india together e magazine 16-march-2013

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together

The news in proportion

16 March 2013

www.indiatogether.org

Fortnightly

Drought in Maharashtra:

The real story Pages 36

Winds of change in

Kannur’s political killing fields PG 17

Chidambaram’s lip service to his own goal P2 The strange case of India’s missing dams P4 Planning families, planning progress P8 Creativity or cuts P11 Anti-rape law: Can India get it right? P30

P22

BUDGET 2013

Chidambaram’s lip service to his own goal Taking a 360-degree view of the Union Budget 2013, Shankar Jaganathan points out that despite ‘inclusive and sustainable development’ being a stated goal, the emphasis has primarily been on growth and finances.

W

hatever your political affiliations, you would find it tough to disagree with our Finance Minister when he identified, in his budget speech, the primary goal of his government as 'higher growth leading to inclusive and sustainable development'.

Turning specifically to the budget, he added the aim 'is to create the economic space and find the resources to achieve the social economic objectives.' In pursuing these objectives, fiscal deficit, i.e. the money required to be borrowed and the current account deficit, which is the foreign exchange inflows that India needs to attract were the two constraints identified.

The goals and constraints listed above provide us the four parameters on which we can appraise this budget, or for that matter evaluate any other budget: a) the ability to attract foreign exchange inflowsm b) how the fiscal deficit is funded, c) the measures aimed at accelerating GDP growth, and d) ensuring inclusive & sustainable development.

Analyzed from these four

Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's Finance Minister. Pic: World Economic Forum, via Wikimedia

angles, it provides a 360-degree view of the budget.

Attracting foreign exchange inflows has a special place among the four parameters, government influence being the least here as it depends solely on market forces. The option to reduce the current account deficit by providing incentives for exports is low due to poor global economic conditions. Hence the only option is to attract investments into India.

Given this limited option, it looks as if the budget has done all it can do to assure foreign investors that their Indian investment is safe in a regulatory friendly and fast growing economy.

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Turning to the second parameter, there are two obvious paths to reduce fiscal deficit: increase revenue or reduce government expenditure. It looks as if the easier option to reduce expenditure has been adopted, while the much more challenging option would have been to increase tax revenues and 'sell' it to the tax payers. With tax revenues at 9.9% of GDP, Indian economy has the lowest tax burden.

This low tax burden is amplified when seen from a different angle. The Economic Survey that preceded the budget used a monthly per capita consumption of Rs.579 to define poverty line

for urban areas. Annualized, it translates to about Rs.7000 per annum. With this as reference, the Rs.200,000 income-tax exemption limit for the individual is at 28 times the Poverty Line Number (PLN). The highest tax slab of 30% kicks in only at Rs.500,000 which is 70 times the PLN. Using this parameter of PLN, the newly introduced surcharge on the super-rich is effective at 1400 PLN. With the wide disparity in our society, do we have a case for indexing the income tax limits and fixing different tax slabs by using poverty line number as the basic unit of measure? Other than currency, this index may be the only economic factor that links different segments of our society.

Given my personal preference for a more equal society in contrast to a faster growing economy, I do believe the revenue option could have been further leveraged.

Considering the widely prevalent belief that a large number of income earners are avoiding income tax, could a consumption tax on luxury goods including gold and premium real estate properties be levied. The honest tax payer would be rewarded, if this tax could be set off against their income tax dues.

Accelerating GDP growth has been the primary demand of the Indian corporate sector and stock market participants. Since this aspect has been the most analyzed part of the budget, I have nothing new to add except perhaps identify investment as the primary driver for accelerating this growth. Reintroduction of investment allowance deduction for large corporate entities, incentive for new investors in equity mutual funds and listed entities, higher tax deduction on housing loans for the middle class

Accelerating GDP growth seems to be the most urgent and important parameter. In contrast, attracting foreign exchange and fiscal deficit are urgent matters and in turn play a major role in accelerating GDP growth.

Even though investment in education, health and food security is recognised, it gets relegated due to it not being on the urgent list.

are some of the major initiatives.

An interesting feature is the interplay between the four parameters. For the government, accelerating GDP growth seems to be the most urgent and important parameter. In contrast, attracting foreign exchange and fiscal deficit are urgent matters and in turn play a major role in accelerating GDP growth. All these three parameters have the 'urgency' element in them. In contrast, the fourth parameter of inclusive and sustainable growth is only an important parameter. In the short run, focus on inclusive and sustainable aspects may not enhance the other three parameters but on the contrary, dampen it.

In concrete terms, inclusive growth looks to eradicate the inhumane plight of the poor, protect vulnerable children and women and eliminate discrimination faced by the SC, ST and the minorities, thereby promoting fraternity promised by the Indian constitution. The only recognised remedy, though 16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 3

BUDGET 2013

with a long gestation period, is investment in education. A prerequisite to fully participate in the education program and realise its benefits is a healthy and adequately nourished body. Even though investment in education, health and food security is recognised, it gets relegated due to it not being on the urgent list.

In personal life, often important but not urgent matters get only token attention - leading to action that may at best be described as bordering on visible and symbolic acts. I wonder if the bank catering exclusively to women could be considered as one. At the same time, I fear if at all it will, in any way inhibit the services women have so far received from other banks who could now point them the other way.

That is how it looks if we draw inferences from decisions on larger questions, such as making adequate investments in education and health. 'Nine is Mine' is a children's advocacy campaign for investing 6% of GDP in education and 3% in health, based on the government's manifesto. The urgency that we saw in meeting the fiscal deficit is not evident in meeting this important investment target.

Does it reflect the reality of the times we live in, where businesses are mandated with social responsibilities and government holds itself accountable for financial results?

Shankar Jaganathan is passionate about corporate governance, sustainability practices and economic history. He divides his time between consulting engagements, teaching and writing. He is the author of the book 'Corporate Disclosures 15532007, The Origin of Financial and Business Reports', and the recently published book 'The Wisdom of Ants, A Short History of Economics'.

ANALYSIS

The strange case of India’s missing dams A complete and accurate database of dams and rivers in the country is the first pre-requisite for analysing hydrological issues and safety, but an analysis by Himanshu Thakkar shows that the authority entrusted to maintain such records clearly has a long way to go.

T

he Central Water Commission, or CWC, is India's technical organisation under the Union Ministry of Water Resources. It publishes the National Register of Large Dams (NRLD), the latest version of which can be seen at: this link. This is a key document that is meant to provide information about large dams in India.

The latest NRLD seems to have been uploaded only recently, since for a number of states, it claims to have been updated till January 2013. The NRLD is certainly a useful document, the only list of large dams in India and it also gives a number of salient features of the large

dams in India. The South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) has been using this document and doing some analysis of the information available in the NRLD. As per the latest edition, India has 5187 large dams (height above 15 m in most cases, height of 10-15 m in the case of some with additional

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criteria). 371 of these dams are under construction and the rest have been completed. In case of 194 large dams in NRLD, we do not know the year of construction, which means most of these dams must have been built before independence.

ANALYSIS

NRLD is not an exhaustive list NRLD follows the definition of large dams given by the International Commission on Large Dams for inclusion of dams in its records. However, it is far from what you could call an exhaustive list of large dams in India. A significant number of large dams built for hydropower projects in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, North East India, among other states, do not figure in the list, even though all of these would come under the definition of large dams as given in the NRLD. To illustrate, in Himachal Pradesh alone, the following dams are all under construction as per the Central Electricity Authority, many of them in advanced stages, but they do not figure

in NRLD: Allain Duhangan, Kashang, Sainj, Swara Kuddu, Shongtong Karcham, Sorang, Tangnu Romai, Tidong. This poses a serious threat to safety, especially since many of them are under construction by private companies.

