After the Slutwalk

I’m sitting in London and the BBC is reporting that hundreds walked Delhi’s streets on July 31 to protest sexual harassment – although, it noted, there was “little of the skimpy dressing that has marked protests elsewhere” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14357443). They write: “Most of the marchers in Delhi were soberly dressed in jeans and T-shirts or traditional shalwar kameez.” (Someone tell the BBC that even jeans and T-shirts are controversial in India – especially when young women wear them, provoking calls to ban women from wearing jeans every few years.) This would have left Indian media rather disappointed, having spent considerable airtime and vocal energies in the last few weeks anticipating with rising excitement what girls participating in Delhi’s SLUTwalk would wear. It’s that word that has caused all this excitement and disappointment, the debate, the sermonising, the distancing, the embracing.  

I’m at first relieved that Delhi’s Slutwalk march (also called Besharmi Morcha in an attempt to localise the march) did take place after all without any scuffle from rightwing hoodlums. I’m impressed that 19- and 20-year-old women pulled off organising it and articulating their thoughts to a paparazzi-like media. While I’m not sure if there really were ‘‘hundreds’’ of people on the street (and if there were, I don’t doubt that half of them were media) but just the fact that young girls and boys, a common public, not attached to women’s groups or political parties, came out onto the streets on a Sunday morning to protest against sexual harassment of women is to me, a critical turn in sexual politics. 

The resistance to the word ‘slut’ though is more difficult to understand. So a police officer in Toronto said in January 2011 that ‘‘if women don’t want to be raped they shouldn’t dress like sluts’’. So what? It’s not new to Indian ears. Our rape law was born from one such judgment – the Mathura case in which a young girl was sexually assaulted by two policemen, but the court did not find the policemen guilty, saying that Mathura was ‘‘habituated to sexual intercourse’’. The judgment led to outrage from women’s organisations, which called on the government to reform rape laws, which it did in 1983. Many cases have followed in Mathura’s wake: all of them have shown us that the state machinery routinely attributes blame for violence against a woman to her ‘character’ or lack thereof – insinuating of course sexual impropriety – or in other words, ‘sluttiness’.

The central idea behind the Toronto police officer’s comments is therefore not new to us even if the word ‘slut’ is. Just as the Mathura judgment enraged women’s organisations here in the early-1980s, the police officer’s comments enraged a young generation of women who decided to march the streets in their skimpiest clothing, making the point that whatever women wear, they cannot be violated – that a woman’s clothing has nothing to do with rape or sexual harassment. Within months women mobilised to hold mass demonstrations from Toronto in April 2011 to Chicago in June 2011 and in between in smaller towns like Dallas, Asheville, Ottawa, Boston, Denver, Calgary. Fuelled by social media outrage and videos and ideas going viral in cyberspace, it quickly outgrew Canada, sliding into neighbouring USA and even crossing the shores to Delhi – demonstrating the resonance that such an idea has across cultures.  

Over the last month, the chatter around Delhi’s planned Slutwalk has been phenomenal. Five thousand people have associated themselves with their Facebook page and even bothered to write a comment and engage with the issue. I have read debates on a feminist listserve, watched in amazement a whole page of newspaper dailies devoted to the event and listened quite agog to the special debates on the issue on news channels. The usual grouses have been shared widely: that it is a Western import– which it is but so was Take Back The Night and the 16 Days of Activism that takes place every November; not about poor women – which is not a necessary condition for the validity of a protest march; culturally insensitive and contextually misplaced – an old grouse. Women young and old, but especially young, from around the country have analysed, discussed and critiqued various aspects of the chatter: the problems with the word ‘slut’; the politics of clothing; strange justifications as to why men sexually harass women and so on. The discourse just got wider, more populated with opinions and just turned into a dynamic landscape over the last few months. 

Will there be any more Sluttalking now that the Delhi Slutwalk is over? Who knows, but beyond the chatter, I think we missed talking much about the elephant in the room: women’s sexuality and how younger women today are expected to be somewhat ‘sexy’ if they want some social currency. In a recent research study I was part of which explored what middle class women experience online, the majority of young women explicitly stated the desire to represent themselves as ‘sexy’ in pictures they put up online, believing that it increased their social status amongst peers and raised their own self-esteem. Their own definition of ‘sexy’ was very broad and hardly controversial – anything from fitted jeans or a sleeveless top or even styled so that they looked like a movie star. 

It is complicated: we now have a bevy of cheerleaders in IPL (usually women who are conspicuously not Indian), advertisements and popular culture replete with sexual and sensual references (especially positive affirmations by women themselves – think Sheila, Munni and so on) but still dressing ‘slutty’ (which, the Indian media tell us, means wearing ‘‘fishnet stockings and micro minis’’), as the subtext of debates on Slutwalk tell us, is crossing cultural boundaries. We are still hypocritical about acknowledging women’s sexuality and how it is really all around us today, and in flux.  

To be fair though, I have met many sex workers and women in prostitution, and have never seen them wear anything more or less than any other poor, marginalised women. But perhaps we would also like to be able to dress ‘like sluts’. Or wear red lipstick. Or a flower in our hair, a shiny nosepin. Just on any day, not just our wedding day when it is legitimate for a young woman to acknowledge her sexuality without the fear of being raped or being assumed to be a slut. I’ve never worn fishnets and a micro mini on the streets but now I know I probably can’t because the discussion around Slutwalk has made it clear that certain boundaries cannot be transgressed.

The division between good women/bad women is one of the deepest divides amongst women. An initiative like Slutwalk strikes a feeble but important blow at this iron wall (at least the way it has manifested in the West). Women not only spend their lives trying not to get raped but also trying not to be called sluts. This is of course difficult given that it takes very little to be called one, especially in our context: this one laughs too loudly, this one smokes, this one drinks wine, this one comes home late from work, this one is a dancer, this one talks to boys, this one leaves her hair open, this one wears lipstick, this one wore a sleeveless blouse, this one wears jeans… you get my drift. 

In our case, we were still distancing ourselves from sluts, not only not- embracing the word, but also the concept. A Slutwalk won’t reduce the number of rapes or directly reduce the number of cases of harassment on the streets – for that we will need sustained political will, convictions, safer cities, public attitudes, embracing women in the public sphere and many other things. But that isn’t the point (perhaps the most repeated refrain by people defending the initiative). A few weeks ago a man bludgeoned his daughter (in fact, try Googling ‘man bludgeons daughter’ to realise the volume of cases out there) to death because she went to the mall with boys (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com). The point is what basic message the Slutwalk initiative gives out: in their website the Toronto organisers state that the reason for Slutwalk is ‘‘because we’ve had enough’’. 

