Rahul says don't beg for work in Mumbai!

Rahul Gandhi uses the word 'begging' to describe migrants from UP, leading to criticism and debates.

New Delhi: The Congress is trying its best to defend Rahul Gandhi's controversial remarks about workers from Uttar Pradesh being forced to move to Maharashtra and "beg" for work.  But even the party's allies are keen to distance themselves from the controversial remark.
 
Today, Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party or NCP, which allies with the Congress to form the government in Maharashtra and at the Centre, suggested that Mr Gandhi's choice of words was unfortunate.
 
"It would have been better if Rahul hadn't said 'beg'," said NCP leader Govindrai Adik.  "People come to Mumbai to work, not for fun." And then came a telling statement- "He is Rahul Gandhi, who will make him understand?"

At a rally yesterday in Phulpur, 30 kms from Allahabad, Mr Gandhi told the thousands gathered that their state was regressing under the leadership of "the mafia" who runs the state.  He did not mention Mayawati by name, but he took multiple swipes at how she has failed the people of Uttar Pradesh.  'How long will you beg in Maharashtra (for work)? How long will you work as a labourer in Punjab? It will take only five years and the change will come," he said, asking the crowd to give the Congress "a chance for five years."
 
The remarks triggered political fault lines from UP to Maharashtra. In Mumbai, where the Congress has always taken on the Shiv Sena for suggesting migrant workers from Bihar and UP are not welcome, Mr Gandhi's comment drew a sharp response. "Let him take them back to his home... When we say it, we are blamed. But now, isn't Rahul talking about regional politics? Now, isn't Rahul spoiling the country's mood?" Uddhav Thackeray, Executive President of the Shiv Sena said.
 
BJP Maharashtra leader Gopinath Munde said, "If someone goes out for work, that is not called begging for work... Rahul has insulted the people of UP and Bihar."

In Lucknow, Mayawati retaliated, "The people of UP are hardworking and proud, not beggars. Rahul's comment is wrong, insulting."  
 
The Congress says that Mr Gandhi's expression should not be misinterpreted- that those who attack his choice of words are missing the sentiment behind them.  Party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury explained, "Rahul tried to awaken the sense of self respect of those from UP."
 
In Mumbai, Kripashankar Singh, President of the Mumbai Congress, said that there is no need to go by the word 'beg'. "We need to understand Rahul's sentiments. He was only expressing pain of the people of Uttar Pradesh."

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan however deflected the question when asked to comment on the issue. "Let's talk on the issue of farmers, " Chavan said in Shirdi.

In Delhi, Rahul's aides said he writes his own speeches, and in this case he spoke without a script as he often does. They said Rahul's words may have left him open to unflattering interpretation but that was certainly not his intention

The Congress is in a dilemma- on one hand they need to defend Rahul's remark, while on the other, they need to ensure they don't alienate north Indian voters, especially at a time when municipal elections are not too far. 

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Mid-day cartoon

Khap Panchayat in Haryana says, only child marriage can stop the rampant rape incidents in the state, which is supported by the veteran politician Chautala!

Child Marrriage: Facts, Causes and Consequences

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (among other charters and conventions) all directly or indirectly forbid the degrading and mistreatment of girls inherent in child marriage.

Nevertheless, child marriage is common in many parts opf the world, claiming millions of victims annually--and hundreds of thousands of injuries or death resulting from abuse or complications from pregnancy and childbirth.

Facts About Child Marriage

·         According to the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), 100 million girls will be married before the age of 18 in the coming decade. Most will be in sub-Saharan Africa and the Asian Subcontinent (Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh). In Niger, for example, 77% of women in their early 20s were married as children. In Bangladesh, 65% were. Child marriage also occurs in parts of the Middle East, including Yemen and the rural Maghreb.

In the United States, child marriage is still permissible in some states, with parental or judicial consent.

·         Globally, according to UNICEF, 36% of women aged 20-24 were married or in a union, forced or consensual, before they'd reached 18.

·         An estimated 14 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19 give birth each year. They are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than women in their 20s.

·         Girls who marry between the ages of 10 and 14 are five times as likely to die during pregnancy6 or childbirth as women in their early 20s.

Causes of Child Marriage

Child marriage has many causes: cultural, social, economic and religious. In many cases, a mixture of these causes results in the imprisonment of children in marriages without their consent.

Poverty: Poor families sell their children into marriage either to settle debts or to make some money and escape the cycle of poverty. Child marriage fosters poverty, however, as it ensures that girls who marry young will not be properly educated or take part in the workforce.

"Protecting" the girl's sexuality: In certain cultures, marrying a girl young presumes that the girl's sexuality, therefore the girl's family's honor, will be "protected" but ensuring that the girl marries as a virgin. The imposition of family honor on a girl's individuality, in essence robbing the girl of her honor and dignity, undermines the credibility of family honor and instead underscores the presumed protection's actual aim: to control the girl.

Gender discrimination: Child marriage is a product of cultures that devalue women and girls and discriminate against them. "The discrimination," according to a UNICEF report on "Child Marriage and the Law," "often manifests itself in the form of domestic violence, marital rape, and deprivation of food, lack of access to information, education, healthcare, and general impediments to mobility."

Inadequate laws: Many countries such as Pakistan have laws against child marriage. The laws are not enforced. In Afghanistan, a new law was written into the country's code enabling Shiite, or Hazara, communities to impose their own form of family law--including permitting child marriage.

Trafficking: Poor families are tempted to sell their girls not just into marriage, but into prostitution, as the transaction enables large sums of money to change hands.

Individual Rights Denied by Child Marriage

The Convention on the Rights of the Child are designed to guarantee certain individual rights--which are abused by early marriage. Rights undermined or lost by children forced to marry early are:

·         The right to an education.