For example, in December 2012, heavy leakage was detected in the surge shaft of the 1000 MW Karcham Wangtoo Project on Sutlej River in Kinnaur district in Himachal Pradesh. The project had to be shut down and the repairs are still going on. Had there been a serious mishap at the project, the impact would also be felt by the cascade of projects

downstream, including the 1500 MW Nathpa Jakhri HEP (India's largest operating hydropower project), 412 MW Rampur HEP, 800 MW Kol Dam HEP and the Bhakra complex further downstream.

Incomplete records or omissions make prevention, tracking and management of such emergencies difficult.

The missing dams Earlier in 2010 and 2011, SANDRP filed a number of applications with the CWC under the Right to Information Act to ask

Pic: Haxplorer (wikimedia commons)

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ANALYSIS

In Himachal Pradesh alone, the following dams are all under construction as per the Central Electricity Authority, many of them in advanced stages, but they do not figure in NRLD: Allain Duhangan, Kashang, Sainj, Swara Kuddu, Shongtong Karcham, Sorang, Tangnu Romai, Tidong. This poses a serious threat to safety, especially since many of them are under construction by private companies.

them how a very large number of dams that were listed in earlier NRLD records of 1990, 2002 (both printed versions) did not figure in the NRLD 2009, and many of the large dams listed in 1990 also did not figure in NRLD 2002. The CWC response in most cases was to transfer our RTI application to the relevant states, stating that it is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of information in the NRLD, it merely compiles the information given by the respective states.

This was a far from satisfactory response from India's premier technical water resources organisation. Was CWC acting only as a post box on such a serious issue as listing of large 6 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

dams? It was not applying its mind to the information supplied by the states, not raising any questions, nor clarifying the contradictions and gaps with respect to the earlier editions of NRLD? Needless to add, this reflects very poorly on the CWC. Here, it is notable that the CWC is also responsible for the monitoring policies and practices related to the safety of dams in India as also a number of other aspects. What kind of diligence then can we expect from CWC under these circumstances? Our analysis also showed that many dams that should have figured in the earlier versions (considering the date of completion stated in the subsequent editions of

The Karcham Wangtoo Project on Sutlej River in Himachal Pradesh.

Pic: SANDRP Supporter

NRLD) were not there. Again, our applications for clarification in such cases were transferred to respective states.

We did get some response from the Central Water Commission and Maharashtra, which was once again hardly acceptable. In case of over a hundred dams, the CWC Director, Design and Research Coordination Directorate accepted the errors in NRLD and promised that 'Data entry errors/ omissions as indicated above will be rectified' without any satisfactory explanations.

Where are our dams located?

A quick review of the latest

NRLD raises some fresh questions.

In one of its exercises, SANDRP wanted to check how many dams there were in the different river basins/sub basins. This is an important question from a number of perspectives including cumulative impacts, optimisation of dam operations, hydrological carrying capacity and cumulative dam safety issues, to name a few.

Ostensibly, this should have been a simple enough exercise.

However, when we started looking at the 5187 large dams of India listed in the NRLD, we found that in most cases, there is no name for the river on which the dam is constructed. When counted, we were shocked that in case of 2687 or 51.8% of large dams of India, the NRLD does not mention the name of the river!

In most cases they just write 'local river' or 'local Nallah,' or the box under river is left blank.

Under the circumstances, it is not possible to get a clear picture of any river basin, or use the list to identify cumulative impacts or safety aspects or possibility of optimisation of the dams in any one river basin. The absence of such basic information reflects very poorly on the quality of the NRLD, and on the CWC and respective states.

The worst performers India's largest dam builder state, namely Maharashtra, also has the largest number for which it does not know the name or location of the rivers or tributaries. Out of 1845 large dams in Maharashtra, for 1243 cases, Maharashtra does not know the name of the rivers on which these are constructed! That means in case of 67.37% of its dams, the state has not specified the names of the rivers. It is not just for the 16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 7

ANALYSIS

old dams, but even for 81 of the dams completed after 2000, that this holds true - for example, the relatively larger 61.19 m high Berdewadi dam (completed in 2001) and the 48 m high Tarandale dam (completed in 2007).

In percentage terms, Madhya Pradesh fares even worse than Maharashtra, as it does not know the names of the rivers for 90.17% of its dams (817 dams out of total of 906). Chhattisgarh is the worst in this aspect, as it does not know names of the rivers for 227 of its 259 large dams. These three states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh collectively do not know the names of the rivers for 2287 of all dams listed in NRLD. Some of the other states that should also share the 'honours' here are Gujarat (138 dams out of 666 for which names of rivers are not known), Andhra Pradesh (124 out of total of 337) and Rajasthan (71 out of 211 large dams).

It is a disturbing situation that the agencies that are responsible for our large dams do not even know the names of the rivers on which they are located. Every river in India has a name, so if someone were to argue that these rivers do not have names, it wouldn't be an acceptable excuse. Without the names of the rivers and locations of the various dams on specific rivers, we cannot even start looking at crucial issues such as dam safety, cumulative social and environmental impacts, and hydrological carrying capacity and optimum utilisation of the storage created behind the dams. We clearly have far to go to even start knowing our dams and rivers.

Himanshu Thakkar is with South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers, and People.

HEALTH

As India moves closer to the deadline for achievement of its Millennium Development Goals, the critical need for effective family planning interventions and greater awareness of the same become more pronounced, writes Anuradha Sahni.

Planning famil planning prog 8 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

lies, gress

M

atlab, a riverine sub-district in Bangladesh, about 50 kilometres from capital Dhaka, has attracted the attention of the world for some time now because of the data it provided on an important social trend. In fact, the reputed medical journal, ‘The Lancet’, in a special focus on family planning last July, trained the light on Matlab yet again.

So what is the Matlab story and why is it so important?

Over a period of 19 years, from 1977 to 1996, family planning programmes had reached 71 of Matlab’s 141 villages. What was striking was that while the figures from the 1974 census - conducted before the programmes had begun - indicated a uniform level of human development in all of its villages, whether in terms of fertility, average schooling or housing, the scenario was very different 19 years later.

According to the evidence gathered, family sizes declined by 55 per cent in the villages that had access to family planning programmes, while it declined by only 39 per cent in those that did not. This, of course, is not surprising. What, however, does warrant pause for thought is the fact that the level of child mortality was significantly lower in the villages accessing the services and the body mass index (BMI) of the women here was higher.

That was not all. Women in these villages also reported earning 40 per cent more in terms of monthly income than their counterparts in villages not serviced by family planning.

Income, we know, translates into assets – and indeed the households in the villages that had family planning services reported 25 per cent more physical assets per adult. The multiplier effects

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HEALTH

of such access were many and included healthier children and higher levels of schooling.

In other words, the message from Matlab was clear: In the long term, effective reproductive health services translated into positive changes in terms of health and human – particularly women’s – development. It was evidence like what emerged from Matlab that had led John Cleland, Professor of Medical Demography, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and his colleagues to conclude that access to family planning can reduce maternal deaths by 40 per cent, infant mortality by 10 per cent and childhood mortality by 21 per cent.

Examples from India also suggest an important link between human development and effective family planning interventions.

Tamil Nadu, for instance, could bring down its total fertility rate (TFR) – defined as the average number of children born to a woman during her reproductive period – from 3.8 in the midseventies to 2.0 by 1997, thanks to an effective family planning programme. By 2001, it figured as the third best performing state, behind only Kerala and Punjab, in terms of human development, according to the National Human Development Report 2001.

This transformation could only have happened because the family planning programme was an enlightened and communityfriendly intervention.

Noted development academic, Leela Visaria, has written at length about how Tamil Nadu was able to achieve replacement levels of fertility. Discarding the targetoriented and coercive approaches that had made family planning interventions in the country so

HEALTH

controversial in the mid-1970s, the Tamil Nadu government crafted a holistic approach that expanded the basket of contraceptive choices available to people, raised levels of awareness, addressed fears of side-effects and introduced new technologies, like non-scalpel vasectomies.

