Bride-buying an old practice in north India

Bride-buying is an old practice in this region. It declined after the Green Revolution owing to the spread of literacy in this part of the country. Moreover, the male-female ratio has improved in the past 80 years. The ratio was highly skewed in 1911.

Before Partition there used to be Jind House at some distance from the railway station at Ambala. Adjacent to it was an “adda” where women were offered for sale after sunset. People from various parts of this region, especially the Malwa belt, used to flock to the “adda” to buy women or say “brides”.

Dehra Dun was another centre where poor women were offered for sale. Besides, there was sale of women in certain parts of Orissa from where people of this region used to buy brides.

Contrary to general impression and reports of female foeticide etc, the male-female ratio has been constantly improving in Punjab since 1911 when there were only 780 women against 1,000 men. From 799 in 1921, the number of women against 1,000 men jumped to 882 in 1991. However, it declined to 874 in 2001.

Bride-buying has been confined to either poor farmers or the Scheduled Castes and tribes.

Mr Sarwan Singh Bir, a historian from the Malwa region, says he visited the Ambala “adda” a few months before Partition along with a friend, Mr Kunda Singh from Katarsingh Wala village, to have first-hand information. A woman then was available for Rs 600 to Rs 1200 at the Ambala “adda”. Some agents, in fact, used to cheat poor farmers as they would replace younger girls with older women after striking deals.

However, Mr Kirpal Kazak, a Punjabi writer, says the practice of sale of women started in this region after the arrival of Mughals. Mr Mir Dad, an Arab writer, has stated about the sale of women in his book “Niami”.

Mr Kazak says during the Mughal period only women offered for sale, used to don ornaments. Ornaments were used to decorate women before sale. The wearing of ornaments became a fashion in due course of time.

Punjabi literature is replete with references of sale of women. There is a full-fledged Punjabi book “Mul di Tiveen” (A purchased woman). Then, there is Punjabi mini novel “Kudesan” (a woman from other land) dealing with this subject. Dalip Kaur Tiwana, a celebrated Punjabi Writer, devotes a chapter to the sale of “Bhano” to Sarwan in her Sahit Akademi award-winning Punjabi novel “Eh Hamara Jeewna”. Bhano revolts against polygamy, which was prevalent at that time in certain parts of the Malwa region. Money was contributed by Sarwan and his brothers to buy Bhano. However, Bhano refused to be the wife to all brothers, saying that she had been married to Sarwan and would stay only with him. Ultimately, Sarwan was killed by his brothers.

Dalip Kaur Tiwana says the ritual of bride-buying was limited to the poor sections of society.

Mr Bhupinder Singh, Head of the Sociology Department at Punjabi University, says that in poor families, only one son used to be married. Besides poverty, the other reason to get only one son married was to avoid the division of landed property. Mr Ajmer Aulakh, a playwright, has extensively dealt with this issue in his play — “Ik Hor Ramayan.”

One can find even now in almost every Punjab village women from Burma or China. Certain Punjabi soldiers, who fought World War I and World War II in Burma brought women of Burmese or Chinese origin when they came back to their villages. As they had to stay for long in Burma, Singapore and Malaya etc, they married these women. Punjabis marry off their daughters to boys, who either have landed property or other sources of income. They rarely give their daughters to “loafers” who, as a result, resort to bride-buying.

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Jaipur: Jaipur woke up to a high-voltage kidnapping on Tuesday morning when miscreants riding an SUV intercepted a group of college girls travelling in another car near Banskho crossing in Bassi town.

They allegedly abducted one of the girls, who was physically challenged, and the driver of their cab. The police managed to rescue the girl, but the driver could not be traced till reports last came in. Police, however, denied that the accused had kidnapped the girl or the driver. According to police, the girl was physically challenged and was sleeping in the backseat when miscreants looted the Tavera.

Additional commissioner of police of Jaipur Anil Paliwal said, "Sunita has been rescued and Tavera was recovered from the spot. We have dispatched police teams to nab other miscreants and locate the driver of the Tavera."
Locals and the college girls had a different tale to narrate. According to the eyewitnesses, the accused, who were travelling in a Bolero, dragged the college students, including two girls, out of their Tavera on gun-point.

One of the girls, Sunita was allegedly threatened and forced to step inside the car before the accused sped away with the girl towards Tunga hills. Two of their accomplices abducted the car driver Udai Ram in their Bolero and took the Dausa highway.

But, the accused travelling in Tavera ran out of luck when the car got stuck in mud after a short distance. 

