Merlin Francis

Journalist, marketeer & now founder at Rustic Motifs, my latest venture striving at achieving inclusive growth.

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Intolerant India-A Manufactured Reality? Or The Truth?

By Merlin Francis

Photo credits - The Charmer

Last evening, while travelling by auto, I had an interesting conversation with my auto driver. 

Auto Driver -  “Are you from Mumbai?”

Me - “I used to live in Mumbai before moving to Bangalore.”

Auto Driver - “I looked at you and guessed, you are from Mumbai.”

Me -  Just Smiled, wondering to myself, what made me look like someone from Mumbai.

Auto Driver - “Are you a Muslim?”

I was taken aback. Was it really important for him to know, what my faith was? Would my faith have made a difference to his attitude towards me?

This morning a friend tagged me on a Shahrukh Khan video on Facebook, the making of his Gerua song, asking me to watch it. The next instant, there is reply to her comment by some stranger stating “ Don’t watch if u r true indian.”

Really? Now I have to prove my Indianness by not watching movies of people I have grown up loving for who they are and for values they stand for, irrespective of their faiths.

When did our faith start defining us. When did we start judging others basis their religion?

Today the country is embroiled in the intolerance debate. We feel hurt when someone says we are intolerant, but like many other things in this country, even this issue was blown out of proportion. Those who started protesting against intolerance were protesting against the silence of the state in countering fringe elements who were dividing the nation; its inability to reign in those who were resorting to mob justice in the name of religion.

Our anger should have been focussed on them, these elements who do no good to the nation, other than creating an atmosphere of tension and strife.

Unfortunately, the political forces succeeded in deflecting the issue and in turning the intolerance debate on its head and attributing it to the people in general.

It offended us, the janta; We were never intolerant, we were regular people going about our lives, harming no one. The tag of being intolerant was unacceptable and we started fighting against the notion and anyone who mentioned, it existed.

In between all this, we missed the point that intolerance is not something you can measure statistically, most of it is a feeling born out of one’s personal experiences. It is a sense of things around you and the treatment meted out to you. It could vary from individual to individual.

I spent my childhood in Kanpur, in Uttar Pradesh, a communally sensitive city. I have seen the city burn during the riots of 1984, and 1992-93. Even then I did not think, India was intolerant, because I saw how on each of these instances, the entire colony we lived in, people from different faiths, came together to protect each other. All the men (including my Dad) used to man the 500 family campus through the day and night. Not one family within our campus was harmed, even though outside the scenario was pretty gruesome.

Once while the riots of December of 1992, were yet to settle down, during a curfew break, I had to step out and walk a little distance to get some grocery, when a mob of rioters with swords in their hands surrounded me and started asking my name. I froze, not sure what to say, as they shouted and shook me, a man appeared out of nowhere and said, “Yeh hamari bachhi hai” (She is my daughter), “I am so and so, leave her.” He then drove a dazed me to the safety of my house.

That was the India I grew up in, I had no reason to fear. I still don’t have.

Communal disharmony is not new to India, our priced freedom from the British raj and history of finding our own identity as an independent nation is soaked in violence and bloodshed in the name of one’s faith. 68 years of our existence since, have been marked by many such communal riots and incidents that shook the very essence of a secular India envisaged in our Constitution; And yet, we managed to survive it all and have stayed as a single unit.

Then what has changed so much in the last few months that many in this country feel the need to raise their voice and say, they fear that the India we know is rapidly changing?

Take a moment and think, when did you sense intolerance growing in recent times? Was it while watching the prime time debate on National Television, or while reading through your social media timelines? Do you think you would have heard or known about some religious leader uttering some nonsense in some obscure corner of this huge country and felt outraged if not for your news anchor instigating you to take a stand, to share your opinion, to make your voice count? Nah! I don’t think so, you may have let it pass as just another aberration in a country like ours. Unfortunately today we live in an era, where the voices around us are more prominent, every passing thought is aired and finds a platform. In fact the more vicious it gets the more popular you will be.

I have lost respect for more people I follow on social media in last year or so, than I have in my entire life. The sensibilities and the thoughtfulness we may show offline seems to take a backseat when online.

The fourth estate the respected media has mastered the art of making national issues of otherwise irrelevant things. Media ethics has been at its lowest, there are absolutely no rules followed, when reporting news in a diverse country like ours, where one can never be too careful in hurting sentiments. Everything is twisted and blown out of proportion to garner TRPs, it could be a quote by the Home Minister or by a bollywood actor, as long as they can create a controversy around it and call for a debate on prime time, all is well.

Recently, in Mumbai in a Cinema theatre, a family was asked to leave because they refused to stand up for the National Anthem. Every media house that featured the story made it a point to mention the community the family belonged to again and again. As if the community they belonged to was the reason behind their decision to not stand for the anthem. Can one family represent the views of millions in this country? The social media took the cue and went berserk.

I think responsible journalism just breathed its last in this country. When and how did we become such petty minded is beyond me. Is it so difficult to see, we are being manipulated.

We live in times, where everything we read and hear should be taken with a pinch of salt. A news is only as good as its virality quotient. Sane, matter of fact news reports rarely make for viral content.

Emerging trends in news reporting will make you question the little credibility enjoyed by the fourth estate today. According to the new policy introduced recently by a leading daily, 25 per cent of its journalists’ paychecks will be now be dependent on their social activity online; which includes ‘breaking news on whatsapp groups’, ‘online first’ articles, ‘at least one comment on an article and their timely response to it’ and  ‘number of tweets per day’. It is not too difficult to imagine, the outcome of such salary clauses on the quality of content across the virtual space, we will get to see in the coming days.

Looking at the quality of interactions we have these days on social media, it may not be too farfetched to say, we as a nation are not mature enough to handle this social media explosion. It is not just threatening our own peace of mind but also the perception of India we live in.