Today, the Government of India, anxious to leave the negative perceptions about family planning firmly behind, is consciously adopting a more broad-based approach through its National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). In a recent speech, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad, flagged various factors – including delaying marriage and spacing birth – as crucial to pegging down India’s numbers. But what he saw as particularly crucial was the need to raise awareness about the issue.

As the Minister put it, “Vast numbers of people cannot avail of family planning services due to problems of knowledge and access. There is therefore a need for the NRHM to respond with appropriate family planning counselling and services that focus on the individual’s choice and decision-making in planning the timing of a pregnancy and number of children desired. In particular, NRHM should design a way to reach comprehensive health information and services to young girls, which will prevent marriage under the legal age of 18, early childbearing and keep girls in school.”

It is an approach that Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India, would advocate. As she puts it, “There are also many far-reaching, catalytic effects of women being able to control their fertility. Girls,

who marry as adults, delay their first pregnancy and space child births, are more likely to complete their education and join the work force. Enhanced household income helps in meeting the nutritional needs of their families.”

Such an approach assumes urgency as concerns that India will fail to meet some of its commitments on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) grow by the day, even as the deadline year of 2015 draws steadily closer.

According to MDG 4, countries are required to reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the mortality rate of children under five years of age. Similarly, MDG 5 enjoins them to peg down by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio (MMR). Going by current indications, the figures on both counts do not stack up for India.

Data from the Statistical Year Book 2013 reveal that while India is required to reduce its child

While India is required to reduce its child mortality rate to 42 per thousand live births by 2015, going by the current rate of decline the level would be ten points short.

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mortality rate to 42 per thousand live births by 2015, going by the current rate of decline the level would be around 52 per thousand, which is ten points short. As for its MMR, India will achieve a figure of 139/100,000 live births by 2015, which would miss the target by 29 points.

According to ‘The Lancet’s analysis, access to reproductive health and family planning helps to bring down not just infant and maternal mortality levels but helps in achieving other MDGs, like eradication of extreme poverty and hunger (MDG 1), universal primary education (MDG 2), gender equality and empowering women (MDG 3) and environmental sustainability (MDG 7). In fact, it was this realisation that led to the inclusion of a new MDG target – universal access to reproductive health – in 2006.

For a young country like India, this is an extremely important target. With half its population in the reproductive age – the reason why the population continues to grow despite its growth rate having declined considerably – access to contraceptive choices and care has become a critical need.

Elaborates Muttreja, “To take advantage of the demographic dividend, India must focus on providing family planning services to its young people along with reproductive and sexual health education, skills development and education. Access and choice to quality family planning is not only a human right, it is critical to the health and well being of individuals and the country's development.” (Women's Feature Service) Anuradha Sahni

CINEMA AND CENSORSHIP

The decision of the Censor Board to ban screening of Bengali director Suman Mukhopadhyay’s film Kangal Malsat is only the most recent instance in a long history of political interference in free creative expression in this country. Shoma Chatterji reports.

“C

ensorship, legal and extra-legal, is a serious inroad on freedom of expression. Censorship is highly subjective and essentially mindless. The main motivation for censorship is intolerance.

Conventional wisdom and official ideology

cannot be allowed to be questioned and criticized and must be suppressed.

Portrayal of historical events that depict a government or certain persons or groups in an unfavourable light cannot be tolerated and should therefore be suppressed by recourse to

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censorship.” This is a comment picked from an article by Soli Sorabjee in the Indian Express (January 30, 2007) following the non-screening of Parzania in Gujarat. The film was rejected by multiplex owners in Gujarat for fear of a Hindu backlash.

CINEMA AND CENSORSHIP

But Parzania is just a drop in the huge ocean of the politicization of the Censor Board, be it in Mumbai, Gujarat or West Bengal.

The Calcutta regional office of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) held back the certification of a Bengali film, Hatath Neerar Jonnye (Suddenly, for Neera) that was slated for public release in around 15 theatres of West Bengal on July 9, 2004. The viewing panel referred it to

Anupam Kher, then-Chairperson, CBFC, stating that it felt the film is “detrimental to Bengali culture and sensibility because it explores an extramarital relationship.”

Anupam Kher upheld the decision of the regional office. He had not seen the film but accused the producers of fixing the release date even before obtaining a clearance certificate from the censors. As per rules, Kher referred the film to the review committee.

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The CBFC is not the supreme authority. Its decision is often over-ruled by the administrative head of a given state including the centre. So, censored films are also stopped after they have obtained the certificate granting them the right to show their film in the theatres.

Take the example of Mrinal Sen’s Baishey Shravan. “In October 1960, I received a note marked ‘Immediate’ from the I & B Ministry.

The film was denied censors’ approval as it allegedly shows the swearing-in of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in unfavourable light. Pic Credit: Biswarup Ganguly via Wikimedia

Baishey Sravan was partly based on the Bengal famine of 1943. It had been invited to the London Film Festival. The ministry thought it would be in the fitness of things to remove all shots showing the protagonist, an incorrigible villager, using his fingers while eating. For this would, for sure, nauseate the sophisticated audience abroad. When I refused, the ministry stopped negotiating with me. I sent the print directly

Alleging 'political discrimination' by the government, Mukhopadhyay has moved the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal challenging the Censor Board's decision. "As a filmmaker I made a film which I wanted to. Now if it has some political undercurrents it doesn't mean those in power have the power to ban the film. They are trying to gag us," he said.

to the festival. Subsequently, I informed the ministry that nobody had felt sick during the screening.

There was no nausea,” he laughs.

It would be interesting to explore the recent case of the Censor Board’s refusal to grant a certificate to Suman Mukhopadhyay’s new film Kangal Malsat (War Cry of the Poor). Interestingly, till not very long ago, Mukhopadhyay was a staunch supporter of the

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CINEMA AND CENSORSHIP

Trinamool Congress and went into persistent and vehement debates on television and the print media about why the state needed change at the ministerial level. Of late however, he seems to have changed his stance and is talking against the party in power and all that it stands for. The same applies to several cultural intellectuals of the State – from Koushik Sen to Mahasweta Devi – who backed Trinamool and helped it come to power but have since been openly critical of the new government.

Who is Suman Mukhopadhyay and what is Kangal Malsat all about? Suman Mukhopadhyay is one of the most outstanding young theatre practitioners in Bengali theatre. He is also a remarkable filmmaker whose first film Herbert, won the National Award for the First Feature Film of a New Director. He later made an abstract experimental feature Mahanagar@Kolkata and Chaturanga based on Rabindranath Tagore’s work.

Both Herbert and Kangal Malshat have been authored

by Nabarun Bhattacharya who is considered to be one of the most incisive young writers who mercilessly opens the innards of inequity in society to expose the inhuman conditions the marginalised, the oppressed and the humiliated live in without any soft-cushioning in language and style. He is outstanding within contemporary Bengali literature. Mukhopadhyay had presented a theatrical version of the same story in 2006 when the earlier Left-ruled government was still in power. So what made Mukhopadhyay decide to make a film on the story with Kabir Suman, an estranged Trinamool MP, playing Dandabayas, the primordial talking crow?

CINEMA AND CENSORSHIP

“I decided to make a film version because Bengal has seen many changes since 2006 and I had to incorporate changes in keeping with the changing times and ambience. The time is just right to make a film on the novel.

The scornful burlesque prompted me to turn Kangal Malshat into a film. There is a certain rawness that had me hooked.

In the novel, the Fyatarus (flying human beings) and Choktars (the black magic sect) wage a war against the Left Front government,” says Mukhopadhyay, adding, “The novel was written in 2003, before Left Front lost power, but Mukhopadhyay has incorporated the changes in the script. “It is a historical situation and I really wish to document the chaos that ruled the state during the later stages of Left reign. The stage version ended in anticipation. But in the film version, I have taken it ahead. The film will show the change in power. There was a spirit of agitation in the play. The film too will incorporate this,” he informed before this controversy was born.

