eight<br />
passengers. The aircraft in service is a nine-<br />
seater Cessna Grand Caravan Aircraft.<br />
The flight would ferry passengers between<br />
Bhopal and Ujjain thrice a week on Monday,<br />
Wednesday and Friday. The flight leaves<br />
Bhopal at 12.10 pm and reaches<br />
Ujjain at 12.50 pm. During return<br />
journey, the aircraft would<br />
leave Ujjain at 1.10pm and<br />
would reach Bhopal at 1.50 pm.<br />
MPSTDC regional manager<br />
MN Jamali told DNA that this<br />
is second such air-service in the<br />
region, while Indore-Bhopal<br />
service being the first one. He claimed that pil-<br />
grims visit Ujjain in large numbers seeking<br />
blessing at Mahakal, so this service would offer<br />
an easier connectivity between Ujaain and other<br />
destinations.<br />
Recently, the special flight<br />
service offered by MPSTDC<br />
for the Allahabad Mahakumbh<br />
2013 had received<br />
good response as the flights<br />
were running full during entire<br />
Mahakumbh. The special<br />
service was started on February<br />
5. Significantly, India's<br />
first intra-state air taxi service connecting the<br />
cities of Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur had taken<br />
off from in September 2011. The joint venture,<br />
promoted by Venutra Airconnect and MP-<br />
STDC was aimed at offering charter services<br />
and connecting new tourist destinations.<br />
The journey from Bhopal to Ujjain and viceversa<br />
will be conducted through a 9- seater<br />
Cessna Caravan in association with Ventura<br />
Air Connect. Service will be provided on first<br />
come first serve basis. Fair has been decided<br />
between Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,200. Air service will<br />
be available between Bhopal and Ujjain on<br />
three days of week on Mondays, Wednesdays<br />
and Fridays.<br />
Does Chouhan fears trouble from Firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharti ?<br />
BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh feel<br />
Uma Bharti‘s re-entry in the party<br />
fold will help it in the state assembly<br />
elections slated around the year end.<br />
Uma Bharti's re-entry into the party fold<br />
in Madhya Pradesh is being seen as a positive<br />
factor by BJP leaders as far as the<br />
state assembly elections slated around the<br />
year end are concerned.<br />
In 2003, the Congress, under two-time<br />
MP cadre IAS officer in race<br />
for Union Home Secretary post<br />
Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, was badly<br />
defeated in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly<br />
polls. The BJP campaign then was led<br />
by Uma Bharati, who was seen as one of<br />
the leaders who would shape the party’s<br />
future while holding true to its core of militant<br />
Hindutva. She was an impressive<br />
public speaker with popular appeal.<br />
But as the party soon realised, the difference<br />
between a campaigner and an administrator<br />
is immense, and soon after, she<br />
had to be replaced. Babulal Gaur took over,<br />
but he didn’t last long either, and when<br />
Chouhan took over, not many took him seriously.<br />
Chouhan is not an administrative genius<br />
,This was proved when there was much<br />
talk of the power wielded by his wife, Sadhana<br />
Chouhan .He is neither as mercurial<br />
in public, nor is he likely to offer a birthday<br />
cake to Hanuman in public like Uma<br />
Bharti. He has a complex about not knowing<br />
English. He is intimidated by assertive<br />
professional women. Uma Bharti who<br />
stayed long with Rajmata Scindia has<br />
toured worldwide and her her fluency attracts<br />
media . Uma Bharati thought she<br />
was the best chief minister the state has<br />
ever had. But Chouhan has not allowed<br />
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh cadre 1977 batch IAS officer<br />
Dileep Raj Singh Choudhary, hailing from Bhopal, has<br />
emerged as the frontrunner for the post of home secretary<br />
with the Union government. Present home secretary RK<br />
Singh's term ends on June 30 this year. DRS Choudhry is<br />
presently posted as secretary, ministry of steel with the<br />
Union government.<br />
The MP cadre officer has served for almost three years as additional<br />
secretary and then special secretary in-charge of<br />
Naxal management in the Union home ministry. In October<br />
2011 he was appointed secretary, public enterprises, and later<br />
shifted in the same capacity to the ministry of steel.<br />
While in Madhya Pradesh, DRS Choudhary has served as<br />
collector, Betul and later as collector, Raipur, in undivided<br />
Madhya Pradesh. He has also served as housing board commissioner,<br />
registrar of cooperative societies, secretary and<br />
principal secretary, finance department.<br />
If Choudhary is appointed Union home secretary, he would<br />
be the third officer from the state to hold the post. The other<br />
two officers who have served as home secretary in the past<br />
are RN Banerjee, ICS and TCA Sriniwasa Varadan, IAS.<br />
Choudhary hails from a family of civil servants. His father<br />
and father-in-law, late MS Choudhary and late Brahmswaroop,<br />
have served as chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh.<br />
Bharati to return to the state ever since<br />
she left the BJP. Now when she returned it<br />
would be a trouble to maintain emotional<br />
equilibrium that has stood him in good<br />
stead<br />
However, Congress is of the view that<br />
ten years of BJP rule has set-in a strong<br />
anti-incumbency wave in the state which<br />
even the re-entry of Bharti will not be able<br />
to contain.<br />
BJP MLA and spokesman Vishwas<br />
Sarang said that the party was certainly<br />
going to benefit in the coming Assembly<br />
polls with the re-entry of Bharti in the<br />
party fold as she had her own dedicated<br />
vote in the state that resulted in the victory<br />
of her candidates in five seats in the<br />
2008 Assembly polls.<br />
In 2008, BJP minus Uma Bharti had won<br />
143 seats and later it wrested five more<br />
seats from Congress in the by-polls, taking<br />
its tally to a total of 148.Her party won five<br />
seats in 2008 managing to corner over 12<br />
lakh votes totalling nearly 5.5% of the total<br />
votes polled in the 215 seats her party<br />
contested. She herself lost the polls from<br />
her home turf Tikamgarh.<br />
Besides, her party candidates got more<br />
than 5,000 votes in 75 seats, they were at<br />
IFS officers promoted<br />
BHOPAL: The state government has promoted 8 IFS officers<br />
of the 1983 batch to the additional principal chief conservator<br />
of forests (APCCF) rank and 7 officers of the 1989 batch<br />
to the chief conservator of forests (CCF) rank.<br />
BMS Rathore posted at the MoEF in Delhi has been given<br />
proforma promotion. AK Bhattacharya has been posted as<br />
APCCF, MP state forest development corporation<br />
(MPSFDC), Mangesh Tyagi has been posted in planning<br />
commission, TC Lohani has been posted as APCCF in<br />
MPSFDC, MK Sinha has been posted as APCCF to MP state<br />
minor forest produce federation, LK Chaudhry has been<br />
posted as APCCF co-ordination and MC Sharma has been<br />
posted as APCCF, regional, working plan, Jabalpur.<br />
Vishram Sagar Sharma on promotion to CCF rank has<br />
been posted as director, Kuno Palpur sanctuary. MS Dhakad<br />
who is currently serving at GoI has been given proforma<br />
promotion. Alok Das, who is posted in commercial taxes department,<br />
Indore, has been promoted to CCF. HU Khan has<br />
been posted as CCF, vigilance and complaints, OP Chaudhry<br />
has been posted as CCF, research and extension, Gwalior.<br />
Shamsher Singh posted at the WII, Dehradun has been given<br />
proforma promotion. Besides this, the state government<br />
also issued orders transferring 3 IFS officers. Consequently,<br />
APCCF(wildlife) Dharmendra Shukla has been posted as<br />
APCCF (IT), CP Rai has been posted as APCCF land management<br />
and PK Chaudhry has been posted as APCCF vigilance<br />
and complaints.<br />
the third place at 27 places, secured second<br />
position on 11 seats and ensured the defeat<br />
of the ruling BJP candidates on at least 17-<br />
18 seats, senior BJP leader and former<br />
MLA Narendra Birthare said<br />
Though politics may not be a simple<br />
arithmetic, but if these numbers are<br />
added to the BJP’s 2008 performance, then<br />
it will strengthen the party in the upcoming<br />
Assembly polls, party sources said.<br />
BJP vice president Uma Bharti had recently<br />
said, “I am sure (Chief Minister)<br />
Chouhan, on his own, would easily win 150<br />
seats in Madhya Pradesh and it is now our<br />
responsibility to add to it. The BJP would<br />
definitely win more seats this time.”<br />
However, discounting the claims of<br />
Bharti, state Congress media department<br />
chairman Manak Agrawal said, “Strong<br />
anti-incumbency wave has set in Madhya<br />
Pradesh and the Congress will encash on<br />
it to form its government in the state by<br />
winning over 150 seats this time.”<br />
Both Bharti and another BJP vice president<br />
Prabhat Jha, who was suddenly removed<br />
from the post of state BJP president,<br />
will ensure the defeat of Shivraj<br />
Singh Chouhan’s corrupt, anti-women and<br />
inefficient government, Agrawal said.<br />
<strong>THE</strong> TEAM<br />
EDITOR<br />
M.M. BAIG<br />
EXECUTIVE EDITOR<br />
DILIP OJHA<br />
ASSISTANT EDITOR<br />
BIPIN SASI<br />
CARTOONIST<br />
DR. K.G. OJHA<br />
<strong>STATE</strong> CORRESPONDENT<br />
RAJIV TIWARI<br />
LAYOUT DESIGNER<br />
ARVIND PAWAR<br />
