A case for Ministry of Men and Social Development

A good thing about classrooms is that they are mostly full of thinking people. Here, one is constantly encouraged to challenge its own notions, acknowledge the problem and find a solution. But, unfortunately not many like to go to schools, even less like to attend classes and others unfortunately do not get a chance.

A recent survey ASER revealed that although 86% of students are enrolled in a formal education system and there is no gender gap between male and female enrolment until the age of 14. However, at the age of 18, 32% of females as against 28% males are not enrolled, the predominant reason for girls being ‘Family Constraint’.

Needless to say, ‘Family Constraint’ could mean being forced to take care of younger siblings, cooking while parents work, child marriage and even being sold into prostitution.

Not surprisingly enough, reason always boils down to being asked to do or to not to do something by the patriarchal household and since this situation is not limited to rural, poor or uneducated households, I would like to bring to table a systematic way of managing patriarchy, boosting economy and most importantly combating gender-based crime where, though men and women both fall victim, women are most likely to be adversely affected, given the historical reasons.

And with this, I establish men here are the reason for the low rate of development among women, their dependency, and their lack of employability.

India slips 21 spots in the WEF Gender Gap Index

Dropping the F-bomb: Feminism and why we need it

The Argument

Feminism means equality and if women are the victims of gender biases, so are men.

If men feel that it is okay for them to assault a woman to punish her, to scare her, to laugh at her, and to control what she does all her life, then it is mental problem and men are the victims. This stands true for men across the borders.

Questions about why boys are dropping out of schools, why are they becoming alcoholics, drug addicts, can they earn for themselves, can they take care of their children, are they capable of being single parents in India or abroad [Protecting children from ‘abduction’ ], why are they raping women, who is educating them, what are they taught, are we educating them right, why are they becoming criminals- are often left unanswered because the government is focussing only on one part of the society i.e the women.
General Inference

Most men, on failing to impress their patriarchal heads, build up anger. They hide their feelings and it disturbs them, which ultimately turns them into anti-social elements.

Think teenage boys who are bullied, or even raped, would they protect their pride or would they report the crime?

Think men who are assaulted by their wives.

Think men who are harassed in the name of anti Dowry laws.
The need for Ministry of Men and Development

Ajaz Ashraf, a Delhi based journalist who explored Nathuram Godse’s personal history and his idea of sexuality in his article Why did Nathuram Godse kill Mahatma Gandhi? Ashraf quotes Ashis Nandy who in his book At The Edge of Psychology, wrote, “Perhaps it was given in the situation that Nathuram would try to regain the lost clarity of his sexual role by becoming a model of masculinity.”

Centuries of feeding dirt of patriarchy into today’s men have not only worsened the situation for women but also for their own selves. If it is the men who are the reason and if it is they who are the victims, I believe there is no need for a ‘Ministry of Women’ to survey the situation of women when the situation can single-handedly be tackled by Ministry of Men and Social Development.

Why treat the symptoms and not the disease?

–Somya Khera

From Syria to UNICEF, a not so blank statement

A medical worker carries a child victim of gas attack on Khan Sheikhun, Syria. (Reuters)

If there is anything that can be incurred from the 5-year long Syrian ‘Civil’ War is that it has a false name and that it is going to continue to commit crimes, murder one child after another, one woman after another, one youth after another, under this false identity until International institutions call the bluff and unveil the horrendous reality.

What is it?

A fight for black gold in the city of darkness by the people with rotten hearts.

What happened?

470,000 Syrians have died by now and the wings of death are only spreading.
It began as a conflict between the people and their government and soon became a bait for the superpowers to feed on the country and hoard in its nest as much as it can. Like a vulture it picked and it picked and it will continue to pick until the worms in its stomach are full, except, that is never.

Why now?

UNICEF on 20th February issued a statement, a blank statement which did not say anything because they were ‘out of words.’

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s words brought French Revolution. Simone de Beauvoir, Doris Lessing, Jonathan Swift, Harriet Jacobs, nobody would have known these writers, these thinkers, their struggles if they, like UNICEF, were ‘out of words.’

The blank statement issued by the UNICEF, sounds like a blank cheque, a permission to Bashar al-Assad ‘government’ to continue the manslaughter.

For many, it must be symbolic, but to some it the weakest statement an organization made to empower children could issue. To those who think it is futile to say a few words and criticise what is happening because it is beyond anybody’s control, to them it is to be reminded that these words mean the world to children gasping for their last breath, it is these words that their breath is looking for, it could be the reason for them to be alive and by not saying anything you are robbing them of their hope.

To think that the war is out of anybody’s control is to think that war made people and that is anything but the truth. If people made war, they can end it too but the question is not about can or cannot, the question is about the want.