He must have had a change of mind because the above statement about ‘change of power’ according to the Censors, does not speak positively about the party in power. What does the letter from the Censors to the producers of the film say in support of their refusal? The letter puts forth several arguments as follows: 1.

The way the honourable CM's oath taking ceremony has been shown seems distortion of history and may hurt many common people of West Bengal and create sensation (violence) 2.

The film shows a person watching the swearing-in

ceremony with disdain. It also has a controversial shot of Kabir Suman saying in Bengali, 'The Tatas have cut a sorry figure. Now there are so many committees. They are making Kolkata into London..."

3.

The way the departure of Tata Company was uttered in the film, it seemed to malign or at least look down upon a significant movement of a civic society 4. The treatment of the film with unnecessary use of abusive language, sexuality and casual approach in portraying social movements may hurt the sentiments of many people in our society 5.

The portrayal of Stalin, ruler of erstwhile Soviet Union, has been done so irresponsibly in the film that the dogmatic statement might hurt the sentiments of many of his supporters and create unrest during public screening.

Not having been given the opportunity to see the film, there is no way one can see through the truth of these arguments.

Cinema being a fluid, multilayered medium of creative expression, responses are very subjective and prone to varied interpretations. But the fact remains that political interference goes against the constitutional right to an individual’s freedom of expression, with or without the Censor Board.

Alleging 'political discrimination' by the government, Mukhopadhyay has moved the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal challenging the Censor Board's decision. “As a filmmaker I made a film which I wanted to. Now if it has some political undercurrents it doesn't mean those in power have the 14 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

power to ban the film. They are trying to gag us,” he said.

The film was denied release based on recommendations by a revising committee of the Censor Board, whose members are appointed by the state government. Filmmaker Haranath Chakraborty, one of the key members of Mamata Banerjee's cultural think-tank group, leads the committee.

Film journalist Mohan Deep who was with the CBFC for two years says, “Censorship is one way of safeguarding power.

It is a part of license, quota and permit Raj. The purpose is the same as it is for imposing income tax, bestowing awards, concessions, grants, endowments, redtape control. The idea is to let the world know who wields the whip. I have heard of instances where money has changed hands for beating the

guidelines or clout being used for the same reason. Filmmakers who support censorship play into the hands of politicians. They are acknowledging and recognizing the right of others to sit on judgement of their work and to dictate the do’s and don’ts in a democracy.”

In 2006, under the direction of the BJP’s State Youth Wing, the Gujarat Multiplex Owners’

Association refused to screen the Aamir Khan-starrer Fanaa as its own way to avenge the actor who had voiced his support for the people

d i s p l a ce d

by Gujarat’s Narmada dam project.

This is tantamount to censoring a person’s individual statements by virtue of his celebrity status that gives him high visibility. How can anyone’s personal support for X cause be linked to the person’s professional work? What kind of avenging action is this? This action had a strong negative impact on the revenues of the film in the week of its release. The irony is

that this had nothing to do with the form and content of Fanaa in any way. This expressed a single group exercising its freedom of expression to obstruct and object to someone else’s freedom of expression.

Filmmaker Gautam Ghose talks about a number of his projects that were in a spot for dealing with sensitive political topics such as his first film Maa Bhoomi (1979) which dealt with the Telangana uprising.

He had to handle a cast of hundreds of real peasants. It was a challenging task accomplished with competence by a firsttime filmmaker. It got an overwhelming response in Andhra Pradesh. But initially, there were protests against the film that delayed its release. Ghose’s Antarjali Jatra (1987) based on a story

by Kamal Kumar Majumdar faced trouble because it dealt with the evil practice of sati and the film was fresh after the Roop Kanwar case in Rajasthan.

“Intellectuals like Satyajit Ray fought on my behalf and the film was finally cleared by the censors,” Ghose recalls.

One continues to be intrigued by how the CBFC was turned into a joke consisting of a panel of jokers, by political powers-thatbe in Delhi who often over-ruled a refusal or an “A” certificate just through a simple telephone call.

N.S. Thapa was Regional Officer at the CBFC’s Mumbai office between 1972 and 1976. When the Sholay case came up, the examining committee found it too violent and decided to grant it an “A” certificate with cuts.

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CINEMA AND CENSORSHIP

“Even before I reached the office, G.P. Sippy’s man was there asking for a withdrawal of the application,” recalls Thapa. “Next day, a top politician called to tell us to pass the film without referring it to the revising committee. We did not fight back because Virendra Vyas, who was then-Chairman of the CBFC, was a heart patient.

I was shocked by the political interference in the work of the Board and returned to my original post at FD,” he sums up.

Shyam Benegal has been a strong backer for the abolition of censorship. At the same time he stresses that there has to be some kind of regulation in India.

“I am against censorship and do not believe that it works and will work in the future. But I do believe that some kind of regulation is necessary in a country as diverse as India, though we do not need a system where the government has something to do with all this," he says. In effect, he advocates a self-regulatory body, just as his peer Govind Nihalani does. “I am personally against censorship.

I prefer a rating system, giving responsibility to filmmakers," Nihalani says, echoing Benegal.

He adds, “A censor policy should be so that it can evolve with time, as values, thinking and society change.”

The question is, have values really changed? Have society and our ways of looking at films changed? Think about these. Advertising guru Alyque Padamsee has the last word. “Your eyes are the best censors. In this human ambience, who needs censorship?”

Dr. Shoma A Chatterji, freelance journalist and author, writes on cinema, media, human rights, cultural issues and gender.

POLITICS AND VIOLENCE

Winds of chang political killing A spate of arrests and high profile cases may have led to a partial let-up in the feudalism and violence characterising the politics of northern Kerala, but people stand largely disillusioned even as newer forms of evil such as communalism take root, finds Nileena M.S.

16 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

POLITICS AND VIOLENCE

ge in Kannur’s fields

Murder of K T Jayakrishnan Master, hacked to death in front of his students in Kannur in December 1999. Credit: Madhuraj, Matrubhumi

16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 17

POLITICS AND VIOLENCE

K

erala is taking a new turn in its political journey with the recent developments in political murder cases. Keralites, often tagged as the most ‘politically conscious’ community that was the first in the country to vote a communist government to power, now stand disillusioned and disgusted at the political cross roads. The turn of events reiterated that politics today is all about power-play, manipulative discourses, money and muscle power. A considerable section of the party cadres who had either pledged their loyalty to the Congress-led United DemocraticFront, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or (especially) the Communist party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M))-led Left Democratic Front now feel embittered and alienated.

Early last year, even before Keralites had recovered from the shock of the cold-blooded murder of T.P. Chandrashekaran, who broke away from CPI(M) to form Revolutionary Socialist Party, a district secretary of CPI(M ) had the audacity to declare at a public meeting that his party had killed its political foes. He even went further to describe three of such murders planned and executed by ‘his party’. He is now facing trial for various murder cases.

Another CPI(M) leader from Kannur, accused in the murder of Abdul Shukoor, a member of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), was arrested and is on bail now. Two other district-level leaders of the party are also under arrest in connection with a number of political murder cases.

A bloody history The political scene in the State that had voted the UDF and LDF coalitions to power alternatively

in the recent decades is marred with violence.The epicenter of this grimy game is Kannur, the most volatile region with a notorious track record of political violence.

Violence between political opponents has bloodied the streets of Kannur and nearby districts, known for their strong affiliation to the Communist movement, since the early 1970s.

Earlier, the friction was between the CPI (M) and Congress, then the Communist Party of India (CPI); later, the BJP-RSS turned out to be its major opponents.

The entrance of other fundamentalist outfits like NDF, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Socialist Democratic Party of India (SDPI) into the scene recently has complicated the multifaceted nature of this politics of violence.