Source 

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MCOCA may be invoked in sex racket

MUMBAI: The V P Road police are likely to invoke the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against a woman who allegedly forced 18 girls into prostitution. If MCOCA is applied, it would become the first such case under the stringent law. MCOCA is commonly used against gangsters and terrorists by the Maharashtra police.

Anil Kumbhare, deputy commissioner of police, confirmed the report saying, "The suspect, Lakshmi Amma, had forced more than a dozen girls into flesh trade. She has been wanted in seven cases and works with various people. We are going to use MCOCA against her."

Amma, now 55, was arrested by the Nagpada police and handed over to the V P Road police. "In the month of June, we rescued four girls, all from Bangalore and the neighboring villages. The information procured from these girls led us to a bigger racket," said Rajendra Chavan, senior-inspector of the V P Road police station. According to Chavan, when they got information about the hideouts of the suspect, a team comprising inspectors Gulabrao Gore, Shrikant Desai, Wishvas Kahayap and staff raided a building in the V P Road area and rescued 14 girls who were forced into prostitution. The suspect is currently facing charges under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA). 

Amma, said the police, had been a commercial sex worker for more than 20 years. She came to Mumbai from Karnataka along with her mentor and got involved in the flesh trade. "Now, she provides girls to brothel owners in the city on a hefty commission," said a police officer. All the rescued girls are around 20 years old. "Amma's agents work in Andhra Pradesh and lure the girls with the bait of good jobs such as beautician, sales girls in shopping malls, house maids in rich people's flats and so on and bring them to Mumbai. Later, these girls are handed over to brothel owners," said another officer.

The raid was conducted jointly by activists of International Justice Mission (IJM) and the police.

If MCOCA is applied, this would become the first such case under the stringent law. MCOCA is usually used against gangsters & terrorists.  Source

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Girl sold for Rs 20,000 rescued

Berhampur: A minor girl of Adaba in Gajapati district, who was sold by her uncle at Mumbai for Rs 20,000, was rescued and brought back here on Wednesday.
The accused identified as Mutikka Bero, was working in Mumbai. Last year, he visited Adaba and approached parents of the girl to take the latter to Mumbai promising them to provide her good education. As the girl was studying well, her parents agreed to Mutikka’s proposal.
 
However, after they left for Mumbai, Mutikka’s did not contact the girl’s family for several months. When efforts to contact him proved futile, the girl’s parents lodged a complaint with Adaba police.
The police allegedly just registered a diary. The parents later came to know that their daughter had been sold off by Mutikka for Rs 20,000 in Mumbai. The harassed parents then approached the Pramila Devi Mahila Kalyan Sangha, a voluntary organisation working in Berhampur. Workers of the Sangha then approached the Gajapati SP who directed a senior police official to accompany Sangha workers and the girl’s parents to Mumbai to rescue the girl.
At Mumbai, they found the girl working as a domestic help in the house of one Nikhil Seth in Sai Baba Nagar under Bareli police limits. The Bareli police was informed and the girl was rescued. Bareli police also arrested Seth for employing a minor. The investigators also collected Rs 11,000 towards compensation for engaging the girl from Seth.
After completion of the investigation, the girl was brought here on Wednesday morning.  Source

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Trafficking rackets push up school dropout rates

