#eyeright

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One hope

Artery | EyeRight| Our picture of the month, contributed by Priyanka Pal. Very evocative of the one going gang rape tragedy in Delhi and the hiatus of ToS magazine. We are all hopeful of a beautiful future!

For the sake of millions of women who have suffered the wrath of sexual abuse of various degrees,

For the sake of thousands of men who went down trying to prevent the crime,

For the sake of respect, dignity and gender equality and love,

One and all unite.

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Abort the anti -woman framework

EyeRight | Why neglect the humane aspect of Savita's death and dwell on the religious connotations? Let us do away with the anti-woman laws, says Bia Jasmine.

A large section of the Indian diaspora living in catholic countries woke up to the rude and ugly fact that abortion is illegal within their dominion. The Indian media gobbled it up as yet another tool to increase its TRP ratings by organizing pointless debates that never touched the core issue behind the death. Instead of thinking and acting upon the humane and rational side of the issue, the intent is on minimizing it into a religious spat.

Forget about the legal status and validity of an unborn fetus, it differs from country to country. Forget about Catholicism and its continuing indifference towards science, they are incorrigible. And please forget that the victim was an Indian Hindu and those who are responsible for her death are followers of Irish Catholicism, rather their law of the land. Does the death of Savita Halappanavar teach us anything? If your answer has anything to do with religious attitude and the hardships Indians face abroad, you need to introspect deeply.

The cause of Savita’s death was reported as Septicaemia or Sepsis as it is commonly known. Normally, Sepsis or blood poisoning is treated as dangerous and life threatening. But in Savita’s case, the hands of those in charge were tied down, inexplicably, by the law. Irish law clearly states that abortion is illegal within its territory. To those who allude Savita was an Indian and need not comply with Irish law, do justify the logic that those who live in Gujarat cannot treat beef as a part of their food although it may pass through their territory in containers.

Back to the issue, Savita was yet another victim of the anti-woman framework that many democracies have stood by for years. Savita is not the only woman who died of Sepsis during pregnancy. Hundreds of women in catholic countries go through this inhuman and agonizing death. The death of Savita comes in the wake of Romney’s now infamous remarks about abortion and unwanted pregnancy. The alarming facet of the tragedy is that it was well within the ambit of law.

To all those who sympathize with the position of women in Taliban regimes, the position of women in developed democracies is no different. Women continue to struggle against laws and rules that are direct deterrents to their personal life and liberty.

By banning contraception and making abortion illegal, the anti-woman framework has been successfully denying the right of a woman to her own body. It is high time for Amnesty International, the innumerable Women’s right groups, the self-righteous Feminist groups and the United Nations to look into this passive murder. Savita may have died for no action of her own, but if we all act rationally, her death may well serve a purpose by liberating women across the world from the clutches of anti-woman frameworks.

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Being politically correct

EyeRight | May be Chinmayi didn't say anything disrespectful about the fishermen and the protesters didn't harass her. So, don't gang up on Bhargavi Chandrasekharan for not being politically correct. Remember, freedom of speech? Rationalism? Liberalism?

So Chinmayi, a playback singer gets a gang of tweeters arrested for harassing her in twitter, a social networking site. A lot has been talked about the alleged immature statements of Chinmayi about the fishermen of Tamil Nadu and the abusive protest directed at the singer as a consequence. On one side, the Tamil sentiments are hurt and on the other the feminists see this as an incident of sexual harassment online.

Whenever the bow of Tamil sentiment is invoked, naturally, the arrows of anti-Brahmin and anti-anything-not-Dravidian-according-to-the-protestor are shot at. On one hand, the sect quotes Kaniyan Poongundranaar: “Every town is mine and all the people my kin.” Of course, the revolutionary Periyar’s caste annihilation is rejoiced. This should make the protestors a liberal and rational lot, who think before ganging up on an immature statement, who are updated enough to know that the Indian fishermen who cross the accepted international maritime boundaries are actually infringing on the livelihood means of the Lankan Tamil fishermen. Though killing of fishermen is by no means justified, are the saviours of the fishermen aware that sometimes, the fault perhaps lies with our own fisher folks? Instead of goading them into the Katcha Theevu, which is not longer legally ours and regardless of their stand on that, shouldn’t the activists warn that it is not safe for the fishermen to cross the boundary lines until the diplomats find a solution for the issue? In our enthusiasm to take up social activism, is it right to instigate innocent, illiterate fishermen into the deep sea only to have them arrested or worse, killed?

