Compensation for Rape Victims ... ... ...

Compensation for Rape Victims ... ... ...

From time to time, I've heard reports of compensation announced for the family of the Delhi gang-rape victim. A couple of examples are given below:

• Delhi Government announces 15 lakhs compensation, UP Government to give 20 lakhs to Delhi rape victim's family
  
  
• Government plans to allot DDA Flat for Delhi rape victim's family, college seat for victim's kin

Perhaps this is over and above any cost incurred towards her treatment at Delhi and at Singapore.

I have nothing to comment about what should be the right levels of compensation that would be appropriate for the family of the Delhi gang rape victim. Obviously, that is bound to be a subjective decision at the moment.

However, I certainly feel quite strongly about the need for identifying a basis for determining such compensation for victims of crimes against women succumb and die or survive and suffer.

Those who are from Chennai would have heard about the recent acid attack victims Vinodhini and Vidya who did not survive despite the best efforts of the doctors.

As progressive thinking individuals repeatedly point out, the figure of over 24000 cases of REPORTED rape every year across India is obviously unacceptable. However, the absence of a public furore over a specific instance or a major protest over another incident should not be the basis on which compensation figures are determined.

Will someone tell our law-makers and the media to look into this aspect of crimes against women?

As an aside, when a specific crime against a particular woman is proven to be blatantly false and it is found that it was based on a false complaint, is there any known case where the poor man (who was proven to be innocent after a long legal battle) has got any meaningful compensation either from the courts or the government?

Regards,

N

Why we are responsible for blasts in our cities ... ... ...

Why we are responsible for blasts in our cities ...

For far too long we've been blaming everyone else for much of the mess in the country. Especially for terror strikes. Including the latest Hyderabad blasts on February 21, 2013.

It is obviously easy to blame:

• The "self-centred, short-termist" politicians - across all parties
  
  
• The "lazy" bureaucrats
  
  
• The "inefficient" police
  
  

I personally feel that each Indian citizen ought to shoulder at least part of the responsibility. I had written a post on this subject in 2011 with reference to the Mumbai blasts. In case you missed it, you can read it here:

• Why we are (and I am) responsible for the Mumbai Blasts?

Apparently, nobody did anything and nothing happened.

And the Hyderabad blasts have taken place earlier this evening (on February 21, 2013) at Hyderabad.

I was watching the various news channels.

One obvious thing that was highly visible was:

• Two LPG Cylinders, apparently meant for domestic use, which appear to have been located at the eatery at or near which the blasts happened.

Here are a few questions for you and me, the ordinary citizens of the country:

• Why were we using domestic cylinders for commercial purposes? (I'm sure that the managers and/or owners who run the eatery are people like you and me and I'm including them among the broad subset of "you and me")
  
  
• When we were eating at the eatery or working in the eatery as waiters or cashiers, we noticed these domestic cylinders - and stayed silent. Why?
  
  
• When we were checking the LPG connection, we would have found that it is being used for commercial use - Why did we keep quiet?
  
  
• When we delivered the cylinders every other week, we would have visibly seen that domestic cylinders were being used for commercial purposes. And we didn't bother. Why?
  
  

The single simple answer: Corruption.

It may be a case of monetary corruption by way of bribe-giving or bribe-taking. Or it may be the corruption of silently tolerating corruption.

Once you and I tolerate corruption in this manner, once you and I behave in such a corrupt manner, we

• Lose the right to crib about corruption - and more importantly,
  
  
• Lose the courage to go and approach a law-enforcement agency (like the police, for instance) to complain about any form of corruption

Therefore, you and I

• Will not go and tell the traffic constable about the suspicious man hanging around with an odd parcel in his hand.
  
  
• Will not volunteer to be a witness and volunteer information even after the blast
  
  

And if you and I still think that terror strikes will stop, you and I are living in a fool's paradise.

The time has come for you and I to own our share of responsibility. 

Once we become reasonably "proper, responsible citizens", then, and only then can we expect "them" to ensure that such terror strikes don't impact us!

Regards,

N

Independence Movement of Texas

Independence Movement of Texas

I've been reading with interest a whole lot of articles about the "not-so-recent" Independence Movement of Texas. Apparently, there is a growing wish on the part of Texans to secede from the United States of America.

Take a look at a couple of articles in this connection:

• "Texas Secession Movement Picks up Momentum" - Huffingtonpost.com
  
  
• "We want to be Alone, says Texas Nationlist Movement" - Independent.co.uk

For a variety of reasons, it may not necessarily be a bad idea to have smaller states in India - Stuff like administrative convenience, focus on local issues, decentralisation of power, genuine federalism, etc.

The very same reasons would, perhaps, make it worth asking: Should the world seriously considering the option of having a larger number of smaller nations by "dividing" the present-day large nations into smaller nations?

Will it not result in a more peaceful world? After all, such a situation will imply that no single nation will be as much of a super-power as, say, a present day United States or China, for instance.

Will it not result in a much greater focus on local and regional priorities?

A lot of experts keep telling us that "huge banks" can be a rather unacceptable systemic risk for the world of finance. They want the banks to "be cut down to size".