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#LetUsReclaimSocialMedia

By Merlin Francis

Image courtesy - Thinkstock Images

History tell us, the imperialists, in the colonial era, manufactured differences to pit people against each other. Their reasoning - it's easy to rule people who are divided. It ensured that their subjects’ concerns, then shifted from essentials of life & livelihood to drawing their existential identity from abstract notions and various -isms.

Two World Wars, and many enlightened minds brought an end to that era.

The World meandered on - relishing its newfound materialism, inventing desires and creating infinite wants in a finite World, warming a little bit along the way, while feverishly consuming anything that can be consumed. With the tech revolution, came the information era - challenging our imagination and our reach. The World shrank as people came closer and the view of the World expanded beyond our four walls, neighbourhoods and townships. Through social networks, we realised we could reach out and befriend anyone, anywhere in the World. In the beginning, we used social media for sharing party pics, dietary or mood swing updates, general banter, silly jokes and those forward or die kind of chain messages. Here was a medium, that let us get away from the mundaneness of our daily lives and be happy being silly. And then, the first social media miracle happened. A politician won a presidential election using the power of the medium. He reached out, he sought our opinion, he made us feel important. Suddenly, our vote was not just a silent ‘for’,  it had found a voice. With that, social media as we knew it, informative, silly, fun, easy and happy ceased to exist. Here was a successful model, that had to be replicated. In its new avatar, social media emerged as a highly potent political tool. Political masters - the crooked & the crookedly straight, the corrupt & the corruptly clean, the autocrats & the autocratic democrats, .... all joined en masse. In true "democratic" spirit; the harmless tribes that inhabited the social networks were sliced and diced into various demographics. They were no more just random faces and names but subjects who had to be acquired, classified, controlled and tamed. Hashtags became labels that the demography could easily identify with. For those who did not fit in, new hashtags & labels were created. The lines were drawn and we stood divided. The voices, that once seemed powerful, lost their individuality and became just noise. Eventually, and effortlessly we became pawns in a game of chess between the political overlords. We started sharing, abusing, creating & forwarding memes, blogs, status updates and tweets on behalf of the high & the mighty. We pitted ourselves against each other. Friendly banter turned into label calling. With the swipe of a thumb we gleefully fought 'battles' on WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook. The fourth estate, on their part, egged us on; Instigating us, pushing us to take a stand, to feel agitated, angry and threatened. Thus, we became intolerable! Look at what we are sharing and discussing on social media today. Look at the quality of our debates. Look how pretentious and shallow we have become, to feel left out if we fail to share an opinion or elicit a response. It takes just a pensive moment to realise that it is all so meaningless. The things that look so important and earth shattering on our virtual walls, makes little difference to our lives and yet threatens the beautiful relationships we share in the real World. Knowingly or unknowingly, I too have became a pawn. No more! I refuse be a sacrificial chess piece for the celebrities, the media, or the powerful. I'm not a demographic. I'm not a statistic or a vote bank. I'm not anybody's mouthpiece or bearer of their ideas. Social media was never meant to divide us, it was a platform to bring us closer, keep us connected. #LetUsReclaimSocialMedia from the anti-social masters. --- Status Update: Fingers wrapped around my big mug of hot ginger tea, I watch the rains from my window. I can hear the Hotel California song playing somewhere in the distance.

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8 Precious Lessons Bihar Taught Us!

By Merlin Francis

Image courtesy: AFP

The results of the Bihar elections have been far from eye-popping, a decisive sweep for the Mahagathbandhan led by Nitish Kumar despite the odds, speaks a lot for him and even more for the biggest loser in the state, the BJP.

Is this a signal to Narendra Modi and his party, that it is time to clean up their act and start delivering on the promises they rode to power on, in 2014?

Is it, a warning for the PM, who has been in a campaign mode, what seems like forever now?

Or is it a mandate against the politics of hate played out by many in the last few weeks?

It does not matter how one chooses to see it, but every win and every loss has many lessons one can learn from. After all, it is never too late to accept failure, to accept the mistakes and make amends while there is still time.

When a leader becomes larger than life he needs to be shown his place- This is a democracy

You may like it or loathe it, but when you live in a democracy, you should always be aware that when you hold an office of power, it is to serve the people. No matter how popular or powerful you are, at the end of the day, you are a public servant. Your power comes from the people and their mandate. The day you start believing you are invincible or higher than the people who voted you to power, people of the country will show you, your place.

As a leader in a democracy, it can cost you precious votes to forget, power, positions one holds, ‘is of the people, by the people and for the people’.

An elected leader cannot be for a select few

As an elected leader and one who heads the nation of a billion strong population which is so diverse, it is important to rise above personal biases and think for the welfare of all, on all levels.

The country you govern and its people come ahead of everything else, even the political party, lineage or ideology, you come from. India is all its citizens, you cannot provide development to a few and leave the rest out. A leader is one, who fights for all he is responsible for. If a leader fails to understand this basic principle, then it is only a matter of time before he is shown, his rightful place.

As a leader, you are responsible for your team

You are as good as your team, as a leader the onus is on you to set the tone and culture of your team, if you don’t reign in the trouble makers they are going to take you down. If those in your team speak differently and you don’t correct them or clarify your stand or stop them from saying whatever comes to their mind, it is you who will have to take the blame and bear the brunt. If the wins have your name on it, the failures also belong to you.

False promises, never made real heroes

Promises of India as a superpower is great to hear and even cheer, but in the end if it does not translate into two meals a day, a shelter, a life of dignity and opportunities to better their standards of living, for all its citizens, then someone is going to pay the price.

Unfortunately even after 68 years of Independence, for a majority of Indians, the basic demand remains, “roti, kapda aur makaan”. So unless the promises of ‘acche din’, ensures this for one and all, it is not going to help anyone’s cause.

The only magic formula any political party can expect to work in this country is delivering on its promises, you fail, the people will fail you.

We are raising an impatient generation. They have their own Worldview and are aware of all that is going on around them, it is not as easy to fool them with inane things, they want real results or be ready to face the music. If you quote history and the decade long misrule of your rivals, every time one points out your mistakes, you are forgetting, this is why, they lost and have been relegated to history, who knows for good, maybe.

