Khasi daily completes fifty years
The newspaper that fought for Meghalaya’s statehood and reported on the struggle to gain it has turned 50. TERESA REHMAN traces its history
It's true. Just as Northeast India does not interest ‘mainstream' Indian media, the region too remains unmindful of the hullabaloo in the big media houses of the country. As the country is engrossed in one of the biggest media scandals involving some of the iconic journalists, a small vernacular daily in Meghalaya quietly celebrated its golden jubilee.
The ‘indifference' was no different in the sixties when U Nongsain Hima, literally meaning ‘The Nation Builder' was launched. The oldest Khasi daily was launched on December 6, 1960 with to reach out to the masses during the peaceful statehood movement, also known as the Hill State Movement. This need was felt because the then mainstream newspapers like Hindustan Standard published from Kolkata did not represent the struggle accurately. This daily in the Khasi language has been catering to local sentiments and playing a crucial role in carving the edifice of Meghalaya.
Lambok Thabah, Editor of the newspaper says, “Newspapers published from outside tried to downplay the movement. The founders of the newspaper like Late Prof. G G Swell felt it was pertinent to start something which gave a local flavour and popularize the movement.” In keeping with the objective, U Nongsaiñ Hima did extensive coverage of the political upheaval during that time which eventually paved the way for the creation of Meghalaya in 1972.
Apart from its contribution to the history of Meghalaya, this newspaper has overcoming all kinds of constraints associated with the vernacular press. The daily which started as a weekly has now crossed the 50 year milestone recently. “It is a great moment for them as well as for the press fraternity,” says David Laiphlang, President of the Shillong Press Club.
Listing limitations of the vernacular press Laiphlang says they cannot afford good quality newsprint, advertisements from the private sector are not forthcoming, government advertisements are doled out at Rs 75 per column cm whereas the standard new rate is in sq cm, the bills for these advertisements are recovered after 3-4 years and the newspapers cannot afford quality human resources.
U Nongsaiñ Hima is one of the five vernacular dailies published from Shillong ' four in Khasi and one in the Garo language. Thabah claims that his newspaper is the highest selling daily with 25,000 copies per day. “We are the only Khasi daily which has received a certificate on the circulation data from the Audit Bureau of Circulation,'' he adds.
Prasanta J Baruah, Executive Editor of The Assam Tribune writes, “Apart from spot news, most of the Khasi dailies provide ample space to crime and political reports. With the appointment of district correspondents, the emphasis on rural reporting has also gone up. Interestingly, most of the newspapers provide space in the inside pages for religious articles. Being a Christian majority state, this is not surprising. With all the newspaper being printed in colour and attractive layouts, people in the state today have a wide choice of newspapers.”
U Nongsain Hima too has witnessed technological upgradation associated with most media houses. S S Syiem, who was the editor of the newspaper from 1992 to 2003 recalls how everything was in black and white and there were no computers. “We had a tough time convincing private companies to give us advertisements. On an average, our circulation ranged from 8,000 to 9,000 copies. Our newspaper was widely read by the Khasi people, specially in the district headquarters,” he says.
As in most local dailies from the region, U Nongsain Hima is also not without political leanings. Veteran Hill State Movement leaders like G G Swell, former Deputy Speaker of the Rajya Sabha and former Chief Minister late E K Mawlang have been associated with the newspaper. In fact, A R Lyndoh, wife of Mawlang has been the publisher of the newspaper for the past 27 years.
Thabah says, “Though the genesis of the newspaper was political we have moved on since then. I have been the editor for the past five years and have found no interference from the management. Our editorial team can proudly claim that we have been functioning independently.”
More than a repository of history of the media in the state, the newspaper also has an important role in strengthening the native language. “We have been preserving our language particularly through articles written by various thinkers and scholars. Completion of 50 years is a proud achievement for us,” adds Thabah. The newspaper which was launched as a weekly in 1960 was turned into a daily in August 1992.
The daily is planning a year-long celebration next year with a series of events. They are also planning to raise the number of pages from eight to 12. The newspaper will also try to meet some of its dedicated old readers.
ends
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Poppy and her friends bake the perfect career
Teresa Rehman meets spirited young women who are wheelchair- bound and affected by polio, but turn out the best cookies and cakes ever. Fiercely independent, they are training to be self-employed and self-reliant
The aroma of freshly-baked cakes and biscuits wafts through the air as Poppy Borgohain(26) animatedly describes why her golden-brown biscuits with their crusty tops are delightfully soft and flaky inside when one bites into them. Poppy loves baking. She is the happiest when she is in a kitchen working with different ingredients, trying out new recipes and whipping up batches of sweet cookies or crunchy savouries.
Baking is a newfound passion in Poppy’s life, which has witnessed a series of rough patches. Poppy was paralysed on one side of her body when she was only seven, and after she failed to clear her Class 10 examinations, she was really unhappy and clueless about her future. She and her family, particularly her mother Anita, a homemaker, were finding it difficult to come to terms with her disability. Says Anita, “I kept wishing that my daughter could do something worthwhile and be independent. I didn’t want her to sit idle.”
It was at that point that Poppy heard about the one-year vocational training course in catering, housekeeping and food processing being offered at Sishu Sarothi, a centre for the rehabilitation and training of youngsters with multiple disabilities in Guwahati.
Bright future
Supported by the Foundation for Social Transformation (FST) and with a faculty drawn from the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition (IHM) and the North East Hotel Management Institute (NEHMI), the centre is popular among youth with disabilities ranging from polio and cerebral palsy to multiple sclerosis and locomotor dysfunction.
Ever since Poppy and her 10 other classmates — nine of whom are girls — have become familiar with baking, life is, quite literally, light and sweet, much like the oven-fresh goodies they make in class.
And, for most of them baking is something novel because they had never seen an oven until they stepped into ‘Sishu Sarothi’. Now, of course, they can’t imagine their daily routine without it.
Poppy, who moves around with the help of crutches, is enthusiastic about her future. So is her mother, who finds her biscuits tastier than the ones available in the market. Poppy now hopes to find a job at the bakery unit of a big hotel in Guwahati.
Just like Poppy, Silsila Das (20), who is wheelchair-bound, enjoys her baking lessons. She quickly rattles off the names of all the goodies she can bake with ease — cakes, pastries, buns, pizzas, breads and biscuits. “I hope to start my own bakery some day,” she says with a smile.
Rashmi Baruwa, co-ordinator of the project at ‘Sishu Sarothi’, understands the aspirations of girls like Poppy and Silsila. She also realises that although they have the same entitlements as their non-disabled peers, very few of them are able to enjoy equal educational and training opportunities. And, life for a disabled woman is even more challenging. This is why the work being done at ‘Sishu Sarothi’ is so significant.
Orders for X’mas cakes
Rashmi says, “We aim to empower differently-abled girls to become skilled, self-reliant and productive members of society. The programme is meant to bridge the educational divide, multiply opportunities and end discrimination.”
Trainees are taken on a study tour for an on-the-spot demonstration of various sub-sectors of catering technology at IHM. Silsila especially enjoys the practice sessions, where she tries out various goodies like biscuits, breads, cakes and pastries, muffins, buns, pizzas and sandwiches, along with fruit squashes, chutneys, pickles, and more.
“Goodies baked during the practice sessions are sold to in-house staff and the sale proceeds are utilised for purchasing raw materials and ingredients for the practice sessions. We also take orders for parties and meetings and have been delivering them successfully,” she says with a sense of pride. Now they are also looking forward to taking orders for Christmas cakes.
Dealing with a group of differently-abled girls has been a challenging exercise for the instructors as well. Baruwa says, “Our main hurdle is dealing with a group of differently-abled girls with restricted mobility and communication abilities, a weak memory and a low functional activity level. Sometimes, we have to repeat the lessons. But these students have picked up remarkably well.”
Jharna Sinha, an instructor of bakery is a satisfied woman today. “I had earlier conducted classes for homemakers, brides-to-be and busy professionals. But this is a diverse set of students with different sets of disabilities. Some can’t write while some can’t weigh. But they overcome their shortcomings by making a collective effort. I am really happy with their progress,” she says.
Sinha points out that though it might be difficult for some of her students to work in a general bakery they can definitely be good at on-counter selling, documentation, or as entrepreneurs and supervisors. “They have the basic knowledge of the different processes in baking. I am confident that their skills will be appreciated in any baking unit. A bakery is after all a business and profit matters. With knowledge and work comes respect. If a disabled person can work sincerely, they will definitely be an asset in this sector,” she says.
“Some can even opt to make products at home and supply them to the various outlets in hotels and shops. Others can offer baking lessons at home. The opportunities are many and waiting to be tapped,” she adds.
Women’s Feature Service
Teresa Rehman meets spirited young women who are wheelchair- bound and affected by polio, but turn out the best cookies and cakes ever. Fiercely independent, they are training to be self-employed and self-reliant
The aroma of freshly-baked cakes and biscuits wafts through the air as Poppy Borgohain(26) animatedly describes why her golden-brown biscuits with their crusty tops are delightfully soft and flaky inside when one bites into them. Poppy loves baking. She is the happiest when she is in a kitchen working with different ingredients, trying out new recipes and whipping up batches of sweet cookies or crunchy savouries.
Baking is a newfound passion in Poppy’s life, which has witnessed a series of rough patches. Poppy was paralysed on one side of her body when she was only seven, and after she failed to clear her Class 10 examinations, she was really unhappy and clueless about her future. She and her family, particularly her mother Anita, a homemaker, were finding it difficult to come to terms with her disability. Says Anita, “I kept wishing that my daughter could do something worthwhile and be independent. I didn’t want her to sit idle.”
It was at that point that Poppy heard about the one-year vocational training course in catering, housekeeping and food processing being offered at Sishu Sarothi, a centre for the rehabilitation and training of youngsters with multiple disabilities in Guwahati.
Bright future
Supported by the Foundation for Social Transformation (FST) and with a faculty drawn from the Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology & Applied Nutrition (IHM) and the North East Hotel Management Institute (NEHMI), the centre is popular among youth with disabilities ranging from polio and cerebral palsy to multiple sclerosis and locomotor dysfunction.
Ever since Poppy and her 10 other classmates — nine of whom are girls — have become familiar with baking, life is, quite literally, light and sweet, much like the oven-fresh goodies they make in class.
And, for most of them baking is something novel because they had never seen an oven until they stepped into ‘Sishu Sarothi’. Now, of course, they can’t imagine their daily routine without it.
Poppy, who moves around with the help of crutches, is enthusiastic about her future. So is her mother, who finds her biscuits tastier than the ones available in the market. Poppy now hopes to find a job at the bakery unit of a big hotel in Guwahati.
Just like Poppy, Silsila Das (20), who is wheelchair-bound, enjoys her baking lessons. She quickly rattles off the names of all the goodies she can bake with ease — cakes, pastries, buns, pizzas, breads and biscuits. “I hope to start my own bakery some day,” she says with a smile.
Rashmi Baruwa, co-ordinator of the project at ‘Sishu Sarothi’, understands the aspirations of girls like Poppy and Silsila. She also realises that although they have the same entitlements as their non-disabled peers, very few of them are able to enjoy equal educational and training opportunities. And, life for a disabled woman is even more challenging. This is why the work being done at ‘Sishu Sarothi’ is so significant.
Orders for X’mas cakes
Rashmi says, “We aim to empower differently-abled girls to become skilled, self-reliant and productive members of society. The programme is meant to bridge the educational divide, multiply opportunities and end discrimination.”
Trainees are taken on a study tour for an on-the-spot demonstration of various sub-sectors of catering technology at IHM. Silsila especially enjoys the practice sessions, where she tries out various goodies like biscuits, breads, cakes and pastries, muffins, buns, pizzas and sandwiches, along with fruit squashes, chutneys, pickles, and more.
“Goodies baked during the practice sessions are sold to in-house staff and the sale proceeds are utilised for purchasing raw materials and ingredients for the practice sessions. We also take orders for parties and meetings and have been delivering them successfully,” she says with a sense of pride. Now they are also looking forward to taking orders for Christmas cakes.
Dealing with a group of differently-abled girls has been a challenging exercise for the instructors as well. Baruwa says, “Our main hurdle is dealing with a group of differently-abled girls with restricted mobility and communication abilities, a weak memory and a low functional activity level. Sometimes, we have to repeat the lessons. But these students have picked up remarkably well.”
Jharna Sinha, an instructor of bakery is a satisfied woman today. “I had earlier conducted classes for homemakers, brides-to-be and busy professionals. But this is a diverse set of students with different sets of disabilities. Some can’t write while some can’t weigh. But they overcome their shortcomings by making a collective effort. I am really happy with their progress,” she says.
Sinha points out that though it might be difficult for some of her students to work in a general bakery they can definitely be good at on-counter selling, documentation, or as entrepreneurs and supervisors. “They have the basic knowledge of the different processes in baking. I am confident that their skills will be appreciated in any baking unit. A bakery is after all a business and profit matters. With knowledge and work comes respect. If a disabled person can work sincerely, they will definitely be an asset in this sector,” she says.
“Some can even opt to make products at home and supply them to the various outlets in hotels and shops. Others can offer baking lessons at home. The opportunities are many and waiting to be tapped,” she adds.
Women’s Feature Service
Friday, October 1, 2010
Wild, wild vet
Dr Phulmoni Gogoi belongs to a rare species of doctors — she tends to wildlife in the dense jungles of Assam.
Teresa Rehman
The passion in her eyes was unmistakable as she sat in the incubation room, dotingly nursing a wreathed hornbill that had fallen from its nest due to heavy rain and broken a wing. But she was fighting a losing battle. Despite the necessary care and medication, she could not save the bird, which succumbed to its injuries.
Any such casualty is agonising for Phulmoni Gogoi, 29, one of the few women who are wildlife vets in India. Phulmoni works at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), run by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in Borjuri village near Assam's Kaziranga National Park.
The CWRC, set up in 2002, is the country's first rescue and rehabilitation centre near a protected area and caters to wildlife emergencies occurring out of natural or anthropogenic causes. The veterinary infrastructure here includes an examination clinic, surgery theatre and an evolving preliminary disease investigation laboratory. It also has spacious shelters for birds, reptiles, ungulates and primates, enclosures for big cats, and nurseries for mega-herbivores.
Veterinary surgeon Phulmoni treats all species of animals in distress — from a rare black panther or an endangered Hoolock Gibbon to a rhino calf or captive elephant.
She owes her love for animals to a childhood spent in the lap of nature at Roing, Arunachal Pradesh. As a little girl, she often went to the forest to see wild birds and, sometimes, monkeys and elephants. “I used to relish the early-morning sounds made by the gibbons as they jumped and played around the forest. I had always loved this natural music. I was not very sure whether I loved wild animals during my childhood, but I always loved dogs, cows and the poultry birds raised by my parents. Although my mother never allowed us to keep dogs as pets, we raised many batches of ducklings,” she says with childlike ardour.