NEWS COORDINATOR<br />
SHAILENDRA PARIHAR<br />
TECHNICAL COORDINATOR<br />
AKSHAY OJHA
3<br />
ASTROLOGY<br />
24-4-2013- Wednesday - Chettr<br />
Mah Shuklapaksh-Trayodashi<br />
(Chaturdashi Tithi Kshay)<br />
Positive direction- West and South<br />
Bad time - 12:35 pm to 2:12 pm<br />
Good time - 6:10 am to 9:22 am<br />
and 3:48 pm to7:02 pm<br />
25-4-2013-Thursday - Chettr Mah<br />
Shuklapaksh-Poornima<br />
Positive direction- South and West<br />
Bad time - 2:12 pm to 3:48 pm<br />
Good time - 6:10 am to 7:46 am<br />
and 10:59 am to 2:11 pm and 5:25<br />
pm to 7:02 pm<br />
26-4-2013- Friday - Vaishakh Mah<br />
Krishnapaksh-Ekam<br />
Positive direction - South and West<br />
Bad time - 10:59 am to 12:35<br />
pm<br />
Good time - 6:10 am to 10:58 am<br />
and 12:36 pm to 2:12 pm and 5:25<br />
pm to 7:02 pm<br />
27-4-2013- Saturday -Vaishakh<br />
Mah Krishnapaksh-Dwitiya<br />
Positive direction - North and West<br />
Bad time - 9:22 am to 10:59 am<br />
Good time -7:46 am to 9:20 am<br />
and 12:35 pm to 5:25 pm<br />
28-4-2013- Sunday -Vaishakh Mah<br />
Krishnapaksh-Tritiya (Chaturthi Vratt)<br />
Positive direction- North and West<br />
Bad time - 5:25 pm to 7:02 pm<br />
Good time - 7:46 am to 12:35 pm<br />
and 2:12 pm to 3:48 pm<br />
29-4-2013- Monday -Vaishakh Mah<br />
Krishnapaksh-Chaturthi<br />
Positive direction- East and North<br />
Bad time - 7:46 am to 9:22 am<br />
Good time - 6:10 am to 7:45 am<br />
and 9:23 am to 10:59 am and 2:12 pm<br />
to 7:05 pm<br />
30-4-2013- Tuesday -Vaishakh Mah<br />
Krishnapaksh-Panchmi<br />
Positive direction- South and East<br />
Bad time - 3:48 pm to 5:25 pm<br />
Good time - 9:22 am to 2:12 pm<br />
-By AACHARYA SARVESH<br />
E-Mail: acharya.sarvesh@yahoo.com<br />
Mobile: 9826609192<br />
Vastu Tips<br />
☛ A Basil plant can have a very<br />
positive influence within the<br />
limits of a house.<br />
☛ Bilva, Madhuka and Peepal are<br />
very favorable on the West of<br />
the house.<br />
☛ Udumbara (Goolar) and Panas<br />
are favorable towards the South<br />
direction of the house.<br />
☛ Coconut and Banana plants<br />
within house limits are very<br />
favorable, with respect to mental<br />
peace and health.<br />
☛ Thorny succulent plants must<br />
not be grown within the house<br />
limits.<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
Editorial<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Shah had to fall; it was just a matter of time<br />
Known more for the controversies<br />
he courted with his words and<br />
actions than his work as a minister,<br />
Vijay Shah (50) has been inviting<br />
troubles for quite some time. It was just<br />
a matter of time as to when he would be<br />
taken to task.<br />
The party leaders believe if Shah<br />
would not have made remarks against<br />
chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan's<br />
wife, he would have again got away as he<br />
did in past. The Jhabua incident came to<br />
limelight only because of media.<br />
According to sources, who once were<br />
close to Shah, the minister was always<br />
known for his no-holds-barred attitude.<br />
There was no control on what he said.<br />
However, the party always ignored his<br />
eccentricities. Had action been taken<br />
against him in the past, or a warning<br />
given to him, perhaps the CM, or for that<br />
matter the BJP, would not have suffered<br />
such a humiliation. Also, it would have<br />
not allowed the Congress from taking<br />
advantage of the situation.<br />
In a meeting held with the tribal affairs<br />
department officers after becoming the<br />
tribal affairs minister, Shah reportedly<br />
turned to a woman IAS officer and asked<br />
her to join him on tours of the state.<br />
There were some male IAS officers too<br />
but Shah's offer went to the woman IAS<br />
officer only. Taken aback by the minister's<br />
proposal, the woman officer got herself<br />
shifted to some other department after<br />
seeking help of the then governor<br />
Balram Jakhar.<br />
A few years ago, a woman from Khandwa,<br />
whose husband worked at Vijay<br />
Shah's gas agency, lodged a complaint<br />
with police that Shah harassed her husband<br />
as she did not fulfill his 'desire'.<br />
In reference to his utterances at<br />
Jhabua, Shah blamed the media. However,<br />
it is not the first time that he has done<br />
so. When his son's name surfaced in re-<br />
Who would be BJP’s new tribal face?<br />
Tribal affairs minister Vijay Shah being sacked from the state<br />
cabinet, the question doing the rounds in the BJP circles is: who<br />
would be the new tribal face in the government?<br />
The question assumes significance as 2013 happens to be the assembly<br />
election year and the ruling party would put everything at<br />
stake to win the elections and retain the power for a third consecutive<br />
term.<br />
According to BJP leaders, Vijay Shah could not be termed as a<br />
true tribal face of the government, but still, of all the tribal leaders<br />
in the party, Shah's stature was only growing. He also had an<br />
enormous influence in his assembly constituency Harsud and adjoining<br />
constituencies. Shah came from a Gond royal family and<br />
hence received respect from the masses.<br />
The party leaders say the timing of sacking of Shah from the<br />
cabinet was not good, for the party needed<br />
him to counter Congress' tribal face in Kantilal<br />
Bhuria. Earlier, the BJP tried to promote<br />
Jagannath Singh, the minister for labor<br />
and leader from Vindhya region, as its<br />
tribal face, but he could not show much<br />
promise.<br />
Ranjna Baghel was another option for the<br />
party but she was found short of vision and<br />
leadership skills to mobilize the tribals. The<br />
woman and child development minister is<br />
known for corruption and malpractices.<br />
The choice is difficult and the timing significant.<br />
Hence, the party cannot afford to<br />
dump Vijay Shah forever. If he is not to get<br />
the ticket for 2013 assembly elections, the<br />
party would have to choose among his wife,<br />
a mayor, or his younger brother, an independent<br />
MLA or his elder brother, a bank<br />
manager.<br />
If Shah was overlooked entirely, he might<br />
prove to be a spoilsport for the party for<br />
around eight seats, which the party cannot<br />
afford, especially, when it is facing a major challenge to negate<br />
anti-incumbency.<br />
The party has to think of strategy as to how to counter the damage<br />
caused by sacking of Shah and find out a good tribal leader. It<br />
also remains to be seen if Chauhan inducts any tribal MLA in the<br />
cabinet to look after tribal welfare department.<br />
Apart from this, in the ministry of Shivraj Singh Chauhan and<br />
in the party leadership of state, there are few more faces that are<br />
publically exposed about their unhealthy behavior and vulgar<br />
statements. Some of them are even famous as “don” of their area<br />
and are also giving shelter to unsocial elements. In view of forthcoming<br />
elections, will CM formulate any strategy to cleanup such<br />
dirty spots?<br />
-EDITOR<br />
Email: editor@wethestate.com<br />
lation to a liquor baron's daughter's attempt<br />
to commit suicide at Indore a few<br />
years ago, Shah even then blamed the<br />
media.<br />
However, the tainted minister was not<br />
only inaccessible to media but he<br />
dumped even some of his close friends<br />
in the past few years, particularly, when<br />
his stature grew in the government.<br />
According to the party leaders, the corridors<br />
of power have several tales relating<br />
to Shah's 'colorful' life style but the<br />
party, or for that matter chief minister<br />
Shivraj Singh Chauhan, never paid attention<br />
to same. It was the state BJP<br />
president Tomar himself who once<br />
saved Shah from an embarrassing situation<br />
when a traveling ticket examiner<br />
(TTE) of a train intended to lodge a report<br />
against him.<br />
In fact, of late, the CM rewarded Shah<br />
by making him the district-in-charge<br />
minister of Sehore, CM's home district.<br />
Minor’s rape in<br />
Delhi: Why<br />
student<br />
protesters are<br />
missing<br />
As a second wave of protests<br />
hits the Capital triggered this<br />
time by the brutal rape of a<br />
five-year-old, made more shocking by<br />
the Delhi Police’s callousness in investigating<br />
it, the massive outpouring<br />
of students onto the streets witnessed<br />
in the aftermath of 16 December<br />
seems to be missing.<br />
The gangrape of a 23-year-old student<br />
and attack on her friend on 16<br />
December had seen an unprecedented<br />
scale of protests led by students in<br />
the Capital.<br />
While the weekend witnessed<br />
protests led by left-wing student<br />
groups at India Gate and near the police<br />
headquarters, the second wave of<br />
anti-rape movement seems to have<br />
been dominated by the political parties,<br />
most visibly the Aam Aadmi<br />
Party.<br />
That it is exam season in universities<br />
seems to have had a definite impact<br />
on the numbers turning out for<br />
protests. But that is not the only reason,<br />
students say, why the scale of 16<br />
December protest is missing this<br />
time around.<br />
The decisive direction that the 16<br />
December protest had is missing this<br />
time. The chemistry of a protest cannot<br />
be predicted or controlled. A moment<br />
can’t repeat itself. And every<br />
moment is new. There is a lot of<br />
anger and disenchantment. In the<br />
days to come, in another context, another<br />
protest might erupt. One can<br />
only prepare and create a platform<br />
for protest.