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Obviously, Chinmayi has no idea about this. Though I fail to understand the hashtag campaign and its impact, I differ with her alleged opinions. Many witnesses swear that the singer compared the lives of fishermen with fishes. May be the vegetarian in her can see all the living beings for what they are and there really is no difference. You know, when a fish dies, its parents cry, the wife wail, the children suffer, the friends weep. A fish family is deprived of its basic means of livelihood when the head of the family fish dies. Or, in the alternative, there are so many fishes in the sea and the death of one fish does not impact another’s. In the fish world, the rule is to eat the “lesser” fish. Like life, fish, swims on. Is it not?

And then, there is the “caste”and “gender” angle.

Whatever is the nature of comment of Chinmayi, how correct it is to make sexually harassing remarks about her mother? If human beings can’t be compared with fishes, so can they not be abused based on their gender. And what is with the gang snubbing in social media? What do her tweets have to do with her being a female? Will it be less stinging if she were a male?

And what is this “Tamil” heart or a “Tamil” mind? My mother tongue is Tamil and my heart goes lub dub, that’s how all the hearts speak, technically. If English or Sanskrit or Swahili is only a language and not knowledge, the same logic applies to Tamil as well. Tamil being arguably oldest language of the world, I feel immense pride in communicating in the language. But playing identity politics based on language is just not logical. Also, typing Tamil words in English script hardly counts as a service to the language. Like the joke goes, a nanny in an Anglo Indian lady may wax eloquent in English, but that does not make her wise. Likewise, a nanny in a Tamil speaking home may be fluent in Tamil, but that does not maker automatically cultured and rational. We must not confuse the chalk with the cheese, for our own good.

I fear Tamil Nadu taking up the Maharashtrian model of all dangerous “isms.” One might be tempted to ask why the self proclaimed Dravidians are forever opposed to the Brahmins. I won’t ask though, as there are historic reasons to it, there have been decades of this one caste suppressing the fundamental rights of many sects. Still the socially backward classes face humiliation as a matter of routine. But how long can we have this ring of hatred around us? What about the upper caste mentality of the so called elite class? Where does it place the sane individuals who were raised in the so-called-upper caste families to be good human beings who treat others with respect and love but who now face the wrath of reverse oppression? Can their suffering ever be equated with the suffering of say, the Dalits who are still treated like animals in some places?

May be there will be come a time, when we do not have to identify ourselves based on archaic races, languages, political parties, complexions and genders. May be, deep inside our mask of identity, the human being in us is still alive. And that human being should not have gone to the extent of having the angry tweeters arrested, after all the punishment seems to far exceed the weight of the crime committed. To the tweeters – to ignore is human, to Chinmayi – not to take revenge is human. To self – to forget and forgive is totally human.

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The drained brains

EyeRight | Vinutha Malleshappa puts things in perspective about the Indian youth migrating to other countries seeking better opportunities in education. Ye jo des he tera, anyone?

Mera beta bada hoke America jayega padne. (My son will grow up to get educated in America.)

Well this might seem like a cliché, but this is how and this is where the great Indian minds even at a very young age are diverted away from their own country.

Brain Drain, the migration of skilled labour force to other countries, deeply affects the economic development of the home country. It also results in an uneven distribution of knowledge. Brain Drain, the export of great minds from the country, though considered a matter of pride at times, when we turn out a three sixty degree it can also be considered a shame to the country. One of the major factors the drives the younger gen abroad is the rigid education system of India.

There is hardly any improvement in the standards of higher education we have to offer and the amount of exposure to any course never seems on par with the technology developed. The education in India has been repeatedly drubbed for being "mark oriented" and "degree oriented.” It is seen as "knowledge oriented" abroad. Students get to select subjects of their own interest and also get degrees based on those selected subjects. This helps the student gain knowledge and expertise in a vertical specific field of interest.

[caption id="attachment_3642" align="alignleft" width="250"] Pic Courtesy - techhui.com[/caption]

Secondly, the pull factors. Better employment opportunity and a high paid salary (unless the Rupee value increases, any salary earned is comparatively high!) are in no way allowing those great minds think of returning back to their homeland. And thirdly, the available resources to carry out excellent research opportunities which they compare with the India scenario and lament at the lack of adequate infrastructure. Prevention of this trend will remain a slow process in India until it equals the Education Standards satisfying those eager minds. A study reveals a loss of $2billion a year for India as a result of emigrants of Computer experts from India. And the numbers increase in cases of students going for higher studies. And as a result now we have many Indians in foreign land at high positions. .

The brain drain is not a recent problem that has been discovered recently. There are cases dating back to times of history from post war era in Europe to America.The United States of America has been, till date the hottest destination and very successful in creating a lot of pull factors. But it seems to be turning the other way now. Many skilled foreign nationals staying in America leave no work opportunities to the Americans themselves which is leading to a regression. The American President is now trying to increase job opportunities to the natives and simultaneously cutting existing jobs employing foreign nationals and denying them visas and work permits.