Later she chose to study Veterinary Science, and her husband, also a vet, guided her towards the unconventional career of a wildlife vet. Her parents, however, were initially appalled. “It was very tough for my parents to allow me to stay in the forest and work alone as a lady vet,” she says.
But there has been no looking back. Phulmoni is thoroughly enjoying her three-year tenure at the CWRC. “We provide treatment and care to all the displaced, injured, sick animals and try to release them back into the wild,” she says. While she loves all animals, elephants and bears are her favourite. “Once I went to rescue an abandoned rhino calf and we were chased by many rhinos. It made me think about how lonely a wild animal would feel near a human habitat if it sensed a threat to its life,” she says.
At times she tends to abandoned rhinos and elephant calves. “First-time mothers, who don't have the experience of calving, are often seen to abandon their young ones. We have to deal with the traumatised young animal, whose stress level increases because of the separation from its mother.”
Phulmoni and her team bottle-feed the calf with skimmed milk fortified with vitamin, carbohydrate and calcium supplements. According to the rehabilitation protocol, when hand-raising a calf aged below three months, the caregiver has to keep it company constantly, even at night.
“Being a surrogate mother to a rhino calf is easier as they adapt easily. But as elephants are social animals, an elephant calf is more sensitive. Often the keeper sleeps on a shed above the calf and keeps a blanket hanging.” The calf is comforted when it feels the blanket with its trunk and believes it to be its mother, she explains.
Phulmoni's happiest moment is when an animal or bird is released back into its home in the wild. She finds birds the most sensitive among all creatures. “Most of them are very expressive, even through their anatomical structure. It is very tough, almost impossible, to heal traumatised birds after they lose the potential to survive in the wild. My work at the CWRC has helped me develop a keen interest in avian surgery and I am looking forward to a good opportunity to learn more about Aves,” she says.
She has never felt that being a woman could be a deterrent in her unusual profession. However, she concedes that it may not be easy to live with animals in the wild — it would depend on individual interest and passion.
“I have met many women from countries like Spain, Germany, England, France, Portugal and the US who come to work at the CWRC. I don't see any reason why Indian girls can't work in this sector. It all depends on one's interest and love towards animals,” she says. In fact, she has met another enthusiastic woman vet, Korobi Boro, at the Manickdoh Leopard Rescue Centre in Pune, who is an expert in treating small carnivores.
Of course, there are occupational hazards such as attacks by animals, or zoonosis (a deadly disease transmitted from animals to humans) during rescue. Phulmoni also has to constantly update herself with specialised training methods. She has attended necropsy training in crocodiles at Chennai's Crocodile Bank, and workshops on rhino translocation and emerging zoonotic diseases.
She is experienced in handling both small and large carnivores. “It's not so difficult to hand-raise carnivores. But conflict cases are difficult and require long-term treatment in captivity. For dressing external injuries, we place the animals in a squeeze cage and roll the cage to make it smaller to prevent the animal from moving its limbs,” she says.
In spite of working through sleepless nights, especially during the monsoons when casualty rates are high, Phulmoni takes pleasure in her work. She never switches off her mobile phone and is ready for any emergency.
A committed vet, she stands by the creatures of the wild in their hour of need.
© Women's Feature Service
Dr Phulmoni Gogoi belongs to a rare species of doctors — she tends to wildlife in the dense jungles of Assam.
Teresa Rehman
The passion in her eyes was unmistakable as she sat in the incubation room, dotingly nursing a wreathed hornbill that had fallen from its nest due to heavy rain and broken a wing. But she was fighting a losing battle. Despite the necessary care and medication, she could not save the bird, which succumbed to its injuries.
Any such casualty is agonising for Phulmoni Gogoi, 29, one of the few women who are wildlife vets in India. Phulmoni works at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), run by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), in Borjuri village near Assam's Kaziranga National Park.
The CWRC, set up in 2002, is the country's first rescue and rehabilitation centre near a protected area and caters to wildlife emergencies occurring out of natural or anthropogenic causes. The veterinary infrastructure here includes an examination clinic, surgery theatre and an evolving preliminary disease investigation laboratory. It also has spacious shelters for birds, reptiles, ungulates and primates, enclosures for big cats, and nurseries for mega-herbivores.
Veterinary surgeon Phulmoni treats all species of animals in distress — from a rare black panther or an endangered Hoolock Gibbon to a rhino calf or captive elephant.
She owes her love for animals to a childhood spent in the lap of nature at Roing, Arunachal Pradesh. As a little girl, she often went to the forest to see wild birds and, sometimes, monkeys and elephants. “I used to relish the early-morning sounds made by the gibbons as they jumped and played around the forest. I had always loved this natural music. I was not very sure whether I loved wild animals during my childhood, but I always loved dogs, cows and the poultry birds raised by my parents. Although my mother never allowed us to keep dogs as pets, we raised many batches of ducklings,” she says with childlike ardour.
Later she chose to study Veterinary Science, and her husband, also a vet, guided her towards the unconventional career of a wildlife vet. Her parents, however, were initially appalled. “It was very tough for my parents to allow me to stay in the forest and work alone as a lady vet,” she says.
But there has been no looking back. Phulmoni is thoroughly enjoying her three-year tenure at the CWRC. “We provide treatment and care to all the displaced, injured, sick animals and try to release them back into the wild,” she says. While she loves all animals, elephants and bears are her favourite. “Once I went to rescue an abandoned rhino calf and we were chased by many rhinos. It made me think about how lonely a wild animal would feel near a human habitat if it sensed a threat to its life,” she says.
At times she tends to abandoned rhinos and elephant calves. “First-time mothers, who don't have the experience of calving, are often seen to abandon their young ones. We have to deal with the traumatised young animal, whose stress level increases because of the separation from its mother.”
Phulmoni and her team bottle-feed the calf with skimmed milk fortified with vitamin, carbohydrate and calcium supplements. According to the rehabilitation protocol, when hand-raising a calf aged below three months, the caregiver has to keep it company constantly, even at night.
“Being a surrogate mother to a rhino calf is easier as they adapt easily. But as elephants are social animals, an elephant calf is more sensitive. Often the keeper sleeps on a shed above the calf and keeps a blanket hanging.” The calf is comforted when it feels the blanket with its trunk and believes it to be its mother, she explains.
Phulmoni's happiest moment is when an animal or bird is released back into its home in the wild. She finds birds the most sensitive among all creatures. “Most of them are very expressive, even through their anatomical structure. It is very tough, almost impossible, to heal traumatised birds after they lose the potential to survive in the wild. My work at the CWRC has helped me develop a keen interest in avian surgery and I am looking forward to a good opportunity to learn more about Aves,” she says.
She has never felt that being a woman could be a deterrent in her unusual profession. However, she concedes that it may not be easy to live with animals in the wild — it would depend on individual interest and passion.
“I have met many women from countries like Spain, Germany, England, France, Portugal and the US who come to work at the CWRC. I don't see any reason why Indian girls can't work in this sector. It all depends on one's interest and love towards animals,” she says. In fact, she has met another enthusiastic woman vet, Korobi Boro, at the Manickdoh Leopard Rescue Centre in Pune, who is an expert in treating small carnivores.
Of course, there are occupational hazards such as attacks by animals, or zoonosis (a deadly disease transmitted from animals to humans) during rescue. Phulmoni also has to constantly update herself with specialised training methods. She has attended necropsy training in crocodiles at Chennai's Crocodile Bank, and workshops on rhino translocation and emerging zoonotic diseases.
She is experienced in handling both small and large carnivores. “It's not so difficult to hand-raise carnivores. But conflict cases are difficult and require long-term treatment in captivity. For dressing external injuries, we place the animals in a squeeze cage and roll the cage to make it smaller to prevent the animal from moving its limbs,” she says.
In spite of working through sleepless nights, especially during the monsoons when casualty rates are high, Phulmoni takes pleasure in her work. She never switches off her mobile phone and is ready for any emergency.
A committed vet, she stands by the creatures of the wild in their hour of need.
© Women's Feature Service
Monday, September 6, 2010
The Akhil Gogoi Factor
By Teresa Rehman
------Overnight, an average looking man with disheveled hair and beard, dressed austerely in an unironed shirt and trousers and a pair of chappals has become a household name in the murky landscape of Northeast India – a region often in the news for violence and bloodshed. Assam’s farmer rights activist Akhil Gogoi had an almost cinematic ingress into the public eye. His recent bare-knuckled tirade against alleged corruption by a heavyweight Congress leader has turned him into a dare-devil whistleblower against deep-rooted corruption in the political circles.
Gogoi became a readymade saleable package, more of a phenomenon that local media could not stop shrieking about. As soon as he steps out from a public meeting he is swallowed by a group of zealous mediapersons. The unassuming man is now being featured in blogs and youtube. His name has almost become a euphemism for ‘someone who fights against corruption’. Gogoi seems to have divined a mammoth common nerve in the society: the empowering potency of being shown you can choose otherwise and is the basis for the making of ‘the Akhil Gogoi factor’.
His decision to wage a war against corruption has triggered animated political, civil society and media debate. His diatribe has uncorked a dormant emotion in society and now its common to hear disgruntled people say, “Let’s put Akhil Gogoi on the trail” or “Only Akhil Gogoi can do something”.
A facebook group titled “Supporting Akhil Gogoi” in May 2010 had garnered as many as 1550 members. Aryama Dutta Saikia, who initiated the facebook group rues, “Our Supporting Akhil Gogoi page on Facebook has been temporarily blocked. It’s surprising because one needs more than 100 "reports" for an FB page to be blocked.”
To challenge corruption in a system where it is already widespread and deep-entrenched may appear futile. Gogoi seems to have filled a vacuum which the younger generation in Assam like Saikia needs to be filled. Saikia rues, “For years, we have been complaining about corruption and saying "Why doesn't someone do something?" We waited and waited and waited. But, that miraculous "someone" did not come to our rescue. In fact, every time a common man such as a Manjunath or a Satyendra Dubey emerges, the opposing forces drown his voice. It is unrealistic and unfair to expect one Akhil Gogoi to eradicate corruption in Assam.”
The group led by Saikia have also been organizing candle-light ‘anti-corruption’ vigils in different parts of the state as well as in Delhi. “Most of us secretly harbor fantasies of being a hero, exterminating corruption and making a difference in the society. Well, in Assam, Akhil Gogoi and his organization, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), are doing exactly this,” says Saikia.
Riding high on his huge popularity, Gogoi who was born into a cultivator’s family is now furiously presiding over farmer’s meetings all over the state. The peasant leader called upon the public to be alert against misuse of public fund by public servants and racketeers who pilferage funds meant for social welfare. He was also honoured with the second Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award in 2008 for his fight against corruption.
He also received the National RTI Awards in 2010 by the Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF) for his for his role in exposing corruption in various schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana and the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana. He is credited to taking RTI to the masses and holding the government accountable for its actions.
Gogoi has been working relentlessly for the cause of farmers in Assam since 2002 as the general secretary of the KMSS. KMSS is now a part of the National Alliance of Peoples Movement led by activist Medha Patkar and enjoys huge popularity in rural areas of Assam. In fact, Patkar joined him at a huge farmer’s rally in the heart of Guwahati city demanding an immediate halt to mega river-dam projects in Arunachal Pradesh and other northeastern States.
But Gogoi is more importantly credited to ushering in a modern-day nascent farmer’s movement in the state. History is strewn with tales of peasant’s movements and how the ruling class tried to throttle them. Assam too, had witnessed the Peasants’ Revolution of Sarukshetri in the erstwhile Barpeta subdivision of Kamrup district where ‘Raijmelah’ or the protest meeting was held in January 1894. The triggering factor for this movement was the proposed resettlement of land and abnormal hike in the land revenue. The Raijmel is a significant occurrence as it stirred the movement against the British rule in the early 20th century. The British rulers then tried to ruthlessly crush the movement in all possible ways.
Gogoi too had to face the wrath of the state – he has been from time to time branded ‘Maoist’, a ‘land-grabber’ and an ‘absconder’ by the state. With rumours of Gogoi having a threat to his life, the state government took no chances and gave him security cover in the form of a lone security guard. This is interesting in the light of the fact that the Centre is contemplating enacting the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill 2010 to protect whistleblowers who raise the alarm over corruption in government ministries, offices and agencies. The proposed law seeks to empower anyone who wishes to make a complaint of corruption or disclosure against a central government employee or any other central government-backed institution to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
But critics are cynical if this fearless crusader will be able to sustain this confection of positive energies – something which propelled him from an ordinary man to an extraordinary icon. Some feel that he’s been hopping from too many issues – farmer’s rights, corruption by politicians, protest against big dams and so on.
But it can said without any doubt that Gogoi is one of the most remarkable stories to emerge from contemporary Assam. In the days to come, maybe he will have to continue to reinvent himself and evolve into someone different while still keeping the essential DNA of his crusade for people’s ideology intact.
ends
By Teresa Rehman
------Overnight, an average looking man with disheveled hair and beard, dressed austerely in an unironed shirt and trousers and a pair of chappals has become a household name in the murky landscape of Northeast India – a region often in the news for violence and bloodshed. Assam’s farmer rights activist Akhil Gogoi had an almost cinematic ingress into the public eye. His recent bare-knuckled tirade against alleged corruption by a heavyweight Congress leader has turned him into a dare-devil whistleblower against deep-rooted corruption in the political circles.
Gogoi became a readymade saleable package, more of a phenomenon that local media could not stop shrieking about. As soon as he steps out from a public meeting he is swallowed by a group of zealous mediapersons. The unassuming man is now being featured in blogs and youtube. His name has almost become a euphemism for ‘someone who fights against corruption’. Gogoi seems to have divined a mammoth common nerve in the society: the empowering potency of being shown you can choose otherwise and is the basis for the making of ‘the Akhil Gogoi factor’.
His decision to wage a war against corruption has triggered animated political, civil society and media debate. His diatribe has uncorked a dormant emotion in society and now its common to hear disgruntled people say, “Let’s put Akhil Gogoi on the trail” or “Only Akhil Gogoi can do something”.
A facebook group titled “Supporting Akhil Gogoi” in May 2010 had garnered as many as 1550 members. Aryama Dutta Saikia, who initiated the facebook group rues, “Our Supporting Akhil Gogoi page on Facebook has been temporarily blocked. It’s surprising because one needs more than 100 "reports" for an FB page to be blocked.”