Rehana Khatun (name changed), a student of Class X, was sold off to a brothel a few months ago. Rescued by police, the girl recalled to Metro at a village community centre in East Midnapore how she had been duped. “My father was sick for quite sometime and we had no money. A woman called Lakshmi Haldar who lived near our house promised me a zari worker’s job in Diamond Harbour. My mother did not want me to go but I couldn’t bear to stay here anymore. I went with Lakshmi. We stayed in Diamond Harbour for a day after which they put me and 13 other girls on a train. “In case anyone questioned us on the train, we were asked to say that our parents were in the next compartment. At one station, police started questioning us. We said as we were told but the cops found none. So they took us to the police station. “I learnt the place was Pune. An officer told us we had not been brought for jobs, we had been sold off. The police sent us to an ashram. I was so scared. It was eight months before I finally returned home.” This is just one of the many horror stories from young boys and girls who routinely fall victim to trafficking in cities like Calcutta and its surrounding areas. In June, a doctor couple in Baranagar were sentenced to 10 years for beating their 11-year-old domestic help to death in 2006. But most cases go unreported, and the culprits unpunished. It’s little wonder that 11-year-old Parbati Doloi of Dhandhalibarh village at Contai in East Midnapore, four hours from Calcutta by road, never got justice. Swapan Panda, the general secretary of NGO Kajla Janakalyan Samity in Contai, said a local agent had taken Parbati to Panipat to work in 2005. After two years, he told her parents that Parbati had died in hospital after suffering an electric shock “while operating a washing machine”. The Calcutta arm of child rights organisation Save The Children and the Kajla Samity contacted police and demanded her body back. Parbati’s father and two NGO workers went to Panipat, too, but were heckled by goons and forced to cremate the body there. The 11-year-old — 18-year-old, according to the death certificate issued by a Panipat hospital — is believed to have been raped. “Even a few years back, dalals and recruitment agencies worked openly in these villages. One was called BMC. They gave the youngsters application forms and ID cards and took them to Calcutta. During Durga Puja, the teens would come home wearing good clothes. One even had sunglasses!” said Panda. The villagers thought their children were doing good jobs. “It was only when social workers dug a little deeper that they realised that BMC stood for Bashon Maja Corporation (Utensil Washing Corporation). The children were all working at roadside stalls and in homes,” he said. According to Panda, agencies like BMC work clandestinely now because of greater awareness about trafficking. “The agencies usually place ads to scout for householders. Once the deal is struck, the agency demands one year’s wages in advance. So, if the monthly wage is Rs 2,000, the agency gets a lumpsum of Rs 24,000 per worker even before he or she starts work. Of that, the worker’s family receives hardly Rs 500 a month, that too after gaps of six to eight months.” But the youngsters are not only placed in households. Arpita Panda, a project co-ordinator with Kajla Samity, explained. First, girls and boys are separated. The boys are sent to hotels, roadside stalls, construction sites and quarries. The smaller boys, who have little, nimble fingers, are sent to work in imitation jewellery workshops — many of them in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. The girls are segregated into three categories: a) bad looking — permanent domestic workers; b) average looking — temporary domestic workers; c) good looking — very temporary domestic workers. Once the second and third category girls are fed and clothed better and get accustomed to city life, they are sold to brothels or put up in rooms to work as hotel call girls. Some are supplied to highway dens for truck drivers. Another common way of trafficking is through fake marriages. Members of the Daryapur gram panchayat in East Midnapore said local dalals keep an eye on the most vulnerable families in the villages and lure their young with job promises. Panchayat member Supriti Misra said some are lucky and end up with decent employers. Others come back with horror stories. Some don’t come back at all. But what happens when a child labourer returns home? Social worker Arpita Panda speaks of child labour schools under the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) that run bridge courses to help these kids catch up. But since awareness is low, many rehabilitated children don’t end up attending these schools. Also, NCLP teachers lack the training required to deal with kids who have been through trauma. Every school dropout is a childhood lost. So, the next time you see a neighbour employing a kid below 14 at home, or you spot a tot washing utensils at a roadside teastall or come to know of a worker being ill-treated or confined by the employer, never mind if he or she is above the legal working age, speak up. It’s the least you can do.

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"A woman costs Rs 30,000, a buffalo Rs 70,000"

At 774 girls per 1,000 boys, Jhajjar district in Haryana has the country's worst sex ratio in the 0-6 age group. Two of its villages-Behrana and Dhimana-have incredibly low sex ratios of 378 and 444 respectively. In the same age group, Haryana has over four lakh fewer girls than boys-4,07,370 to be precise. The gap was 3.31 lakh in the last census. Over all, the state has 1.35 crore men, compared to 1.18 crore women. A difference of 17.57 lakh. In 2001, the figure was 15.83 lakh.
The reasons are obvious. The assumption is that girls are a burden and it's coupled with burgeoning ultrasound centres-1,174 now-mostly functioning clandestinely. "You can get a woman for Rs 30,000 any day while a well-bred buffalo costs Rs 70,000," says Ajit Singh, 45, a bank employee. He gets approval from four other friends taking turns at smoking the hookah at a chaupal. "In fact, getting a girl could cost you less but you have to spend a lot on fares travelling to far off places such as Assam," adds Ranbir Yadav, 42, a local landlord.
Medically terminating an unwanted pregnancy costs between Rs 1,000 and Rs 20,000 and the mushrooming of non-registered centres has only fuelled the menace of female foeticide. Not surprising in a land where the saying goes: "Chora mare nirbhag ka, chori mare bhagwaan ki (son of a doomed dies, daughter of a blessed dies)."

