Policy Paralysis

The ingenuity of the world lies where it starts to discriminate. The feet and hands of the person at ‘prey’ are determined to be either bend down or folded before, for mercy and rights; rights which are their fundamentals and provided to them by their so very national government, whose leaders once accepted these people as partners of democracy.

These people are the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe, who have been from ages of India at scrutiny of Varna system of Vedas.

                                         

Another name given to SC and ST is Dalit and Adivasi respectively. They constitute 16.2%¹ of the Indian population. The atrocities of Dalit and Adivasi were somehow relaxed in the year 1947 when India saw the era of its independence. The Poona pact² and the efforts of Dr. Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar, who was the great out of all people striving hard to get these people their rights and a position to withstand in the society. After the independence of India, the government came up with constitution and B.R. Ambedkar as the chairman of its Drafting committee, made several provisions for SC/ST. A critical analysis is tried to attempt of such government of India policies for SC/ST in this essay.

History of caste based discrimination

If the pages of history are revised we will get to know how well the Varna system has exploited the nature of caste in India. The Varna system had divided the society into 4 castes: The Brahmin, The Kshatriya, The Vaishaya and The Shudras.

Each caste was assigned a duty and no caste member was allowed to breach his or her duties. Shudras were the one who were to serve all the above three castes. This led the shudras to never grow and emerge out; their lives were no more than a slave even being free.

¹  2011 Population census records

² It was Pact made between Mahatma Gandhi and B.R. Ambedkar which later led to dissolution of the idea of separate electorate for Dalit and agreed upon for affirmative action.

Various Constitutional Provisions

Constitutional Provisions start narrating themselves from the idea of fundamental rights like, Article 14 (Equality before law), Article 15 (Prohibition of discrimination) and Article 21 (Prohibition of discrimination and protection of personal liberty).

Article 23 and Article 24 dealing with economic safeguards of SCs and even Article 46 (promotion of educational interests of SCs)

Employment opportunities and other safeguards made for them under Article 16.

The safeguard in extending a hand in protecting them from untouchability and caste based discrimination. Article 17 deals with this provision.

The focus here is to understand the idea of how government of India and constitutional provisions exclaim for equality, non discrimination and liberty and how is nature of untouchability a still constant practice in contemporary times.

Policy framework

Constitutional provisions which provide for equality and liberty have led to the path leading to policies such as ‘reservation’ for them. This policy is for bringing them at par with the society and providing them an area to grow and expand.

To protect them from future atrocities and suffering and met out the past sufferings the ‘Protection of Civil rights act (PCRA)’ and even ‘SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act was promulgated (SC/ST POA)’.

But the whole point of discussion of a policy lies where and how is it being implemented. How well is it being produced in the forefront of the needy for which it has been designed. The experiences and evidences show different perspective.

There has been a study by the National Crime Records Bureau³ which show that,

A crime is committed by a non dalit against a dalit every 16 minute. Everyday more than 4 untouchable women are raped by touchable. Every week 13 dalits are murdered and 6 are kidnapped.

This is merely not data; this is real scenario of policy failure. Who is to blame is a separate question, but foremost stands to realize that we live in a democracy where people kill each other or rape women because the ‘prey’ is not of his own clan or caste. This cannot be a minor crime mind setup. This is a dialogue and role of play of politics with power and without values.

Discussing about the untouchability comes to my mind the scenario ‘manual scavengers’. These are the people who still in the present day millennium pick up the daily excretion shit of so called upper caste with their own hands. This practice is popular in Indian villages.

In the historical times they were supposed to tie a broom with their waist and walk across the streets so that they are cleaning the footprints and sand off the road on which they walked while walking.

The treatment they are given is not describable, as it neither can be compared to how to we treat an animal or person, nor society treats any other living being alike them. The sufferings are countless. The government has prepared policies for them, various NGOs are working for their rehabilitation, one being ENACTUS (part of University of Delhi campus, a student led NGO). Government has banned Manual scavenging long back but the real implication of policy or practical implication of policy was never gone through or checked.

Does this means that, in a democracy which is the world’s largest democracy has policy flaws. A policy can be framed but implied in real or documentation is never a matter of cause. The policy makers may be smart and ready to serve the public selflessly but, is it that their smartness is limited or we as a society is not ready to accept that there exists a group of people near us, who work with us or for us or

³ Annihilation of Caste, The Annotated critical edition B.R. Ambedkar; an introduction by Arundhati Roy; page 21

amongst us are of different last names ? How well is the government ready to deal with failure of policy at social and rural levels?