To challenge corruption in a system where it is already widespread and deep-entrenched may appear futile. Gogoi seems to have filled a vacuum which the younger generation in Assam like Saikia needs to be filled. Saikia rues, “For years, we have been complaining about corruption and saying "Why doesn't someone do something?" We waited and waited and waited. But, that miraculous "someone" did not come to our rescue. In fact, every time a common man such as a Manjunath or a Satyendra Dubey emerges, the opposing forces drown his voice. It is unrealistic and unfair to expect one Akhil Gogoi to eradicate corruption in Assam.”
The group led by Saikia have also been organizing candle-light ‘anti-corruption’ vigils in different parts of the state as well as in Delhi. “Most of us secretly harbor fantasies of being a hero, exterminating corruption and making a difference in the society. Well, in Assam, Akhil Gogoi and his organization, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), are doing exactly this,” says Saikia.
Riding high on his huge popularity, Gogoi who was born into a cultivator’s family is now furiously presiding over farmer’s meetings all over the state. The peasant leader called upon the public to be alert against misuse of public fund by public servants and racketeers who pilferage funds meant for social welfare. He was also honoured with the second Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award in 2008 for his fight against corruption.
He also received the National RTI Awards in 2010 by the Public Cause Research Foundation (PCRF) for his for his role in exposing corruption in various schemes like the Indira Awas Yojana and the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana. He is credited to taking RTI to the masses and holding the government accountable for its actions.
Gogoi has been working relentlessly for the cause of farmers in Assam since 2002 as the general secretary of the KMSS. KMSS is now a part of the National Alliance of Peoples Movement led by activist Medha Patkar and enjoys huge popularity in rural areas of Assam. In fact, Patkar joined him at a huge farmer’s rally in the heart of Guwahati city demanding an immediate halt to mega river-dam projects in Arunachal Pradesh and other northeastern States.
But Gogoi is more importantly credited to ushering in a modern-day nascent farmer’s movement in the state. History is strewn with tales of peasant’s movements and how the ruling class tried to throttle them. Assam too, had witnessed the Peasants’ Revolution of Sarukshetri in the erstwhile Barpeta subdivision of Kamrup district where ‘Raijmelah’ or the protest meeting was held in January 1894. The triggering factor for this movement was the proposed resettlement of land and abnormal hike in the land revenue. The Raijmel is a significant occurrence as it stirred the movement against the British rule in the early 20th century. The British rulers then tried to ruthlessly crush the movement in all possible ways.
Gogoi too had to face the wrath of the state – he has been from time to time branded ‘Maoist’, a ‘land-grabber’ and an ‘absconder’ by the state. With rumours of Gogoi having a threat to his life, the state government took no chances and gave him security cover in the form of a lone security guard. This is interesting in the light of the fact that the Centre is contemplating enacting the Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill 2010 to protect whistleblowers who raise the alarm over corruption in government ministries, offices and agencies. The proposed law seeks to empower anyone who wishes to make a complaint of corruption or disclosure against a central government employee or any other central government-backed institution to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
But critics are cynical if this fearless crusader will be able to sustain this confection of positive energies – something which propelled him from an ordinary man to an extraordinary icon. Some feel that he’s been hopping from too many issues – farmer’s rights, corruption by politicians, protest against big dams and so on.
But it can said without any doubt that Gogoi is one of the most remarkable stories to emerge from contemporary Assam. In the days to come, maybe he will have to continue to reinvent himself and evolve into someone different while still keeping the essential DNA of his crusade for people’s ideology intact.
ends
Friday, August 20, 2010
Media Reporting on Development - IDS announce winner of new journalism competition
The winners of a new journalism competition sponsored by the Institute of Development Studies have been announced.
First prize is awarded to Nilanjana Bhowmick with an article originally published on Time.com entitled, ‘India Under Pressure to Do More to Stop Child Labour’. The piece focused on the employment of children as domestic workers when they should be in school.
The competition, run by the Institute of Development Studies with assistance from the Communication Initiative, is aimed at journalists operating in low income countries whose writing focuses on poverty alleviation, democracy and governance, rights, health, and other Millennium Development Goals.
James Georgalakis, Communications Manager at IDS and one of the panel of judges, said:
“The winner produced a very well crafted piece of journalism that conveys the complexities of the issues whilst staying grounded in the experiences and words of real people directly caught up in the situation. Nilanjana Bhowmick engages the reader immediately and provides real voice to those affected by child labour and to civil society organisations. This is a really excellent example of development journalism on people’s rights and the need for political and social change.”
The two runners up were:
* Bamuturaki Musinguzi with ‘Evicted from Forests, the Batwa are destitute’, published in The East African. The article focused on the plight of the Batwa Pygmies or ‘Twa’ who have been driven out of their traditional home sin the forests of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
* Teresa Rehman with ‘Young girls face trafficking as lack of rain drives worsening rural poverty’ published by Reuters Alertnet. The article examined the unforeseen effects of climate change in India, as poverty drives the illegal trafficking of young women.
A special mention also went to:
Manshi Asheri with ‘Towering blots on the peaks’ which looks at the effects of hydroelectric constructions in India and was published in The India Tribune.
Journalists were asked to submit pieces that were provocative and original, and that demonstrated alternative narratives on development. Particular weight was given to pieces which showcased the voices of those affected by or engaged in development.
The competition forms part of an ongoing programme of work carried out by IDS to support and encourage quality development journalism both in the UK and elsewhere. In recent months IDS has sponsored the Special Award at the One World Media Awards and hosted a debate event examining the difficulties of covering development stories as a European journalist.
The winners of a new journalism competition sponsored by the Institute of Development Studies have been announced.
First prize is awarded to Nilanjana Bhowmick with an article originally published on Time.com entitled, ‘India Under Pressure to Do More to Stop Child Labour’. The piece focused on the employment of children as domestic workers when they should be in school.
The competition, run by the Institute of Development Studies with assistance from the Communication Initiative, is aimed at journalists operating in low income countries whose writing focuses on poverty alleviation, democracy and governance, rights, health, and other Millennium Development Goals.
James Georgalakis, Communications Manager at IDS and one of the panel of judges, said:
“The winner produced a very well crafted piece of journalism that conveys the complexities of the issues whilst staying grounded in the experiences and words of real people directly caught up in the situation. Nilanjana Bhowmick engages the reader immediately and provides real voice to those affected by child labour and to civil society organisations. This is a really excellent example of development journalism on people’s rights and the need for political and social change.”
The two runners up were:
* Bamuturaki Musinguzi with ‘Evicted from Forests, the Batwa are destitute’, published in The East African. The article focused on the plight of the Batwa Pygmies or ‘Twa’ who have been driven out of their traditional home sin the forests of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
* Teresa Rehman with ‘Young girls face trafficking as lack of rain drives worsening rural poverty’ published by Reuters Alertnet. The article examined the unforeseen effects of climate change in India, as poverty drives the illegal trafficking of young women.
A special mention also went to:
Manshi Asheri with ‘Towering blots on the peaks’ which looks at the effects of hydroelectric constructions in India and was published in The India Tribune.
Journalists were asked to submit pieces that were provocative and original, and that demonstrated alternative narratives on development. Particular weight was given to pieces which showcased the voices of those affected by or engaged in development.
The competition forms part of an ongoing programme of work carried out by IDS to support and encourage quality development journalism both in the UK and elsewhere. In recent months IDS has sponsored the Special Award at the One World Media Awards and hosted a debate event examining the difficulties of covering development stories as a European journalist.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Teresa Rehman recieving the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award for Reporting from J&K & Northeast(Print) for the year 2008-09 from Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of India. She got the award for her extensive coverage of the insurgency-ravaged Northeastern states of India and specially the state of Manipur.
The jury specially mentioned two stories which she wrote for Tehelka newsmagazine.
The links to the stories are:
Jackboots Too Large For Them and ‘Why I screamed, rape us, take our flesh’
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The tribal communities of Arunachal Pradesh do not conform to the notion of gender equality in tribal societies. Teresa Rehman reports.
Contrary to popular notions of gender equality in tribal societies, there are innumerable cases of unimaginably inhuman treatment meted out to a woman in the name of tradition and clan honour. A predominantly tribal state Arunachal Pradesh, tucked away in the extreme northeastern corner of India is a case in point.
The present Arunachal Pradesh is a conglomeration of 25 tribes and over 100 sub-tribes. Gender differences in basic access reflect deep-rooted biases in social structures and belief systems. And these disparities are reinforced again and again by the tribal customary laws which are often discriminatory towards women. And most often tribal societies do not follow the statutory laws when it comes to marriage, divorce, inheritance etc.
Some of the age-old customary laws, which are ruthlessly patriarchal, have perpetuated social evils and crimes against women. For instance, in 2006, a minor orphan Anga approached the Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women (APSCW) based in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh and appealed for justice. Her parents had died within a month of each other when she was one year old and she was taken under the care of her cousin brother. When she was 3 years old, she was sold by her cousin to an adult of the same village who was approximately 33 years old at the time of that ‘negotiation’ or so-called marriage.
When she was 6 years old, she was sent to the man’s house. On her attaining puberty at an early age, the middle aged man (now 45 years old) started harassing the little girl to fulfill his carnal desire, claiming that the girl was his traditionally acquired or purchased bride. Helpless after being physically and mentally harassed, Anga ran away in 2003 from the clutches of the man. She tried to survive as a free person for three years whereafter she somehow reached the APSCW with her prayer during March 2006.
The Commission took cognizance of the matter and Anga was provided immediate shelter through the offices of the Deputy Commissioner. The Commission referred the case to the relevant Deputy Commissioner of the area where Anga came from. The case was promptly sent to the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) of the Circle. And the outcome: a unique judgement was passed by the JMFC who restrained the alleged child marriage, under Section 12 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, and that apart, Anga was freed from the bondage of the alleged child marriage without carrying any liability as to the matter of the bridal price. Today Anga is free and managing her own small enterprise with a small loan arranged out of personal resources of the members of the Commission.
Child marriage, being part of a social evil, is still prevalent in some pockets of the state, with tacit social sanction. In some of the tribes in the state, girl child is treated as a tradable commodity, negotiable for a price determined by parents or guardians of the girl and the male to whom she is bound for matrimony.
In fact, the child brides are often minors within the age group of 7-13 years, while the man to whom they are sold, engaged or wedded are generally men with purchasing power in the age group of 40-70 years. By the time the child bride comes to her senses, she would have been deprived of basic education, of her childhood, often raped and tortured, kept in captivity. Invariably, these victims are young, poor or helpless orphans and the men are from influential backgrounds.
The tribal customary laws contribute to making women socially insignificant. Women are not allowed to inherit immovable parental property and many a times from inheriting even matrimonial property – for example a widow with no male offspring is barred from inheriting any property of a deceased husband which renders her homeless and helpless. In a few cases, a young widow has been dispossessed of her marital property, jointly acquired and owned by her with her deceased husband. Battery, insults, physical and mental harassment, torture and deprivation owing to multiple marriages, rape, gender discrimination are common.
The alarming state of affairs of women is evident in a report on the situational analysis of girls in Arunachal Pradesh by the National Commission for Women and the Arunachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2005. According to the 2001 census, sex ratio in Arunachal Pradesh is 901 females per 1000 males. The child sex ratio has reduced from 982 in 1991 to 964 in 2001 census. The rural child sex ratio has gone down drastically from 986 in 1991 to 957 in 2001 compared to 946 in 1991 to 981 in 2001 in the urban areas.
Although there are no reported cases of sex selective abortions within the state, the members of the Commission has come to know of some cases which took place outside the state. There is also a gender gap of 19.83 percent in education as per the 2001 census. A steep increase in the number of unorganized
sex workers among the indigenous population has also been observed in the last two decades.
The life expectancy for women in Arunachal has also come down to 54.51 percent as compared to the national average of 64.84 percent. Healthwise too, women show a negative trend. 62.5 percent of the married women in the state are anaemic. These concerns are directly proportional to low literacy rates
and low economic independence among women.
The APSCW is working towards speedy and inexpensive justice by adopting many innovative means. They conduct social investigation to get verified information on cases and hold public hearings on such cases which have a wider social issue embroiled into it. Such public hearings are used as a forum for
sensitization on women empowerment. The Commission also embarks on independent fact-finding missions in cases of major criminal offences. In fact, many cases have also been resolved through intensive counselling, especially reconciliations in cases of marital disputes.
The Commission tries as much as possible to involve the police, district administration and nodal departments in ensuring justice. They have also evolved a working relationship with various women organizations in order to raise awareness about women’s rights. There is an urgent need to modify the
discriminatory customary laws without hurting the sentiments of the tribal population.
But there is still a long way to go as statistics reveal that even after 60 years of India’s independence, there is a palpable lack of knowledge and concern about the human rights of women, the Constitutional guarantees and laws of the land that protect the rights of citizens, specially women.
ends
Contrary to popular notions of gender equality in tribal societies, there are innumerable cases of unimaginably inhuman treatment meted out to a woman in the name of tradition and clan honour. A predominantly tribal state Arunachal Pradesh, tucked away in the extreme northeastern corner of India is a case in point.
The present Arunachal Pradesh is a conglomeration of 25 tribes and over 100 sub-tribes. Gender differences in basic access reflect deep-rooted biases in social structures and belief systems. And these disparities are reinforced again and again by the tribal customary laws which are often discriminatory towards women. And most often tribal societies do not follow the statutory laws when it comes to marriage, divorce, inheritance etc.
Some of the age-old customary laws, which are ruthlessly patriarchal, have perpetuated social evils and crimes against women. For instance, in 2006, a minor orphan Anga approached the Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women (APSCW) based in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh and appealed for justice. Her parents had died within a month of each other when she was one year old and she was taken under the care of her cousin brother. When she was 3 years old, she was sold by her cousin to an adult of the same village who was approximately 33 years old at the time of that ‘negotiation’ or so-called marriage.
When she was 6 years old, she was sent to the man’s house. On her attaining puberty at an early age, the middle aged man (now 45 years old) started harassing the little girl to fulfill his carnal desire, claiming that the girl was his traditionally acquired or purchased bride. Helpless after being physically and mentally harassed, Anga ran away in 2003 from the clutches of the man. She tried to survive as a free person for three years whereafter she somehow reached the APSCW with her prayer during March 2006.
The Commission took cognizance of the matter and Anga was provided immediate shelter through the offices of the Deputy Commissioner. The Commission referred the case to the relevant Deputy Commissioner of the area where Anga came from. The case was promptly sent to the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) of the Circle. And the outcome: a unique judgement was passed by the JMFC who restrained the alleged child marriage, under Section 12 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, and that apart, Anga was freed from the bondage of the alleged child marriage without carrying any liability as to the matter of the bridal price. Today Anga is free and managing her own small enterprise with a small loan arranged out of personal resources of the members of the Commission.
Child marriage, being part of a social evil, is still prevalent in some pockets of the state, with tacit social sanction. In some of the tribes in the state, girl child is treated as a tradable commodity, negotiable for a price determined by parents or guardians of the girl and the male to whom she is bound for matrimony.