What's shocking is that women are often responsible for continuing this ghastly practice. "Believe me, women are mostly responsible for it," says Jaipal Singh, 42, a former soldier and now a farmer in Behrana, one of the 6,759 villages in Haryana. "Nurses or auxiliary nurses and midwives (ANM) get in touch with pregnant women and take them for detection and then termination of pregnancy. We men are generally kept in the loop but don't care to know where it happens and how. Of course, they have our consent." Behrana has a population of nearly 8,000 and is dominated by Jats. In every neighbourhood here, one will find a serving or a retired soldier. The contempt for daughters is universal. "Don't blame us," says Chand Ram, a Behrana octogenarian and an ex-soldier. "Blame the system. Even parents of MBAs or post-graduate girls with jobs have to give away a luxury car as dowry. What's the point in having girls? We don't need girls." Argues Umed Singh, 73, a farmer, "If we hate daughters, it's not without reason. What do you do with them? You send them out for education and they only bring a bad name to the family."
Strange in a state where several women have brought national glory. Haryana produced astronaut Kalpana Chawla. Miss India World Kanishtha Dhankar, 22, comes from Jhajjar. Though Mumbai is her birthplace, she has her roots in Kasni village and her father Raj Singh Dhankar, a commodore in the Indian Navy, often visits the village with his family. "It's an extremely sad state of affairs in Haryana that never gave women the status they deserved. Women can actually do much better than men. It's a cause of concern for all but people like you and me do nothing about it. We need to educate them," says Kanishtha Dhankar. Only last year, Haryana's girls had done the state proud by winning laurels at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and then the Asian Games in Guangzhou.
Absurd logic abounds in the region to justify the decreasing female population. In Dhimana, which has nearly 190 households, residents refuse to believe that foeticide is behind the skewed sex ratio. "It's God's gift that most of the children born in this village are boys," claims Dhimana village sarpanch Om Parkash, 70, a bachelor. Varinder Kumar Narula, 67, headmaster of Sunrise High School, offers another reason: "It has to do with diet. People eat well here and so give birth to boys."

Kanishtha Dhankar Miss India World 2011

The state officials though make a valid point. "The ultrasound centres are the single largest factor behind the skewed sex ratio," says Director General (Health Services) Narbir Singh. "We do our best but the problem is that most of these illegal activities take place in unregistered ultrasound centres that operate with small devices, making it difficult for us to catch them. But unless people have the will, the problem cannot be rooted out." The will to tackle the problem doesn't seem to be there. "In 90 per cent of the cases where a couple is going for a second child, they opt for a sex-detection test," says Narinder Popli, 43, a Jhajjar businessman.
It was long believed that things would change with literacy. The latest census has deflated that theory as well. Jhajjar has a literacy rate of over 80 per cent. Mewat, with the lowest literacy rate of 56.1 per cent and considered the most backward district in the state, has Haryana's highest sex ratio at 906 females to 1,000 males.
"Literacy and modernisation have worsened matters. People are aware of abortion as well as sex determination options now and it has become much more acceptable now in society," says Ranbir Singh, consultant with Nilokheri-based Haryana Institute of Rural Development. "In places such as Jhajjar, land prices are very high and people don't want their daughters to get a share of property that they are legally entitled to."
The skewed sex ratio has had a social impact. It's causing a huge bride shortage. Theoretically, it should have checked dowry but a large number of those who get married demand hefty dowry. At many places, barter marriages are taking place; people marry their daughters and in return get a bride for their sons. Those who cannot get brides locally are buying them from Assam, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and other poor states. "I know we won't get married and it's very depressing," says Manoj Kumar, 21. "We keep talking about it. But you need a job to get a wife. We don't see either of the two happening," adds Mandeep Ahlawat, 19.
The bias against girls, rooted in short-term economic considerations, is slowly but surely leaving behind long-term scars that Haryana will find difficult to heal. A lot of its men may just be forced to stay single with brides hard to come by.
INDIATODAY
 

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HIV positive sex worker granted bail by apex court

New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) An HIV positive sex worker, sentenced to seven years imprisonment for running a brothel in Pune and procuring girls for prostitution, has been granted bail by the Supreme Court on humanitarian ground.

A bench of Justices H S Bedi and C K Prasad released the HIV positive sex worker on bail for six months on a plea made by her counsel Gurdeep Singh, who had come to the apex court after dismissal of her bail plea earlier by the Bombay High Court.

Lodged in Pune''s Yerwada jail since May 13, last year, the sex worker had been convicted on various offences under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act for procuring minor girls and forcing them into prostitution.

As per the bail plea filed by Singh, the woman had been first arrested on November 17, 2006, following a raid conducted by Pune Police at her brothel in the city.

The raid was conducted at the instance of some civil society workers, who had tipped-off the police about minor girls, procured from far-flung areas in Nepal and elsewhere, and having been forced into prostitution.

Police had rescued four to five women and nine minor girls from a hidden cell in the building. The girls had told the police that they were brought to Pune with assurance of employment, but were sold at the brothel.

The trial court convicted the sex worker in May last year, ordering the woman to be taken into custody. Earlier, she had been released on bail during her trial.

