In the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit held in Jakarta in March 2017,the Jakarta Concord which was arrived at during the Summit, committed IORA to countering terrorism in the region and establishing an IORA working group on maritime safety and security. The growing geo-political, geo-strategic, and geo-economic importance of the Indian Ocean Region. is well known. To many, the future of Asia lies in Indian Ocean, which is a rising giant, home to three billion people. Half of the world’s container ships travel through the Indian Ocean. It is the vital energy link between the Middle East and Asia. It is also the main shipping route between Asia and Europe. Therefore the global economy depends on the free flow of Indian Ocean traffic. Hence the security of Indian Ocean is of concern to all.

The greatest security challenge the region faces today comes from non-state actors, who engage in terrorism, both on land and at sea. We are witnesses to terrorist activities from the East African coast to South East Asia. Either terrorist groups are engaged in battles or attacking civilian target centres or others. During the last one and half decades, the threat has also spread to the maritime domain. This is a real threat in the Indian Ocean where maritime terrorism is now on par with land based terrorism. Maritime terrorism also has the capacity to disrupt global economy. Indian Ocean is well known for its choke points and a disruption in two chokepoints simultaneously will have far reaching consequences throughout the world.

Sri Lanka has been a victim of terrorism, and has witnessed terrorist attacks on its cities, conventional fighting in the North and the East and maritime terrorism. Thankfully, we brought terrorism to an end. We know how powerful non-state actors can be. Since the end of Sri Lanka’s terrorism, the technology used by terrorism has been upgraded and the number of non-state actors has multiplied. We are all familiar with the nature of terrorist threat on land. We must also recognise the importance of threat to the maritime security.

These non-state actors use the most modern technology in their attacks, a recent example being a small unmanned remote controlled boat being used against a Saudi Arabian warship by a group of Yemeni militants. Terrorists have also attached maritime infrastructure and in future, logistics of maritime infrastructure may face more frequent attacks.

The possibility of non-state actors hiding among the civilianmaritime traffic is a nightmare which we prefer not to think of. The complexities of maritime terrorism thus requires navies to rethink their roles on how to respond effectively and adequately against these non-state actors.

Systems destruction and the potential for deploying digital systematic terror is another growing threat in the Indian Ocean region commons. The digital sector is an emerging threat that needs careful study and smart solutions, whether it be in traditional terror financing or the encryption of messaging technology, which is emerging as trolls for terrorist organisations. Furthermore, the processing of global financial transactions, especially the billions of dollars of diaspora and global remittances which are transacted to their home countries around the Indian Ocean region, are replete with vulnerabilities of the electronic payment systems and their operators. Analysts demonstrate that these digital networks are beyond national control and are easily deployed for digitally enabled disruption associated with weapons of terror.

Counter-terrorism therefore needs close cooperation by all the states. One man’s terrorist cannot be treated as another man’s liberator. IORA’s declaration on preventing and countering terrorism and violent extremism, is a good starting point for you all. The resolution requires the states to support each others’ efforts in countering terrorism and violent extremism to include enhancing cooperation and coordination of efforts, dialogues and sharing of information, expertise, best practices, lessons learnt and stemming the financing of terrorism. This must be done within the framework of UN resolutions against terrorism, ASEAN Convention on Counter Terrorism, and the SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism. Close cooperation between regional countries is the only way in which counter terrorism measures can succeed.

(This article is a summary of the address made by H.E. Shri Ranil Wickremesinghe, Hon’ble Prime Minister of Sri Lanka at the inaugural session of Counter Terrorism Conference on 14^th March, 2017 at New Delhi)

In recent years nothing has caused greater pain, disruption and inconvenience to societies, governments and individuals than the phenomenon of terrorism. Its manifestation in any shape or form anywhere in the world is disruptive of normal life and therefore has to be condemned and countered.

A UN panel on March 17, 2005 described terrorism as any act ‘intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government to or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act.’

Notwithstanding this, governments of the world continue to argue about the precise import of the term. One reason is the antiquity of the expression and its uses down the ages. Kautilya classified terrorising as ‘secret war.’ The Zealots of the Roman period and the Assassins of the middle ages used violence to terrorise their adversaries. It was used in the Reign of Terror period of the French Revolution and its agents were officially depicted ‘terrorists.’

The numbers of terrorist groups proliferated in the 19th and 20th centuries and this trend continues today. A Google search produces a list of 38 non-state right-wing and left-wing groups accused of terrorism from 1978 to 2003; it indicates the period of their activity, targets and tactics, and governments viewed as adversaries as well as those who sponsored or supported them. More names can be added to it today. The stated motivation in each case related to addressing grievance of political nature, very often embedded in and seeking empowerment from ethnic, nationalist, or religious sources.

Modern weapons and easy access to lethal devices, has added to the efficacy of terror tactic; so has globalization, and information technology.

Modern terrorism is global in its dimensions. Our focus in today’s conclave however is on one aspect of it – the Indian Ocean Rim having 26 littoral states and home to some 2.3 billion people. It has emerged as one of the most dynamic regions of the world. It has about 65% of the world oil reserves; its ports handle about 30% of global trade and half of the world’s container traffic passes through this ocean.

This region is also culturally diverse with a variety of languages, religions, traditions and culture. The countries of the Indian Ocean littoral and its immediate hinterland vary in terms of their geographies, populations, levels of economic development and political structures.

Security in the Indian Ocean region is capricious on account of a complex set of problems inherited from its recent past. These pose a complex set of problems for policymakers, especially since many of the issues are transnational and groups have resorted to use of force to further demands for national self-determination, separatism, militant religious extremism.

The fragility of institutions of new political systems in the region has often allowed political violence to prevail. In addition, militant groups have exploited local grievances and have drawn upon international events to promote radical and extremist causes. The objective of these groups remains the capture of state power and the transformation of the system of governance to one which conforms to their worldview.

An overarching approach to the menace found expression most recently in the Declaration emanating from the 20th Anniversary meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) on March 7, 2017 that denounced ‘terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations’ and ‘resolved to stand together’ in preventing and countering it.

The typology of terrorism in the Indian Ocean Rim indicates the following:

• Left-wing violence carried out by groups seeking to overthrow existing governments;
• Ethno-political violence carried out by groups motivated along ethnic lines;
• Politico-religious violence carried out by religiously motivated groups; and
• Cross-border terrorism promoted by regimes as ‘war by other means’ on their neighbours.

Of these, the last is perhaps the most abhorrent, of the kind we in India have had to suffer for a number of years. Such terrorism is sustained by external agencies and states. There is now wider recognition that this is the type of terrorism which creates conditions for growth of terrorist networks into massive conglomerates with international operations.

Conflicts beyond the Indian Ocean rim, including those in Afghanistan–Pakistan and Syria–Iraq in Asia, also overflow and impact the wider region.

Neither pious denunciations nor generalised prescriptions are sufficient to combat terrorism in all its manifestations. A beginning has to be made in each case by understanding its operational philosophy, strategy and tactics, its targets and support systems.

It has been suggested that ‘human insecurity, provides the enabling conditions for terrorism to flourish.’ Certain conditions provide a social environment and wide spread grievances that, when combined with certain percipient factors, result in the emergence of terrorist violence. These conditions could include poverty, demographic factors, social inequality and exclusion and dispossession.

Terrorism and violent extremism in Indian Ocean Rim countries, therefore, has to be examined in the historical roots of militancy in these countries to provide the context for assessing the degree to which local agendas are either subsumed within a broader ideological framework or shaped by the extremist movements.

For convenience of analysis, the background and situation of the region can be considered in five segments: South Asia, southern Arabian Peninsula, Horn of Africa, East Africa, and the ASEAN region.

Colonial rule and the neo-colonial policy of creating or aggravating religious, ethnic, or linguistic fissures lies at the root of many of present day conflicts and tensions. External interventions motivated by geo-political considerations have exacerbated them. The resulting unsettled and volatile social conditions, thus, provide fertile ground for extremists to seek political change by violence. This in turn creates a social, economic and political situation that encourages parochialism, along with the rise of religious and sectarian extremism, often using violent and terrorist tactics to promote their creed.

Since unprovoked violence is inimical to human nature, groups and individuals resorting to terrorism or violent extremism seek to cloak their acts in motivations premised on value systems – secular, ethical or faith-based – that could be cited in justification. Record shows its consistency. This notwithstanding, the political temptation to attribute it to individual creeds is often overwhelming and, for the same reason, must be resisted if strategies and tactics to counter terrorism are to be both credible and productive.

Nor can state conduct in such situations be beyond scrutiny. In recent and not so recent history, instances exist of states resorting to the financing, training and equipping of individuals and groups resorting to acts resulting in the killing of innocent, non-partisan, civilians.

In recent times, the rise of ISIS or Daesh in Syria-Iraq has caught the attention of the world. Yet, even a cursory study of the factors that led to the rapid rise of such dangerous forces reveals that the very actors, who now claim to be threatened by it, have been responsible for creating the conditions- directly or indirectly- that led to its rise.

The repeated attempts at regime change by force and with utter disregard for the local ramifications and fall-outs, had led to the quagmire- whether it be in Syria-Iraq that led to ISIS; or, Afghanistan which led to Taliban/Al Qaida; or, Libya that led to Al-Jama’a. The removal of existing, often moderate, regimes and the subsequent breakdown of governance resulted in extremist groups capturing the political initiative, exploiting the resentment and anger of the local populations and carrying out terrorist acts with impunity.

The so-called war on terror has bred its own brand of deprivation and suffering with hundreds of people being killed or injured, even if they were not related to terrorist activities. This has led to anger and a desire to seek justice by any means, resulting in extremist action and terrorist violence.

In the aftermath of wars, the impacted communities are caught in a vicious circle of population pressures, resource stress, popular discontent and political instability making them susceptible to a pervasive extremist culture. Weak or dysfunctional states are more likely to host terrorist groups that target not only their host states but also carry out transnational attacks.

The availability of financial resources is critical to the success of these extremist groups. A misplaced sense of charity, or religious duty, on the part of citizens contributes to it. Linked to it is the misuse of institutions intended to impart faith-based education. Instances of it abound in Pakistan and Bangladesh and also in other countries of the Indian Ocean littoral. These misinterpret religious texts to induce intolerance which, in turn, promotes a narrow and bigoted approach that is conducive to use of violence.

However, the most virulent factor fuelling terrorism is state sponsorship of and collusion with terrorists. Such terrorists- some promoted by regimes and some operating with the connivance of elements within national militaries and intelligence organizations- have employed religious, ethnic and sectarian aspirations to justify their acts of cross-border terror.

A case in point is Pakistan’s use of extremist groups as an instrument of foreign policy that is well documented, with the U.S. State Department’s Country Report on Terrorism for 2015 stating that some United Nations-designated terrorist organizations continue ‘to operate within Pakistan, employing economic resources under their control and fundraising openly.’ Essentially, the Pakistani military has reared ‘good’ terrorists for cross-border missions while battling ‘bad’ militants that fail to toe its line.

The association of criminal and terrorist organizations – as most terrorist groups are funded by the proceeds of different types of transnational crime and illegal money flows- makes them even more destructive.

The Piracy off the coast of Somalia, the illegal oil extraction in Iraq, the drug and human trafficking in South East Asia or poppy cultivation in Afghanistan- are all controlled and run by the operating terrorist networks to generate additional finances. In many cases, the lucrative criminal activity becomes the sole reason for terrorist groups seeking political control by destabilizing existing regimes. Such terror groups receive support from external actors who seek quick profits. The latest research of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime puts the global value of transnational crime at a staggering $1 trillion per year – on par with some G20 economies.

How do we, then, deal with the problem of terrorism in the region? It is not sustainable for countries to continue to address terrorism or transnational crime from a narrow national interest perspective, nor can development be viewed as a standalone endeavour independent from security. Globalization and integration processes make it apparent that trade, development, and security agendas are interrelated. A fundamental change is needed in the way we approach these challenges.

The first challenge is to the national rule of law because terrorism is an abnormal activity to which societies can only adapt with difficulties. Making a society resilient to the potential threat of terrorism may come at a high price with regard to other fundamental values in society, such as civil rights.

The lack of understanding about the nature and manifestation of terrorism and the absence of a coherent response mechanism, results in sporadic and knee-jerk reactions to dealing with this threat. The introduction of extraordinary, usually draconian, laws to address terrorism, in a bid to seek quick solutions, more often than not, proves detrimental and can even exacerbate the terrorism problem. Use of indiscriminate force and heavy handed action debases the protection of human rights and can lead to an institutionalisation of oppression- fostering a culture of impunity within state security forces and agencies.

At the same time, countries being taken by a surprise terrorist attack face the problem of responding swiftly without causing economic and societal disruptions.

The second challenge comes as international, or transnational, terrorism involves more than one country and multiple legal frameworks at the national and international level. This becomes most obvious in the context of the well-known saying ‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’. While the saying is without much meaning since freedom is an end while terror is a means, it points to the problem that the national legal perceptions of certain groups’ activities may not coincide.

What is more, national legislation may induce terrorism spillovers to other countries, as there are no generally accepted norms in international law which help to avoid this problem. This calls for international coordination and ultimately for norms in international law which help to harmonize cross-border externalities.

To provide a comprehensive answer to the threats posed by transnational crime and terrorism in the Indian Ocean Region, regional security and development agendas need to be connected and coordinated. Forums like BIMSTEC, SAARC, ASEAN, the IORA and the UN have a direct interest, and the responsibility, to ensure that related efforts are comprehensive and have the resources necessary to respond quickly to the threat of terrorism.

What is needed to curb and eliminate the scourge of terrorism is for the countries in the region to unite and fight it in all its forms and manifestations. States sponsoring terrorism must be isolated by international community and forced to abandon the use of terrorism as a tool of state policy. Nations must not distinguish between friends and foes when it comes to identifying terror sponsoring states.

We need a flexible frame-work of security that respects the diversity of security perspectives and developmental choices of member states and is based on a clear renunciation by all parties of the threat or use of force against any other state, aimed at promotion of connectivity in accordance with international law to promote and protect the well-being of all peoples who inhabit the Indian Ocean region.

(This article is a summary of the address made by Shri M. Hamid Ansari, Honourable Vice-President of India on 14^th  March 2017 at the Counter Terrorism Conference 2017 in New Delhi organised by India Foundation.)

Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a serious global threat to humanity, irrespective of geographical boundaries. In today’s globalised world, terrorism has become the greatest security concern to the international community, which is not confined to one country or one region or one continent.

Terrorist activities are against fundamental values of liberty, humanity, freedom and universal brotherhood. Terrorism not only causes loss of precious lives of innocent people but also disrupts society’s progress and country’s development. It undermines the overarching value of ‘basudhaiva kutumbakam’ on which our civilisation was founded.

We have experienced grave consequences of terrorism in our region. As the number of terrorist outfits and their sophistication and technology grows, threats of terrorist attacks on any given day becomes all the more possible. In today’s interconnected world, terrorism does not have boundary.

Incidents of terrorist violence in our region over the past decades have made us vulnerable and this calls for our united action in countering this menace. The activities of larger network of terrorist organisations at global scale and their reported expansion in the Asia Pacific region provides us the reason to be extra vigilant to counter the threats and  to ensure the security of our people in the region.

Terrorist networks are trying to spread their wings. But we must be able to nab them and dismantle them. Acts of terrorism cannot be condoned. No pretexts, be it political, ideological, or any other, can justify such senseless and horrific acts. It is of utmost importance that law enforcing machineries in all countries cooperate and collaborate in identifying terrorists and defeating terrorism. We all must, in a united and unreserved manner, demonstrate commitment at the highest level to stop terrorist acts and bring perpetrators to justice.

As the world is shrinking day-by-day due to technological advancement, especially in communications and mobility, we cannot protect our citizens unless we work together to strengthen our national, regional and global security environment. In this age of inevitable interconnectedness, mobility of people around the world is a reality. Safety, security and welfare of every individual is our common responsibility, humanity’s common concern. Killings and brutality are totally unacceptable acts that have to be condemned in the strongest possible terms and countered with all resolute measures.

In 2004, twelve Nepali people seeking employment in Iraq were captured and brutally killed by terrorists. In 2016, thirteen Nepalis were killed when a suicide bomber struck a minibus carrying Nepali security guards in Kabul. Such heartbreaking acts of terrorism have victimised thousands of innocent peoples, in one way or the other, within their national boundary as well as across the boundaries. The transnational nature of terrorism should be recognised and countered with national, regional, and global perspective and capabilities.

Every country, therefore, should formulate counter-terrorism strategies by detecting the occurrence of radicalisation, possible recruitment for Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTF), exploitation of internet and various social media platforms by terrorist organisations, misuse of borders, terrorist financing, and forged identity documents. Radicalisation through social media is a rising threat. We need to enhance our capacity to monitor and counter such activities.

These measures should be complemented by stringent legislative framework to deter and disrupt all types of terrorist activities. Between governments and law enforcement agencies, close coordination and cooperation must be ensured including on intelligence and technology sharing to enhance counter terrorism capability. Needless to say, terrorism anywhere is a serious threat to peace, security and development everywhere. Terrorism is a shared security concern not only of the national authorities but also of the international community.

Nepal unequivocally condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever, whenever and for whatever purposes it occurs and whoever commits terrorist acts. Nepal calls for resolute international actions in the fight against terrorism. Nepal never allows her land to be exploited by any groups which try to carry out terrorist activities anywhere in our region or beyond. We have underscored time and again that terrorism should never be used as a means to achieve a goal. It is also important that we never allow propagation of terrorism in our region. As a member of the United Nations, SAARC and BIMSTEC, Nepal has signed several international conventions on counter-terrorism, including on   aircraft safety, maritime safety, against taking hostages, as well as the UN Security Council Resolutions. Nepal remains fully committed to implementing them despite the constraints of resources and technical capabilities.

In terms of national capability, Nepal has enhanced her security infrastructure and the fully trained security personnel are prepared to meet the emerging security demands, including prevention of any form of terrorist attack. Nepal remains committed to work in concert with the international community in realisinga world, free from the evils of terrorism.

We need to have serious deliberations regarding the existing and future challenges posed by regional, as well as global terrorism; assess information sharing capabilities; and renew urgent calls for the promotion of regional and multilateral cooperation to combat larger dimensions of threat posed by terrorism. Nepal will resolutely join hands with all countries in countering the scourge of senseless acts of terrorism.

(This article is a summary of the address made by Shri Bimalendra Nidhi, Hon’ble Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs of Nepal on March 14, 2017 at Counter-Terrorism Conference – 2017, organised by India Foundation at New Delhi)

Bangladesh-India relations are based on mutuality of interests and commonality of aspirations. We share universal values of freedom, democracy, fundamental human rights and rule of law. The foundation of our relations was laid by our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the early years of Bangladesh. In 1972 Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib said, “We have a very special relationship with India. The relationship is the friendliest. Friendship of Bangladesh and India is in our hearts. The bonds of friendship will remain firm and long-lasting”. Since then the relationship has matured, taking dynamic, comprehensive and strategic shape.

Whatever we may try at the political and official levels, it is our peoples’ solidarity, our deep emotional, cultural and historic bonds on which the relationship rests and thrives. With the restoration of trust and confidence, the people-to-people exchanges have also grown exponentially. All these are the hallmarks of a new paradigm of partnership.

We have comprehensively addressed India’s security concerns. This has been a factor in trust building. We have put in place a multi-layered and effective bilateral security architecture with many dedicated joint institutional mechanisms for targeted and coordinated actions.Our journey towards peace and prosperity is put to peril by the rise of terrorism and violent extremism. Security threats from state and non-state actors tend to undermine our efforts to integrate our economies and societies. We would need more concerted efforts to strengthen protection for our societies.

Bangladesh and India have witnessed tremendous progress in almost all sectors of cooperation namely, connectivity, power, trade and commerce, health and cultural exchange. In Bangladesh, we have envisioned to become a middle income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041. India is our partner in this path to progress.We have amicably settled Land Boundary and Maritime Boundary. Let me reiterate our deep appreciation to leaders of all political parties and members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha of India for their unanimous support for the Land Boundary Agreement. It was indeed a historic decision.We are all grateful to you for this unanimous support, which was akin to the support given by India in 1971, when all political parties in India supported Bangladesh’s Liberation War. We bled together during our Liberation War. Your soldiers and our freedom fighters both had shed their blood in 1971. Our gratitude to you all. The successful conclusion of the Land Boundary Agreement is also a historic event, and we will remember your contribution for the same.

Power sector cooperation has been another high point of the relationship. We are importing electricity from India through grid-interconnection. We are also collaborating in other sectors of energy namely,renewables such as solar, wind and hydro, offshore exploration, LNG, LPG, diesel, to name a few. We are identifying hydro-power projects in Bhutan and Nepal for joint development and import of power to Bangladesh across Indian territory.

We are extensively focusing on expansion of trade in a more open, beneficial and balanced manner by addressing the issues of trade barriers, harmonisation of standards, development of trade infrastructures, and mutual recognition of certificates. To address the trade deficit, we are also working on getting more investment from India particularly in the Special Economic Zones in Bangladesh. Already, we are seeing great interest from the biggest business houses in India.We believe connectivity holds the key to our collective and inclusive development. In our endeavour to integrate the two economies and the region, we are enhancing our connectivity in many ways leading ultimately to multi-modal connectivity. And we are being innovative enough to develop new modes of connectivity.

We strongly believe our common water resources must act as a uniting force. A comprehensive, basin-wide solution with an in-built solution to water sharing of all the common rivers holds the key to our common future. On Teesta issue, Prime Minister Modi once again reiterated his government’s strong resolve to conclude the water sharing treaty at the soonest. Once it happens, the face of Indo-Bangladesh relations would undergo another transformation.But I don’t know what Didi (Chief Minister of West Bengal)will do, though the Indian Prime Minister has assured me that he will take care of it.

The people of Bangladesh fought at the clarion call of our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The people of India and its government supported us wholeheartedly during the War of Liberation in 1971. In the Liberation War, 3 million people were killed and over 2 lakh women were violated. However, the history of atrocities by Pakistani occupation forces is being suppressed and distorted. Bangladesh parliament recently adopted a unanimous resolution declaring March 25 as ‘Genocide day’. We cannot forget the history or the historical event—we can forgive but we cannot forget. Which is why we want this Genocide to be recognised by the international community. Prime Minister Modi has made a commitment to remain with us in our efforts. Our future generations should know our real history and understand what happened during those traumatic times.

In 1975 when I lost my family, my younger sister and myself were in Germany. I lost my mother, father, my 3 brothers (the younger brother was only 10 years old), my 2 newly wedded sisters-in-law, my uncle and other relatives. They attacked my house and killed 18 people. My sister and myself, at that time, were left homeless, country-less and we became refugees. But at that time Mrs. Indira Gandhi immediately sent a message and asked us to come to India. During my stay in India, I met leaders from all parties and everybody was very kind, friendly and supportive. I am not sure what we would have done without that support, which at that time was really very very important for both of us. So, our gratitude to India and its people for their help in our hour of need.

When I finally returned home, it was a very difficult period. The Indian peopleare lucky because they have had and continue to enjoy a continuous democratic system. But in our country things were totally different. Time and again we faced different challenges, sometimes military dictators, martial law, emergencies and others. But we are fighting to restore democracy because we believe that without democracy we cannot make any progress. Only a stable, democratic system can give Bangladesh a good chance to progress.

When my father liberated Bangladesh, he had a dream. He wanted to establish Bangladesh as a poverty free country. After 21 years, when I became Prime Minister, I took it as my duty to serve my people and ensure them a better life, in the footsteps of my father. I have tried my best. I have only one aim – how to build Bangladesh into a poverty free, hunger free, prosperous country. I try to follow my fathers mission of having friendship with all. India is our neighbour and neighbours do have problems, but a friendly relationship will always give a good opportunity for problem resolution. This opportunity is not for us – leaders or politicians  — but for the well being of our people. Our common enemy is poverty and we can jointly work together for its elimination. That is why I always try to create a conducive atmosphere so that we can work together and ensure for the people a better life.

So, the India-Bangladesh friendship is a very important friendship for Bangladesh which we deeply cherish. Khoda Hafez! Joi Bangla Joi Bangabandhu! May Bangladesh live forever! Long live Bangladesh-India friendship!

(This article is a summary of the address made by H.E. Smt. Sheikh Hasina, Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh at the reception hosted in her honour by India Foundation on 10^th April, 2017 at New Delhi.)

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Turkey in 1948, the bilateral relations between the two countries have been generally warm and cordial. Economic cooperation is becoming an important pillar of the relationship, with both nations being among the twenty largest economies (G-20) in the world. The growth in bilateral trade between the two countries has seen a steady rise, increasing from USD 2.8 billion in 2008 when President Erdogan last visited India to USD 6.4 billion in 2017^[i]. More importantly, the economies of both India and Turkey have shown remarkable stability despite volatile global economic conditions as they were based on strong fundamentals. Recent IMF^[ii] and World Bank^[iii]reports also show optimism about the economic prospects of both countries in the coming years.

Turkey has evinced interest in further promoting trade and economic cooperation and in broadening the overall bilateral relationship because of the huge economic opportunities that have been created under the Modi government as a result of various economic reforms and the thrust on transformational changes in the Indian economy. The numbers of high-level bilateral visits that have taken place between the two countries also point to enhancing of the bilateral relationship. In this context, the two day visit of the President of Republic of Turkey, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to India from April 30 to 01 May, 2017 assumes significance. The Turkish President was accompanied by five Cabinet Ministers — Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Economy, Minister of Energy, Minister of Culture & Tourism and Minister of Transport, Communication and Maritime Affairs. Besides these ministers, Chief of General Staff, Parliamentarians and Senior Officials also accompanied the President. This was indicative of the thrust of his visit.

PM Modi and President Erdogan agreed to encourage business efforts to achieve a level of at least USD 10 billion by 2020 in bilateral trade^[iv]. Potential and opportunity to enhance the volume of bilateral trade exists through trade and FDI inflows, technology tie-ups and cooperation on various projects. In the last few years, participation of Turkish companies in India has increased significantly. This has come specifically through investment in blue chip Indian companies and FDI route, although such cooperation has remained confined only in SMEs (small and medium enterprises)^[v]. President Erdogan’s visit has now opened a new chapter in the economic and commercial interactions of both the countries.

In the bilateral interactions of PM Modi and President Erdogan, both countries laid emphasis on people-to-people contact and strengthening cultural linkages. The ties of culture and language – the Sufi traditions, the exchanges and influences of the Turkish language on Hindi and vice versa, among other linkages, provide a deep connect between people of both countries. The new Cultural Exchange Programme signed between two nations will further cement the cultural connections and institutional relations. Several bilateral agreements and institutional mechanisms such as Joint Economic Commission (JEC) at the governmental level as well as in business-to-business (B2B) provide the framework for strengthening economic and commercial ties.

On the issue of terrorism, PM Modi and President Erdogan reiterated their strong condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and declared that there could be no justification for terrorism anywhere. The joint statement on the issue reflected India’s concerns on terrorism, and called for international efforts to disrupt terrorist networks and their financing and stopping of cross-border movement of terrorists^[vi]. India and Turkey strongly condemned the use of double standards in addressing the menace and agreed to strengthen cooperation in combating terrorism both at the bilateral level and within the multilateral system. In this regard, leaders of both countries called for early conclusion of negotiations on the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.

During the visit of President Erdogan to India, the following Bilateral Agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) were signed^[vii]:

• Cultural Exchange Program for 2017-2020
• MoU for Cooperation between Foreign Service Institute of India and Diplomacy Academy of Turkey
• Agreement between the Government of The Republic of Turkey and the Government of The Republic of India on Gainful Occupation for Family Members of the Members of Diplomatic Mission or Consular Post
• MoU between Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), India and Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA), Turkey
• Cooperation Agreement between Press Trust of India (PTI) and Anadolu Agency (AA) of Turkey

While convergence exists on strengthening of the economic relationship, Turkey has neither been supportive of India’s stand on Kashmir nor of India’s membership to the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). Turkey’s close relations with Pakistan makes it more aligned with the Pakistani position on the Kashmir issue. While Kashmir was not discussed during President Erdogan’s visit, the President had, in an interview to a local TV channel, just before he came to India, stated that the India-Pakistan dispute on Kashmir could be resolved through “multilateral talks”^[viii], — a stand which flies against the principled Indian stand which speaks of bilateral resolution of the India-Pakistan dispute. In response to President Erdogan’s statement on Kashmir, India firmly drew the red line, specifically telling Turkey that Kashmir is an integral part of India and Kashmir is a “bilateral” issue between India and Pakistan and that India sees the problem of unrest in Kashmir through the crystal clear prism of “cross-border and state-sponsored terrorism” being perpetrated by Pakistan in the Kashmir Valley.

