LETTERS

Gender inequality

The Cover Story "Many Faces of Gender Inequality" (November 9), which is based on Prof. Amartya Sen's inauguration lecture for the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University, constitutes a signal service to readers. It is an essay in exclusivity that compels attention. One wishes that the full text of the lecture was published with the anecdotal banters and asides with which Prof. Sen peppers his speeches/lectures.

A close reading of the Cover Story reveals the numerous factual, statistical and interpretational references that Prof. Sen has made on gender sensitivity and inequality from the experience of Kerala. Prof. Sen's observations regarding gender-related property rights in Kerala, especially the subtle observation that "there is further need for causal discrimination in interpreting Kerala's experience", are unexceptionable, as it were.

Prof. Sen has not mentioned in his lecture, specifically with regard to the property rights of Kerala women, the practice of dowry. Marriages in Kerala are mostly arranged ones. Although seeking or receiving dowry is prohibited by law, the practice is rampant. The fact remains that an eligible bachelor commands a filthy fat economic 'consideration' (the word 'dowry' is taboo!) and the parents of the would-be bride cannot but fulfil such considerations if marriages are to be settled. It also needs mention that the 'consideration' invariably consists of movable and immovable property, including cash. Deferred payments are also in vogue. Despite the State's total literacy and high social conscientiousness, the practice of taking dowry is vitiating Kerala in the areas of gender justice and social justice.

Euphemistically stated, what is in vogue in Kerala is "an imperfect and informal marriage market" where cost, price, demand and supply inalienably operate sans ethical or just considerations.

K. John Mammen
Thiruvananthapuram

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's article has touched the core problem facing the development and growth of the country. It emphasises that the neglect of women causes adversities in the health, survival and lives of all.

Food security is necessary, but that is not sufficient for adequate nutrition. Income makes a difference. Child care practices also depend on factors like education.

There are many schemes such as the Integrated Child Development Scheme that provide services through anganwadis. All these should be extended to cover not only children and pregnant mothers but all women below the poverty line. In fact, education, employment and health care can together make a lot of difference, as has been proved by Kerala. So, the State and Central governments should cooperate to remove the drawbacks in the present schemes, introduce new ones for women and implement them uniformly throughout the country. Perhaps India's poor performance in sports and games is an indication of the state of affairs. So, if we have to catch up with others and stand up as a developed nation, we will have to act now.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Karigiri, Tamil Nadu

America's war

After two weeks of bombardment of Afghanistan, the U.S. had failed to achieve any concrete results. One shudders to learn from President George Bush that he intends to extend this destructive war for two years.

The Western media have brought out the reality that the starving people of Afghanistan are the real victims of the war. Time reports that many Afghans are dying of starvation. In some villages, on an average six out of every 10,000 people are dying each day, and at this rate the villages could lose 30 per cent of their population within a year. It is ironical that a nation that claims to uphold human rights is so eager to subdue a nation that is starving. Is this the former's standard of civilisation?

The U.S. government should immediately withdraw its forces and start negotiations. This not only befits its self-proclaimed role as the guardian of human rights but also goes in line with the international laws.

Sajid Ahamed
New Delhi

Through your versatile magazine Frontline, I, an ordinary British citizen of Indian origin, aged 77, wish to lend my full support to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's fair and firm decision to oust the terrorists wherever they are. I hope and pray that Vajpayee's efforts as well as those of Prime Minister Tony Blair and all peace-loving people to fight terrorism will be successful and will be rewarded.

Syed Abdul Khadir
Middlesex, England

This has reference to the article "Warning shots from India" (November 9). The activities and policies of Pakistan are more dangerous than those of the Taliban for the security of India. If the Taliban regime falls, its leaders, along with members of Al Qaeda, may enter Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) and make it a terrorist's paradise.

Meanwhile, the circumstances in Pakistan clearly are such that the Gen. Pervez Musharraf government may be overthrown by pro-Taliban elements and other Islamic fundamentalists. If this happens, POK will become the base of terrorist organisations. Therefore India should gather world support and attack the terrorist training camps in Pakistan just as the U.S. is doing in Afghanistan.