Your Karma decides your fate, eventually!

You can be lucky once, twice is rare and a third time still a myth. Only real, substantial work will take you places. What won Nitish Kumar 2015 elections in Bihar was the way he ensured the development deprived state fast tracked as one of the frontrunners on the development roadmap, in the little time he had. He relied on his actions to speak for him. And they did. People voted for him, because he gave them a better life, improved living standards and worked for the betterment of his people. In a democracy, that is the only thing, which will take you places.

You divide and you can never rule

It may have taken India 300 years to oust the British who ruled the subcontinent, using the policy of “Divide and Rule”, but it does not take that long in an Independent India. We take pride in our diversity. For the sake of your votes, you may divide us, classify us, into castes, religions, states and any other identity that suits you, but in the end, it is our neighbour who stands up for us, not the politician we voted for last time. I will any day trust my life with my neighbour than a politician, irrespective of the faith he follows. Of course there have been incidents of communal violence, but we are not immature to colour every individual with the same brush. This country does not belong to any one community and should not. Our strength lies in our diversity, the ability to adapt and nurture different cultures. Why would anyone want to homogenise it? Politics of hate, does not travel far. People realise hate consumes anyone in its way, even those who propagate it, in time.

An intolerant India is good for no one

The problem with intolerance is, it never really is satisfied. Today we cannot bear to see or co-exist with someone from another religion, tomorrow it will be someone from another region, then caste, then food habits, so on and so forth. It is a lesson we should learn from our neighbour Pakistan, it is a homogenous Islamic state and still there is so much of infighting and violence, Now the fight is between, Shia Muslims and Sunni Muslims, whichever one prevails will find something more to be intolerant about, within that.

It is beyond me, why would anyone give up what different cultures, communities have to offer? Diversity makes us richer as individuals. Look at the options we have in our cuisines, in art forms, in architecture, in our value systems, why give up on something that enriches our lives and widens our Worldview.

Imagine an India, which is divided along religious lines; one community refusing to work with the other, where will it leave us?

India is not what is portrayed by our favourite news channel on "Prime Time"

India is not how it is portrayed to us on our favourite news channel. In a race for TRPs everything we view on our screen in magnified. The uproar, the goriness, the patriotism all of it is to incite us, to make us believe that what we hear and see is the real India. It is not.

Real India, just wants to go about its daily life, it resides in the slums of our Urban cities, on the traffic jammed streets, in the high rises with no power or water, in the villages deprived of opportunities, of basic necessities. Real India is us, if you and I believe in that hatred and religion based nationalism, then yes there is indeed a reason to worry. Not when news channels and social media channels air the communal rants of random Sadhvis, swamis or maulanas, their power lies in our reaction, if we stop reacting they would be silenced.

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The State expects its farmers to commit ‘eligible suicides’

By Merlin Francis 

Image courtesy - S.Kumar

On October 26th it was reported that, Swati Pitale, a class 11 student in Maharashtra's Latur district, went with her friends to her father's dried up tomato farm on October 14th and later that day, allegedly drank pesticide kept in a shed. In a suicide note left by the 16-year-old to a bank and private money lenders, the teen said: "Please don't bother my father, he will return your money."

In January this year the government of Maharashtra announced more than Rs.2000 crores as compensation for farmers who had lost their crops due to drought. 2,234 farmers committed suicide in the State, between January and September 2015, as revealed by the government in response an RTI query.

On October 25th, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan reached out to farmers, who are facing a drought like situation and assured them adequate compensation, which was an estimate of Rs. 3000 crores. According to Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, a total of 2,230 farmers have committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh between April 01 and October 22, 2015

Earlier this month, Karnataka Chief Minister, K. Siddaramaiah, announced an enhanced compensation to the family of farmers who committed suicide from Rs. 2 Lakh to Rs.5 Lakh, increased widow pension for the dead farmers’ wives, a waiver of the interest and compound interest on the farmer’s loan along with a promise that the government will take care of the education of the children of the dead farmers till post graduation. The State saw 516 farmer suicides, between April 01 and October 03, 2015,

States suffering from drought and dealing with increased number of farmer suicides, have been competing with each other in announcing sops for farmers, how much actually reaches them is of course questionable. At the same rally where the compensation was announced by Karnataka Chief Minister, it was revealed that the State government had sought Rs. 3850 crore relief from the Centre to provide compensation to farmers who had lost their crops due to drought in 136 taluks. But so far the Centre has not released a single rupee to Karnataka.

In dearth of funds, how the state government will fulfill its promises to its farmers, remains to be seen.

Again, such sops, waivers and compensations are not being announced for the first time; It has become an annual ritual. However, the increasing number of farmer suicides across drought hit areas in the country stand testimony to the ineffectiveness of such measures.

Earlier this year, the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) released the findings from its 70th Situation of Agricultural Households in India. The new survey was for the agricultural year 2012-13 and covered 35,000 households. According to the most extensive survey of farm households to date conducted by the NSSO, on an average a farming household makes Rs. 6,426 a month from all sources of income.

It also found that, nearly 90 per cent of India’s farmers have less than two hectares of land, of which over 67 per cent or two out of three farm households have less than one hectare of land to cultivate.

It is this 67 per cent which finds it difficult to make their ends meet and ends up committing suicide.

The survey further revealed, over half of all agricultural households are in debt; high initial investments for better productivity, low access to institutional credit, dependency on local money lenders, lack of micro-irrigation facilities and poor storage facilities make small holdings unviable, pushing these farmers into the vicious cycle of indebtedness; considered one of the primary reasons behind the rising incidence of farmer suicides. A reason why we see loan waivers as an important part of government offered incentives.

One would like to believe that, the sops being doled out by the governments, reaches this segment and helps them tide over their miseries, enough to at least not opt for death as a solution. But like most things in this country, the reality of the promises is far from the way it sounds from a politically crowded dias in a rally.

