Saturday, December 27, 2025

Let’s be the helping one as old age will spare none

By
tehelka
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Leading-Age

The month of October, beside other things, reminds us of Gandhi Jayanti, may be because of national holiday. Had Mahatama Gandhi been alive now, he would have been celebrating his 148th birthday. Even when he died, he was 79 years old, which comes under elderly category. Just wondering what would have been the condition of old age people, had the “Father of the nation” been around.

As per the 2011 Census, there are nearly 104 million elderly people in India, 53 million of whom are women. Between 2001 and 2010, the country witnessed saw a 35 per cent growth in people above the age of 65. Of which, around 71 per cent of the elderly population resides in rural areas.

Again, if the latest study by the UN Population Fund India titled ‘Caring for our elders: Early response India Ageing Report 2017’ is to be believed, the percentage of elderly people, classified as those above 60 years of age, is expected to go up in India from 8 per cent in 2015 to 19 per cent in 2050. The number of senior citizens is set to grow three-fold from around 100 million at present to 300 million by 2050.

The challenge — and a major one — in front of the country is how to take care of such a large population of senior citizens. Everyone — including the government, civil society, communities and families — need to play their part for the welfare of the segment of the society. While children are expected to tend to their parents’ needs, the governments –at the Centre and states – should come up with welfare policies for these old age people and make sure that they are properly implemented.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for example, launched the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) in 2010. Many states have failed to implement its provisions fully, even after seven years. Tamil Nadu, in particular, did not utilise any of the funds granted by the Centre for this scheme between 2010 and 2015, a report by the Comptroller Auditor General has pointed out. States like Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have used between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of their funds. Only Maharashtra seems to have used almost all the funds allocated under this scheme.

There are a large number of aged people and the number has been increasing, with most of them living in poverty, without any roof over their heads or proper clothes and food. The budgetary allocation for their welfare has also been paltry. As per the report of the parliamentary standing committee dealing with the demand for grants for 2015-16, the amount allocated as the budget estimate stage was `50 crore in 2014-15 which was cut down to `25 crore at the revised estimate stage and only `10.45 crore actually utilised.

Interestingly, in a separate but related development, the Supreme Court recently sought the response from the states with regard to the status of old age homes in every district on a plea filed by former union minister Ashwini Kumar for protection of rights of senior citizens.

The government funds and assistance would not anyway be enough. People should pitch in at individual level too to help the senior citizens as 12.5 per cent of the total population will be over 60 by 2030 and nearly a fifth of the total population by 2050. Uday Modi, an ayurvedic doctor, is just an example of how a person can make a difference in the lives of others. He started a free-of-cost tiffin story for the elderly in Mira-Bhayandar Municipality in Mumbai 10 years ago. He had started with providing free tiffin service to two people every day and gradually the number grew to 200, with many on the waiting list.

We too should come forward and play our role in giving back to the society. By the way, did you know that October 1 is marked as International Day for the Elderly?

Murder of Gauri Lankesh: A bid to silence dissent with bullets

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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lankesh-knThe killing of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh by unidentified assailants has saddened media fraternity and the protests across the nation are indicators that it was nothing short of murder of a voice of dissent. Angry reaction to her killing shows how people have stood up for Gauri Lankesh, who held a dissenting view on variety of issues, a sign of vibrant democracy, her right to express her opinion. However, the manner in which she was brutally murdered raises questions as her killers fired at her from point-blank range just outside her home in Bangaluru when she got out of her car, hitting her on the chest and the temple. They fled without even once getting off their motorbike pointing to a professional contract killing.

We at Tehelka are all the more sad because she had been writing an occasional column for us. In one of her columns for Tehelka ‘Operation Media Gagging’ she warned of threats to intellectuals including media persons as if she had the premonition of the fateful day. Gauri Lankesh, the editor of the Kannada weekly Gauri Lankesh Patrike, always wore her activism on her sleeve. Journalism and social activism, has suffered a loss, and her death must be mourned. From time to time, Tehelka has been writing on threats to media and our special issue ‘Stop writing or else’, published last year, focused on growing culture of intolerance and hate. At this juncture, we have to unite for a free run to exchange of ideas to stand up against the politics of division coming in the path of individual rights, privacy and freedom of speech and expression. We don’t have to allow the brutal murder of Gauri Lankesh to instill fear in the minds of independent journalists and thinkers. Also until the identity of her killers is established, it would not be wise to hold any party or person responsible.

