Over a Cup of Tea

Dear Modiji,

It is with great pleasure we welcome you to USA. Madison Square Garden is currently being transformed to 'Modison Square Garden', with Indian Americans from all over USA attending your live address, an event already sold out . Rest of your itinerary is packed too, UNGA, summit with President Obama et al. People are curious to know how a "tea seller's son", as you often describe yourself, went on to become the PM of India, the largest democracy of the world. During elections, many debates were held over a cup of tea, "chai pe charcha" (chat, over a cup of tea) , as you called  it, resulting in your party's thundering victory. 'Tea' dominated your election campaign.

It is in the same vein that I would like to bring to your kind notice, the plight of the tea workers in the state of West Bengal. There has been a rise in the death toll of the workers between the ages 20-40. Malnutrition has resulted in low BMIs, lower than the critical value of 18.5 given by WHO. Many have a BMI below 16, a life threatening status. There is also a problem with access to clean drinking water and sanitation. People are living among cesspools. 

They are being paid around Rs. 95 per day, which is  much less than the stipulated rate of wage.According to The Plantations Labor Act of 1951, they should be provided housing, medical, educational and other facilities, which are currently lacking in many instances. These workers were uprooted from their villages from Central India, during the British rule, to work on the tea plantations, and have nowhere to go now. The plantation owners are giving the excuse of declining sales, and are hence not able to provide them adequate wages and facilities.Many plantaitons are closed, e.g.,Dooars Tea Estate, Surendranagar, Dharanipur , Dheklapara and Bandapani Tea Estates. The situation in these places is even more dire. Rice distributed under PDS scheme is not fit for consumption. With no income and no food to eat, some families have resorted to eating shrubs collected from the gardens. More than 1000 people have died due to malnutrition. The State Government has declined to acknowledge that these deaths occurred due to starvation. It has even declined to recognize that there was any malnutrition death.

A delegation of the joint forum of tea garden labor unions, met Minister for Commerce and Industries Nirmala Sitharaman (from your government) and updated her on the above facts. The National Human Rights Commission has asked the State government to send a report about the deaths. Has there been any progress in this direction?

The plucking season of tea leaves ends in  October, after which more tea gardens would be closed by owners making the situation worse. It is no more a labor issue or a state issue. It is  a serious violation of human rights.  Your slogan 'Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas' (Development for all), should extend here. Nobody deserves this, it is a very sad situation All that the the tea workers need is a life of dignity, rather a right to live. Please look into the matter urgently, and take immediate steps, before it escalates even further.

Yours sincerely,
A simple human.

http://indiaopines.com/tea-workers-west-bengal-open-letter-narendra-modi/
http://blogs.rediff.com/anvaya/

Garba Mana Hain

"One swallow doesn't make a summer" is the response given by BJP spokesperson Jay Narayan Vyas to the statement made by Madhya Pradesh BJP vice president and MLA, Usha Thakur, seeking a ban on entry of Muslim youths in 'garba' in MP, during the festive navratri. She has come out with 11 point guidelines, which consist of checking the voter ids of the youth trying to enter the garba pandal . There are also guidelines on the 'dress code' for girls, decent to be precise, to defend themselves from the so called 'love jihad'.
  
Festivals in India seldom have been restricted to religion. They have always been a celebration of life, a reason to smile, enjoy, dance. Navratri is one such festival, where people gather around Goddess Durga, and dance to the beats of  'garba' over nine nights. Nobody in the history of this festival has restricted entry to people on the basis of religion. Nobody has paused and questioned  who is the music director of the song "Dholi taro.." (Ismail Durbar, film 'Hum Dil De Cuke Sanam') before dancing to its tunes. 

Recently there have been limitations on the timings of the garba for security reasons. But nobody has sent out diktats on the clothes women should be wearing on this occasion, which in essence is a celebration of femininity, expressed in the form and spirit of Maa Durga. 

What has changed? Article 15 of the Indian Constitution gives the right to equality, irrespective of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. How can a sitting MLA then come out with such hokum?. Why is the BJP looking the other way? Is it deliberate attempt, though not official, to divide people for vote dividends in the upcoming by-elections to be held in various parts of India. 