According to Kannur District police, 56 political murders were reported in the district in the last decade (January 1997 to March 2008) alone. Though the friction between the CPI(M) and BJP-RSS has been at the centre of this political bloodbath, the Congress, National Development Front(NDF - a Muslim fundamentalist outfit) and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI)have also spewed enough venom.

Leaders pass the buck when asked about the repetition of such violent episodes; G. Sathyaprakash, State VicePresident of Yuva Morcha says that the CPI (M) is responsible for this politics of hatred and violence. “I don’t deny that the other parties are also guilty of perpetuating violence. The politics of violence promoted by CPI(M) has definitely influenced the cadres of other parties and even the RSS-BJP cadres have retaliated,” he adds.

T. Harindran, District Committee Member and former Panur Area 18 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

A hoarding condemning the murder of T.P. Chandrashekaran, leader of Revolutionary Socialist Party, at Onchiyam, Calicut, May 2012. Credit: Madhuraj, Matrubhumi

POLITICS AND VIOLENCE

The glorification of violence and the fascist attitude of leaders show the extent of abuse of political power and influence by parties who resort to inhuman means to achieve their ends. Generating fear-psychosis through intimidation and violence, muzzling the voice of dissent and establishing their authority over areas with more supporters are all methods adopted by the parties to stay ahead in the fray.

16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 19

Secretary of CPI(M), says that the recent arrest of party leaders in the murder cases were a part of the ‘conspiracy’ by political opponents to tarnish the image of the leaders. “These are deliberate attempts that are part of the campaign to weaken the party,” he says.

Whatever leaders may say, the glorification of violence and the fascist attitude of leaders show the extent of abuse of political power and influence by parties who resort to inhuman means to achieve their ends. Generating fear-psychosis through intimidation and violence, muzzling the voice of dissent and establishing their authority over areas with more supporters are all methods adopted by the parties to stay ahead in the fray. “People have realized it is futile to expect anything out of these parties that have turned into a frenzy mob.

It is not political ideologies that drive them anymore, instead their efforts are directed towards electoral victory, political gains and self-interests of the leaders,” says S. Sathish, a teacher from Pappinisseri.

Party villages Ayithara-Mambaram is a microcrosm of the district where ‘party villages’ or village pockets that are strongholds of CPI(M) or BJP-RSS still exist. A small bridge across a river divides the village, not just geographically but entire activities in the area on political lines. People from both sides of the bridge are weary of crossing over to the other side as one of the villages is a power bastion of BJP-RSS while the other side is the stronghold of CPI (M). Party cadres who are always on vigil check the whereabouts of anyone who dare to tread into their ‘territory’

POLITICS AND VIOLENCE

marked by flags, party signs and posters of leaders on electricity posts, public wells and tree trunks.

The recent political developments have knocked down the walls of many of these party villages while new ones sprout amidst the powerscramble. The growing presence of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in many pockets of North Malabar points to the fact that the power bastions are simply getting modified and re-aligned. Myths and misrepresentations about the existence of such power pockets do rounds as the concept of ‘party villages’ turn into a symbol of political pre-eminence.

Sathyaprakash says that the party villages are a construct of the CPI(M). “Though there are areas with higher concentration of RSS-BJP followers, we do not terrorize or intimidate people like them,” he claims. But Harindran refutes: “Criticisms about the existence of party villages are baseless. Earlier there were such allegations against the party, but not any more.”

The peculiar socio-political construct of ‘party village’ is not just about marking political territories, but also about how a self-sufficient well-structured system is developed and promoted to ascertain the parties’ grip, observes C.K. Vijayan, a journalist with the Mathrubhumi News channel. “The semi-feudal model, where party leaders have their final say in all affairs, comprises dedicated services including those offered by traditional physicians, local administrators, lawyers, bureaucrats and hospitals for the ‘party’s own men’,” he says.

This parallel system that mocks at democracy becomes complete with the local leadersgoons-political nexus. This has

made many villages in Kannur fertile grounds for the production of weapons (bombs of all kinds and knives specially designed to kill people) which has gained the notoriety of a ‘thriving cottage industry’. It is no secret that the local leaders of these political parties are hand-in-gloves with gangs involved in illegal sandmining, quarrying, real-estate and abkari deals. Parties that had earlier engaged with social issues now spend most of their energy, time and money for such destructive activities.

A culture of violence Mapping of these politically volatile areas in North Malabar indicates that they are comparatively remote and backward villages with fewer education, transport and infrastructure facilities. When compared to the districts in South Kerala, the entire northern region lags behind in growth and development indexes. Cultural critics and anthropologists observe that the ‘fan following’ and loyalty enjoyed by the party leaders in the region is a manifestation of the historic association of hero-worship and ritualistic killings - still prevalent in many parts of the region. Even after the advent of television and other telecommunication facilities, these associations are preserved in the ‘rural psyche.’

Blind following of party leaders and indifference towards violence have its roots in this cultural background.

“It is no surprise to find young boys involved in police cases in connection with party feuds in our area. Parents concerned over the safety of their children send them away for education or work to safeguard them from being 20 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

Ashna, whose right leg was permanently disabled in a bomb attack at Cheruvanchery in September 2000.

Credit: Madhuraj, Matrubhumi

involved in these ‘messy’ affairs,” says S. Jyothi, a bank-employee from Kathirur.

Usually, it was the cadres at the lower rung who bore the brunt in the political tactics crafted by their leaders. However, with the ongoing court procedures of murder cases involving top leaders of CPI(M), the political scene in Kannur and nearby districts of the Malabar region may be witnessing a change. “People were terrorized by the party cadres and there was no way we could complain against their atrocities. But, now they have realized that no one can take the law into their hands and force everyone to obey them,” says S. Sreelekha, a resident of Panur – a power bastion of CPI(M) where 13 political murders were reported in the last decade. People from such high risk areas like Kadirur, Chokli and Mahe, dominated by either CPI(M) or BJP, say that the party leaders who earlier meddled in all activities in the area have now loosened their grip.

The rise of fundamentalism Senior political correspondent from Kannur, K.A. Anthony observes that the turn of events have led to the growth of fundamentalist elements like NDF. Quoting Research and Analyst Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) reports, Mr. Anthony says that in a reverse trend in areas that were earlier strongholds of CPI (M), the growing Popular Front of India and its political wing SDPI, have even threatened the supporters of the party to leave their villages.

Many feel that the alarming trend of communal polarization observed in the region is weakening the secular fabric 16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 21

POLITICS AND VIOLENCE

strengthened through the years by communist movements. Political analysts observe that the LDF has lost its secular image as it openly joined hands with fundamentalist elements like PDP, Indian National League (INL) and NDF as part of its electoral tactics in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. This, coupled with investigations that point to the terrorist links of the region with International organisations and channels of illegal money flow, draws attention to the lurking dangers.

Listening to conversations at street corners and tea shops that were once abuzz with political discussion proves that the ideological degradation and criminalization of political parties have increasingly deterred people from politics. Many people, especially local leaders, turned cautious when the topic of political killings came up and they did not want their identity to be revealed in the report.

Nileena M.S. is a Kannur-based journalist.

DROUGHT POLItics

Cane being transported to Sugar Factories for crushing in November 2012. Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

22 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

DROUGHT POLItics

Drought in Maharashtra:

The real story The fact that the state’s most drought-prone regions have continued to devote precious resources for highly waterintensive sugarcane cultivation and sugar production indicates that there is more to the region’s water crisis than climatic conditions alone. Parineeta Dandekar analyses.

16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 23

DROUGHT POLItics

T

his year seems to be a year of basalt-hard lessons for Maharashtra. The year saw the irrigation scam, sugarcane farmers protesting for a fair price (leading to the death of two farmers) and now a ‘drought worse than 1972’ with 11,801 villages declared to be drought affected in March 2013.