Because, really, we have had enough.

Source: http://infochangeindia.org/women/third-wave/after-the-slutwalk.html

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Who will bell the cat? Jan Lok Pal Bill to Stop Corruption

 
Last week’s campaign by Anna Hazare and colleagues raised very important questions about accountability, state, civil society, political means and ends. Critics of the campaign to get the Jan Lok Pal Bill adopted by the Government of India have found fault primarily with the means used by Anna Hazare and by the content of the draft legislation upon which the campaigners were insisting. (1) There has already been extensive commentary on these so this essay will focus on the question of accountability.

Accountability is one of the oldest questions in the study of politics. As social contractualists would tell it, the tale goes that the state was forged by the common need felt by individuals for common laws enforced by a mutually agreed authority. But if we just look at the way the three most prominent thinkers from this school described this authority (ie the state), we can see that the accountability question is rooted in the very nature of the state. Hobbes saw a state that was absolutely powerful, embracing and controlling every aspect of life; the citizen had virtually no rights—except life--vis-à-vis the state. Locke’s state was a carefully drawn up contract in which the state had a regulatory role but could not infringe on life, liberty and property rights. For Rousseau, the expression of society’s “General Will” was sovereign—the most abstract, perhaps most expansive of the three. The three thinkers’ descriptions serve as a quick doodle that highlights the push-pull tension intrinsic to the state-society equation. 

The most commonly told Indian story about the origin of the state bears some resemblance to this. The decline of society necessitates the appointment by a king, who is a manifestation of Vishnu, but at the same time, the king’s powers are not absolute as the story of Vena, arbitrary and corrupt ruler, shows. He was dethroned and beheaded by sages, while the earth, unable to bear his abuse, went into hiding. Kautilya’s Arthasastra gives individuals the right to resist a bad king. And much discussion in the two epics centres on the qualities and practices of good kings. In other words, there is nothing new or exotic about the question of accountability.

State, society, civil society, people
States, through their agents and agencies, perform (or should perform) certain useful functions. Defence, law and order and creating some common rules and instruments for a given population are the core but depending on the history and context of the state, other functions such as development might also be added to this list. There is a point in the performance of each of these functions where the state’s activity and interaction may hurt citizens and communities within. Language policy and redistribution of resources are two examples. 

The relationship between state and society is a symbiotic one. States are born out of society, in a way, and draw their values, agents and histories from society. But they are not co-terminous with society. A single state may be home to many ‘societies’ as people define themselves in multiple ways, intersecting or overlapping, collectively (Bengalis, Sikhs, Dalits, English-speakers) ; and a single society may transcend the borders of a state (Shaivites). 

The extent to which states are embedded in or autonomous of the societies that constitute them is a subject political scientists take an interest in. One of the markers of political modernisation was that the state would be more and more autonomous of society, a function of both the growing power of the state as of changes in society. Such a state was considered better placed to direct social and economic change. In Indian political thought, one of the big questions is the king-priest relationship, but both operate within the common framework of the values of society in a given place and time. The modern Indian state is relatively autonomous of society, given its origin in a constitutional framework. The potential for antagonism between state and society is likely greater when the state enjoys greater autonomy and has an agenda of social change. 

So much for state, society and individuals, but what is civil society? Everyone seems to understand what ‘civil society’ is but it is very hard to arrive at a common definition. The most pedestrian definition might be that the term is a rubric for all collective activities in society other than those organised by the state or part of the economy (market and otherwise). This immediately raises questions about religious organisations, caste panchayats, trade unions and so on: are they civil society? The answer to that question is as varied as the actors that count themselves in and are counted in civil society. The more important question may be: What is the role of civil society in balancing the equation between society and state? This is, after all, one of the questions that the recent campaign has raised by seeking a role for eminent persons from civil society in drafting and enforcing laws that create accountability. 

Meeting the ‘accountability’ challenge
The essence of the accountability challenge is to make sure the state and its agents deliver on all their mandates without infringement of citizen’s rights. Moreover, it is to facilitate communication between state and society so that the actions and policies of the state reflect the changing needs and demands of society. Accountability is seen as a check on the state’s exercise of its powers. But as this is not a new political problem, it is useful to look at some of the instruments devised over centuries to resolve it.

‘Separation of powers’ and ‘checks and balances’
A beginner in a politics class learns these terms as ways to check the absolute power of rulers. Montesquieu first wrote about separation of the power of the state, advocating that the executive, legislative and judicial powers of a state be reposed in different offices to prevent their concentration in the hands of one. Montesquieu wrote during the reign of Louis XV, when France’s absolute monarchy was still at the zenith of its power and when the excesses of that power were becoming evident. His ideas became very influential outside France, and the new American enshrined his ideas as the system of ‘checks and balances’.

While today, the American President is often described as the “most powerful man on earth”, in reality the genius of the system is that no branch of government is completely autonomous of the other. This was a response to both the autocratic absolute monarchies prevalent in Europe at the time (and heading for revolutionary collapse) and the newly evolving Westminster system in England where the lines between the executive, legislature and judiciary were blurred. When the Indian Constitution was written, while the Westminster model was largely retained, there were two important departures that the Constituent Assembly adopted. The first was to set up a separate Judiciary, with an apex court distinct from Parliament. Over time, the Indian judiciary came to exercise ‘judicial review’—the right to review laws made by the legislature for their constitutional validity—which was an American innovation. The second departure was that India is a federal state, and the second house of Parliament was not made up of knighted and landed peers but members elected by the legislatures of Indian states and union territories. 

A fear that all the powers of a state, all its resources, will be concentrated in the hands of one or a few is an old fear. Most constitutions address that fear in some way and most constitutional debate centres on how power should be distributed and shared—both to benefit the most people and to prevent corruption and abuse. 

When in the 1970s, there was talk about a ‘committed judiciary’ and a ‘committed bureaucracy’, these ideas were met with great resistance. The ability of the judiciary to act independently has been a great bulwark against poor governance, human rights violations and corruption, and has created value for the independence of the Election Commission, Vigilance Commissioners and other statutory bodies. A series of upstanding officials in the top posts has conflated the institution’s independence with integrity. However, the fact remains these are not elected positions and beyond a point, not accountable to the people of India. The concerns that surround the Planning Commission and now, the National Advisory Commission, also apply to these offices—and that of any Lokpal—that policy is being made by appointed rather than elected officials.  

