Treading the Untrodden

2011-10-28T13:05:00.000+05:30

“China already has experience of running community radios. They can play the role of an early warning system. China lies in the upstream amd if they can forsee any disaster they can inform us. We can do this as we have one thing in common - the river,” TERESA REHMAN on a climate change workshop involving journalists of three countries. Pix: the Yarlung Zangbo

Posted/Updated Sunday, Oct 23 11:42:46, 2011

Compared to the Ganges, it’s one of the least reported rivers though it drains the entire Eastern Himalayas. The Yarlung Zangbo-Brahmaputra Basin is a trans-boundary river system and is an integral part of the lives of people living in three different countries – China, India and Bangladesh. And of late there have been some apprehensions over China building big dams on the upper reaches of the river system which has created misgivings in downstream countries like India and Bangladesh. This can mainly be attributed to lack of information and media reports on the developments along the banks of the river in these three different countries.

In fact, this lack of information about the river system can also lead to catastrophic results. For instance, in June 2000, a huge landslide on the Yigong Zangbo river (the upper stream of the Brahmaputra), in the east of Tibet led to flash floods in parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam leading to an estimated property loss of not less than a billion rupees, 30 deaths and more than 100 people missing and more than 50,000 homeless. Partha J Das, climate expert from Aaranyaak, an NGO says, “A lot of the disaster could have been averted if this was widely publicized by media outlets in both the countries.”

Recently, the “Tibetan Review”, a monthly magazine wrote, “The media in India have reacted happily Oct 14 to China’s claim that it will not divert water from the Yarlung Tsangpo river in occupied Tibet to its parched provinces in the north-east, or even Xinjiang in the north-west, especially due to its “possible impact on state-to-state relations”. The Indianexpress.com said the statement would likely come as a relief to India. And the Timesofindia.indiatimes.com called it a rare admission which will be welcomed in India.

In a bid to usher in some kind of mutual exchange of ideas between the three countries, the Third Pole Project of China dialogue and Internews’ Earth Journalism Network organized a media workshop on Climate Change Effects in the Yarlung Zangbo/Brahmaputra Basin for journalists from Bangladesh, China and India recently. Katherine Eaton of Internews says, “It is possible to close your borders to anything political or economic but not to the environment. In fact, talking about the environment can even be an incentive for peace.”

For the first time, Indian and Bangladeshi journalists got an opportunity to hear a Chinese scientist Dr Yang Yong, who had for the first time tried to explore the treacherous parts of the river system by rafting through the river. He displayed some rare photographs which showed desertification in parts of the upper reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo river which could be effects of climate change.

The lack of data on this river system and lack of agreement of these two countries to share information or even early warning systems has led to many misunderstandings. Bharatlal Seth of Down To Earth magazine in India says, “I still think the regional Indian media covers it and the national media picks up a lot from the regional media.” Sobhapati Samom, an Indian journalist based in Manipur feels it is important that journalists of these three countries come together and share information. “It also helps us to dispel many myths,” he adds.

The Bangladesh media is also keen on a trans-boundary sharing of information. G.M Mourtaza, chief co-ordinator of Radio Padma, the first community radio station of Bangladesh says, “We read about this river system as isolated incidents. We need to collate and connect one event with another. In fact, we can have a network of community radio to share information. China already has a long-standing experience of running community radios. We can share information online. They can in turn relay it on their airwaves and even play the role of an early warning system. China lies in the upstream amd if they can forsee any disaster they can inform us. We can do this as we have one thing in common – the river.”

Another journalist Ruhul Amin Rushd, senior news editor of Bangla Vision Television used to report on climate change and the environment mainly concentrating on the Ganges. After the Ganges, another much-talked about river is the Teesta. But the Brahmaputra has somehow been ignored by the media in Bangladesh. “We keep having devastating floods in our country and I am not sure if this is in anyway connected to any developments in the upstream. It is pertinent to co-operate with each other and share information on the trans-boundary rivers that flow through the countries,” he says.

Water is such an issue that wars have been fought over it. But the common people are not interested in the politics over water. People want water for their basic needs, does not matter who has more or less or does everyone has enough. Beth Walker, Editor of Third Pole, “I have been struck by how little understanding between the three countries. We seem to just get polarized views. It is important to share stories, concerns, ideas and reshape the whole debate on the river.”

The Chinese journalists too were intrigued by the misunderstanding created by the media. Wan Li, a Chinese journalist says, “I spoke to some Indian friends and I know there are misgivings among the media and local people of the downstream countries. This kind of exchange programme helps in sending across the message back home on the effects of the mismanagement of the information system to the affected countries. We read about the floods in Bangladesh but without any linkages to China.

Joydeep Gupta, director of the Third Pole Project, a project of Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and China Dialogue that seeks to improve coverage of climate change issues in the Himalayan region and downstream wants to make this interaction among journalists of these three different countries a sustained effort. “We want this river system to be reported more frequently. Journalists can always share information through listserves and be connected online,” he says.

(Teresa Rehman is a journalist based in Northeast India).

2011-09-16T06:45:00.000+05:30

`Divisive' media report sparks row

“Come One, Come All” was the slogan at the Nyishi Dignity Rally on September 13. A report in the Times of India which was critical of the Nyishi tribe has brought the community together in a concerted effort to get to the root of the story. TERESA REHMAN reports. Pix: The rally at Itanagar

Posted/Updated Thursday, Sep 15 18:24:14, 2011

After waiting for justice for several months the Nyishi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh came out in a huge rally at Itanagar to demand action on a report they dubbed as being communally insensitive and aimed at dividing the state. “Come One, Come All” was the slogan at the Nyishi Dignity Rally on September 13. Scores of people from the tribe, the single largest tribe of the state, thronged the state capital with umbrellas to beat the scorching heat at the rally organized by the All Nyishi Student’s Union (ANSU) and the Nyishi Elite Society (NES).

The cause of their ire was a report which had ‘derogatory’ remarks against the Nyishis published in The Times of India on May 4. This news report by Pradeep Thakur is alleged to have drawn a wedge between the different tribes of the state and the protestors smell a larger political conspiracy, including the involvement of the present chief minister Jarbom Gamlin. The report stated that Nabam Tuki, who was a frontrunner in the race for the Arunachal Pradesh chief minister’s post after the death of Dorjee Khandu, belonged to the "Nyishi tribe, which doesn't enjoy a good rapport among other tribes".

The massive rally was organized after five months of protests including three bandh calls by the ANSU. They gave a seven-day ultimatum to the government to solve the issue and meet their main demands - immediate arrest of Thakur, unconditional apology, revelation of source of derogatory remarks and detailed call records of his two phone numbers.

The protests started right after the report was published. ANSU had lodged an FIR with Arunachal Pradesh Director General of Police demanding Thakur’s arrest for disturbing communal peace. On May 13 ANSU had submitted memorandum demanding an enquiry and action. As a knee-jerk reaction, a committee headed by Minister of Health and Family Welfare Attum Welly, was formed. The government also formed a second committee headed by state Home Minister Takar Marde but it could come to no logical conclusion.

On the other hand, the Times of India Group has pulled down the content that offended the Nyishi Community and has apologized on May 26, 2011. They wrote, “We wish to state that the report, which has since been removed from the website, was based on the assessment in political circles here, and that we did not intend to hurt the sentiments of Nyishis or any other community. We regret any offence that we may have inadvertently caused and wish the best to the people of Arunachal Pradesh.” Thakur has also tendered an unconditional apology but the agitated tribes have not been pacified as the source of the remarks has not been divulged nor have the details of call records been given.

Organisations like the All Mishmi Students Union(AMSU) and Dibang Adi Students Union (DASU) also condemned the news report by Thakur.

"This sort of negative mindset by mainland Indian people does not augur well for a secular country like India," DASU stated in a press release. In a poignant comment to the media, the president of the ANSU said, “India is a democratic country. Each one of us has our own set of responsibilities including the media which has been endorsed by the Constitution of India. The strength of the Constitution lies on ‘We the People’. And you can see the people here.”

Interestingly, this mass rally against a media report was extensively covered by the local and regional media. In fact, NETV, a satellite channel aired from Guwahati even covered the rally live. And one of the organizers of the rally was effusive in thanking the print and electronic media for their support.

2011-09-02T12:35:00.000+05:30

By Teresa Rehman

Do the mahila samitis of Assam matter anymore?

It is difficult to imagine that an Assamese mahila samiti, a women’s association, passed a resolution to have fixed meal timings at home, in order to ease the lives of women otherwise confined to the kitchen – that too, as far back as 1948. But that is just what took place in the immediate aftermath of Independence, when the mahila samiti in Tezpur – one of several in the province at the time – passed a resolution stating:

Nowadays in urban areas women without domestic help hardly have time to come out as she is preoccupied with the kitchen. However to participate in cultural activities one needs some leisure time. Considering these situations, this sabha (meeting) proposes that the following timetable should be accepted in all the towns of Assam as fixed meal times – Lunch 12 noon and dinner 10 pm. No meal should be served after one hour of the proposed time.

Meal preparation was also mandated in the resolution, again with an eye to freeing up women’s time:

It is also proposed that four times a week, the afternoon snacks could be an uncooked one so that women have leisure time. Thirdly to reduce spending a lot of time in the kitchen, we must include one dish in every meal that ideally requires no cooking or may be

prepared quickly.

Predictably, the Tezpur resolution raised a public storm, with letters to the editor far and wide criticising the move. Meena Agarwala, a member of the samiti at the time, kept some of these newspaper cuttings, a collection of which were recently discovered in an old cupboard by her daughter. Says Hemjyoti Medhi, assistant professor at the department of English and foreign languages at Tezpur University, ‘Maybe this resolution could not be enforced in practical terms, but what is significant is that domestic work was equated with “labour” and this was a sweeping idea in Assam during that period.’

The first mahila samiti was established in Dibrugarh in 1915. These groups were formed as local associations in Assam’s urban centres and particularly picked up momentum during the 1920s. Ever since, the samiti movement has played a seminal role in women’s political mobilisation, in both colonial and postcolonial Assam. Medhi explains that although there were several mahila samitis active in the first and second decade of the 20th century in Assam, these were for the most part local organisations confined to discussions on education, culture and music among the elite bhadramahilas (‘respectable women’). The crucial break came in 1926 with the establishment of the Assam Mahila Samiti (AMS), and Chandraprabha Saikiani as its founding secretary. The stated objective of this larger group was ‘overall development of education, health and so on of the Assamese woman’.