A little digging in to find out who really benefits from these loan waivers, throws up some pretty serious questions on the viability of such sops.

The waivers announced by the government is usually routed through institutional channels, like Nationalised banks, cooperatives, government agencies etc.

According to the NSSO findings, 80 per cent of the households which took loans from these institutional channels were those which owned more than 10 hectares of land. These are not the small farmers, but the large farmers, who have the means to cope with a natural calamity and generally use the institutional channels – government, cooperatives and banks, for loans.

Credit from these institutional channels were close to 80 per cent for rural households with more than 10 hectares of land – the large farmers. Even for those which owned between 1 and 2 hectares of land (the small farmers, according to the State of Indian Agriculture 2012-13), 64 per cent of credit came from institutional channels.

But for those who owned less than 1 hectare of land (the marginal farmers, who account for 67 per cent of farmers) these institutional sources provide only between 15 per cent  and 50 per cent of lending. The bulk of credit is provided by moneylenders, relatives, traders and landlords. None of these non-formal channels come under any debt waiver programme, so there is no relief for their borrowers. These are the people who fall into bondage, work under inhuman conditions in brick kilns or construction sites. This inconvenient fact gets overlooked in all the political noise over rural indebtedness.

In response to an RTI filed with the Maharashtra Agriculture Ministry by Jeetendra Ghadge an RTI activist, it revealed that 2,234 farmers have committed suicide in the State till September 2015. Of these only 1,231 (55 per cent) cases were declared "eligible suicides". To fit into this category, there has to be evidence of indebtedness and pressure to repay the debt.

In March this year, the Maharashtra Agriculture Minister, Eknath Kadse had announced in the State assembly that the government would increase the amount of compensation from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh given to families of farmers ending their lives. He added the privilege would be extended to people cultivating leasehold lands as well. The financial cover was to be rolled out in the first week of April 2015.

Jeetendra Ghadge again filed an application with the revenue and forest department of Maharashtra in August, to check if this announcement on increased compensation made by the Agriculture Minister of Maharashtra has come into implementation or not. On October 8, in reply to his RTI application, Rajendra Pimple, the Public Information Officer, Maharashtra Government stated that no such decision has been taken by the government and the amount of compensation to the farmer’s family who are eligible is Rs 1 lakh till date. Despite the promises, the government continues to implement a circular issued 15 years back, according to which Rs 1 lakh compensation is payable only if the case fulfils all the conditions.

Now even if a ‘farmer suicide is eligible’ for this 1 lakh compensation which comes in the form of Rs 30,000 in cash and a cheque of Rs 70,000, it is denied to most because the deceased did not have a bank loan against the cultivation planned in that season or did not own a piece of land. Such is the state of help promised by the governments to its farmers.

Disheartened by the government’s response, Jeetendra Gadge, RTI activist, said, "If farmers commit suicide the burden of loan shifts to his wife or mother, 1 lakh is not enough to rehabilitate that family yet even that is been rejected. The babus seem to believe that they are giving some kind of bonus to the farmer's family. In all the Government is being really insensitive towards the farmer’s suicide issue."

How desperate one must be if they have to choose death over life. How can we remain oblivious to the plight of our farmers and their families. How can we let them perish and watch our leaders play politics in their name.

Swati Pitale should have been busy choosing which subjects and parts of her school syllabus she would be tackling first, for her exams; Losing her sleep over what career path to choose; Or just flip coins to choose the friend, she would share her secrets with. She did not deserve to be pushed into a place, where the only choice she had, was to choose between her life and her father’s.

[merlintalkies]

Is a Syria Like Crisis Brewing in India Too?

By Merlin Francis

When Balanarasaiah, a cotton farmer in Telangana’s Medak district drank pesticide last month, it was written off as another unfortunate farmer suicide, now a common occurrence in the farming heartland of Central India.

What killed Balanarasaiah, was not just the drought but the fear and his inability to see what would become of his two children aged 12 and 10, when they would be taken away by the loan sharks to work as bonded labourers. 

Yes, bonded labourers in a country, where bonded labour was abolished four decades ago.

According to figures collated by National Crime Records Bureau, between 1995 and 2014, nearly four lakh farmers committed suicide.

Date source - Wikipedia

Data with the agriculture department show that in 2015, two-thirds of the 1.37crore farmers in the state of Maharashtra have been affected by the drought which has impacted mainly the Marathwada and Vidarbha regions.

That is nearly 90 lakh farmers in Maharashtra alone. Not a small a number, when you realise, the population of Sweden throws up an equivalent figure.

Pic Courtesy - Yahoo News

Farmer suicides are not the only manifestations of drought. The social and economic impact of a drought is far more lasting than a crop lost. It results in unemployment, scarcity of resources (natural and financial), fall in purchasing power, inflation and migration to cities, stressing the already debilitating infrastructure of these concrete jungles.

The Syrian Story

Pic Courtesy - Yahoo News

When 3 year old Aylan Kurdi’s dead body turned up on European shores, the images pricked our conscience and we in India and people all across the World, shamed humanity, shamed the European and Saudi governments for not rising up to the occasion and giving a safe asylum to Syrian refugees; victims of a civil war.

Many analysts believe, the Syrian civil war was a fallout of the Arab Spring, which commenced in 2010 and shook the Middle East and North Africa.

But then Syrians were used to the authoritarian rule of the al-Assad family since 1971 when Hafez al-Assad took over Syria and established his government under the control of the Ba’ath party. Only to be succeeded by an equally heartless ruler, his son President Bashar al-Assad, whose secret police force ruthlessly crushed any dissent, over the years.

In fact if political analysts are to be believed before 2011 Syria was viewed by most observers as stable. Seattle journalist Alex Stonehill, who visited Syria in 2010, a year before trouble started in the country, said, “Before the war started, things were pretty stable. Even when stuff started happening in other places I didn’t expect it to happen in Syria,”.