May be this will help the Indians come back and help the GDP growth of India. One can’t ignore, however, the plight of the jobless foreign nationals who have doctoral degrees and try to make both ends meet and also their hapless families back home who depend on their income. But how can one blame the government taking a pro citizen stand, when they see the unemployed youth go crazy, grow obese and commit hate crimes on random foreigners whom they mistake for Sikhs?

And what about the second-class treatment that our cousins residing abroad refuse to share? Despite their high standards of living, the respect they receive from the society leaves a lot to be desired. It is another matter that the emigrant Indians, on their home coming gush about the exotic locales of their new homeland and hail about the Indian culture when they are back across the seas.

The swinging fortunes of the brain drained individuals is a serious concern to the international community, which is increasingly accepting the shrinking of the world into a village, although with a severe third world bias. May be the emigrant Indians will find reasons to serve their own country, some day. Else, one has to find happiness in the knowledge that they may not be contributing to the exploding population of India, at least until their pink slips are issued.

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The ordinary rebel

EyeRight | Let us hope for the speedy recovery of Malala, Yousafzai the child who spoke sense and got shot by terrorists. What's special about her? She is ordinary, she is a rebel. Now, I am Malala, are you?

The slogan “I am Malala” is reverberating, thanks to the tragedy in our friendly neighbourhood. And what a repulsive tragedy it is – shooting a 14 year old for raising her voice against terrorism and advocating education for girls. Clearing the cobwebs surrounding her, she made a sensible point, and she is now battling for life. What level of hatred and insanity can push a bunch of militants into shooting at a little girl who just wanted to pick up books and read? I call it ‘hatred’ because they harmed her and ‘insanity’ because it is the “Taliban.”

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‘What is new about Taliban, the terrorist outfit, killing a civilian? It is as common as it gets,’ is the general perception. I am willing to be surprised, because “Taliban” means “students” in the Pashto language. To a bunch of hot blooded young men, war meant employment. Surely, they wouldn’t want female contestants in their queue for the coveted job. Simply put, we are looking at jobless men who took to religious fundamentalism in their desperation. Their rigid rules are only a reflection of their insecurity.

A student-run organization is now a terror group. I can’t help but spare a thought at their ugly metamorphosis. Taliban could have helped spread love, as envisioned by Islam, or turned out to serve as an NGO, doling out millions of poor, discriminated Muslims across the world, entered into politics and prevented the “Arab Spring,” but they have become synonymous with terrorism and killings.

Ironically, they still consider themselves revolutionaries of some sort. This to me is the root of all the heart wrenching consequences. From Hitler to a belligerent extremist of today, they all think they are doing something very right. This is the age where the blatant errors are justified, because it is not fashionable anymore to admit mistakes. To rectify the mistakes is twice as shameful. To these self-opinionated individuals, violence is the sure shot way to seal their space in history. How are we going to convince them otherwise? Especially when an ahimsavadi like Gandhiji was killed by an angry right winger?

One wonders if the violence emanated because their ideology was perceived to be threatened or they unearthed an ideology to suit their violent nature. Now, how do we choose an ideology? How to accept any ideology which disrespects others way of lives as trash? Perhaps if one muses on these questions, they will never pick any idea that is extreme.

That is what all great thinkers recommend as well - read a lot, hear a lot, learn a lot, but let the final surmise be yours, based on common sense. That’s what Malala, the thinker did. She is no threatening rebel, as the Taliban projected her to be. She is an ordinary girl who wants to know things. She doesn’t hold on to an injected sense of fundamentalism. Rather, she understands the role of God in the society and showed sparks of secularism. No wonder, the Taliban felt endangered!

But, worry not, Talib, education will not wipe out hatred, we have proof. Common sense may, however, the chances are less. Let your corn flowers* bloom amidst the battle fields. They are not revolutionaries; they are ordinary rebels, yearning to realize their fundamental rights. Let them dream.

(Gul Makai - Malala’s pen name)

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Why not become better role models, instead?

EyeRight | The root cause of crimes usually lies in disturbed childhood. Why not accept our faults and start working towards bettering ourselves in time for the future generation? Bia Jasmine strikes an important note.

  In my childhood days, I was told that I must respect elders always. “Why?” I used to ask. While most other parents would say that it is a part of culture and tradition, my parents insisted that there was more to it. They cited knowledge coupled with experience as the raison d’être for respect. Needless to say, I was convinced, then.