In fact, the child brides are often minors within the age group of 7-13 years, while the man to whom they are sold, engaged or wedded are generally men with purchasing power in the age group of 40-70 years. By the time the child bride comes to her senses, she would have been deprived of basic education, of her childhood, often raped and tortured, kept in captivity. Invariably, these victims are young, poor or helpless orphans and the men are from influential backgrounds.
The tribal customary laws contribute to making women socially insignificant. Women are not allowed to inherit immovable parental property and many a times from inheriting even matrimonial property – for example a widow with no male offspring is barred from inheriting any property of a deceased husband which renders her homeless and helpless. In a few cases, a young widow has been dispossessed of her marital property, jointly acquired and owned by her with her deceased husband. Battery, insults, physical and mental harassment, torture and deprivation owing to multiple marriages, rape, gender discrimination are common.
The alarming state of affairs of women is evident in a report on the situational analysis of girls in Arunachal Pradesh by the National Commission for Women and the Arunachal Pradesh Human Development Report 2005. According to the 2001 census, sex ratio in Arunachal Pradesh is 901 females per 1000 males. The child sex ratio has reduced from 982 in 1991 to 964 in 2001 census. The rural child sex ratio has gone down drastically from 986 in 1991 to 957 in 2001 compared to 946 in 1991 to 981 in 2001 in the urban areas.
Although there are no reported cases of sex selective abortions within the state, the members of the Commission has come to know of some cases which took place outside the state. There is also a gender gap of 19.83 percent in education as per the 2001 census. A steep increase in the number of unorganized
sex workers among the indigenous population has also been observed in the last two decades.
The life expectancy for women in Arunachal has also come down to 54.51 percent as compared to the national average of 64.84 percent. Healthwise too, women show a negative trend. 62.5 percent of the married women in the state are anaemic. These concerns are directly proportional to low literacy rates
and low economic independence among women.
The APSCW is working towards speedy and inexpensive justice by adopting many innovative means. They conduct social investigation to get verified information on cases and hold public hearings on such cases which have a wider social issue embroiled into it. Such public hearings are used as a forum for
sensitization on women empowerment. The Commission also embarks on independent fact-finding missions in cases of major criminal offences. In fact, many cases have also been resolved through intensive counselling, especially reconciliations in cases of marital disputes.
The Commission tries as much as possible to involve the police, district administration and nodal departments in ensuring justice. They have also evolved a working relationship with various women organizations in order to raise awareness about women’s rights. There is an urgent need to modify the
discriminatory customary laws without hurting the sentiments of the tribal population.
But there is still a long way to go as statistics reveal that even after 60 years of India’s independence, there is a palpable lack of knowledge and concern about the human rights of women, the Constitutional guarantees and laws of the land that protect the rights of citizens, specially women.
ends
Monday, August 9, 2010
Media Awards on Development announced
Awards: Media Reporting on Development at Development Networks
Media Reporting on Development: Provocative and Original Stories
The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) received 186 high quality entries for these awards for reporting on international development. 100 Journalists from around the world submitted their best articles, news pieces, critiques, and editorials that focused on poverty alleviation, democracy and governance, rights, health, and other Millennium Development Goals.
The First Place Award went to Nilanjana Bhowmick for the article "India Under Pressure to Do More to Stop Child Labour," originally published in Time.com, which focused on the employment of children as domestic workers when they should be in school.
James Georgalakis, Communications Manager at IDS and one of the panel of judges, said: "The winner produced a very well crafted piece of journalism that conveys the complexities of the issues whilst staying grounded in the experiences and words of real people directly caught up in the situation. Nilanjana Bhowmick engages the reader immediately and provides real voice to those affected by child labour and to civil society organisations. This is a really excellent example of development journalism on people’s rights and the need for political and social change."
Two Runners Up were also awarded. One went to Bamuturaki Musinguzi for the article "Evicted from Forests, the Batwa are destitute," published in The East African. This article focused on the plight of the Batwa Pygmies or ‘Twa’ who have been driven out of their traditional home sin the forests of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
The other went to Teresa Rehman for the article "Young girls face trafficking as lack of rain drives worsening rural poverty," published by Reuters Alertnet. This article examined the unforeseen effects of climate change in India, as poverty drives the illegal trafficking of young women.
Special mention also went to Manshi Asheri for the article "Towering blots on the peaks," which looks at the effects of hydroelectric constructions in India and was published in The Tribune.
Particular weight was given to pieces which showcased the voices of those affected by or engaged in development. This competition forms part of an ongoing programme of work carried out by IDS to support and encourage quality development journalism both in the UK and elsewhere.
In order to read all of the submitted articles, please log in and view
Awards: Media Reporting on Development at Development Networks
Media Reporting on Development: Provocative and Original Stories
The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) received 186 high quality entries for these awards for reporting on international development. 100 Journalists from around the world submitted their best articles, news pieces, critiques, and editorials that focused on poverty alleviation, democracy and governance, rights, health, and other Millennium Development Goals.
The First Place Award went to Nilanjana Bhowmick for the article "India Under Pressure to Do More to Stop Child Labour," originally published in Time.com, which focused on the employment of children as domestic workers when they should be in school.
James Georgalakis, Communications Manager at IDS and one of the panel of judges, said: "The winner produced a very well crafted piece of journalism that conveys the complexities of the issues whilst staying grounded in the experiences and words of real people directly caught up in the situation. Nilanjana Bhowmick engages the reader immediately and provides real voice to those affected by child labour and to civil society organisations. This is a really excellent example of development journalism on people’s rights and the need for political and social change."
Two Runners Up were also awarded. One went to Bamuturaki Musinguzi for the article "Evicted from Forests, the Batwa are destitute," published in The East African. This article focused on the plight of the Batwa Pygmies or ‘Twa’ who have been driven out of their traditional home sin the forests of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
The other went to Teresa Rehman for the article "Young girls face trafficking as lack of rain drives worsening rural poverty," published by Reuters Alertnet. This article examined the unforeseen effects of climate change in India, as poverty drives the illegal trafficking of young women.
Special mention also went to Manshi Asheri for the article "Towering blots on the peaks," which looks at the effects of hydroelectric constructions in India and was published in The Tribune.
Particular weight was given to pieces which showcased the voices of those affected by or engaged in development. This competition forms part of an ongoing programme of work carried out by IDS to support and encourage quality development journalism both in the UK and elsewhere.
In order to read all of the submitted articles, please log in and view
IWMF South Asia Initiative Participant Receives Journalism Award
Teresa Rehman, who was a participant in the South Asia Initiative on Women and HIV/AIDS Policymaking, received the 2010 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award from the President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil. The Ramnath Goenka Foundation recognizes the best of India’s journalists.
Read more on the Ramnath Goenka website.
Teresa Rehman, who was a participant in the South Asia Initiative on Women and HIV/AIDS Policymaking, received the 2010 Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award from the President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil. The Ramnath Goenka Foundation recognizes the best of India’s journalists.
Read more on the Ramnath Goenka website.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Shillong librettist
By: Teresa Rehman
India’s leading – and perhaps only – opera composer is from Meghalaya (Published in Himal Southasian)
Concert pianist Neil Nongkynrih’s first rendezvous with opera – Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten at London’s English National Opera House, in 1990 – was unfulfilling. In fact, he hated it. ‘The first time it did not hit me – didn’t sound profound to me. But gradually I grew to love it,’ smiles Nongkynrih, who grew up in Meghalaya but studied music at Guildhall School of Music and Trinity College in Britain. He has since come to renown as a concert pianist and versatile teacher, working on an eclectic range of music including piano. One of his pupils – the English musician Philip Selway, best known as the drummer for the rock group Radiohead – has won the US Grammy Award multiple times.
Nongkynrih’s first public piano performance in the UK was in the presence of British royalty, which inevitably led to additional European recitals. But his inquietude eventually brought him back to his roots in the Indian Northeast. There, he branched out into composing, writing music for both opera and choir. In 2001, he took a sabbatical, coming back to his hometown of Shillong after 13 years in London. There, suddenly, he realised his sojourn in England was over: It was time to give back to his own society.
He set up the Shillong Chamber Choir in 2001. (He is also the artistic director and guest conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, considered one of the finest in the world.) The choir has a unique repertoire that includes such Western standards as Handel, Bach and Gershwin, and has proven able to enthral audiences in Vienna, London, Geneva, Poland, China and elsewhere. The singers have been trained for musicals, and have sung in German, Italian, Chinese and French, as well as Malayalam and Bengali. Their latest accolade was a silver medal in the folklore category at the World Choir Championships in July 2009 in South Africa. There, the choir won for an opera composed and directed by Nongkynrih, which revolves around an ancient Khasi folktale, ‘Sohlyngngem’, a traditional love story about a girl who turns into a bird. Set in modern times, the opera subtly interweaves political and social undercurrents (such as the matrilineal system of Khasi society and its clashes with modern-day Christian doctrines), community life, universal human feelings such as unrequited love, and even globalisation.
It was in a moment of creative stasis, Nongkynrih says, that he first decided to experiment with opera in his mother tongue, Khasi, which he laments is one of India’s ‘dying languages’. Today, less than 900,000 people are estimated to speak Khasi, nearly all of whom live in Meghalaya, while the convent-educated youths of Shillong would rather speak in English. Further, with the media boom, it is the glut of Western culture that today inevitably enthuses the youth. As such, Nongkynrih says he is now planning to focus more extensively on opera in local languages, including one in Hindi that he hopes can be a commercial success.
In part, he is helped by the fact that music, particularly Western music, plays an inordinately significant part in the lives of the people of Shillong. Indeed, this passion for Western music is both a legacy of the colonial past and due to the influence of Christian missionaries, with many in Shillong having grown up seeing their parents and grandparents strumming guitars to tunes of the Beatles and Elvis Presley. While much of the younger generation knows little today about traditional Khasi music, some musicians from Shillong are currently trying to revive these musical traditions. For instance, rock bands such as Summersalt, the members of which call their music ‘indigenous experimental rock’, are using both ethnic and modern musical instruments. Kit Shangpliang of the band says, ‘A group of like-minded musicians like us are trying to carve our own identity and revive our culture. It is a small group getting bigger. We are trying to package our music in such a way that the youngsters can easily digest it.’
Despite the local thirst for Western music, however, opera remains largely indigestible for much of India today. ‘I have not come across any other opera composer in India so far,’ Nongkynrih says. As an art form, opera is yet to establish a foothold in India, though it is being performed irregularly by groups such as the Delhi Opera Ensemble and the Neemrana Music Foundation in Delhi and Mumbai. These groups face significant constraints in staging expensive operas, however, as sponsors who lack familiarity with the art form are not keen to invest. Sometimes, foreign embassies host opera groups from their own countries for elite Indian audiences. But Nongkynrih says, ‘I am not going to Europe – Europe has to come to me. The world is changing now. The West is coming to India.’
Nongkynrih applies this syncretic vision to himself, as well. For instance, while he derides the fact that middle class’s tendencies to speak in ‘Kha-lish’, a blend of Khasi and English, he says that he still chooses the piano over a traditional Khasi musical instrument. ‘We have to take the best of the West,’ he says. ‘This instrument has evolved over hundreds of years as an ultimate sophisticated musical instrument. It is a question of using the best equipment to express yourself.’
Rehabilitation
As a musician, Nongkynrih started very young. As a child prodigy, he began to play the piano by his third birthday, with his sister as his first mentor. But many people found his phenomenal ability strange. ‘I was bit of a freak,’ he says. ‘I was like a circus – people used to come and see me perform.’ Indeed, the precocious young Neil soon began to use this popularity to his advantage. One time, as guests gathered around, he refused to play until the crowd sent a hat around to take up a collection.
Today, his choir is medley of people – from a young boy who was a former coolie, to the granddaughter of former President R Venkataraman. One boy was into drugs until his parents caught him; Nongkynrih says there is now a marked change in him, and he sings enthusiastically in the opera. The choir has also opened up Nongkynrih’s home to children with special needs and those from underprivileged backgrounds. Little Home School, an alternative-education centre with music therapy, keeps him busy. ‘I teach them to respect each other by what they do in their lives, and not due to the kind of ‘spoon’ one is born with,’ he said. ‘What you do with that spoon is what is important.’
Nongkynrih calls himself a hard taskmaster. But ‘we have lot of fun together,’ says the bachelor, who considers his choir his family. His home is both his workstation and his cocoon, and he says he finds concerts to be cold and impersonal. Indeed, he says that music for him appeals to the spirit rather than to reason, and that good music can thus change people’s lives. If he could be like anyone, he says, it would be his old tailor, who led a sequestered and contented life. ‘If ever I would live to be that old, I would like to lead a life of dignity like him,’ he says.
Meanwhile, he loves being in Shillong, where he says he can enjoy life in all of its simplicity. ‘I have proved that I have achieved much more without being in Delhi or Mumbai,’ he says. ‘For me, success is not winning a Grammy, but rather has to do with quality of life. We have to understand what we are here for.’
ends
By: Teresa Rehman
India’s leading – and perhaps only – opera composer is from Meghalaya (Published in Himal Southasian)
Concert pianist Neil Nongkynrih’s first rendezvous with opera – Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten at London’s English National Opera House, in 1990 – was unfulfilling. In fact, he hated it. ‘The first time it did not hit me – didn’t sound profound to me. But gradually I grew to love it,’ smiles Nongkynrih, who grew up in Meghalaya but studied music at Guildhall School of Music and Trinity College in Britain. He has since come to renown as a concert pianist and versatile teacher, working on an eclectic range of music including piano. One of his pupils – the English musician Philip Selway, best known as the drummer for the rock group Radiohead – has won the US Grammy Award multiple times.
Nongkynrih’s first public piano performance in the UK was in the presence of British royalty, which inevitably led to additional European recitals. But his inquietude eventually brought him back to his roots in the Indian Northeast. There, he branched out into composing, writing music for both opera and choir. In 2001, he took a sabbatical, coming back to his hometown of Shillong after 13 years in London. There, suddenly, he realised his sojourn in England was over: It was time to give back to his own society.
He set up the Shillong Chamber Choir in 2001. (He is also the artistic director and guest conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, considered one of the finest in the world.) The choir has a unique repertoire that includes such Western standards as Handel, Bach and Gershwin, and has proven able to enthral audiences in Vienna, London, Geneva, Poland, China and elsewhere. The singers have been trained for musicals, and have sung in German, Italian, Chinese and French, as well as Malayalam and Bengali. Their latest accolade was a silver medal in the folklore category at the World Choir Championships in July 2009 in South Africa. There, the choir won for an opera composed and directed by Nongkynrih, which revolves around an ancient Khasi folktale, ‘Sohlyngngem’, a traditional love story about a girl who turns into a bird. Set in modern times, the opera subtly interweaves political and social undercurrents (such as the matrilineal system of Khasi society and its clashes with modern-day Christian doctrines), community life, universal human feelings such as unrequited love, and even globalisation.