She has left a clear message: stand up for what you believe in, fight out relentlessly regardless of the consequences. The untimely killing of the fiercely independent journalist is certainly an attack on the freedom of press. Gauri Lankesh’s killers must be found before it is too late or else it will embolden those who silence dissent. Her murder has taken place in a year that India dropped three places in the World Press Freedom Index from 133 to 136 compiled by Reporters without Borders. The report mentioned that journalists were increasingly targets of online smear campaigns and threats while “Prosecutions are also used to gag journalists who are overly critical of the government.” It is high time the government reassures journalists and comes out with a legislation providing foolproof protection to journalists.

Let’s remember August more for historic verdicts

By
tehelka
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599235226e825.imageAugust, it is generally said, is the summer’s last messenger of misery. It all started with Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College hospital, where about 70 children died in a week due to shortage of oxygen cylinders. And if Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh is to be believed it was not due to the lack of medical supplies. “Many children die in the month of August every year at the Uttar Pradesh district’s state-run hospital,” he said.

Then came floods. More than 850 people were reportedly killed in six flood-affected states in the past month. Nearly 400 people were killed in Bihar alone over the past few days and thousands were living in relief camps away from their inundated homes. In the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, around 100 people died when floods swamped nearly half of the vast state of 220 million people. The floodings have not only made thousands of people homeless but also will lead to low farm output and rise in unemployment.

There were two train derailments last month within a span of five days in Uttar Pradesh. While the Kaifiyat Express derailment resulted in injuring 100 passengers, the Utkal Express accident killed nearly 23, raising yet again the safety concerns while travelling by train.

In another development, more than 30 people were killed and 350 injured in clashes in northern India after a controversial spiritual leader was found guilty of raping two of his followers. Many states witnessed violence and were put on high alert after the flambouyant spiritual leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted in a case that dates back to 1999. An interesting message was sent to me on Whatsapp. It said, “When a rape accused is not arrested we alight a candle and if a rapist is arrested, we put the city on fire.”

But all was not negative in August. The country’s apex court banned the 1,400 year-old practice of instant ‘triple talaq’ among Sunni Muslims and set it aside on several grounds including that it was against the basic tenets of the Holy Quran and violated the Islamic law Shariat. The verdict, in general, was welcomed by the masses as it gave more power to women.

But the historic development of the month was the Supreme Court’s verdict that made Right to Privacy a fundamental right. The landmark verdict will impact many sphere of life. “The realm of the fundamental right to privacy span from women’s reproductive choice and choice of food or faith to euthanasia. Neither the State nor private persons have any business to intrude,” Justice J. Chelameswar wrote in his separate judgment on privacy.

The Right to Privacy will definitely effect the outcome of several cases where aspects of Aadhaar have been challenged, with petitioners arguing that making the scheme mandatory violates Fundamental Rights. Though Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad now says that the government had always acknowledged the need for privacy, the verdict is being seen as a major setback for the government as it had earlier argued in the apex court that the Constitution does not guarantee individual privacy as an inalienable Fundamental Right.

The Privacy right verdict will definitely have an impact at ground level in urban and rural areas alike. Few weeks ago, a village in Uttar Pradesh, for example, announced a fine of Rs. 21,000 for women seen talking on the mobile phone in public — which, astonishingly, has been listed as a “crime” along with drinking, gambling and cow slaughter. The verdict will act a bridle for self-styled policymakers across the country. No doubt, August 2017 will be recalled for natural clamities, death and violence, but it will be remembered more for the judiciary’s historic role in restoring trust in liberation, freedom and justice.

Right to Privacy not less than judiciary’s gift to citizens!