One of the main objectives was to ‘rescue and rehabilitate widows, exploited, and socially outcast women and kidnapped girls’, with Saikiani herself the mother of a child born out of wedlock at the time, facing social ostracism. Taking up this and similarly controversial issues, the AMS’s actions led its members to court controversy on a regular basis. In 1934, for instance, the group intervened in the proposed marriage of a young girl to an older man in Guwahati. Given that this was five years after the passage of the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, Samiti Secretary Rajabala Das issued a legal notice to the groom. This led to a massive public outcry, finally leading members of the local Congress party to get involved; ultimately, they were able to force the AMS to withdraw its notification. Even so, the group immediately formed a committee to mobilise people against child marriages, earning it the nickname of ‘biya bhanga’ (marriage-banning) samiti.

During the early years of the AMS, the large-scale mobilisation of women, including establishing some 200 primary-health units in villages, coincided with the Indian national movement. Mohandas K Gandhi’s call for khadi was immediately appropriated by the women of the AMS as a positive role in which women could contribute to the making of the new country. This renewed investment in spinning, weaving and handloom work brought a sense of dignity to the women of Assam and, ultimately, to women all over India.

Peripheral

Despite a strong start, the mahila samitis of Assam are generally thought to have deteriorated in importance over the past half-century. Today, some suggest that the NGO culture has changed the way that the samitis function. During the freedom struggle of the 1940s, for instance, there was a common bond of sisterhood and a holistic vision – a unity that might no longer exist. While there has also been a growth of small local-level mahila samitis, in reality these seem to function more like recreation clubs that organise social gatherings – a far cry from the politicised actions of past decades. For the most part, the movement is dominated by a few large NGO-like samitis.

‘The mahila samiti movement is practically non-existent now,’ says Aparna Mahanta, an academic at Dibrugarh University. ‘Earlier, it was voluntary social service by women from affluent backgrounds – it was a small sector with limited grants.’ The situation changed after the plans for women’s development were incorporated in the national-level five-yearly development plans, during the early 1950s. Whereas previously the samitis’ activities were planned by untrained women in their leisure time, the sector is now dominated by trained professionals working within NGOs.

In functioning like NGOs, today’s large samitis tend to take on projects from national and international organisations, following agendas set by the donors and not necessarily taking up issues of importance to local women. Although earlier the women’s groups did engage in some government-funded work, this was undertaken based on donations and voluntary work. Today, most women in the samitis have become professionals, engaging in this work as their living, and thus the organisations can no longer survive simply on donations. Also, notes Medhi, ‘Earlier, though they might not have had professional training, the women had different levels of exposure. For instance, Chandraprabha Saikiani went for the Indian National Congress conference in Karachi during the early 1930s.’ Her travels from the east of the Subcontinent across to the West would have opened doors to a completely different world.

Veterans of the samiti movement say that the earlier approach remains relevant today. ‘With changing times, we have new emerging problems like trafficking of women, climate refugees, etc,’ says Joylakshmi Bora of the Assam Pradeshik Mahila Samiti. ‘Here, the government departments should try to rope in the expertise of the mahila samitis. We still command an appeal in the remote villages and the government should cash in on this. However, we need the support of the authorities to carry on our activities.’ In an earlier time, it would have been the mahila samitis that might have intervened in the turmoil that characterises present-day Assam. The insurgency and the continuing violence demands interventions in the shape of conflict resolution and mediation, but the mahila samitis of today might not be equal to the task.

As Assam’s mahila samitis have become increasingly peripheral to women’s lives, a group of Assamese women have started a project called ‘Memory, Movement and the Mahila Samiti in Assam’. As part of the project, a show recently opened at Tezpur University, where a range of memorabilia was on display, including newspaper cuttings and the 1948 ‘lunch’ resolution. The first phase of the project involved intense collaboration between the project team and the mahila samitis to collect and select documents to be digitally preserved. ‘Though many documents have been lost permanently, preliminary research led me to interesting documents scattered across various private collections and public archives in India,’ says Medhi, one of the project’s coordinators.

The work was inspired by the fact that many women involved in the samitis during their formative days are now elderly or have already passed away. Medhi recalls Swarnaprabha Mahanta, a mahila samiti worker, Congress leader and erstwhile minister, who died while the project was coming together. ‘I was first inspired by her life fading before my very eyes to record women’s memory,’ Medhi says. ‘We recorded an interview with her in a great hurry with hired marriage-video professionals from town, as she was leaving for Kolkata for treatment. The video quality is bad but her voice remains with us – she died a few months after our recording.’

Before the project, only a single historical overview of the movement was available, in the form of a slim volume written in 1961 by the founding secretary of the AMS, Chandraprabha Saikiani. The project is now trying to address that gap, by developing an archive of material of the mahila samiti for future research and inspiration. When the digital version of the audio-visual archive was formally handed over to representatives of the mahila samitis, Tezpur University Vice-chancellor Mihir Kanti Chaudhuri noted, ‘In order to understand the present-day problems of women, it is imperative to go back to the past when the women felt the need to come together.’
~
Teresa Rehman is a journalist and media consultant based in Northeast India.

2011-08-09T10:05:00.001+05:30

Media Entrepreneur Loves Tracking non-resident Indians

Every year, thousands of Indians leave the country to re-locate in foreign lands. What is their motivation? How do they cope with the change? How do women in particular deal with the move and is it really as glamorous as it appears?

Young Bobbeeta Sarma was always curious to know how the large non resident Indian (NRI) community, especially women, made a life for themselves on foreign shores. But it wasn’t until one of her travels abroad a few years ago that this media entrepreneur and former ‘beauty queen’ from Assam finally got down to shooting a series of audio-visual travelogues. To start her project, she chose the most obvious subjects - NRIs from her home state. She did that because she wanted to take the world to the drawing rooms of Assamese people, many of whom harboured the dream of travelling abroad.

A trip to Toronto, Canada, to shoot a programme for the Assam Association in 2001 led to the series that Sarma called, Bidexot Apun Manuh or Loved Ones in a Foreign Land. For shooting the vignettes she teamed up with her TV producer husband, Chinmoy, and a colleague, Manas Adhikari. “We were a three-member team. Hiring technicians abroad is expensive so we did everything ourselves – right from research to make-up to sound and camera. It was like an adventure,” she recalls.

They short-listed a few families and flew around the world from time-to-time to record the interviews. From the United States and the UK to France, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland in Europe, to South East Asia and the Pacific, Sarma met up women and men from diverse backgrounds and interviewed them in various settings. She wanted the interactions to be candid so the team shot in kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, in parks and, on one occasion, even in a moving car. “We stayed with the people whom we wanted to feature in order to be able to provide an insight into their lives,” she says.

It was while living in their homes that Sarma discovered that life for expats is far from easy. And yet all of them have one thing in common – they are resilient and quick learners. The first thing most do – women in particular – in a new place is to learn how to drive. “If you cannot move around on your own, you are stranded and isolated, especially in countries like the US where public transport is almost non-existent except in the big cities,” says Sarma. Many also become efficient housekeepers, expertly using gadgets like the dishwasher, lawn mower and vacuum cleaner. “There are no maids at one’s beck and call in the West, although many people do get in help once or twice a week to help in the housecleaning, if they can afford it.”

Battling extreme weather conditions is another challenge. Living in cold climes particularly has a negative psychological effect on some. “I met a woman from North England who lived by the sea and she would pine for sunshine. When the grey spells would stretch for weeks together, she would become increasingly depressed,” Sarma relates. But what people miss the most is the comfort of a large family. “They feel terrible when often they are unable to make it back home during crucial times - like an illness or death in the family,” adds Sarma.

Yet, despite all these difficulties, most of them have done well for themselves. Some have achieved super success in their careers, while others are doing their bit, albeit in more modest ways. Sarma caught up with the UK-based TV host of Mridula’s Kitchen, Mridula Bajlekar. Although she is not a trained cookery expert, Bajlekar had a passion for cooking which she developed into a rewarding career. Besides the show, she has also written several books on Indian food. Another success story from Britain that Sarma has featured is Rita Payne, an Assamese woman who became the news editor of BBC’s Asia Today programme.

But while everyone has not achieved Bajlekar’s or Payne’s level of fame, there are those who are part of pioneering ventures, inspired by their roots. Like Arunachal Pradesh native Phool Pau and her husband, Wooli, who have collaborated to run a firm, Bambootech, in Nuremberg, Germany. They design eco-homes which are creating quite a stir. The idea struck Wooli when he visited Phool Pau’s family home in Arunachal. He was fascinated by the fact that the house was built on bamboo silts (chang-ghar). Inspired by these environment friendly houses, he invented a technique through which he scientifically treated and designed the bamboo in such way that the structures they create are even stronger than traditional ones.

While Sarma, a former history student who has also worked as a child actor in films and regional language soaps, went about meeting different women across the globe and learning about their lives, she also talked to them about local lifestyles. “We talked about urban sanitation, civic amenities, and so on. They also pointed to the professionalism of the work culture there.” Making this series has been enriching at two very different levels for Sarma. First, it was a challenge to film with such a small team, but they had a great time despite the rough patches. “We were on our toes most of the time, planning much in advance according to a pre-determined time table. But despite our best efforts, there were times when things went awry. We would, for instance, miss a train by seconds, largely because of all the paraphernalia - including the camera and tripod – that the three of us would have to lug around. It used to get real tough at times.”

The second benefit was an opportunity to get to know the expats from her state, many of whom have tried to keep close ties with their roots. Assamese settled abroad are largely professionals – doctors, engineers and software professionals. “We do not have rich businessmen who could invest and contribute to the development of our state, like Gujarat or Punjab. But they can contribute with their experience and technical expertise,” she says.

She particularly enjoyed her interactions with the emerging second generation of Assamese. Many countries have a multicultural population, so while these young people have grown up in a westernized environment, they are still interested in learning traditional folk dances and songs. Sarma recalls meeting Harvard student Rima Rajbonshi who has taught Bihu (an Assamese folk dance) to her batch mates - mostly Chinese and American - although she has herself never seen a real Bihu performance.