In the bail plea, Singh pleaded that irreparable damage would be done to her client''s health if she is not released on bail at the earliest and provided access to proper medicare.

Contending that the high court "has pathetically erred in rejecting the bail application," the counsel pleaded that the judicial order on his client''s bail plea needed to take into account the fact that she needs utmost care, love and affection and the best possible medical treatment.

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How human trafficking can be a middle-class crime

Think of human trafficking and what does the phrase evoke?

Vanloads of illegal immigrants arriving by night at a disused warehouse? Drug addiction? Prostitution? Illegal organ transplanting? Child war conscripts? In many cases this is what human trafficking is. But the middle and upper classes in society can be culprits too, sometimes without even knowing it.

CLICK HERE FOR SOME FACTS AND FIGURES ONHUMAN TRAFFICKING WORLDWIDE

Domestic servitude is a form of exploitation that is more widespread than most people might think and one that needs to be recognised as a crime. A well-to-do family employing a maid, cash-in-hand with lodgings provided, may not seem like criminal activity. But it can be.

Unprotected Work, Invisible Exploitation: Trafficking for the Purpose of Domestic Servitude, a report by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which was launched today in London, highlights that this hidden form of trafficking can be as damaging as trafficking for sexual exploitation.

“Domestic servitude is one of the worst forms of trafficking in human beings,” says Maria Grazia Giammarinaro,OSCE special representative for combating trafficking in human beings. “It can take place because of the context of an ‘under-regulated sector’. The domestic work sector needs better regulation.”

“The victims may not be paid at all or may be paid infrequently. Working hours can be as long as 19 hours a day. They are always at the disposal of the needs of the family; they can be called during the night to perform a duty, resulting in a lack of enjoying the natural biorhythm. They are very often subject to starvation, and may not be allowed to have any social contact outside the family.” adds Giammarinaro.

The first challenge is to recognise domestic servitude as a serious crime, different from minor violations of labour law.

“When the personality of the person is devastated, when the dignity of the person is violated on a daily basis, we cannot talk about the violation of the labour law.”

Bridget Anderson, a researcher at the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society , said the many middle class people who do not consider themselves racist speak of domestic workers in a different light. She read an example, the words of a piano teacher from London, speaking of domestic workers:

“They’re foreign and they’re illegal and they’re scared and timid and so they’re not going to take up space. They’re going to be very, very small and that is generally easier to live with than someone who feels that this is their home. They’re in really bad situations… They’re terrified.”

Human trafficking has a global market value of $32 billion, according to United Nations estimates. It takes place across the globe, and in many cases goes unnoticed.

Sexual exploitation is the most-known form of trafficking people.

“Domestic work doesn’t need to be exploitative,” said Jenny Moss of Kalayaan, a London-based charity working with migrant domestic workers. “Domestic servitude on the other hand, is humiliating, is a violation of people’s dignity and is deeply traumatising.” There is demand for such services in the UK and domestic workers contribute to the country’s economy, Moss said.

Ali Sheikholeslami

London Correspondent, euronews

ali.sheikholeslami@euronews.net

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Child Trafficking in India

Child Trafficking in India

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A gender deficit that could haunt us for decades