Where did this term 'love jihad' come from? It is said that it originated in the state of Karnataka somewhere around 2009, coined by Kerala Catholic Bishops Council, furthered by the  Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and others. They made allegations of large scale conversions of girls to Islam, through wrongful means, which were later found baseless. Recently the term is being polished and shined mainly in the state of  UP, by various Hindutva fringe elements as well as some office bearers of BJP.

Is it not an insult to the intellect of the woman, that she will fall prey to intentional overtures by men of a 'certain community'. And even if one assumes that women are vulnerable(beware, they are not), how is it the propriety of only women of a certain 'other' community. Besides, how does one check the authenticity of these claims in the current context. Definitely not on the basis of Tara Shahadeo case or the Meerut incident, which themselves are in question. Crimes against women happen in every community. One specific community cannot be singled out. 

When one thinks only 'love' was overrated, on which scale can 'love jihad' be rated. Well they will invent a scale too, in no time, let us be assured.

Surprisingly a poll taken on one of the TV channels showed that 87% people agreed  with Usha Thakur in restricting Muslim youth from entering garba pandals. This is a dangerous trend, which has been evolving recently. Where are we going as a society with such mindsets.

Even if one brushes aside this scaremongering as a one off, something new crops up everyday. There have been one too many swallows, with the likes of Yogi Adityanath, Laxmikant Bajpai, Sangeet Singh Som and others. They are making clowns of themselves. Let us make an humble request to our PM to stand by  the ten year moratorium on communalism he announced in his robust speech  from the ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day, and take action. And let us not lose our sense of humor!

http://indiaopines.com/garba-mana-hain/

Pin Drop Silence

Tony Blair was the Prime Minister of UK then. I vividly remember watching the news that day. Nothing out of the ordinary. He was visiting a school in one of the London Boroughs. He walked alongside a bunch of children, tweeny teeny kids. They were chatting as if he was just another guy from the neighborhood. It was a certainly a culture shock for me, who had just moved to this new country from India. What is it about schools that suddenly makes your spine go straight, to the point of being stiff.

Things have definitely changed. It is heartwarming that the next generation kids in India are more confident, questioning and sans inhibitions. Learning blossoms where there is no fear.

It is precisely why the news of our PM addressing the kids in schools on Teacher's Day triggers mixed feelings. It is a welcome sign that the Prime Minister of our nation wants to interact with the future generation. It will be a vocational training session. So many from the audience would want to be PMs in future. It will also be inspiring and educational.

What is disturbing is the atmosphere created around the whole episode, the language used in the directorate of education circular, the strict instructions given to the teachers and administrators to make the necessary arrangements. For example, schools with no electricity,  have been told to hire generators and  screens to telecast the PM speech live, just for that duration. The least it brings out is a laugh, a wry laugh that is.

Much has been politicized about this event. The HRD minister calling it 'voluntary' for schools to participate, the tone of the circular notwithstanding. The DMK chief Karunanidhi's objection on "Guru Utsav" term being used as being hegemonic. TMC ignoring the directive, and planning to go ahead with its own program in West Bengal. Media too has debated the issue in detail.

One thing nobody seems to have noticed is the precedent we are setting for the children of our country. Day in and day out, they face a lot of compulsions at school. Freedom of expression, freedom to talk, walk, run around, is thwarted by a single expression 'pin drop silence'. So much so that it echoes in their subconscious mind through their grown up years. The silence that exists in the present government, its cabinet and ministers could be a reflection of the same.

Children are individuals, and we as a country have a long to way to go to realize that. Wait in school for extended hours, follow discipline, listen to the live telecast, ignore those rumblings in the tummy for which no arrangements have been mentioned in the circular.One school has gone a step ahead and decided to evaluate and grade students on the content of the speech in upcoming tests. Why not give them a space to breathe. They can choose to watch the speech in their own time.

When Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was leaving to join as a professor in Calcutta he was taken all the way from Mysore University to the Railway Station in a flower decked carriage pulled by his students. Later he became the President of India. Teacher's Day is celebrated on his birthday. Which direction are we pulling our children, is a question we could ask ourselves.