Today, Bidexot Apun Manuh has become every Assamese’s window to the world, thanks to the national broadcaster, Doordarshan, beaming it across the state as a series for seven years running. “I wanted to show this travelogue on TV and in 2001 Doordarshan came forward. This way the programme was able to reach out to even those who live in the interiors of the State,” she says.

Sarma is always delighted when strangers – not only in towns but villages –walk up to her and talk about the show. She smiles as she recalls an occasion when an old woman came up, hugged me and thanked me for having brought the world closer to her. “That’s my reward,” she says.

By Teresa Rehman

(Women’s Feature Service)

2011-06-15T10:31:00.000+05:30

Young woman's report on Egypt

Teresa Rehman

During the recent people's revolution that led to the ouster of Egypt's dictator-president Hosni Mubarak, Sondos Shabayek, a journalist, used to spend a large part of her day tweeting about the goings-on at Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the agitation.

Though the 25-year-old was more of a citizen-journalist during the uprising — she used social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to do most of the reporting — she was one of the few women in the Egyptian media who witnessed the revolution as it unfolded. But that's not the only distinction young Sondos has achieved in her short career as a journalist: shattering the glass ceiling, she has become the Editor-in-Chief of an Arabic youth magazine.

“During the revolution, I was reporting small incidents using pictures or tweets. For instance, who got beaten up, what kind of force the police was using, what the protestors were chanting, and so on,” she recalls. Today, social networking sites have revolutionised how ordinary Egyptians communicate. And, according to Sondos, they have also become the official mediums of reporting. In fact, even the country's new administration is trying to reach out to the youth through the online media.

Women and journalism

But given that journalism is not a favoured career option for women in her country, how did Sondos become one? She smiles, “I always asked the stupidest questions; ‘why' followed my every line, and whenever my parents said ‘no' to anything I would argue back, ‘why not, you have to give me a reason'.” So she did have the inclination since childhood and, of course, her parents were supportive. While most middle-class Egyptians would deter their daughters from taking up the profession, largely because it is male-dominated, involves late working-hours, extensive travel and unpredictable schedules, the Shabayeks sent her to Cairo after school to enrol in a mass communications course.

Sondos concedes that journalism in Egypt is still male-dominated but adds that “the situation is better than it was a few years ago”. Her success is proof of that change. Of course, her professional rise has been steady — while studying she worked for a year as a copy editor with a youth TV programme. She then joined a monthly Arabic youth publication as an editor. Last year, she was made its Editor-in-Chief. Now she also freelances for an Arabic daily, one of the few independent ones in the country.

“I chose to work as a journalist because I realised that I have a passion to investigate, listen and write,” she says. But she feels that development and women's issues should be accorded more space.

Fortunately, there are women like her who can push this agenda forward. Before the revolution, censorship was very strict but now change is in the air. “Those who dared to cross the red line were later charged and sent for trial or fired. We will definitely enjoy more freedom in speech, we are already starting to!” she says.

Sondos has enjoyed relative freedom — she has chosen to report on subjects close to her heart. She has also been sent on “risky” assignments, even though most media houses prefer to send men. In 2008, she went to the strife-torn Gaza strip, from where she filed an extensive feature story on the lives of ordinary people there. “It was my first time crossing the border into Palestinian lands, so it was breathtaking on many levels. The humanitarian situation was appalling. Children were making toys out of stones and swings out of barricades and shattered homes. It was invigorating reporting on the political turmoil and its offshoot,” she recalls. She considers the Gaza reportage one of her best works till date.

Reporting in a hijab

While she is lucky to have bagged a daring assignment so early in her career, she knows it may not be easy every time. “It is hard for women interested in addressing daring or bold issues, or topics that are taboo in society. It is not because ours is an Islamic country — if you walk down the street, the diversity of people will prove this — but Egypt is simply conservative.”

Speaking of taboos and conservative attitudes, has the hijab-wearing journo ever faced trouble? She says, “There are times when people think of me as less capable or less smart because I wear a hijab. But that's just in the beginning. It is difficult as a hardcore feminist to write about ideas that society doesn't accept or think are right, but I have made it, as have some other young women like me out there. I have faced a bit of discrimination here and there, but I would not say that it made me feel less empowered.”

Does she have any female role models? “Not really; those I aspire to be like are all male reporters. It's not because they are any less capable but usually the nature of the job makes it hard for most women to excel,” she says.

While she is not really bothered about the challenges her work entails, what concerns her is life after marriage. She knows Egyptian husbands usually expect their wives to compromise on their career to take care of the home and children. Yet, she is optimistic. “I hope to choose a partner who will value my ambitions and be understanding and supportive,” she says.

In the meantime, she aims to excel at what she does by constantly updating herself on the latest developments. She recently completed a course in reporting on HIV-AIDS, organised by Thomson Reuters Foundation at Nairobi, Kenya. “Unfortunately, reporting on HIV-AIDS is very poor in my country… it is improving bit by bit,” she says. She also attended a short-story writing workshop organised by the British Council in Alexandria and won a prize.

Her ability to connect with anything that affects her country and the people ensures she does her job well. She says, “I have realised that journalism is a very important profession in developing countries.” And as a journalist and a young Egyptian, she sees the revolution as the beginning of another bigger and tougher revolution — that of rebuilding the country. It's the lines of the famous Sufi poet Rumi that keep her going: “Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing there's a field, I'll meet you there”.

© Women's Feature Service

2011-05-26T10:16:00.002+05:30

Victory Against The State

A people’s movement against privatisation of water in Assam has led to the redrafting of the state water policy three times Teresa Rehman reports

Picture this. Jadu Pegu, a farmer in remote Dhemaji district of Assam installing a water metre in his small hut and having to pay taxes for the water his forefathers have been using for the past several years. Ethnic groups in Assam would have had to pay tax for water to which they had free access till date if the draft state water policy was passed in its original form.

But a pro-active people’s movement against ‘privatisation and commodification of water’ led to the redrafting of the state water policy three times in Assam. Succumbing to pressure from several NGOs, the leading one being Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS), the state government removed several clauses on the draft policy. The people’s groups submitted a people’s policy to the government.

And for the first time the farmers were directly involved in protesting and consultative meets on the draft policy. Akhil Gogoi of KMSS told Tehelka, “I think such a movement is unprecedented in any part of the country where the government was forced to change the draft policy three times. We reiterated the primacy of community rights over water. We are still awaiting the final draft.” The original draft aimed at ‘privatising water’ was rejected by the civil society.

“The draft turned water, a traditionally enjoyed natural resource into a commodity on which the people of the state will have to pay taxes. We feared that the draft water policy was an attempt to curb traditional rights of indigenous people and hand it over to the multinational corporations,” he adds.

It is a positive sign that the civil society recommendations were accepted by the government and even by senior bureaucrats. Amrit Kumar Goldsmith, a representative of the civil society in the Task Force to draft the water policy said that they wanted to contextualise the National Water Policy 2002 and give a voice to the people.

“We wanted to protect them from economically-hard decisions like water tax, In the consultation that followed there were different tone and tenor but we tried to bring about a policy that is acceptable to all,” adds Goldsmith.

The civil society groups were against privatisation and reiterated that the government should be the trustee and take people into consideration at all points of time when major decisions are made. They tried to ensure that the poor is not taxed and government will make provisions to ensure safe drinking water to the poorest of the poor. Emphasis was also laid on medium-sized dams instead of mega dams, which do not create problems in the areas downstream. Issues relating to privatization of water was also debated at the World Water Forum held in Istanbul, Turkey recently.

Interestingly, the civil society groups also ensured that enough space is created for women at the decision-making and implementation levels. “We tend to ignore the contribution of women inspite of the fact that women all around the world are responsible for getting water and feeding their families. When water is scarce, women and children struggle everyday to get water from a distant water source. Every woman knows the value of water,” says Bandita Acharya, one of the two women in the drafting committee of the policy.

Acharya claimed that they could incorporate few things like no charges on natural water, an exempted category like tax on farmers and small vendors and community participation in each and every aspect. The final draft of the policy would hopefully be more ‘pro-people’ and be geared towards protection of the traditional rights of the people over their natural resources. The policy may also specify the need and approach for coping with the possible impact of climate.

Posted on Apr 03, 2009

2011-03-23T00:53:00.001+05:30

Heart and Craft

A man makes it his mission to check erosion in tribal culture

By Teresa Rehman

India’s North-east is like your attic. Not a place you visit very often nor one that gets too much attention. The region is rarely in the news and is at best left to fend for itself, often with disastrous results. Progress here has actually meant the arrival of western detritus. But Mutua Bahadur thinks he can change all that.

What Bahadur has achieved is phenomenal. In a region where cultural erosion is rapid, he has singlehandedly managed to spawn institutions to check that. Manipuri bamboo and cane works, jewellery, pottery, ancient manuscripts, paintings and textiles adorning miniature tribal dolls—there are 6,000 specimens now in his collection. He claims to possess the largest private collection of coins in the North-east with around 4,000 gold, silver and bell-metal coins. He is also the first to collect facsimiles of ancient Manipuri stone inscriptions despite shoe-string finances.

Artist, author, social worker, numismatist and anthropologist all rolled into one, Bahadur is a living encyclopaedia on Manipuri culture. It all started in the 1960s when the cultural identity crisis among tribal groups of Manipur and Nagaland triggered Bahadur’s efforts to identify and restore the traditional customs of the 29 Manipuri tribes. Within five years he produced a five-volume treatise, Tales About the Art and Culture of Manipur—a much sought-after book. This was the take-off point. For in these five years, Bahadur also began collecting cultural icons.

Bahadur’s exotic collection was initially housed in his residence till he established a museum in 1978 on the first floor of a rented building at Imphal. Urged by Kapila Vatsyayan, the then Union additional education secretary who had come to see his collection, he christened it Mutua Museum.

Since its inception, around 20 illustrative books, 20 other projects, several educational charts and slides and video documentation have been undertaken by the Mutua Museum. It has taken part in the restoration of defaced monuments and court mural paintings of Manipur. A major exercise was the setting up of a cultural complex for preservation and promotion of the material heritage of north-east India in 1993 in the village of Andro, 26 km from Imphal, where a “sacred fire” from ancient days burns perpetually. Besides, a “living museum” was established at Purul village in Senapati district to preserve the traditionally carved houses of the tribals.