When I was a teenager, nothing much had changed with the thumb rule, I was still expected to respect elders. But this time, I didn’t ask my parents, I asked my peer group. Most of them had come to the conclusion that the “oldies” need not be listened to or cared about. I’d concluded that it is a fad to have a throw at anything at that age. I was correct, to some extent.

As I entered my graduation school, the definition of respect itself had changed. I didn’t dare to ask others, but answers started settling in. I heard first hand tales of child abuse from my classmates. Drunken fathers, deviant mothers, bullish brothers, lustful uncles and nasty neighbours became a part of our everyday discussion. For someone who lived a secured life, these characters came as a shock.

Indian societal system, which was once full of positive values, is slowly becoming dysfunctional. As with every system the sufferers are the ones in the lowest rung of the ladder – be it socially, educationally, or economically. Even in the different sectors of the system, it is the children, the weakest category of all, who are the most affected.

From broken family to single parenting, the children are chewing a lot more than they can swallow. With both father and mother immersed in economic activities, the children grow up with emotional deprivation. Even in cases where the parents find time to spend with the children, their conducts leave much to be desired. If this is the case with literate groups, one can easily guess the plight of the educationally backward.

Imagine poverty and misery joining hands with lack of direction – the temptation is too much for the children to resist. The allure of anti social elements has its base in the dearth of right guidance, which again is in the hands of the adults. As we notice widely today, the perpetrators of the present day crimes have crossed a difficult childhood. These offenders invariably admit that they looked up to their elders and imitated them. The real question here is whether the adults they mingled with were worth being imitated. These elders or demigods are the ones making drugs sound important, they are the ones introducing them to smoke, booze and even, weapons.

[caption id="attachment_3368" align="alignleft" width="400"] Pic Courtest - www.yourkidsed.com.au[/caption]

Even though Bhagath Singh turned out to be a revolutionary, he was an ardent follower of the peaceful ways of Gandhi in his early days, which perhaps lead him to drop the bombs in empty galleries. The children of our generation may not be fortunate. In the name of attitude we insist on justifying every act regardless of the reasoning behind it. We have the tendency to follow populist actions even when it conflicts with our intellect. Our need to belong to a society should not be at the cost of our identity. We have a responsibility, to stay on the just, rational and peaceful path, if not for ourselves, for our future gen. Why not? After all we had the benefit of good parenting and a safer environment. Even otherwise, it is our duty as youngsters to remove the difficulties we faced, in order to secure a better tomorrow.

These days, when I am asked to look up to an elder, along with knowledge and experience, I look for character and the power to reason, which essentially adds value to their age and reflects as respect. When they fail the test, I add another paragraph in the chapter of “who I should not become.”

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Why this carnage?

EyeRight | Is fundamentalism eating away our society? Can faith justify the horrendous hate crimes? To answer these complicated questions, Suchitra puts forth a simple question, "why hate?"

From where does this stem, this need to attack the beliefs and faiths of one group of men by another? As of the morning of September 15th, at east 3 men have been killed, and countless riots and protests have been conducted against the vicious movie attacking Islam, the beliefs of the Muslims and the Prophet.

[caption id="attachment_3317" align="alignleft" width="400"] Pic Courtesy - www.dailyoftheday.com[/caption]

A cursory glance at the 2 minutes long trailer on Youtube of the ‘movie’ in question makes it clear that it is an obvious attempt to slander a religion, enshrined under the United States’s policy of freedom of speech. Some parts of the movie are clearly edited over, the actors saying one thing while the voiceovers on the background say something else. The actors claim that they were hired on a completely different premise, and had no idea about the subject of the movie. At the time of writing this article, the identity of the filmmaker has not been ascertained yet.

The question is - why this hatred, why this obvious attempt to slander. Practising a religion does not make a terrorist , as we have been collectively trying to understand for the past 11 years. Why be religious in the first place, if religions only make one bloodthirsty?

Science can answer the ‘How’ question. ‘How was life created on earth’ can be answered by a series of steps based on evidence. However, the question of why anything happens, whether there is an overarching causal reason for the things we see - that is beyond the scope of science. Some of us have faiths, for others the questions don’t really matter.

Either case should make us better human beings, not worse. Faith is the inherent belief in goodness. It is a belief that our lives on earth are not pointless, and therefore, our actions shall be for the betterment of the world around us.If one lacks faith in a supreme power, then we are our own architects, and if we can’t make our world livable, who else can?

Yet, we have cruel instincts, hatred and animal urges, spurning us forward to hurt people. Is it faith or lack of it that creates such instincts? Why can’t we live and let live? Again, it is easy to answer ‘how’ such instincts develop, historically, biologically, sociologically. But why hatred, and why not peace? That is for each of us to question our own selves.