The ombudsman
By now, we’ve all read about how the ombudsman’s office is a Swedish institutional innovation. In 1713, Sweden’s King Charles XII was away from his capital pursuing distant conquests. Unsure of whether his officers were working in accordance with the law, he created the office of the ombudsman to oversee their working. The ombudsman was a representative of the executive. In 1809, Sweden’s new constitution created the office of a parliamentary ombudsman with the power to investigate and prosecute grievances, oversee public servants and identify and advocate good administrative practices. This is the ombudsman model that has been adapted in many parts of the world. 

In India, the suggestion to have an ombudsman-like post was introduced in political discourse by the first Administrative Reforms Commission in 1969. (2) The Lokpal would officiate as a public grievance officer at the central government level and Lok Ayuktas would do the same in the states. Since the 1980s, several states have passed Lok Ayukta legislations and appointed ombudsman officers whose powers vary from state to state. At the central level however, multiple efforts to establish a Lokpal did not bear fruit. Appropriate legislation was introduced 10 times between 1969 and 2011, with no success. 

Apart from the cynical explanation that self-serving legislators would hardly have prepared their own nemesis, what are some of the reasons these drafts did not pass? There are unresolved issues surrounding the structure, jurisdiction and powers of the Lokpal. First of all, should the office of the Lokpal mean a single individual or a multi-member panel? This is more easily resolved than the suggestion that the office of the Central Vigilance Commissioner and the Central Bureau of Investigation should be merged into the Lokpal to create an anti-corruption body. The relationship between the Lokpal and the courts and parliament also remain to be defined. In other words, four decades on, we have not been able to decide what this office should look like. This is partly a function of the challenge of determining jurisdiction. 

One important hurdle is to decide which government offices should fall under the purview of the Lokpal—all public servants, political functionaries, parliamentarians, ministers, prime minister—there has been no consensus on any of this. Moreover, in a hierarchy-conscious society and secrecy-conscious state, it is suggested that inquiries against some functionaries should require prior sanction. Should the Lokpal merely look to corruption charges and complaints about non-delivery of services or should the Lokpal also hear commercial and contractual matters? An anti-corruption office might receive allegations that a particular official acted in their self-interest (by asking for a bribe, allocating resources a certain way) or a complaint that a citizen was inconvenienced or hurt as a result of poor administrative responses. The question of jurisdiction also extends to defining which of these (or both) a Lokpal should hear.
The question of power is as contentious as the question of jurisdiction. The Lokpal could be set up as an advisory office, which receives grievances and advises the government to act on them. It could also have the power to investigate and prosecute. If investigative and vigilance agencies were merged with the Lokpal, it would presumably be a far more powerful body. In that case, the question also arises as to whether the Lokpal should be limited to acting on written complaints or whether the office may initiate its own actions independently. 

These are not small matters and they are not contentious merely because they open up turf-battles between ministries. There is also the broader question of checks and balances in government and fitting a new, independent statutory body into that framework. 

Civil rights
Rights are the ‘thus far and no further’ line between state and citizens. While there are other mechanisms that create a relationship where state agents are responsible and accountable to citizens (representative institutions and voting, for instance), rights define the relationship between state and society, state and individuals. The constitutions of most states now include a Bill of Rights, and states are charged with protecting their citizens from the violation of those rights by other citizens. Individuals and communities also enjoy rights vis-à-vis the state—political rights, civil rights, cultural rights and increasingly, economic rights. 

The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights (to life, to equality, against exploitation, to freedom, cultural and educational rights) and also the right to constitutional remedies.(3) These constitutional remedies include the writ jurisdiction of the high courts and Supreme Court which can be invoked to ensure that the state protects the fundamental rights of an Indian citizen. There are five such writs: Habeas corpus (which is used to challenge unlawful detention); mandamus (whereby a public official can be instructed to carry out official duties and protect rights); quo warranto (which questions a public official’s authority to decide or act in a certain way); prohibition (which results in a higher court issuing a ‘stay order’ to stop implemention of a decision under challenge); and certiorari (which allows a higher court to transfer a case or a particular process to a better-suited office if need be). Four of the five writs relate as much to the question of accountability as they do to violation of individuals’ rights. 

Civil society has used both the language and the instrument of rights to create more participatory processes in development and social change arenas. It has also highlighted the close relationship between accountability, rights and welfare. The Right to Information, enacted as law in 2005, is a result of grassroots movements making and articulating this connection, rather than city-based think-tanks holding seminars about it. From the villages of Rajasthan and the villagers’ outraged insistence on knowing what was happening to public resources, came the national campaign for the Right to Information. Transparency and insisting on transparency are vital instruments for enforcing accountability. Since the passage of the RTI Act, RTI petitions—which are very easy to file—have been used across policy sectors and levels of governance. Vinta Kamte used an RTI petition to access the phone and mobile records of key actors on the night of 26/11/2008, when her husband was killed in the terrorist attack in Mumbai.

The media
Press freedom is one of the pillars of democracy, and in India, for more than four decades, investigative journalism has left tabloid columns behind to become a marker of serious purpose in the mainstream. The Indian media work in an atmosphere of relative freedom compared to many other settings, and their work exposing corruption or violence has often been important, but their credibility has also been dented in recent years.

Most recently, the Radia tapes showed how closely knit India’s elite is—their phone calls, their references to each other, their sharing of inside information, their confidence in their influence. The disclosures adversely affected many reputations but journalists were possibly worst-affected. Even before the Radia tapes though, the Press Council of India’s report on ‘paid news’ described different ways in which journalism was compromised by the close association of editors, owners and business. The practice consists in the purchase through roundabout or indirect means of column space on the news and editorial pages of newspapers. This practice tricks the reader into believing that what is really an advertisement is factual newsreporting, and it also constitutes financial malpractice by both the purchaser and the media company. Election candidates and business houses are both known to engage in this practice. The real damage is to the ability of the news media to be independent and vigilant observers who bear witness. The now-common practice of investigative and ‘sting’ reporting is now also an instrument for the same vested interests. 