By Kate Darnto


I would like to know the sex of my unborn child. In America, that’s a straightforward procedure: When you’re around 20 weeks pregnant, you go to your obstetrician’s office, where an ultrasound technician squirts a puddle of cold jelly on your belly, skates a transducer probe over the top, and tells you if she can spot a willy or not.
In India, it’s more complicated. For starters, it’s illegal.
According to a 1994 law meant to discourage parents from aborting baby girls, any doctor who identifies the sex of a fetus will be struck off the medical register and face a hefty fine and up to three years in
prison. A pregnant woman who undergoes tests to detect the sex of a fetus risks imprisonment and fines, too.
On my first visit with my new OB, a stern lady clad in a dark blue sari, I offered a big smile and asked whether I — you know, openminded American that I am — might be able to find out the sex of my child. “Sure,” she smirked. “If you fly to Singapore.” There are ultrasound shops all over Delhi, where I live. Many would be indistinguishable from the other bodegas in the local markets except for the legally mandated
signs that declare, “Here prenatal sex determination (boy or girl before birth) is not done. It is a punishable act.” Long lines of pregnant ladies wait outside.When you go in, you don’t have to fill out
an insurance form, but you do have to sign a form that states, “I do not want to know the sex of my fetus.” You must also write down the number of children you already have and the sex of each child.
Well, there go my chances, I thought. I already have two daughters. What ultrasound technician would tell me that I’m facing what in Delhi is a maternity nightmare: a third girl child?
Turns out, a lot of them. Activists estimate that sex selection is a Rs 500 million business in India. If you’re willing to pay, you can find out the sex of your baby. You just go to the right clinic. The ultrasound
technician will respond in code. “Celebrate with sweets,”he might say, meaning that a son is on the way.
The market for ultrasound equipment in
India is vast and growing, and manufacturers have moved aggressively to satisfy it.
The latest models are so cheap and portable, a sonographer can throw one in his trunk and drive out to rural areas to scan the villagers at about Rs 500 a pop. Cheap ultrasounds help explain the persistent
gender imbalance plaguing India.
The British medical journal ‘The Lancet’ reported in 2006 that over the last 20 years there have been 10 million missing female births in India. That’s half a million girls per year. In some parts of India, fewer than
800 girls are born for every 1,000 boys.
Some of India’s wealthiest areas, such as Punjab, suffer the worst sex ratios.
Smaller families According to activist Sabu George, the most educated families tend to have the least number of children. And “smaller families come at the expense of girls.”If parents are going to max out at one or two kids, they’ll make sure they get a son. But why the desperation for baby boys? First of all, men earn more. Also, India has no universal pension system; sons are expected to provide for their aging parents. Under
India’s inheritance practices, sons inherit the family business and the family wealth. By contrast, daughters are money pits. Girl children require extra protection, cost extra money, and eat the family food, only
to be given away to another family when they marry. The cost of that wedding is traditionally borne by the bride’s family. And then there’s the dowry — the money that a bride’s parents must pay the new in-laws.
Among the wealthy and educated, this might be enough cash to start a business or buy a car or an apartment. Among the less educated, it might be cattle, jewellery, household appliances.
I heard about a popular old advertisement: “Spend Rs 500 now and save Rs 50,000 later.” Translation: The typical ultrasound costs around Rs 500, but a dowry will run you Rs 50,000. Illegal though gender-selective abortions may be, there is a network of OBs willing to perform them. Or you perform the abortion at home.
All this cheap new technology (high-tech ultrasounds, chemical abortions) mixed with old customs means a gender deficit that could haunt India for decades. Certain areas of
northern India such as Punjab and Haryana have seen a growth in bride trafficking. Farmers from Punjab may travel as far as Kerala in southern India to find their brides.
In the United States, we may be seeing the opposite trend. Writer Hanna Rosin has pointed out that Americans who use hightech biology to try to pick a baby’s sex ask more often for girls than for boys. Rosin ties this to the rise of a modern, postindustrial economy that is “simply more congenial”to women than to men.
So maybe there’s hope for girls in India?
As the Indian economy hurtles forward, isn’t it inevitable that more women will enter the workforce in higher-paying jobs, proving that they, too, should be valued?
http://www.selco-india.com

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Break the silence

Break away: Fly free from violence against women

Violence against women is more rampant than you think. Hence it is important that we help the victims step up and fight it.

We consider ourselves members of a civilised society, yet have not learnt to recognise and respect a section that constitutes half the population. Leave alone matters of equality, a huge section of women still live in fear and agony of discrimination and violence in this largely male-dominated society.

Tackling the types

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) lists various forms of violence against women: rape and sexual harassment, child marriage, wife beating, prostitution, female genital cutting/mutilation, dowry-related violence, trafficking, sexual violence during wars, femicide, ‘honour' killings, forced sterilisation, pornography and bride kidnapping. Violence against women also takes many forms of psychological abuse, intimidation and harassment.

The lack of space or reluctance to voice discontentment and grievances have added to the silence that veils these issues even though we see, hear and experience it in our daily lives. A 16-day annual international campaign is conducted to expand public spaces to discuss the issue of violence based on gender, suggest solutions, create awareness and urge administrators to take action. This campaign was started by the Centre for Women's Global Leadership at Rutgers University in the U.S. and is currently conducted in around 156 countries. Beginning on November 25 (International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women, it ends on December 10 (International Human Rights Day) to emphasise that gender violence is a serious violation of human rights.

The central theme of CWGL's activities this year, “Structures of Violence: Defining the Intersections of Militarism and Violence against Women”, looks beyond specific forms of violence to underlying social structures that allow gender-based violence to exist. But based on cultural context and region, the focus of the local campaigns may differ. In India, Prajnjya, Bell Bajao and Jagori are some of the organisations associated with the campaign. Jagori has been successful in getting Delhi government's help in conducting a safety audit in the city. The state government listened to their suggestions in improving public transport and street lighting, and took their help in training bus conductors, drivers and even police to bring in change in attitude towards women's problems.