If this is true, then what really triggered the Syrian crisis?

There was already discontent brewing against the government, socio economic inequality had increased significantly, after President Hafez al-Assad had initiated the free market policies in the later 90s, only to be accelerated after his son came into power. With an emphasis on the service sector, these policies benefited a minority of the nation’s population, mostly people who had connections to the government.

Between 2006 and 2011, over half of Syria faced the most severe drought, the worst till date. Nearly 85% of the livestock died and their crops withered away. President Bashar al-Assad and his government did little and those who raised their voice in protest, were either imprisoned or silenced. Nearly a million rural villagers lost their farms to the drought and started migrating to already crowded cities like Daraa and Homs. The once prosperous farmers, now had no jobs.

Suddenly, Syrians were faced with scarcity of water, poverty, unemployment, and steep rise in food prices and a clear deterioration in the national standard of living.

The final nail was hammered, when the government arrested a boy and his friends for writing a graffiti, “The people want the fall of the regime”, in the city of Daraa.

What followed were citizen protests predominantly demanding democratic reforms, release of political prisoners, more freedom and abolition of the emergency law and an end to corruption, which when suppressed by the government shifted to a call for overthrowing the Assad government. Frustrated, the protestors resorted to violence and the government took military action and there began Syria’s civil war.

Destabilising a presumably stable regime, claiming 2,30,620–3,20,620 lives until July 2015 as per the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. Leaving more than 7,600,000 Syrians internally displaced and over 4,000,000 fleeing as refugees by July 2015, according to UNHCR.

That brings us to an important question, is India silently creating her own Syria like crisis?

In India about 60 percent of the population depends on agriculture as their livelihood and yet nearly 65 percent of India’s agricultural land lacks irrigation facility.

With successive governments investing heavily in sprucing up corporate India as it attracts foreign investment, public investment has been conveniently diverted from agriculture into building roads, ports and other infrastructure projects demanded by big businesses. To the extent that the gap between the haves and have nots is steadily increasing. According to the latest Millennium Development Goals report by the UN, India is home to one third of the World’s 1.2 billion poorest people.

Add to it the ever increasing cost of living, corruption and you have a ticking time bomb, waiting for it's moment to erupt.

We conveniently choose to ignore the plight of our farmers, the same people who ensure food reaches our plates. We pay no heed to the damage we are causing to our environment in the name of development. Our lakes are drying up, our rivers are frothing with chemicals, our cities are bursting at the seams.

Like the Native American proverb states, “When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.”

Unfortunately, it took a Nirbhaya and her horrifying plight, for us to wake up to sexual crimes committed against women in this country, everyday.

Aylan Kurdi’s dead body to remind us of the Syrian crisis.

Maybe Balanarasaiah’s desperate act of giving up his life does not move us enough, or the stories of lakhs of other farmers who succumbed to helplessness and hopelessness.

How can we ever justify our need for such gory posters of death and injustice to remind us, to act, to raise our voices, to do what is right, as governments, as citizens, as humans.

[merlintalkies]

Patriotism For Sale - Are You A Buyer, Yet?

Photo credits - The Charmer

This morning as I was driving to work, while I waited at a busy traffic interjection for the signal to turn green, I heard a street hawker knock on my car window. His hands were holding a big board dotted with miniature Indian flags, the kinds you can put on your car dashboard or the metallic ones you can pin up on your dress lapels. “Jhanda car mein laga lo madam, achha lagega, sirf bees rupiye ka hai (Place the flag inside the car madam, it will look good, only for Rs.20)” he shouted down at me. It was a gentle reminder that our 69th Independence Day was round the corner.

Here patriotism is on sale and that too for a mere 20 bucks, I thought to myself.

As billboards and newspaper front pages scream freedom sales and discounts, you realise, unfortunately, this most important day in the history of our nation has lost its sheen, falling prey to the symbolism and tokenism that has come to dictate our generation.

Is it true, that we the generation that grew up in Independent India is not grateful for the struggles borne by our grandparents and their parents? Have we forgotten, how it was, being treated worse than a dog in your own motherland? Can we relate to the sacrifices they made to ensure, we grew up in a country which we could call our own, one where we were free to move around, dream and grow wings?

I have often heard senior citizens comment on how we are an irreverent generation, oblivious to the pains borne by their generation, and on each of these occasions I have chosen to differ.

Differ because, I feel, we are worse off than they ever were, our struggles are nothing compared to theirs, but unlike them, our battles are against our own, ourselves.

They had an enemy with a face, they knew they were fighting against the British, but look at us, we fight faceless enemies, everyday, corruption, greedy corporations, pollution, unethical politicians, enemies which were raised in an independent India.

A India which had won its independence but was lost on how to raise a society and a nation that can grow into a progressive and developed country on the same values that earned her, her momentous “tryst with destiny”.

Look at us, we are not even sure of the quality of food we are eating or feeding our children. Is it really vegetables or poison and pesticide laced greens that they we are consuming. The air we breathe, its contaminated to the extent that it is not livable by normal standards.

In fact as a nation we have come to a point where only people with tons of money can think of a life, rest are left to their own means, to manage, to trudge through their sad lives or give up, if it becomes unbearable, no one really cares and certainly no one is going to miss them. These people will never be revered as heroes, even though they lost their life, fighting against a corrupt and biased system, which refused to acknowledge their equal status as a citizen in this country.

Our forefathers were certainly better off, they had great leaders to emulate and follow. Men and women of steel, who only cared about the nation, who gave up their lives without thinking twice for her sake. Look at the kind we have been left to deal with. Corrupt to the core, only interested in pursuing their interests, the kinds who would not flinch or bat an eyelid before selling off this nation if it came to that. Well, they are already doing it. The many scams and crores of money involved only proves it.

Hand in glove with Corporations, Godmen and every notorious Tom, Dick, and Harry they could possibly find, they have been robbing us and this country off its natural resources, its natural treasures for decades. Leading the high life, playing dirty politics, mocking democracy at every instance.

