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| << July17, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net] 17th July posts (1-5) |
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[1] From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com Date: Sun Jul 17, 2005 Subject: Women Stand Up For Your Rights by Shabana Azmi http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1162955.cms Women, Stand Up For Your Rights: The real reason why we need a uniform civil code SHABANA AZMI [ THURSDAY, JULY 07, 2005 12:00:00 AM ] Let's face it. For all the progress that is claimed to have been made in India, the fact remains that ours is a patriarchal society in which the woman counts for very little. It could be Imrana, Indira or Irene, the manifestations could be varied, but the real malaise is that violence against women physical, emotional and verbal has the tacit approval of society. This is a social evil that needs to be eliminated through every channel available through changes in legislation, by public discourse, via civil society participation and of course, political will. For far too long women have been victimised and justice has been denied to them under the pretence of personal law. To make matters worse, caste panchayats churn out verdicts that violate the law of the land, right under our noses, and everyone carries on as if it is business as usual. Are we going to allow an alternative judicial system? Ex-attorney general Soli Sorabjee has said: "Personal laws do not enjoy any immunity from compliance with constitutional obligations guaranteeing fundamental rights. Besides, one of the fundamental duties prescribed by the Constitution is to 'renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women' under Article 51 A (e)". What is being done about this? The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) becomes suspect when it asks for a uniform civil code because it raises this issue only when a Muslim woman's misfortune is highlighted in media. Had the BJP shown the same alacrity in condemning the mass rapes in Gujarat or the various instances of sati, or the sorry plight of Hindu widows in Varanasi and Vrindavan, they would not encounter such cynicism. Let us be reminded that in the 1950s, when the Hindu code Bill was introduced, it was the Jan Sangh that opposed it tooth and nail. With the exception of the Left, the 'secular' political parties are either giving a clean chit to mullahs or being ambiguous, at best making ineffectual noises in the mistaken notion that fundamentalists hold sway on Muslims. Political parties certainly have a right to protect their constituencies; where they err is in believing that their security lies in appeasing the most regressive sections of the vote bank. However, the tide has changed since the infamous Shah Bano case. The obscurantist brigade is coming under question, and women are particularly angry. Political parties need to read the writing on the wall and strengthen the hands of women who are asking for reforms, instead of appeasing retrograde sections of the community. Otherwise they will lose the support base they claim to nurture. In the wake of the Imrana case I have been among Muslim women working at the grass roots. It is heartening to meet burqa -clad women who swear allegiance to Islam and the Qur'an but are unequivocal in their refusal to accept the retrograde decrees of clerics. That the Darululum Deoband backtracked in the Imrana case (they now claim no fatwa was issued) is in no small measure due to the outcry from within the Muslim community. In case after case, the clergy, instead of acting with justice and compassion towards women, seeks only to exercise its writ with coercion. When decrees made in the name of religion violate basic human dignity, they only expose religion to ridicule and make a laughing stock of the community. It is in this context that we need to understand the issue of the uniform civil code. The time has come to place personal laws of all religions under a scanner and reject those laws that violate the Constitution. Personal laws of all religions discriminate against women on matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance and so on. There is an urgent need to cull out the just and equitable laws of all religions and form a blueprint for a uniform civil code based on gender justice. The Hindu code cannot be applied uniformly to all religions. On the other hand, triple talaq would have to go, as would polygamy and all the advantages that accrue to Hindu undivided families in matters of property and inheritance. The framers of our Constitution did not impose the uniform civil code because it was believed that there was insecurity within minorities and that with time they would grow in confidence and articulate the need for reforms within the community. Unfortunately, each time a communal riot takes place and the perpetrators go scot-free, it shatters the confidence of minorities and halts the process of reform. But 58 years is a long time for women to wait for gender justice. We need a debate on a uniform civil code not because it is a magic wand with which all ills that besiege women will disappear, not because it will lead to integration as the sangh parivar claims it will unity need not imply a drab sameness but because it will be an important step in freeing women from the shackles of a patriarchal society. The writer is an actress and activist . -------------------------------------------------------- [2] From: Regi P George <george_regi@yahoo.com Date: Sun Jul 17, 2005 Subject: Kisanon Ne Machaya Shor Coca-Cola Pani Chor Kisanon Ne Machaya Shor Coca-Cola Pani Chor By VK Shashikumar http://www.tehelka.com/ July 16, 2005 ???All of us in the Coca Cola family wake up each morning knowing that every single one of the world??™s 5.6 billion people will get thirsty that day. If we make it impossible for those 5.6 billion people to escape Coca Cola, then we assume our future success for many years to come.??? ---Coca Cola??™s 1993 Annual Report It??™s not surprising why the Indian farmers choose to describe the multi-national water mongers??”Coca Cola and Pepsi Co.??”Pani Chor (water stealers). That??