Trips to the back of beyond have fossilised the antiquarian’s personal life. Bahadur recalls an incident. On his return from a field trip to Tamenglong district for a few weeks he found himself fending objects thrown by his irate wife. He found out why: his house was flooded. Flying utensils aren’t the only threats. Once a tribal chief threatened to kill him for wanting to know the meaning of a tribal work of art.

The trek to the Imphal museum has been arduous. Born in a poor family, Bahadur started by making and selling recycled-paper toys. His father, a Burmese Army soldier who loved travelling, inculcated the spirit of adventure in his son. Though Bahadur never completed his graduation, he is now an examiner for awarding PhDs in Manipuri culture at Manipur University. Recognition has also come in the form of the Special Designer Award in 1972 and the state Kala Academy Award in Folk Arts in 1974.

Bahadur plans to set up a composite complex of the culture of South-East Asia at Andro. Th. Ravikanta Singh, an anthropologist and lecturer and a close associate, echoes his sentiments: “There are many facets of north-east India like pottery and basket making that are similar to those in south-east Asian culture.” Says Bahadur: “It’s an ongoing process and I am dedicating the year 2001 to collecting musical instruments and tribal head-gear ornaments.”

Truth, enthusiasm and discipline are the driving forces that motivate Bahadur. Inaocha Mangang, his companion since 1978 and a graduate from Visvabharati, Santiniketan, sums it all up: “Bahadur himself is a rare specimen who should be preserved in the museum for posterity.”

In a world of neglect and uncertainty it’s nice to believe someone’s still in charge of the past.

2011-03-21T14:32:00.001+05:30

Wood Work

A pensioner converts wasteland into a forest with over 50 species

By Teresa Rehman

Jungalee, protector of the forest". It may sound like a character out of a Tolkien book, but this Jungalee is for real. Ex-serviceman Jagat Singh Chaudhary from the tiny village of Kot Malla, 4,500 ft up in the hills of Rudra Prayag, was bestowed this title at an environmental seminar in the Government Inter College at Jasauli in 1993 for having converted 1.5 hectares of wasteland into a jungle. His wife had her reservations about the epithet; people, she feared, would laugh at her husband. Nothing like that happened, for Jungalee is a famous man now and is often invited to deliver lectures at schools and colleges. He wears his unusual title with pride: "Jungalee does not mean uncivilised but being one with nature."

It all started in 1974 when Chaudhary, during his vacations, worked on his barren patch of land to grow plants for fodder and fuel. This solved the problem of the household women who used to go on long, dangerous and arduous treks to collect fodder. After his retirement from the BSF in 1980, he took to developing his forest in all earnest. His pension was the seed money with which he planted around 56 species-from trees like the Manipuri oak and deodar to evergreen grasses like teliya and namcha, rare medicinal herbs like Salem panja (Dactylorhiza hatagirea), kuth (Saussurea lappa), sameva or tagar (Valeriana hardwickii), flowers like roses and lilies and climbers like the Barbati bean. "The unique feature of this forest is the presence of some species that grow only at very high altitudes," points out Vijay Jasula, a social worker.

The first glow of recognition for Chaudhary's work came almost 20 years later. In 1993, IAS officer R.S. Tolia surveyed the jungle and issued a circular that it should become the model for agro-forestry for the whole of the Uttaranchal area. Many awards and accolades have followed since. Among others, he has won the "Pariyavaran Premi" and "Him Gaurav" awards.

Green Bucks: Chaudhary's efforts have led to growing ecological awareness in the surrounding villages. People have begun cultivating cash crops and pulses, which has resulted in soil conservation and also enhanced family incomes. "Jungalee's jungle has inspired us to grow fruits and flowers on a small scale," says Mahender Singh, a young farmer. "I was able to collect six bottles of honey this year due to the flowers I planted." Chaudhary himself says the villagers now seem to have a sense of belonging with his forest. He remembers the time when a forest fire threatened his patch and it was only the brave assistance of the villagers that saved it.

Scholars, too, recognise the value of the man's work. Says Bhaskar Sinha, who is working on a doctoral thesis on Himalayan ecology at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University: "Many rehabilitation projects are being taken up by the government and NGOs involving research and enormous capital input. But Jungalee's creation is wholly an outcome of his commitment, dedication and hard work."

Chaudhary's eco-friendliness extends to a dislike for chemical fertilisers. He uses only natural manure and digs compost pits to store bio-mass. He also distributes saplings and medicinal herbs to the villagers free of cost. Vehemently opposed to mono-culture farming, he intends to harness the forest resources and check unemployment by effecting a change in the "money-order" economy of the region with alternatives like bee keeping and rabbit farming. He is also trying to grow bamboo and tea and to encourage the setting up of forests on community lands.

"The government should encourage people who have sacrificed their land to benefit the environment," says Jungalee. "I am growing oak knowing well that I cannot use it for commercial use since felling oaks is banned." He also campaigns for subsidies on cooking gas and electricity, without which people will continue to hack down trees for fuel. But these are minor plaints that the jungle man can afford to forget when he sits down for dinner: chapatis, dal, vegetables, pickles and for desert, honey-all from his unique plot.

ends

2011-03-20T08:24:00.000+05:30

">TV transforms Assam's election experience

Today, television has brought elections closer home. And common people are giving vent to their pent-up feelings and frustrations on the various shows on television. Candidates are no longer mere smiling photographs on banners and posters. They are live characters on TV, says TERESA REHMAN

Posted Saturday, Mar 19 12:31:15, 2011

A news capsule on the satellite channel DY365 goes like this. They show a woman in her domestic setting. There is music in the backdrop. The anchor asks, “Do you know this lady? She was an ordinary lady looking after her house. She even objected to her husband leaving his job as a civil servant and joining politics. But today, she is herself in the electoral fray.” More music.

Then the anchor answers, “She is none other than Monika Bora, tainted Congress leader Ripun Bora’s wife.” Then they go into the history of Ripun Bora, the civil servant turned politician who was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for trying to bribe an official in connection with a murder case of Daniel Topno, a tea tribe leader. He was suspended from the party but the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) revoked his suspension just one and a half month before the polls.

The anchor then questions, “Will this lady vacate her seat in case her husband would want to contest? Would she have been happier if her husband got the ticket instead of her? The camera pans on the woman who seems perturbed by the questions. She murmurs, “Well, of course. I would be happier if my husband got a clean chit and got a ticket himself.” The anchor then states, “Well, this homemaker has been going to her in-laws house for a long time. But this time, she will go as a candidate to her constituency.”

This is just one instance of tangy television reporting as the state goes to the polls next month. With the Election Commission announcing a two-phase Assembly election for Assam, on April 4 and April 11 respectively, mundane election reporting has become a dramatic and sprightly affair with frenzied political activities taking place in full media glare. The satellite channels aired from Guwahati are in a tizzy, trying to get those little nuggets of information that would keep the readers glued to their television sets.

The channels have come up with interesting taglines -- “Not inside a studio but we are there in every constituency”, “From the voter’s home to a candidate’s mind”. From multihued profiles of candidates and their constituencies to heated debates on who would form the next government, to disgruntled candidates airing their grievances and even sting operations on the misdeeds of politicians – it’s a stimulating medley that is being televised. Political analysts and veteran journalists engage in heated poll-related debates.

The nascent television boom in the state has made elections an exhilarating experience. There was a time when denizens of remote villages sent one or two representatives to the district headquarter to find out who had been given a ticket to contest elections in their constituency. They used to eagerly wait in the village square to get the news and then have raucous discussions. But today, television is giving them a minute by minute account of the entire process – right from the screening process to the final ticket allotment.

Today, television has brought elections closer home. And common people are giving vent to their pent-up feelings and frustrations on the various shows on television. These voices of the masses had always been eclipsed in the whole election hungama. One such angry villager rues in front of the television screen, “Since independence, we did not get a single MLA who loved his constituency. But we have had enough of this. Now, we have seen on television how money for the different development schemes have been usurped by the politicians. We want a change now.”

The candidates too have been able to cut across geographical barriers with the people in their constituency. They are no longer mere ‘smiling photographs’ on banners and posters. They are live characters on TV, actively voicing their opinions and engaging in mud-slinging their opponents on the small screen.

Another phenomenon which has gained popularity is ‘Tandav Pratibadh’ or violent live protests. these are the most striking scenes on television today. Live telecast of ransacking of party offices and ripping apart party banners in various parts of Assam by peeved party workers seems to have a ripple effect and being replicated in various parts of the state. Of course, the television camera has a ubiquitous presence whenever there are such protests.

It was interesting to note how these channels covered how Trinamool Congress roped in disgruntled ticket seekers from major political parties like the Congress and the AGP. They showed how just few days ago, the party office was vacated by the landlord due to non-payment of rent. But now this party was the refuge of veteran big-time politicians who were denied tickets by their respective parties.

Moreover, one person who manages raise the TRP of the channels is farmer rights activist Akhil Gogoi of the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, who has launched a crusade against the incumbent Congress government. He has been holding regular press meets against the Tarun Gogoi government. In his latest press meet, he appealed to the voters out the corrupt Congress government. He made 50 ‘maha’ or major allegations of corruption against the government, the inputs for which they have acquired by using the Right to Information Act.

All the news channel seems to have its own agenda. With the channel Newslive adopting a distinct pro-Congress stand, the channel DY365 is playing the role of a constructive opposition. NETV, on the other hand is taking a moderate stand. And now even petty workers of political parties know which channel to contact when they have to air their news. And till the elections get over, viewers in remote parts of the state will wait with baited breath for any kind of ‘breaking news’.
ends

2011-02-25T18:37:00.002+05:30

Arunachal Justice

By Teresa Rehman

The state finally has a jail, but it remains far from adequate.