Prajnya

Prajnya has been conducting this campaign for two years now. Anupama Srinivasan, Programme Director, Prajnya, says “It is not that easy to get this message across. We experiment with forms and formats. We try as many different ways as possible to talk about this issue like poetry, theatrics, academics to reach out to maximum number of people.”

Prajnya is a non-profit centre for research, public education and networking. In 2007, the trust launched Prajnya Initiatives for Peace, Justice and Security, a public policy research centre. Its work centres on sustained research and outreach activities. Through their various initiatives, Prajnya documents the contributions of women to public affairs and public sphere, undertakes educational programmes to deal with conflict resolution and spreads the message of peace, and builds networking and initiates dialogues.

“There is a lot of anecdotal evidence on gender violence and discrimination that we share with our friends or family members, but it doesn't reach the public domain. Through documentation we attempt to take these to public forums to further the discussions,” Nirupama said.

This year's campaign started with a workshop on concepts of gender violence for social work students. The second day was Aikya, an attempt to bring together people through music.

Poetic expressions

The courage in their expression and the energy in their verse surely have the power to break the silence and overcome barriers that hold back women.

“Women's eyes are compelled to close and are not open to things happening around. I observe whatever is happening around me and write about that,” said Kutti Revathi, who presented the first poem at the poetry reading ‘Not silence, but verse'. Poet Kutti Revathi, whose works like like Mulaigal (Breasts) evoked a storm of protests earlier, feels, “Only a small section of people who value serious literature is ready to accept poets like me and many women writers are forced to compromise in their writing.”

According to Sharanya Manivannan, who presented her poems including How to eat a wolf? and Parampara, with the transition from oral tradition to writing comes individual authorship, which many women grapple with because it entails opening their private selves to the scrutiny of society and family. “Personally, what moved me most about the poetry reading was how honest we, the poets, were about our own circumstances, about social restriction, censorship and hierarchical problems within the field. That we could speak openly about this, without having to disguise it, in a poem for example, was a testament to the safe space the evening created. I'm convinced that this campaign can and will create safe spaces for many more women; spaces in which discussions can take place, problems can be named and solutions can be created,” she added.

“Criticism from one's own community poses one of the major challenges for women in expressing themselves,” said poet Salma, who has defied social taboos with an outspokenness that shocked conservative society.

Poet, author and translator K. Srilata, who moderated the event and also presented her poems, agreed. “Change doesn't happen in one day. It is a slow process. Poetry and literature are gentler ways of reaching out to people. I think, nowadays, everything is so loud that we need something like this to listen and take in.”

Asked about the obstructions women face in the literary field, she said, “We thought the situation was improving. But the experiences of many women writers today show that it is going backwards and showing up in new ways and forms.”

Sunday's programme “What's in a Game” gave mothers an opportunity to play video games that their sons and daughters play and assess the levels of violence, particularly against women characters. On November 29, Prajnya organised a safety audit walk in Besant Nagar to assess how safe women the area is for women and to evaluate parameters like lighting, number of shops, presence of liquor stores and isolated spots.

Safety survey

“One basic idea behind this is not to assume whether an area is safe or not, but to find out what the real situation is. After analysing the collected data we will share our findings, suggest solutions and bring it to the administrators' notice. There are a lot of factors like urban planning, governance, administration, architecture, public transport, public toilets that have to be taken into consideration when we look into safety issues in public spaces.”

The other activities in the first week included an introduction to Gender Violence Resource Guide For Television Creative Teams (GRIT), and a Laddies' Night at Zara Tapas Bar that gave men an opportunity to join the cause. On December 5, a public forum on the topic ‘Is Chennai safe for women?' will be conducted at 4:30 p.m. at: Spaces, 1, Elliotts Beach Road, Besant Nagar. For more details on the events, check out the event calendar at http://www.prajnya.in/16d10calen dar.htm#16d1008

“We can't categorically say that Chennai is safe or not. Only reported cases make it to the statistics, many cases go unreported,” said Nirupama.

Strengthening the efforts to empower women and to curb gender-based violence, a free legal aid clinic for victims of domestic violence, the first of its kind in the country established under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, was inaugurated in Chennai last week.

Let more women have the courage to stop being silent victims and react and speak out when they are abused or subjected to violence, and claim their deserving position in society.

For incidence of crime against women cases from 2007 to 2009 in Tamil Nadu look up Tamil Nadu Police's link: http://www. tnpolice.gov.in/CAWChart.html

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Speak up

I think that Chennai city is one of the safest. Two things to be considered when you look at the safety issue in a region are: general structure of the society and the functioning of the police. The public here is very vigilant. A number of measures like introducing more buses in crowded areas, police patrolling vehicles and helplines for women are there to deal with safety problems that women face. Many come forward to complain; then we are able to help. But it is still considered taboo to go to the police station for help. This attitude should change.