It was in a moment of creative stasis, Nongkynrih says, that he first decided to experiment with opera in his mother tongue, Khasi, which he laments is one of India’s ‘dying languages’. Today, less than 900,000 people are estimated to speak Khasi, nearly all of whom live in Meghalaya, while the convent-educated youths of Shillong would rather speak in English. Further, with the media boom, it is the glut of Western culture that today inevitably enthuses the youth. As such, Nongkynrih says he is now planning to focus more extensively on opera in local languages, including one in Hindi that he hopes can be a commercial success.
In part, he is helped by the fact that music, particularly Western music, plays an inordinately significant part in the lives of the people of Shillong. Indeed, this passion for Western music is both a legacy of the colonial past and due to the influence of Christian missionaries, with many in Shillong having grown up seeing their parents and grandparents strumming guitars to tunes of the Beatles and Elvis Presley. While much of the younger generation knows little today about traditional Khasi music, some musicians from Shillong are currently trying to revive these musical traditions. For instance, rock bands such as Summersalt, the members of which call their music ‘indigenous experimental rock’, are using both ethnic and modern musical instruments. Kit Shangpliang of the band says, ‘A group of like-minded musicians like us are trying to carve our own identity and revive our culture. It is a small group getting bigger. We are trying to package our music in such a way that the youngsters can easily digest it.’
Despite the local thirst for Western music, however, opera remains largely indigestible for much of India today. ‘I have not come across any other opera composer in India so far,’ Nongkynrih says. As an art form, opera is yet to establish a foothold in India, though it is being performed irregularly by groups such as the Delhi Opera Ensemble and the Neemrana Music Foundation in Delhi and Mumbai. These groups face significant constraints in staging expensive operas, however, as sponsors who lack familiarity with the art form are not keen to invest. Sometimes, foreign embassies host opera groups from their own countries for elite Indian audiences. But Nongkynrih says, ‘I am not going to Europe – Europe has to come to me. The world is changing now. The West is coming to India.’
Nongkynrih applies this syncretic vision to himself, as well. For instance, while he derides the fact that middle class’s tendencies to speak in ‘Kha-lish’, a blend of Khasi and English, he says that he still chooses the piano over a traditional Khasi musical instrument. ‘We have to take the best of the West,’ he says. ‘This instrument has evolved over hundreds of years as an ultimate sophisticated musical instrument. It is a question of using the best equipment to express yourself.’
Rehabilitation
As a musician, Nongkynrih started very young. As a child prodigy, he began to play the piano by his third birthday, with his sister as his first mentor. But many people found his phenomenal ability strange. ‘I was bit of a freak,’ he says. ‘I was like a circus – people used to come and see me perform.’ Indeed, the precocious young Neil soon began to use this popularity to his advantage. One time, as guests gathered around, he refused to play until the crowd sent a hat around to take up a collection.
Today, his choir is medley of people – from a young boy who was a former coolie, to the granddaughter of former President R Venkataraman. One boy was into drugs until his parents caught him; Nongkynrih says there is now a marked change in him, and he sings enthusiastically in the opera. The choir has also opened up Nongkynrih’s home to children with special needs and those from underprivileged backgrounds. Little Home School, an alternative-education centre with music therapy, keeps him busy. ‘I teach them to respect each other by what they do in their lives, and not due to the kind of ‘spoon’ one is born with,’ he said. ‘What you do with that spoon is what is important.’
Nongkynrih calls himself a hard taskmaster. But ‘we have lot of fun together,’ says the bachelor, who considers his choir his family. His home is both his workstation and his cocoon, and he says he finds concerts to be cold and impersonal. Indeed, he says that music for him appeals to the spirit rather than to reason, and that good music can thus change people’s lives. If he could be like anyone, he says, it would be his old tailor, who led a sequestered and contented life. ‘If ever I would live to be that old, I would like to lead a life of dignity like him,’ he says.
Meanwhile, he loves being in Shillong, where he says he can enjoy life in all of its simplicity. ‘I have proved that I have achieved much more without being in Delhi or Mumbai,’ he says. ‘For me, success is not winning a Grammy, but rather has to do with quality of life. We have to understand what we are here for.’
ends
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Weaving better alternatives for women displaced by climate change
By Teresa Rehman
KOKRAJHAR, India (AlertNet) - Swdwmsri Narzary, 19, a nimble weaver, rests her fingers on her loom and gets a faraway look when asked to recall her last few years of struggle dealing with the pressures of climate change.
Orphaned at an early age, Swdwmsri lived with her elder brother and his family in Bijni, a rural village in Assam province's Chirang district. But increasingly unpredictable weather conditions - drought one year, incessant and untimely rains the next - made life gradually harder as the family's crops repeatedly failed. With the family on the verge of starvation, Swdwmsri had to drop out of school. Her brother decided not to waste money sowing new crops and instead used his remaining cash to migrate to a nearby city, Guwahati, in search of a job.
Swdwmsri realized she had to find her own means of livelihood. But she had few options. It was then she met a lady from her village who promised her a good job in Guwahati.
THE PERILS OF URBAN WORK
Both nervous and excited, she took up work as a poorly paid maid in several households. She also worked as a baby-sitter in one home - until she was molested by the landlord and forced to flee to a friend's home. Even the busy city traffic made her anxious, and once she was nearly run down by a speeding bus. Dismayed by what she saw as a harsh life in the city, Swdwmsri longed to go back to her native village and her favourite activity - weaving the traditional patterns and motifs of her tribe, the Bodos. But like many women displaced by climate change, she found she had few resources or options to improve her situation.
Then one day, as she was waiting to catch a bus, she met an old acquaintance. Bimala, another migrant from Bijni, said she had been able to return home and find work with the Roje Eshansholi (Beloved Weaving) Cooperative Society, a weavers' collective based in Kokrajhar. The cooperative, set up by schoolteacher Malati Rani Narzary, seeks to create alternative work and dignity at home for impoverished Bodo tribal women vulnerable to climate change-related displacement, ethnic conflict, and human trafficking. "I realized that Bodo women ... were some of the finest weavers in the region," Narzary said. "I decided to hone their weaving skills to suit the demands of the national as well as the international market." After initial training, weavers and spinners in the program are separated into self-help groups that work in their native villages.
SPINNING A NEW LIFE IN MUGA SILK
From a modest beginning of only five members and four looms in 1996, the society now has over 1,000 women beneficiaries in Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon and Chirang district, some in very remote areas. More than 500 spinners and 50 weavers work in muga silk, the traditional golden silk of Assam. Young girls like Swdwmsri and Bimala are allowed to stay at a women's residence at the project's headquarters, where they feel at home and secure. "We send part of our earnings to our families. But we would rather stay here and do what we enjoy most - weaving," Bimala said.
Fashion designers now visit the weavers to help them create new products that will sell well. Swdwmsri remembers how a lady from the National Institute of Design in the Indian city of Ahmedabad came to relate that their traditional handloom material has been turned into scarves, cushion covers, curtains, table mats and other goods. "I have never used a table mat in my life. But I am happy that my handmade products adorn the homes of the rich and the famous and even plush hotels in big cities," Bimala said.
Narzary's aim of giving Bodo weavers a larger platform for their efforts has taken shape in the form of the Bodoland Regional Apex Weavers and Cooperative Federation, an umbrella organization for all the weavers in the area. The organization has helped weavers showcase their products in trade and textile fairs and fashion shows.
"I feel proud that apart from preserving our age-old weaving tradition, we are also able to hold back our young and vulnerable girls from working as domestic help in big cities. Moreover, they cannot be lured by the unscrupulous middleman and end up in brothels," said Narzary, who is chairperson of the federation.
Teresa Rehman is a journalist based in Northeast India. She can be reached at www.teresarehman.net
Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Nagaland’s head hunters caught
TERESA REHMAN (Women’s Feature Service)
During her childhood, Vikeyeno Zao, 36, had heard from her elders beguiling accounts of the tattooed headhunters of the Konyak tribe in her home state of Nagaland.
So fascinated was she with these tales that later, when Zao went on to pursue a film course in Delhi, she made up her mind to return home one day and capture the amazing memoirs of the few surviving ‘erstwhile’ headhunters on film.
Zao fulfilled her dream by making a 15-minute short film entitled ‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’. But the film also brought the filmmaker glory when it was showcased in the short film section at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in France. In fact, it was the first time that a short film from India’s Northeast had made it to this prestigious festival.
Headhunting, the traditional practice of taking the head after killing a person, was followed since times immemorial in different parts of the world, including in Nagaland. The Nagas are a people of mongoloid stock inhabiting the mountainous region of the state.
They comprise 14 major tribes. Among these tribes are the Konyak and the Angami — Zao belongs to the Angami tribe — along with their sub-clans. Each tribe has its distinct dialects, traditions and customs.
Although headhunting is now a thing of the past for the Konyaks, who have adopted Christianity, Zao was keen to delve into the saga of this customary practice and chronicle the custom that has faded into oblivion. Researching for the film was a grueling task for this talented filmmaker and a mother of two. She spent close to seven years not only reading up extensively on the Konyaks but also visiting the tribes — people, who mostly live in the northern part of Nagaland, bordering Myanmar and Arunachal Pradesh.
While collecting this information she came across many interpretations and theories
regarding headhunting, a practice that is symbolic of ‘masculinity’. According to some anthropological studies, the practice stemmed from the belief that the head contained the soul or life force, which could be harnessed by capturing it. It was believed that taking the head as a trophy would enable the victor to gain some of his slain enemy’s power and spirit.
While her subject fascinated her immensely, it was the production of the film that kept Zao on her toes. Scenes of the film were enacted by tattooed headhunters from a village called Longwa, located on the Indo-Myanmar border. But it was challenging to extract work from them as today’s generation has all but forgotten their fearsome traditions and culture. “It was difficult to convince them to enact scenes from a custom they had long abandoned. I met a couple of youngsters who had heard about this tradition but had never seen it for themselves. But as most of them knew English they helped me by being interpreters for their elders,” Zao says, whose husband is also a producer and cinematographer.
Apart from the tricky task of convincing the Konyaks to shoot scenes for her film, she also had to face logistic problems like bad road conditions and frequent power cuts. “The roads in those parts are so bad that it sometimes took me more than an hour to cover just one kilometre. But it was my dream to make a film on the Konyaks and showcase it to the world,” she says.
Zao’s efforts certainly did not go in vain. Her dream project made it all the way to Cannes. “I feel honoured as well as excited. It’s a matter of pride for me as well as for the people of the Northeast,” she says.
But ‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’ is not Zao’s maiden venture. She has produced and directed several films on the anthropological aspects of the different tribes of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The most notable among them are ‘Defenders’, a fictional 100-minute period film based on Naga history which was made in 2009, and ‘Sopfunuo’, a fictional film on polygamy practices among the Nagas.
Her work has earned her many fans. Artist Dilip Tamuly, who has seen ‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’, says, “She is a very sensitive director and delves into details. Overall the film has been smoothly executed and brings to light the macabre ritual of a tribe.”
Arum Lochan Das, a film critic, adds, “It is good news for us that a short film has been selected for the competitive section in the Cannes film festival. It is to her credit especially because she is one of the few women directors from the region.”
Zoa’s work is a window to the culture of Northeast India. Talking about the headhunters, she narrates fascinating tales of how a warrior who was able to bring a head home earned the respect in his clan. “He dressed up in the best of clothes and got the best of wives. He even decorated his house with more feathers, ethnic symbols and wood carvings,” she says. Most important was the tattoo on his face that is made by none other than the rani (queen) of the clan.
Zao’s research also revealed that headhunting was practiced for different reasons — sometimes for defence, but at other times it was to assert authority, especially in cases of land dispute. It was a part of survival strategies in a harsh terrain, where people they had to fight for their turf with other equally fearsome warrior clans.
The film tries to re-enact the ritualistic details of headhunting, a practice that continued till the mid-20th century. It shows how soothsayers could predict in which direction the enemy was lying and the time and direction in which the warrior should move. When the warriors brought their prized trophy home, they would place it on a platform made of a banana trunk for three to four months until the head began to rot. Then a ritual was performed and the skull was brought and kept in the Morung, a dormitory where young, unmarried men were taught life skills.
Not only does Zao bring Konyak’s past to life in an interesting manner, she also talks about the present-day political problems of the tribe. In 1972, when the international border between India and Myanmar was demarcated, it ran through the Konyak villages, and, at some places, even through their homes. “No consideration was given to the rights of the Konyaks to live as one people in one country. Today their wish to live as a homogeneous tribe faces an uncertain future,” says Zao.
Headhunting might be a thing of past but Zao’s film is not just a fascinating account of the ritual, but also aims to educate the world about the Konyaks, their homeland, their traditions and ancient customs. But it also highlights the pressures they face in today’s India.
ends
TERESA REHMAN (Women’s Feature Service)
During her childhood, Vikeyeno Zao, 36, had heard from her elders beguiling accounts of the tattooed headhunters of the Konyak tribe in her home state of Nagaland.
So fascinated was she with these tales that later, when Zao went on to pursue a film course in Delhi, she made up her mind to return home one day and capture the amazing memoirs of the few surviving ‘erstwhile’ headhunters on film.
Zao fulfilled her dream by making a 15-minute short film entitled ‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’. But the film also brought the filmmaker glory when it was showcased in the short film section at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in France. In fact, it was the first time that a short film from India’s Northeast had made it to this prestigious festival.
Headhunting, the traditional practice of taking the head after killing a person, was followed since times immemorial in different parts of the world, including in Nagaland. The Nagas are a people of mongoloid stock inhabiting the mountainous region of the state.
They comprise 14 major tribes. Among these tribes are the Konyak and the Angami — Zao belongs to the Angami tribe — along with their sub-clans. Each tribe has its distinct dialects, traditions and customs.
Although headhunting is now a thing of the past for the Konyaks, who have adopted Christianity, Zao was keen to delve into the saga of this customary practice and chronicle the custom that has faded into oblivion. Researching for the film was a grueling task for this talented filmmaker and a mother of two. She spent close to seven years not only reading up extensively on the Konyaks but also visiting the tribes — people, who mostly live in the northern part of Nagaland, bordering Myanmar and Arunachal Pradesh.
While collecting this information she came across many interpretations and theories
regarding headhunting, a practice that is symbolic of ‘masculinity’. According to some anthropological studies, the practice stemmed from the belief that the head contained the soul or life force, which could be harnessed by capturing it. It was believed that taking the head as a trophy would enable the victor to gain some of his slain enemy’s power and spirit.