In late 2009, Arunachal Pradesh opened its first jail, five years after its construction had been completed. But little did the batch of 19 under-trial prisoners who were transferred at the time realise that they were a blessed lot. They had escaped a fate that, since the state’s creation in 1987, all others in their situation had been forced to undergo, involving not only appalling lack of hygiene for prisoners but blatantly illegal judicial procedures. The opening of the new jail constitutes a silver lining of sorts in the series of untold narratives of gross human-rights violations that have constituted standard procedure for prisoners awaiting trial in the state. Until the recent change, Arunachal had been the only state in India where ‘police remand’ and ‘judicial remand’ meant the same thing. In most parts of the state, it still does.

Take the example of Hura Rari, a middle-aged businessman from Naharlagun in Arunachal. For 14 months, Rari was held in custody on kidnapping charges in a dark, dingy lock-up at a police station. At the time, Rari’s situation was similar to all of those awaiting or undergoing trial in the state. Even today, many police stations have two separate cells – one for police lock-up and another for judicial lock-up. Some suspects are forced to remain in the police station for three or four years, until they are convicted or released on bail. (If convicted, prisoners are transferred to district jails in Assam.) These police cells can become so overcrowded that prisoners take turns sleeping while the rest stand. Beyond the aesthetics and physical discomforts, this is a gross violation of the Prisons Act of 1894, which clearly states that a ‘prison’ cannot include ‘any place for the confinement of prisoners who are exclusively in the custody of the police’.

After his 14-month stint, Rari was fortunate to receive bail on health grounds. (His case is still under trial.) But he shudders today as he recalls his confinement at the Ziro police station in Lower Subansiri district. He says that an average of five to ten prisoners were held in his lock-up every day, accused of crimes from murder and rape to arson and theft. The room had no fan, mosquito net or light, and little ventilation; although there was an attached toilet, it had limited water, with a grimy toilet that was only cleaned once during his stay. ‘One day, there were around 20 prisoners in the cell, and we held a strike as the food was inedible,’ he says. ‘Things improved for a few days, but then it was back to square one again.’ Rari adds that he was lucky to get out when he did; another man in the cell, accused of murder, had been there for nine years.

Even the opening of the new jail – in Jollang, near the capital, Itanagar – is far from adequate in this massive state of more than 83,700 sq km. Sunil Mow, a lawyer with the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), an NGO, says, ‘One jail in Itanagar cannot serve the entire state. There are eight districts in eastern Arunachal and eight districts in western Arunachal. The jail is a one- to two-day journey from some of these remote districts, and in these areas those who are under trial are still being kept in inhuman conditions in police lock-ups.’

The plight of women prisoners remains particularly difficult. In 2006, a woman prisoner was raped in the lock-up at Deomali police station, in Tirap district. The officer-in-charge was the main accused, and was eventually dismissed from his job. Mapung Tadar, vice-chairperson of the State Commission for Women, says that due to the ongoing lack of infrastructure, adult women are being kept with minor juveniles. Unfortunately, this ‘solution’ only compounds a central problem in the Arunachal judicial system: a lack of facilities leading to adults and juveniles being dealt with together while awaiting or on trial.

What child?
For the past decade, the Arunachal state administration has been blatantly flouting the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000, which states that no child can be put in a jail or a lock-up. In addition, a Juvenile Justice Board is supposed to be constituted for each district or group of districts, consisting of two social workers and a magistrate. This is an attempt to change the nature of inquiry in the state, with the presence of the social workers indicating a decriminalisation of the administration of juvenile justice. Yet no Juvenile Justice Board or Court has been constituted, nor has any observation home (a temporary shelter for juveniles), anywhere in the state. Thus, juveniles arrested in connection with criminal cases are still tried by judicial magistrates and kept along with adult inmates in police custody. Sunil Mow cites numerous instances of children below 18 lodged in Arunachal lock-ups along with hardcore criminals, some for upwards of four years.

For instance, 12-year-old Arjun (name changed) was arrested by the Itanagar police for petty stealing – blankets, plastic cups, etc. He was lodged in the Itanagar police station on two occasions, once for five months and again for nine months, both times with adult criminals. Arjun says he was verbally abused by both the police and others in the lock-up, at times allegedly being forced to massage some of the other prisoners. The long incarceration made him weak mentally and physically; now 16, he complains of chest pain and headaches, and is on painkillers and antibiotics for some of the injuries he suffered while in detention. Arjun’s mother recalls, ‘He used to send me a list of medicines, soap, oil and other essentials. The blankets were full of lice, and when I brought him home I had to wash him down with Dettol.’

Another juvenile, Sonia Byabang, was likewise arrested and charged with stealing when he was just 12. ‘I was so young and I didn’t even know what it meant to steal,’ he says. ‘I was just trying to ride my uncle’s motorcycle to meet my father, but the police said I was trying to steal the bike.’ He adds that the police lied, stating in their report that he was 19 years old. Thereafter, he spent two months at the police lock-up in the Itanagar police station. After he was released, Byabang says that he did felt ‘tainted’, and began staying away from school and his friends. Thereafter, he says, the police made him a regular scapegoat, and repeatedly picked him up on suspicion for various crimes.

Still, some have been able to challenge such procedures. Chelle John was 13 years old when he was detained along with adult criminals, and subsequently brought a case before the courts on the issue. He underwent testing at a hospital and was certified below 18 years of age. Needless to say, such cases underline the susceptibility of the Arunachal criminal-justice system to manipulation. While the opening of the new jail is a positive step in terms of ameliorating some outstanding rights issues, it is hardly an answer to the problems faced by juveniles awaiting justice in the state.

Bureaucrat judge
Justice moves notoriously slowly in Arunachal, with trials invariably delayed. Much of this is due to the fact that the executive branch of the state government doubles as the judiciary in the lower courts, thus requiring, for instance, the deputy commissioner to act as the district sessions judge. As such, the accused are often forced to languish even longer in lock-ups, as government officials give priority to their routine administrative work. Of course, the pace can quicken dramatically if the accused can afford a lawyer.

In this regard, most worrying is the ramification that the lower judiciary in Arunachal is not independent, but rather is a specific part of the government machinery. ‘All these years,’ Sunil Mow says, ‘bureaucrats with practically no knowledge of law have been making a mockery of the entire judicial system.’ Recently, two session courts were set up in Arunachal, one to cover the western half and another to cover the eastern half of the state. Although again an important step in the right direction, a mere two courts remain far from adequate in a state of this size.

Mow says that the welfare of those awaiting trial has simply never been a priority for the state government, but expresses hope that the opening of the new jail indicates forward momentum on a range of issues. Indeed, another jail is currently being built in Tezu, in the far east, while the 11th Finance Commission granted INR 100 million to build new jail infrastructure. Yet incredibly, out of that money seven new ‘judicial lock-ups’ are now being set up in various police stations – thus continuing to flout basic law. The ‘Arunachal’ version of justice looks set to continue for some time.

--Teresa Rehman is a journalist and media consultant based in Northeast India.

2010-12-19T15:07:00.001+05:30

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

2010-12-02T17:02:00.000+05:30

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

2010-10-01T12:26:00.001+05:30

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

2010-09-06T09:44:00.000+05:30

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

2010-08-20T23:33:00.000+05:30

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.

2010-08-11T23:15:00.005+05:30

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’

2010-08-10T00:05:00.003+05:30

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

2010-08-09T07:06:00.008+05:30

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

2010-08-09T06:57:00.002+05:30

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.

2010-07-12T11:57:00.003+05:30

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

2010-06-16T21:42:00.003+05:30

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.

2010-06-13T22:48:00.002+05:30

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

2010-06-08T08:05:00.001+05:30

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.

2010-05-29T09:23:00.003+05:30

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

2010-05-29T06:54:00.002+05:30

An apology for Majuli

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

2010-05-25T07:18:00.005+05:30

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

2010-05-21T12:29:00.002+05:30

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

2010-05-18T09:11:00.004+05:30

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

2010-05-06T10:17:00.002+05:30

Young girls face trafficking as lack of rain drives worsening rural poverty

By Teresa Rehman
NALBARI DISTRICT, India (AlertNet) - The rescue of 17-year-old Nitumoni (name changed) from a brothel in Shillong city recently points to a new danger as climate change takes hold in Northeast India - trafficking of vulnerable women.

Nitumoni's widowed mother, from Madhupur village, used to work as a daily wage labourer at rice fields in her village, near the Bhutan border. But as groundwater dries up in the region and rains fall short, farmers are giving up rice production, leaving families like Nitumoni's without work and struggling to make ends meet.

So when a distant relative offered to take Nitumoni to Shillong, the capital of neighboring Meghalaya state, to work as a domestic helper, her impoverished family agreed. But the girl instead ended up in a brothel, before being rescued recently by police. This has raised new worries about the dangers facing young girls as their already poor families struggle to cope with added burdens brought on by climate change.

"It dawned on me that climate change had much broader implications than it appears. Issues like human trafficking come to the limelight only when such an incident takes place. Otherwise, nobody wants to talk about it," said Prithibhusan Deka, president of Gramya Vikas Mancha, a non-profit local development organization. Many young girls sent from poor homes to find work end up trafficked to India as prostitutes or poorly paid factory workers, she said.

The organization is now working to fight the problem, which has been growing in remote villages badly hit by erratic rainfall and near-drought situations, she said.

GIRLS SENT TO CITY AS FARM INCOMES FALL

"This raises questions about human trafficking in the name of searching for alternate means of livelihood. We are conducting a baseline survey of young women, mostly climate refugees who are trafficked and forced into sex work in big cities in India. It is very difficult to get accurate statistics as nobody wants to talk about it. But we know that there are middlemen who are operating in these areas," Deka said.

In a growing number of villages in Assam, groundwater levels are very low and farmers are dependent on natural rainfall or dongs, traditional water channels that are the main source of irrigation and drinking water. The age-old water management system is particularly important to the most thirsty villages in the area.

Dongs are akin to small dams built on a river, with water diverted through canals to fields and backyard ponds. But gradually even the dongs are now drying up. Due to rampant deforestation in the foothills of Bhutan, heavy rains during the monsoons now carry rocks, soil and silt that block the dongs, said Ramani Thakuria, a senior agronomist at Assam Agricultural University. And in winter, the systems increasingly run completely dry, particularly as rainfall becomes more erratic.

As a result, farmers engaged in water-intensive rice cultivation have been severely affected, with many now moving to cities in search of new work or sending family members there to supplement falling incomes on the farm.