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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UID Card by Shailendra (19)A recent historic and momentous judgement by the Supreme Court declaring privacy as a fundamental right has not been able to generate the kind of euphoria that it deserved because of another epoch making judgement on triple talaq and the mayhem after a CBI court convicted a notorious guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim of rape. The nine-Judge Bench Supreme Court judgment conclusively declaring privacy a fundamental right which is protected by Article 21, upholds civil liberties. It is a milestone in the history of the Indian Republic and a victory for every Indian. It is a momentous judgement in the 70th year of Independence. The Apex court has ruled that citizens have a right to privacy, which is fundamental to a dignified human existence. The Court has held that privacy includes the family life, marriage, procreation, the home and sexual orientation. By doing so, the court has affirmed an unwritten and ambiguous right as a fundamental right. Significantly, privacy as a fundamental right has not been given a separate legal status in any country and across the world, it has arisen only out of judicial decisions. With this, the Supreme Court has overturned two previous judgments on the issue and has now provided the citizens protection against surveillance by the State, confidentiality, compelled speech and freedom to dissent, hold a different view and personal dignity.

The issue of privacy violation had arisen over the government asking the citizens to provide the State agencies personal information for Aadhaar- the 12-digit biometric unique identification number. Started as a well-meaning digital initiative to make welfare and subsidy payments transparent, Aadhaar has been made mandatory for a host of other activities, including financial transactions, bank and mobile accounts, and filing of tax returns. So much so that even private service providers are insisting on linkages of Aadhaar with their products to avail their services.

The historic verdict has wider implications as with this judgment; the Supreme Court has reopened a debate on many contentious issues like the rights of the LGBT-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. There is a question mark as to whether the sexual orientation of an individual is a matter of privacy or not? The December 2013 SC judgment on homosexuality had rejected privacy claims of LGBT community. Similarly, the government that had opposed privacy as a fundamental right must now need to convince the apex court that collection of bio metric data through Aadhaar cards was bona fide and in public interest.ey were out at night or dressed up inappropriately?

Be a part of Digital India, but don’t let Net rule you

By
tehelka
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online-ads-target-kids-child-smartphoneTelecom subscribers in India, as per the latest TRAI report, crossed 121-crore mark by June end. The overall mobile subscriber base in the country grew to 118.6 crore. This is good in a way as it will speed up the campaign for Digital India, which is one of most ambitious projects in the world, seeking to digitally connect all of the country’s villages and gram panchayats by broadband internet, promote e-governance and transform India into a connected knowledge economy. However, it will take some time before the connectivity issue is resolved and the general public becomes technically aware and get comfortable with the technology.

Reports suggest that internet is accessible to more than 134 million Indian children this year. Interestingly, more than 43 per cent school children use mobile as the medium to access internet, followed by laptop, desktop and tablets. According to the WebWise report by Telenor, about 98.8 per cent school-going children access internet in urban areas while 49.5 per cent of them do it from home. Facebook, the report said, is the most used platform by school going students, followed by WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram. Smartphones undoubtedly bring benefits. With the devices, children gain access to powerful apps, including education tools for studying, chat apps for connecting with friends and the wealth of information on the web. But they also are one step closer to distracting games, sexting apps and social media apps where online bullies are on the prowl.

The easy access to the Internet and smartphones, and lack of knowledge among parents and children about the safeguards against different types of cyber threats put these whizkids in the danger zone. A study conducted by Boston Consulting Group had suggested that more than 35 per cent children in India have experienced their account being hacked while 15.74 per cent shared that they have received inappropriate messages. About 15 per cent complained of being bullied online whereas 10.41 per cent faced humiliation through picture/video that were uploaded on Internet, the report pointed out.

Yet another research has warned that spending too much time on smartphones, tablets and other devices may delay speech development in toddlers. A total of 894 children between ages six months and two years participated in a practice-based research network in Toronto between 2011 and 2015. Researchers found that the more handheld screen time a child’s parent reported, the more likely the child was to have delays in expressive speech.
Again, if you take away smartphones from children, many still will have access to technology tools through devices like computers and tablets. The only and worrying difference with a smartphone is that it is with a child everywhere, including outside of parental supervision.