On the other hand, the media have found a new, hitherto unlikely ally, in ‘ordinary’ citizens, who armed with mobile phones and social networks, are extending the reach of the press in three different ways. They are reporting from where they are with text and video events that unfold around them as well as exposes of inefficiency and malfeasance. They are offering opinion on blogs and through text messages, extending the community of the disappearing op-ed page far beyond its historical reach. They are voting in spot polls, allowing media agencies to take dipstick readings of public opinion. The combination of media advocacy and citizen activist-journalism has resulted in instant mobilisation, especially around urban events and interests. The protests that followed the 26/11 attacks and the current support for the Jan Lok Pal Bill are both examples of how powerful this combination has become.

When you overlay the evidence of corruption and cronyism in mainstream media organisations and the power of this combination, the result must raise red flags for any thoughtful observer of politics and society. Used wisely and cautiously, this is a democracy’s biggest asset. Thoughtless and emotional responses however, can create pressure for outcomes that are sub-optimal in the long run. 

The power of protest
Morchas. Rallies. Candlelight vigils. Silent marches. Padayatras. Sit-ins. Dharnas. Relay hunger strikes. Hunger strikes. Fasts unto death. Gheraos. Walk-outs. Go-slows. Work-to-rule. Strike. Flash strike. General strike. Bandh. All-India bandh. The vocabulary of non-violent protest is especially rich and innovative in India. The crown jewel of this treasury is surely, satyagraha—non-violent resistence or soul-force are common translations.(4)

The idea of satyagraha draws more from ideas in spiritual traditions that connect inner transformation to social transformation, than from theories of resistance and revolution. The character of the satyagrahi is thus central to satyagraha; readiness for satyagraha is an objective in itself. Some of the qualities that Gandhi sought in satyagrahis were honesty, self-discipline, faith in democracy, belief in the law so that disobedience is really a conscious departure, patience and forbearance, courage, especially the courage to trust the adversary, and self-effacement. Satyagraha was never to be coercive, but to seek a transformation in the other’s attitude. There was no place for anger (nor outrage?) in satyagraha. Satyagraha was also to be undertaken by those directly affected by a situation, not another on their behalf. For any satyagrahi, the inner quest for truth and the outer struggle for it were of a piece. 

Gandhi is sure of the power of this approach to political action, as now are most Indians. Of the different ways to undertake satyagraha, fasting—which directs the action at the self—is the most powerful. Gandhi wrote in Young India, in 1927: “Since satyagraha is one of the most powerful methods of direct action, a satyagrahi exhausts all other means before he resorts to satyagraha. He will, therefore, constantly and continually approach the constituted authority, he will appeal to public opinion, educate public opinion, state his case calmly and coolly before everybody who wants to listen to him, and only after he has exhausted all these avenues will he resort to satyagraha. But when he has found the impelling call of the inner voice within him and launches out upon satyagraha, he has burnt his boats and there is no receding.”

In other words, street action—satyagraha or otherwise—must follow the unsuccessful use of all other methods. 


But who will bell the cat?
The task of enforcing accountability rests ultimately with citizens. The terms and conditions of citizenship in a democracy include an implicit undertaking by citizens to remain informed—of rights, of laws, of policies and of current affairs—and exercise their rights, including the right to vote. In India, as in other democracies, they also have the right to file for constitutional remedies through a variety of writ petitions. 

Civil society brings to this the advantage of acting collectively, as it reflects the diversity of interest and temperament of the citizenry at large. Drawn from this same body of citizens, neither civil society nor government can claim a monopoly on virtue and integrity. Acting collectively in civil society organisations empowers citizens, but the collective energy of the group also reinforces special interests and entrenches positions. This is one reason that no group in civil society or no coalition of groups can claim legitimately to represent all citizens the way elected representatives of a legislature can, even with all the limitations of representative electoral democracy. 

There are three very important functions that civil society can perform better than the individual citizen. First, it is easier for a group to marshal the technical, material and financial resources for certain courses of action, whether it is an RTI or writ petition. Second, an organisation is better placed to undertake a sustained and systematic programme of research and public information on specific issues than most individuals. This includes gathering the learnings of grassroots organisations and the documentation of social movements, informing in turn research that is oriented towards policymaking. Finally, civil society organisations are sometimes in a position to create and facilitate interactions between government and different groups of citizens on particular issues. All are essentially long-haul functions. Insofar as civil society organisations show the patience to undertake these functions, one measure of the responsiveness of a democratic government is their openness to inputs and initiatives from civil society. 


(1) Some examples: Economic and Political Weekly, What ‘Movement’ is this anyway? April 16, 2011, http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/15939.pdf; Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Of the few, by the few, Indian Express, April 7, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/new; Pratap Bhanu Mehta, What’s in a solution? Indian Express, April 14, 2011, http://www.indianexpress.com/; Prashant Bhushan, Jan Lok Pal Bill: Addressing concerns, The Hindu, April 15, 2011, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article1696970.ece; Manoj Mitta, Lok Pal Bill: United in opposition, civil society a divided lot, Times of India, April 7, 2011, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/; Shuddhabrata Sengupta, At the risk of heresy: Why I am not celebrating with Anna Hazare, Kafila.org, April 9, 2011, http://kafila.org/2011/04/09/; Harini Calamur, My issues with the Proposed Jan Lok Pal Bill, April 6, 2011, http://calamur.org/gargi/2011/04/06/; The Acorn, Against Jan Lok Pal and the Politics of Hunger Strikes, National Interest, April 8, 2011, http://acorn.nationalinterest.in/2011/04/08/against-jan-lok-pal-and-the-politics-of-hunger-strikes/.
(2) The best resource on the Lok Pal Bill is the webpage maintained by PRS India: All about the Lok Pal Bill, http://www.prsindia.org/index.php
(3) The Constitution of India is available online at http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/coifiles/part.htm.
(4) Resources for the section on satyagraha are drawn from the websites run by the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal and Gandhi Book Centre (http://www.mkgandhi) and Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Smriti (http://gandhismriti.nic.in).
(Swarna Rajagopalan is a Chennai-based political scientist. She is the founder of Prajnya Initiatives for Peace, Justice and Security, a Chennai-based non-profit.) 

Source: http://infochangeindia.org/governance/backgrounder/who-will-bell-the-cat.html

 

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Her victory marks a milestone in the domestic workers’ struggle in India

Papamma, a Elderly domestic worker in Bangalore, took her employers to court and managed to receive a favourable judgment. This is a historic victory for perhaps the most vulnerable segment of unorganised workers, made possible by the support of a trade union, a dedicated team of advocates and a labour officer who adjudicated objectively.