Measures to Improve

Every policy is framed with a motive of welfare or intention of nation’s development. If out sudden or slowly the policy makers realize that their made policies are not making any impact on the society or targeted audience then this is loss of society as a whole for whose welfare the policy was aimed as the welfare isn’t being delivered.

For the impact on welfare of SC/ST, policies should focus on their “planned emergency urbanization”, because the entire discrimination is more popular in rural area. And when the word urbanization is used, it is strictly to mean that population of SC/ST should be transformed into more modern ways of development. There can be following measures which can be kept in mind while framing policies related to the specific SC/ST:

The areas which are predominantly dominated by the SCs or STs should be kept in mind and policy should be targeted at those specific areas more and concentrated efforts by the executive of the country should focus on implementation of policy fully and in a planned manner.

Concerning the reservation or affirmative action policies, the policy makers should realize the need of a more critical analysis of the policy and its outcomes. The policy is for welfare without any doubt, but, the implications related to it should be more in a way futuristic for them like, students opt for colleges but do not attend colleges because of part time work they are doing or girls busy in household chores as their parents go for work; policies can consider these factors and carve out a way like providing stipend for Below Poverty Line students, books etc.

In case of rural lifestyle, unemployment is the biggest issue for SC/ST. They depend upon agriculture and facilities are denied to them in the form of discrimination, like irrigation facility is denied. This type of factor if removed and livelihood provided, equality will and can be easily sustained.

Conclusion

All what requires is a concrete study of the raw issues and not just the umbrella issues. The policy implication and policy formulation are two varied branches of a single tree. Both cannot be independent. Both depend upon each other for survival, therefore it should be made mandatory to consider the inclusive factors of issues and both implied and framed policy factors.

The Schizophrenic Human Talks

Yes I m a human in the end, whose end is to be discovered. I question why I m so and the answer lies within, which follows me and say that what I am, I may be neglected at times of existence but at certain the facts rearrange themselves and speak of me. May be I am getting selfish to what I shouldn’t be but, I followed the time and it landed me into an illusion where I can view the mirror in front of me which just reflects the me and beyond me there is space in which I would have to just get myself settled as if there is to be just a wind which must flow to take me to that space. I may be selfish in the end of just thinking about myself and creating a space which is an escape but I m human in the end and thus I have an instinct which urges me to trace my end.

I may not be the desired hand you should be holding, I may not be the strongest shoulder you should be leaning upon, I may also not be the most expressive guy who would prove his depth to you, I may not love you the way many would do, I may also be weak, but you may also not be desirable to my love, you may also not have shown anything other than sympathy to me, you may also have the potential to change me into what you want as I may be ready to do so, you may be my shoulder, you may hold my hand and prove it to be strongest bond. I may be weak in what I am, but I guess my love is not. You made me think above self as you were my self, and I leaned to human in the end and started discovering my end.

And one day as if yesterday you said you are there beyond time and space and I just wondered where was my time flowing, where was the space in which you would be with me, whether you just want me to create or just want me to push into those scattered hours where I would be I and discover my ends, as of you are human in the end and urge me to be human in the end and discover my end.

You said you gave me birth and I have an everlasting bond with you, but why do I have to think before hugging you, why do the acceptance of me came as a shattered part of yours, why was the bliss of your care a benevolence to me, you make me think the way you want and reject the part of respect you should be paying to my ideology and thus rejecting me, though the absence of your womb haunts me, but it is as if you brought me out of it to discover my ends and gave me drive on to the path selfless self and I perceived that I m a human in the end and have to discover my end.

You always moved with me and never questioned, but put me into doubts of my distorted versions where I just left with question that why at times your silence just spoke of the gestures on me out of your part. It seems me to a materialistic relational aspect in which I perceived a give and take relation, though your love is immortal and my towards you is too, but is so that you too acted at times as of you are at a saturation of bearing me in being myself, you being generous and left me being human and just pledged to discover the so called end.

Who I am? The question in itself satisfied my existence as the poke from the social part in which I include the mortal and immortal relations that taught me to be a human, a practical human. Who is meant to just question and discover the ends in which my existence lies, but I just plead to that if any such relation lies within my ends.

Children of Varanasi Ghats

Whenever I attended a seminar or a conference, all I get to hear is about the ‘young and shining India’. The words are not merely themselves; they carry a unique contribution in the development of the nation and individual in it. But it has been a striking conflict within the neurotransmitters of my brain, which disturb the chemical balance whenever I hear these lines; the fortunate or the entire young crowd of the country is within the frames of these lines? I wonder!