On the Issue of NSG membership, Turkey avers that it is not opposed to India’s entry to the NSG, but has linked India’s entry with that of Pakistan’s. This Turkish position is not helpful for India because it aligns with the Chinese position and only means – albeit indirectly, that Turkey doesnot support India’s NSG bid as Pakistan has little international support for its entry to the NSG, due to its appalling record of nuclear proliferation. The Turkish stand hence, in effect means a vote against India.

Turkey’s emotional and Islamist-tinged view of its relationship with Islamabad will make it difficult for a strategic compact between India and Turkey to materialize in the near future. So it is an opportune time for Turkey to de-hyphenate the India-Pakistan relations and work with India towards a comprehensive economic partnership, which could in future transform to an advanced political and strategic relationship. Turkey has great opportunities to invest in India’s expanding market of automotive and auto parts, textile machinery, chemical industry, jewellery (precious metals and stones), glass and glassware products, leather products, electrical equipment and electronics & construction materials. Turkey is a pioneer in the construction sector. Turkish construction and engineering companies have established their business globally.

In India, the construction sector will remain buoyant due to increased demand from real estate and infrastructure projects. Construction activities contribute more than 8% of India’s GDP. Turkish companies can invest in the construction development in residential, retail, commercial and hospitality sectors. Providing technologies and solutions for smart sustainable cities and building integrated townships in India is a great opportunities for Turkey to replicate the excellent construction work they have done in their own country. Training and skill development of construction sector workers is another area where the expertise of Turkey can be helpful in realising the dreams of PM Modi’s Skill India vision.

On the other hand, India’s expertise in Information & Communications Technology solutions, Space Technology and Service Sector etc. can be used by Turkey. Such cooperation will further strengthen the economic and commercial bonding and will provide an environment for greater understanding between the two countries.

In the energy sector, India and Turkey are both energy deficient and energy needs of both nations are ever increasing. In this context, the visit of Turkish President to India will certainly help in increasing the cooperation in hydrocarbon sector and in the solar and wind energy sector which are common area of interest for both countries. For example, IOT Infrastructure & Energy Services which is a joint venture between ‘Indian Oil Corporation’ and ‘VITO Energy and Investment of Turkey’, has been successful in formation of a joint tank farm at the Star Refinery (near Izmir) in Turkey.

President Erdogan,in an article published in Times of India, said “vision to guide the exemplary relations between India and Turkey, will emerge through the increase of contacts and interaction between our peoples”. Prime Minister Modi, while addressing the India-Turkey Business Summit, rightly laid out the agenda of bilateral relation and said that “Let us work together for enhancing the level of our economic activities for welfare of our people”. As both countries have global and regional aspirations towards achieving a combined objective of development and security, cooperation can be a means to achieve the above objectives.

(Siddharth Singh is Research Fellow with India Foundation)

^[i] http://mea.gov.in/press-releases.htm?dtl/28428/

State_visit_of_President_of_Turkey_to_India_30_April_to_01_May_2017

^[ii] http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects

^[iii] http://www.imf.org/en/Publications/GFSR/Issues/2017/03/30/global-financial-stability-report-april-2017

^[iv] http://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/28433/IndiaTurkey_Joint_Statement_during_

the_State_Visit_of_the_President_of_Turkey_to_India_30_April_to_1_May_2017

^[v] http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=161416

^[vi] http://mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/28433/IndiaTurkey_Joint_Statement_during_

the_State_Visit_of_the_President_of_Turkey_to_India_30_April_to_1_May_2017

^[vii] http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=84692

^[viii] http://www.wionews.com/world/exclusive-india-pak-both-have-right-to-aspire-to-nsg-erdogan-15068

 

Mahatma Gandhi once said that for him true independence meant a day when a woman can go out on to the streets alone at midnight and roam around freely. Generally, it is understood as a statement with respect to the safety of women. It indeed is. For Gandhiji, security and safety of women was of paramount importance. But what he probably also meant was that a woman going out alone at midnight would be respected and not disparaged.

Mobility, Morality and Safety

The typical value system of our society brands women as ‘fallen’, if she is mobile, especially during the night. I am reminded of an attack on a lady journalist in Delhi some years ago. The attack took place in the wee hours of the night when the said journalist was returning home in her car. A senior politician responsible for the security in Delhi had commented that the girl was partly to blame for whatever happened because she had no business to be alone on the streets at three am in the morning. This raises the big question as to what needs to change when it comes to women – the security establishment or the mind-set.

There is no doubt that the security aspect needs to be taken care of. At a time when atrocities against women are on the rise, it is very important that we have stricter laws, more stringent punishments and stronger security measures. But mere laws or security measures can’t save women.

Some suggest that women should train themselves in self-defence. This is important because a man attacks a woman not only out of lust but also because of the fact that she is physically weak. In fact, that makes all physical attacks on women brutal because only in the jungles powerful animals attack weak ones. Men who attack women merely because they are physically weak are no less than brutes. If a woman is strong, nobody dares do any harm to her. But does having physical strength solve the problem? Violence doesn’t happen only at physical level; it can happen at emotional and psychological levels too.

Safety, Honour and Respect

In the name of protection of women, we sometimes end up caging them. I have seen a weird suggestion by an ideologue that the government should bring in a law that prohibits women from working after six pm. It is pertinent here to recall what Prime Minister Modi had said in his maiden Red Fort speech in August 2014.

“If a girl in our house comes home late, the parents grill her with innumerable questions, like, where were you, what were you doing until so late? But when the boy in the house comes home much later in the night, no questions are asked. In the name of women security we actually make their lives more difficult”.

What the Prime Minister meant was that safety of our women lies not in restricting their lives, but in regulating the behaviour of our boys also. Between security and honour, what a woman needs is honour and respect. Not that security is less important. But respect is more important. Once Swami Vivekananda was asked about his views on protection of women. As soon as he heard the words ‘protection of women’, Vivekananda started laughing loudly. ‘protection of women? You will protect her? She is Durga, Kali, Shakti herself. And you want to protect her?’ Swami ridicules. He adds ‘Respect her, so that her safety is automatically taken care of’.

In fact, that is and should be the essence of feminism. G D Andersen puts it very beautifully, “Feminism is not about making women stronger. It is about changing the way the world perceives their strength”. We need to teach our generation respect for women. We need to make them understand and respect the strength and glory of womanhood. It is about womanhood, not just about sisterhood or motherhood alone. A woman needs to be respected as an equal human being irrespective of who she is. No strings attached.

Women Through the Ages

The history and culture of India has been that of utmost respect for womanhood. Look at the two epic characters – Draupadi and Sita. Both the great wars in those epics revolve round the dignity and honour of those two women. The portrayal of Draupadi in Mahabharata was that of a liberal, self-willed and courageous woman. She was married to the five brothers, four of whom had wives separately.

Throughout the epic, her projection has been that of a strong-willed woman. But for her obduracy there wouldn’t have been a war of epic scale in which lakhs were described to have died. There was an occasion when an offer of five villages to five Pandava brothers was made in order to settle the dispute. Being Dharmaraj, Yudhisthira would have gone for it. Knowing it well, Krishna takes the proposal to Draupadi. Draupadi reacts with righteous anger. The brothers can accept the offer if they want; but she is not going to settle for anything short of the blood of Dushasana, who humiliated her publicly by trying to disrobe her. Nobody called her an arrogant and obdurate woman. Instead she is described as ‘Maha Sadhvi’ –woman of epic reverence.

In Mahabharata, while several instances can be chanced upon describing the strong-willed character of Draupadi, there are several other instances that portray the profound respect in which she is held by everybody. Towards the end of the epic comes the ‘Shanti Parv’, the chapter after the war was over. Bhishma, the grand old man was lying on the bed of arrows awaiting his death. Yudhisthira comes to visit him. He won the war and regained the kingdom from the Kaurava clan. He seeks to learn Raj Dharma – wisdom of statecraft – from Bhishma. Draupadi was passing by that place and laughs out loud when she heard Yudhisthira requesting Bhishma to teach him Raj Dharma. In Indian tradition, for anyone to laugh loudly in front of elders in a public place is considered indecent. Moreover Bhishma in this case is on the deathbed of arrows. Yudhisthira chides Draupadi, but the story goes on to say that Bhishma prevents Yudhisthira and states that Draupadi’s laughter was justified. ‘In a full house when she was being disrobed, I too was present, but did nothing. Am I qualified to teach you Raj Dharma? That is the question behind her laughter. It is a very valid laughter’, Bhishma was supposed to have told Yudhisthira.

Our epics have to be read and taught in this spirit. Even in Ramayana, the characters like Sita and Mandodari (wife of Ravana) epitomise woman’s dignity and honour. Sita is the epitome of self-respect and determination. Even under captivity, when Ravana comes to convince her to marry him, she keeps a blade of grass in between the two and addresses her refusal to that blade of grass only. Such was the portrayal of Sita as a woman of courage and determination.

There is a follow up story to the epic Ramayana called Uttar Ramayana. Ram discards Sita once again after returning to Ayodhya and occupying the throne. The reason was that questions were raised by a washerman about the purity of her character after it was known that Sita was pregnant. This was said in spite of the fact that she had already proved her chastity once at the time of the ‘Agni Pariksha’ – the test of fire immediately after the war.

In fact the narrative in Sri Lanka and some other parts of the world about that incident too is very inspiring. When she was asked to prove her chastity, Sita decided to take the fire test. When she was about to enter the fire, Agni, God of Fire, manifested himself before Ram and told him that Sita was so pure that even he couldn’t touch her. It might be a mere story. But the amount of respect attached to a woman in our epics is evident through such narratives.

In spite of that fire test, Ram wants Sita to be dismissed from his court and household. The pregnant Sita was sent away to the forests where she lived in the abode of an ascetic. The story goes on till the Ashwamedha Yagna – the gigantic Horse Ritual – performed by Ram for the expansion of his kingdom.

Luv and Kush, the two children of Ram born in the jungles, obstruct the progress of the horse and the army following it. Everyone is defeated and finally Ram himself was forced to come to the battle in order to free the horse. At that point, he gets to know that the two boys who have taken over the ritual horse were none other than his own children.

The narrative gets interesting here. Ram wanted all of them, including Sita back in his palace. He expressed his profound sorrowfulness for whatever he had done. Sita’s response was epic. ‘I am alive for this day’, she declared and added, ‘I am alive to prove that these twins were Ram’s blood only and not otherwise as accused by a citizen in Ayodhya. Now that you accept them as your children, I happily ask you to take them back’.

As for her return, she declared her intention to go back to her mother – the Mother Earth. ‘I am not someone who can be commanded to get out whenever you want and come back meekly whenever you order. Having cleared the blemish on my character I shall now go to where my dignity and honour are always upheld’. Stating this, Sita joined her mother.

This again might just be a story; but one can’t miss the message that was sought to be conveyed through the story, that a woman needs to be treated with dignity and honour; else she is free to find her place of honour herself.

Historically, in our civilisation, women are respected not for subservience but self-respect and dignity. World’s most ancient literature, the Vedas, contain a number of verses written by women scholars and saints. Gargi, Maitreyi, Lopamudra are some of them. There are at least 30 women authors of the Vedic hymns.

The famous dialogue between Gargi and Yagnavalkya over the concept of Brahman is a tribute to the scholarship of that great Vedic philosopher on the one hand while on the other it is also a testimony to the fact that women had enjoyed enormous respect in the Vedic period. In fact Gargi decided to challenge the renowned philosopher, Yagnavalkya after all the other male sages failed to match up to him in scholarship. She went on shooting questions after questions to which Yagnavalkya patiently gave answers. In the end, Yagnavalkya warned her that she had asked the most profound question after knowing the answer of which there can’t be any more questions. Thus, Gargi conceded in the debate.

A similar incident happens much later when Adi Shankaracharya and Mandana Mishra engaged in a scholarly dialogue. When Mandana Mishra failed to challenge Adi Shankara in the dialogue, his wife Ubhaya Bharati plunged in and challenged Adi Shankara for a shastrartha – scholarly discourse. Adi Shankara was forced to return to his studies before coming back to face Ubhaya Bharati. Finally, he successfully challenged her and defeated her in a debate.

These and many more such instances should be eye openers to those who think that women were always oppressed in India. At the same time, they are also an indication of how our women have been traditionally completely free and respected.

Feminism Vs Essential Freedom

The feminist movements of the west have been a product of the oppressive situations that prevailed in those parts of the world. There was a hilarious discussion in sections of the European philosophers until the 15^th & 16^th centuries as to whether women should be considered as humans or animals. Even at the dawn of the 21^st Century, several Christian denominations like the Baptists and the Pentecostals were undecided over whether to allow women at the pulpit or not. They cite St. Paul’s dictum in 1 Timothy 2:12 (“I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man”) as a universal injunction to deny women the right to teach the Bible. That has not been the case in India. There is no denying the fact that there were certain aberrations in the Indian society over the treatment of women like Sati etc. But they were never universal in nature and more importantly, they never had any scriptural sanction.

It is time for such a system where women are respected for what they are, and not for what men want them to be, to be brought back. Once that is achieved, we wouldn’t talk about what dress the women should wear or what they should do. Today, we have missed the spirit and held on to the letter.

‘Yatra naryanstu pujyante – Ramante Tatra devatah’, says an ancient verse, meaning that where women are worshipped, the deities come to stay there. It is not expected of anyone to take the verse literally and start worshipping women. What women want today is not worship, but reverence. Irrespective of what she wears, how she behaves and what she does, can the society be trained into respecting women just as women? That is the real challenge today.

(Author is National General Secretary of BJP and Director of India Foundation.)

 (This article is carried in the print edition of May-June 2017 issue of India Foundation Journal.)

There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women”.