If we analyse these three events in perspective, their link becomes inextricably clear. This year’s drought, though devastating, was not an unannounced calamity. It had been building up since August 2012, when more than 400 villages were declared drought-affected.

The protest by sugarcane farmers was not a sudden outburst either; their discontent over fair price for sugarcane had been simmering and occasionally boiling over for the past few years. Last but not the least, the irrigation scam, though unprecedented in scale, was not a sudden revelation. Many NGOs, whistle blowers and government committees had been warning about the tip of the iceberg for several years.

That all these factors came together in one year is not just an unfortunate coincidence. It shows that the reasons behind the Maharashtra drought are starker than simply less rainfall.

Unless these root causes are addressed, no amount of state and central assistance can banish droughts. Farmers and rural and urban poor have been suffering for too long due to the opportunistic and myopic response of the political and administrative leadership in Maharashtra to successive droughts. To understand and change this, we need to first take a long, deep look at some of the reasons sparking the water shortage:

Worst drought-affected districts have the most sugar factories Sugarcane is one of the most water- intensive crops grown in Maharashtra, requiring ten times more water than Jowar or nut.

Ironically, the regions where it is grown the most are chronically drought hit regions, which have been receiving central aid for drought proofing though the Drought Proof Area Program and other such schemes. Sugarcane area under drip irrigation in these regions is dismally low.

According to the Water Resources Department, Maharashtra, in 2009-10, of the approximate 25 lakh hectares (Ha) of irrigated area in Maharashtra, 3,97,000 Ha was under sugarcane. However, according to the Union Agricultural Ministry (which would get its data from the State Agricultural Department), area under sugarcane was 9,70,000 hectares in 2010-11 and again 10,02, 000 hectares in 2011-12.

When it was grown on 16% Irrigated area, sugarcane used 76% of all water for Irrigation.

With area under sugarcane increasing, its hegemony has increased exponentially.

Not only does it capture maximum water, it results in water logging, salinity and severe water pollution by sugar factories. Incidentally, Maharashtra has 209 sugar factories, the highest in any state in India.

A strong example of links between drought and sugarcane may be found in the Solapur District in the Bhima Basin, which is facing the worst of droughts today. Live storage of Ujani Dam is zero and drinking water is 24 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

being taken from dead storage, even as Solapur and 400 villages depend on Ujani for drinking water. Drinking water supply has become a severe problem.

Hundreds of villages and blocks have been declared drought affected. Nearly 1000 tankers have been plying, and there is a near exodus of stricken communities to urban areas.

Solapur also includes the Union Agriculture Minister’s parliamentary constituency Madha. This chronically droughtprone district, with average annual rainfall of 550 mm, is the largest sugarcane producer in

DROUGHT POLItics

Many experts, organisations and reports like World Bank have highlighted the unjustifiably high share of sugarcane in Maharashtra’s irrigation

Maharashtra with the densest concentration of sugar factories and area under sugarcane (see pie chart above). That such water intensive cropping pattern in an arid region should flourish in Union Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar’s constituency speaks volumes about the political backing for sugarcane and the attitude of the Ministry.

During a meeting at the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), officials from the Water Resource Department (WRD) claimed that of the 87 TMC (Thousand million cubic feet) live storage of Ujani, 50-60 TMC

is flow irrigation to sugarcane in command, accounting for more than 60% of its live storage. The authorised use, however, is only 32 TMC! In addition, there are several sugar factories in the upstream of the Ujani dam, taking water through unauthorised lifts from the backwaters. So, actual water going to sugarcane from Ujani is estimated to be close to 80% or more. This is causing severe water scarcity in the downstream regions, creating severe drinking water crisis.

All of this diversion apparently happens with political support.

Of the 30 cabinet ministers 16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 25

When it was grown on 16% Irrigated area, sugarcane used 76% of all water for Irrigation.

With area under sugarcane increasing, its hegemony has increased exponentially.

Not only does it capture maximum water, it results in water logging, salinity and severe water pollution by sugar factories.

Incidentally, Maharashtra has 209 sugar factories, the highest in any state in India.

DROUGHT POLItics

Sugarcane Around Ujani Dam. Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

in Maharashtra, 13 ministers either own sugar factories, or a substantial share in these. The White Paper on Irrigation Projects proudly boasts that the Ujani Project irrigates 92000 hectares of Sugarcane.

Apart from Ujani, Pune region (Districts Satara, Solapur and Pune), Ahmednagar Region, Aurangabad region and Nanded region, - all of them droughtprone areas - also have a dense concentration of sugar factories, aided by irrigated sugarcane fields in the vicinity.

Sugarcane is increasing in area in drought affected Krishna and Godavari Basins too, commanding maximum share of the irrigation water. This is borne out by the table below, all figures taken from the Maharashtra Irrigation Status report 2009-10 (the latest one available).

Sugarcane: Lifeline of the political economy of Maharashtra A Memorandum for Drought Relief sent to the centre from Maharashtra in 2003-04 said that Sugarcane is the “Lifeline of the agro economy of Maharashtra”. However, more than a lifeline of the agroeconomy, it appears to be so for the political economy of Maharashtra.

Hugely entrenched in sugar politics, the political economy is unable to take any brave and sustainable decisions when it comes to cultivating sugarcane.

As experts have pointed out in the past, entire water management of Maharashtra revolves around sugarcane.

The Ujani Dam, sanctioned 26 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

in 1964 for 40 Crores is still not complete, while the expenses have been pegged at nearly 2000 Crores. Even as the main canal work is incomplete, more and more lift irrigation schemes, link canals, underground tunnels are being planned on this dam, for sugarcane. Incomplete projects, with bad distribution network, which has been the hallmark of the irrigation scam, has aided sugarcane cultivation the most and has resulted in concentration of water in small ‘pockets of prosperity’ amidst drought affected zones and thirsty tailenders.

Osmanabad collector K.M. Nagzode had written to the state sugar commissioner on 29 November 2012 that Osmanabad “had received only 50% of average rainfall, and water levels in dams are extremely

DROUGHT POLItics

low while ground water hasn’t been replenished and that since a sugar factory typically uses at least one lakh litres of water a day, it would be advisable to suspend crushing and divert the harvest to neighbouring districts”. However, no such orders were given and cane crushing went on. Osmanabad district contributes significantly to sugar production of Maharashtra, with over 25100 hectares of sugarcane, which is the only crop that gets irrigation in this district.

District Collectors have the right to reserve water for drinking in any major, medium and minor projects, when they see the need. However, even when Ujani was reaching zero live storage, such decision was not taken by the Solapur Collector.

Everybody loves a good drought

A Memorandum for drought relief sent by the Maharashtra government to the Centre does not seem to be in the public domain, but the state is reportedly seeking Rs 2500 crore for drought relief. The Memorandum for drought relief, 2003-04 shows that during every drought, we indulge in the same fire- fighting measures of resorting to the Employment Guarantee Scheme, tanker water supply, cattle camps and wellcontrol. Once the drought passes, sugarcane is pushed again.

Currently 3 million farmers and significant number of labourers are involved in sugarcane farming, it is claimed. In reality, even if a million hectares were to be under sugarcane, how can 3 million farmers be involved in sugarcane

16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 27

farming when the average farm size in Maharashtra is 1.45 hectares?

We have neither been able to solve the minimum price for sugarcane lock till now. Farmers have been demanding Rs 4500 per tonne of sugarcane from sugar industries, which have agreed to only Rs 2300/ tonne.