This article deals with the inequality been observed upon a visit to the banks of Ganges river in Banaras. It was sunny bright morning, but it different for us as a part of educational trip visiting the place. But for the young group of 5-7 children been there from their birth was not new. This group is of children selling baskets of flowers and has been doing so from their birth. Many of them, who could not afford to purchase their flowers and baskets, were either begging or silently observing the huge crowd of we people present there. There was no hatred in their hearts but there were dreams within their eyes. These are the dreams which encounter many of them but are just ignored, maybe because they do not form the part of the ‘young India’ which is often described by elitism and fortune of birth. I introspected myself to get out with the facts of why they are not part of the young India? Or why are they not considered relevant for the development?

To get the answers to poking instincts, I stopped introspecting and started interrogating the young visionaries present there. To lay down a conclusion for their dreams is impossible, for as there are such dreams which maybe are just demands of we people and often are fulfilled by parents. Parents? Are the parents’ only sources to lay the future of the child or is it even the shared responsibility of society to prove egalitarianism in distribution of resources?

While writing this article the hurdle faced was to define this group of children and to overcome this hurdle, I decided to name them as ‘young visionaries’. Upon questioning their lifestyle and family setup I get to know the brute realities of the society or won’t be wrong in saying the brute luck of these young visionaries. All of the 5 children I had a talk with did not go to school ever, rather they were nurtured in such a way that their brains was now not in favor of attending school. They were rather focused upon earning a few bucks to manage a meal for themselves. This part was not astonishing, but was assumed. Still the emphasis upon education of these children lay within the policies of government, but will and desire to counsel them to enshrine the importance into their minds and into the minds of their parents, is/was never seen, rather never felt important.

Raising the question of family statuses and lifestyle was astonishing to some extent. The siblings sharing the part of resources were to the count of more than 10 in number. The entire family setup was so designed that, each of the born child was considered as an extra income part of the family. Each child means that there is an increase in the sum of family income, irrespective of the expenditure increase. The factor of family growth in terms of membership could also be analyzed in terms of the lack of sexual knowledge and family planning within the minds of parents. The daily resource distribution takes place in order of providing the highest of meal quantity to the Father and/or to the member who earns more. The women of the house are only limited to the chores of personal arena. But on the contrary few women are also working and managing the family works. During the time female of the family are on work, the childcare of infants is of no question, rather a meal is the priority.

Further answers made more awestruck situation, as in many of the female young minds complaint of being beaten up by their father after being drunk. It was made a point if they know that drinking alcohol was a bad habit? But, the reply was just silent and the eyes of the visionaries got deepened and wandered towards the Sun, as they were searching enlightenment.

I do not want to be judgmental or sympathetic at all, as a learner it comes to my duty to understand the situation/s and work upon my professional ethics. Moreover to be so I would rather be empathetic upon being human. I cannot change the definition of what young India is for the people or how young visionary can be part of young India? Just amused by the efforts of government and even on the part of society in which we form the basis for the growth and development, but ignore the basic crux of the society.

Government should accordingly frame policies upon considering every part of the society and even the needs of the desired. The dreams of these ‘young visionary’s’ are equal responsibility of we people as it belongs to government and their parents. The basic reason for this lies in the resource sharing principle; what already we exists with us, should be passed upon to the needy and so should be in continuation till the equality is achieved.

The Plight of India Women

Those flurry lights of Delhi metro as usual reflected the search for a seat. I didn’t manage a seat, but a woman dressed up in sari, with mustard shawl wrapped around her shoulders entered with her son. She would have been into her mid 30’s and her son would have been 8-10 years of age.

She was silent and her eyes didn’t blink. She was continuously looking at the side of the tunnel, which was dark. Her eyes and even her vision were constant. The silent women, I felt was mourning upon her experiences of life time. Experiences, which might have been as dark as the tunnel…

The beginning of would have been her escape from womb; when she would have first cursed for gender. The smile on her parents face would have vanished on looking at her genital. Later the progress of her experiences would have been by restrictions on her growth. The cries would have been bifurcated by considering hunger as the least. All these thoughts pondered my minds and spoke the worst through her silent cries. There was rage in her eyes. Stations were passing, and I just hoped to read more out of her eyes.

She was holding her son close to her, as if she was wondering of herself being caged within the premises of her parental reputation. Reputation: that had forbidden her from wandering freely in the society, considering her liberty to be a sin for her parents to stand with heads-up. The process of home-cage must have begun with limiting her education over her male siblings, and considering a veil important after her puberty. The shawl wrapped around her shoulders was displaying her fragileness, and the delicate and bowed down shoulders portrayed her sensitivity of born as a female. All after and during her puberty she would have gained conscious of being a delicate, sensitive and not so wanted personality, with few human and forced biological actions upon her body. Criticism for her menstrual cycles during which, she would not have allowed to be touch and being touched.