The Geneva Convention which bans the use of Chemical weapons was violated thrice in Syria between 2014-2015 with the use of banned nerve agent sarin and with use of mustard gas. Not to any surprise, the incident of chemical attack repeated itself for the nth time on the intervening night of 25th-26th February 2018 in ‘rebel’ held Ghouta district near Damascus where it killed a child.

And the child’s death would not even be recorded by UN because it stopped updating the figure in 2015.

As an organization many of these children look up to, it is a matter of immense shame that they ‘have no words’.

Way Ahead:

• Transportation of any kind of explosives in the country must be seized permanently.
• United Nations, notwithstanding other factors such as involvement of permanent and non-permanent members, must adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards countries encouraging atrocities on civilians in Syria by selling armaments.
• Bashar-Al-Assad must be asked to prove majority in Syria if he wishes to continue to hold office.
• Massive reconstruction and preservation missions must be undertaken by International peace institutions from their independent fund.
• Gradual and smooth transfer of power to the next elected member.

Or, one could wait for Syria’s own Emma Gonzalez to stand up for basic human rights but who knows if the budding leader of Syria survived last night’s Chemical Attack or not.

-Somya Khera

Rohingya crisis: How Myanmar manipulated Bangladesh with its ‘deal’

The plight of a Rohingya mother. (Source: Reuters)

Myanmar’s agreement with Bangladesh is not what the former says it is, it is not a win-win situation for Bangladesh and when we read accounts of people of the Rohingya community we realise how deep this conspiracy goes.

Who are Rohingyas?

Former farmers, fishermen/women, carpenters, students and even traders who had to work as landless labours, stay in the same locality and bear the atrocities of the Army in order to stay alive.

Fleeing of Rohingyas is not the problem, it is the outcome of a long drawn planned out strategy of Myanmar, and it is one of the most distasteful things the country could do, in my understanding.

The agreement signed between Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdul Hassan Mahmud Ali and Myanmar’s Union Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor Kyaw Tint Swe, according to a report in The Hindu says that according to diplomatic sources, Bangladesh wanted a time frame for the beginning and the end of repatriation, a demand Myanmar did not agree to.

Another important demand that Myanmar did not agree to was that of the involvement of UNHCR.

6 lakh people left ‘their’ country because they were threatened, assaulted, and systematically raped.

Accounts of young girls collected from different villages had a striking similarity. A Reuters report read “…International organisation for Migration (IOM) Medical officer Dr. Tasnuba Nourin had seen incidents of vaginal tearing, bite marks and signs that seemed to show a firearm was used to penetrate women”.

They were denied the basic human rights- Right to get healthcare, the right to move outside of their state and the right to education.

And yet, Myanmar did not want the involvement of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

By signing the agreement, Myanmar has at least agreed to the repatriation of Rohingyas but the catch is, the term ‘Rohingyas’ is not used anywhere in the pink identity card issued to them, they are termed as ‘Banglas’, implying they belong to Bangladesh. All of them.

Bangladesh’s infrastructure, even today, is not in any position to support these more than 6 lakh Refugees, showing how desperate and vulnerable Rohingya are and how desperate Myanmar is, to get rid of them.

This is a perfect example of the corrupt, evil and dark side of the government. This is what a government is capable of, stealing from a person, his/her identity.

The agreement offers absolutely no security to Rohingyas, in fact, Myanmar has very strategically made for itself a way out of the entire deal.

The text of the agreement says:

“Myanmar will take all possible measures to see that the returnees will not be settled in temporary places for a long period of time and their freedom of movement in the Rakhine State will be allowed in conformity with the existing laws and regulations.”

The phrase ”Conformity with the existing laws and regulations” further deepens the problem, because the ‘existing’ laws do not give Rohingyas citizenship rights, meaning no education, no job security and no way to climb the ladder out of the situation.

The way ahead:

1) India needs to stop tagging the Rohingyas, a threat to national security. Being the biggest nation in Asia, it has to extend a helping hand to Rohingyas, like it did to Tibetans, Afghans, Bangladeshis, Nepalis and Sri Lankan Tamils.

2) Bangladesh has to provide them with all possible help, it is their turn to show strength in these times of crisis and it has to ultimately harness from Rohingya, the potential to contribute to the economy and set an example to the world.

3) Myanmar not only has to accept and address that its army has violated human rights but it also has to amend its constitution to accommodate those living in the state for several years as ‘non-citizens’. It has to provide state sponsored education to this section of the society for at least next 50 years, include them in civil services and gradually uplift the Rohingyas.

Most importantly, the people must realise that the time in Myanmar is just right for a real democratic setup and major constitutional amendments.

-Somya Khera