Think about it, how much lower can they stoop, they have even put a price for my vote, the only power I enjoy as a citizen of this country.

Even our genuine concern and agitations against issues that bother us, have been turned into media events and political circus.

Under the British, our forefathers were ill treated, they were denied their fundamental right to a normal dignified life, they had a reason to fight for their independence. Look at us, how much more hopeless can it get, in a free India, we are denied the right to follow our faiths respectfully, to eat what we like, to read and watch what we like. We are even denied, our private moments as consenting adults in the privacy of four walls; and yes we are free, can it get more ironical that this?

Sadly I belong to a generation, who will be held responsible by the future generations for being a mute spectator, for not standing up and doing enough to ensure them a better India. But it is the sheer hypocrisy that makes me cringe, what I was handed down was a regressive and confused nation, whose leaders believed that treasuring and harping about the bygone era of ancient and fractured India was the way ahead.

Where it is aspirational, to move out of this rut to shinier lands, if one could afford it; take pride in the rich heritage of a screwed up nation among International peers, when they talk in awe about the land of yoga and kamasuthra; and curse her for the lack of roads and poor public services in foreign accents on those far and few visits to motherland. Where we would rather stake claim and take credit for success stories in international circuits than acknowledge, encourage and reward heroes in our own backyard.

Don’t they see, the tall apartment buildings, the swanky malls showing off international brands, the plush cars, the materialistic lifestyles we lead are all proof of how hollow we have turned within, only concerned about our individual Worlds. Imagine, if we ever had to fight for our independence again, will we succeed? We will probably kill each other first over more petty disputes. They at least had unity of mission to keep them going.

We are the kinds who prefer sitting in the safety of our homes, in front of our huge LCD screens and see our troops facing the enemy in real time. Our elite and intelligentsia debating on prime time, ‘Why don’t we just declare war and go all the way, why are we so lame and such cowardly as a nation?’ egging us to share our views on social media, hashtagging them #shouldindiadeclarewar, as we munch on our delectable dinner. Who is bothered about the lives lost, about the many worlds that shatter in the aftermath of such bravado?

So on this 15th August as I go to my son’s school for flag hoisting and feel the goosebumps while singing the National Anthem, I will take solace in the fact that our freedom fighters, had more things working in their favor.

I may not be the street fighter, flag wielding kind of nationalist, but the fact, that I have decided to stay put in this land of maladies, I call home, my motherland, despite having the means; raising my son in this gutter of corruption as a righteous man, is my way of being patriotic, of giving back to a country that can be so much more, than just the sum of its contradictions. Of believing that maybe one day we will truly have won our freedom “not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially."

[merlintalkies]

Ram Rajya - The No Porn Land

It is a little strange when a country, where school textbooks hail Asaram Bapu, a person being tried for sexual assault as a “great saint” bans porn, watching which is a matter of personal choice, while the former is forced induction. You wonder where really our priorities lie?

While the government has decided to revoke the ban on Porn sites, the fear of another ban still looms large.

You might as well resign to the fact that, ‘ban’ has become the buzzword for the current government. The one stop solution for anything that they find too non-Indian or a threat to the pious, “Hindu Rashtra” perspective of theirs. Ironical, they don’t mind spending crores to promote Yoga and refuse to acknowledge Kamasuthra, both practiced and handed down by our Hindu forefathers.

The question is, is ‘ban’ a democratic solution? In a democracy, should the state decide, what you eat, what you read, what you watch? In the last one year we have seen a ban on everything we could possibly think as indulgence, be it beef, maggi, films, books. And we still stake claim to being the World’s largest democracy, maybe we should add a footnote henceforth, “freedom here is subjective to State’s choices.”

Considering we are moving towards, a totalitarian regime, where the state knows best, what is in our interest and will eventually decide, what we should, think, speak and follow, I have come to believe that life will be simpler, if we accept that bans are the price you pay for “acche din”.

Having done that, I have my wish list of bans, I want the government to seriously consider and if possible, add to their list of bans planned for the next 4 years.

Ban members of Parliament and Assemblies and all other elected representatives, who do not attend and participate in the sessions, create havoc, don’t maintain the decorum of the house and have failed to keep the promises made to the people in their manifestos during elections.

Ban all those elected representatives who have a second career or business interest other than being a Public servant, you cannot serve two masters.

Ban every politician who is backed by Corporates and Business houses. Representatives of the people only need to be backed by the electoral and no one else.

Ban every party or politician which speaks and reeks communal. Faith is a personal choice and should be kept outside of governance and inside one’s house.

Ban all those companies which are illegally draining this country off its natural resources and feeding its people poison in the name of pesticide filled vegetables and fruits to highly addictive food items.

Ban any company, person who is corrupt or uses corrupt means to promote their interests.

Ban all religious gurus who hoard wealth in the name of God and charity and conduct nefarious activities on the sly.

Ban the indecent show of wealth, when half of India is dying of poverty.

Ban all moral policing.

Ban zero tolerance for anything and everything.

I am all for a Hindu Rashtra, if that assures ‘acche din’ for every citizen of this country. In fact, I hope they also bring in the model of good governance that used to exist during the golden rule of Lord Ram also known as Ram rajya. It is said, ‘Charity begins at home’, let our leaders set an example by banning the evil within and amongst them, first.

[merlintalkies]

Being a Man in a Woman’s World

Men getting raped by women? Does it sound too bizarre?

Not really if you consider the plight of the men who underwent the trauma in two recent incidents that bring to light the existence of sexual violence against men. An issue, we as people, our laws and our society has conveniently chosen to ignore.

Recently, a 41 year old autorickshaw driver Umesh Prasad, in Delhi was invited by a woman and her friend to their flat on the pretext of paying him the auto fare. One of the women then offered him water to drink and suddenly locked the door from inside. She tried eliciting sexual favours from him, offering him wine too. According to news reports, when he rejected both and refused to comply with her demands, she forced herself on him, tore his clothes and started kissing him, while her roommate, a Tanzanian national, filmed the episode. Umesh who later escaped by jumping out of the first floor balcony, fractured his leg in the process.