4<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
Politics<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Rahul Gandhi's itinerary indicates<br />
serious electoral mission<br />
BHOPAL<br />
Rahul Gandhi's itinerary during<br />
his two-day visit to the<br />
state gives a clear indication<br />
that the Congress vice-president will<br />
be in Madhya Pradesh on a serious<br />
electoral mission and wishes to get a<br />
first-hand feedback from the grassroots<br />
on the party's prospects for both<br />
the 2013 assembly election and the<br />
subsequent Lok Sabha election.<br />
During his stay in Mohankheda and<br />
later in Bhopal, Rahul Gandhi will<br />
have five rounds of meetings with<br />
the Congress workers. Two of these<br />
meetings will take place in Mohankheda<br />
and three in Bhopal.<br />
The list of invitees for the meeting<br />
with Rahul Gandhi indicates that he<br />
wishes to interact with leaders of all<br />
hues from all the 29 Lok Sabha constituencies<br />
of the state, which obviously<br />
covers all the 230 assembly seats as well.<br />
According to state Congress media incharge<br />
Manak Agrawal, those invited for dialogue<br />
with the Congress vice-president are district<br />
Congress presidents, vice- presidents,<br />
treasurer and block Congress presidents, incumbent<br />
MPs and MLAs, all the party candidates<br />
fielded in the previous assembly<br />
and Lok Sabha election and presidents<br />
of frontal organisations.<br />
In Mohankheda, delegates from<br />
14 Lok Sabha constituencies have been invited. They are<br />
from Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Rajgarh, Dewas, Ujjain,<br />
Mandsair, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone, Khandwa<br />
and Betul.<br />
In the second meeting organised in Mohankheda, Rahul<br />
will interact with elected represenatives of panchayati raj<br />
institutions and urban local bodies. Invitees at this meeting<br />
are presidents, vice-presidents and members of district<br />
and janpad panchayats and mayor, presidents, vicepresidents<br />
and corporators of municipal bodies.<br />
In the meetings in Bhopal, Rahul Gandhi will address<br />
district Congress president, vice-president, treasurer and<br />
block Congress presidents, incumbent MPs and MLAs,<br />
party candidates in the previous Lok Sabha and assembly<br />
election and presidents of frontal organisations at Manas<br />
Bhavan.<br />
Party leaders from 15 Lok Sabha costiuencies have been<br />
invited for the meeting. They are from Sagar, Damoh,<br />
Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla,<br />
Balaghat, Chhindwara, Hoshangabad, Vidisha and<br />
Bhopal.<br />
In the second meeting being organised at Ravindra Bhavan,<br />
Rahul Gandhi will be face-to-face with elected respresentatives<br />
of the panchayati raj institutions and urban<br />
local bodies from areas under these constituencies.<br />
In the third meeting, which will take place at state Congress<br />
headquarters, Rahul Gandhi will have interaction<br />
with the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) delegates.<br />
Meanwhile, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general<br />
secretary in-charge of party affairs for MP BK<br />
Hariprasad will arrive here on Monday to take stock of<br />
the preparations being made for Rahul Gandhi's programmes<br />
in Mohankheda and Bhopal. He will also go to<br />
Mohankheda for the purpose.<br />
Wheat at Re 1 and rice at Rs 2 per kg to BPL families<br />
BHOPAL<br />
Wheat will be provided at Re 1/kg and<br />
rice at Rs 2 per kg to below poverty<br />
line (BPL) families from June 2013. At<br />
present, wheat is being provided at<br />
the rate of Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs<br />
3/kg to Antyodaya families while BPL<br />
families are getting wheat at Rs 3 per<br />
kg and rice at Rs 4.50 per kg.<br />
Half of MP's population, around 3.50<br />
crore people, will benefit from further<br />
subsidy being provided under the<br />
scheme. These include 8 lakh Antyodaya<br />
and 56 lakh BPL families. Chief<br />
minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan announced<br />
the new scheme during a<br />
public meeting at Gandhwani in Dhar<br />
district.<br />
This decision will put a burden of Rs<br />
360 crore additional subsidy on the<br />
state exchequer. At present, 35 kg of<br />
food grain is being provided to Antyodaya<br />
and 20 kg to BPL families per<br />
month under Mukhyamantri Annapurna<br />
Yojana. The state government<br />
is already bearing a burden of Rs. 440<br />
crore subsidy against the scheme.<br />
The decision by the state government<br />
to provide food grains at special<br />
concessional rates to BPL and Antyodaya<br />
families came ahead of the proposed<br />
Food Security Bill of the Union<br />
government. The Bill proposes to provide<br />
wheat at the rate of Rs 2/kg and<br />
rice at Rs 3 per kg.<br />
An official communique said Madhya<br />
Pradesh was receiving food<br />
grains from the Union government<br />
for BPL families including wheat at<br />
the rate of Rs 5/kg and rice at Rs 6.50<br />
per kg.<br />
The state government was already<br />
bearing transportation and commission<br />
cost.<br />
In another important decision, the<br />
state government has also decided to<br />
provide iodised salt to BPL and Antyodaya<br />
families at the rate of Re 1 in all<br />
the 313 development blocks of the<br />
state with effect from June 2013. At<br />
present, this facility is being provided<br />
in only 89 tribal-dominated development<br />
blocks in the state.<br />
The decision aims to promote health<br />
and nutrition. This decision would<br />
put an additional burden of Rs 40<br />
crore per annum on the state government.
5<br />
DINESH BAHUVA<br />
Email: dbahuva@gmail.com<br />
Recently I have read a small book titled<br />
“We Indians”. It is a 100 page small<br />
book written by famous leader Minoo<br />
Masani. Perhaps young people do not remember<br />
him. He was a great leader and founder<br />
member of the Swtantra Party along with Ra-<br />
Jaji after our independence. He was also a<br />
member of the constituent assembly which<br />
prepared our constitution along with such<br />
stalwarts as Dr Ambedkar and K.M. Munshi.<br />
The Swtantra party was like the Republican<br />
party of the USA. It believed in small government,<br />
free enterprise and free markets, and<br />
little interference in the life of the people by<br />
government. In the sixties, those were the<br />
days of socialism and commanding heights<br />
of the government interference in business.<br />
The government was in almost every business<br />
from cycles, scooters to airlines. The<br />
once the Swatantra Party won 67 seats of<br />
Loksabha in an election of the sixties. After<br />
that it started declining and ultimately disappeared.<br />
But Mr. Minoo Masani went on becoming<br />
M.P. He was a strong critic of policies<br />
of Mrs. Indira Gandhi.<br />
The book is a short history of India right<br />
from the earliest period to the modern age.<br />
The book was published by the Oxford University<br />
Press in 1989. It is obvious that a hundred<br />
page booklet cannot do justice to such as<br />
vast period. There are only glimpses of<br />
events.<br />
The idea of writing this article is that the<br />
contents of the book will be shocking to most<br />
Indians. I shall highlight these points.<br />
It starts with question what are Indians<br />
made of ? It declares that we are not a single<br />
race. The India is a melting pot of various<br />
tribes. For the last 5000 years the mixing is going<br />
on. Our DNA is a mix of Caucasian (Ancestors<br />
of white people), Scythian (what we<br />
call Shak), Mongoloid (ancestors of the people<br />
of East Asia) and larger portion of Dravidian<br />
(who came before Aryans). In Punjabi,<br />
Rajasthani and north Indians people the Cau-<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
casian portion is more? Therefore they are<br />
more white and tall. The people of the northeast,<br />
Bengal and Odisha have more Mongoloid<br />
blood. You can make out that from<br />
their faces. The people of four southern states<br />
have more Dravidian blood. They are dark<br />
skinned and short.<br />
There is no pure race in the any part of the<br />
world. Because throughout the history the all<br />
tribes have been not only migrating from one<br />
part to another part but, intermarrying. According<br />
to famous biologist Julian Huxley the<br />
only pure ‘races’ in existence now are more<br />
primitive and backward people like the aborigines<br />
of Australia and the bushmen of<br />
Africa!. Or our aadivasis.<br />
There is a difference between race and language.<br />
A race has a common ancestor (or origin).<br />
Therefore people of the same race can<br />
speak different languages depending upon<br />
the place of their residence, culture, history<br />
of migration. The reverse is also true. People<br />
of different races speak same language.<br />
There lots of confusion because of mixing<br />
one with another.<br />
You will be shocked to know that there is no<br />
such thing as Aryan race! Aryan is a family<br />
of languages. The honour of creating such<br />
confusion goes to famous German Indologist<br />
Dr. Max Muller. Later on he understood his<br />
mistake and tried to rectified same, but it was<br />
too little and too late. In those days the word<br />
of Dr. Max Muller was word of The God for<br />
most prominent Indians, so the same misconception<br />
continues to this day. Every Indian<br />
student learns in school that Aryans were<br />
white race who came from central Asia and<br />
settled into the land of ‘Sapt Sindhu’ (of seven<br />
rivers). Also Famous UNESCO conducted<br />
a study and declared that there is no such<br />
thing as “Aryan Race”. I am sure our holy<br />
man and persons from some organization will<br />
Feature<br />
We the Indians<br />
shout from rooftop that it is “conspiracy” of<br />
western powers to weaken the Aryan Race, as<br />
if we Indian Aryans are greatest power on the<br />
earth.<br />
Further UNESCO study concluded that<br />
Aryan were people inhabiting the steppes of<br />
Turkestan and central Russia using a common<br />
‘Indo-European’ language. That language<br />
is the ancestor of Sanskrit, Latin, Ancient<br />
Greek and languages today spoken in<br />
Europe. It also confirmed that population of<br />
the world is a mixture of various racial types<br />
(tribes). Lokmanya Tilak places original<br />
place of Aryan in Arctic region based on astronomical<br />
data.<br />
Surprisingly the most interesting works of<br />
our ethnic origin is not written by any Indian<br />
but by an Englishman named Sir Herbert<br />
Risely titled ‘The People of India’. (It is not<br />
true that every bit of knowledge of history<br />
has come from foreigners. We are busy with<br />
mythologies of The Ramayan and Mahabharata<br />
and refuse to believe any evidence to<br />
the contrary.) The Risely divides Indian people<br />
in seven groups. They are:<br />
Turko-Iranians(mostly found in Pakistan)<br />
Indo-Caucasians(People of Punjab, Rajasthan<br />
and Kashmir)<br />
Scytho-Dravidians(they are medium<br />
statured)<br />
Caucasian-Dravidians(People of U.P., Rajasthan<br />
& Bihar)<br />
Mongolo-Dravidians(From Bengal, Odissa<br />
& Assam)<br />
Mongoloid(From north east and lower Himalaya<br />
region)<br />
Dravidians(From south India & some portions<br />
of M.P. & Chota Nagpur)<br />
The book tells if somebody tells that say<br />
Aryans or Dravidians are original residents<br />
of Indian Please do not believe him. Historians<br />
really do not about it.<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
The book tells us an interesting story about<br />
how Dravidians came to India. In the distant<br />
past South India and Africa were connected<br />
by land. Therefore Dravidians were migrated<br />
from Africa and they may be first descendants<br />
of primitive man. I have seen cave<br />
paintings at Bhimbetka near Bhopal (M.P.)<br />
which are around 11000 years old.<br />
Generally it thought that in India the Caucasians<br />
(Aryans) brought civilization into India.<br />
It is another myth. There people were nomads.<br />
You know from today’s nomadic people<br />
that they are very backward. They go from<br />
place to place in search of food for them and<br />
cattle. Such people cannot develop civilization.<br />
We know from the examples of Mohenjo-Daro<br />
and Harappa that civilization develops<br />
where people learn farming and there is<br />
plenty of water for farming (usually near river).<br />
The farming produces surplus crops<br />
which develops commerce. We know that both<br />
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were city states<br />
with well developed plans.<br />
The question now is that how Aryans<br />
spread all over north India. The book gives<br />
very curious answers. Aryans had horses<br />
which ware very suitable for war, while Dravidians<br />
had elephants which were slow (you<br />
the war between Alexander the Great and Purus).<br />
The Aryans accepted may customs from<br />
Dravidians.<br />
Before Aryans, Dravidians were spread all<br />
over in up to Afghanistan. There is a tribe in<br />
Baluchistan today which speaks the Dravidian<br />
language known as Brahui<br />
The Early religion of Aryans is nature worship.<br />
They used to worship the Sun, Wind,<br />
Moon, fire, the Sky, Lightening rain and<br />
dawn. The method was a prayer for bountiful<br />
crops, prosperity of family and community,<br />
which continues even today in villages. The<br />
oldest religious book of Aryans is a Rigved<br />
which is around 4000 years old. It contains<br />
prayers to gods (main is Indra) and system of<br />
sacrifice (part of crop and grass to put into<br />
fire). The development of Vedic religion is a<br />
long topic which prevents further discussion<br />
here.<br />
We are a country of bystanders who will stand back and watch<br />
BIPIN SASI<br />
W<br />
hen the anti-rape Bill was discussed<br />
in parliament , We have<br />
witnessed Member of Parliament<br />
arguing that condom commercials on<br />
TV vitiate the minds of the young and provoke<br />
them to immoral acts. It can be a topic of<br />
national debate but we can never understand<br />
why people rape, kill or torture. That is what<br />
sets most of us apart from those who commit<br />
such crimes. But we must realize that the<br />
danger is right here, waiting round the corner<br />
for the next turn.<br />
The rape incident of three minor girls has<br />
shocked and aggravated the Delhi once again.<br />
Why politicians and police administration<br />
are not able to guarantee the safety, that their<br />
own daughters and family members posses.<br />
When females are not safe in the capital of<br />
the country and a women lead state, we can<br />
assess the ground reality of other states.<br />
Sheila Dixit who is probably busy studying<br />
Modi’s modus of Operandi would not get time<br />
to listen to the voice of Delhi .No political party<br />
has come up with an assurance of safety<br />
and justice yet . No individual leader is ready<br />
to assure justice and security, The protesters<br />
believe that kicking any political party out of<br />
power would make us all safer. Let’s believe<br />
that these protesters of Aam Aadmi Party<br />
have chosen the right path. But if you dare to<br />
Join them and protest for a cause, the police<br />
will beat you and humiliate you to that extent<br />
, that you will never think of raising a voice<br />
again . And if you are a female protester the<br />
police will detain you in custody and make<br />
you sweep and mop the floor .Later in near future<br />
Govt. will put the same policemen without<br />
moral values in buses for your safety. Will<br />
women passengers feel safe with such policemen?<br />
The police tried to suppress the matter of<br />
the Five year old rape victim and even offered<br />
Rs.2,000 to the family to keep quiet. Apart<br />
from the five year old rape ,a lot many inci-<br />
dents are reported which sparked outrage<br />
against police and politicians who are arrogant<br />
and without moral values. Goverment<br />
should spent money on the treatment of these<br />
arrogant police officers and erred politicians<br />
like Tribal Minister Vijay Shah(MP) , and<br />
minister Rajaram Pande(UP) for their mental<br />
illness The girl who was protesting for the<br />
five year old was beaten by an ACP. A country<br />
who prouds to call the nation of mahatma follows<br />
every other thing than his own teachings.<br />
Any Indian will prefer to confess to his/her<br />
neighbor than to the police. Police is only for<br />
the bureaucrats and politicians. They will<br />
charge money from the complainant and also<br />
slam some accusation on the<br />
complainant.The only cultured politician is<br />
West Bengal lawmaker Abhijit Mukherjee,<br />
the son of President Pranab Mukherjee, who<br />
makes cynical remarks on the women . These<br />
people who make derisive remarks on the<br />
women are not from a particular political party<br />
, they are everywhere around you , waiting<br />
for their turn . It is not TV, short skirts and or<br />
a political party. It is the knowledge that we<br />
are a country of bystanders who will stand<br />
back and watch. And perhaps later, we’ll<br />
show some remorse. Knowing this fact that<br />
you cannot help yourself by seeking help<br />
from police or politician . You need to be more<br />
stronger for you and your loved ones .