S.A. Sundaramurthy
Tirupur

The fact sheet on Afghanistan was timely, concise and informative (October 26). How can the U.S. and its allies be selective in bombing militant and civilian centres? Poor and innocent people are being killed for no reason. Let the U.N. intervene and resolve the crisis.

Sunny C.P.
Kottayam

When electronic voting machines were introduced only in a few constituencies in our country, some Americans laughed at us for still counting votes manually. Yet their President was finally elected by manual counting.

When our politicians were caught in scandals, Americans made fun of us. Yet their President was caught in the biggest sex scandal of all.

When an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked and taken to Kandahar, Americans joked about our poor security system. Yet four U.S. planes were hijacked on a single day.

When we transported our animals in trucks to slaughter houses, Americans said we were cruel to our animals. Today they rain bombs on Afghanistan, killing innocent women and children. They are killing terrorists, they say.

Hypocrisy, thy name is America.

V. Chandrashekhar
Chennai

"The Afghan quagmire" and the fact sheet (October 26) were informative. I would suggest that you publish a special issue on the main political and military events after the Second World War - such as the Vietnam War, the unification of Germany, the 1989 student protests in China and so on.

Rashmi-Bose
Bhopal

Nobel Prizes

Amidst the morbid news of terrorism and war, a significant piece of news for Indian science went largely unnoticed elsewhere (November 9). Two Americans and a German were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for 2001, for separating the Bose-Einstein Condensate. The existence of a new state of matter was first predicted by the Indian physicist Satyendra Nath Bose and affirmed by Albert Einstein, but it took 70 years for the theory to be proven. The creation of the new state of matter by Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle has far-reaching potential in computing, nanotechnology and precision instruments.

I do not know of any other theoretical prediction that has found application after almost three quarters of a century. And that it was pioneered by an Indian scientist working in the confines of an Indian university, should be a matter of pride for every Indian and an inspiration for every student of science. We should not lose the opportunity to commemorate this event in India by posthumously awarding Prof. Bose with the highest national honour and starting a school for young scientists who wish to make further studies on the Bose condensate.

Dr. M.R. Iyer
Chicago, U.S.

Adivasis of Kerala

This refers to your story on the Adivasis of Kerala (October 26). I was under the impression that poverty, starvation and social exploitation were afflictions endemic to the "cow-belt" and that tribal people were exploited only in the poorer States of North India such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa (India's "dark continents"). If "God's own country" is home to 3.21 lakh exploited and impoverished Adivasis despite it having the highest human development index, it should be called the "Devil's own workshop".

K.P. Rajan
Mumbai

George Fernandes

The re-induction of George Fernandes into the Union Cabinet as Defence Minister has come at the most inopportune moment (November 9). With the Venkataswami Commission finding the Tehelka tapes to be genuine, this step questions the BJP's claim to being a 'party with a difference'. It is regrettable that the Prime Minister has succumbed to the pressure tactics of the Samata Party (perhaps in the form of threats to his already fragile coalition). In line with his 'transparency and probity in public life' statements, Vajpayee should have waited for the Venkataswami Commission to submit its final report. It was Fernandes himself who resigned in the wake of the revelations made by tehelka.com with the support of video images, about alleged irregularities in defence deals and the involvement of top political leaders in them.

L.K. Advani resigned from the Lok Sabha the moment his name figured in the "Jain hawala case" and rejoined the House only after he was cleared by the Supreme Court. The BJP has since compromised on its principles - perhaps for the sake of survival, if not for power. The induction of Harin Pathak (who faces criminal charges) as Minister of State for Defence Production and Supplies has also brought disrepute to the image of the NDA.

Sonia Gandhi, Laloo Prasad Yadav and even Shatrughan Sinha of the BJP have criticised the Prime Minister's move. But it is most unfortunate that Mamata Banerjee - who rejoined the NDA after having quit over the Tehelka expose and after biting the dust in the West Bengal Assembly elections - has welcomed his re-entry into the Cabinet. Perhaps, she is trying to gain entry into the Cabinet through the back door with Fernandes' support.

In today's era of declining values, what more can one expect from our leaders?