While her subject fascinated her immensely, it was the production of the film that kept Zao on her toes. Scenes of the film were enacted by tattooed headhunters from a village called Longwa, located on the Indo-Myanmar border. But it was challenging to extract work from them as today’s generation has all but forgotten their fearsome traditions and culture. “It was difficult to convince them to enact scenes from a custom they had long abandoned. I met a couple of youngsters who had heard about this tradition but had never seen it for themselves. But as most of them knew English they helped me by being interpreters for their elders,” Zao says, whose husband is also a producer and cinematographer.
Apart from the tricky task of convincing the Konyaks to shoot scenes for her film, she also had to face logistic problems like bad road conditions and frequent power cuts. “The roads in those parts are so bad that it sometimes took me more than an hour to cover just one kilometre. But it was my dream to make a film on the Konyaks and showcase it to the world,” she says.
Zao’s efforts certainly did not go in vain. Her dream project made it all the way to Cannes. “I feel honoured as well as excited. It’s a matter of pride for me as well as for the people of the Northeast,” she says.
But ‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’ is not Zao’s maiden venture. She has produced and directed several films on the anthropological aspects of the different tribes of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. The most notable among them are ‘Defenders’, a fictional 100-minute period film based on Naga history which was made in 2009, and ‘Sopfunuo’, a fictional film on polygamy practices among the Nagas.
Her work has earned her many fans. Artist Dilip Tamuly, who has seen ‘Last of the Tattooed Head Hunters’, says, “She is a very sensitive director and delves into details. Overall the film has been smoothly executed and brings to light the macabre ritual of a tribe.”
Arum Lochan Das, a film critic, adds, “It is good news for us that a short film has been selected for the competitive section in the Cannes film festival. It is to her credit especially because she is one of the few women directors from the region.”
Zoa’s work is a window to the culture of Northeast India. Talking about the headhunters, she narrates fascinating tales of how a warrior who was able to bring a head home earned the respect in his clan. “He dressed up in the best of clothes and got the best of wives. He even decorated his house with more feathers, ethnic symbols and wood carvings,” she says. Most important was the tattoo on his face that is made by none other than the rani (queen) of the clan.
Zao’s research also revealed that headhunting was practiced for different reasons — sometimes for defence, but at other times it was to assert authority, especially in cases of land dispute. It was a part of survival strategies in a harsh terrain, where people they had to fight for their turf with other equally fearsome warrior clans.
The film tries to re-enact the ritualistic details of headhunting, a practice that continued till the mid-20th century. It shows how soothsayers could predict in which direction the enemy was lying and the time and direction in which the warrior should move. When the warriors brought their prized trophy home, they would place it on a platform made of a banana trunk for three to four months until the head began to rot. Then a ritual was performed and the skull was brought and kept in the Morung, a dormitory where young, unmarried men were taught life skills.
Not only does Zao bring Konyak’s past to life in an interesting manner, she also talks about the present-day political problems of the tribe. In 1972, when the international border between India and Myanmar was demarcated, it ran through the Konyak villages, and, at some places, even through their homes. “No consideration was given to the rights of the Konyaks to live as one people in one country. Today their wish to live as a homogeneous tribe faces an uncertain future,” says Zao.
Headhunting might be a thing of past but Zao’s film is not just a fascinating account of the ritual, but also aims to educate the world about the Konyaks, their homeland, their traditions and ancient customs. But it also highlights the pressures they face in today’s India.
ends
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
http://lite.alertnet.org/db/an_art/60167/2010/05/7-154006-1.htm
By Teresa Rehman
GUWAHATI, India - Climate activists in India have discovered a crucial tool in their battle to hold the government accountable on its climate policies: the country's landmark Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Passed in 2005, the act requires all government bodies to respond to citizen requests for information within 30 days. Many bodies, threatened with legal action after initially failing to respond, are now delivering information that shows big gaps in the country's knowledge and planning on climate issues, activists say.
"RTI is an excellent tool for a citizen and India has one of the most powerful freedom of information acts in the world," said Manu Sharma, a climate activist who filed 124 of the requests last year and is now getting answers.
Sharma in 2008 launched Climate Revolution, a non-profit organization that aims "to see India adopt reduction in greenhouse gas concentration as the overriding central goal from which all internal development and growth policies...originate."
ACCESSING INFORMATION
But getting basic information on government initiatives on climate change proved a struggle. That led Sharma to the Right to Information Act, which he used last October and November to file requests with a variety of government agencies, particularly the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the prime minister's office, the Ministry of Power, and the Planning Commission.
Under the act, all government ministries, departments and institutions are required to store information in a manner that makes it easily accessible. Any citizen of India can seek any information available from a public authority with few exemptions. Even in the case of an exemption, the authority must provide the information if its disclosure is in the greater public interest.
On receipt of an application, the public authority must reply within 30 days or transfer the application to another concerned authority within five days if the request does not concern its own department. If it fails to reply within the stipulated period or its answer is unsatisfactory, an appeal can be filed through an internal appeals body at that agency.
If that fails, a second appeal can be filed with a provincial Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). The office of the CIC has powers equivalent to a civil court, and can summon witnesses, order an enquiry, punish the offending officers and award compensation.
Since being passed, the act has been used by citizens as well as activists throughout the country to get information on a wide range of issues, from scarcity of medicines in a government hospital to misuse of government vehicles.
Sharma's requests covered a wide range of subjects, including climate policy, emissions levels, energy efficiency, spending on nuclear power and renewable energy, dissemination of scientific knowledge about climate change within the government and public awareness about climate issues.
EXCELLENT REPLY RATE A SURPRISE
He was happily surprised at the reply rate. While many agencies responded to his requests only after he filed a first appeal, he eventually received responses to about 95 percent of his filings, he said.
The bulk of the replies were received within about two to three months of filing applications and following them up with appeals, he said.
The contents of the replies was another matter. The first instinct of most government departments is to try and evade a detailed reply, especially if the application poses an embarrassing question, Sharma said. The prime minister's office forwarded most of the applications it received to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, even though the prime minister himself chairs the national council on climate change and has a major role in shaping climate policy, the activist said.
Other times, his questions were answered, even though the answers could be seen as embarrassing for the government.
The responses "reveal a government ignorant of the state of climate science, ill-prepared to face resource depletion, unwilling to act as science demands, unconcerned about public safety, unable to determine the right developmental priorities, and ill-prepared to defend its own claims," he charged.
His organization has used the material to issue press releases highlighting areas in which they judge the government's response to the challenges of climate change seriously deficient.
MATERIAL SHOWS POLICY GAPS
One Right to Information application, for instance, revealed that no process exists within the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the prime minister's office to identify, prioritise and pass on new scientific knowledge about climate change to the heads of the two institutions, which play the most significant role in determining India's climate policy.
"A list of notable scientific literature, analyses and climate anomalies ...provided to the ministry of Environment and Forests have not only not been acted upon but ... even find no mention in the records of the ministry," Sharma said.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests also admitted in one of its replies that no evaluation has been carried out of how well members of parliament and bureaucrats perceive the science and urgency of climate change. Nor has there been any capacity building programme for members of parliament and bureaucrats on the subject, he said.
Sharma feels that if the government of a nation as large as India is ignorant of climate science to the extent revealed by his information requests, it cannot hope to effectively address the problem. This ignorance and denial poses a danger to Indian citizens and to people elsewhere, Sharma said.
He pointed to the fact that information applications he made seeking copies of briefs given to Indian negotiators at international climate negotiations, and reports submitted by them to the prime minister's office, have been rejected by the government.
Filed with the prime minister's office and forwarded to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the requests have been rejected on the ground that the disclosures "may affect the scientific and economic interests of the country."
"Lack of transparency in the international and national climate policy formation process signifies that government is hiding information which could be embarrassing if released," Sharma said.
Right to Information Act authorities call the act an "important tool" for Indian citizens trying to hold government accountable.
"We expect more and more people to use RTI to get information from government departments on pertinent issues like climate change," said D.N. Dutt, Assam province's Chief Information Commissioner. "RTI is an important tool even to bring certain issues to the notice of the government. Citizens should make the best use of it and we are there to help them."
Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Weaving dreams of prosperity
Teresa Rehman catches up with enterprising women in Guwahati who are making a livelihood by creatively designing Assam's traditional fabrics into trendy outfits
Picture this: Sipping tea with homemade pithas in a cosy living room and choosing from a lavish spread of mekhela chadors and salwar kameezes. Getting tips from the homely designer and casual haggling are part of the package.
All this is becoming a part of life now. Almost every locality in Guwahati boasts of a “neighbourhood designer”. These designers, mostly housewives operating from home, set up their own looms with a few weavers, sewing machines and dyeing units. Most importantly, their skill is publicised by word of mouth, especially at weddings and other functions.
Attending a workshop with some Japanese tourists in 1993 was an eye-opener for one of these new designers, Anita Chetia. “The tourists criticised the Assamese people for not being able to harness the golden thread of Assam -- the famous muga silk,” says Chetia.
“I always took care to dress up tastefully and used to design my own clothes,” she says. Eyes gleaming with pride, she adds, “Once a lady called me at a wedding. I walked towards her but could not recognise her. The lady then said that she had, in fact, identified my clothes and not me.”
This inspired Chetia and she started off with two looms and an initial investment of Rs 10,000. “I took a risk but I told myself that even if my clothes did not sell, I could at least wear them myself. But it was a sellout and my salwar kameezes made out of mekhala chador material have been equally popular.”
With 17 employees, Chetia is today a successful entrepreneur. She participates in the trade fairs regularly. She is also the vice-president of North East Women Entrepreneurs Association. “I feel proud that I am economically independent now,” she says.
Like her, Anjali Das of Ganesh Nagar area of Basistha specialises in embroidery work and had been doing it since 1978. “I do embroidery on mekhala chadors, sofa set covers, table clothes, sarees and salwar kameezes. I feel very happy that I have my own source of income,” says Das.
For Anjana Goswami, the illuminating moment was when she discovered an old chador of her mother-in-law some 17 years back. “I was inspired to weave similar designs. With a loan of Rs 2,000 from my husband, I got eight such clothes made out of akhi thread,” she says. But they were sold out and she got more orders.
Gradually, Goswami expanded her business and now has four looms at home. She also makes gamochas, cotton mekhala chadors and dupattas with different designs. “I am also undergoing training on vegetable dyes at the weavers centre. I intend to experiment with vegetable dyes which also has health benefits,” she says.
Goswami is justifiably proud of her achievements and says, “I could repay the loan I had taken from my husband. I also file my own income tax returns and have got my looms insured. My designs have been bought by Assamese non-resident Indians too.”
Though not a graduate from any reputed fashion schools, these neighbourhood designers are giving some of the well-known fashion designers a run for their money. “I am making wall paintings of these old designs and hope to show them to some of the leading designers of the country,” says Goswami.
Fashion designer Meghna Rai Medhi welcomes this trend. “People are learning about fashion and they should be encouraged. Going to a fashion school is important but it is not imperative if one has talent and skill. Though many of them are not aware of the technicalities, their final product turns out to be quite uncommon and appealing. I don't see this trend as a threat to us designers. in fact, we can join hands and work together,” adds Medhi.
Noted danseuse Garima Hazarika has a passion for collecting traditional tribal designs. “We have seven looms at Mitali Sangha, our organisation. I take care of the designs and colours here and we make Assamese cushion covers, table mats, dupattas and salwar kameezes. I also improvise designs for jewellery,” Hazarika says.
The wedding season is the peak time for these neighbourhood designers. Tultul Bora is “booked” from June to December, designing wedding trousseaus. “I have even bought old and torn chadors and mekhalas for their design. People prefer to come to us as we can match various hues with different designs at a reasonable price,” says Bora.
Chetia adds, “I have designed wedding trousseaus for the entire family at times. I have also designed exotic kurtas for the groom.” Most of these neighbourhood designers admit they did not have the slightest inkling about being so successful. “I never thought that I would be able to start my own business. Initially I used to do embroidery on kanjivaram cloth and gradually shifted to paat. I took a loan of Rs 3 lakh from the State Bank of India,” says Bora.
Minoti Barbara, who operates with her three sewing machines from her residence on Zoo-Narengi road, says, “I started off by designing casualwear, specially designer baby frocks. College girls throng my place and I suggest designs and colours according to their constitution.”
Leena Mahanta started off with two looms and an investment of Rs 10,000 in a bid to help the Bodo women in her neighbourhood in Birubari. “I try to create of fusion of contemporary designs with e traditional assamese designs. People from all over Assam and even designers come to me to collect the textiles,” says Mahanta.
Affordability is one of the main factors why people throng these neighbourhood designers. “If my customers have a limited budget, I also allow them to pay in instalments,” says Mahanta.
Most of these women feel proud that they are making good use of their time. “Instead of whiling away time in idle banter, I feel happy to contribute to the family income and take care of my household at the same time,” sums up Anjali Das.
ends
Teresa Rehman catches up with enterprising women in Guwahati who are making a livelihood by creatively designing Assam's traditional fabrics into trendy outfits
Picture this: Sipping tea with homemade pithas in a cosy living room and choosing from a lavish spread of mekhela chadors and salwar kameezes. Getting tips from the homely designer and casual haggling are part of the package.
All this is becoming a part of life now. Almost every locality in Guwahati boasts of a “neighbourhood designer”. These designers, mostly housewives operating from home, set up their own looms with a few weavers, sewing machines and dyeing units. Most importantly, their skill is publicised by word of mouth, especially at weddings and other functions.
Attending a workshop with some Japanese tourists in 1993 was an eye-opener for one of these new designers, Anita Chetia. “The tourists criticised the Assamese people for not being able to harness the golden thread of Assam -- the famous muga silk,” says Chetia.
“I always took care to dress up tastefully and used to design my own clothes,” she says. Eyes gleaming with pride, she adds, “Once a lady called me at a wedding. I walked towards her but could not recognise her. The lady then said that she had, in fact, identified my clothes and not me.”
This inspired Chetia and she started off with two looms and an initial investment of Rs 10,000. “I took a risk but I told myself that even if my clothes did not sell, I could at least wear them myself. But it was a sellout and my salwar kameezes made out of mekhala chador material have been equally popular.”
With 17 employees, Chetia is today a successful entrepreneur. She participates in the trade fairs regularly. She is also the vice-president of North East Women Entrepreneurs Association. “I feel proud that I am economically independent now,” she says.
Like her, Anjali Das of Ganesh Nagar area of Basistha specialises in embroidery work and had been doing it since 1978. “I do embroidery on mekhala chadors, sofa set covers, table clothes, sarees and salwar kameezes. I feel very happy that I have my own source of income,” says Das.