With the upcoming International Labour Conference later this year, there is a buzz about a new legal international instrument providing ‘decent working conditions’ to domestic workers globally. However, as of now, laws benefiting unorganised workers in India, including domestic workers, are few, and the sad reality is that even these most often remain on paper. 

It is heartening therefore when the law is actually applied, giving these workers their due. This happened recently to Papamma, a domestic worker in Bangalore who was paid a pittance during her long years of service -- 1978 to 2007. Worse, she was discharged abruptly with no provision for retirement. In her words: “I came with empty hands and I left (after 31 years of working) with empty hands.”

A trajectory of her employment shows Papamma received a wage of Rs 60 for 22 years, for eight hours of work a day spanning the entire gamut of household chores from washing clothes to cooking and shopping for vegetables. In 2003, her wages were raised to Rs 500. (Incidentally, the minimum wage for domestic workers was notified for the first time in 2004 -- Rs 2,279 for an eight-hour day.)  In 2007, before she was unceremoniously dismissed during the last six months of her employment, and following repeated demands, Papamma’s wages were grudgingly raised to Rs 1,500. Even this fell short of the legal minimum wage for that year (2008).  

Papamma’s case illustrates the predicament of the domestic worker. Verbal agreements govern working conditions; there is no formal record of employment, only oral undertakings given by the employer that are often retracted later; demands for better wages are met with promises of future settlement which never materialises. 

In her employers we see a not-uncommon feudal attitude which manifests in the belief that the domestic worker does not require a weekly day off or extra payment should her workload increase because of guests. And the notion that the occasional help extended when she falls sick, or providing her children school uniforms justifies non-payment of a higher (adequate) wage. 

In Papamma’s case we also see loyalty towards her employers that ultimately soured when they refused her employment after a bout of illness. 

These were the circumstances that led Papamma to seek legal recourse. 

The favourable conclusion of Papamma’s case is a rare example of a domestic worker getting justice from the courts. An instance, perhaps, of institutions coming together to work the way they are meant to -- the trade union that provided Papamma a forum, a dedicated team of advocates (from the Alternative Law Forum), and a labour officer who adjudicated objectively.

According to one of the litigators for Papamma, Maitreyi Krishnan, a major reason for the case’s success was Papamma’s persistence; in her experience, due to the vulnerabilities of their situation, many domestic workers don’t see their battle through. Papamma went to the court or to the lawyer’s office whenever required in the course of the litigation which carried on for one-and-a-half years. Secondly, and perhaps equally important, was the support of the Karnataka Domestic Workers Union. 

The union was registered in 2003 by Sr Celia who had been working with domestic workers for a number of years. During that time she became convinced that true empowerment of domestic workers would only come about through their unionisation. She believes that any organisation, no matter how well-meaning, will only ‘work for’ and ‘speak on behalf of’ the workers. In the case of a non-worker-headed organisation, the workers become the beneficiaries and are therefore dependent on what is provided to them. There is a difference when those who are actually the ones suffering speak about their own situation, Sr Celia says. As a union, they can represent their own case. 

A worker asking for her own rights is different from a human rights activist asking for her rights. There is a sense of empowerment and dignity that does not come through social service, however well intended.

In Papamma’s case, there was a body she could take her grievances to and avail of the support of union members. Initially, this took the form of going with her to the employer’s house. There the employer did not even speak with them, instead he complained to the police about the visit. Papamma, in turn, filed a complaint at the local police station about her wage grievances. They took no action. She then went to the police station, accompanied by some union activists. When the police sub-inspector did not grant them an audience they sat outside the station until he gave in. The police then called the employer to the station where the sub-inspector suggested he pay Papamma a minimal amount of money so that she would not create any further trouble for them. Papamma turned down the employer’s offer as it was far less than what she had been promised. The police told her not to confront the employer and that the appropriate forum for her was the courts. Members of the union went with Papamma to court to attend the hearings.

Krishnan believes it also helped to have a good labour officer hearing the case. In the order that followed a well-researched case, not only were back wages granted but hefty compensation equalling the amount of back wages as well as overtime for all the Sundays Papamma had worked. Stating his reasons, the judge observed in his ruling that the employer was an educated senior citizen and that his lack of awareness about the law showed he had failed in his duty. 

Papamma herself does not appreciate the verdict much. She points to her home: an unlit small two-room house in a Lingarajpuram slum. An asbestos sheet forms the roof. The only furniture is an assembled double bed with a thin sheet covering its hard surface, and a plastic chair. Papamma says they wanted to use the money that was promised by her employer to carry out basic structural improvements to the house. The compromise amount she finally got would not serve this purpose. Further, at the age of 65, she would have to continue working.

From a larger perspective, however, the judgment is unprecedented in Karnataka: that someone from the most disadvantaged even within the unorganised sector managed to access the formal legal system and receive a favourable judgment. The fact that Papamma ultimately got a compromise amount, not what the judge ordered, is today’s reality. If she had not gone to court she would not have got even this amount. The judgment is an important step towards recognising that domestic workers too are workers with enforceable rights.

When the minimum wages notification for domestic workers in Karnataka was first passed in 2004 there was a lot of deliberation between the government, labour advocates and civil society about implementing the law. This was because the notification did not provide for implementation mechanisms such as regular inspections and regulations for the maintenance of wage registers by the employer. The labour commissioner of the time suggested that in a scenario of non-payment, if just one claim was filed before the department the successful outcome of the case would have “a multiplier effect”. He suggested that news of the case would spread and serve as a strong deterrent to employers who failed to pay adequate wages. Perhaps Papamma’s case will serve as just such an example.  

By Anuja Mirchandaney a legal researcher and freelance writer with the Alternative Law Forum, Bengaluru. Her primary interest is in research and writing on socio-legal issues.


Source:  http://infochangeindia.org/livelihoods/features/papamma-s-victory-marks-a-milestone-in-the-domestic-workers-struggle.html

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

SC denies plea for enhanced punishment for Bhopal gas tragedy accused

The Indian Supreme Court, on May 12, 2011, threw out the curative petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seeking enhanced punishment for top officials of Union Carbide, the multinational at whose Bhopal plant an accident led to a massive leak of poisonous gas that killed over 4,000 people instantly and disabled many thousands more.