6<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
View Point<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
The necessity of Truth Commission in Kashmir Valley<br />
POOJA TARTE<br />
Email: hirdelawassociates@gmail.com<br />
Abdul Majid Zargar with context to an establishment<br />
of truth and commission in Kashmir<br />
quoted that<br />
“The state first killed people, and then it<br />
killed the truth. It now wants the linen<br />
soaked with the blood and honor of helpless<br />
population washed through an arrangement<br />
called as truth and reconciliation commission.”<br />
The issue of Truth Commission in Kashmir<br />
cropped up again and again by the Chief<br />
Minister Omar Abdullah after the discovery<br />
of so many unmarked graves. Scholars and<br />
jurists often argue that Truth Commission is<br />
formed after countries who vacilitate themselves<br />
from authoritarian state to democratic<br />
state. The reconciliation, rehabilitation,<br />
reparation and compensation is often done<br />
when countries go through transition and a<br />
new government is being elected. For instance<br />
when apartheid ended SATRC came<br />
into force and when East Timor got freedom<br />
from Indonesia, then emerged the Timor Lest<br />
Commission of Truth and Friendship. Kashmir<br />
has a different story. The conflict has not<br />
resolved there yet. The writer asserts that the<br />
truth and reconciliation commission differ<br />
in there authority for instance few recommend<br />
amnesty, few seizure or search and few<br />
prosecution. It is feared in Kashmir that the<br />
truth commissions will be used in Kashmir<br />
as tool to grant amnesty to al the army personnel,<br />
militant groups and all the heinous<br />
perpetrators of crime. The perpetrator holding<br />
such political powers will then confess<br />
the crime and amnesty will be granted to<br />
them and then will again walk freely without<br />
any fear. This will not curb down the problem<br />
but will lead to increase in number of rapes,<br />
molestations and abuses because there shall<br />
be then no fear of punishment.<br />
Regarding this issue New Delhi based advocate<br />
Ms. Warisha Farasat said that<br />
“There is still no acknowledgement from<br />
the state about the serious human rights violations<br />
that have happened .There are still<br />
human rights violations going on. It is very<br />
important for TRC that there is a transition<br />
to a situation where human rights violations<br />
have almost completely stopped. I do not<br />
think that is the situation at the moment.”<br />
Furthermore she argued that “who are these<br />
people who will head a TRC for Kashmir, who<br />
will have legitimacy among all different<br />
stakeholders.”<br />
In this context CM Omar Abdullah quoted,<br />
“ tragically we have locked ourselves into cycles<br />
of violence where protests leads to death<br />
leading to further protests leading to further<br />
causalities.”<br />
MY PERSPECTIVE<br />
Before starting up of any new body of<br />
governance the Indian government<br />
should first put a ban on Draconian<br />
laws like ASFP through which these military<br />
people get easily released out of all charges.<br />
These are the laws due to which all the perpetrators<br />
enjoy impunity. These forces constantly<br />
get engaged in commission of crimes.<br />
The government should now become very serious<br />
in providing justice to women in Kashmir.<br />
There has been a continuous grave<br />
breaches of human right violations being observed<br />
in Kashmir. The situation of convalescence<br />
still persists in the valley. The nepotism<br />
by politicians, armed militant groups,<br />
and high ranking officials has become conventional<br />
now. The officials who try to show<br />
honesty are killed or smothered down.<br />
As discussed earlier the women in Kashmir<br />
get exposed to attacks from everywhere. India<br />
should not ratify itself to the Rome<br />
statute. International Criminal Court is<br />
more of governed by its permanent members<br />
and is also subordinate to the United Nation<br />
Security Council. If India ratifies the statute<br />
then there will be too much of political interference<br />
into the internal affairs of the<br />
state. The fear of India to be a part of Rome<br />
statute is justified but yes women in Kashmir<br />
valley are crying for justice. As per the aforesaid<br />
discussion International Criminal<br />
Court has the provision in chapter VII,<br />
wherein non-members of International<br />
Criminal Court can be brought into jurisdiction,<br />
if there are very heinous crimes committed<br />
in such a non member state. Furthermore,<br />
scholars often argue that truth and reconciliation<br />
commission comes up after a war<br />
ends and a new government is elected. According<br />
to few Indian jurists Kashmir has a<br />
different story where the war is still going on<br />
and so its difficult to create a Truth Commission<br />
therein.<br />
I deny the above fact and favor the establishment<br />
of a Truth and reconciliation Commission<br />
in Kashmir termed to be as the<br />
Kashmir's truth and reconciliation commission.<br />
The members of such Truth Commission<br />
should be the leaders from India as well<br />
as Pakistan who will be voted by the democratic<br />
people of India and by the people of<br />
Pakistan. The leaders need to be efficient<br />
people working for NGO's, professors from legal<br />
arena and attorneys from courts. There<br />
has to be more and more active participation<br />
of women in such Truth Commission. Such<br />
Truth Commission should be formed to have<br />
in rehabilitation, reparation, reconciliation<br />
and compensation programmes. The option<br />
of granting of amnesty should not be a part<br />
of such Truth Commission so that the offenders<br />
are punished through trials and justice<br />
is delivered to the victims.<br />
In conclusion a Truth Commission is ultimately<br />
a better option and the setting of such<br />
impartial body of governance will be a indubitable<br />
step to provide justice to women in<br />
Kashmir Valley. In this context the journalists<br />
of India are of a view that<br />
“The people of Kashmir valley are wounded<br />
physically, socially, culturally and psychologically<br />
due to the long turmoil. The afflictions<br />
are deeply engraved in the hearts and<br />
minds of people. Kashmiris are left with the<br />
only question. The step towards establishment<br />
of a Truth Commission will be a step<br />
towards peace in the valley.”<br />
RECOMMENDATIONS<br />
Amartya Sen once said, “The most important<br />
argument for focusing on<br />
women agency may be precisely the<br />
role that such an agency can play in removing<br />
the gender based inequities that depress<br />
the well being of women.”<br />
It becomes very important that women<br />
should be socially as well as economically independent.<br />
Women should be encouraged by<br />
families as well as the society to come in power<br />
and participate in the bureaucratic operations<br />
of the state. The women victims should<br />
be provided with monetary funds in order to<br />
equip them to start their own business. In<br />
context with Jammu and Kashmir, India and<br />
Pakistan should join their hand for helping<br />
out the women victims and curbing down<br />
poverty and violence. This is a century of<br />
globalization and so are the global citizens<br />
who should chime in together to heal up the<br />
widespread torment. The UN donors need to<br />
assist the needy with financial help. There is<br />
an urgent need to adopt the practice of vetting<br />
and to suspend all corrupt officials from<br />
the bureaucracy. It is very important to have<br />
in fair and just channelization of the compensation<br />
that has to be provided to women<br />
victims.<br />
An active participation of NGO's from the<br />
international arena is a need of an hour.<br />
There should even be an increase in the role<br />
of media activities covering the suffering of<br />
the needy and in creating awareness amongst<br />
the stronger section of the society. Truth<br />
should be revealed through sting operation<br />
programmes, rally and interviews of victims<br />
by journalists, etc. In the context of Kashmir<br />
issue, the writer asserts that it is very important<br />
to have workshops on awareness and<br />
teaching them to defend themselves in situa-<br />
tions of conflict.<br />
There has to be more of a gender sensitive<br />
reparation policies and a special unit to investigate<br />
war crimes from the gender perspective.<br />
There is an urgent need to set up a<br />
women’s task force with more participation<br />
of women. The running up of such task force<br />
needs to be done by women. Such participation<br />
should be done from various sectors like<br />
that of media and communication, health<br />
sector, legal sector, security and defense, education<br />
sector, personality development sector<br />
and psychological sector, hence encouraging<br />
women from each and every sphere of<br />
the society. If we are serious to bring a<br />
change in the condition of women and girls<br />
and help them to lead a normal life, then we<br />
should empower women and girls with education,<br />
so as to bring a positive change in the<br />
society. This can be done by setting up grass<br />
root level organizations to articulate and<br />
press for the need of education and awareness.<br />
The past situations can only be dealt by creation<br />
of powerful multiple mechanisms. It focuses<br />
on the need to create governance which<br />
could focus on the political, social and economic<br />
rights of all the citizens irrespective<br />
of gender race or status. It is very important<br />
to have a truth and reconciliation commission<br />
in Kashmir as the life there in is becoming<br />
miserable. The fear of India to ratify to<br />
Rome statute is also justified but at the same<br />
time justice has to be delivered to the victims.<br />
I favor Omar Abdullah but at the same time<br />
strongly oppose the fact of granting impunity<br />
to the wrongdoers, if in case a truth and<br />
reconciliation commission gets established<br />
in Kashmir.<br />
I have grown up in a country where, even today<br />
a large part of the female population is<br />
unprivileged, uneducated and struggles for a<br />
respectable living. With this work, the writer<br />
tried to throw some light on the complicated<br />
situations of the silent playing women population<br />
in Jammu and Kashmir. Our long term<br />
goals should be focused on to make a contribution,<br />
however small, to the health and happiness<br />
of her fellow citizens, by narrowing<br />
the circle of unequal and unsustainable life.<br />
A little step can make a difference for our fellow<br />
beings.