Nitumoni, her family's oldest child, was sent to the city to help support her mother and younger siblings, according to police who raided a brothel, rescuing a number of young girls.
Alarmed by the growing poverty-driven trafficking problem, Deka's organization is now working to introduce technology to help farmers earn more income at home.

Under a "rice intensification" effort, families in 100 villages in Nalbari and Baksa districts in Assam are getting training in how to grow rice with much less water and commercial fertilizer. The system, developed in the 1980s in Madagascar, has been successfully used in other parts of India.

"Water shortage and erratic rainfall is a global phenomenon due to climate change and we expect this to continue. We will have to improvise our agricultural methods accordingly to cope with the vagaries of nature," said Ramani Kanta Sarma of Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi, an Indian development NGO that gives training on rice intensification techniques.

The organization, which began introducing the system in Assam two years ago, plans to have trained farmers throughout the state within three years, Sarma said. This new technology has produced an enthusiastic response from farmers in some of the state's poorest and most remote districts.

"As community water resources were drying up, many of my fellow farmers were contemplating giving up rice cultivation. But we are looking forward to this new technology now," said Basistha Talukdar, one Nalbari district farmer.

"We have to arrange for our own water," added Ananta Kalita, a young farmer from Teteliguri village, near the Bhutan border. "There is no system to procure water from far-off places. We will have to make the best of what we have."

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

2010-05-01T13:14:00.002+05:30

Bringing back millet to cope with climate change, empower women

By Teresa Rehman

CHIZAMI, India (AlertNet) - Seno Tsuhah, a primary school teacher in this picturesque village near the Myanmar border, wants to help local women cope with changing climate conditions in Nagaland by promoting an old practice: the cultivation of traditional varieties of millet.

Sowing seeds is mostly the domain of women in the area, explains Tsuhah, the moving spirit of a local resource centre of the North East Network, an NGO that works on women's empowerment and human rights. In each home, a woman "usually keeps the seeds and the different crop selection is mainly done by her. We are trying to sensitise women farmers to promote crop diversity and revive the traditional indigenous seeds which are suitable for the local soil," she says.

Millet, an upland crop, has long been cultivated in the hills of northeast India, and millet-based 'apong,' a country liquor, is a common brew. But the traditional grain is seen primarily as food for the poor and for animals, and millet cultivation is diminishing, along with the traditional 'jhum' system of integrating multiple crops in a field.

"The earlier jhum systems were very complex, but nowadays it has been extremely simplified and the focus has shifted to mono-cropping," said Subbiah Arunachalam, of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in Meghalaya state.

Increasingly unusual weather, including more erratic rainfall and prolonged dry spells, however, are driving Tsuhah and others to try to revive the crop, which can grow in harsh conditions and needs little in the way of fertilizer or other inputs.

Her centre is in the process of setting up a seed bank of traditional millet varieties and has so far collected about 15. It is also collecting traditional millet recipes and organizing food festivals and exhibitions to pass on the information. "We are trying to ensure that the seeds are preserved and accorded due importance. If some seeds are lost, there is always a scope of sharing the seeds," she said.

Climate change is leading to increasingly temperatures in places like northeast India, and wheat harvests are expected to suffer as a result. Cultivation of rice, another staple, releases too much methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from paddies, environmentalists say.

MILLET SEEN AS A RESILIENT CHOICE

Millet is seen as a more resilient choice, not least because it requires much less water than rice or wheat. Millet, cultivated in traditional mixed 'jhum' fields, is usually sown on rocky sloping ground with minimal soil. Planted in April, it is harvested in July, and a millet feast usually follows in August. "Jhum is the indigenous way of maintaining the ecology and rejuvenating life. It is difficult to understand why millet is called a poor man's food," Tsuhah said.

Millet, while a traditional food and widely used for brewing, is today largely used as animal fodder. But it has also won a spot on the shelves of health food shops frequented by India's elite.
The Millet Network of India, in a nationwide campaign, is now promoting the grain as a climate change-compliant crop and a traditional Indian choice.

Srinivas Vatturi, of the millet network, emphasizes that multi-cropping of grains like millet are part of women-led traditional farming, while mono-cropping is largely controlled by men. Men may control money produced by selling mono-crops, he said, but women control food produced at home for the house. Millet also improves not only food security but health, ecological, livelihood and fodder security, he said.

OUTSIDE INDIA'S DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
One problem in expanding the cultivation of millet is that it is not included in India's national distribution system for subsidized grain, said P.V. Satheesh of the Deccan Development Society, an Indian NGO that promotes development among India's poorest.

That exclusion - which has resulted in more Indians eating distributed grains like rice and wheat - has hurt millet production in the country and curbed the diversity of Indian diets, he said. Many young people are no longer aware of traditional crop varieties.

With hunger still widespread in India and a state focus on distributing rice and wheat doing little to curb that, growing nutritionally rich millet at a household level could improve diets, he said. It could be a particularly good choice in remote hilly areas where people are now dependent on food transported all the way from the neighbouring plain areas.

"The farming landscape of the country needs to be redesigned and new food policies shaped, as crops of larger powerful states like Punjab and Haryana are designing the food policies of our country now. Most millet growers are from poorer areas and communities," Satheesh said.

Ketaki Bardalai, executive director of the Foundation for Social Transformation, a northeast Indian NGO, said promoting traditional cultivation systems, mapping millet cultivation pockets and discovering the reasons for its decline are all key, particularly in Northeast India, one of the country's most economically backward and conflict-troubled zones. "Sadly, the growing and consuming of millet is slowly fading. The treasure trove of traditional systems disappearing is also very high," she said.

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.

2010-04-20T09:47:00.000+05:30

'Hunting is tempting'

In Assam, 61 poachers surrendered last month. Their confessions lay bare the workings of an entrenched racket, writes TERESA REHMAN

AS HE SMILES, the sharp lines on his forehead and cheeks stress his tough skin and sturdy grit. Twirling his moustache, Dilli Boro — ‘Veerappan’ to his associates — recalls his quarter-century career as a poacher in Assam’s Manas National Park. He rarely returned without a kill, even though he used only a country-made gun. “Poaching is a sport that calls for passion, determination and courage that comes only with experience,” says Boro, who surrendered with 60 other poachers last month, in an exclusive interview with TEHELKA. “You must know the laws of the jungle, sense animal movement, swim, crawl and climb trees.”The surrender has brought quite a turn in their lives.

The 61 poachers — hailing from villages on the park’s southern boundary — now await rehabilitation. Surrendering before Assam’s autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), the poachers admit they took to poaching because they lacked livelihood. There are no townships or factories in the region except a tea estate. The villagers — mostly Bodos, apart from some Assamese, Bengalis and Nepalese — are wage labourers or marginal farmers with few resources. Initially, recalls Boro, hunting took place during religious festivals. But the villagers took to rampant poaching during the 1988-98 tribal agitation for a self-governing Bodoland.

In 1992, UNESCO was forced to name the Manas Park, a tiger reserve since 1973, as a World Heritage Site in danger from militants who devastated infrastructure, looted arms and killed staff. Many jobless educated youths joined the violent agitation and soon careened to a poacher’s life. “We had no infrastructure, healthcare, water supply and irrigation,” says Thaneswar Das, an ex-poacher with roots in the Bodo agitation. “There was no work even as a daily-wage labourer.” Authorities agree that alternative livelihood is the key to keeping these poachers away from killing more wildlife.

“Our first goal is to give them jobs,” says Anindya Swargowary, head of the Manas Tiger Reserve, which is part of the park. “Conservation and development have to go hand in hand.” Indeed, ex-poachers such as Boro can be useful in the anti-poaching campaigns. Hunting since a pre-teen, the nimble-footed Boro, 38, claims to know every stretch and hill of these forests. He knows movements of an unseen animal from the smoke of a snuffed matchstick — “avoid the wind so that the animal doesn’t know where we are” — and can spot the hunter just as easily as the hunted.

Most ex-poachers, who grew up in the forests, would bury their guns at places known only to them. A most ingenious ploy saw the last man in a poaching party drag a leafy branch to erase their barefoot prints. “Sometimes, we even drew tiger paws to mislead the forest guards,” says Muneswar Basumatary. On the hunt, they always carried mosquito repellents and nets, essential medicines including painkillers, ration and drinking water. In his career, Boro poached countless hog deer, and wild bison and buffaloes.

He once killed a one-horned rhinoceros and even a tiger, whose skin he sold for Rs 26,000, a fraction of what the middlemen must have fetched from the final buyer. “I was on a treetop to hunt a wild boar when I saw the tiger eye my prey,” recalls Boro. “I was greedy because a tiger meant more money… Of the two hunters, one had to die.” Most ex-poachers say they avoided big game until their poverty turned acute. “I began poaching in desperation after deer, wild pigs and peacocks ravaged my crop,” says Anukul Chandra Das, 45, who hunted only deer and wild boar to sell as meat. His anxiety grew when the forest department offeredhim only a little hay as compensation after elephants destroyed his house. Once, it hired him as a daily labourer but never paid him.

Soon, Das had killed a tiger, whose skin he sold for a meagre Rs 12,000 because the tail was missing from it. IN FACT, these ex-poachers risked their lives for years only to see the middleman get the lion’s share. Usually a townsman called “Dada” — surrogate term for the middleman — took away the skin, horns, teeth and other parts of the poached animals, while these hunters never found out where their kills were sold or what their prices in the international market were. On occasion, their booty rotted away only because they couldn’t make contact with the middleman in time. A visit to the houses of these surrendered poachers is enough to know that they continue to live in terrible poverty. “I had no school uniform, nothing to eat after school,” says Netra Bahadur Rai, 26, a Nepali who started poaching at age 12. “Poaching gave me food.” Another ex-poacher, Naren Boro, hunted hog deer to sell as meat but could never afford it for his family. Says his wife, Sipini: “I don’t know how a deer’s meat tastes.”
On the other hand, poaching ran up bills, too, such as for hiring help to transport big kills. They also paid protection money to Bodo militants: 4 kg off a big deer; 1 kg off a small one; 20 kg off a buffalo. Happy with the surrender of these expoachers, the forest department is now setting up 31 anti-poaching camps across the Manas Park while encouraging the participation of nearby communities. “We are trying to bridge the gap between us and the local people who feel alienated by our conservation efforts,” says Swargowary. Although there are no specific rehabilitation packages for the moment, authorities plan to give each surrendered poacher Rs 10,000, a rickshaw to some and roofing sheets to some others. Some with farmland may get a bullock cart. “Hunting is tempting,” says Anukul Das plainly. “We might go back to it if we don’t get alternative livelihood.”