– Kofi Annan

Various articles of the Indian Constitution and plethora of legislations advance the cause of gender justice and women empowerment in India. Still, we are struggling to achieve befitting and deserved share of rights for women in society. Recently, the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report ranked India at 139 out of 145 countries on the economic participation and opportunity gap. India’s overall female labour force participation (FLFP) rate has dropped from 35% in 1991 to 27% in 2014 while the world average is around 50%.  Moreover, as per the figures from the National Crime Records Bureau, the year 2015 saw the registration of 3,27,394 cases under the head of Crimes against Women. It is pertinent to mention here that significant number of such crimes go unreported owing to some or the other factors including but not limited to attachment of some degree of social stigma in such cases.

This article seeks to identify the core legal issues involved in addressing the issues faced by women through discussions related to judicial intervention coupled with legislative efforts and recent policy framework in order to pursue related concerns of gender justice.

Judicial Pronouncements

“Respect for reputation of women in the society shows the basic civility of a civilised society. No member of society can afford to conceive the idea that he can create a hollow in the honour of a woman. Such thinking is not only lamentable but also deplorable.  It is an assault on the individuality and inherent dignity of a woman with the mindset that she should be elegantly servile to men”. This was pointed out by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in State of Madhya Pradesh v. Babulal AIR 2008 SC 582.

It is generally said that law begins from the point where morality ends. The same also goes for offences against women.  Sexual violence apart from being a dehumanising act is also an unlawful intrusion on the right to privacy and sanctity of a female. It degrades and humiliates the victim and leaves behind a traumatic experience. It has been rightly said that whereas a murderer destroys the physical frame of a victim, a rapist degrades and defiles the soul of a helpless female. The courts are, therefore, expected to try and decide cases of sexual crime against women with utmost sensitivity. Such cases need to be dealt with sternly and severely.

It is worth noticing at this juncture that it is a settled position of law that if a Court of Law finds evidence of prosecutrix truthful, trustworthy and reliable, conviction can be recorded solely on the basis of her testimony and no further corroboration is necessary. However, the judiciary itself has not remained untouched from criticisms and has rendered several judgments which can be regarded as injudicious. The case of Mohd. Habib v. State 1989 CriLJ 137is one such example.

The facts of this case included that appellant, aged 21 years, was alleged to have been arrested at the spot, for the offence of rape. On medical examination, it was found that the appellant had three simple injuries; one was on the skull, the second on right thumb and the third on the left hand. The prosecutrix was between 7 to 10 years of age. The medico-legal certificate even showed that there was a bite mark on the right thigh of the prosecutrix and that her hymen was also ruptured.

The counsel for the appellant, apart from others placed reliance on Rahim Beg v. The State of U.P. 1972CriLJ 1260 (paragraph 26), in support of his plea. In paragraph 26 of that judgment, it has been observed that:

“…If a girl of 10 or 12 years who is virgin and whose hymen is intact is subjected to rape by a fully developed man, there are likely to be injuries on the male organ of the man. No injury was, however, detected by the doctor on the male organ of the accused. The absence of such injuries on the male organs of the accused would thus point to their innocence.”

The Court arrived at the conclusion that the medical evidence falsifies the evidence of the two eye witnesses as well as of the prosecutrix, and accordingly acquitted the accused. The most important facts such as the age of the victim (being seven years) and that she had suffered a ruptured hymen and the bite marks on her body were not considered by the High Court.

Yet another disputed judgment rendered in “The Mathura rape case” related to an incident of custodial rape in the year 1972, wherein the victim, a young tribal girl, was allegedly raped by two policemen in the compound of Desai Ganj Police Station in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. The Supreme Court held that Mathura had raised no alarm; and also that there were no visible marks of injury on her person thereby suggesting no struggle and therefore no rape.  After the Supreme Court acquitted the accused, there was public outcry and protests, which eventually led to amendments in Indian rape law via – The Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act 1983.

Another infamous case pertains to gang rape of Bhanwari Devi by a group of men as she attempted to stop a child marriage in their family. Bhanwari Devi was a social worker (saathin) at rural level in a development programme initiated by State Government of Rajasthan, aiming to curb the evil of child marriages in villages. The trial court acquitted the accused in this open and shut case. However, the case paved the way for the famous judgment called Vishaka and others Vs. State of Rajasthan and Others  AIR 1997 SC 3011, which for the very first time gave the definition of sexual harassment.

Vishaka Judgment

The Vishaka Judgment highlighted that it is necessary and expedient for employers in work places as well as other responsible persons or institutions to observe certain guidelines in order to ensure the prevention of sexual harassment of women. It casted a duty on the employer or other responsible persons in work places and other institutions to prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment and to provide the procedures for the resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment by taking all steps required. It further defined “sexual harassment” and included such unwelcome sexually determined behaviour (whether directly or by implication) as:

1. a) Physical contact and advances;
2. b) A demand or request for sexual favours;
3. c) Sexually coloured remarks;
4. d) Showing pornography;
5. e) Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.

In cases where any of these acts is committed, the circumstances can be humiliating for the woman and may constitute health and safety concerns. It is discriminatory, for instance, when the woman has reasonable grounds to believe that her objection would disadvantage her in connection with her employment or work including recruiting or promotion or when it creates a hostile work environment.

Victim’s Privacy

Yet another issue relates to the publication of the name of the victim relating to certain offences like offence of rape. The same is against the letter and spirit of section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code. However, it is witnessed in several of the cases that the court itself has committed such a mistake. Although the courts are not bound by the provisions, but the court in such cases should carefully decline to mention the names of the victim to protect her civil liberties.

Noting this culture of publishing names of victims, it was laid down by Hon’ble Supreme Court in Bhupinder Sharma v. State of Himachal Pradesh AIR 2003 SC 4684,
“We do not propose to mention name of the victim, section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short ‘IPC’) makes disclosure of identity of victim of certain offences punishable. Printing or publishing name of any matter which may make known the identity of any person against whom an offence under Sections 376, 376-A, 376-B, 376-C, or 376-D is alleged or found to have been committed can be punished. True it is, the restriction does not relate to printing or publishing of judgment by High Court or Supreme Court. But keeping in view the social object of preventing social victimisation or ostracism of the victim of a sexual offence for which Section 228-A has been enacted, it would be appropriate that in the judgments, be it of this Court, High Court or lower Court, the name of the victim should not be indicated we have chosen to describe her as ‘victim’ in the judgment”

Women in Judiciary

Some of these judgements, committing the error of severe social implications, are because of the gender imbalance within the judiciary. There exists a severe scarcity of female judges and lawyers. Supreme Court of India has only seen six female judges (till October 2016) since its inception in 1950. The 24 High Courts in the country have severe dearth ofof women judges with many High Courts not having even a single woman judge. The number of women that get recommended by the collegium to the government is also very low. It took more than four decades after independence for a woman to be appointed as a Supreme Court judge. A woman was appointed to the High Court only in 1959. At no point have there been more than two women judges in the Supreme Court.

While women got the right to practice in 1922, the first woman additional solicitor general could be appointed only in 2009. The country has not had a woman Solicitor General or Attorney General.

Sexual and Financial Harassment

The legal profession is male-dominated. Women face sexual harassment of varying degrees and sexual harassment laws need to be interpreted to keep in mind such instances. First, sexual harassment laws usually address harassment at the workplace. For women lawyers, the ‘workplace’ is often the courts. However, lawyers practising in the courts are not ‘employees’ of the judges, and therefore the definitions of workplace, employers and employees in sexual harassment law needs to be interpreted broadly.

Secondly, it is extremely difficult for women lawyers to complain of harassment. Women lawyers would face sexual harassment in various ways – from co-lawyers; senior lawyers; judges; co-workers and their employers.  Law students, legal interns and paralegals are particularly prone to harassment as well as others who access the system such as clients or litigants. The court corridors become a hub where almost every woman lawyer is observed and discussed by male lawyers, with respect to their dress, mannerisms and relationships. This gossip often gets carried to the judges, courts staff and clerks. Complaining against a senior lawyer or a judge too has huge repercussions on the woman’s future legal career perspectives.

Even today, there are clients who prefer male lawyers over female lawyers, mainly because of the traditional belief that the former are more capable of handling legal cases. Such preference is also attributed to the fact that India is still a male dominated society. Though women face challenges in the legal profession, no one can stop them to work in the field which is quite paying and rewarding if hard work and dedication is put in. Giving women more opportunities and by treating them equal to men in the legal field will give impetus to a lot of female lawyers to join litigation and make a good legal career for themselves. Appointments and special legal positions should be offered to women to create inspiration for the rest.

Empowerment through Employment:

For a long term commitment to improve the situation of women in society, empowerment has to be looked at beyond legislative measures and judicial pronouncements. Financial inclusion and independence is the surest means to empower women as it removes their dependence upon men. Financial independence also has a direct correlation with crimes against women. But instead of putting restrictions on women’s freedom, empowerment should be done in a more tenable and by socially wiser approach. Some of the judgments of Apex Court are worth discussing in this regard.

The Apex Court in Anuj Garg and Ors. v. Hotel Association of India and Ors: (2008) 3 SCC 1, declared ban on employment of women in establishment where liquor was served, as discriminatory as well as violative of Articles 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. The Hon’ble court also observed that with the advent of modern State, new models of security must be developed. It suggested that there could be a setting where the cost of security in the establishment be distributed between the State and the employer.

In the case of AIR India v. Nergesh Meerza and Ors (1981) 4 SCC 335 validity of Service Regulations 46 and 47 were in question. Regulations 46 and 47 were contended as discriminative and ultra vires by respondents. Regulation 46 was related to termination of service of air hostesses (AH) upon attaining age of 35 years or on marriage, if it took place within 4 years of service or on first pregnancy whichever occurs earlier.

With regard to air hostesses, the contention of the management was that they are in a special class. They have to deal with passengers of various temperaments, and a young and attractive air hostess is able to cope with difficult or awkward situations more competently and more easily than an older person with less personal prepossessions. It was held that the condition namely ‘or on first pregnancy whichever occurs earlier’ was unconstitutional, void and violative of Article 14. Regulation 47 provided for extension of service of AH at option of Managing Director (MD). Thus, it conferred wide and uncontrolled power on MD and suffered from excessive delegation of power and hence the same was also held violative of Article 14.

However, the said judgment is criticised on the ground that, in holding that AFPs (Assistant Flight Pursers) and AHs (Air Hostesses) constituted separate classes, and therefore different service conditions were valid, the Court ignored the fact that the classes themselves were constituted along the lines of sex.

It can be concluded that sex discrimination in jurisprudence is still developing with time. However, the ongoing support of the apex court with respect to permanent commission of women pilots and similar issues are commendable. A socially sensitised judge is better armour in cases of crime against women than long clauses of penal provisions, containing complex exceptions and complicated provisos.

Recent Policy Redesign

The government, in the recent, has also strived hard by way of its recent policy redesign to make gender justice accommodative and considerate enough to incorporate all related concerns.  It was in the year 2001 that National Policy for the Empowerment of Women was launched with an objective to bring about the advancement, development and empowerment of women. The policy was widely disseminated to encourage active participation of all stakeholders for achieving its goals. The recent years saw the launching of various programmes by the government to address and take forward such goals.

Skill development and Employability

The Ministry of Women & Child Development has been administering ‘Support to Training and Employment Programme for Women (STEP) Scheme’ since 1986-87 as a ‘Central Sector Scheme’. The STEP Scheme aims to provide skills that give employability to women and to provide competencies and skill that enable women to become self-employed/entrepreneurs. The Scheme is intended to benefit women who are in the age group of 16 years and above across the country. The Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (National Credit Fund for Women) was set up in 1993 to make credit available for lower income women in India. The government’s investment in skills training through schemes like the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana is also laudable in this aspect.

The Ministry of Women & Child Development has also recently launched “Mahila E-Haat” a bilingual portal in March, 2016. This is a unique direct online marketing platform leveraging technology for supporting women entrepreneurs. This exclusive portal is the first in the country to provide a special, focused marketing platform for women. It aims at financial inclusion and economic empowerment of women.

Improving Child Sex Ratio

Declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR), defined as number of girls per 1000 of boys between 0-6 years of age, in past few decades is alarming. The decline in the CSR is a major indicator of women disempowerment. Social construct discriminating against girls on the one hand and easy availability, affordability and subsequent misuse of diagnostic tools on the other hand, have been critical in increasing sex selective elimination of girls leading to low child sex ratio. In this respect, the recent initiative called ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ can be a game changer. This is being implemented through a national campaign and focussed multi sectoral action in 100 selected districts low in CSR, covering all States and UTs. The objectives of this initiative aims to prevent gender biased sex selective elimination, ensuring survival & protection of the girl child and imparting education and participation of the girl child.

Improving Health & Nutrition

India has a high neonatal mortality rate. It is estimated that out of all the infants who die in India, 70 percent die in the first month. The issue is directly attributable to the poor health/ malnourishment of pregnant mothers. It is pertinent to mention here that on prevalence of anaemia in women of reproductive age, India ranks 170 out of 185 countries at 48.1% (Global Nutrition Report). A mother’s health and nutritional status significantly affect the biological development of the foetus.

The National Food Security Act, 2013 legislated a universal cash entitlement for pregnant women of atleast six thousand rupees. This program presents a promising opportunity to help improve nutrition during pregnancy.  Also, Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) – safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among the poor pregnant women aims to improve the situation in this respect.

Recently, the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was passed by Rajya Sabha in August 2016, seeks to increase the period of maternity benefit to 26 weeks from the present 12 weeks. The Bill also introduces a provision to grant 12 weeks of maternity leave to a woman who legally adopts a child below three months of age and also to a commissioning mother. It is estimated that the bill will help nearly two million women employed in the organised sector. However, on closer analysis it can be argued that the Maternity Bill may not be as progressive as it sounds as it can further make women less desirable as employees in free market enterprises. For example, employers would like to avoid employees who may take half a year off in the foreseeable future.

When it comes to ensuring Gender Justice in India, the three arms of the government – legislative, executive and judiciary – have to work in tandem for a Gender Just nation. We still have a long road to traverse.

(Ravi Prakash is an Advocate based in Delhi and Patna.)

(This article is carried in May-June 2017 issue of India Foundation Journal)

“The State shall endeavour to secure for citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.”