Mobile phone dependence among children, accroding to experts, have increased drastically, with its effects now seen to be equivalent to substance abuse. A boy from a Haryana district, for example, held a mobile phone for the first time when he was still an infant. His mother gave it to him as a distraction so that he would eat easily when she fed him. When he turned four, the parents gifted him “his favourite toy” of his own. He always preferred the mobile over outdoor games. At nine, the boy was taken to hospital for cutting himself with a knife when deprived of the phone.

The moral of the story is that the elders at home need to change their lifestyle. Positive parenting is the only way out. Allow your kids to meet new children. Help them develop new hobbies. Encourage them to play outdoor games. Have gadget-free time at home. Have at least a meal together. Be a part of Digital India. But don’t let technology rule you or your family members.

Yogi’s damage control post Gorakhpur tragedy

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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Gorakhpur encephalitis by Soumik Mukherjee (10)The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has launched a massive anti-encephalitis vaccination program this year, but the positive desired results may take some time to trickle in. Successive governments in Uttar Pradesh have been talking about upgrading holistic health care in the State to cover the burgeoning population, but poor and underprivileged have always suffered. As for decades, the State lacked focus on holistic healthcare, the tragedy of such magnitude as Gorakhpur tragedy, was waiting to happen.

Yet still, it is ironic that as we celebrate 70 years of Independence, more than 70 children have died in a government hospital at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in last few days, pricking the conscience of the nation. Like the proverbial “to be or not to be”, there is a question mark as to the cause of deaths with the government insisting that lack of oxygen was not the reason, but it underlines the fact that hospitals in Uttar Pradesh are ailing.

Sadly, the government data shows that health care is particularly in a pitiable state in the eastern districts of Uttar Pradesh. The government data itself confirms that Japanese encephalitis, which afflicted many of the children who died last week, has by far claimed more than 10,000 lives in the State between 1978, the year of the first major outbreak and till now. According to doctors, encephalitis is a viral infection caused by a mosquito bite, which affects the brain, leading to coma and death. Year after year, there have been instances of high mortality. Tragically, Gorakhpur, the constituency of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, has emerged as the epicenter of encephalitis induced deaths over the past few decades. According to official records, over 10,000 children have died since 1978 due to encephalitis and mind you, these are only recorded deaths. Independent figures are much higher as many kids die before reaching the hospitals and die for want of medical care.

There is an urgent need to reduce the incidence of fatal diseases by creating a foolproof and robust medical infrastructure. The Centre can pump in funds and the State government can add a matching grant.

Experts point out that encephalitis is correlated with increase in disease-transmitting mosquitoes due to water ponds, due to stagnant water and poor sanitation system. Cattle, pigs and birds living in close proximity to inhabitants, create viral diseases and encephalitis is a major disease borne out of it. The Union Health Ministry has a vaccination programme.

The way forward would be to launch a door to door campaign to weed out the spread of such a fatal disease. The Indian Council of Medical Research should also launch a special campaign for Uttar Pradesh. The planners should realise that the broader problem is open drains, laying of drinking water supply and sanitation pipes in close proximity, the waterlogged streets and absence of regular fumigation. What is needed is an extensive door-to-door immunisation programme by the State health authorities and visits by experts to every door to sensitize people. There is an urgent need to upgrade basic healthcare facilities at the village, block and district levels. The public spirited individuals and non-government organisations (NGOs) need to pitch in. There is also an immediate need is to provide all possible medical support to Baba Raghav Das Medical College.

There is a question mark over the cause of the deaths with the government insisting that lack of oxygen is not the reason for the deaths because similar deaths have been happening in the hospitals during the monsoon in past few years too. They blamed the deaths on encephalitis but the deaths should be a matter of embarrassment to the government that had promised to beef up health care system in the State. Nobody can dispute the outbreak of encephalitis in Eastern UP for past few decades and last year too there were 114 deaths of children.

Yet health authorities would find it difficult to counter the allegations that lack of oxygen was the reason behind the death of over 70 children in just days. To add to this, the UP Government would find it difficult to explain why has it suspended Dr Kafeel Ahmad Khan, in-charge of the pediatric ward who was responsible for oxygen supply? Also the government would look for answers as to why it has suspended Medical College chief Rajeev Misra if there was no negligence? To add to this, the frantic requisitioning of emergency oxygen supplies and the State government suspending the principal of the college point to the allegations that during these days the hospital lacked oxygen.