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Medical Menace

Chaos | EyeRight | With the top drugmakers across the world world dishing out heavy fines, pleading guilty for manufacturing substandard medicines, it is the life of the common man that is compromised. Read Bharath's views on the growing nuisance of pharmaceutical frauds which is eating into our immune system, as we speak.

Thirty years back, the scenario of marketing in the Indian pharmaceutical industry was ethical. Wherein a doctor would receive compliments for prescribing a product post the sale of the product. It was usually a Parker or a Schaeffer with a clear inscription of the company’s name on it. At the most, it was a casserole set. Now, doctors are paid hard cash and are provided with expensive tours, free club memberships, exotic foreign liquor etc to prescribe the products of a company.

FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) had disapproved nearly 16 drugs of Cipla because they were sub standard. But those drugs are being marketed in India. Drugs which are banned in the US and Canada are widely available across the counter in your corner medical shop. You don’t need a prescription to buy it. The widespread menace of the marketing mechanism of pharmaceutical industry is by and large of unethical standards.

The field has become so cut throat that the field force has to go down to the level of pimps to provide these doctors with prostitutes and gigolos as and when necessary. Almost 98 % of the companies follow this unethical marketing method. This paves the way for anyone with money to enter the market, manufacture substandard drugs which can lead to life ending side effects and market them through unprofessional doctors.

On the 2nd of July 2012, in U.S. v. GlaxoSmithKline LLC, GlaxoSmithkline agreed to pay $ 3 billion as settlement in what is being considered the largest healthcare fraud. The British pharmaceutical giant was accused of breaking the US laws of marketing and development of pharmaceuticals. They were further accused of going to extreme lengths such as misrepresentation of facts and bribing doctors to promote their drugs.

Glaxosmithkline also failed to submit the safety data for their infamous diabetes drug Avandia. The Avandia saga has been on for more than two decades between the drugmaker and FDA. Avandia, Paxil and Wellbutrin, are the three drugs which led GSK to three misdemeanour criminal counts. The settlement amounts to $ 1 billion as criminal fine and $ 2 billion towards civil fine.

Firstly it was Pfizer in 2009 and now it is Glaxosmithkline. The names of other biggies such as Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Bayer and Abbott are doing the rounds. The very fact that these international pharmaceutical majors have agreed to plead guilty and settle means that there is much more in their kitty which needs to be disclosed.

The Indian scenario is no less bleak. India in its overzealousness, has only intensified the growing nuisance. The Parliamentary Committee recently found that the Drug Controller General has approved one new drug every month between 2008 and 2010 without conducting mandatory clinical trials or seeking expert medical opinions. The CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organization) has authorized nearly 42 drugs of which 11 were endorsed without phase-III clinical trials. 33 were approved without any testing. And 25 were approved without the opinion of experts.

These drugs were manufactured by leading companies such as Novartis, GSK and Cipla. They gain approval using the loop hole that a drug can be approved to be marketed if it has been analyzed by a group of medical experts. These experts are either bribed or coerced to approve the drugs. The drug companies take advantage of an ill educated government with corrupt officials and a weak judicial mechanism to market their products across India through greedy and irresponsible doctors.

The hospitals in major cities of our country are ill equipped and most of the Indian pharmaceutical companies produce sub standard drugs. According to a report from the early part of last decade, we house nearly 35000 pharmaceutical companies with an annual turnover of over Rs. 1 Crore. The horrifying part is that none of these companies put their products through the testing phase before they hit the market.

Dr.Manmohan Singh, this May, has announced that a new medical program on the lines of NRHM (National Rural Health Mission) would be introduced to the urban parts of the country wherein the purpose of the program would be to take healthcare to the next level in cities and bring about a united healthcare program across the country.The catch, however, is that we do not have stringent regulatory bodies in place to monitor the drug companies or the disorientated doctors.

There should be a well defined uniform pricing index for every generic drug licensed to be manufactured and marketed in India. All drugs manufactured or marketed in India must undergo the standard testing phases and gain the approval with reference to Good manufacturing practices (GMP), good clinical practices (GCP) and good laboratory practices (GLP).The doctors, hospitals and the entire pharmaceutical industry down to the chemist shop must be brought under the RTI act.

We are slowly turning into a nation of lab rats for many foreign and some Indian pharmaceutical companies who make use of any and all methods to make money in the shortest possible way. Our immune system has been deteriorating with every drug that goes inside our system. Unless the government takes initiatives against companies which bribe their way to the market and erring doctors who are exempted from legal liability, the establishment and implementation of a national health program would be pointless.