7 BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013 Glamour <strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Pooja Bhatt Hesitates to<br />
Talk about Rape Victims<br />
Pooja Bhatt, one of the heralders<br />
of adult films in<br />
mainstream Bollywood, is<br />
cautious of expressing solidarity for<br />
the rape victim, reported agencies<br />
The 41-year-old actor-turned-director<br />
producer of films like<br />
"Jism, "Rog", "Paap", "Jism 2"<br />
said that she doesn't chance<br />
voicing her opinions on<br />
rape victims since she has<br />
promoted obscenity.<br />
Bhatt deeply upset<br />
with the ongoing social<br />
crisis tweeted,<br />
"This is not a<br />
world to bring<br />
more<br />
children into. This is certainly not a nation<br />
to bring more daughters into. Violence is<br />
their destiny."<br />
But then she added that many feel she<br />
doesn't stand the right to support the rape<br />
victim.<br />
She later posted on twitter, "Each time I<br />
speak up about rape or sexual abuse, some<br />
'saint' tells me that I have no right to since I<br />
introduced a 'adult film star' to Bollywood."<br />
"I humanised an 'adult film star' and got<br />
her accepted into the mainstream. The rest<br />
of Bollywood is now free to objectify her<br />
like they do most women."<br />
Bhatt had introduced Indo-Canadian<br />
porn star Sunny Leone in Bollywood with<br />
her film "Jism 2".<br />
Leone features in Sanjay Gupta's<br />
"Shootout at Waadla" for which she shot a<br />
raunchy item song "Laila".<br />
Bhatt had also introduced Bipasha Basu<br />
in the role of a seductive vamp with her<br />
erotic thriller "Jism" (2003).<br />
Aishwarya And Abhishek<br />
Bachchan, Happy<br />
Wedding Anniversary<br />
The cupid couple Aishwarya<br />
Rai and<br />
Abhishek<br />
Bachchan are<br />
celebrating their<br />
6th Wedding Anniversary<br />
today.<br />
So on this occasion<br />
“We The<br />
State” wish them<br />
a very happy anniversary!<br />
After six years<br />
of their married<br />
life, the couple is<br />
now proud parents<br />
of 15-monthold<br />
baby girl<br />
named Aaradhya.<br />
The smallest member<br />
of Bachchan<br />
family, Aaradhya,<br />
became a child<br />
celebrity with<br />
shutterbugs trying<br />
to capture her photo.<br />
This year, the anniversary<br />
is very<br />
special for the couple<br />
because their little<br />
angle Aaradhya<br />
will be with them.<br />
According to reports,<br />
the couple will be celebrating<br />
their anniversary in New York.<br />
They were in Vancouver, Canada recently<br />
for the TOIFA awards, where<br />
Abhishek said<br />
while receiving an award: "I really<br />
owe this to Aishwarya and the love<br />
and support she has given me. She<br />
makes me the person that I am."<br />
After the award ceremony, the trio<br />
left for New York, where they first<br />
visited Shweta Bachchan's motherin-law<br />
Ritu Nanda, who has been<br />
hospitalised.<br />
Dangerous trend:<br />
Celebrities like Amitabh<br />
Bachchan encouraging<br />
mob justice ?<br />
Jaipur: This incident has the<br />
potential to trigger off a dangerous<br />
trend as many people,<br />
including Bollywood star<br />
Amitabh Bachchan seem to<br />
be favouring ‘mob justice’ in<br />
barbaric rape-cases similar<br />
to five-year-old girl rape in<br />
Delhi. We are entering a dangerous<br />
territory as a 25-yearold<br />
rape accused was beaten<br />
to death by the father and<br />
brother of the allegedly<br />
raped girl in Bhilware district<br />
of Rajasthan.<br />
The incident occured at<br />
Ahinsa circle under Subhash<br />
Nagar yesterday where Prem<br />
Shankar and his son Shyam<br />
beat up Shankar Lal Jat, police<br />
said on Saturday.<br />
Jat was rushed to a hospital<br />
where he was declared<br />
brought dead.<br />
The daughter of Prem<br />
Shankar was allegedly raped<br />
by Shankar a few days ago<br />
and an FIR in this connection<br />
was lodged on Thursday,<br />
the police said, adding that<br />
the father and the son duo<br />
were absconding.<br />
After the brutal rape of a<br />
five-year-old in Delhi, people<br />
are protesting on the streets.<br />
They are increasingly getting<br />
frustrated at the apathy<br />
shown by the Delhi police,<br />
politicians and administration<br />
in taking concrete measures<br />
to curb the menace.<br />
Such is the level of anger<br />
that civil society runs the<br />
risk of being barbaric. But if<br />
everyone tries to settle score<br />
like this then very soon there<br />
will be anarchy and bloodshed<br />
on the road.<br />
Sadly, our icons seem to be<br />
getting swayed away with the<br />
enormity of the crime and<br />
happen to instigate people to<br />
take law in their own hands.<br />
Reacting to five-year-old<br />
girl's rape, Amitabh<br />
Bachchan wrote on his blog:<br />
“Even animals have certain<br />
codes of conduct! Jails are<br />
not the solutions...keeping<br />
them bound and confined<br />
shall not change them or<br />
their thinking...They need to<br />
be made examples of. They<br />
need to be shamed first publicly<br />
and then left to the public<br />
to deal them justice in<br />
whichever way they see fit."<br />
Perhaps, time is running<br />
out for the government as<br />
people are getting impatient.<br />
But, this should not be an excuse<br />
for us to tread the path<br />
of criminals.<br />
(Agencies)
8<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
Bihar among most spenders on VIP security<br />
NEW DELHI/PATNA<br />
Despite Chief Minister Nitish<br />
Kumar persistently<br />
pressing for a special assistance<br />
package from the Centre for<br />
Bihar to give boost to state’s miserable<br />
economy, still the “backward<br />
state” spends a whopping sum of<br />
Commerce<br />
Bhopal jewellers fear shortage of gold<br />
BHOPAL<br />
If you are thinking of buying gold, you<br />
might as well hurry. While the retail gold<br />
market in city has been riding high - having<br />
recorded almost 50% hike in sales during<br />
the past few days due to the dip in the prices<br />
of the yellow metal -- a crisis might be looming<br />
in the coming days.<br />
The bullion and coin wholesalers have almost<br />
stopped the supply due to the price<br />
slump, and the impact of the restricted flow of<br />
the metal to retail market might start showing<br />
soon in form of shortage of raw material.<br />
Thus, jewellery and other retail gold items<br />
might get hard to come by in the near future<br />
even as the marriage season has commenced.<br />
Bhopal's New Market Sarafa Association<br />
vice-president Manoj Agrawal said that the<br />
market for gold is uncertain and the prices<br />
might go down further. The combined effect of<br />
sharp rise in sales by about 50% and the decision<br />
of the bullion traders to hold back their<br />
stock in hope of a surge in prices, could create<br />
a serious shortage of gold in the coming days,<br />
he said.<br />
Amrapali Jewelers manager Subodh Soni<br />
said, "We suffered huge losses due to sudden<br />
decrease in gold rate, but increase in selling<br />
of gold by up to 50%-70% has compensated<br />
our losses. The market is on boom due to<br />
Pushya Nakshatra (on Thursday) and the<br />
wedding season." Gold sold at Rs 26,400 per 10<br />
grams and silver at Rs 45,000 per kg on Thursday.<br />
Small jewellery shop owners have already<br />
started feeling the impact of short-supply.<br />
Tirupati Jewelers owner Chintu Agrawal<br />
said, "I think in the coming days there will be<br />
a major problem for both buyers and retailers."<br />
He, however, added that during the last<br />
three days, the sale of gold doubled and<br />
Pushya Nakshtra made a big difference.<br />
Wholesale supplier Jai Mohan Agrawal,<br />
however, disagreed that hoarding of bullion<br />
was a trend. "Some suppliers might have possibly<br />
blocked the bullions, but it doesn't apply<br />
on all the wholesalers. I have not stopped supply<br />
of coins to the retailers. And I am happy<br />
with the decline in the price of gold, because<br />
it has got the market going again."<br />
Demand for engineering talent<br />
declining in IT industry: Report<br />
Demand for engineering graduates in<br />
the IT industry is reducing due to<br />
slowdown in revenue growth, change<br />
in business mix and preference for science<br />
graduates to lower costs, says a new report.<br />
"We attribute slowdown in absorption of<br />
engineering talent to slowdown in revenue<br />
growth rates of Indian IT, change in nature<br />
of demand (BPO and infrastructure management<br />
services) and effort by companies to<br />
lower cost of delivery by recruiting science<br />
graduates for delivery of services," a Kotak<br />
Institutional Equities report said.<br />
The report said business mix of Indian IT is<br />
changing with incremental growth accruing<br />
from analytics, consulting, BPO etc., which<br />
requires employees with different skill profiles.<br />
"Protectionism and expansion of delivery<br />
network to other low-cost locations such as<br />
Mexico, China and Eastern Europe are leading<br />
to accelerated hiring by companies outside<br />
India," it said.<br />
The report said TCS recruited over 5,000<br />
non-Indians in the past four quarters while<br />
Infosys has significantly stepped up hiring in<br />
local geographies.<br />
"In addition, many new deals involve re-<br />
Rs. 141.95 crore annually to provide<br />
security cover to its 3591 VIPs,<br />
much higher than other richer<br />
states.<br />
Considering Bihar’s per capita income<br />
of just over $430, the colossal<br />
expenditure on VIP security raises<br />
questions over government’s fiscal<br />
management.<br />
badging of client employees. This reduces demand<br />
for Indian engineering talent," it<br />
added.<br />
The report said supply of engineers has<br />
also increased aggressively over the past few<br />
years.<br />
"India now trains more engineers annually<br />
(1.5 mn) than China (1.1 mn) and the US (0.1<br />
mn) combined. This may lead to meaningful<br />
underemployment or stagnating wages," the<br />
report said.<br />
Excess supply will give companies flexibility<br />
to recruit in line with requirements, it<br />
added.<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Rajasthan doubles<br />
alcohol revenue<br />
in five years<br />
Jaipur: Despite tall claims to curb alcohol<br />
consumption in the state, the revenue<br />
of excise department has almost<br />
doubled ever since the Congress government<br />
came to power in 2008.<br />
In 2007-08 the revenue of the excise<br />
was Rs. 1,805.12<br />
crore which rose to<br />
almost 100 percent<br />
in 2011-12 to Rs.<br />
3,287 crore. Till Decem-ber<br />
2012 the<br />
department has already<br />
earned Rs.<br />
2,803.72 crore<br />
which is likely to<br />
break all previous<br />
records by the end<br />
of financial year in<br />
March 2013. Of total revenue received<br />
in 2011-12, Indian Made Foreign Liquor<br />
(IMFL) is the highest contributes with<br />
Rs. 1,298.63 cr. followed by country<br />
liquor Rs. 913.64 cr., beer Rs. 666.01<br />
crore and others Rs. 408.72 cr.<br />
Meanwhile, with an eye on assembly<br />
elections this year, the state government<br />
is planning to impose a ban on<br />
liquor across the state and has formed<br />
a five-member committee to submit its<br />
report within six months to the government.<br />
NRI deposits in<br />
Kerala stands at<br />
Rs. 62,708 crore<br />
Thiruvananthapuram: The bank deposits<br />
by Non-Resident Indians (NRI) in<br />
Kerala stood at Rs. 62,708 crore till December<br />
2012, bankers said on March 26.<br />
There are now around three million<br />
Keralites who work in foreign countries,<br />
close to 90 percent of them in the<br />
Middle East countries.<br />
Maximum deposits were done in the<br />
State Bank group, which attracted 40.58<br />
percent or Rs. 25,445 crore of the total<br />
deposits. The private sector banks aggregated<br />
a total NRI deposit of Rs.<br />
23.395 crore.<br />
The semi-urban areas of Kerala accounted<br />
for 62.85 percent of the deposits<br />
followed by 31.34 percent in the<br />
urban areas with the rural diaspora accounting<br />
for a mere 5.81 percent of<br />
share in the deposits.<br />
Within the State Bank group, Kerala’s<br />
own State Bank of Travancore led with<br />
Rs.17,258 crore of NRI deposits.