Surely, it will take an independent and fair inquiry to establish why so many children died at the Gorakhpur government hospital between August 7 and 11. The scope of the inquiry should include whether or not the lack of oxygen supply to those who were in extreme need particularly in neonatal stage was a cause for the tragic deaths. It is learnt that the company that supplied oxygen to Gorakhpur hospital had issued notice on large unpaid bills. The Government must find out the truth about whether the infants’ oxygen supply was indeed cut off for non-payment of dues to the supplier or it was the negligence on the part of hospital staff for there was a design behind it. All said and done, such a heinous crime must not go unpunished.

letters@tehelka.com

Chandigarh stalking leaves behind a spate of questions

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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Of late the issue of women’s safety has come under focus with shameful regularity with crimes against women showing no signs of ebbing. Stalking is often dismissed as harmless by law enforcing authorities without realizing how traumatic it would have been for women. In most cases, acid attacks, kidnappings and murders are the aftermaths of stalking. It is rarely that a woman gathers the courage to lodge a complaint and take up a fight against stalkers apparently because of the image of police.

Creditably, the Chandigarh Police has done well by showing alacrity and exhibiting zero tolerance to crime against women in the recent incident of a woman being stalked at night by two men from an influential political family in a car. The girl, daughter of a Haryana IAS officer, displayed unusual courage and presence of mind in dialing 100 for police help as if to prove wrong, the noted poet William Shakespeare who penned “frailty thy name is woman”. Unfortunately, the police have mishandled the case.

Protest against Chandigarh stalking case in Chandigarh.

The sequence of events shows the intent of the two stalkers. At 12.15am, the victim was driving to her Panchkula home from Chandigarh when she noticed a white SUV following her. For next 20 minutes, the SUV tried to overtake her car. At 12.35am, the victim called the PCR complaining against the stalkers. At 4.57am, an FIR was lodged against Vikas Barala, son of Haryana BJP chief, Subhash Barala and his friend Ashish Kumar under IPC Section 354 D (stalking) and Motor Vehicles Act (driving by a drunken person) Section 185.

Due to these soft bailable sections, the two were granted bail immediately. As one of the accused tried to open a door of the girl’s car, it was no longer just a stalking case. The case warranted the imposition of IPC Sections 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insulting modesty of a woman).

An impression has gained ground that the police was trying to help the son of Haryana BJP Chief. It is ironic that Haryana State has launched the campaign of “beti bachao” and it is here one finds most cases of female foeticide, lowest sex ratio and now State BJP Chief’s son involved in this crime.

Separately, a 12-year-old girl on her way to school to celebrate Independence Day was kidnapped and raped in Chandigarh. We at Tehelka feel that these incidents should lead to a debate: How serious an offense stalking is? Why women shy from lodging complaints against stalkers? Why it is rare that accused are punished? Why victims are blamed, trolled and their integrity doubted by asking them questions as to why they were out at night or dressed up inappropriately?

Denying Rajya Sabha seat to Yechury may backfire

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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Sitaram Yechury by Tarun Sehrawat (2)Noted Essayist Francis Bacon famously said that “It is a strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty: or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man’s self”. This is what apparently happened in the case of CPI (M) General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury. At a time when the entire country expected Opposition to field its sharpest, brightest and most logical brains in Parliament, the comrades have committed a historic blunder by denying its General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury a Rajya Sabha seat. And Yechury has no choice being a disciplined comrade as he can’t go against the party norms. However, timing is of utmost importance as it has happened at a time when leftists are genuinely bereft of statesmen parliamentarians. Indeed comrades have gone by the rule book which denies more than two terms to anyone.

The CPI (M) General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury too has made it clear that he would not like to go against the established norms of the party by going for the third term. However, in the light of what happened in the past, one can come to a safe conclusion that the left has been on mistakes committing spree. The comrades first denied Jyoti Basu an opportunity to become Prime Minister on ‘ideological’ grounds and subsequently blocked Somnath Chatterjee from being nominated for the President’s post.

