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Government Led Social Engineering is Anti-Woman and Discriminatory

 Lately, the social engineering joint project of national government and its parent institution RSS is in full swing in India; so much so, even the Supreme Court and Law commission appear their surrogates. ‘Uniform Civil Code’ issue mentioned in Article 44 is one of the many directive principles that needs to be contextualized in a holistic perspective. The government of India’s Oct-2016 affidavit to Supreme Court against polygamy and Triple Talaq (TT) system is myopic and an opportunity lost. The codification of personal laws is not exclusive to Muslim community and there are many complex areas to be covered. Take the issue of the ‘Hindu Joint Family’ itself which is exclusive to Hindus and it has huge financial and fiscal ramifications. Further the gender superiority inherent in Indian patriarchy is only different in its format but not in its ferocity amongst different religious communities. The practitioners of TT are akin to the ‘khap panchayats’, which are force to recon with in parts of northern India; in spite of no legal sanction the traditional system perpetuated is forcefully maintained.

There are two types of divorces in Islam – ‘Khula’ initiated by wife and ‘Talaq’ initiated by husband. Triple talaq is a variation of talaq. Husband initiating talaq must pay mahar (bride-price) which is a mandatory payment paid or promised to pay by the groom at the time of Nikah.

The authors consulted five Qazis authorised to effect ‘Khula’ and ‘Talaq’ in the city of Hyderabad. Their documentation ranged from seven to 25 years and a total of 460 occurrences were noted. Of these 275 were ‘Khulas’, 162 Talaqs and only 23 classified as ‘triple talaqs’. This Khula system empowers a Muslim woman to dissolve marriage on her volition.  Further, triple talaq are rare; and the unfortunate cases where they have occurred, the community by and large has strongly stood by the side of the victim. It must be noted that Supreme Court of India has already held triple talaq invalid in its Shamim Ara - v - State of UP judgment of 2002; and divorced Muslim women can also benefit from legal provisions of the Muslim Women’s Act and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

It is appropriate to share the Census of India - 2011 ‘Marital Status by Religious Community and Sex’ (Table C-3) data which highlights the status of women from marital perspective. Compared to many Western and African nations, women ‘staying in marriage’ is high in India amongst all communities. For example, 88 % Muslim, 86 % Hindu, 84% Christian and 86% women from all other minorities remained currently-married after getting married. Women in marriage do get the benefit of social and economic protection and lately many women in marriage also take up paid employment and choose professional lives.

Yet a good proportion and numerically large number of woman in India are found to be ‘widowed’, ‘divorced’, and ‘separated’. Of all the ever-married women, 13.8 % Hindus, 12.3% Muslims, 16.3% Christians and 14.3% the other minorities women fall in this category. The status of widowed, divorced and separated women is deplorable across India. Each of this state-of-marriage is mired with gender offensive situations that deny equality with married women and men across all religions.

‘Widowed’ are least amongst Muslims (11.1%) compared to Hindus (12.9%), Christians (14.6%) and other religious Minorities (13.3%). ‘Separated and abandoned’ women are also least amongst the Muslims (0.67%) compared to Hindus (0.69%), Christians (1.19%) and other religious Minorities (0.68%). Whereas ‘divorced’ women percentage is high amongst the Muslims 0.49% and Christians 0.47% compared to other religious minorities 0.33% and the Hindus 0.22%. Out of 340 million ever-married women 9.1 lakhs are divorced and amongst them 2.1 lakhs are Muslims. Note that Muslim women are better placed in seeking Khula compared to all other sisters which appear to be a factor for higher incidence.

It appears that the government, selected political parties and media are sensationalizing the matter of triple talaq as if this practice is widespread. The social stigma and economic distressed faced by 43 million widowed women must be the priority welfare policy in India. Creating institutional incentives for remarriage and charting programmatic financial support must be the priority. There are one million divorced women who require government initiated support.  There are also 2.3 million separated and abandoned women, of which two million are Hindu, 2.8 lakhs Muslims, 0.9 lakhs Christians and 0.8 lakhs belong to other religions.

Lives of all separated women are pathetic; irrespective of whether she is wife of Raja Bhauj (say Prime Minister of India) or Gangu Teli (a poverty stricken pauper). They face challenges and constraints both in marital and natal families. The marital home does not support them as their son has abandoned her and natal home ignore her as she is traditionally considered parayadhan (belong to someone else). They cannot remarry due to the fact they are not divorced. They live in extremely dire conditions socially and financially; and at risk of sexual exploitation. They are desperate to live with their husbands and waiting for one call from him to re-join. Despite not living with husband for 43 years Jashodaben Modi said on 24th Nov 2014 "if he call once, I will go with him". But her husband never responded. Recent photo-evidence of Joshodaben suggest that she lives a solitary life in a depleted abode although legally she is the first lady of India.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFj0G2GgG0).

Abandoned women cannot even get a passport in India; for example, in 2015, when Jashodaben applied for passport, her application was rejected. Anyone trying to reform the conditions of the Muslim women in the guise of triple talaq should know the depth of sufferings of 2.3 million deserted women, among which 1.9 million are Hindu sisters. It's time for Mr. Modi to focus on facts and move away from rhetoric to action; and stop targeting the minorities especially the Muslims.