                                                                                –  Article 44, Directive Principles of State Policy, Indian Constitution

A Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is one where a common set of civil laws replace personal laws i.e. laws that find their authority from customs, religious scriptures etc., for citizens of a country. Personal law deals with issues of adoption, maintenance, divorce, marriage and inheritance. UCC has been a point of contention for several decades, having emerged as a political tool to fuel election campaigns rather than a truly acted upon development agenda. While highly politicised debates surround it, a key issue that has emerged in the UCC is the submergence of equal rights for women under personal laws. Personal laws stem from highly patriarchal structures and women have historically not been engaged in their formation. While some effort has been made to bring greater uniformity and reforms in personal laws, the efforts remain in the form of piecemeal offerings. Here, we ask and assess if India is sacrificing gender justice at the altar of preserving personal laws.

A common contention by those factions opposed to demands for a UCC is their argument that a Uniform Civil Code only seeks to reform Muslim laws in India; however, in practice, such reform would extend to personal laws of all religions in order to form a Uniform Civil Code that applies equally to all citizens of India. Talk on UCC has become more of a political tool and means of minority appeasement. Those who oppose the UCC have also not been able to account for needs and processes to ensure gender justice without a UCC.

Examples of how personal laws negatively affect women in some of the religions practiced in India are:

Parsi personal law:

• If a Parsi woman marries someone who isn’t a Parsi, their children are not accepted as part of the Parsi community. However this does not apply to a Parsi man marrying outside the Parsi community.
• A non-Parsi woman who is married to or is the widow of a Parsi man cannot inherit on his death though their children can inherit.
• Hindu personal law:

• If a married woman dies without having any children, her property, under the Hindu Succession Act, is inherited by the heirs of her husband and not her own.
• Section 6(a) of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act gives the father the status of the natural guardian in the case of a legitimate child. The need for equality of rights of natural guardianship between both parents is ignored.
• Hindu men are also allowed to practise bigamy under certain conditions in Goa, although Goa claims to be the only State to have a Uniform Civil Code in place.
• Muslim personal law:

• The practise of Talaq-e-bidat (triple talaq) allows for a Muslim man to divorce his wife instantaneously by uttering the word talaq three times in one sitting, a Muslim woman must follow a legal procedure after obtaining her husband’s consent to be able to get a divorce.
• Allows for a Muslim man to have multiple wives.
• The practice of Nikah Halala determines that a Muslim woman is not allowed to remarry the husband who has divorced her unless she first marries another man and consummates that marriage.

The examples above highlight the issue with respect to personal laws and gender justice. These laws are highly regressive, unequal and a reflection of entrenched patriarchy in the evolution of personal laws and power structures.  There are also gaps in personal laws that do not account for measures needed for empowerment of women and marginalised sections. While a UCC will greatly further gender equality, it also needs to ensure that these gaps are acknowledged and worked upon. The UCC must emerge as more than just a compilation of the most gender-just provisions of personal laws. It must aspire for codification of laws that govern personal matters in an encompassing and just manner across all states in India.

Women’s rights movements and civil society organisations have long called for a Uniform Civil Code. Women of minority communities, especially Muslim communities have also raised their voice against gender discriminatory practices in personal laws. There are now several who are propagating for reforms in personal laws. Such reforms also find backing in various judgements.

The Indian judiciary has also clearly outlined the negative impact of personal laws on women and gender equality in several of its judgements. It was the Mohd. Ahmed Khan vs. Shah Bano Begum & Ors.^[1] case of 1985 that gave a heightened media visibility to the need for a UCC to remove conflict in personal and civil laws, promote national integration and gender equality. Similar judgements observing the need for a UCC have been made over the years. A recent judgement, Prakash & Ors. vs. Phulavati & Ors.^[2] 2015, observes gender discrimination under and as an effect of personal laws as a violation of fundamental rights as guaranteed by the Constitution under Articles 14, 15 and 21, that deal with the right to life with dignity and equality.

Several scholars state reliance on case verdicts as possible legal recourse for affected women rather than the formulation of a Uniform Civil Code. As for example, in the Shamim Ara v State of U.P. & Anr.^[3], 2002, it was held by the Supreme Court that instantaneous triple talaq does not end a marriage. While certain judgements have definitely struck down some discriminatory practices in personal laws over the years, there remains a need to codify it to make the law clear on such issues and the legal process simpler for women to access. It is required so that exertion of fundamental human rights of each individual woman does not become a legal battle. Calls for uniformity of rights or step by step reforms within personal laws itself over a Uniform Civil Code ring hollow as they fail to account for additional measures that need to be codified to aid women empowerment and equality. A step by step approach also fails to assess the damage the delay causes in realisation of women rights in personal spaces.

^[1] Link to judgment: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/823221/

^[2] Link to judgment: http://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/judgments/announcement.php?WID=6699

^[3] Link to judgment: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/332673/

(Vandita Morarka is an independent policy consultant and gender rights facilitator. She is currently engaged at Safecity as the Policy, Legal and UN Liaison Officer.)

(This article is carried in the print edition of May-June 2017 issue of India Foundation Journal)

When I first visited Siringsiya village in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand two years ago, while working with an NGO,  the first thing that I came across is still beautifully imprinted on my mind. One of the Self-Help Groups of women was having their weekly meeting. Everyone was intently listening to a woman sharing how she beat her husband few days back when he used all their savings over liquor. He beat her too in retaliation. There was a sympathetic understanding among the women hearing this. They inspected her wounds. The victim now was seeking a sustainable solution from the other members of the group. After much deliberation, it was decided that all of them will go and talk to the husband. The women made a few visits to the husband and the intensity of their conversations turned from warm to heated. I came to know much later that eventually the husband stopped hitting his wife. He was also seen less in aninebriated state.

A couple of years back, the highlights of local newspapers of Jharkhand were about women and women collectives marching and rallying in the streets against illegal liquor shops in the villages and small towns of Jharkhand. In effect, the block offices had to act and close down some of the liquor shops.

The above two instances give us an inspiring picture of gendered spaces and potentially fair justice system within the Adivasi community of Jharkhand. But is it really true? This paper attempts to understand gender relations, norms and bargaining of these norms within and outside the Adivasi community of Jharkhand. Different boundaries of the Adivasi eco-system are explored in order to understand the dynamics of gender. However, it does not necessarily give a holistic account of the Adivasis of Jharkhand.

Adivasi Women – Their Home and Their World

Historical evidence has suggested the multi-faceted role that Adivasi women play in their eco-systems. The status of these women in their society is determined by that role. Adivasi women are known to have an astute knowledge of their jungle and its resources. They play a key role in the economic sustenance of their communities. In addition to working on their own or others’ farms as laborers, engaging in off-farm work like MGNREGA or at construction sites in cities, the women work in the forests collecting forest produce or firewood for domestic requirements or income throughout the year.

If we take into account the role of Adivasi women and their jungle, an interesting observation could be found in the Adivasi carvings and murals in large parts of the erstwhile Chhotanagpur region, which were centred on natural forests. They invoked images of fertility among nature and the women. (Rycroft,1996) An important point to note here is the symbolic construction of the special relationship of Adivasi women with their natural environment, which had a basis in the prevailing gender divisions of labour. This division ascribed the responsibility of fetching forest produce on women (Damodaran,1997).

But it is becoming increasingly difficult for Adivasi women, to be able to contribute to her household and community in this role. Forests are greatly impacted by the forest policies and the forest and environment policies in India today are influenced by the global climate change policies and the neoliberal markets. These forest policies which displace the Adivasi community from their otherwise democratic and participatory governance of forests, predominantly hits the Adivasi women. Furthermore, with rising mining activities, Adivasis are increasingly being displaced or alienated from their forests and lands. With control over their forests eventually abrading, due to Forest Acts and industrial acquisitions, Adivasis in general and Adivasi women in particular are left in a void with nothing to fend for themselves and their families, especially in case of any exigency.

Intra and Inter Gender Conflict

Another inexplicable yet potential form of conflict around the issue of gender and forests within the Adivasis put forward by Sarah Jewitt depicts the ostracization over the lack of a particular skill to cut down a tree. Men in some villages are believed to be aware of the techniques to cut tress in a way that stimulates forest regeneration. Only women know of this technique. Though the administration system of Adivasis is believed to be that of collective ownership, the resource related decision making is mostly male-dominated. Hence men do not appreciate women cutting the trees. It has been popularized that women cutting trees stunts tree growth. Despite the indispensable and traditional gendered roles and indigenous knowledge that Adivasi women are endowed with, which also finds articulation in their murals, they fail to create an equivalent assertive space for them outside art.

Additionally, there can also be intra gender imbalances while considering the forest spaces. Relatively more affluent backward caste women consider themselves superior to the Adivasis. They dominate the gathering processes.

Adivasis in rural Jharkhand are majorly engaged in small-scale agriculture and allied activities. Most farming activities like sowing, transplanting, weeding and post-harvest activities are undertaken only by women. Women work as laborers, either in their own fields or of their neighbors and relatives. An interesting note to make in this regard is that in these agricultural communities, women touching the plough are regarded as a bad omen. So, ploughing the field mysteriously becomes the major agricultural activity. This relegates all other transplanting and cutting jobs as menial. Consequentially, this makes men an authority in decision making in the farm too. So, if the woman wants to farm in her land separately from or in case of the absence of the male member of the family, she either must pay someone to plough her land or if she does not have the resources, not grow anything in her field, or work in someone else’s field as a laborer.

If we consider gender bargaining over general task allocation, in addition to all the farm activities, the tiresome household jobs like fetching water, looking after the kids, cooking and cleaning etc. are in most instances ascribed to women. Besides, there seems to be a lack of convergence in the introduction of innovative specialized climate friendly farming systems on the one hand and training and building capacity in the Adivasi women on the other. They still depend on traditional farming practices involving much drudgery and labor. Furthermore, with such rigid compartmentalization of roles, with respect to forest and farm, increasing migration percentages from the rural areas augments gender imbalance.

Migration and Gender Dynamics

According to the Journal of Economic and Social Development, Jharkhand’s seasonal migration results in about 20% to 33% of the family members remaining out of villages for four to nine months. The journal also says that most of the women migrate with the men and that during agricultural off-season most of the houses in the villages are locked. Nevertheless, another perspective has evidences of men migrating in off-seasons to towns or even different statesleaving the women, children and family behind. There is a popular Santhali song which depicts the idea of more men migrating while the women expressing their helplessness over the absence of men from the village with whom they can’t dance to celebrate the advent of New Year on Sarhul.

Villages with relatively fertile tract of land and better farming opportunities do consist of men who do not migrate often for work, but this premise goes non-supplemented due to the uneven distribution of rainfall, land and resources. Some other villages have MGNREGA work during the agricultural off-season of the year. This engages both men and women in off-farm work inside or near their villages. Owing to the uncertainty of work generation in MGNREGA, it has curbed excessive migration, but only to an extent. Though NGOs and Krishi Vikas Kendras aim to provide training to farmers for incorporating better and innovative farming practices, farmer trainings and acquired skills can hardly be expended in case of uncertain monsoon adversely affecting produce and market.

In the absence of men from families, the responsibility of bread (arranging for food and resources with or without the money sent or given by the earning male) and butter (appeasing and catering to the day to day family tantrums and requirements) all falls solely upon the woman of the family. She temporarily gets promoted to the titular household-head position. So, she can mostly be found dealing with the apprehension of her husband’s return to the village on the one hand and managing the entire household by herself on the other. To add up to the income of the family, young girls from these communities are pushed to take up jobs at construction sites or as domestic help in faraway cities and towns.

The lack of education and wellbeing of these girls or the unstructured and precarious nexus that they often fall prey to is another alarming area of concern. Adivasi women are acutely affected by migration of the male members of the family and are dependent on the forests and farms for their survival – spheres where their roles are rather massive, traditionally too. It is imperative that vocally and actively Adivasi women reiterate and claim the spaces and roles that already belong to them.

If we consider the Adivasi community, we find that alcohol plays a crucial role in Adivasi society in rural Jharkhand. Hadia and Mahua (made out of seasonal flowers) is produced by a large number of Adivasi households for self-consumption as well as for sale. In addition to being used for enjoyment, these drinks hold an indispensable part in the festivals to celebrate agricultural cycles, ceremonies, or even to appease the ancestors or guests. Due to this awareness, or in the absence of proper awareness, the urban eyes usually perceive the Adivasis as drunkards and uncivilized. A gendered dimension to this view asserts the popular belief that Adivasi men drink and beat their women and portray women as victims.

Not contradicting this popular narrative, but a look at another aspect of Adivasi community reveals women and men equally partaking in the act of drinking. Either women or men process or produce the alcohol, serve it and drink it. Not ascribing empowerment to the act of drinking, per se, but if one comes to think of the relative freedom enjoyed by women in the process of alcohol production and consumption, gender dimensions find no imbalance. During a candid chat one evening with a household from a different village, I asked the women whether she ever felt differential treatment meted out to her from other men due to her drinking. Her husband and she replied in amazing unison, ‘Why will they belittle me if they themselves are doing it?’

That evening, I was also informed about the marriage of one of the daughters of the same household who had met her groom in the annual fair and had decided to get married. To settle my apprehensive eyes, the father told me that since I was educated, I would understand it better that only a girl can know and choose whom she can be happy with.

These anecdotes could certainly be sporadic, but do give us an idea of the much simpler and pristine process of everyday lives in the Adivasi community. Plethora of reports and indicators has depicted the abysmal state of the socio-economic and human development indicators of Adivasis. But the social status of Adivasi women if compared with the ‘upper’ castes in the villages or towns of India comes out as more emancipated and powerful.

Power of the Community

Undoubtedly, there also have been customs and practices which have constantly brought distress and disempowerment of women within the community. For instance, social practices like witch-hunting, though have been relatively declining, still occupies a central place in Adivasi cosmology. The same household that was asked about their drinking habits got offended when asked about killing their daughters for honor. It might not be ideal to compare the gender bargaining with regards to these social dimensions. The asymmetricity of the gender relations between the relatively educated and evolved urban spaces and gender relations in the Adivasi communities are very stark and complex. Justice or freedom could be an abstract idea meaning different to different people. But the essence of that meaning should be contextually explored, comprehended and implemented.

What was identical in the two instances mentioned at the beginning of the paper, of rallying against illegal liquor, and settling a domestic abuse in a village was the collective participation and effort of women towards claiming for anarticulate and equal space. Development workers working for gender equality in this Adivasi heartland work towards helping address health, education, sanitation and agricultural first and then by focusing on their rights and building capacities in them through Self Help Groups or farmer collectives. This is how the Adivasi women are enabled to acknowledge and collectively relate with the gender related issues.