The deadly leak occurred on December 4, 1984. Compensation for the victims, negotiated by the Government of India, was paltry by any standards and has been hotly contested for more than 25 years by groups fighting for the victims. In a 1996 judgment, the Supreme Court diluted charges against the accused from Section 304 (II) of the Indian Penal Code (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) to Section 304 (A) (criminal negligence). In 2010, a Bhopal court convicted seven accused who were sentenced to two years in jail. All seven secured bail immediately. The then Union Carbide Chairman Warren Anderson, also accused in the case, was declared a fugitive in 1992.   

The sessions court verdict and sentence was criticised strongly by civil society and the media, and a group of ministers was set up to look more closely into the matter. The GoM recommended stricter punishment for the seven officials. The CBI filed a curative petition against the light punishment and sought direction from the SC for framing of charges against the accused for culpable homicide not amounting to murder that carries a maximum imprisonment of 10 years (curative petitions have only been allowed since 2002). 

A five-judge bench including Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia dismissed the CBI’s petition saying it was based on a “wrong and fallacious plea”, and filed after 14 years. It said there was not enough reason to build a case of culpable homicide. “The materials produced do not meet the requirement (for homicide),” Kapadia said.

However, the court said that its 1996 judgment in no way prevented the trial court from framing charges under the stringent provisions of the Indian Penal Code. 

It said the Bhopal sessions court was free to examine the charges against the accused and decide, if the evidence available so warranted, that they could be tried for a more serious offence such as culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The SC bench clarified that the 1996 judgment was based on evidence presented before it at that time, and it was wrong to assume that it was binding on the trial court when additional facts and material were forthcoming.

On May 13, a day after the SC judgment, the Indian government said it would ask the CBI to move the sessions court in Bhopal for an early hearing of its revision application and appeal filed by the Madhya Pradesh government for stricter punishment for the accused. 

Source:  http://infochangeindia.org/environment/news/sc-denies-plea-for-enhanced-punishment-for-bhopal-gas-tragedy-accused.html

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Regulation of Surrogate Parenthood in India

 The advances in human reproductive sciences have made it possible for couples and others to have biologically their own children who otherwise cannot for a number of reasons. This has given rise to the concept of surrogate mothers. Surrogacy is a method of assisted reproduction. More common form is IVF/Gestational surrogacy in which the surrogate child biologically belongs completely to the social parents. The other type is gestational surrogacy where the surrogate child is genetically related to the male parent and the surrogate mother.

India has emerged as a favourable destination for surrogacy and its Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) industry has evolved into a 25-billion rupee business annually, with Law Commission describing it as “a gold pot”. The phenomenal rise in surrogacy in India has been due to it being cheap, socially accepted. Moreover, surrogacy has emerged as a preferred option because of complicated adoption procedures.

Foreigners including NRIs seeking surrogacy for various reasons, both medical and personal, have also contributed to the rise of the Indian surrogacy industry predominantly because of it being at least ten times cheaper than in their respective countries. No statistics exist on the number of foreign couples coming to India to have a child. But ART clinics say that their numbers have been appreciably growing.

In India surrogacy heralded with the delivery of its first surrogate baby on June 23rd, 1994, but it took eight more years to draw world attention to it when an Indian woman in 2004 delivered a surrogate child for her daughter in the U.K. Surrogacy as a medical process has matured over the years. India has become a booming centre of a fertility market, partly surreptitiously, and today there are an estimated 200,000 clinics across the country offering artificial insemination, IVF and surrogacy. They call it Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).

There is at present no law governing surrogacy in India, eventually the activity including renting a womb (commercial surrogacy) is considered legitimate. In the absence of any law the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2005 issued guidelines for accreditation, supervision and regulation of ART clinics in India. But the need for legislation became pressing with ICMR guidelines being often violated and reportedly rampant exploitation of surrogate mothers and even cases of extortion.

At the instance of the Indian government an expert committee has drafted a legislation known as Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2010 for legalizing surrogacy. The proposed legislation earlier floated in 2008 envisages legalizing commercial surrogacy as well. It defines a ‘couple’ as two persons living together and having a sexual relationship and as such, following Delhi High Court’s verdict on homosexuality, gives gays besides the singles the legal right to have surrogate babies. It also stipulates the age of surrogate mother to be within 21-35 years and limits her deliveries to five including her own children. The surrogate mother will have to enter into a legally enforceable surrogacy agreement as per the proposed legislation.

Foreign couples including NRIs seeking surrogacy in India will have under the proposed law to submit certificates that their country recognizes surrogacy as legal and also that the surrogate child after birth would get their country’s citizenship. The Law Commission of India in its 228th Report on “Need for legislation to regulate assisted reproductive technology clinics as well as rights and obligations of parties to a surrogacy,” has by and large supported surrogacy in India, but is not favourable towards commercial surrogacy. The Commission said, “It seems that wombs in India are on rent, which translates into babies for foreigners and dollars for Indian surrogate mothers.”

But according to an infertility specialist in Mumbai the Commission favouring altruistic surrogacy only may not be the solution either. “It will be very difficult to get altruistic surrogates and relatives could end up being pressured to become surrogates,” says the specialist. This could be a reality in view of poverty, illiteracy and the lack of power that women have over their own lives in India.
But many legal experts are of the view that the draft Bill is a step in right direction as it will end the present confusion and help regulate the functioning of the IVF centers and ensure quality check and accountability of ART clinics. It is expected to protect the interests of both the surrogate mother and child and help the commissioning parents to realize their dream of having their own baby more or less hassle free.

There are worries too as to what impact it will have on the society in terms of commercialization. Poor illiterate Indian women with the lure of money could be forced into repeated surrogate pregnancies risking their lives. There are also ethical and moral issues as well as the human dignity involved besides questions about the rights of surrogate mother. As such the draft legislation on surrogacy needs to be debated threadbare in social, legal and political circles as well as by the civil society before it becomes a law.

By M.L.Dhar

Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author in this feature are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of PIB or WBRi.

Source: http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/52569911-regulation-surrogate-parenthood-india

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Japan nuclear crisis fuelled stir against Jaitapur nuclear plant

For the past five years, activist Pravin Gavankar had been trying hard to sensitise the villagers of Ratnagiri to the risks associated with having a nuclear plant in their backyard.

The agitation against the project, however, underwent a sea change after the tsunami-triggered Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan on March 11.

Today, everyone in the area - from the mango orchard-owning farmers in Madban village, to the fishing community in Sakhri Nate - has joined hands in the anti-nuclear power plant protest. Gavankar, who heads the NGO Janhit Seva Samiti, found it difficult to convince locals earlier because the focus of the stir was their displacement from the site chosen for the project.