We have very strong "pro-competition regulators" to prevent the formation of monopolies.

These are just two quick examples from the field of commerce.

If such a relatively minor ecosystem such as the corporate world makes us look at "limiting the size of players", is it not logical that we should also be favourably inclined to look at the option of smaller nations?

Most importantly, considering the manner in which many "powerful nations" in general and the US in particular have been "interfering" in the internal affairs of a rather large number of developing countries, I feel that the time has come for the developing world to be on the look out for opportunities to strategically reciprocate.

Let's take the example of Texas. 

I feel that countries like India, South Africa, Brazil, members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, etc. should start making noises along the following lines:

• "The independence movement of Texas is an internal matter of the State of Texas and the United States of America and we will not take any steps to aggrevate the situation unnecessarily".
  
  
• "Independent think tanks will certainly be given liberty to hold seminars and discussions to discuss about the genuine aspirations of the people of Texas. That does not imply that the opinions expressed by the participants in such seminars represent the views of our Government"
  
  
• "People like Daniel Miller, the leader of the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), Larry Secede Kilgore, telecommunications consultant & pro-secession advocate, Peter Morrison, treasurer of the Hardin County Republican party, Alan Daves (who calls himself "The Texas Mob-Father"), etc. are thought leaders with a view different from the present official thought process. Without compromising our relationship with the USA, we will continue to engage with these important thought leaders by inviting them to address seminars and conferences in our cities, discuss their thoughts and ideas for the future of the global political equations, etc."
  
  

After all, if countries like the USA, UK, Canada etc. can "keep playing politics" by "silently supporting" secession movements in developing nations and by provoking various developing nations against each other to further their own "national interests", so can we!

Let's make a beginning by inviting Daniel Miller to New Delhi to address a few conferences at, say, the India Habitat Centre! Perhaps we can also invite people like the Dalai Lama, Robert Burns, the Scottish independence advocate, etc. for such conferences!

Regards,

N

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Patronising Attitudes - Cultural Racism???

Patronising Attitudes - Cultural Racism???

From time to time, I've come across instances of "studies", "Reports" by NGOs, "Surveys", etc. that complain about Indian problems of different kinds, such as:

• Caste based atrocities
• Crimes against Women
• Communal violence
• Child Labour
• Corruption

While most of these problems are very real and deserve to be addressed, analysed, solved, etc., I've also noticed something rather interesting in many of those studies, reports and surveys - "The Foreign Hand" - Often, the people who commission these surveys or reports belong to or are funded by foregin sources - especially from the Western World.

All of us would have heard about the so-called western influence in the protests against the Koodankulam Nuclear project.

I just came across another one very recently:

• Cross-regional brides deprived of rights! - The Hindu, Chennai 

Gist: Oppression and discrimination suffered by the low caste groups and Dalits at the hands of the dominant caste groups in Haryana and Rajasthan is reproduced within the families bringing in wives from other parts of India.

The findings are the result of a study apparently funded by Royal Norwegian Embassy

Frankly, I don't even have any major problems with foreigners looking at our real problems (including the above one) and coming up with useful reports with or without meaningful suggestions.

However, I'm tempted to wonder why someone from the Western World should be interested in such subjects which are obviously "irrelevant" to their own immediate society - After all, in what way will Norway benefit from such a study, for instance?

You will observe that the frequency of such studies, surveys, reports etc. are quite common about "atrocities" from Asian countries like China, India, etc. as well as about various African nations and the West Asian countries.

I suspect that there is a very strong undercurrent of a patronising attitude in all these efforts. I'll not be surprised if there is an "assumed superiority" of "their own" society, culture, practices, religions, etc. which form the basis for such studies. They even strive to make "us" believe in an unconscious manner that "they" are, in some manner, "superior".

I must admit that:

• I've got no firm data to prove my hypothesis.
• It is just a lurking suspicion based on my own hunch.

I would welcome comments about the above hypothesis.

More importantly, considering the manner in which countries like China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, etc. are becoming significant economic powers in their own right, I feel that the time has come for some of the High-networth-individuals from these countries as well as the government-backed entities from these countries should start sponsoring various studies, surveys, etc. about problems (real and imaginary) faced by the Western nations and come up with authoritative reports and publicise the findings extensively.

Some suggested topics for such studies could include:

• Debasement of the institution of marriage
• Neo-Nazi trends among the youth of Germany
• Irrational child-right beliefs leading to irresponsible parenting in Scandinavian nations
• Overdose of materialistic selfishness and the resultant inequalities in the Western Societies
• Artificial re-writing of history with a western bias
• Attitudes of German citizens about East European "free-riders"
• Hedonistic and lazy attitudes of Greeks
• Paranoia of the Americans about Muslims
• Power of Gun-manufacturing lobbies leading to violence in US society
• Conscious looting of natural resources from African nations by the Western Society
• Sexual abuse of children by Christian Missionaries
• Evergreening of patents by the "Big-Pharma" MNCs from the West

Let's join hands in showing "Them" as to how it feels when "others" poke their noses in "their holy cow subjects"

Regards,

N