Indian Children:

Future Citizens and source of Demographic Dividends are at increased risk under the NDA Administration

Indian will be the most populous county surpassing Chinas by 2022 and reaching 1.60 billion by 2050. India will also be one of the top five economics of world by then and a dominant player at the global economic and political decision making. In spite of these feats in sight, India is host to world’s largest concentration of the poor, malnourished, illiterate and unemployed.

About 16 million children are born every year in India. Most of these births occur in rural and urban peripheries and amongst the poor and uneducated households. A good proportion of these births also occur at home in the absence of trained medical aid. The infant and child mortality in India is still high compared to international standards and there is high variation within India, for example least in Kerala, most in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and so on. A recent survey ‘The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4’ estimates for the 15 large States; 37 per cent of children under the age of five are stunted; 22 per cent are wasted while 34 per cent under the age of 5 are under weight.  Households with low levels of income, the marginalized such as the SCs/STs and Muslims face a disproportionately larger load of infant and child mortality, malnutrition and ill health. 

Given such vulnerabilities that children and also women in reproductive ages face, the Government of India since last over three decades have perfected the ‘Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)’, through which lifesaving, health augmenting as well as malnutrition reducing services are provide at the door steps of households and community concentrations. The institution which engages the communities at the grassroots is known as ‘anganwadi centre (AWC) – which is the first point of service delivery for health, nutrition and early learning for children at the village level. According to government norms, there should be one AWC for a population of every 800, with a minimum population requirement of 400.

ICDS is designed to provide basic education and health services to children below 6 years of age and to pregnant and lactating women. These objectives are achieved through a package of 6 services: a) supplementary nutrition, b) non-formal pre-school education (PSE), c) nutrition and health education, d) immunizations, e) health check-ups and, f) referral services.

On an average AWC cater (supplementary nutrition) to 68 children; but it is as high as 193 children in Bihar and 100 children in Uttar Pradesh during 2014. The financial allocations for MoWCD more than doubled from Rs10,444 crore in  2010-11 to Rs 18,588 crore in 2014-15; but got reduced by 44 percent in 2015-16 to Rs.10,382 crore. The ICDS program which is over 85 percent of MoWCD got an allocation of Rs. 8,754 crore which is a 47 percent decrease over previous year.  Over all for the second year in a row, the NDA government has undertaken massive cuts for child oriented program - from Rs. 15,483.77 crore last year to Rs. 14,000 crore in the latest budget.

As concerned citizens and well-wishers of India we must step-up our resolve to protect the interest of the children in India.  

Indian Children:

Future Citizens and source of Demographic Dividends are at increased risk under the NDA Administration

Indian will be the most populous county surpassing Chinas by 2022 and reaching 1.60 billion by 2050. India will also be one of the top five economics of world by then and a dominant player at the global economic and political decision making. In spite of these feats in sight, India is host to world’s largest concentration of the poor, malnourished, illiterate and unemployed.

About 16 million children are born every year in India. Most of these births occur in rural and urban peripheries and amongst the poor and uneducated households. A good proportion of these births also occur at home in the absence of trained medical aid. The infant and child mortality in India is still high compared to international standards and there is high variation within India, for example least in Kerala, most in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and so on. A recent survey ‘The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4’ estimates for the 15 large States; 37 per cent of children under the age of five are stunted; 22 per cent are wasted while 34 per cent under the age of 5 are under weight.  Households with low levels of income, the marginalized such as the SCs/STs and Muslims face a disproportionately larger load of infant and child mortality, malnutrition and ill health. 

Given such vulnerabilities that children and also women in reproductive ages face, the Government of India since last over three decades have perfected the ‘Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)’, through which lifesaving, health augmenting as well as malnutrition reducing services are provide at the door steps of households and community concentrations. The institution which engages the communities at the grassroots is known as ‘anganwadi centre (AWC) – which is the first point of service delivery for health, nutrition and early learning for children at the village level. According to government norms, there should be one AWC for a population of every 800, with a minimum population requirement of 400.

ICDS is designed to provide basic education and health services to children below 6 years of age and to pregnant and lactating women. These objectives are achieved through a package of 6 services: a) supplementary nutrition, b) non-formal pre-school education (PSE), c) nutrition and health education, d) immunizations, e) health check-ups and, f) referral services.

On an average AWC cater (supplementary nutrition) to 68 children; but it is as high as 193 children in Bihar and 100 children in Uttar Pradesh during 2014. The financial allocations for MoWCD more than doubled from Rs10,444 crore in  2010-11 to Rs 18,588 crore in 2014-15; but got reduced by 44 percent in 2015-16 to Rs.10,382 crore. The ICDS program which is over 85 percent of MoWCD got an allocation of Rs. 8,754 crore which is a 47 percent decrease over previous year.  Over all for the second year in a row, the NDA government has undertaken massive cuts for child oriented program - from Rs. 15,483.77 crore last year to Rs. 14,000 crore in the latest budget.

As concerned citizens and well-wishers of India we must step-up our resolve to protect the interest of the children in India.