Many villagers were too terrified to raise their voice after being allegedly threatened by local government officials. All they wanted was to accept whatever compensation they were being offered and hand over their land for the nuclear plant. But now the issue is finding loud resonance in the entire stretch of the coastal belt.

A mere land conflict has metamorphosed into a battle for survival.

"The primary opposition to the project in the initial days of the agitation was because the villagers did not want to part with their tracts. Some were not happy with the compensation and others simply did not want to shift as they were apprehensive of where they would be rehabilitated," a local administration official in Jaitapur said.

"The mindset of the protesters has dramatically changed after the Fukushima tragedy. Villagers are now ranged against the very idea of a nuclear power plant in their area. What this means is that even if we manage to acquire land from them, they will not allow the project to go ahead," the official added.

Another stark contrast is the political undertones the stir has taken. The Shiv Sena, which joined the protest only a few months ago, has now gone full steam ahead by exploiting the Fukushima incident.

The party has put up huge posters in and around Ratnagiri that whip up doomsday fears in Jaitapur.

The slogan on one of the posters is: 'Japan has been destroyed and now Konkan will be destroyed. We will not allow the destruction caused in Japan to take place in Konkan'. Another Sena poster shows a huge ball of fire superimposed on a supposed nuclear plant.

The message being conveyed is: 'If a nuclear disaster can occur in a highly developed country like Japan, what about India?' The parallel being drawn by the party appears to have made a huge impact because many villagers are now saying that they would lay down their lives rather than allow the project to be implemented. "This project is a risk not just for the livelihood of the people, but a threat to their very existence," Gavankar said.

"We don't want a nuclear project. The issue is no longer about giving away the land or rehabilitation. We don't want a nuclear project to harm us as it has done in Japan. We are particularly at risk as Jaitapur, too, sees a lot of seismic activity," he pointed out.

The fear of Ratnagiri becoming another Fukushima is so palpable that even diehard Congress functionaries are going against their party's line of thought. A case in point is that of Sharifuddin Qazi who is the Rajapur taluka Congress committee secretary.

He says he is against the nuclear project because it could hurt the people and was also not safe for the environment in the long run.

Amjad Borkar, who heads the fishermen's organisation in Ratnagiri, said the state government's claim of rehabilitation defied logic.

"They are saying they would resettle us. But what happens if there is a disaster and the whole environment and ecology is destroyed? Would they be able to get another ocean like this? This is a question of the livelihood of thousands of villagers in Ratnagiri and we are not budging," Borkar said.

As the agitation gathers steam, it is not just the Fukushima incident that is being exploited. NGOs from Ratnagiri have now invited villagers near the Tarapur atomic power plant in Mumbai to visit Jaitapur and explain why the Maharashtra government's claims on safe nuclear energy should be taken with a pinch of salt.

"We are holding a two-day rally that would start from Tarapur on April 23 and end in Jaitapur on April 25. Villagers from Tarapur will talk about how the nuclear project has affected them and their livelihood. They will also expose the government's false claims on compensation," Gavankar revealed.

If the march materialises and Tarapur's villagers do narrate their experience to the residents of Jaitapur, it would be a big blow for the project, local government officials felt.

"The government is clearly on the back foot after the Fukushima disaster. It had, all this while, been highlighting Tarapur as a model case. However if the people of Tarapur, too, lend their voice to the current campaign, the project could be a non-starter," the official said.

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/japan-nuclear-crisis-propels-stir-against-jaitapur-project/1/135867.html

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

Hazare movement & the Delhi drama

The national capital is an excessively pampered city. Mindboggling amounts of money have been poured into it for improving infrastructure. This exercise has undeniably yielded dividends. Supreme among the additions to the average citizen's comfort is the metro built by Sridharan who, incidentally, is a phenomenon of sorts. The swanky new airport Terminal 3 is also something to crow about. Thanks to a judicial fiat a few years ago and the mandatory use of CNG for public transport buses, the quality of air has also improved. There is a constant attempt to beautify the city that has made Delhi really attractive. On the whole, it has become a more agreeable city than many others in the country to live in and raise a family.

It is an irony and tragedy, therefore, that Delhi is now polluted by the machinations of a small number in the polity who are hell-bent bent on destroying our faith in civilised living. This group of influential people with a somewhat shady past is scared of the critical mass that social activist Anna Hazare has picked up during the past few weeks. It would somehow like to derail his movement to promote ethics in public life.

Dismaying are the events of the past few days surrounding the circulation of a mysterious CD that contains scurrilous material against a few who are associated with Mr. Hazare. There are conflicting views on the genuineness of the CD. I wouldn't like to pronounce my views on this contentious matter. Let us wait for the opinion of a credible and reputed expert. The unfortunate feeling that has been generated is that there is possibly now an orchestrated endeavour to damn everybody who desires to inject some ethics into public life.

The vital questions that legitimately arise are: Has the battle between good and bad been again lost? Can we remain silent at the insidious adventures of some unscrupulous elements who are trying to scare away public-spirited men and women? These are the issues that are uppermost in the minds of a large number of people, who recently started looking upon Anna as a messiah, much to the discomfort of some inside the establishment and many outside.

I am no friends of the controversial personalities now being assailed for the alleged slander of a judge. I barely know them. I am, however, appalled by rumours that they are being targeted because of their closeness to Anna Hazare. Another rumour doing the rounds is that this is a masked operation aimed at persuading a senior judge to recuse himself from hearing a sensitive case. Both conjectures, irrespective of whether they have a basis or not, speak volumes of the quality of public life in the country.

No institution and no public official now seem exempt from calumny at the hands of those who themselves are unabashed violators of law. In such a miasmic atmosphere, the trend of good people shunning public office is likely to become stronger by the day. This development can be reversed only with the help of persons with a strong will and fire in the belly. It is nearly certain that it is not enough to be clean. It seems equally important to have the guts to hit back at detractors with a dubious agenda. Nothing else is likely to work in defusing persons with a questionable agenda, whose main strength is the sly support received from those who are close to power centres.

A somewhat specious argument, put forth by a few vested interests, runs along these lines. How can Anna Hazare and company stifle discussion on the format and future of the anti-corruption campaign? This is with a view to damning them as anti-democratic and fascist. Nothing can be farther from truth. The impression sought to be circulated is that the crusade against lack of integrity in high places is a brand new development and that a lot of time and opportunity need to be given to lawmakers to ponder over the subject and come to deliberate and calculated conclusions on how corruption should be fought through a foolproof law. This stand borders on the ridiculous considering that the proposed law has been debated for more than four decades.