In another incident in Mumbai, a 16-year-old boy claimed that his best friend’s mother had been sexually assaulting him for the past three months. The teenager had gone to meet his best friend in Chembur, where his friend’s mother spiked his soft drink which made him lose consciousness, stripped him, forced herself upon him and recorded the act. She later went on to blackmail the kid for the next three months, calling him to her house regularly. The boy’s father is quoted as saying in a news report: ‘My child is in Standard 10 and has been a good student, but of late I saw a lot of changes in him. He looked scared and his health was deteriorating. Initially, he did not respond to my enquiries, but later he told us the whole thing. He said that the woman would also take him on outings. Moreover, she claimed that she was pregnant and that she would accuse him of rape if he ever told anybody what had happened.’

Shocked?

Wonder why we have not seen these incidents being debated on prime time news? Why there are no dharnas and social media campaigns demanding justice for these men? Because to begin with our legal system does not recognise a male, as a potential victim of sexual assault.

The Indian Penal Code 354 and its various sections which define and deal with acts of sexual harassment like stalking, voyeurism and disrobing, by default assume men to be the perpetrators of these crimes and women the victims.

Similarly, section 375 and 376 of the IPC, which defines what amounts to rape and the legal provisions against it, has no mention of acts of rape against men, it starts with “A man is said to commit “rape”..” and goes on to define what rape would constitute in such a case, rape of a woman; and the punishment under law for such men, committing an act of rape. It fails to even consider a scenario where a man can or maybe raped by a woman, thereby refusing any protection to men against such sexual assaults.

The only place the Indian legal system, acknowledges, sexual crimes against men is possible is in an unnatural scenario. IPC section 377 states “Whoever voluntarily has carnal inter­course against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished.”

As we all know by now, 377 was originally written to punish homosexuality. The law is based on the premise that the victim is a willing participant and it is the act (considered unnatural) itself that is punishable. Here the victim’s consent is assumed to be voluntary, unless proven otherwise. So in case one can prove sodomy or act of sexual violence inflicted by a man on another man, then the accused will be punished. Once again, a woman raping a man is not even given a passing thought, not even under unnatural circumstances.

Considering, penetration is sufficient to constitute the sexual intercourse and adjudged as rape if it is without the consent of the person, it clearly puts the onus on the man to prove he is innocent, in both scenarios, whether he is the perpetrator or the victim.

However, what is often overlooked in such instance is the word, “consent”. The absence of which can turn any sexual act, between two individuals, into a sexual crime.

That brings us back to the important question, can a man be raped without his consent, by a woman?

Busting the Myth

We live with the belief, that a man is always ready to indulge in a sexual act, given a choice. Men themselves in many an occasion have endorsed this view, stating how lucky a man would be, in a situation like this.

But think about it, unless you are having sex with someone you desire, it is repulsive. If the desire is not mutual, it is violating a person and their personal space, a sexual crime, irrespective of the gender

The general assumption that works against men is that if a man has an erection he must want sex, especially because we believe men are sexually insatiable. A bit of digging into medical journals or a chat with a medical practitioner will unearth the truth for you, that sexual response in men in the form of erection or ejaculation which often occurs during male rape is a mechanical one and the only thing it proves is that their body is reacting in the way it is supposed to react to sexual stimulation. It is a given that pressure on the prostate will result in physical sexual response, whether you want it to or not. What is often forgotten in the argument is that the mere presence of physiological symptoms associated with arousal do not indicate actual arousal, much less willing participation.

Need for India specific data

In 2013,  National Crime Victimization Survey by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, USA, turned up some worrying stats. In a survey interviewing 40,000 households about rape and sexual violence, it was found that 38 percent of incidents were against men.

In a more recent analysis of BJS data, it was found that 46 percent of male victims reported a female perpetrator.

A survey conducted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta, Georgia, found that just as in the case of female rape victims, 45 percent of the 5,451,000 men who reported, having ‘made to penetrate’, were victimised by a current or former girlfriend, 45 percent by an acquaintance and just 5 percent by a stranger.

It was also found that while male abusers use physical means to empower their victims, women employed more psychological methods, mostly threats of playing the victim card themselves, “I will tell them, you raped me,” I will tell the police you hit me,” “I will kill myself”, “I will kill you”’ and the likes. Women abusers were also found to pursue their victims in situations when they are more vulnerable, either when drunk, drugged, sick, sleeping or psyched out by their threat tactics.

The CDC’s survey also found that men who have been victimised by an intimate partner experience poorer physical and mental health than those who haven’t. And recent studies of sexually victimised college males in the US showed increased instances of hostility, depression, substance abuse, sexual risk-taking behaviour and its opposite, sexual dysfunction.

While India does not have any such data available on the subject, going by the notion that sexual crimes are universal in nature, it is not too hard to believe a similar scenario back home.

Need for Gender Neutral Law

In 2011, there was an attempt by the government to create a gender neutral law to cover acts of sexual violence. But the effort was squashed by women groups who lobbied basis the argument that rape was an expression of patriarchal power, thereby impossible for a woman to rape a man. The second argument was more an emotional appeal that if given the space, the men accused for rape will blame the women for rape. The latter scenario, also scraping the case for women victims of marital rape.

The current proposal,the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2013 retains the change of “rape” to “sexual assault” element in IPC section 375, but maintains the notion that sexual violence is a “gendered” crime. Leaving potential women rapists out of the ambit of the law.

Similarly, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, by its very name excludes men from the ambit of sexual harassment.

Where does one even start to demand equality in the eye of the law when the lawmakers have decided to turn a blind eye to the very existence of a problem. The sheer ignorance towards this issue has more repercussions than one can expect it to have.