9<br />
BHOPAL<br />
Madhya Pradesh can expect a big jump<br />
in wildlife tourism, as Palpur Kuno, set<br />
to get lions from Gir, would be the only<br />
habitat in the world to have three big<br />
cats, the lion, the tiger and the panther<br />
in one habitat.<br />
Lion tourism attracts a sizeable number<br />
of visitors in Gujarat. This was the<br />
principal reason for Gujarat refusing to<br />
let the lions go to MP, a move which<br />
would make Gujarat lose its unique position<br />
of being the only state in the<br />
country to have Asiatic lions.<br />
Also, Palpur Kuno is geographically located<br />
very close to the renowned<br />
Ranthambhor tiger reserve in Rajasthan<br />
that attracts sizable foreign and<br />
domestic tourists. Kuno Palpur is about<br />
100 km from Ranthambhor and tourists<br />
that visit Ranthambhor could also add<br />
Palpur Kuno in their itinerary.<br />
The habitat comprises of dry deciduous<br />
shrub vegetation. The most common<br />
trees are kardhai and saalai. Being<br />
dry in nature, the area offers very good<br />
visibility of wildlife. A total of 24 villages<br />
have been relocated from the reserve<br />
and the former agricultural fields<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
of the village have developed in grasslands<br />
that are ideal habitat for game.<br />
The sanctuary has registered the presence<br />
of tigers that have returned to the<br />
area in the last few years. Panthers are<br />
also found in the reserve.<br />
Restrictions imposed on number of<br />
tourists at the prominent tiger reserves<br />
of the state like Kanha, Bandhavgarh<br />
and Pench could also be an advantage<br />
for Palpur Kuno.<br />
Presently, Palpur Kuno has very basic<br />
tourist amenities and hardly any tourist<br />
traffic. The sanctuary has a forest rest<br />
house located on the banks of the river<br />
Kuno and the closes hotels are at Shivpuri<br />
and Sheopur.<br />
"We will examine all future prospects<br />
and plan to strengthen our presence in<br />
the area," said managing director, MP<br />
state tourism development corporation,<br />
Raghwendra Kumar Singh.<br />
"I am aware of a few hotel and lodge<br />
owners who were looking to set up shop<br />
in Palpur Kuno. However, no one was<br />
sure whether the lion project would<br />
eventually be executed. Now that it has<br />
happened, I anticipate a big rush for<br />
Palpur Kuno," said former MLA and<br />
treasurer of the eco-tourism society of<br />
Heritage & Tourism<br />
India (ESOI).<br />
From the management and protection<br />
point of view, the Palpur Kuno sanctuary<br />
would present a fresh set of challenges<br />
to the forest department. One of<br />
the key reasons cited by Gujarat in the<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Kerala beyond the backwaters<br />
Kerala is famous for its backwaters, luscious green<br />
terrain and laidback environment, but Kerala has<br />
much more to offer outside of its usual tourist<br />
hotspots. Sean Sequeira lists out the best of the lesser<br />
known destinations in Kerala.<br />
ATHIRAPPALLY WATERFALL<br />
Known as 'The Niagara of India',<br />
Athirappally Falls is best<br />
seen during or after the monsoon.<br />
Apart from the views of the<br />
waterfall, there is plenty of<br />
other sightseeing for wildlife<br />
enthusiasts including fauna<br />
like the Lion Tailed Macaque,<br />
Great Indian Hornbill and<br />
Cochin Forest Cane Turtle.<br />
Getting there<br />
Closest airport: Cochin International<br />
Airport<br />
Closest railhead: Chalakudy<br />
Places to stay<br />
Riverok Villas(Rs 1,226 per<br />
night)<br />
KTDC Tamarind Kalady(Rs<br />
1,097 per night)<br />
VAGAMON MEADOWS<br />
A fairly unknown destination,<br />
Vagamon is a hill station located<br />
1,100 meters above sea level<br />
which is nicknamed Scotland<br />
of Asia.<br />
The most enchanting highlights<br />
of Vagamon are the<br />
beautiful valleys and meadows<br />
which are covered green by the<br />
thick flora. The meadows make<br />
for an excellent picnic destination.<br />
Getting there<br />
Closest airport: Cochin International<br />
Airport<br />
Closest railhead: Kottayam<br />
Place to stay<br />
Green Meadows (Rs. 3,000 per<br />
night)<br />
Chamundi Hill Palace (Rs.<br />
1,600 per night)<br />
Unique Palapur Kuno sanctuary<br />
set to give tourism boost<br />
BEKAL FORT<br />
The largest fort in Kerala, Bekal Fort was<br />
built from the sea up. There is plenty to explore<br />
in this fort; stairways and tunnels, a water tank,<br />
temples and mosques nearby and plenty of<br />
views of neighbouring towns from the observation<br />
tower. There is also a beach adjacent to the<br />
fort.<br />
Getting there<br />
Closest airport: Mangalore Domestic Terminal<br />
Closest railhead: Kasargod<br />
Place to stay<br />
K-Tees Residency (Rs 1,800 per night)<br />
Chandralayam Homestay (Rs. 1,500 per night)<br />
Edakkal Caves are located 1,200 metres above<br />
sea level in the Ambukuthi Mala mountain.<br />
The caves have pictorial writings with human<br />
and animal figurines. which date back upto<br />
7,000 years and are rumoured to have been<br />
made by the Neolithic man.<br />
These are the only known carvings in south<br />
India which date back to the Stone Age.<br />
Getting there<br />
Closest airport: Kozhikode International Airport<br />
Closest railhead: Kozikhode<br />
Place to stay<br />
The Edakkal Hermitage (Rs 2,750 per night)<br />
Green Mountain Cottages (Rs 1,046 per night)<br />
SC in not wanting to part with the lions<br />
is the poor protection record in Madhya<br />
Pradesh. "All arrangements required to<br />
accommodate the lions once they are<br />
here are in place," said CCF, lion project,<br />
Sudhir Kumar.