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 13, Dated April 5, 2008

2010-04-19T13:57:00.002+05:30

By Teresa Rehman

SHILLONG, India (AlertNet) - Climate change issues are reaching a remote new audience in Meghalaya, a hilly state in northeast India, via 'Mawsawa,' a popular FM radio music show.
'Mawsawa' in the local Khasi language, means a "tone that echoes back," a metaphor for imitation and spoof.

The pioneering show is "basically a spoof on Western music. For instance, a Bryan Adams song is sung in the local language but in the same tune, using traditional musical instruments. And the lyrics would be something to do with the environment and climate change," said Ian Khongmen, the head of 93.5 Red FM radio, the station that hosts the show.

The station, working in cooperation with the state government, is committed to raising awareness about the problems associated with climate change in the area, but is managing it with a new vigour, spiced with humour and drama, listeners say.

Better yet, the show is reaching even small remote villages that have yet to be electrified and do not yet have the luxury of television - places where a battery-powered radio may be the only way of receiving messages on climate change.

REACHING REMOTE AREAS WITH RADIO
"On my tours to remote hamlets, I have seen people listening to FM radio even on their mobile phones. I have seen farmers working and listening to radio. It was then that we decided to tie up with the FM station to spread the message of climate change and other environmental disasters at the grassroots level," said P.S. Nongbri, Meghalaya's deputy conservator of forests.

How effectively is the program reaching rural areas? Last year, when the forest department did a segment for World Wildlife Week in which they broadcast bird calls and asked listeners to identify the birds, "it was only people from interior villages who could answer correctly and win prizes. We were amazed by the reach of the radio," Nongbri said.

Talking about environment issues is an ongoing mission for the FM station. It has developed exclusive characters like Kong Lor (Kong is an endearing term for elder sister), who have become a vehicle for its messages.

"Kong Lor is like the conscience-keeper of the community who talks about the values and tradition which give us a sense of pride. She talks about environmental problems but with a lot of zest and spectacle and manages to strike the right emotional chord among the listeners," said Khongmen, the station head.

The radio station, on the air from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., last year ran a series of segments aimed at generating awareness about the region's 'sacred groves' - protected forests that are tied up with local religious beliefs and are considered conservation models.

Another set of programs, for Earth Day, focused on the need for tree planting. Disc jockeys regularly make their way to local festivals, and have helped put on street plays on environmental issues in association with local traditional institutions, or 'dorbars'. "Our station is entertainment-based but we try to push in these pertinent issues," said R.J. Ashlyn, a presenter who runs a listener call-in evening show.

Meghalaya has witnessed large-scale deforestation due to illegal and poorly planned coal mining as well as pollution of its water resources by cement and limestone plants. Trees on Nongkhum island, the one of the biggest river islands in the West Khasi hills, are being indiscriminately felled to produce charcoal. "Destruction of catchment areas of main rivers and streams caused by mining is the most pertinent problem in Meghalaya now," Nongbri said.

MUSICIANS JOIN INITIATIVE
The radio initiative has caught on with local musicians with similar environmental interests. Kit Shangpliang, a musician from Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, has been penning songs on themes including social evils, poverty and terrorism, and now has taken up climate change as well.

His rock band 'Summersalt' regularly focuses on conservation themes, be it conservation of forests or of indigenous culture and values. Songs use indigenous musical instruments of the Khasi people or even traditional kitchen tools turned into instruments.

"We want to look at conservation in a holistic manner. It's encouraging to see radio stations like Red FM talking about climate change," Shangpliang said. The lyrics of one popular Khasi-language song go like this: "Have you given some thought to the destruction? Mother Earth is in shambles, the forests have been felled again and again. Have you thought how the creator would feel? Feel the pain, the sky has to endure." Radio hosts plan to feature the song in some of their programs.

"We are committed to create awareness about climate change," Khongmen said. "We are together in the fight to ensure a cleaner and more secure future for our planet."
ends

2010-04-09T09:02:00.003+05:30

Outpost Of Empire

The sleepy capital of Arunachal is now a bustling commercial hub but still gets treated like a protectorate, says TERESA REHMAN

IT’S AN interesting dichotomy, one in which the different facets of Itanagar are well captured. On the one hand, you might well encounter an unlikely pedestrian on the busy streets of the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, someone who looks like an illustration out of an anthropology textbook: A quaint lady from the Apatani tribe, with two huge black circular nose plugs (yaping hullo) and a traditional elongated black tattoo on her forehead (done to make her look unattractive to men from other tribes). On the other hand, you are as likely to find shops, vehicles, big billboards and young people in trendy urban attire: All the accoutrements, in fact, of an emerging commercial hub.

Tucked away in the eastern-most frontier of India, Itanagar is described by old-timers as a ‘cluster of settlements’, which evolved into a bustling mercantile nucleus. Itanagar usually surfaces in the national media only when the Indo-China border issue crops up. But in just five to six years, its character has changed enormously: With department stores, fastfood joints, hotels, apartment blocks and cyber cafes coming up apace. A training institute, eyes firmly fixed on helping local youth get jobs in the hospitality, aviation and IT sectors, has been a big hit with the young.

Earlier, buying patterns were based mostly on the criteria of quality and durability; now, it’s about buying what’s trendy. As average Arunachali urban youth have become more healthconscious, there’s also been a proliferation of gyms and health clubs. A dash of Tibetan culture and cuisine has crept in, with a number of ‘Tibetan refugees’ opening restaurants in Itanagar: Dolma Nawang, a Buddhist from Tawang runs the popular ABC Restaurant. There are also eateries with signboards that advertise the availability of ‘tribal food’.

But if you ask any of the residents of Itanagar about their city’s growth and the visible changes, the one word they use to describe the change is: traffic, traffic and more traffic. They say there was a time when hardly two or three vehicles could be seen on the road at a time. Now, there seems to be no parking space available in the city. Part of the reason for the proliferation of vehicles is easy car loans and the availability of stolen cars at cheap rates. “New notions like peak and lean hours and traffic accidents have become the order of the day,” says Nani Bath, who teaches at the Rajiv Gandhi University at Rono Hills, close to Itanagar.

Geographically, Itanagar’s location is a bit like a see-saw: it slopes down and then rises. The quaint capital at the foothills of the Himalayas came to be known as Itanagar or ‘town of bricks’ after it was declared the state capital in 1972. It’s said that it derives its name from the archaeological remains of the Ita fort, which dates back to the 14th century.

The population has grown exponentially, as people from rural areas come in search of jobs. But urban infrastructure has struggled to absorb this escalating rural migration. Water, sanitation, transport and electricity are under pressure. And there’s a rise in petty crimes like burglary and theft.

The earlier concept of building box-type utilitarian houses has changed: the traditional houses have remained only a symbol. “Now, people are building trendy houses with different architectural designs borrowed from design magazines or big cities. There is a gradual shift to interior designing and outdoor aesthetics,” says Nok Tsering, a government official.

Itanagar is actually an extension of its ‘twin city’ Naharlagun, which is about 10 km away. In fact, Naharlagun was home to important government offices which were later shited to Itanagar.
The population comprises both government servants and traders. But a worrying phenomenon is the rampant encroachment of government land by private parties. The lackadaisical attitude of the authorities has encouraged government servants to even construct personal houses within their government-allotted premises!

RATNADEEPA, A Buddhist monk, feels that this haphazard growth means there is a dearth of open spaces: “There is only one park called the Indira Gandhi Park and two picnic spots (the Zoological Park and the scenic Ganga lake).

Pradip Kumar Behera, editor of The Arunachal Front, a local daily, first came to Itanagar from Delhi in 1983. He recalls: “There were a few shops. Except the Raj Bhawan, there was dense greenery all around. Earlier, wild animals could be easily spotted on the highway.”

Modernity has crept in many other ways into this repository of tribal culture. Traditional attire is now increasingly reserved for festivals and special occasions. Behera says there was a time when a visitor was offered Apong (the country liquor). “These days, people offer tea, coffee and cold drinks,” laughs Behera.

Tourism has immense potential but is yet to be developed. There is a Buddhist temple on top of a hill that was consecrated by the Dalai Lama himself. However, one deterrent is the Inner Line Regulation, initiated by the British, which is still in force: All Indian non-residents need an Inner Line Permit to enter and are prohibited from owning land and fixed assets. As a result, this mountain city remains off the tourist map.

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 45, Dated November 14, 2009

2010-04-06T06:08:00.002+05:30

An author & a trailblazer personality

Teresa Rehman profiles a versatile woman who is intent on making history with her cultural revolution

It is truly awe-inspiring — the manner in which Sheela Barthakur has nurtured and is realising her dream. Founder of the Sadou Asom Lekhika Samaroh Samiti, a close-knit women’s literary organisation, in 1974, the visionary is on a mission to make the women at the grassroots level discover the might of the pen.

“I still have the same verve, the same energy and the same childlike enthusiasm that I had when I initiated the organisation three decades ago,” she says softly. There is, however, no mistaking the intensity and single-mindedness of purpose in that tone.

On what has been an exceptionally long journey, she has spearheaded a “silent cultural revolution” among women. When she had initiated the samiti several years ago, few people understood what she was up to. She recalls an incident in early Seventies, when she had requested the Asam Sahitya Sabha, which was organising a yuva sanmilan, for a few hours’ slot for women. Her plea was turned down.

The movement, which had started with just two members, now has more than 60,000 members in over 208 branches of the organisation all over Assam. It also has branches in Calcutta, Shillong, Delhi and Dimapur.

But is all this work guided by one central philosophy? Yes, she asserts. She refuses to confine herself only to the women writers who have already carved a niche for themselves. “I want a woman even in a remote village to express herself, be it through a poem, a letter, a story or a small speech at a public gathering. I want the woman to discover herself,” says Barthakur.
Her petite looks can be deceptive. As she tucks in the pallu of her mekhela chador and swiftly moves in and out of the pandal, Barthakur issues directions to her fellow members who are aiding her organise the 20th biennial meet of the organisation. The programme was held at Chabua in Tinsukia district recently.