The left party’s refusal to permit Jyoti Basu to become the prime minister was termed a ‘historic blunder’ by Basu himself and he had correctly forecast that such an opportunity was not going to return any time soon. In these times when the opposition was required to stand united it was time for the party to show some flexibility by allowing Yechury to contest for a third term and thus avoid another ‘historic blunder.’

Man of wit and sarcasm

Without Yechury, Upper House will be missing sarcasm and wit, which have been hallmarks of this leader. After all Yechury is known for his negotiating skills and understanding rough and tumble of common life. Yechury is one of the most dynamic speakers in parliament and has shown that he can take on the current regime present disposition’s brute strength in Parliament. Equally at ease in both English and Hindi, he can speak on behalf of the entire opposition in Parliament and his logical arguments are listened with rapt attention by both ruling and opposition parliamentarians. Besides West Bengal, he equally shared a perfect rapport with Kerala cadre and being media savvy, he is now the most visible face of the Left.

Congress support

Party insiders point out that denial of Rajya Sabha seat to Yechury is the fallout of that bitterness in the CPM over the right approach to a coalition. The party seems to be involved in serious internal problems that could put a question mark on its survival as a key player in Indian politics. In recent years, the party has been losing strength in West Bengal and also in states where it had cadre and support, such as Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Since its best electoral performance in parliament in 2004, the CPI(M) has steadily slid downwards.

Even as leading Opposition parties are strategising about a united front against the mighty BJP, including possibly putting up a common candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, the CPI(M) has barred Yechury, from seeking another term in the Upper House, which ends in August as it would have meant seeking support from Congress. But those opposed to a third term pointed out that he cannot return to Parliament on his own party’s strength and will need support from the Congress, which is positioned in West Bengal as a political rival. He could not have won without the support from the 44 legislators of Congress in the Bengal assembly.

It is worth mentioning that elections will be held for six Rajya Sabha seats from Bengal in August. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress can win five seats with ease. With 44 lawmakers, the Congress can win the sixth seat on its own but it has said it may not field anyone if Yechury seeks the third term to the Rajya Sabha. While most leaders from West Bengal were keen that Yechury be fielded for a third term, the CPM’s central committee,
the party’s highest executive body, which met in Delhi over three days recently voted against sending him to the upper house with the help of the Congress.

The final decision to deny Yechury a third term was taken by the CPM’s Politburo of which he is a member and the decision was only endorsed by the central committee. Within the party who favoured a third term for him argued that he is one of the most well-known and articulate faces of the party in Parliament and at a time when the Left is losing popular support even in its traditional stronghold West Bengal, Yechury brings the party to national relevance and so must continue in Parliament.

Marshaling opposition

With 26 MLAs in the 294-seat West Bengal state assembly, the CPI(M) did not have the numbers to guarantee its candidate’s victory in the RS polls. The Trinamool Congress, with 211 MLAs, could end up winning an extra seat if the Congress (44) and the CPI(M) don’t put up a joint candidate. The Left Front has only 32 legislators in West Bengal Assembly and needs 43 to win.

Naturally, It can only make it with Congress support. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi had consented to give Congress party’s Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal to the CPI(M). It’s the only condition was that it will support only Yechury and none else. The rejection of the Congress offer would further reduce the Left’s strength in the upper house and devoid the country of a dynamic parliamentarian. Alas, the Left did not exercise the option to let go of Yechury as party general secretary and instead utilize him for marshaling opposition in Parliament by allowing him a third term in Rajya Sabha.

letters@tehelka.com

Whom to blame, punish if students abuse teachers?

By
tehelka
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tmp716015775114067969A Delhi court recently convicted and jailed the director and principal of a school for two months for causing mental trauma to a seven-year-old student by sending her out of her classroom. It added that a child could not be thrown out of a class on the “whims and fancies” of the school authorities as the strain of not being allowed to sit in a classroom was “immense”. As an educated and progressive parent of two school-going children, I too oppose punishing students just for the sake of it. If anyone from an educational institution is found guilty of harassing or abusing kids, he or she shouldn’t be spared.