Women rights groups and NGOs have increasingly adapted the community based approach to further the case of Gender Justice. With ‘women for women victims’ approach, nyayasamitis and nariadalats run in some districts of Jharkhand. They hold para-legal courts in villages and in most cases deliver justice faster than the courts of law. This collectively powerful approach supports the victims by motivating more and more people to come out with their violations who are otherwise afraid of the tedious process of law. Secondly, they are facilitated for a quick redressal of their issues.

Gender prescribes how gender relations in a society should be rather than recognizing how we are. It ascribes Adivasi men to come out and participate in the economic and political sphere but Adivasi women, who as compared to non-adivasi women, traditionally enjoy a fairer equality status in their communities, succumb to the larger narrative of gender inequality. In all our anecdotes, women have made a community led change possible, by organizing themselves and claiming their spaces by acting as a collective. Instead of uniforming them into the skewed urban idea of freedom and gender relations, one must try to incorporate their essence and together make their rightful spaces available in social, economic and political spheres.

If the status of women were traditionally decided by the role that they played in their communities, then Adivasi women have been playing much arduous and dominant roles, without recognition, in their society. This reality must be exhibited and put forth increasingly in the political and economic spheres. Activists must critically reflect on their idea of gendered spaces, their idea and vision of empowerment – one which does not alienate men from women as far asAdivasi community is concerned. They should rather bringboth of them together, as one force. For a holistic way of looking at gender balance within the Adivasi community, every facet discussed above as well as every other facet which affects the day to day lives of Adivasis should be taken into account.

(Arundhita Bhanjdeo is pursuing her PhD from Charles Sturt University, Australia.)  

 (This article is carried in the print edition of May-June 2017 issue of India Foundation Journal.)

 

Almost 80 people have lost their lives after being hunted down as witches in the last six years in Assam. Most of those who were killed were women. The popular narrative that exists regarding witch-hunting is that ‘superstitious tribal groups in the villages due to lack of education and scientific temperament target people as witches’. But why is that most victims are women? Mostly single, relatively well-to-do women. So, of course superstition has very little to do with it. Most of the survivors or their families we had spoken to pointed out the fact that the attacks were well-planned with the intent to usurp property or land. While witch hunting has existed in certain tribal groups such as the Mishings for centuries, the current practice of hunting women as witches goes beyond such age-old practices. Also, the practice is now spreading to non-tribal groups or tribal groups with no known history of witch hunting. What does this indicate then? A report by the organisation Partners in Law and Development, taking into account data from different states, says that 86 per cent of the primary targets of witch-hunting are women, and of these most fall in the age group of 40-60 years. So not just those women who are typically seen as vulnerable, such as single women and widows, but also the ones ‘secure’ in their marital families face the threat of witch-hunting.

North East Network (NEN) has been vociferous in demanding an anti-witch hunt legislation for the State but the bill has still not got the final approval. There are also other concerns around the present bill like a lack of nuanced understanding of the terms witchcraft and witchhunt, bez and ojha, both loosely used as terms for those who identify a certain person as a witch, and the differences between Assamese and Bodo languages. Activists worry that it does not focus enough on prevention. Professor Upen Rabha Hakasam of the department of folklore, Gauhati University, has personally faced the menace of witch-hunting as his own cousin, married in a well to do, highly educated household, had fallen prey to it. He says, ‘The British had been able to abolish the abhorrent practice of Sati by law. Why can’t our government use the law to abolish witch-hunting?’

The Making of a Witch

Women have been the face of evil in fairy tales and folklores for centuries, like Tejimola’s evil stepmother in one of Assam’s folktales. There are male ghosts too but in literature or motion pictures, the fear invoked by the woman with supernatural powers remains unmatched. Power in men is supposed to be a part of their natural being. There is a matter of factness about it. But women are inherently supposed to be defenceless and fragile. For them to have strong powers is an aberration. At times they are allowed to be wonder women, in ways that retain their attractiveness under the male gaze. But more frequently media and mythology suggest that they tend to get consumed by their own prowess more often than men. It is Eve who bit into the apple and because of her that all hell broke loose.

There are many ways in which this mystery, and then mistrust, around women’s capabilities gets built. In villages or cities, when there are programmes to raise awareness around reproductive issues men would keep out of it or would be asked to stay out. What happens is that instead of understanding there is fear or contempt for the reproductive capabilities of women’s bodies. One woman was targeted as a witch because during her menstruation she noticed some other emissions and when she went to a doctor about it, it became a matter of public knowledge and, soon, fear.

Then there is this hostility towards the hungry woman. She is the antonym to the woman who starves and fasts for others in the family and never says she is hungry even if she is malnourished. A woman who acknowledges this hunger and wants it satiated becomes a witch who feeds on the flesh and blood of others to strengthen herself. Anita Rabha, 58, lives in Baida village in Lakhipur block of Goalpara district. Years ago, a boy in her area suffered a dog bite. His father consulted a kobiraj, who acted like a traditional doctor for villagers. The kobiraj said that he would not be able to cure the boy. When the boy died, another kobiraj said that he had been eaten by a witch and pointed to Anita’s house. Perhaps it wasn’t an entire coincidence that this second kobiraj was related to Anita and her spouse, and had been in dispute with them over a piece of land. At this juncture, Anita received the support of her maternal family, who brought the couple to their home after they got driven out of their own house, but Birbal Rabha, her spouse, decided to separate from her. She now works at the local thana, the police station, washing utensils and clothes. She talks of how her younger son is finding it tough to pass the matriculation exam. Once he does, she says, he could get a driving licence and a job as a driver. Anita’s daughter, 22, is in her third year of college and had also been going to computer classes but is not studying at present because of a problem with her hand. One doctor has diagnosed her with arthritis. Wrenched away from her home and village and fending for herself and her children, Anita worries as her own age diminishes her capabilities. When she does get some time, she tries to attend meetings of AMSS, the Assam Mahila Samata Samiti, which has been staunchly fighting the practice of witch-hunting.

The Prejudice of the Educated

It is believed that lack of education is the cause of witch-hunting in villages. But are the educated free of prejudice? The headmaster of Baida Junior College, Listiram Rabha, is also the honorary founder principal there. When asked about the practice of witch-hunting he says, ‘When a dakini commits malpractices, she gets beaten up by the public. I would say they should not be killed. They should get a chance to rectify themselves’. He recalls having acted as a mediator in many cases and saved the practitioners of witchcraft from the public, and the public from the law.

He continues to talk about the practice of dark rituals, ‘There is an oppodevata, a god with a supernatural, malevolent force that some people tame. If this force is sent to harm someone, the person would fall so ill that no doctor would be able to cure him. The patient would then have to offer some sacrifice. Content with this offering, the force will then help the practitioner again in the future when they summon the god. I saw on television that in a lady’s house in Guwahati, curtains get set on fire. Such things are the work of the gods that I speak of. To tame such gods is a big art and Rabhas are experts in this’.

While he condemns the violent methods of witch-hunting, he speaks of the importance of education not in reforming the hunters but in transforming those he calls the practitioners, ‘Education is increasing. Tantric practices around here have gone down by about 60 per cent. People are going out to study but there aren’t as many women doing this. They should’.

Beyond the Law

But outside of the law too there have been attempts by artists to focus on the implications of witch-hunting, while activists use art to bolster their campaign. AMSS has travelled twenty villages with its play, along with putting up 200 awareness camps. There are films like Aei Maatite, Witch-Hunt Diaries and Jangfai Jonak. 

Working for years now on ground zero, through village level branches called sanghas, members of the organisations say that there has been a decrease in the number of murders because of witch-hunting, though many cases of ostracisation and assault are still there. The survivors who would previously hesitate to report cases are much more confident now. They talk of instances when the police demanded affidavits from women saying they would not withdraw their complaints. Some survivors also end up joining the organisation. Women have started demanding property rights. AMSS members visit the homes of women employed as labour, as carpenters and stone cutters, and get them registered so they have economic stability and are not completely vulnerable or dependent. AMSS adds that the power wielded by ojhas has weakened, and people have started going more to doctors; health centres in villages have helped.

AMSS itself has faced assault by villagers, who feared that the organisation would report them to the police. They called the women witches and their leaders like Mamoni and Birubala head witches. But the organisation did not take legal action against them because they wanted people to realise what they were doing was wrong, which they ultimately did and apologised.

It’s Not Black and White

In trying to understand witch-hunting, if we look at each case carefully, there seem to be some immediate causes like deep-set prejudices against women, poor health, education and economic status, inter- and intra-familial rivalries, ignorance and superstition. But a superior, patronising approach of relegating these features only to certain sections of society, marginalised in terms of gender, social or economic status, won’t help. For example, there are enough incidents to show that the practice also goes on in families with ample money and education. So it is clear that something like non-conformism by women is punished across classes. In villages, women whose spouses treat them well, as equal partners, have been called witches. In cities, if a woman is loved and respected by her partner, she is asked what magic she had to resort to in order to keep the man in her ‘control’.

Similarly, rather than assuming that witch-hunting takes place in certain societies because they are ‘backward’ and uneducated would be taking a myopic view of things. In his paper ‘Assam’s Tale of Witch-hunting and Indigeneity’, Debarshi Prasad Nath makes some important larger connections, like linking witch-hunting to an aggressive, revivalist effort to establish cultural identities in a state where identity conflicts over resources are a common feature. Nath talks of how Bodo history doesn’t have records of witch-hunts. He relates the frequency of witch-hunting in Bodo communities to a possible attempt by Bodo people to integrate themselves with an ancient part of Assamese history. Nath’s paper suggests the possibility of witch-hunting being a skewed step towards a community’s resistance against a homogenisation imposed by majoritarian groups. The infamous witch-hunting incident that took place in Majuli in Assam comes to mind where for three days in 2013 even the police could/did not enter the area to intervene.

Along with a nuanced understanding of the triggers to witch-hunting while working with perpetrators, there also needs to be a patient unearthing of unsaid narratives of the survivors. NEN’s Anurita Pathak points out that in many cases the victims can hope to get some kind of justice only after they are dead. But witch-hunting is not just an isolated incident. It is often a protracted process that can also include sexual violence, stalking, disrobing, molestation, acid attacks and public humiliation, rejecting sexual advances being one of the causes. Due to stigma and resignation to the fact that the survivors have to continue to live amongst their attackers, many of these stories never come to the fore, leading to not just a denial of justice but also a never-articulated demand for it.

(Ankita Anand is a Delhi based scribe reporting on gender, labour and human rights. Nasreen Habib is the Editor of the Eclectic North East magazine)

(This article is carried in the print edition of May-June 2017 issue of India Foundation Journal)

In the process of implementing the new constitution promulgated on September 20, 2015, the government of Nepal decided to hold local elections of Village Councils and municipalities on May 14, 2017. Ever since the announcement of date for the local elections, the government and other major political parties seem to have made adequate preparations to conduct local elections. But the United Democratic Madheshi Front (UDMF), an alliance of seven mainstream Madhesh-based political parties, have determined to thwart any attempt by the government to hold elections in Terai region, which largely borders Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

There has not been local body election in Nepal over last twenty years. As such, at the surface level the justification for holding local election in the country cannot be undermined. But the Madheshi people take the local elections as an attempt to give continuity to discrimination as it is being imposed on them without giving any consideration to their demands for change in constitution through its necessary amendments.

Now only five weeks time is left for holding the elections. But the nation is in disarray not certain whether the elections will really be held or not. Of the three major cluster ethnic groups in Nepal, only the Khas Arya group constituting Bahun and Chhetri castes of people who have been at the helm of affairs in state mechanism are in support of local elections. But over two-thirds of the the Madheshis and hill Janajati people in the country are opposed to it.

One of the fundamental reasons for which the Madheshi people have been boycotting local elections is that their share in Village Councils and municipalities is only 34 per cent. Since the Madhesh region accounts for over 51 per cent of Nepal’s total population, the people in this region want at least half of the total 744 of such units in proportion to their population.

Moreover, the Madheshis hold the view that local elections are under the jurisdiction of provincial and not the central government. So they want the issue of demarcation of provincial boundaries to be settled first before holding parliamentary, provincial and local elections.

Unfortunately though, the present constitution proved more controversial than any of the constitutions that were promulgated in the country in the past. A section of the society support the constitution for it gives continuity to centuries old feudal rule. On the other hand, the other section of the society treats the constitution as most regressive for its failure to address their concerns. Therefore, there was jubilation in one part of the country on the day the constitution was promulgated; while in the other part people observed the event as ‘black day.’

In order to pressurize the government to address their grievances, the UDMF had launched general strike in the Terai region in 2015-16 in which all the industries, agriculture activities, shops, educational institutions and hospitals remained closed for months together. Also, the region faced acute scarcity of goods, particularly the LPG Gas and petroleum products during the five-month long economic blockade at the main custom points, including at Birgunj-Raxaul along Indo-Nepal border. Over and above, nearly sixty protesters of UDMF were killed and thousands of them were injured during the excesses committed by the security forces. Human rights violations crossed all the limits during that period.

Subsequently, before becoming Prime Minister in August 2016, Pushpa Kamal Dahal signed three-point agreement with UDMF leaders to make the constitution inclusive. Towards this end, the government introduced a bill in the parliament for re-drawing of the provincial boundaries through the amendment of the constitution. But to the dismay of UDMF leaders, the government later on kept the issue of amendment of constitution on hold and announced the date for holding the local election in its bid to distract people’s attention from the core issues of Madheshis and other dissatisfied groups.

Also, to add fuel to the flame of discontentment among the Madheshi people, KP Sharma Oli, former Prime Minister and leader of Communist Party of Nepal – Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), launched Mechi-Mahakali tour in the Madhesh region to prepare ground for imposing local elections. Unfortunately, when Oli tried to play with the sentiments of the local people in Rajbiraj, one of the important townships in eastern Madhesh region, people made peaceful demonstrations on March 6 in which five UDMF activists were brutally killed and many more were injured.

Ever since the Rajbiraj incident, the UDMF is engaged in protest programmes to foil any attempt of the government to hold local elections. In this regard, the Madheshi people have been padlocking government offices and organizing protest rallies in different districts in the region.

Now there is a growing pressure on the lawmakers of Madhesh-based political parties to resign from the parliament. Those political parties have only 45 lawmakers in the 595-member parliament and so they are weak there. Nevertheless, they are quite strong on the roads of Madhesh.