In Vidarbha, the situation is even worse with prices at Rs 1500/ tonne. The government has made it clear that it will not interfere in the issue. Many sugar industries did not even pay last year’s dues to farmers. Globally and in Indian markets, sugar prices are going down. Last November, during farmers’ protests for minimum price for sugarcane, two farmers lost their lives. This protest was the strongest in the drought hit region around Ujani Dam. Instead of hiding behind

DROUGHT POLItics

Area under main crops in thousand hectares (canals, groundwater and rivers) ISR 2009-10 Region

Jowar

Wheat

Pune

221.43 191.85

38.68

52.85

96.96 61.58

315.97

5.77

13.80

Aurangabad

29.38

5.07

12.68

0.08

43.30

27.83

5.48

33.33

Ground nut Harbhara Rice

claims of three million sugarcane farmers, politicians need to ensure that these farmers do not have to suffer the same fate time and again. With climate change, droughts have become a more frequent reality. The only way to tackle and manage droughts is to improve the resilience of the agro-economic system and water management systems in coping with droughts. Encouraging and pushing for sugarcane in

Oilseed Sugar-cane 2.30

chronically drought-affected areas is a poor adaptation measure and only pushes farmers deeper into the vicious cycle of uncertainty, crop failures, and hardships.

Drip Irrigation: A Bandaid solution?

The Maharashtra state government is planning to make it mandatory for sugarcane growers to use drip irrigation systems 28 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

Cotton Fruits

over the next three years, a move prompted by the drought. “Hence a regulation will make a big difference in the water utilization pattern in the agro-sector,� chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan said in an interview.

Measures like drip Irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, etc, though critical, are incapable of arresting the proliferation of sugarcane, a fundamentally inappropriate crop in drought prone areas. Moreover,

DROUGHT POLItics Ujani Dam in Solapur, Sugar Capital of Maharashtra. Photo: Parineeta Dandekar

despite the relative abundance of sugarcane and heavy subsidies for drip, sugarcane belts have stuck to flood irrigation and have not adopted drip the way Nashik region has for grapes. Of the one million hectares under sugarcane, barely 10% is under drip. Even the Union Agriculture Minister’s constituency has not shown any notable success on this front.

As sugarcane is claiming almost all of irrigation and also

domestic water from dams in the drought-affected zones, villagers in Marathwada and Western Maharashtra do not have drinking water; students are missing their exams to attend to cattle at cattle shelters and hospitals have to postpone surgeries for want of water. If at all Maharashtra wants to liberate itself from the shackle of regular droughts, one of the things it must first do is break free from sugarcane, and politicians 16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 29

who push the mirage of sugarcane in the absence of any sustainable efforts towards improving farm livelihoods.

This drought would not have been so severe if Maharashtra had broken the shackles of sugar earlier.

Parineeta Dandekar is with the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.

GENDER JUSTICE

Freedom Miles, at Bangalore. Pic: Meera K

30 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

GENDER JUSTICE

Anti-rape law: Can India get it right?

As Parliament prepares to pass new anti-rape legislation on the basis of the government-promulgated ordinance, Padmalatha Ravi discusses recommendations of the seminal report by the Committee that underlines the need for law that is better conceived.

P

arliament passed the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Bill on February 26th.

It is heartening to note that this bill is comprehensive and largely adheres to the recommendations of the Verma Committee. But as the deadline draws near for Parliament to pass the new antirape bill replacing the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance promulgated on 3 February, 2013, one cannot be sure whether the new Bill will be an effective instrument of redress and justice in case of crimes against women.

This is because the ordinance – passed by the President in the wake of the outrage against the Delhi gangrape incident – was said to be based on the 630page report submitted by the Justice Verma Committee (JVC), but in reality, ignored most of its key recommendations. It only played to the gallery, making

death penalty for rapists (in rarest of rare cases) the highlight. The committee had, in fact, rejected the idea of death penalty.

A recent discussion at the Bangalore International Centre, titled The Significance and Implications of the Justice Verma Committee Report” brought into sharp focus the need for deeper introspection and consideration of the provisions in the report when the Cabinet considers passing the new anti-rape Bill.

Arvind Narrain, Human Rights Lawyer and founder of Alternative Law forum presented his views at the talk, while Adithya Sondhi High Court and Supreme Court Lawyer moderated the discussion that followed.

The merits of the recommendations of the Verma Committee become particularly pronounced when Narrain clearly says that the ordinance is in fact an “insult to rape victims” and

16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 31

“makes no attempt to understand the violence involved in the act of rape.”

The committee was set up on December 23rd 2012 after the brutal gang rape of a 23-yearold student in Delhi. Headed by Justice J S Verma , it had two other members – Justice Leila Seth and Gopal Subramaniam. The primary objective of the committee was to look into possible amendments to the criminal law to provide for quicker trial and enhanced punishment for criminals committing sexual assaults of extreme nature against women.

The committee then asked the public to send in recommendations for them to consider. Between December 23rd and January 5th, the committee received nearly 80,000 submissions. This unprecedented public participation represents the mood of the public; the loud demands for swift action and

GENDER JUSTICE

stricter laws were unmissable.

The report takes cognizance of the large scale protests that were held after the Delhi incident. “The constitution of this Committee is in response to the countrywide peaceful public outcry of civil society, led by the youth, against the failure of governance to provide a safe and dignified environment for the women of India, who are constantly exposed to sexual violence,” it says.

The report recommends not just harsher punishment for the rapist but also goes deeper and discusses police reforms, education and even electoral reforms. The report though produced in just 30 days, is not a knee jerk reaction; rather, it is a result of careful consideration of sustained campaign from various women’s organisations over the years and especially after the Delhi gang rape incident.

The report first and foremost acknowledges that rape is not about sex or lust but about power struggle and dominance - a fact that is ignored both by the law, the society and even media while reporting on rape cases.

In the section “Education and Perception reform” the report lists down a series of issues that lead to gender discrimination and then on to sexual violence and also actions to be taken to ensure gender equality. The report notes that we live in a ‘cult of masculinity’ and goes on to describe society’s norms for masculinity. “Touching, harassment and forced intercourse are all seen as normal to masculinity. There is a prevalence of a misplaced belief among young men that a ‘real woman’ was meant to resist sexual advances.

Thus the use of force becomes not only normal, but (if a real women resists) also essential and ideal.

Protests in Bangalore after the death of the student gang-raped in Delhi. Credit: Jim Ankan Deka via Wikimedia

These notions carry over to sexual relationships, and there combine with notions of masculinity that involve explosive sexuality, sexual success, independent from relationships, physical toughness, and loss of empathy.”

The idea that sexual violence, especially rape is a deliberate act of dominance and not an act of impulsive expression of sexual desire, as popularly believed, has never been acknowledged in such clear terms before.

The Verma committee also stoutly said no to capital punishment and amendment of juvenile justice laws. The latter, in particular, was a loud cry from the public since one of the rapists in the Delhi incident was a minor.

32 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

The Committee was of the view that neither would actually result in bringing down the rape, nor would it increase the chances of prosecution.

The committee is also explicit on the issue of consent that is often debated in rape cases.

In the Mathura Rape case, for example, where 16-year-old Mathura, a tribal girl was raped by two policemen in the police station in Maharashtra. When the case came up for hearing at the sessions court in 1974, the police men were declared not guilty. The judgment stated that “because Mathura was 'habituated to sexual intercourse,' her consent was voluntary; under the circumstances only sexual

The report recommends not just harsher punishment for the rapist but also goes deeper and discusses police reforms, education and even electoral reforms. The report though produced in just 30 days, is not a knee jerk reaction

intercourse could be proved and not rape.”

The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court eventually set aside the Sessions Court verdict saying “passive submission due to fear induced by serious threats could not be construed as consent or willing sexual intercourse.” The Supreme Court however reversed the order saying the alleged intercourse was a ‘peaceful affair’ since there was no external injuries on the girl.

The JVC defines consent as “an unequivocal voluntary agreement when the person by words, gestures or any form of non-verbal communication, communicates willingness to participate in the specific act.” In the absence of such, it would be concluded that there was an act of sexual violence against a woman’s will.