™s what Coca Cola did at Plachimeda village in Palakkad district, Kerala, hoping nobody would find out. It also dumped sludge in cultivable land making fertile land unfit for farming. The company??™s water guzzling plant depleted the village??™s ground water. When villagers blocked a tanker bringing water to the plant the police cracked down arresting 44 villagers including seven children. The farmers in India struggle to water their parched fields. Millions of poor people do not have access to clean drinking water. Yet, the government allows Coca Cola to draw ground water from villages across India for free. In Kudus village (Thane) villagers trek long distances in search of water because Coca Cola??™s bottling operations has greedily sucked dry the last drop of ground water in this village. All for free. Having done that the company built a pipeline to transport water from a river to its plant. This is unimaginable injustice for an entire village, which once had sufficient drinking water and now has to look for it trudging long distances. Men, women, women with new born babies and children have to walk kilometres in search of drinking water. Coca Cola is guilty of a serious corporate crime by endangering the lives of hundreds of people and yet gets away. Ironically, whenever the Kudus villagers protest the police harass them. That the State can collaborate in perpetuating such dastardly corporate crimes is a mere reflection of how these MNCs have muscled their way into the decision making process. The complete absence of corporate ethics and code of conduct in India has unleashed untold suffering and misery for millions of poor people??”an acceptable collateral damage in India??™s rush for free-for-all globalisation. No wonder the government in lieu of Coca Cola??™s Rs 11 billion in India (27 wholly owned bottling plants and 17 franchise operations) has allowed it to freely draw 1.5 million litres of precious ground water every day, bottle it and sell it for Rs 10. Latest research coming out of America suggests that the cost of production of one bottle of water is a staggering one by thousandth of the price at which it is sold. So if you are buying a bottle of water for Rs 10, remember that Coca Cola has spent only 1 paise to produce that bottle of water. The arithmetic is so chillingly simple. Now we know why Coke is constantly looking to expand its presence in a country where it sees a huge market for its products. Let??™s look at culture of bottled water from Coke??™s point of view. It is reaping the rewards of the government??™s disgraceful record of failing to provide safe drinking water. Well, it might be nothing short of a scandal??”downgrade investments in public water utility services and upgrade the entry of private players who will supply the same water that the government could have provided. All corporate water mongers (pani chors to be precise) know that the burgeoning middle class has growing health concerns with regard to access to safe drinking water. They have tapped this concern by launching extravagant advertising campaigns to convince people to pay enormously high prices for water whose purity is questionable at one by thousandth of the price. The highest institutions in this country have questioned the purity of the bottled water dished out by the pani chors. The Parliament of India and the Supreme Court of India have severely criticized these companies. The Parliament banned Coke and Pepsi from its precincts. The people of India banned these products and yet these companies supply pesticide tinged bottled water to all corners of the country, even such corners where villagers haven??™t even seen a water pipeline. All this explains why the corporate water mongers have registered explosive growth of bottled water sales over the last few years. While the cash registers of these MNCs have been ringing with exponential profit, the government??™s expenditure on improving the water supply infrastructure has remained unremarkably low. Conspiracy theorists would argue that this is a market ploy to condition the Indian consumers to pay unnecessarily and get unreasonably dependent on bottled water. Whatever be the case the fact is that the Indian consumers are paying a product that they don??™t need. Privatization of water in India is just a fa?§ade for a continuing heist of a community resource. It is the biggest corporate rip off this country has seen. Coca Cola and Pepsi Co. and other such major and minor players stretch the country??™s fresh water resources; draws and dries up ground water through break neck aquifer mining. The plain talk, therefore, is that the more we depend on bottled water, the harder it will be to muster political and financial support for emergency upkeep and upgrade and development of public water system that most people depend on to provide safe, affordable water. Coca Cola got away with murder when its products in India were found to contain pesticides. The country??™s highest institutions??”the Parliament and Supreme Court??”were severely critical and Coke had to hire a public relations firm to rebuild the corporation??™s tarnished image. Every time you drink a bottle of Coke remember that it was made through a process where it??™s bottling plants deplete the ground water without paying for it. Beware that neither its range of soft drinks or bottled water is safe. It has impurities and pesticides. Also remember that out of the ten rupees that you pay to buy Coke, eight rupees goes into advertising campaigns that compel you to buy its products. The company hired a public relations firm to refurbish its image. And of late it plans to invest a lot in attracting school students to it??™s products because the idea is to gain a captive group of consumers who will stay with it??™s products as they grow. This marketing strategy was promoted in America with phenomenal success, which had disastrous health consequences. Obesity in children has taken epidemic proportions in America. Coke is implementing the same strategy in rest of the world, including India. This article is published under the fellowship programme of the National Foundation for India |
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