·         The right to be protected from physical and mental violence, injury or abuse, including sexual abuse, rape and sexual exploitation.

·         The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health.

·         The right to rest and leisure, and to participate freely in cultural life.

·         The right to not be separated from parents against the child's will.

·         The right to protection against all forms of exploitation affecting any aspect of the child’s welfare.

·         The right to eventual employment.

Case Study: A Child Bride Speaks

The 2006 Nepal Report on Child Marriage includes the following testimony from a child bride:

"I was married to a nine-year-old boy when I was three. At that point of time, I was unaware of marriages. I don't even remember my marriage event. I just remember that as I was too young and was unable to walk and they had to carry me and bring me over to their place. Getting married at an early age, I was destined to suffer a lot of hardships. I had to carry water in a small clay-pot in the mornings. I had to sweep and swap the floor everyday.

"Those were the days when I wanted to eat good food and wear pretty clothes. I used to feel very hungry, but I had to be satisfied with the amount of food that I was provided. I never got to eat enough. I sometimes secretly ate corns, soybeans, etc that used to grow in the field. And if I was caught eating, my inlaws and husband would beat me up accusing me of stealing from the field and eating. Sometimes the villagers used to give me food and if my husband and in-laws found out, they used to beat me up accusing me of stealing food from the house. They used to give me one black blouse and a cotton sari1 torn into two pieces. I had to wear these for two years.

"Never did I get other accessories like petticoats, belts etc. When my saris got torn, I used to patch them up and continue wearing them. My husband married three times after me. At present, he lives with his youngest wife. Since I married at an early age, early child-delivery was inevitable. As a result, I now have severe back problems. I used to weep a lot and consequently, I faced problems with my eyes and had to undergo an eye operation. I often think that if I had the power to think like I do now, I would never go to that house.

"I also wish I had not given birth to any children. Retrospective sufferings make me wish not to see my husband again. Nevertheless, I do not want him to die because I don't want to lose my marital status."

Dowry deaths in Indian

Dowry deaths are the hidden curse of the big fat Indian wedding

One woman dies in India every hour in a dowry-related case. A shift in attitudes towards lavish marriages is urgently due

"The wedding should basically be in the big palaces of Rajasthan and the reception in a beach house with gowns and all." This was how a young Indian lady articulated her wedding dreams on Satyamev Jayate, the new television talk show hosted by Bollywood icon Aamir Khan.

But the "happily ever after" myth that permeates Indian weddings was powerfully dispelled by other studio guests who gave accounts of their horrific post-marriage lives. One said she was harassed by her husband and in-laws and ultimately was left to languish in the US until a women's group rescued her. The audience heard that another woman was tortured in her marital home and ended up killing herself.

India's obsession with excessive weddings trumps even its obsessions with Bollywood and cricket. The culture is held up as a lodestar of bringing families together and of realising a couple's dreams, in the groom's grand arrival on a bedecked horse and the bride's finery that she has watched her heroines wear in Bollywood films. Fireworks, live bands and sumptuous spreads are also pretty much standard for Indian weddings.

But behind the happy images of the big fat Indian weddings getting progressively bigger and fatter lurks the unpalatable truth of dowry deaths. The statistics are shocking. One woman in India dies every hour in a dowry-related case. Dowry is a social evil in which the families of Indian grooms can make endless demands of the bride's family. In extreme cases, the newly wed bride can be murdered by her in-laws or driven to commit suicide.

The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, amended in 1984 and 1986, made dowry a recognisable and non-bailable offence. But despite being illegal (except in north-east India, where dowry does not exist), dowry is becoming more rampant and entrenched. In 2010, 8,391 dowry deaths were reported. According to government figures, Delhi alone records a few hundred dowry deaths each year. But women's rights groups estimate deaths in the capital at 900 per year. Moreover, there has been a phenomenal increase in such deaths since the 1990s when they numbered at around 300 per year. India's economic liberalisation in the 1990s has seen a proportionate rise in levels of greed, and a bride is perceived by her in-laws as a potential cash cow.

Appallingly, the effects of the dowry culture can be traced even to the womb. It is the primary cause of female foeticide and bears a direct correlation with female infanticide as poorer parents avoid the lifelong liability of saving up for a daughter's marriage. This has led to a distorted sex ratio of 933 girls per 1,000 boys in India.

The bane of dowry is not confined to any one section of Indian society. For the rich, together with the most opulent weddings, the dowry given is a status symbol that cements their power and prestige. For the poorer sections of society it is conflated with a basic sense of honour. The pressure of this expense on the bride's family is borne out in the statistic that 80% of bank loans in India are taken to meet marriage costs and dowry demands. Investigations into the recent spate of suicides by farmers in Vidarbha in the state of Maharashtra found a clear link to the farmers failing to repay loans that they used for the marriage of their daughters instead of the betterment of their farms.

A shift in India's attitude towards weddings is urgently due. Bluntly put, dowry equates to a family paying a man to take their daughter's hand in marriage. And the man, with his family, works to extract the maximum price for "taking" the woman, in ways that can scar lives and damage the institution of marriage. A practice that conflates its women with gold, silver and furniture is absolutely reprehensible. Simply having anti-dowry laws has proved hugely inadequate – urgent emphasis needs to be put on enforcement.

As a society India must unequivocally come together to reject this practice. The rejection has to be tripartite, involving rectitude by the giving party, the receivers and the wedding guests who in their very indulgence of the lavish festivities encourage the practice. Ending this practice could see couples channel their funds to educate their daughters well instead of saving money for their marriages. The days of dowry-drenched big fat Indian weddings must be numbered – or Indian society's claim to be progressive is disingenuous.