At a time confrontation between the Madheshi agitating groups and the government seems unavoidable on local election issue, the ultra-radical groups in Madhesh who are in favour of independence of this region are becoming more vocal. Youth between the age group of 18 and 25 years are getting more and more radicalized. On account of the failure of the mainstream Madhesh-based political parties to secure rightful place for the Madheshis in the constitution, the radical forces have intensified advocacy for the independence of the region.

However, the radicalization of Madhesh is not in the interest of India. It is likely to invite greater turmoil in Madhesh region, which might affect India’s security. Therefore, before holding elections at local, provincial or central levels, India needs to play active role in bringing all the parties on board through the amendment of the constitution for which it is committed. Nepal’s constitution cannot be implemented effectively and peace and stability cannot be maintained in Terai region in particular and Nepal in general until the demands of the dissatisfied groups are addressed.

(Professor Hari Bansh Jha is Executive Director of Centre for Economic and Technical Studies in Nepal)

At a BBC interview recently the  correspondent was asking about the Uttar Pradesh mandate and the choice of Yogi Adityanath as the Chief Minister. This has been talk of the town among the so-called liberal intelligentsia in the last few days. The questions naturally ranged from the controversial statements in the past attributed to Yogi to the Ram Janmabhoomi to anti-Romeo squads etc.

There may be certain reasons for these questions being asked and Yogi will have to respond to them through his actions as the Chief Minister. Those who know him will vouch for the fact that contrary to the stereotype image that Yogi enjoys especially in the hostile media, he is a quintessential politician known for his work among the masses without any discrimination or ill-will. He has been a Member of Parliament for the last five terms from Gorakhpur, a border town on Indo-Nepal border in Uttar Pradesh.

The Gorakhnath Peeth, which he heads, is a prominent Hindu shrine and institution with a millennia old history of serving the community in India as well as Nepal. The institution houses many activities including a famous temple. The place is known for its  catholicity and religious grandeur providing livelihood to thousands including people of non-Hindu religions as well.

As the head of one of the prominent Hindu institutions that has been closely associated with movements like Goraksha (Cow protection), Ghar Wapsi, (Reconversion) and Ram Janmabhoomi, Yogi has inevitably been at the receiving end of a section of the overzealous liberal media establishment. The association of the institution with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad for a very long time and the association between the royal family of Nepal and the institution have also been unbearable for the liberal elite of the Lutyen’s Delhi.

Nobody, except Yogi himself, can explain away the kind of utterances  attributed to him. In the erstwhile utterly lawless and superly surcharged lands of eastern Uttar Pradesh, many acts and deeds, undertaken out of sheer necessity of protecting the good also have the potential of becoming controversial. Additionally our intelligentsia has mastered the art of twisting and quoting out-of-context the statements of leaders like Yogi. His innumerable speeches, Parliamentary interventions and public utterances in the course of last many years exhorting the people of the country to be united, work for the country and culture etc are simply brushed under the carpet, and what are pulled out of the  closet are a couple of statements that seem to have controversial overtones.

This they do, not just to Yogi, but  everyone they dislike. Their dislike can be a product of many things, including the saffron attire of Yogi. They don the mantle of pseudo-moral superiority and assume self-proclaimed authority to sit over judgement on everybody and everything.

Tragedy is, this time round they find their breed fast diminishing and their influence waning greatly. They were expecting that the Uttar Pradesh results would throw up a hung Assembly and they would somehow manage to see that the BJP is kept away from power. But the results proved otherwise giving a shock for their lifetime. The magnitude of BJP’s victory was enormous. On the back of it came Yogi’s elevation as the Chief Minister. It has become too unbearable for them. Thus they turn to abuses.

That Yogi is a popular leader elected five times from his constituency is  inconsequential for them. That not a single charge against Yogi has been  conclusively proved in court of law is also immaterial. ‘Even if he has not made any incendiary statements, but some person has made them from the same dais and Yogi didn’t protest’, thus goes their goal-shifting argument.

In fact one correspondent argued with me about a statement on conversions attributed to Yogi. ‘If one Hindu is  converted to Islam, we will convert 100 Muslims to Hinduism’, Yogi is accused of having said. Whether he had said so or not could be confirmed by Yogi alone. But I asked the correspondent as to what was the incendiary part of that statement! If conversion from one religion to another is right, how can conversion the other way be wrong? He said, ‘how can he say  hundred for one’? So the great liberal argument is all about ‘Arithmetic’, not about any ‘Principle’! If conversions are right, reconversions also should be deemed right.

Yogi’s detractors are the same ones who raised the bogey of ‘minorities in  danger’ when Modi became the Prime Minister. They were hoping against hope that there would be communal riots all over the country and they could earn their bread and butter out of the communal cauldron. But PM Modi dashed their hopes to the ground. Last two and a half years have seen absolute communal harmony in the country. Barring few sporadic incidents of communal tensions the country largely remained peaceful and harmonious.

Now they are again hoping that under Yogi-Raj there would be communal  clashes in Uttar Pradesh and they could prove their point. What they forget is that the agenda for the country has been set by PM Modi and all the BJP-ruled states are an integral part of Modi’s vision and mission. Whether it is Trivendra in Uttarakhand or Birendra in Manipur or Yogindra in Uttar Pradesh, all will follow the footsteps of Narendra in Delhi, with singular focus on a transparent and development-focused government  committed to social good, communal  harmony and development of all.

(The writer is Director of India Foundation and National General Secretary of the BJP)

The article was published in Organiser, April 2, 2017 issue.

~ By Raj K Mitra and Shailesh Jha

It is always possible to bind together a considerable number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive the manifestations of their aggressiveness. – Sigmund Freud

If we talk to a political analyst today about the overarching trend in global politics, chances are that the comparison of the world today with that in the 1930s will be easily invoked. There are indeed familiar themes – rising racial intolerance, trade protectionism, hostility to immigration, insecurity about technological progress, frustration with conventional politics and the search for a “hero” amid this confusion. Theoretically, it’s a fertile ground for right-wing populism.

Familiar as these motifs may seem, history may rhyme, but it rarely repeats itself. The rise of right-wing politics we see today has similarity in its origins to the inter-war right-wing radicalism in Europe. It has its genesis in the Great Recession of 2008-09, much as that of the right-wing politics of the 1930s lay in the Great Depression and the collapse of the Gold Standard. That said, the legacy of the current right-wing political resurgence, in the decades to come, is likely to be less violent, but more enduring in its impact on the global economic order.

It is tempting indeed to generalize and basket all nationalist political parties–from Donald Trump’s Republicans in the US to Theresa May’s Conservatives in the UK, from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party in Russia to Narendra Modi’s BJP in India –as the manifestation of a global revival of authoritarian, exclusivist politics. However, much of what is called the “Right” today is defined less by what it is, and more by what it is not–an opposition to the left-of-the-centre social democratic political bloc.

Perhaps, it’s a natural product of radical political and economic challenges in “extraordinary times” – when old powers are waning and new alliances are taking center stage. And, in this sense, even President Xi Jinping’s pro-Market faction within the Chinese Communist Party could be considered an incarnation of an alternative to the traditional Left. It is better then, perhaps to describe, the rise of the Right as the displacement of the left-liberal social-democratic political consensus.These alternatives to the center-left occupy a large spectrum. Like a spectrum, the ideological colorsare varying combinations of three primary ingredients- protectionism, intolerance to immigration, and welfare chauvinism.

It is not as if concerns and policies of the 21^st century right-wing parties are entirely novel. Ironically, the political Left has often voiced before their modern anxieties about globalization and inequality. What then led to the collapse of that classic left-wing mobilization called Occupy Wall Street and the appropriation of its concerns by the Right? Fundamental changes to the labor market structure, greater global connectivity, highly opinionated dissemination of information and a misplaced faith in the wisdom of markets to distribute the fruits of globalization might be some explanations. We explore how each of these trends has affected the three aforementioned ingredients that form the blueprint of the modern Right’s political philosophy.

Protectionism

To understand the emergence of protectionism and the Right’s increasing opposition to the flow of capital and goods since the Great Recession, we need to turn our clocks a few decades back. The 1980s-90s saw the state’s retreat from economic activity around the world, though at different rates. Thatcher demolished the sick parts of British socialist state and welfare system, Reagan rationalized taxes, China opened its doors cautiously to the private sector, India embraced market reforms and in dozens of eastern European states, the Soviet-style command economy was being replaced by a private sector gradually integrating itself to the EU market.

Open competition was politically endorsed. Talented immigrants were welcomed across borders. Through mergers, acquisitions and internationalizations, firms expanded on a global scale. The transformation brought about by the rise of Internet, telecommunications and financial deregulations in emerging markets was almost as paradigmatic as that of the invention of steam engine and printing press in the West centuries earlier, particularly because, these societies had been at the exploitative end in the previous golden age of globalization (1870-1914). Per capita income in many developing countries doubled or trebled in a generation and inflation began to converge steadily towards a lower global average.

At the same time, these years of tumultuous resurgence in emerging markets produced some losers too –mainly workers in Europe, the US and the UK who lost out to their cheaper counterparts in China, East Asia, Latin America and former Soviet satellite states. However, this wasn’t perceived as a problem so long as de-industrialization in developed countries was compensated with an expansion in lending to households, by national and international banks. During 1980-2007, international bank lending rose a hundredfold, from USD324 billion to USD35 trillion. Markets, bankers and politicians were betting on a better future and rising incomes to help bring about a convergence in income levels of people across borders; until 15 September 2008.

British philosopher John Dunn presciently categorized the developed world society in the latter 1990s, early 2000s into three tiers – those who can take good care of themselves in the market economy (educated elite and talented immigrants); those who can hold their own because they belong to surviving units of collective action with a threat advantage out of all proportion to their value of labor (bureaucrats, PSU employees); and those who are already going under because no one would choose to pay much for their labor (blue-collar white workers). It is this last group whose ranks have swelled and voices become strident in the last nine years. Strangely, the rise in inequality did little to raise the appeal for the radical Left, which had been consistently critical of globalization and had for generations claimed a dominant share of votes among economically disenfranchised voters.

In addition, the paucity of left-wing ideas in the economic sphere to break new grounds beyond Karl Marx has challenged the Left’s alternative standing to traditional political parties – in India and elsewhere – as those ideas increasingly seem based on the interpretation of a world that probably existed in the 1950s. Instead, the Left has banked heavily on its authoritarian patronage politics and forceful exclusion of the non-patronized to stay relevant. Consequently, the Left has been usurped by the Right rhetoric of defending a strong welfare state and protecting social welfare benefits.

The deindustrialization and rise in unemployment in developed countries in the past two decades was not the result of capitalists preying on labor and replacing them with machines, but rather finding a new working class eager to take up production process – in Bangladesh, Vietnam, China, India or Mexico. Any exhortation of the Left asking “workers of the world unite” would have sounded quite disingenuous to the workers in UK’s de-industrialized north, whose jobs were perhaps being shipped to China.

Working class solidarity, in the present age of inequality, thus has become an anachronism, in so far as it seeks to universalize the misery of labor. For workers in the US, the workers in the other country were a problem – whether answering clients from call centers in India or servicing IT complaints with H1B visas closer home. A political rhetoric that claims to protect the interests of one particular nationality of workers over the others became more seductive.

A less understood, but equally strong force that makes the radical Right the more attractive choice to the people left behind by globalization is the change in the nature of employment today. Non-manufacturing sectors dominate the global economy today and few, if any, have strong unions. This lack of unionization, unlike manufacturing and mining sectors, is not an oversight. Indeed, the typical structure of a privately owned banking, retail or consulting firm makes it difficult for workers to bargain collectively or unionize. Usually a manufacturing unit has a stark contrast in the distribution of the fruits of labor, between a small and prosperous senior management and numerous and sparingly provided factory workers.

What changes in the non-manufacturing sectors is the presence of a middle management, where a complex hierarchy of privileges and distribution of incentives exists. This middle management consists of workers who have gained an increasing share of profits, as they have risen through the ranks, due to their ability to direct and lead other workers. Furthermore, modern managerial practices incentivize individual excellence over peers for securing promotion and prospects of career advancement. Even such a marginal decentralization of wealth and authority creates powerful reasons for workers to desist from forming interest-based unions.

In such a society, when faced with economic uncertainty, people do not instinctively rely on their colleagues for support, who are often their competitors. Rather, they lean on groups organized along racial, religious or cultural lines outside of their workplace. Ergo, the political Right, rather than the Left, becomes a beneficiary of this confusion. This anti-trade strain is the strongest in the modern American Right, where deindustrialization is perceived to be an outcome of an ever-widening trade deficit with China, Germany, Korea and Mexico.

Intolerance to immigration

If protectionism is the dominant animating force in the American Right, hostility to immigration is what really unites Right-wing parties in Europe. The threat to a proud local culture from “aliens” is exactly what drives the support for Right-wing parties in Europe, where despite a financial crisis, social inequality in the native population hasn’t risen as much as it has in the US, not least due to the robust and comprehensive welfare systems instituted in the postwar decades of 1950-70. Reprisals against foreign workers or cultural others in times of economic strain are not new to Europe. A prominent example is indeed the rise of fascist parties in inter-war years, which rode strongly on the deep-rooted anti-Semitism in the European culture, blaming Jews for the misery borne by the continent after the collapse of the Gold Standard.

More recently, stagnation in Europe following the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s saw widespread popular opposition in Germany, France and the Netherlands to foreign workers from Eastern Europe, Turkey, Portugal and Spain. To that extent, the resurgence of the Right was then expected even after a prolonged crisis in the Eurozone that lasted from 2008 until 2013. However, three factors are typical to the anti-immigrant sentiment prevailing in Europe in particular, and the developed world in general.

First is the size of the influx. Since 2015, Germany alone has taken in 1.1 million immigrants from the war-torn Middle East and Africa (1.3% of its population). The story has been similar in varying degrees in Scandinavia, Netherlands and Italy. The flows of refugees and asylum seekers across Europe over the past two years have been at an unprecedented rate since World War 2. However, unlike the late 1940s, norms of post-war mainstream politics dictate that the governments must ensure that the refugees are provided a minimum standard of living and security. The increasing burden of refugees on the state, many of whom are illiterate and not economically very productive, has shifted the opposition against immigrants from political fringes to the mainstream.