What is worrisome is that this ignorance is not because there is lack of evidence but it is born out of our socio-cultural reasoning which conveniently assumes a ‘man’ cannot be weak enough to be raped by a woman

The fear or being labelled as “not man enough” the lack of political and social will to accept male rape and sexual harassment as a serious issue, no real law to safeguard the interests of the male rape victims are some of the factors that force them into silence.

There have been enough and more instances of women misusing the laws that exist to protect them. Be it the dowry law, sexual harassment at workplace law or the rape law. Maybe the numbers might seem insignificant in view of the crimes against women, but still, can we just let it be?

Being a man in present times, especially in a country like ours which is still struggling to figure out the journey from being extremely regressive to being obscurely progressive can be quite challenging.

Imagine growing up believing that manhood is a privilege, that you are the all powerful, the all mighty procreator of human race and then waking up to the fact, that it is by far your biggest disadvantage.

There are men and then there are men and yet under the eyes of law when it comes to sexual crimes men are the assumed criminals, unless proven otherwise, which under the existing law is nothing short of a miracle.

An ideal and safe, society cannot be built on a skewed justice system. Can we envision raising a generation, which mistrusts the opposite sex, where does that leave us as a society, as parents, as a man, a woman?

[merlintalkies]

Eves on Wheels

If you are someone who lives in one of the busy Indian cities and drives to work, the idea of a road trip might actually irk you than excite. Given the snarling and stressful traffic conditions one has to deal with everytime we sit behind the wheel, maneuvering around potholes, bumper to bumper peak hours and ever changing one-ways, no matter how deep your love for the wheels, it is bound to die a painful death.

Holidays and breaks from Life’s rat race can never really be about going for road trips, you would rather cut short the travel time and reach your destination for relaxation. If you are a woman traveller living in this part of the World, then the problems just multiply. Road trips are considered a strict no no, from both the point of convenience and safety.

I was part of the no road trips gang for obvious and not so obvious reasons until recently when an emergency required me to travel between cities on the wheels. A girlfriend for company helped me discover the joys of travel on the wheels and together we ended up exploring many more places than initially intended.

To our absolute surprise a lot of reasons that had stopped us from getting behind the wheel and zipping off to a desired destination for a holiday were not just broken but shattered.

Behind the wheel

As a woman who loves to travel and drive, I found going on a road trip very liberating. More so, in the company of girlfriends, with no man to babysit us, was quite empowering. In addition to that, the sense of freedom I felt is indescribable; for once, I did not have to rush to catch a flight or train, I did not have to pack thinking of the permissible luggage limits, I could enjoy the journey as much as the destination. Sometimes not having a set plan is the best way to travel. Taking small detours to explore unseen places, stopping to just watch the clouds come down the mountains or to see the various village life paintings come alive. Sometimes just slowing down to feel the raindrops on your face, it is like you get to live every moment. Your favourite song playing, or you and your friends singing out loud,  as the roads ahead call you to your destination, trust me is no less than attaining Nirvana. I am sure many of us have been on road trips with our families and friends, but have you travelled with your gang of girls, ever? If not maybe it is time you did, below are a few tips to get you going.

Countryside views

Never ending roads

Safety concerns

I think when women travel on their own, safety is one of the top concerns. Indian roads can be pretty scary for many, a reason why many may actually shy away from going on an all girl road trip. Of the 1400 odd kilometers my girlfriend and I recently traveled across Indian National Highways on NH4, NH45, NH46, at no point did we find it unsafe. The roads were good and the drive was comfortable. We not only spotted Highway patrol vehicles but also, SOS phone booths, in case of emergencies at regular intervals. We even found people to be helpful with directions when our GPS failed to connect. As long as you know how to control your vehicle and drive carefully, you are good to go.

The Emergency Call Units

Food/Restroom Breaks

There are decent number of Pit stops on the way. From Petrol stations to, eating joints to decent hotels at regular intervals for fuel and food refills. Before you crinkle your nose, let me remind you, the best part about road trips is the food you get at local road side dhabas and eating joints. The cuisine offers some local favorites and is usually fresh and piping hot. During our recent trip, we discovered some simple food joints offering some finger-licking food.

Stay

Book your stay in advance. It is safer to know where you are going to be camping. Ensure the place is well connected and accessible. While I am all for budget travel, unless you are a pro, or part of a widespread network of fellow travelers who can guide you on good places to stay, it is wise to opt for hotels with better facilities, at least it ensures your safety.

Checklist

If you are planning a road trip with your girlfriends, here is a list of things you should keep in mind.

Plan a shorter destination if it is your first time. 200 - 250 KM is a decent distance to start with.

Get together a gang of like minded people. Friends whose company you enjoy, staying cooped up in a car for a couple of hours with people you can’t even have a conversation with can be harrowing.

Ensure that in your gang of fellow travelers, there are more than one car driver, so that you can take turns.

Also ensure, that one of you knows how to change the tyres in case of a flat tyre.

Get your car serviced and checked thoroughly before you set out on the journey.

Fill your fuel tank, tyres should be filled with air, ensure the stepney is in good condition and the tool box is in place.

Ensure all the vehicle related papers, the RC Book, the insurance papers, driving licenses etc. are in place.

Get your route map in print as well, just in case technology ditches you in between. Check for landmarks, so that you know, you are on track.

Keep some emergency numbers handy, your car’s service stations numbers, highway patrol numbers etc. It is better to be prepared for an emergency than fumble when you are in one.

Keep cash and change handy to be paid at Toll booths.

Stack up on water and snacks to munch along the way.

you can keep some pillows and cushions to ensure extra comfort.

Put together a list of your favorite music.

Keep a basic first aid box handy. Also your car phone chargers.

Some other handy things like, a torch, old newspaper, some piece of cloth, pepper spray, anything else you can think of.

Toll booth

As I write this, my girlfriends and I are planning our next road trip, in all probability an archaeologically and historically relevant place. As they say once you have tasted blood there is no turning back. We have found wings and there is no stopping, go out and find yours, feel the wind in your hair!

Travel mates