If Mr. Hazare sounds impatient, and possibly irascible, it is because he is convinced he has waited long enough to see his lifetime objective fulfilled. It is not the ranting of a selfish old man who aims at self-glorification and is itching to embarrass the establishment. What his critics are trying to propagate, with unmistakable dishonest intentions, is that he is being exploited by vainglorious egotistic individuals who have jumped on the Hazare bandwagon just to settle scores with their adversaries.

I feel it is dangerous to ignore this ill-advised and vengeful group as inconsequential. We know that untruth repeated ad nauseam comes to be looked upon as the gospel. It is my experience that in modern India it is not enough for you to have a decades-long track record of honesty and goodness. In the past, an unsullied reputation for integrity and desire to help the common man stood by you when brickbats were thrown at you. The present situation is so ugly that every time somebody challenges your honesty of purpose and unwillingness to bend to those in power, you will have to prove that you have nothing to hide from society. There cannot be a worse time in Indian history for good people in public life. This is why I am worried about the future of the Hazare movement. If good people in massive numbers do not now come out boldly to express their solidarity with him, he will become just a footprint in the sands of time.

Mr. Hazare has announced that he will abide by the wishes of Parliament when it comes to passing a Lokpal law. He is being clever and correct so that he can carry all MPs with him. I, however, perceive a slight contradiction here. Mr. Hazare knows that across the political spectrum there is absolutely no will to install an omnipotent Lokpal who will fear no one. This absence of consensus on the subject among people who matter when it comes to law-making is the bane of the system. To expect Parliament to agree upon a strong ombudsman is a pipe dream. Hence, when Mr. Hazare says he will go by the wishes of our legislators, he is being unrealistic.

But then, does he have options? This is a real catch-22 situation. He has to carry Parliament with him. At the same time, he knows he will have no staunch backers on that forum for an effective Lokpal. Does this mean he should desist from asking for the moon and settle for mother earth? Not at all. Whatever he chooses to do, it is for the common man to continue to exert pressure on the polity for framing the most practical yet deterrent law. The media's role in maintaining public focus is crucial. Nothing else will help.

BY Dr. R.K. Raghavan is a former CBI Director

Source:  http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/22/stories/2011042254711000.htm

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.

UID: Enrolment troubles for helpless residents & Senior Citizens

While there are still concerns about privacy, those who have gone to register for the UID number have found the enrollment process more like a punishment 

The much-hyped, ambitious project of the Union government, the biometrics-based unique identification number (UIDN) programme has kicked in. However, residents are finding it very difficult to enroll themselves for the 'soon-to-be-mandatory' UIDN due to a lack of facilities.

People are complaining that procedures involved to get UIDN are lengthy, time-consuming and troublesome. As a result, certain sections of people, mainly senior citizens and working professionals are finding it difficult to visit enrollment centres.

According to the procedure, an applicant must first collect the enrollment form by standing in a queue that is usually very long. Most of these centres are at municipal schools and the forms are available only on Mondays and Saturdays, between 10am and 12pm. So, you need to get into the queue well before the counter opens to stand a chance of getting a form. But, again, there is no guarantee of getting a form, as some centres do not have a sufficient number of forms.

In addition, one must carry an identity or address proof, whether it is a public distribution system (PDS) or ration card, or a PAN card, to be able to get a form to apply for the UIDN. Interestingly, while it is printed on the ration card itself that this cannot be used as a residence or identification proof, almost every authority, including the UID registrars, ask for it. This defeats the fundamental purpose of UIDN, which is being created as an identification for those who do not have any.

It this is not bad enough, there's more trouble at the counters, where staff are themselves clueless about most issues. "The exercise is conducted at a municipal school where the collapsible gates are drawn and one has to stand on the outside, barely able to get a glimpse of the staff inside. Every query is dismissed with a monosyllable answer-a "yes" or "no"-and this raises even more questions," says a resident who unsuccessfully tried to enroll himself for the UIDN.

If one manages to obtain and fill up an enrolment form, the registrars issue a token after two days and the person has to collect it between 10am and 1pm or 2pm and 5pm only. During the last stage of registration, the person has to carry an identification proof, like a PAN card or driving license. For children parents are required to produce the birth certificates as well.

"Already there is a lack of awareness and clarity among people, especially senior citizens, regarding the UIDN project. There is also a mobility issue for senior citizens. For them to physically go and complete the procedures is a big challenge," said  Sailesh Mishra, the founder of Silver Inning Foundation, an NGO that works with senior citizens. "Why can't they come and conduct the enrolment procedure at housing societies, where people can reach easily," Mr Mishra asked.

On the subject of furnishing personal details, Mr Mishra says, "Mumbai has around 10 lakh senior citizens, of which only 50,000-60,000 have registered for the senior citizens cell of the Mumbai police. This is because elderly people are sceptical to share personal information, especially their financial details. I don't know how successful this UDIN project will be in getting information from them."

Another issue is that there is no online facility for enrollment. While forms are available on the UIDAI website, there is no enrollment number on these forms, so there is no option but to stand in the queue at the registration centres.

In order to reach more people, especially senior citizens, the project should have volunteers and work together with not-for-profit organisations. "If they want senior citizens to participate in the enrollment procedure, collaborating with NGOs is a good option. We are ready to help the government in this," Mr Mishra said.

Moneylife has consistently written about the flaws in the UDIN project. In a series of articles, we have described how the project could turn into a threat to the private lives of individuals through misuse of the database. One report pointed out how, despite making an open declaration that it would not be mandatory, the Union government (the chief financier for the project) and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) were busy creating backdoor compulsions for UIDN, through financial institutions and service providers, to ensure that people enrolled or were left out of the system. (Read,Why is UID number being made compulsory through the backdoor?)

Moneylife has also written previously that this ambitious and expensive project uses biometric information like finger prints, IRIS scans and face photos to create a UID number. The authority is roping in fat-profit organisations as its partners, which will very likely result in the database being used for targeted marketing. (Read, 'Fat profit institutions continue to board UID bandwagon' .) In addition, UIDAI has roped in many registrars to undertake this enrolment. These agents are said to be adding their own parameters, and creating their own databases for business. (Read, 'Is the UIDAI database vulnerable?' .)

By Alekh Angre

Courtesy:  http://www.moneylife.in/article/uid-enrolment-troubles-for-helpless-residents/14732.html

Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.