SHAKEEL AKTHER, Additional Commisioner, Law and Order

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A big part of our reaction towards such issues lies in conditioning. So, despite sustained campaigns educating people, it will only go so far. An important step is to help women voice their discomfort; to give them an opportunity or platform to get together and to make them believe that their voices will make a difference. But, more importantly, the process of awareness has to start from families. It has to start at the level where conditioning starts. Look at the privilege that a man has in our country by virtue of his gender and/or the beliefs held by society that enables him to be much more vocal about his suffering and seek corrective action. When people misguidedly cry hoarse about women being privileged because of unwarranted reservation/positive legislation, they forget that they speak from the top of a soapbox of centuries of privilege.

MAHITHI PILLAY, Journalist, Mumbai

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Gender-based violence is the most pervasive yet least recognised human rights abuse. But I will say that the most ignored area is domestic violence inflicted by a partner or close relatives and suffered in silence. The sad part is that in many such cases, children are severely effected. We must create awareness among women so that they will speak out and get help when in need of it.

PRIYA A., IT professional, Banglore

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I don't feel unsafe being alone when there are people on the streets. I know that I can shout or scream and mobilise the crowd when I am attacked. I feel more safe when I am in a group; then I don't mind being out even late in the night. There are certain places that make you feel uncomfortable when you are alone. I wouldn't feel confident even with a pepper spray or something like that. But, sometimes you have no option but to stay away from those places. Calling a cab alone late in the night is also scary. Again sometimes that too is not a matter of choice.

HRITHIKA B., student, Chennai

Helplines

Women Emergency Helpline, Tamil Nadu Police: 1091

Aashraya (Andhra Mahila Sabha): 044-24642566

PCVC (International Foundation for crime Prevention and Victim Care): 044-43111143.

Sneha: 044-24640050

Aruve: 044-246454615

Laws to protect women

Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961)

The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987(3 of 1988)

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

Indian Penal Code, 1860

The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (28 of 1989)

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Test, 1971 (34 of 1971)

The Indian Succession Act, 1925 (39 of 1925)

The Minimum Wages Act

The Guardians and Wards Act, 1860 (8 of 1890)

The Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956

The Pre-Natal Diagnostic Technique(Regulation and prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994

The Hindu Succession Act, 1956

The Christian Marriage Act, 1872 (15 of 1872)

National Commission for Women Act, 1990 (20 of 1990)

The Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976

The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

The Family Courts Act, 1984

The Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 (33 of 1969)

The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1979

The Indian Divorce Act, 1969 (4 of 1969)

For the complete list, look up: http://ncw.nic.in/frmReportLegal01.aspx

NILEENA M. S. 

The Hindu 

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'Rescue' mission ends in error of judgment

Police and child services rush to the spot after information of child trafficking; find out they were only being taken to a Madarsa

Confusion prevailed in the Gorakhpur Express at 8 am yesterday, when a concerned traveller mistook guardians of 23 children for child traffickers. It was later found out that they were being taken to a Madarsa.

"We initially suspected child trafficking. A woman passenger who was traveling in the same train, informed us that around 20 children were being brought to Bangalore by four persons, and it looked like child trafficking. We immediately informed the police and the child helpline, and reached the railway station to help these children," said Vasudeva Sharma of State Commission for Protection for Child Rights.

It turned out that Haroon Rasheed, custodian of these 23 children had the legal documents from the village Sarpanch. "When questioned, the custodian of these children said that the children are being taken to KR Pet in Mandya district and KR Puram to put them in a Madarsa," said Sharma.

Mistaken identity: The Yeshvanthpur railway police took the children
and their men who accompanied them for questioning. Pic/Satish Badiger 

The railway police took in the children and their guardians for questioning, and later decided to hand them to the Child Welfare Committee for further investigations.

Yeshwantpur Police Inspector Ganapathi said, "Once I got the information, I reached there and even people from Child Rights had come. Later the children were taken over by the Railway Police for further investigation."

"We have come across many such cases even earlier -- people bring children aged between 4-16 years. The children are mostly from North India and then are used for various illegal purposes," said Sharma.

Neena C Naik, President, State Child Right Commission said, "The children were handed over to the Madrasa people where they were supposed to take them in Mandya (KR Pet). They have been asked to produce these children before Makkala Kalyana Samithi in Mandya under Juvenile Justice Act. The police have spoken to some of the parents of these children in Bihar and they have confirmed that they sent them for education."

"The Samithi will look into the matter. We are also going to write to the National Commission for Child Protection to look into this as these children belong to another state," says Neena Naik. MID DAY

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