10<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
Must Read<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Women hit back at India's rape culture<br />
The Red Brigade ( a self defence<br />
group ) was formed in November<br />
2011 to fight back against a growing<br />
number of sexual attacks on<br />
women in the Madiyav area in the city<br />
of Lucknow, in Uttar Pradesh<br />
The male tormentor of the young<br />
women of the Madiyav slum did not<br />
spot the danger until it was too late.<br />
One moment he was taunting them<br />
with sexual suggestions and provocations;<br />
the next they had hold of his<br />
arms and legs and had hoisted him into<br />
the air.<br />
Then the beating began. Some of the<br />
young women lightly used their fists,<br />
others took off their shoes and hit him<br />
with those. When it was over, they let<br />
him limp away to nurse his wounds,<br />
certain that he had learned an important<br />
lesson: don't push your luck with<br />
the Red Brigade.<br />
Named for their bright red outfits, the<br />
Red Brigade was formed in November<br />
2011 as a self-defence group for young<br />
women suffering sexual abuse in the<br />
northern Indian city of Lucknow, 300<br />
miles south-east of Delhi. Galvanised<br />
by the gang rape and murder of a 23year-old<br />
medical student in Delhi last<br />
December and the nationwide protests<br />
that followed against a rising tide of<br />
rapes, they are now gaining in confidence.<br />
From a core membership of 15, ranging<br />
in age from 11 to 25, they now have<br />
more than 100 members, intelligent and<br />
sassy and with a simple message for the<br />
men who have made their lives a misery:<br />
they will no longer tolerate being<br />
groped, gawped at and worse. Their activities<br />
are a lesson in empowerment.<br />
Men who fall foul of the Red Brigade<br />
can first expect a visit and a warning.<br />
Sometimes the Red Brigade will ask the<br />
police to get involved, but if all else fails<br />
they take matters into their own hands.<br />
Their leader, 25-year-old teacher Usha<br />
Vishwakarma, has her own experience<br />
of the daily danger faced by many<br />
young women in the country. She was<br />
just 18 when a fellow teacher tried to<br />
rape her. "He grabbed me and put his<br />
hands round me and tried to open my<br />
belt and trousers," says Usha, sitting in<br />
the bare-brick front room of her small<br />
house. "But I was saved by my jeans because<br />
they were too tight for him to<br />
open, and that gave me a chance to<br />
fight, so I kicked him in the sensitive<br />
place and pushed him down and ran out<br />
of the door."<br />
No one at the school took her accusations<br />
seriously, telling her to forget it<br />
and stop causing trouble. The experience<br />
left her traumatised and for two<br />
years she did nothing. But little by little<br />
her confidence came back. In 2009 she<br />
set up her own small school for local<br />
girls in an outbuilding next to her family<br />
home. Yet all around her, she says,<br />
she saw more and more young women<br />
suffering the same abuse she had faced.<br />
And it was threatening to wreck the<br />
chances of her young female students.<br />
"Parents were telling girls to stay in<br />
their homes so there would be no incidents.<br />
They said, 'if you go to school,<br />
boys will be troubling you, so stay home<br />
and there will be no sexual violence',"<br />
Pooja Vishwakarma, 18, left, a captain in the Red Brigade, during martial arts training. The brigade takes direct action<br />
against their tormentors and now when a local man steps out of line, he can expect a visit from the group<br />
says Vishwakarma. "But we said no,<br />
and we decided to form a group to fight<br />
for ourselves. We decided we would not<br />
just complain; we would take a lead and<br />
fight for ourselves." They bought red<br />
kameez (shirts) and black salwar<br />
(trousers) and began to plan the fightback.<br />
"We chose red because it means<br />
danger and black for protest," says<br />
Vishwakarma.<br />
There is much to fight back against. "It<br />
is in the minds of men that girls are objects<br />
and it has been like that always,"<br />
says Vishwakarma. "Religion shows<br />
women as very powerless and that whoever<br />
is strong can do anything."<br />
Other members of the group drift in<br />
and join her, sitting on the bed along<br />
one wall of the front room. At the other<br />
end of the room is a table laden with the<br />
placards they carry with them when<br />
they go out to protest on the 29th day of<br />
every month. The demonstrations mark<br />
the date of the Delhi bus rape and murder<br />
on 29 December. Their slogans read:<br />
"Stop rape now" and "We want safety".<br />
"In the electronic era there are pictures<br />
everywhere of women and girls<br />
being treated like objects. It is now very<br />
simple to see pornography and it is<br />
feeding the hunger for sex. The men<br />
think that if you are looking sexy, then<br />
you want sex," says Vishwakarma.<br />
They have started martial arts training<br />
so that the men do not have a physical<br />
advantage over them. Pooja, Vishwakarma's<br />
18-year-old sister, laughs as<br />
she recalls the reaction of the boy they<br />
grabbed in the street when his taunts<br />
became too much. "We all stopped and<br />
turned round and we surrounded him<br />
and grabbed his arms and legs and he<br />
thought it was a joke, but we were not<br />
kidding and four of us lifted him in the<br />
air and the others started to hit him<br />
with their shoes and fists," she says.<br />
The rough justice the Red Brigade<br />
metes out might seem extreme to western<br />
sensibilities, but many Indian<br />
women are making it clear that they are<br />
no longer prepared to put up with endemic<br />
abuse. That much is clear from<br />
the crime figures: reports of molestation<br />
in Delhi are up 590% year on year<br />
and rape reports by 147%. The rape cases<br />
have hit tourist numbers, which were<br />
down 25% in the first three months of<br />
the year – 35% fewer women are travelling<br />
to India.<br />
The Red Brigade say sexual abuse is a<br />
part of daily life for young women like<br />
them. They all have stories of abuse,<br />
attempted rapes and daily harassment.<br />
"This is what happens in India," says<br />
16-year-old Laxmi, one of Vishwakarma's<br />
lieutenants. "These things happen<br />
all the time. All of us know this, so<br />
don't let anyone say otherwise. This is<br />
why we have formed the Red Brigade."<br />
Seventeen-year-old Preeti Verma<br />
nods in agreement. Her family are too<br />
poor to have a toilet in the house, so<br />
she has to go out into the fields, she<br />
says. Every time she went out, the man<br />
in the neighbouring house threw<br />
stones at her to try to scare her into<br />
jumping up. "He wanted to see my<br />
body," she says. "I told him: 'What are<br />
you doing? You are shameless, don't<br />
you have a mother and sister in your<br />
house?' But he replied that his mother<br />
is for his father, his sister is for her<br />
husband and that I was for him." She<br />
told Vishwakarma, and the man received<br />
a visit from the Red Brigade and<br />
another from the police. She has had<br />
no trouble from him since.<br />
"We've caught a lot of men recently,"<br />
says 17-year-old Sufia Hashmi. "I<br />
joined up because men always used to<br />
pass comments on me and touch my<br />
body, but now we beat them the men<br />
cannot do anything and they run away.<br />
You feel powerful and you feel good."<br />
The next day, they gather on the roof<br />
of a gym across the city to run through<br />
their moves, a mixture of kicks,<br />
punches and throws. An instructor<br />
shows Pooja how to use a wooden stick<br />
to keep a boy at bay. She holds it<br />
against his assistant's throat and the<br />
boy looks terrified. The others gasp<br />
and giggle.<br />
Yet it is not just the young men of the<br />
neighbourhood that the Red Brigade<br />
must overcome. Many of the members<br />
are very young and, although some of<br />
their parents are supportive, others<br />
are convinced they are wasting their<br />
lives. "The attitude of my parents is<br />
very demoralising," says 16-year-old<br />
Simpi Diwari, a tiny young woman<br />
who a few moments ago was kicking<br />
away the legs of one of her colleagues.<br />
"I want to be like Usha, fighting<br />
against the cruel things, I want to be a<br />
teacher and a motivator too, but I am<br />
fighting with my parents just to be allowed<br />
out of the house."<br />
On the way back to the slum, the rickshaws<br />
pass a public park and for a moment<br />
these tough young women show<br />
themselves for what they really are –<br />
children forced to grow up fast. They<br />
beg and plead to stop. "Please, please,"<br />
they say, their eyes gleaming in excitement.<br />
Shrieking gleefully, they race off<br />
towards the swings, slides and roundabouts.<br />
Later they stroll back through<br />
the market, eating ice-creams, heading<br />
for their homes. The sun is low in the<br />
sky, the shadows long. The men watch<br />
sullenly as they pass, like wolves who<br />
have just discovered the sheep are<br />
armed. No one risks a word.
11<br />
BHOPAL<br />
The very same day he gave marching<br />
orders to tribal affairs minister Vijay<br />
Shah for making sexist remarks, state<br />
BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar<br />
BHOPAL April 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
ended up with his foot firmly in his<br />
mouth.<br />
In Shajapur, when journalists drew<br />
his attention to Congress allegations of<br />
a possible involvement of the BJP in<br />
the Bengaluru blasts that took place<br />
Social media to influence elections<br />
in 17 of MP's 29 Lok Sabha seats<br />
BHOPAL<br />
Madhya Pradesh's not so tech-savvy<br />
chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan<br />
joined the micro-blogging site twitter<br />
last month, becoming third BJP chief<br />
minister to do so after Gujarat CM<br />
Narendra Modi and Chhattisgarh CM<br />
Raman Singh. The move might have<br />
surprised some. But analysts say it is<br />
a wise decision, given the findings of a<br />
new study. Social media is likely to in-<br />
fluence politics and elections in over<br />
half of Madhya Pradesh's 29 Lok sabha<br />
constituencies in the forthcoming<br />
2014 general elections, the new study<br />
suggests.<br />
According to the study by IRIS<br />
Knowledge Foundation and supported<br />
by the Internet and Mobile Association<br />
of India (IAMAI), elections in 17<br />
parliamentary constituencies of MP<br />
would be influenced to varied degrees<br />
by the social media. Of these 17 constituencies,<br />
9 are high impact, 5 are<br />
medium impact and 3 are low impact.<br />
In MP, the high impact constituencies<br />
include Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior,<br />
Jabalpur, Ujjain, Rewa, Satna, Dewas<br />
and Dhar. Sagar, Hoshangabad,<br />
Khandwa, Balaghat and Khargone are<br />
low impact constituencies, while as<br />
Ratlam, Shahdol and Mandsour are<br />
the medium impact constituencies in<br />
the state. The rest of the 12 constituencies<br />
would be no-impact constituencies,<br />
and surprisingly these include<br />
the constituencies of Jyotiraditya<br />
Madhavrao Scindia (Guna), Kamal<br />
Nath (Chhindwara), Sushma<br />
Swaraj (Vidisha) and Narindra Singh<br />
Tomar (Morena).<br />
May be Shivraj Singh Chauhan himself<br />
realized the potential of the social<br />
media, or his advisors ensured it, last<br />
month Chauhan finally<br />
joined Twitter.<br />
Chauhan started tweeting<br />
from March 8 and<br />
this will help him to<br />
hone his social media<br />
strategy ahead of the<br />
polls. According to experts,<br />
social media is<br />
quite influential when<br />
it comes to directing<br />
public perceptions and<br />
influencing their decisions<br />
to some extent. In<br />
India at present, the<br />
number of Facebook<br />
users equals almost to the population<br />
of Madhya Pradesh (over 7 crore), the<br />
second populous state in India<br />
In this 'simplistic' study, social-media-impacted<br />
constituencies are those<br />
where Facebook users are more than<br />
the victory margin of the winner in<br />
the last Lok Sabha election, or where<br />
such users account for over 10% of the<br />
voting population.<br />
While as the medium impact constituencies<br />
are those where it has been<br />
assumed that a Facebook user can influence<br />
one other voter who may not<br />
be on Facebook. Given this background,<br />
social media is likely to influence<br />
the elections to some extent. According<br />
to the data available, nearly 10<br />
crore Indians use the Internet each<br />
day, with 4 crore of them having an assured<br />
broadband connection.<br />
Region<br />
near the saffron party office, Tomar<br />
said Congress was in habit of seeing<br />
the BJP's hands in everything. "Congress<br />
ko har cheej me BJP ka haath<br />
dikhai deta hai. Hum log majaak me<br />
kahte the ki agar kisi Congressi ke<br />
ghar me bachcha hota hai to usme bhi<br />
BJP ka haath dikhai dega (we often<br />
joke that even when a baby is delivered<br />
at a Congress party member's home, he<br />
sees the BJP's hands behind it)," Tomar<br />
said.<br />
The sexist innuendo in Tomar's remark<br />
elicited sharp reaction from the<br />
state Congress. Leader of Opposition<br />
in state Assembly Ajay Singh said the<br />
same Narendra Singh Tomar who<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Now Tomar does a<br />
Shah, Cong up in arms<br />
taught a lesson to Vijay Shah on the latter's<br />
indecent remarks against women,<br />
has now himself made an indecent<br />
statement. "I used to think that Tomar<br />
was a serious leader, but his remark<br />
has broken the image I had about him.<br />
He lacks depth," said Singh, talking to<br />
the journalists.<br />
He advised that dirty, mean politics is<br />
not going to help anyone and so every<br />
politician should avoid making such remarks.<br />
On Vijay Shah, Ajay Singh said<br />
the former minister's habit of bragging<br />
was well known to all, but this time his<br />
comments were too "private and sensitive".<br />
Despite several attempts, Tomar<br />
could not be contacted.<br />
India now gets a first 24-hour matrimonial channel<br />
New Delhi: Shagun TV, said to be the country’s first 24-hour matrimonial channel,<br />
will be launched on April 26.<br />
To be carried nationally across north and west India, it will be distributed<br />
through direct-to-home and digital networks. It is being launched by Vertent Media.<br />
The channel, conceptualised, conceived and promoted by media man Anuranjan<br />
Jha, is said to be full of entertainment, fun and amusement related to matrimonial<br />
content.