For Anjana Goswami, the illuminating moment was when she discovered an old chador of her mother-in-law some 17 years back. “I was inspired to weave similar designs. With a loan of Rs 2,000 from my husband, I got eight such clothes made out of akhi thread,” she says. But they were sold out and she got more orders.
Gradually, Goswami expanded her business and now has four looms at home. She also makes gamochas, cotton mekhala chadors and dupattas with different designs. “I am also undergoing training on vegetable dyes at the weavers centre. I intend to experiment with vegetable dyes which also has health benefits,” she says.
Goswami is justifiably proud of her achievements and says, “I could repay the loan I had taken from my husband. I also file my own income tax returns and have got my looms insured. My designs have been bought by Assamese non-resident Indians too.”
Though not a graduate from any reputed fashion schools, these neighbourhood designers are giving some of the well-known fashion designers a run for their money. “I am making wall paintings of these old designs and hope to show them to some of the leading designers of the country,” says Goswami.
Fashion designer Meghna Rai Medhi welcomes this trend. “People are learning about fashion and they should be encouraged. Going to a fashion school is important but it is not imperative if one has talent and skill. Though many of them are not aware of the technicalities, their final product turns out to be quite uncommon and appealing. I don't see this trend as a threat to us designers. in fact, we can join hands and work together,” adds Medhi.
Noted danseuse Garima Hazarika has a passion for collecting traditional tribal designs. “We have seven looms at Mitali Sangha, our organisation. I take care of the designs and colours here and we make Assamese cushion covers, table mats, dupattas and salwar kameezes. I also improvise designs for jewellery,” Hazarika says.
The wedding season is the peak time for these neighbourhood designers. Tultul Bora is “booked” from June to December, designing wedding trousseaus. “I have even bought old and torn chadors and mekhalas for their design. People prefer to come to us as we can match various hues with different designs at a reasonable price,” says Bora.
Chetia adds, “I have designed wedding trousseaus for the entire family at times. I have also designed exotic kurtas for the groom.” Most of these neighbourhood designers admit they did not have the slightest inkling about being so successful. “I never thought that I would be able to start my own business. Initially I used to do embroidery on kanjivaram cloth and gradually shifted to paat. I took a loan of Rs 3 lakh from the State Bank of India,” says Bora.
Minoti Barbara, who operates with her three sewing machines from her residence on Zoo-Narengi road, says, “I started off by designing casualwear, specially designer baby frocks. College girls throng my place and I suggest designs and colours according to their constitution.”
Leena Mahanta started off with two looms and an investment of Rs 10,000 in a bid to help the Bodo women in her neighbourhood in Birubari. “I try to create of fusion of contemporary designs with e traditional assamese designs. People from all over Assam and even designers come to me to collect the textiles,” says Mahanta.
Affordability is one of the main factors why people throng these neighbourhood designers. “If my customers have a limited budget, I also allow them to pay in instalments,” says Mahanta.
Most of these women feel proud that they are making good use of their time. “Instead of whiling away time in idle banter, I feel happy to contribute to the family income and take care of my household at the same time,” sums up Anjali Das.
ends
Lending a different angle to the exotic and heritage aspect of Majuli, which has nurtured the Vaishnavite culture for centuries, a travel editor insinuated "in the absence of women, are these monasteries a breeding ground for child abuse and homosexuality?" A Mail Today travel story has offended many in Assam, says TERESA REHMAN.
Posted Saturday, May 29 01:47:47, 2010
It's not often that a write-up published in a national daily manages to create a stir and hit the headlines even in the local dailies here. It's not surprising as there is hardly anything that one gets to read on India's Northeast in the national dailies, apart from the routine staple of violence, road blockades, insurgency, extortion and peace talks which time and again reinforce the stereotypes.
However, an intriguing piece on Majuli, the world's largest river island located in Assam, by Nishiraj A Baruah, Travel Editor of the Delhi-based tabloid 'Mail Today', not only provoked livid reactions from all quarters but also coerced the tabloid to aplogise. Baruah was invited along with a group of journalists by the Directorate of Assam Tourism and Assam Tour Operator Association, to visit and promote a few places of tourist interest.Lending a different angle to the exotic and heritage aspect of Majuli which has nurtured the Vaishnavite culture for centuries, Baruah insinuated "in the absence of women, are these monasteries a breeding ground for child abuse and homosexuality?" Majuli is a home to the numerous Satras, or the Vaishnavite monasteries, set up by the saint Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciples. It is to be noted that only some of the Satras are celibate monasteries. Baruah's write-up starts with a basic premise. He embarks with a question to a monk, "Have you never felt like having sex?"
It is probably the first time anyone has dared to defy the accepted norms and raise such questions in public. The feedback to Baruah's write-up became one of the lead news items in local daily The Assam Tribune on May 22. The daily stated, "The covert assertions made in a write-up in a daily on the cultural heritage of the people of the river island Majuli have evoked strong resentment here. The write-up published in the tabloid newspaper Mail Today in its May 20 issue has covert indications of perverted sexual behaviour of the monks of the Majuli satras."The Assam Tribune further states, "Not only this, the write-up has more to offer to introduce Majuli to the strangers."It says, "Indeed, Majuli floating like a lotus in the middle of the mighty Brahmaputra in Assam, will leave you with a zillion questions, but often with no answers. And that's what makes it a little mysterious, a bit like the Bermuda Triangle.""But instead of disappearing aeroplanes, at Majuli it is about disappearing men and money, NGO activists such as Sanjoy Ghosh get wiped out for carrying out welfare work and welfare funds from the Central government disappear into the pockets of the powerful.
Until recently, Majuli was also home to ULFA no-hopers. Besides, Satra politics/rivalry, unemployment and the threat of the Brahmaputra that swallows large chunks of the island every monsoon (and shrinking its size) add to the alarmist psychosis.""No wonder, behind the calm façade of the famed Satras (monasteries) and its effeminate bhokots, soft-spoken natives, quiet roads and refreshing Liril-green landscapes, there seems to be something brewing. An uneasy calm hangs thick in the air. You realise this when you talk to the islanders. They don't open up easily, are always on guard and just when you are about to ask a few questions, you are interrogated instead...."
Tridip Sarma, the president of the Tour Operators Association of Assam (TOAA) who invited Baruah, was piqued and sent an email to The Assam Tribune which stated, "Nishiraj A Baruah has written the aforesaid article in an objectionable manner which has hurt the sentiments of the people of Assam. The article has defeated the purpose for which his visit was planned by TOAA. The issue raised by him has no authenticity and value. We condemn the questions raised by him and convey our strong resentment in publishing such articles by a reputed publishing house."Some called it "irresponsible journalism", some termed it "fallacious and misleading" and an attempt to sensationalise things. Joining in the protest against the write-up were the organizations which have long been struggling for recognition of Majuli as a World Heritage Site.
For instance, Bharat Saikia, Secretary of Majuli Island Protection and Development Council (MIPADC) condemned the write-up as defamatory and negative. President of the Majuli district unit of the Asom Satra Mahasabha, Dutta Dev Goswami described the write-up as an aspersion on the people of Assam. "The write-up is not based on facts and if in the coming days anyone dares to pen such write-ups or publish them, the Majuli unit of the Sattra Mahasabha would move the court for justice," Dev Goswami told The Assam Tribune.The umbrage was in a way justified as the writer did not give any kind of evidence to corroborate his statements on the 'homosexuality and child abuse' angle in the monasteries at Majuli. It is not pertinent to write only 'feel-good' things about a place even if one is doing a travel piece. Many felt that if such theories were in fact true, Baruah should have investigated further and put things in the correct perspective. Baruah too agreed that his statements were tenuous and speculative. He tendered an apology which also made front page news in The Assam Tribune on May 25.
The Assam Tribune stated, "Mail Today scribe Nishiraj A Baruah has tendered apologies 'to all concerned' for his report on Majuli that appeared in the Mumbai daily on May 20. In a letter to president of the Tour Operators' Association of Assam (TOAA) Tridib Sarma and all TOAA members, Baruah said that he is "deeply upset by the reactions to his story on Majuli". He however, stated that the state of infrastructure and amenities for tourists in the island left much to be desired.In his letter, Baruah maintained that it would have been a great story only if he had the proof to back the issues raised by him in the story. However, he had no proof, he said.He further stated, "It's just that while I was talking to a few Satra kids (six to 10 years old) about their life, etc., I (and my fellow journos) had a distinct feeling that all was not well there. And hence the questions on child abuse and homosexuality have unleashed an avalanche of protests. Since I am a travel and lifestyle journalist, I do not have the expertise nor the inclination to do an investigative piece. And since I thought the question is pertinent enough, I was hoping that someone will take it up further. But the 'travel' section was not the place for such a story -- my editor in chief Bharat Bhushan also pointed that out to me this morning." The May 25 edition of 'Mail Today' carried an apology on this.
Now that a travel and lifestyle journalist has raked up this contentious issue, it won't be surprising if an investigative journalist decides to take it up from here.
ends
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Prayers answered: women enter Vaishnavite monastery
Ban on entry of women into places of worship comes out of deep-seated religious and cultural prejudices. However, a recent development in Western Assam's Barpeta district offers a ray of hope to those in search of justice, reports Teresa Rehman
20 May 2010 - Barpeta, Assam (WFS): From time-to-time, women have tried to breach the long-imposed ban on entry into the 'kirtanghar', or the sanctum sanctorum, of Patbausi satra and its neighbouring satras in Western Assam's Barpeta district. Among them were former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and literary stalwarts such as Amrita Pritam, Nabaneeta Deb Sen, and Mamoni Raisom Goswami. The reason for the denial was to preserve the 'purity' of the satra (a Vaisnavite monastery) which had been out of bounds for women for centuries because traditionally, menstruating women were considered 'unclean'.
But Assam Governor J B Patnaik, who visited Barpeta recently, decided to break the rule and set an example for posterity. The governor was visiting the Patbausi, Sundaridiya, and Barpeta satras in the district. Surprised by the exclusion of women in the satra, he courteously reasoned with the authorities of the Patbausi satra, located some three kilometres away from the Barpeta satra. He then took with him a group of 20 women who were waiting outside to receive him.
These satras or monasteries were founded by 16th century saint Srimanta Sankardeva who propagated Vaishnavism, a sect of Hinduism. But the saint had never discriminated against his women devotees. While the satras located in other parts of Assam allow entry to women, the ones in Barpeta continued to follow this ancient custom. The satra was set up by Srimanta Sankardeva at Patbausi where he had spent 18 years of his life. It was here that he completed the 'Kirtan Ghosa' (religious text). Some of the articles used by the gurus and the 'Sachipat Puthis' (ancient manuscripts) have been well preserved here.
Mixed public response
This historic intervention by Governor Patnaik, who also happens to be a Sanskrit scholar, created quite a stir. The public response was mixed. Many were outraged and upset, while a few were relieved that finally a path had been paved for women to enter the satra. There was also an unexpected triumph. A few days later, the management committee of Sri Sri Sankardev Than, Patbausi satra, formally opened its doors to women. And this raised hopes of a similar decision by the authorities of the nearby Barpeta satra.
Surprisingly, the move has been welcomed by the satradhikars, or heads of the other satras. Sri Kosha Kanta Dev Goswami, the head of Sri Sri Chamaguri satra in Majuli, the largest river island in the world, was positive about the decision. "The Barpeta satra should soon follow this. Both men and women have equal rights to a place of worship. Earlier, even the Kamalabari satra in Majuli was restricted to just male devotees but they too opened their doors for women," he says.
Many, however, are of the opinion that the sanctity of the satra and religious conventions need to be maintained. They feel that doing something just for the sake of change doesn't make sense. "I would never want to hurt anybody's religious sentiments. If I am not wanted in that place, I will not go there," says Runima Mahanta, 34, a Barpeta-based housewife.
Others adopt a moderate stand although they may feel humiliated that their husbands are allowed entry while they have been denied the same. Argues Manavee Bordoloi, a lecturer at MC College in Barpeta, "Although Srimanta Sankardev never discriminated against women, I feel modification can be brought about only through mutual discussions and not through any kind of revolution." “The women living in the localities surrounding the satras harbour a lot of superstitions and blind beliefs, which they would be better off discarding."
Sahitya Akademi awardee Nirupama Borgohain dismisses the argument that all religious sentiments must be condoned. According to her, if a sentiment is based on a wrong idea, she cannot respect it. She agreed that the move to breach the 'kirtan ghar' by the governor and the women accompanying him was a "bold step". However, she fears that it may just be an isolated incident unless of course there are concerted efforts by women themselves to demand their rights to enter it. According to Borgohain, this is unlikely to happen. “The women living in the localities surrounding the satras harbour a lot of superstitions and blind beliefs, which they would be better off discarding."
‘Breach’ attempts
In fact, many groups who have tried to breach this rule earlier. A group of women led by Padmashree Sheela Barthakur of the Sadou Asom Lekhika Samaroh Samiti, a women's literary body, had in 1988 gone to the satra authorities with a petition to allow women to enter the premises. They were appalled, however, by the fact that a group of women had tried to physically assault them on that occasion.
Guwahati-based social activist Anima Guha, who too was denied entry, is forthright. "It's a matter of shame for us that we had to wait until the 21st century for this to happen. When we had tried to reason with the satra head some time ago, he told us that it is the local women who oppose the entry of women because women tend to be more conservative," she recalls.
Signs of change
Women's entry to religious places has time and again been the focus of controversies. In 2006, a group of women lawyers had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Kerala Government to lift the age-old ban on women devotees entering the Lord Ayyappa Temple at Sabarimala. Right from 10 years till 50, women are not allowed entry into the temple as Lord Ayyappa is believed to have taken a vow of celibacy. In 2007, in a radical breakthrough from the centuries-old dress code of Kerala's Guruvayur temple, the shrine's management decided to allow women wearing salwar or churidar-kameez to enter the temple.
Northeast India came into focus in 1988 when the Idgah Masjid, a mosque in the Laban locality of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, set a precedent by opening its doors for women. Sayeedullah Nongrum, the general secretary of the Shillong Muslim Union which runs the mosque, said, "Islam is very liberal. Even during Haj, women pray with men; only a partition divides them. If we can send our women to the market, why can't we allow them to enter the mosque?"
It may have taken centuries; but finally, it seems the 'women not allowed' signboards at ancient places of worship are slowly coming down. (Women's Feature Service) ⊕
20 May 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Where is Paresh Barua? Ask the media
In the absence of official confirmation, it is interesting to see how the local television channels have come out with their own ‘exclusive’ versions of how and when the arrest took place. All these speculations were triggered by news reports on the website of the New Indian Express, says TERESA REHMAN.