But parents and guardians too should be grilled by legal entities if they fail to teach their wards to respect their elders and teachers. I have myself witnessed a few incidents where children from “well-to-do” families misbehaved with their teachers, who struggled to find ways to tame the children as they are not allowed to scold them. In one case, a primary class student was shouting at the school staff, “My father doesn’t pay you such hefty fee every month to scold me or to stop me from having fun.” Just a couple of months back, a classmate of my younger child, who is in sixth grade, slapped his teacher when she asked why he did not do his holiday homework. I am yet to mention the brats of secondary and senior secondary classes.

India, which is a signatory to United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, advocates a ban on corporal punishment and its positive impact when banned in terms of ensuring all children’s rights to a good quality basic education in a trauma free healthy and participatory environment. The stand is good but the government needs to make teachers, parents, administrators and community members aware about ways to manage children without corporal punishment in schools, classrooms and homes.

Interestingly, a few schools in the Western countries have started reintroducing corporal punishment for bad behaviour. As part of a new policy, staff at three schools in Texas, United States, have been allowed to use a wooden paddle to beat disobedient students. The child will receive one paddling for each misdemeanour, such as not following rules in the classroom or not obeying teachers. Though majority is opposed to it, a handful of teachers in England are also debating the wisdom of reintroducing corporal punishment.

Candidly speaking, the relative merits of using rewards and punishments as tools to influence conduct, whether in parenting, the justice system, or other areas of human endeavour, is a debatable subject. Today rewards are handed out indiscriminately, while punishments tend to be scarce. The no-spanking philosophy of child-rearing has, more or less, morphed into a no-consequences culture.

The reluctance to penalise poor performance extends now to college. The private educational institutions, which follow “the customer is always right” policy, openly inflate grades of their students with an eye on “better business prospects”.

The recent Delhi court conviction of the two top school officials, however, apparently involved fee row. An FIR was lodged in 2012 on a complaint filed by the father and an NGO alleging that the child had been ill treated and confined by the school management through school hours on April 4, 2012, to pressure the parents to withdraw her from the institution. All the charges were denied by the concerned school officials.

There is no harm in using carrots and sticks as behaviour modification technique. While the former is much more in vogue than the latter, as positive reinforcement is viewed as far superior to negative sanctions. But sometimes, and in some cases, only the fear of punishment keeps the students on right track.

Bringing CJI, Governors under RTI to raise transparency bar

By
Charanjit Ahuja
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New_delhiShedding judiciary’s reluctance to come within the ambit of the Right to Information Act by agreeing to extend the Right To Information Act to the office of the Chief Justice of India and Governors should be welcomed. While it would raise the bar for transparency in the judiciary, it would also effectively check politicking by Governors. This would mean that the political appointees would be under pressure to recommend President’s rule in a state only when there are reasonable grounds for it. The Governors would also have to apply due diligence before taking major decisions. This is for the first time that a Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy has publicly expressed an opinion in favour of it.

This observation is a marked departure from the earlier stand of the apex court that it is beyond the ambit of the transparency law. Indeed, the interest of transparency will certainly be better served if all Constitutional functionaries, including the Chief Justice of India and Governors, were to come under the purview of Right to Information.

It is significant that the issue whether the CJI must make public under RTI information regarding the selection of judges and his/her correspondence with the government has been taken up by the Constitution bench of the apex court, and a decision is still pending. Already the Delhi High Court had ruled that the CJI was indeed a public functionary and had asked the apex court to make public the wealth of its judges.

The Central Information Commission has also declared the CJI office as a public authority in order to bring it under the RTI Act. The Court observation came on a bunch of petitions challenging a Bombay High Court order declaring the governor’s office as a public authority and directing the Goa Raj Bhavan to make public the Governor’s report sent to the President on the political situation in the state.

The then leader of the opposition in the Goa assembly, Manohar Parrikar had sought the information under RTI. Bringing the CJI under the Act would mean giving the public access to reasons behind judicial appointments or rejections, why a particular judge has been selected or ignored, who said what for or against a judge’s elevation.
How is judiciary opening up to scrutiny would be clear from the observations of the Bench, “What is there to hide? There is nothing to hide for the Chief Justice of India. There is no secretive business of the chief justice and the office of CJI should be brought within RTI’s ambit. Why governor and CJI should not be brought under RTI?”

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