 I was just trying to somehow go deep into her eyes to get a look in the shallow rivers of being born a female in the scrutinized ‘Manu’ scripted society. With the suddenness one day she would have been informed of her marriage with a ‘Male’. A human with a different genitals, and superior to her was now to decide, and rule her next to her parents. She would have been forced to follow the rule of ‘father prestige upon daughter’s shoulders’. She now would have to follow every action of keeping her father’s prestige upright, by obeying her husband and his family. Now she was the ‘property’ of her husband.

Following her marriage she would have entered the process of ‘reproduction’ and not ‘love making’, she would have been sent to trauma of not giving birth to an image of her’s. Fortunately she gave birth to her husband’s image. After the process of birth, everyone would have engaged in loving the adorable. None considered the birth-cramps she suffered and none even thanked her, but she must have thanked to that creator of not giving her another image of herself. The infant then would have considered alike his father. His nose, ears and lips would have forcibly matched to his father’s. The only left duty of her would be to feed the baby.

PLIGHT;

The junction approached and she stood up. It was her station to de-board. And I was just left wondering of how calmly she is now adapted to society, which consider her as apart from itself? How now she even got engaged in loving a son as a mother, and living with the blessing of not having a daughter. Slowly within the time travels her pains would have vanished, and later she would have just realized her position: she was a birth giver to a Male Child. She had attained the prestige for herself; but somewhere down there in her eyes is still the reflection of her pains, her desires which were ending, her dreams which were restricted, her wants which were limited and her individuality which has been moderated. 

Romanticism and She...

"As she let break her stiffness; I held her waist with firmness I saw through her eyes........."

               

Romance: As I try to define I become unable to let put my mind and soul together and allow my hands to pen down the only feeling of Romance. The initial stage of liking which later transforms into ‘Love’ and turns up as a practice of ‘Love Making’. For me to be specific the practice of Making Love is ‘Romance’ and the thought provoking to achieve this end is the idea of ‘Love’.

My Love for Lady:

All the years wandering around in the rains, under the sun and returning in the moonlight, I use to plot that image of Lady. Lady to whom I wished to call 'My Lady' was, now with the passage of time even escaping into exile from my wishes and dreams. Then, the moonlight suddenly allowed me to breathe the sweet fragrance of 'her' presence in my hollow lifestyle, to which the day was 'My Lady' entered.

The Love; now got a name, my plotted figures has a face and a name. I relished, as I have 'My Lady'.

The idea of Romance: To the idea of Romance is Love and the love making is the face of "Practice of Romance". My love for her is the sensitive aspect of union; My Love for her is the worship; My Love for her is spiritual; My Love is the stage of ecstasy; It is beyond rituals and customs of society; It is burdened with expectations of being together; It is free from time trail; It never counts distance(s); My Love is emancipation; My love is OUR union; It is the love far away from genitals.

Concluding all, it was actually, not simply Love.

It won't be appropriate to quote ever that, it was just a feeling. It was the feeling of being loved by My Lady. To mention, I never realized in near time the intensity, passion and that zeal to feel pain in love. 

It was all when 'her' touch across my body left shivers in me to let me feel her, feel the pleasure of pain of love.

Practice(s) of Romance (Love making):

The memory of the day hasn't vanished till today and will never in near future. It was the day, when all of the mentioned feelings and ideas of love, made a move to no more be ideas, rather be those abstract feelings. Feelings which ran across my veins entered my body through 'her' touch. The day was when the union was made. She just let the firmness of her body go free, and I held that loosening into the stiffness of my hand on her waist.

She accepted me 'her' 'Man' in honor and pride of 'her' love, ‘We’ moved towards the exchange of our breaths.

Her fingers made a delicate move to hold my hair and making me realize the presence of a woman in my life.

The feelings were now no more an idea of love, they were turning into the realization through the practice of making love.

It was then the fragrant dark, it was the darkness of her flicks, and she hid me under them, and made me swayed through time and space. The no more moments were left beside to let 'us' realize the oneness of our togetherness.

Breathing now was just a dream, and sharing breaths was a realization. Her fingers were the traces of life; the moment was of emancipation and rejuvenation. There were no left over distances, our souls were one.

The move she made by putting my hand on her upper body and moved it near her heart. The words from her mouth echoed my ears and the silence of room broke-down. She exclaimed 'THIS IS REAL'.

That Day To-Day:

In the entire essay I tried to plot down my version of Romance. I mentioned the idea of 'Romance' as 'Love' and 'Love Making' as practice of 'Romance'. The entire essay is based upon my thoughts and real encounter with my thoughts. I tried to lay down a very idealistic portrait of what romance is for me as an idea and in practice.