12 BHOPALApril 22 to April 28, 2013<br />
BHOPAL<br />
Dubbed as the 'Pride of Gujarat', Asiatic lions<br />
hitherto found only at the Gir reserve in<br />
Gujarat would get a second home at Palpur<br />
Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. Chief<br />
minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan welcomed<br />
the Supreme Court order allowing the transfer<br />
of Asiatic lions from Gir in Gujarat to<br />
Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh's Sheopur<br />
district. The matter had been lingering for<br />
the past 20 years and the judicial pronouncement<br />
on Monday would put an end to the<br />
years of resistance by Gujarat in 'sharing' lions<br />
with MP. However, in a setback, the Cheetah<br />
reintroduction also proposed at Palpur<br />
Kuno will not take place as the apex court has<br />
ruled it out.<br />
The chief minister said that adequate<br />
arrangements have been made at Palpur<br />
Kuno sanctuary to accommodate the lions<br />
when they arrive there. He said wildlife is<br />
safe in the state and hoped that the lions<br />
would flourish once they are here.<br />
The Supreme Court allowed the transfer on<br />
the grounds that Gir presently is the only<br />
habitat in the country for Asiatic lions, and<br />
that they face the risk of extinction. A second<br />
home for the lions is necessary, the court<br />
said. Gir has about 400 lions presently. A total<br />
of 92 lions have died at Gir, including 83 of<br />
natural causes, in the last two years.<br />
Additional Principal Chief Conservator of<br />
Forests (Wildlife) Dharmendra Shukla said<br />
that he would be in a position to comment on<br />
the court order once he sees it. "The habitat<br />
at Palpur Kuno is ready to accommodate the<br />
lions and we will wait for the modalities of<br />
the transfer to be worked out. Many aspects<br />
of the transfer are still to be worked out by<br />
the government of India," said Shukla.<br />
"While the necessary arrangements for the<br />
lions are in place, some minor preparations<br />
at the field level that need to be made will be<br />
done once the details of the transfer are<br />
worked out," said Sudhir Kumar, chief conservator,<br />
Lion Project, Gwalior.<br />
The state, however, received a setback on<br />
Nation<br />
the cheetah reintroduction case. The reintroduction<br />
of the cheetah from Namibia to the<br />
Palpur Kuno sanctuary that had been stayed<br />
by the Supreme Court was cancelled on Monday.<br />
The court felt that projects dedicated to<br />
saving Indian species should get precedence.<br />
<strong>WE</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>STATE</strong><br />
Palpar Kuno is waiting for lions: Chauhan<br />
NEW DELHI<br />
India’s Supreme Court took up a new and<br />
highly contentious topic last week —<br />
whether pornography leads to sexual assault<br />
and should, therefore, be completely<br />
banned in India.<br />
The Supreme Court’s interest in the issue<br />
comes in response to a petition that asks the<br />
government to enact a law that would make<br />
even viewing pornographic materials a nonbailable<br />
offense. Distributing pornographic<br />
materials is already illegal in India, but the related<br />
laws are vague and rarely enforced.<br />
“I believe that watching porn corrupts people,<br />
and many of the crimes that happen to<br />
women, girls and children, such as sex-trafficking,<br />
are mostly related to pornography,”<br />
said Kamlesh Vaswani, the author of the petition<br />
and an intellectual property rights<br />
lawyer who said he became interested in the<br />
issue after seeing the impact of pornography<br />
in his hometown of Indore.<br />
India has been reeling from reports of rape<br />
and sexual violence directed at women and<br />
girls. The fatal gang rape of a young woman in<br />
Delhi on Dec. 16 prompted the government to<br />
pass strict new laws about sexual crimes, but<br />
reported rapes have risen sharply this year<br />
and many say the police response remains inadequate.<br />
Last weekend, Delhi again erupted<br />
in protests after the parents of a five-year old<br />
girl said that the police refused to register a<br />
complaint that their daughter was raped and<br />
a police officer was filmed slapping a female<br />
protestor.<br />
The Supreme Court has asked the Ministry<br />
of Information and Technology, the Ministry<br />
of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry<br />
of Home Affairs to respond by April 29 to<br />
the petition’s allegations that existing laws<br />
are not protecting women from the negative<br />
fallout of pornography.<br />
As Internet penetration grows in India with<br />
the availability of high-speed data services<br />
and the spread of smartphones, pornography<br />
is spreading rapidly here, even though publishing<br />
or distributing it, in print or on the<br />
Web, is illegal under the Indian Penal Code<br />
and the Information Technology Act of 2000.<br />
There is some evidence that Indians are<br />
more actively seeking pornography on the Internet<br />
than citizens of many other countries:<br />
Google searches for the word “porn,” as a<br />
proportion of total Google searches, have increased<br />
five times between 2004 and 2013 in India,<br />
according to Google Trends. Over that period,<br />
India ranked fourth worldwide, after<br />
Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, and<br />
Pakistan.<br />
New Delhi, population 16 million, was the<br />
city with the highest-worldwide percentage of<br />
searches for “porn” in 2012. Dallas was the<br />
second highest.<br />
One of every five mobile users in India<br />
wants adult content on his 3G-enabled phone,<br />
one 2011 study by IMRB concludes, and<br />
pornography Web sites rank among the most<br />
popular in India. Sunny Leone, an Indian-origin<br />
Canadian porn star, became a popular in<br />
An expert committee headed by retired IAS<br />
officer MK Ranjitsinh identified Kuno as an<br />
ideal habitat for re-introduction of Cheetahs,<br />
which had got extinct from India in 1952.<br />
Kuno had a cheetah population, till they were<br />
hunted down in the early 1900s.<br />
Will India Ban<br />
Pornography as Reported<br />
Sexual Assault Rises ?<br />
India after appearing on the “Bigg Boss”<br />
house here in 2011.<br />
It’s a far cry from just a decade or so ago,<br />
when the sight of a naked woman on a movie<br />
screen, much less at home on the television,<br />
was rare here, outside of a few seedy cinemas<br />
and the occasional, much-circulated video.<br />
“Pornography corrupts the mind and causes<br />
sexual excitement to grow,” said Vijay Panjwani,<br />
the lawyer who argued the petition on<br />
behalf on Mr. Vaswani in front of the<br />
Supreme Court last week. “When a release is<br />
not found it leads to acts of sexual violence<br />
against women.”<br />
Whether viewing pornography can be directly<br />
tied to sexual violence or rape is highly<br />
debatable. A common criticism of pornography<br />
is that it has a lasting effect on the minds<br />
of regular viewers by shaping the way they<br />
think about sex and encouraging aggressive<br />
behavior.<br />
“What happens when a culture is saturated<br />
with sexually explicit images eroticizing male<br />
domination and female subordination?” asked<br />
Gail Dines, a sociology professor, and Robert<br />
Jensen, a journalism professor. They argue<br />
that most pornography contains images of<br />
physical and verbal abuse of female performers<br />
and skews the viewers’ attitudes towards<br />
sex.<br />
Some sociologists say that in India, the negative<br />
effects of viewing pornography are exacerbated<br />
because of a social environment<br />
that discourages regular interaction between<br />
young men and women.<br />
“India is a society in a phase of transition<br />
that is based on a high segregation of men and<br />
women,” said Ranjana Kumari, the director<br />
of the Center for Social Research in New Del-<br />
hi. “In this environment viewing pornography<br />
creates heightened sexual desire and aggression<br />
in young men who have no normal<br />
interaction with women and that can often<br />
lead to violent behavior.”<br />
The porn industry also has many defenders.<br />
The incidence of rape in the United States has<br />
declined 85 percent over a period of 25 years<br />
while access to pornography has increased,<br />
according to research by Anthony D’Amato<br />
and Glenn Reynolds, both law professors.<br />
David Loftus, an actor and author of “Watching<br />
Sex: How Men Really Respond to Pornography,”<br />
argues that the effect of watching<br />
pornography depends on the viewer and not<br />
on the content. “The men who have difficulties<br />
with pornography, much like many who<br />
cannot relate well to others and turn to crime,<br />
tend to come from dysfunctional backgrounds,<br />
where stringent rules, hypocrisy, unhappiness<br />
and even violence abounded,” he<br />
wrote. As a growing number of Indians watch<br />
pornography, the government has tried heavyhanded<br />
attempts to suppress popular Web<br />
sites. In June of 2009, for example, the government<br />
asked all Internet service providers to<br />
block a cartoon Web site called Savita Bhabhi,<br />
about a bored housewife on the grounds that it<br />
was obscene.<br />
But some government ministers are among<br />
the growing audience: In February 2012, three<br />
ministers resigned because they were caught<br />
on camera watching porn on a mobile phone<br />
during a session of the Karnataka state assembly.<br />
Do you think making it illegal to watch<br />
pornography could curb sexual assault in India,<br />
or make the problem worse? Please send<br />
your thoughts at editor@wethestate.com<br />
Owned Printed and Published by M.M.Baig. Printed at lucky, 267, Pragati Nagar, Shahanshah Garden, Bhopal (MP) and published from H.No.101, A-SECTOR INDRAPURI BHEL, WARD NO.63 DIST BHOPAL-462021, M.P.<br />
Tele/FAX 0755-4292545,Mob.09425029901 email-editor@wethestate.com RNI No. MPENG\2012\46415 Editor: M.M. BAIG -Responsible for selection of News & Articles under PRB Act, Subject to Bhopal jurisdiction