S. Balakrishnan
Jamshedpur

Preventing terrorism

The time for India to snuff out terrorism from its bloodied soil has come. This is the message that R.K. Raghavan conveys convincingly and forcefully through his article "Old wine in a new bottle?" (November 9). Raghavan pleads with politicians of all shades not to be "distracted from our priorities at this crucial moment" while debating on the pros and cons of the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO). What we sorely need at this 'crucial moment' is a 'coalition' of ideas and not a clash of self-serving political interests. The U.S. Congress, in a bipartisan approach, has just passed similar legislation in record time, to give the U.S. law enforcement agencies that extra muscle needed to deal with terrorism on its soil. India may need a multipartisan approach because of the multiplicity of political parties; even so a consensus must be achieved quickly.

The Press Council of India has a role to play in convincing its members that it is not a question of "settling scores with anyone", except, of course, the terrorists.

Kangayam R. Rangaswamy
Durham, U.S.

Tamil workers in Sri Lanka

"For greener pastures" (October 26) highlighted the shortage of labour in Sri Lanka's tea plantations. The governments of Sri Lanka and India signed two agreements, one in 1964 and the other in 1974, primarily owing to the unfair insistence of the Sri Lankan government to repatriate to India 6,00,000 persons of Indian origin whose families had worked in the island's tea and rubber plantations for more than 150 years. They were not wastrels who lived off the legacy of the island but were a highly productive labour force. These agreements are contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 15(2) of which states that "no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality". Both Sri Lanka and India, signatories to the august declaration, failed to honour their promise. Political expediency overlooked the human tragedy of uprooting a huge number of people from their places of birth and relocating them in an unfamiliar terrain and clime.

For several generations, these plantation workers, mostly Tamils, worked ceaselessly under the most trying conditions - nine hours a day and seven days a week - to create a plantation paradise in the central hills of Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, narrow political considerations on the part of Sinhala leaders resulted in their repatriation to India. It took more than a century for the one million Tamil workers to cover the undulating hill country with 1,60,000 hectares of lush green tea gardens and the low country with 2,40,000 ha of rubber plantations, not to mention the hundreds of hectares of coconut plantations elsewhere in the island.

The Indian Tamils not only worked in the plantations but were involved in the construction of roads, railway tracks, railway tunnels in the mountains, hydroelectric projects, and shipyards. Above all, many of them worked as conservancy workers, performing the menial job in Colombo and other cities and towns. Even to this day they do it, but what they get in return from Sri Lankan society is not appreciation but unjustified scorn.

The plantation Tamils worked for comparatively low wages and earned much-needed foreign exchange for the country. But they continue to get a raw deal from the plantation owners, in many cases the government itself. When other sections of Sri Lankan society have made remarkable social and economic progress, the disenfranchised Tamil workers, confined to their line rooms on the plantations, continue to work as their fathers and forefathers did, without any sign of improvement in their lives.

Sinhala politicians and the Sri Lankan government should shed their old prejudices against the Tamil workers, correctly apprise the contributions the community has made to the economic growth and welfare of the country, treat them as equal citizens of the island nation and afford them educational and employment opportunities.

Workers are the backbone of any country, and if due recognition is given to their labour, irrespective of whether they are indigenous or otherwise, not only will the end result be beneficial to the country but a lot of social unrest and friction can be avoided.

V. Nadesan
Gudalur, Tamil Nadu

Ban on SIMI

The article on the Centre's decision (October 26) to ban SIMI is not convincing, instead it raises many questions. Was it trying to criticise the Centre's move or was it justifying SIMI's activities? The Centre's move deserves criticism for the timing but you should not have overlooked SIMI's activities.

Ashokan Nambiar
Kanhangad, Kerala

Bal panchayat

Your article on the bal panchayat system in Ajmer district of Rajasthan (October 12) deeply impressed me. As a Class 12 student, I understand the plight of children who are denied the right to education. Innocent children are married off, and thus cannot enjoy a carefree, happy childhood. Hats off to all the bal panchayat members, and kudos to young social activists like Sayar Singh. Please set up a fund for meritorious students like Nirmal Kumar so that they can pursue higher studies.

I am sure a lot of people will contribute to the fund. Such funds must be established throughout India so that all needy children may benefit from it.

C.R. Padmasini
Hyderabad