Posted Friday, May 21 11:47:08, 2010 (www.thehoot.org)
“Paresh Barua arrested in Bangladesh -- Media” ' a ticker ran in a local television channel NETV. If media reports are to be believed then the elusive supremo of the banned outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Paresh Barua has been arrested in Bangladesh and is now being lodged in an undisclosed destination. However, news reports also stated that the Union Home ministry has denied reports of his arrest and dismissed all reports stating that he has been handed over to Indian authorities.
Barua happens to be one of the ‘most-wanted' in South East Asia after Interpol issued a Red Corner notice for him. And the commander-in-chief of ULFA happens to be only ULFA top-rung leader who has never been nabbed. Born on May 1, 1957 at Jeraichakali Bhariagaon in Assam's Dibrugarh district, Barua is one of the founders of the proscribed outfit.
In the recent cases of handing over of the four top ULFA leaders Arabinda Rajkhowa, Raju Baruah, Sasha Choudhury and Chitraban Hazarika and the NDFB chief Ranjan Daimari, they were handed over to the BSF in early morning hours by the BDR. Besides, though they all were arrested earlier, the report was not confirmed by both India and Bangladesh till the handing over was completed. Barua's ‘arrest' would be historic in the sense it would be the last nail on the outfit's coffin.
In the absence of official confirmation, it is interesting to see how the local television channels have come out with their own ‘exclusive' versions of how and when the arrest took place. The frenzy over Barua's 'arrest' has been dominating the headlines in the local channels in the past few days. According to one channel, the Bangladesh authorities arrested another dreaded ULFA cadre Bhaity Baruah from the Mahakali area in Bangladesh.
Another unidentified person was arrested along with him and reports speculated that he could be Paresh Barua. Incidentally, Bhaity Baruah's wife and his two children had mysteriously arrived at their residence in Assam's Sivasagar district from Bangladesh. And the channel found it equally mysterious that the local police is yet to question or arrest her. She told newspersons that she has come home on the advice of her husband. It could be that they had very tactfully surrendered themselves to the authorities.
Another channel stated that the Bangladesh intelligence traced him through the last email he had sent to some media houses in Assam. They traced it to China. Then on his return to Bangladesh, he was followed from the airport while he was travelling in a Toyota car. The Bangladesh police arrested him and after that there has been no news about him.
The channel also stated that something did happen in Bangladesh and all these speculations were triggered by news reports on the website of New Indian Express, www.expressbuzz.com. According to this news report, “The dreaded ULFA leader was apprehended by the Bangladeshi security agencies about 12 days ago when he was crossing over to Bangladesh via Myanmar border after visiting Chinese Yunnan province. Barua had left for Yunnan about four months ago after the Bangladeshi authorities launched a massive crackdown on anti-India insurgent groups. He was said to be on a purchasing spree of arms and ammunition for his outfit from Narinco Arms factory.”
In fact, the Bangaldesh daily The New Nation quoted the report in expressbuzz.com about Baruah's arrest. The daily also quoted Home Secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder who pleaded ignorance about the arrest of Paresh Barua. According to this report, “Bangladesh officials had been shy of confirming the arrest and handing over to India of the ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and three of his comrades early this year, and National Democratic Front of Bodoland Chairman Ranjan Daimary couple of months ago.”
The New Nation also quoted an IANS report from Guwahati, Assam, where Indian Home Secretary G K Pillai pleaded ignorance about the arrest of ULFA Commander. They also cited television channels in Assam and some newspapers on Thursday reported that ULFA's elusive commander-in-chief was arrested in Bangladesh about a fortnight ago upon his return from China. Meanwhile, another leader of ULFA Anup Chetia is likely to be handed over to the Indian authority soon said the Indian media recently. Anup Chetia was in a Bangladesh prison for about ten years.
The Telegraph report with the headline “Buzz over Paresh arrest” on May 19, stated that a person suspected to be Paresh Baruah was apprehended while returning from a business trip in China. The report claimed that the person was apprehended about a fortnight back. It also claimed that the person arrested was being interrogated by the Bangladeshi intelligence agency DGFI somewhere close to the Northeast.
The report cited, “Sections in the security establishment want to double-check the identity of the suspect in Bangladesh, a difficult task, considering the sketchy details about Paresh Barua's current physical description. Agencies in India so far were depending on a photograph that is more than 15 years old. The ULFA commander-in-chief has been absconding since 1990 when he made Bangladesh his permanent home. He has several cases against his name in India and Bangladesh where he has business interests valued at Rs 500 crore, according to intelligence sources.” The report further claimed quoting unconfirmed sources that the outfit's general secretary Anup Chetia was even handed over to India in Delhi recently.
The Assam Tribune on May 20 wrote that “The report of arrest of Barua caught officials in the Home Ministry and the External Affairs Ministry by surprise. The Embassy in Dhaka was contacted, as intelligence agencies got busy verifying the reports.” Another report in the same daily cited “the ULFA has started a massive drive to extort money to boost its coffers and a number of persons including businessmen received extortion notes. Interestingly, most of the extortion notes were sent by post and not delivered by anyone personally as was the case earlier.”
Most comprehensive was probably a programme on the local channel DY365 which featured a programme profiling all the top leaders of the banned outfit with their background, early lives, family details, their role as militant leaders and finally the way they were nabbed. The screen had photographs of all the leaders who were caught. But there was a blank slot for the prize catch -- Paresh Barua.
ends
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Giving her all for the green cause
It was Karachi-based journalist Shabina Faraz's passion for environment that helped bring climate issues to the mass-circulating Urdu press.
By Teresa Rehman
A cynical editor from a leading Urdu newspaper in Pakistan once told her, “Who would read drab and lacklustre stories on environmental issues? You have exceptional writing skills. You should concentrate on political writing.”
This observation, fortunately, did not deter Karachi-based journalist Shabina Faraz from pursuing her passion for the environment. Today, she is credited with having introduced environmental issues in the mass-circulating Urdu press in Pakistan. Through sheer persistence, Shabina managed to push her climate stories into the Urdu media, past unyielding editors, and eventually won the hearts of many readers.
So much so, that the same editor who had advised her to concentrate on politics earlier, proposed to start a regular page on environmental issues, although he still remained sceptical: “Are you sure you will find enough issues to write regularly on the environment?” he had questioned. His scepticism was well-founded though; the Urdu press normally did not have much to say about environmental issues.
But for Shabina there was no looking back. She recalls how her writing actually influenced government policy. For instance, in 1999, the authorities gave a petroleum company permission to undertake exploration activity in the Kirthar National Park, located in the Kirthar mountain ranges of Sindh. Spread over an area of 3,08,733 hectares, it was Pakistan's first National Park to be included in the 1975 United Nation's list of National Parks around the world.
Protesting against the exploration activity was not easy. Although civil society groups and NGO activists had taken a stand against the government's decision, the media was indifferent to it. There was only one television channel, PTV, at that time and it was government-run. “The private channels came much later — in 2002. In such a situation, the role of print journalists assumed importance,” she recalls.
Lone campaigner
Slowly English newspapers started focusing on the issue. Shabina was the lone campaigner in the Urdu media, which reaches out to hundreds of thousands of ordinary readers. As an editor of the Urdu environmental weekly Jareeda, supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), she wrote detailed and compelling reports explaining in layman's language what exactly a national park is, its importance and the legal aspects. After a two-year crusade, the government was forced into withdrawing its decision.
For the journalist this was a personal victory. She now found it easier to write on other environment-related issues. Support from her readers grew, followed by general public attention.
She won many accolades and awards; it was a proud moment for her when she received the Green Journalist Award 2009 from Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. The award was in recognition of her work on climate change and women in Pakistan.
Shabina had indeed come a long way. Born in 1965 into a family with a strong literary background, she majored in Urdu literature. As a child, she had read the works of Mirza Ghalib, Meer Taqi Meer, Meer Dard, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Muneer Niazi and Nasir Kazmi. “It was difficult to grasp many things then. But I was eager to learn,” she says. Of course, there was one other thing that was close to her heart: the environment.
Equipped with a Masters Degree in Urdu Literature from the University of Karachi, she did not take the conventional path to academics but instead started working as an Assistant Editor with the Jasoosi Digest Publications, the largest group of entertainment magazines in Pakistan. She wrote many short stories and translated classical stories from English to Urdu during this phase. Three television dramas and two documentaries in Urdu followed. While doing this, she also managed to introduce environmental issues in stories for the first time.
The turning point
The turning point came when she was invited by the IUCN for a five-day workshop on Forest and Wildlife at Faisalabad. It opened a whole new world of possibilities. She started writing on environmental issues for the Jang group of Publications, the largest media group in Pakistan. “Here, 95 per cent of readers read Urdu newspapers, with 85 per cent reading the Jang. I felt like I was doing something worthwhile,” she says.
In 1995, Karachi witnessed unusually heavy rains. The old port city has two rivers, the Malir and the Liari, running through it, besides many rain-fed drains. However, the land mafia and influential citizens had encroached on the drains and, as a result, after the heavy showers, the entire city was flooded.
“We pointed out the illegal encroachments and published the original maps of the city. After a month, the authorities took action and demolished many high-rise buildings. I am happy that as a journalist I could manage to mould public opinion on the issue,” she says.
But the government's efforts on environment are only cosmetic, she says. “It declared 2009 as the National Year of Environment, but organised only two conferences,” she rues, adding, “Pakistan's electronic media revolves around politics and politicians and stories of corruption. If they telecast any environment-related news they fail to cross-check facts and tend to look at every environmental issue through the lens of corruption and politics,” she says.
Getting people together
Shabina has created and supported the Forum of Environmental Journalists of Pakistan with the help of IUCN. Today, grassroots organisations seek her advice; television channels HUM and AAJ TV invite her for talk shows on the environment; and even the regional language press like the Sindhi media often reprint translated versions of her articles. She also works with BBC Urdu and has written a book on environmental issues in Sindhi for children. Soon it will be a part of school curriculum.
She is now delving deep into the lost water resources of Pakistan, like the legendary Saraswati river, which disappeared because of geographical and climate changes. “We have already lost three civilisations — the Indus, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa — to climate change and water scarcity,” she says.
Women's Feature Service
It was Karachi-based journalist Shabina Faraz's passion for environment that helped bring climate issues to the mass-circulating Urdu press.
By Teresa Rehman
A cynical editor from a leading Urdu newspaper in Pakistan once told her, “Who would read drab and lacklustre stories on environmental issues? You have exceptional writing skills. You should concentrate on political writing.”
This observation, fortunately, did not deter Karachi-based journalist Shabina Faraz from pursuing her passion for the environment. Today, she is credited with having introduced environmental issues in the mass-circulating Urdu press in Pakistan. Through sheer persistence, Shabina managed to push her climate stories into the Urdu media, past unyielding editors, and eventually won the hearts of many readers.
So much so, that the same editor who had advised her to concentrate on politics earlier, proposed to start a regular page on environmental issues, although he still remained sceptical: “Are you sure you will find enough issues to write regularly on the environment?” he had questioned. His scepticism was well-founded though; the Urdu press normally did not have much to say about environmental issues.
But for Shabina there was no looking back. She recalls how her writing actually influenced government policy. For instance, in 1999, the authorities gave a petroleum company permission to undertake exploration activity in the Kirthar National Park, located in the Kirthar mountain ranges of Sindh. Spread over an area of 3,08,733 hectares, it was Pakistan's first National Park to be included in the 1975 United Nation's list of National Parks around the world.
Protesting against the exploration activity was not easy. Although civil society groups and NGO activists had taken a stand against the government's decision, the media was indifferent to it. There was only one television channel, PTV, at that time and it was government-run. “The private channels came much later — in 2002. In such a situation, the role of print journalists assumed importance,” she recalls.
Lone campaigner
Slowly English newspapers started focusing on the issue. Shabina was the lone campaigner in the Urdu media, which reaches out to hundreds of thousands of ordinary readers. As an editor of the Urdu environmental weekly Jareeda, supported by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), she wrote detailed and compelling reports explaining in layman's language what exactly a national park is, its importance and the legal aspects. After a two-year crusade, the government was forced into withdrawing its decision.
For the journalist this was a personal victory. She now found it easier to write on other environment-related issues. Support from her readers grew, followed by general public attention.
She won many accolades and awards; it was a proud moment for her when she received the Green Journalist Award 2009 from Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. The award was in recognition of her work on climate change and women in Pakistan.
Shabina had indeed come a long way. Born in 1965 into a family with a strong literary background, she majored in Urdu literature. As a child, she had read the works of Mirza Ghalib, Meer Taqi Meer, Meer Dard, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Muneer Niazi and Nasir Kazmi. “It was difficult to grasp many things then. But I was eager to learn,” she says. Of course, there was one other thing that was close to her heart: the environment.
Equipped with a Masters Degree in Urdu Literature from the University of Karachi, she did not take the conventional path to academics but instead started working as an Assistant Editor with the Jasoosi Digest Publications, the largest group of entertainment magazines in Pakistan. She wrote many short stories and translated classical stories from English to Urdu during this phase. Three television dramas and two documentaries in Urdu followed. While doing this, she also managed to introduce environmental issues in stories for the first time.
The turning point
The turning point came when she was invited by the IUCN for a five-day workshop on Forest and Wildlife at Faisalabad. It opened a whole new world of possibilities. She started writing on environmental issues for the Jang group of Publications, the largest media group in Pakistan. “Here, 95 per cent of readers read Urdu newspapers, with 85 per cent reading the Jang. I felt like I was doing something worthwhile,” she says.
In 1995, Karachi witnessed unusually heavy rains. The old port city has two rivers, the Malir and the Liari, running through it, besides many rain-fed drains. However, the land mafia and influential citizens had encroached on the drains and, as a result, after the heavy showers, the entire city was flooded.
“We pointed out the illegal encroachments and published the original maps of the city. After a month, the authorities took action and demolished many high-rise buildings. I am happy that as a journalist I could manage to mould public opinion on the issue,” she says.
But the government's efforts on environment are only cosmetic, she says. “It declared 2009 as the National Year of Environment, but organised only two conferences,” she rues, adding, “Pakistan's electronic media revolves around politics and politicians and stories of corruption. If they telecast any environment-related news they fail to cross-check facts and tend to look at every environmental issue through the lens of corruption and politics,” she says.
Getting people together
Shabina has created and supported the Forum of Environmental Journalists of Pakistan with the help of IUCN. Today, grassroots organisations seek her advice; television channels HUM and AAJ TV invite her for talk shows on the environment; and even the regional language press like the Sindhi media often reprint translated versions of her articles. She also works with BBC Urdu and has written a book on environmental issues in Sindhi for children. Soon it will be a part of school curriculum.
She is now delving deep into the lost water resources of Pakistan, like the legendary Saraswati river, which disappeared because of geographical and climate changes. “We have already lost three civilisations — the Indus, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa — to climate change and water scarcity,” she says.
Women's Feature Service
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