Second, for a big section of modern immigrants, war is not the reason for leaving their country. Globalization has encouraged and legitimized economic migration, where people cross shores to work for firms that promote and encourage talent. Immigration from South Asia (India and Pakistan) is a fitting illustration of this trend.

The spread of supply chains and corporate operations has also heralded a globalization of aspirations. A hard working young engineer in India can see Satya Nadella and possibly dream of emulating his success in the United States. In that sense, the changing racial composition of boardrooms in Fortune 500 companies is perhaps the unprecedented and lasting legacy of the current age of globalization. However, since the Great Recession, this successful “other” that inordinately benefitted from the dissolution of borders through its own merit and hard work has stood out in sharp contrast, perhaps because of its racial origins, amid the general deterioration in the quality of jobs and rising economic insecurity.

Cultural stereotyping and railing against immigrant communities from developing countries has found an eager audience, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world (English-speaking countries), where these communities were considered civilizationally inferior colonials not long ago.

Third, it wouldn’t be out of place here to mention the catalytic impact of “Filter Bubble Effect” on inflaming these passions. Facebook, Twitter and other forms of curated social media have become cognitive echo chambers. One hears the news one believes in, opposing views are blotted out, and videos confirm one’s worldview. People become a data point to be sold, with meticulous analytics on their political and psychological leanings.

In such a world, extreme outcomes and a lack of consensus are a norm. It was thus not surprising that most people polled ahead of the Brexit vote believed that their side (In or Out) would win with an overwhelming majority. Results were a tight race. However, if you supported Brexit, all the news you would have read in May and June last year would have confirmed that the nation was with you and your choices.

The reality is not very different in India. Every event, whether a budget or a terrorist attacks, is seen through diametrically opposite worldviews, depending on whether you support or oppose the current government. In a world of vanishing middle ground, it is often difficult to elicit a proportionate response to complex situations, such as the pros and cons of immigration. No wonder, hostility to immigrants has found fanatical adherents in the age of social media.

Welfare chauvinism

The public desire to minimize dissent and seek security in a strong political leader gives rise to the third component of the modern Right, particularly dominant in emerging economies. This particularly manifests in countries that are new nations but old cultures. Furthermore, they have all, over the past three decades witnessed the dismantling of moribund economic systems in favor of a dynamic market-driven economy. However, a breakneck economic growth has also created an existential anxiety in these societies, which for generations were feudal and preferred stability to change.

In India, the emergence of Narendra Modi’s BJP as the dominant national political force may in essence seem to be conforming to the broader rightward shift, but the similarities are as stark as the differences. By definition, Right-wing parties pander to the majority but, in India, the majority defined solely on a religious context isn’t one block with various caste and regional issues coming into play. Hindu nationalism is as utopian as Leftist pragmatism. In fact, much before the Ram Janmabhoomi issue in early 1990s, BJP leaders (then Jan Sangh) being aware of the limitations of ideologies in a pan-India context shunned the idea in favor of an ‘aggregative’ approach in 1977.

On the other hand, although the BJP inherited the economic right legacy of the Swatantra Party (which became defunct in 1974) and favored the abolition of the ‘License Raj’ and the empowerment of the private sector, the party essentially remained opposed to the idea of large corporations enjoying privileges in the economy. The Narasimha Rao government’s liberalization policies by dismantling the Nehruvian socialist structures exposed BJP’s inherent economic policy contradictions while its strong roots to Nagpur ensured its branding as a Hindu nationalist party. So, what changed in 2014 so drastically to make BJP the dominant political force?

With the center-left suffering from power fatigue and the Left still caught in a time warp unable to offer a workable alternative model, Narendra Modi’s arrival in the national political scene perfected BJP’s ‘aggregative’ approach – with the ‘achhe din’ slogan having an overarching impact on a heterogeneous electorate. The Hindutva ideologues saw a messiah in him, the backward class and castes (with Modi himself hailing from the MBC) celebrated his rise to the top, the educated middle class was in awe of his no-nonsense style of governance, and market liberals played cheer leaders to the Gujarat model of economic growth.

That said, whether it’s Modi’s victory or Trump’s or the Brexit vote, the common thread isn’t the world’s ideological shift to the Right, but the outburst of a simmering anger against the ‘liberal elites’(alienated from the sections they claim to represent) by cozying up to the supposedly authoritarian leaders often with questionable world views and not-so-flattering opinions about how the world has worked since the end of Cold War. The “put us first” welfare chauvinism is too hard to ignore — be it Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ or Donald Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ or Nigel Farage’s ‘We Want Our Country Back’.The underlying tone is about regaining the control of our own fate that has been hijacked by anonymous elites.

However, the biggest beneficiary of this upheaval could be Vladimir Putin’s Russia. When nations across the world were coming under Communist control in the 1950s, US President Dwight Eisenhower had warned about the possible disintegration of the free world due to aggressive Soviet expansion. Billions of dollars were spent and millions of lives sacrificed to contain Soviet influence until the collapse of the USSR in 1991. However, with the European Union’s stability under threat and Russia’s growing assertiveness in world affairs, the tide is turning against ‘American-dictated Russophobic hysteria’. Persistent refugee crisis and a stagnant economy could very well dash the hopes further of a united Europe.

On the other hand, China could emerge as the biggest loser. In a recent speech at the World Economic Forum (which was ostensibly created to promote economic liberalization), Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against any protectionist measures: ‘any attempt to turn off the flows of capital and people around the world will be like trying to divert a river into lakes and creeks. It will not be possible.’ Although Xi’s speech was short on specifics, there’s no denying the role played by neoliberal economic policies in making ‘communist’ China an economic powerhouse and re-legitimizing the Chinese Communist Party that had been shaken in 1989. China found itself in the heart of the global economic engine not out of ideological “conversion,” but out of necessity to create jobs and build infrastructure.With China continuing to mitigate the domestic economic slowdown and Xi’s assumed 10-year tenure reaching half-mark in 2017 autumn, he would attempt to deepen his grip on the party further in the run-up to the party congress. Thus, any sudden shock on the global trade front could destabilize his plans and trigger renewed political jockeying by his opponents in the party for influence.

Thus, 2017 will test the endurance of the Right across the globe, especially in Europe hit by terror attacks and refugee crisis, with Germany, France and the Netherlands scheduled to hold national elections. These countries have witnessed the growing popularity of far-right dispensations that aim to capitalize on economic, political and ethno-nationalist frustrations of the times. In the months ahead, it would be clearer whether such popular support translates into political power for the far-Right. If opinion polls are an indicator, a new sustainable ideological landscape seems emerging, but then opinion polls could not indicate a Brexit or a Trump victory beforehand.

However, the rise of the far-Right or the alt-Right isn’t a false alarm, irrespective of impending election outcomes as they are increasingly cementing their place in the mainstream political discourse and may trigger a broader cultural shift with strong resistance to the idea of political correctness. With Farage playing the role of a catalyst (though UKIP is unlikely to emerge as a potential contender for power soon), Trump’s victory has provided a roadmap for the far-Right across the Westand a strong wake-up call for the Left and the aloof from their ideological slumber. Will the Centre-Left parties reclaim their lost grounds anytime soon? Unlikely. Nobel laureate behavioral economist, Daniel Kahneman, argues that regret is rare; people always find explanations that fix the blame on someone else.

(Shailesh Jha is an Economist focusing on Asia, with over five years of experience in economic and policy issues in the region. He has worked with Abu Dhabbi Commercial Bank and Credit Suisse, after graduating from BITS Pilani in 2011.

Raj Mitra is a freelance communication consultant and a leading online columnist on start-ups. He led the Investment Publishing Unit of Credit Suisse from 2009-16. He has also co-authored a best-selling analytical biography of PM Narendra Modi in Bangla, called Swapner Feriwala.)

~ By Siddhant Mishra

It began with Narendra Modi in India, in 2014. The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies managed to register a thumping win, and received a huge mandate by the people. While the result was not a shock, the margin of victory was something that left even political analysts and psephologists stumped.

Yet, if one thing was certain, it was that Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi’s message of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas’ had resonated with the masses, and people voted for the NDA cutting across caste lines. But that was not all about this election. What ended the 10-year scam-tainted rule by the Congress-led UPA, actually marked the beginning of a global wave that has been continuing till now.

Next to keep this run alive was David Cameron in the UK. While he has lost his job since, following the historic Brexit vote that took the UK further to the right, other European nations seem to be following suit. Not only is an anti-EU sentiment gaining strength, Far-Right parties seem to be gaining ground as poll projections have shown. However, the one that tops the list is Donald Trump’s stunning win that has shot him into the White House. Riding on a Right-wing ‘populist’ wave, Republican nominee Trump managed to see off Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton comfortably, despite opinion polls suggesting the race would be neck-to-neck and that Clinton held the advantage.

The fact that globally, the Left is on a decline and the Right is consolidating, has not gone unnoticed. While this has rattled socialists worldwide, it has also signified the emergence of a new revolution – against the alleged ‘appeasement’ politics of the Left as well as rising corruption. It could be no coincidence that the world seems to be taking a ‘Right turn’ simultaneously. There are pressing issues that explain the phenomenon.

First, the debate surrounding the refugees from the war-torn Gulf has found its way into the electoral agenda of both the Right and Left. Refugees fleeing from the Middle East found their way into Europe, and with crime rates shooting up, a sense of fear gripped the natives. The ensuing chaos resulted in incumbent governments losing public support. In Germany, people have become disillusioned with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Though Merkel is tipped to win a fourth term in the elections scheduled for September, her support has since dipped. Far-right ‘Alternative for Germany’ (AfD) shot to prominence after escalating attacks on her open-door policy towards refugees. Subsequently, the AfD managed to rake up a 21% vote share in the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerenia, Merkel’s home Constituency, back in September, and made significant gains two weeks later in the Berlin city polls, registering a record 14% of the vote.

Similarly, in The Netherlands, Geert Wilders’Party for Freedom (PVV) is tipped to end up as the single-largest in theDutch Parliament after elections. Riding on a similar anti-establishment wave, Wilders has pledged to de-Islamise the country, shut down mosques and close borders with the EU, a message that has resonated with Dutch voters fed up of the EU’s dominance.

Yet another Far-right outfit, the National Front of France, headed by Marine Le Pen, leads in the opinion polls, indicating she will make it to the second round of voting, ahead of Centre-Right Republican candidate Francois Fillon. Like her European counterparts, Le Pen too, stands for exiting the Union and de-Islamising France.

On the Pacific side, Australia’s “One Nation party”, headed by Pauline Hanson (called the Australian Trump), is weaning voters away from the ruling coalition, riding on a similar wave of anti-Islam and anti-Asian ideology. The party, according to the Australian media, has doubled its support base from November.

While an outright win for any of the Far-Right parties was never guaranteed, the win of Trump came as a shot in the arm. Donald Trump’s campaign was focused on protecting American jobs, playing tough with illegal immigrants, building a wall on the Mexico border and the “Muslim ban” rhetoric, a line of argument echoed by the European Far-Right. Trump’s win was an indication that the fear that had allegedly gripped locals on the issue of rising crime and the threat of the influx of refugees, were real.

But what could significantly be gauged from this trend, is the voice of the silent majority. In a liberal politically-correct world, it has become a fashion to resort to appeasement politics, while the majority is expected to compromise. Cutting across borders, people seem to be losing faith in socialism, while more pressing issues remain undealt with. While unemployment, economic slowdown, and rising terrorism remain core issues, people have lost patience with the constant denial of the liberal elite, who tend to focus more on pseudo-secularism and anti-capitalism.

The difference, however, seems to be the aspect of social media. With the Left having spread its influence in the academia, media and intelligentsia worldwide, where Right voices aren’t allowed to rise, social media gave an equal footing to the Right, which was long in the shadows and seized the opportunity for redemption. While social media helped in giving a platform to the Right, which constantly focused on the selective outrage of the Liberals on issues and the pro-minority bias, it simultaneously aided in creating a reach into inner territories of countries, which had not happened earlier.

It was here that the battle was won and created a wave that saw a shift in favour of the Right. While societies have become more polarized, and constructive debate is hardly possible in a world where both the Right and Left resort to slandering and abusing the other, the Right Wing, while making clear its stand on issues of economy and social identity, managed to call out the liberals on their selective outrage and pro-minority bias especially in the case of religious radicalism, a charge the Left couldn’t effectively defend, and fell prey to.

In India, voters from different communities and castes put their faith in Narendra Modi’s BJP, which now has spread its wings in territories it was earlier not strong in, during Assembly and Civic polls, over the last three years. Modi’s development agenda has won supporters, and bold moves like the scrapping of high denomination notes has hardly managed to dent the party’s fortunes.

Though the political scenario in Europe and the US is different from India, if there’s one aspect that could be seen uniformly across geographies, it was that of religious fundamentalism.

A call for putting greater checks on illegal migrants from Bangladesh and militants from Pakistan, in India; the European right’s anger on the open door policy for refugees; Trump’s call for the Mexico wall as well as severe restrictions on the entry of Muslims from certain Middle Eastern countries – coming at a similar time, couldn’t be a coincidence.

However, it is no given that the wave in favour of the Right will remain. While common grounds remain, certain differences in ideologies and policies mean the Right lacks unity. While the opposition to laws being dictated by Brussels remain firm across Europe, France’s Le Pen, on the lines of Trump, calls for protecting the French identity, and is openly anti-globalisation.

Britain’s UKIP, which spearheaded the referendum call for Brexit, however, has embraced free markets. Geert Wilders, while calling for closing of mosques and de-Islamising the Netherlands, has been a vocal supporter of women’s rights and LGBT rights. Though tipped to get maximum seats, other Dutch parties have refused to support the PVV to form a coalition government, indicating a hung parliament.

Germany’s AfD has been marred by anti-semitism and Nazi-like tendencies, which cause infighting and subsequently a drop in support. Moreover, the emergence of centrist figures like Emmanuel Macron in France, and Martin Schultz in Germany, has resulted in a sharp drop in popularity for the National Front and AfD respectively.

It would be unfair to call the BJP or Modi’s win as a win for the “Far-Right”, given the party’s ideology, though based on Hindutva, largely refrains from being anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant, and has off-late given more significance to development and anti-corruption.

To believe that Europe or Australia could ride on the populism wave of the US would be a strong assumption to make. A win for any of the Far-Right parties is far from certain, but projections show that they have become serious contenders after long.

(Author is a freelance journalist)