Section 375 says that penetration alone constitutes the sexual intercourse necessary to the call it an offence of rape, but the JVC report broadens the definition to include any part of the man’s body or an object manipulated by the perpetrator.

Further, Section 375 excludes marital rape. Sexual intercourse by a husband with his wife, against her consent, when the wife is above the age of fifteen is not considered rape. Whereas the committee notes that “The exemption for marital rape stems from a long out-dated notion of marriage which regarded wives as no more than the property of their husbands. The committee further observes that this immunity to the husbands has been withdrawn in most countries including United Kingdom whose laws the Indian constitution draws heavily from.

The hurriedly drafted ordinance conveniently leaves marital rape out of its purview.

16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 33

GENDER JUSTICE

The report also recognises sexual assault is not restricted to just women but extends to homosexuals, transsexuals and transgenders as well and points out that the law has to take cognizance of this aspect as well.

The JVC report suggests that Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and AFSPA-like legal protocols need to be reviewed, a call the political class has been unwilling to make, in all the years of protests.

The two-finger test conducted on the victim to ascertain rape has also come under heavy fire by the committee. The report states “The issue of whether sexual assault occurred is a legal issue and not a medical diagnosis. Consequently, doctors should not, on the basis of the medical examination conclude whether rape had occurred or not.” This practically turns the investigation mechanism followed by law officers on its head, since much of the case is based on the medical opinion.

The committee also takes a progressive view on the rape victim itself. It notes that rape is just like any another crime against a human body and that there is a need to “deconstruct the paradigm of shame and honour in connection with a rape victim.”

But even as the JVC report takes a layered view of the huge range of issues related to sexual violence against women, the ordinance comes across as being hasty, ill thought out and with a lack of empathy towards victims of rape. Activists advocating for women’s rights have come down heavily on it saying that it reverses the progressiveness found in the JVC report.

Padmalatha Ravi is an independent journalist based in Bangalore.

GENDER JUSTICE

Appendix: Comparison of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012; the Report of the Committee on Amendment to Criminal Laws; and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 In December 2012, the government had introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2012 in the Lok Sabha. The Bill sought to redefine the offence of rape and amend the penal laws in line with the recommendations of the Law Commission and the National Commission for Women. Following the Delhi gang-rape incident, the government constituted a three member committee headed by former Chief Justice Verma to suggest amendments to the criminal laws to ensure speedier justice and enhanced punishments in cases of extreme sexual assault. Upon the submission of the Verma Committee Report, the government notified the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance, 2013 on February 3, 2013. A comparison of some of the key offences covered under the Bill, the Committee Report and the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance are provided in the following table: Table 1: Comparison between the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012; the Report of the Committee on Amendment to Criminal Laws; and the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013 Issue Disobedience of law by a public servant

Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2012

Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance, 2013

The Committee had recommended that failure of a public servant to record information in relation to sexual offences should be specifically penalised under the Bill.

Specifically penalises failure to record information in relation to sexual offences including the ‘use of criminal force to outrage a woman’s modesty’, and the new offences of: ‘sexual assault’, ‘sexual harassment’, ‘voyeurism’, ‘stalking’, and assault on a woman to disrobe her.

Same as the provisions of the Bill, excluding penetration of the mouth by an object other than the penis.

Also includes un-consented touching of the vagina, penis, anus, or breast of the person.

Not specified.

Absence of physical resistance is not to be treated as consent.

Recommendations accepted.

Age of consent

18 years

16 years

18 years

Marital rape

Is not an offence if the wife is over Should be an offence regardless 16 years of age. of the age of the wife.

Is not an offence if the wife is over 16 years of age.

Punishment for sexual assault or rape

7 years to life imprisonment and fine.

7 years to life imprisonment and compensation to victim to at least meet medical expenses.

7 years to life imprisonment and fine.

Sexual assault/Rape upon judicially separated wife

Punishable with 2 to seven years imprisonment

Punishable with 7 years to life imprisonment and compensation to victim to at least meet medical expenses.

Punishable with 2 to seven years imprisonment

Rape by armed personnel

Penalised as custodial sexual assault by public servant on a person within custody of the public servant. Punishment same as under IPC, imprisonment for 10 years or up to life imprisonment.

Specifically penalises rape by armed personnel within the area they are deployed in. Armed personnel should be penalised with imprisonment for 7 to 10 years if they knew that sexual offences were being committed by their subordinates.

Accepts recommendation to specifically penalise sexual assault by armed personnel within the area they are deployed in.

Meaning of sexual assault (Rape)

Knowingly disobeying laws that prohibit a public servant from investigating a person in a certain manner is punishable with imprisonment for one year and/or fine.

Justice Verma Committee Report

(a) Un-consented penetration of the mouth, anus, urethra or vagina of a person with the penis or any other object; (b) Un-consented cunnilingus and fellatio.

Requirement for proving physical resistance

The requirement for sanction to prosecute armed personnel should be removed in relation to sexual offences.

Sexual assault resulting in death or persistent vegetative state of the victim

This Bill has no specific provision for this offence.

Punishment 20 years up to life imprisonment In case of gang rape resulting in death or persistent vegetative state punishment should extend to life imprisonment.

34 |www.indiatogether.org| 16 March 2013

Punishment 20 years up to life imprisonment or with death.

GENDER JUSTICE

Gang sexual assault

Punishable with imprisonment for 10 years or up to life.

Punishable with: (a) 10 years or up to life; or (b) 20 years or up to life.

Recommendations accepted.

Reasonable compensation will have to be paid to the victim to meet medical expenses and rehabilitation of the victim.

Sexual Harassment

The Bill does not have a specific provision for this offence. Sexual harassment that involves use of criminal force to outrage a woman’s modesty is punishable with a maximum of 2 years imprisonment under the IPC. Use of words or gestures to insult a woman’s modesty is punishable with one year’s imprisonment.

Existing provisions of the IPC should be deleted. Intentional touching of a sexual nature, without the person’s consent should be penalised with 5 years rigorous imprisonment.

The Ordinance increases the punishment for the existing offence to maximum 5 years imprisonment. It also penalises the following acts with imprisonment for up to five years:

Use of words or gestures towards a person, or in his presence, which create an unwelcome threat of a sexual nature should be punishable with imprisonment for one year and/or fine.

(a) physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures; (b) demand or request for sexual favours; (c) making sexually coloured remarks; (d) forcibly showing pornography; (e) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.

Assault with the aim of disrobing a woman

The Bill does not have a specific provision for this offence.

Recommends penalising assault on a woman with the intention to disrobe her in any public place is punishable with imprisonment of 3 to 7 years and fine.

Recommendations accepted.

Voyeurism

The Bill does not have a specific provision for this offence.

Penalise the act of capturing images of, or watching, a woman engaging in sexual acts or when her genitals are exposed with imprisonment for 1 to 3 years and fine.

Recommendations accepted.

Stalking

The Bill does not have a specific provision for this offence.

Penalise persons who follow, contact, monitor emails or spies upon a person to foster personal interaction repeatedly, despite a clear indication of disinterest by the victim. Such acts should results in a fear of violence or serious alarm or distress in the mind of the victim.

Recommendations accepted.

Punishment: 1 to 3 years imprisonment and fine.

Repeat offenders

The Bill does not have a specific provision for this offence.

Person’s previously convicted for Recommendations accepted. sexual assault will be punishable Second offenders may also be with life imprisonment for second liable for death penalty. offences.

Sources: Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, 2012; Report of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Laws, 2013; Criminal Laws Amendment Ordinance, 2013; Indian Penal Code, 1860; PRS.

This comparison was provided by Harsimran Kalra of PRS Legislative Research. India Together regularly republishes reports from PRS Legislative Research on bills pending in Parliament. A full list of such legislation can be found at www.prsindia.org.

16 March 2013 |www.indiatogether.org| 35

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