The trailblazer that she is, she has motivated the women in the different branches to initiate their own publications from local financial support. The various units of the samiti work in a democratic manner, which is a unique phenomenon in the country.

It is a labour of love for the women writers. “We treat each other like sisters and we have a sense of mutual obligation. These women come out and participate willingly and take pleasure in their work. They are happy that they have found a platform to express themselves,” says Barthakur.

Born in Charingia village in Jorhat in 1935, she spent a few years of her childhood at Dhaka (now in Bangladesh). Her father, Nabin Sharma, was sent there as an inspector of the tea expansion board in order to popularise the brew. “I have beautiful memories of Dhaka and I still get nostalgic when I think of that place. I remember singing Assamese songs at the convocation of Dhaka University. I used to dance to Nazrulgeeti and Rabindrasangeet,” she recalls.

She owes a lot to her mother Pritilata Devi who was a liberal and broadminded woman. “She was educated at Brahmo Girls School in Calcutta and was, therefore, open to new ideas,” she says.
As a spirited young girl, Sheela loved to sing, dance and play. Despite opposition from family members, she acted in Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad Agarwalla’s famous play Sonit Konwari, when she was a student of J.B. College.

She had also qualified at an audition held by All India Radio at Jorhat Sangeet Vidyalaya. “I had to come to Guwahati for the recording and my family members disapproved of it. I protested and came for the audition,” she says.

The turning point in her life was her meeting with her soulmate, Saranan Barthakur. Her husband, who was a very good dancer himself, was a disciple of Kalaguru Bishnu Rabha.
She shares a wonderful synergy with her husband. “He helps me with all the household chores and is my source of support and inspiration,” she says. She smiles, “My son, too, is ever ready to accompany me to the various seminars and conventions of the samiti with his car and camera.”
After marriage, she came to Tezpur and joined Tezpur High School. A visharad in sitar under Ustad Illias Khan from Bhatkande Sangeet Vidyalaya, Lucknow in 1961, she had also taken lessons in Rabindrasangeet at Vishwa Bharati, Shantiniketan. “I even had my own cultural troupe here and we used to perform dance dramas, ” she recalls.

With her never-say-die spirit, she went on to complete her masters after marriage. In 1991-92, she completed her PhD on Social Change in Assam since Independence with special reference to Sonitpur district. She retired as a lecturer of philosophy from Darrang College in Tezpur.
She was also the founder principal of Gopinath Bordoloi Kanya Mahavidyalaya, the first girls’ college in Tezpur in 1979. She had also conducted several adult education programmes in five villages near Tezpur in 1975.

Since its inception, the samiti now has a long list of accomplishments to its credit and it has become a powerful forum upholding the age-old creative instinct in women. “A writer cannot be created but an atmosphere for intellectual development can be,” she says.

A common meeting ground for its members has been its 19 state-level conferences held so far. In each of these sessions, they try to deal with the socio-economic problems of the women of the area.

Barthakur recalls an unpleasant incident during their session at Barpeta in 1988. “We had gone to the satradhikar of Barpeta satra with a petition to allow women to enter the main temple premises which had been banned since ages. But, the temple authorities had incited a group of women to physically assault us,” she says.

Lekhika, the mouthpiece of the samiti, has helped create many new women writers. Barthakur herself has edited 15 editions of the Lekhika, and has carried and biographies of several women writers who have almost sunk into oblivion. She has also written several short stories and essays.

She has edited the complete works of three eminent women writers — Nalini Bala Devi, Dharmeswari Devi Baruani and Sneha Devi. “It was a difficult enterprise because people till the 19th and even in the 20th century did not think it worthwhile to preserve the works of women writers,” says Borthakur.

Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has promised to pay the samiti Rs 5 lakh, which she wants to utilise in instituting an award in the name of the first female filmstar of Assam, Aideo Handique. “Till date, the people of Assam have not accorded her due recognition. Through our samiti, we want to honour the great lady,” says Barthakur.

Taking joy and pride in her work, she is pondering on the idea of encouraging women writing in other regional languages. “This is just the beginning. With the pen as our weapon, we want to reach out to the international fora,” she says. Going by her words, we are sure to hear more of her in the future.
ends

2010-04-04T21:45:00.004+05:30

A LITTLE HELP FROM SATHEE

An unusual project for sex workers in guwahati has managed a combination of financial support and health awareness. Teresa Rehman reports

Mamoni Begum's grocery store — a tiny shop by the railway tracks in Guwahati’s Anuradha Colony — caters to the area’s sex workers, providing them their daily rice, dal and other essentials. But Mamoni’s is no ordinary neighbourhood corner shop, for Mamoni, a sex worker herself, is also active with Sathee, a project initiated for Women in Prostitution (WIPs) by the North East Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (NESPYM). As a peer educator for Sathee, Mamoni distributes condoms to her customers, provides instruction in their use and explains why it is important to insist that clients use them. Says Chiranjeeb Kakoty, NESPYM director, “The shop has become a place to exchange ideas, and enhance and reinforce the concept of safer sexual practices.”

Mamoni, 28, a sex worker herself, came to Guwahati in hope of finding work as a domestic help but ended up in the flesh trade instead. Her daughter has recently begun going to school, and Mamoni is determined not to let her enter her profession. Of her work with Sathee she says, “I am happy to be helping my friends who have been dragged into this trade. At least they will know how to take care of their health.”

Assam’s WIPs are not an organised group as there are no specific red light areas in the state. These women are exploited, tortured and harassed by the police, by the public and by local toughs. Banks and other recognised financial institutions do not treat them at par with other people, making it impossible for them to save. They are generally not sufficiently conscious of health care requirements, nor do they get enough information on such issues as reproductive health, sanitation, legal rights, redressal and saving. Lacking any knowledge of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS, they often sell sex without protection.

“Although most WIPs use various contraceptive methods to avoid pregnancy, most of them are unaware that the condom is the only contraceptive method that can prevent pregnancy, STDs and HIV infection all at the same time,” says Kakoty.

NESPYM has been working on issues related to HIV/AIDS since 1990. It introduced the Sathee card in Guwahati in December last year, funding the pilot intervention with its own resources although it has also received support from the Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS). The project is intended to help WIPs at the lower end of the socio-economic scale, giving card holders basic groceries at cheaper prices than those in most retail shops on condition that they undergo a health check up once a month. “By selling them grocery items at subsidised rates, we develop a rapport by which we can educate them about safer sexual practices,” says Kakoty. “We are not trying to rehabilitate these women, but to support them in leading a healthier life.”

In its pilot stage, the Sathee card has initially been distributed with the help of peer educators. It carries some medical details of its holder, who will be checked for STDS and other general health problems on a regular basis. If a card holder fails to turn up for a health check-up, she will not get the benefits of the card for the following month.

The main strategies of NESPYM’s AIDS project are: (i) Behaviour change communication, (ii) STD management, (iii) Condom promotion and (iv) Creating and sustaining an enabling environment for the implementation of the previous three strategies.

‘We are trying not to rehabilitate these women, but to help them lead a healthier life,’
says Chiranjeeb KakotyAs part of the AIDS project, a Project Advisory Committee (PAC) has been formed to monitor the progress of the project and to suggest ideas for the improvement of its output. The PAC comprises people from different walks of life: lawyers, educationists, police personnel, social workers and people from the WIP community itself .

At present, the Sathee project has 35 card holders. “Initially they had no sense of collectiveness,” says Jonali Das, the project co-ordinator. “We wanted them to come together so that we can educate them about the hazards posed to their health by their profession. And starting this grocery shop was a novel idea that has really worked.”

Besides attempting to incorporate a component of economic support into its health awareness drive, the Sathee project envisages building up a women’s collective that will be able to think and act as a unified entity in those matters where individual voices are least heard.

Based on the experiences gathered from the pilot intervention and the subsequent availability of financial resources, NESPYM is planning to upscale the intervention in other parts both of the city and of the region as well. “The response has been satisfactory though not overwhelming. At least people have understood the notion of safer sex,” says Kakoty.

July 28 , 2007

In the Hot Zone

2010-03-30T18:31:00.002+05:30

http://www.newslinemagazine.com/category/newsandpolitics/

It’s not just physical dangers that one has to combat but also psychological trauma, says Indian journalist Teresa Rehman, who has extensively covered the violence-scarred Manipur and Nagaland regions.

I still remember the distraught mother of a ‘child soldier’ recruited by a militant outfit who was wailing incessantly. Sitting in the courtyard of her home in Thoubal district of Manipur, an insurgency-ravaged state in northeast India, she narrated how her 12-year-old son went out to play after school and never came back. There were several children like her son who were lured on some pretext or the other and recruited by a militant outfit. The outfit later declared that these children had joined them out of their own consent!

She took me inside her sparsely decorated living room and took out his school bag and showed his books, his sketches and his colour pencils which he was so fond of. As a woman journalist reporting from a conflict-zone, I had to curb my emotions and ask the distressed woman the usual grueling questions. And I had a feeling she could see my empathy and opened up. It took her some time though.

And then came my brush with terror. The Manipur Police Commandos, notorious for their human rights abuses, surrounded the house. I could see eyes peeping through the open windows. One of their commanders came in. He started questioning the lady about me and checked my identity card, apologised and left. The commander told the lady in his native language that he thought I was a ‘mediator.’ For a moment I held my breath and heaved a sigh of relief when they left.

The person accompanying me told me that I was fortunate that they at least stopped to ask. The state is under the draconian Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act of 1958 which gives security forces unrestricted and unaccounted power to carry out their operations once an area is declared disturbed. Even a non-commissioned officer is granted the right to shoot to kill based on mere suspicion that it is necessary to do so in order to “maintain the public order.”

An advantage of being a journalist reporting from a conflict zone is that one gets to see both sides of the coin. And as a journalist, one has to be objective and see the other side of the story, which often is eclipsed by drab government press releases on the number of militants killed and the number of arms and ammunition recovered. I almost feel that journalists can actually act as a bridge and go to the root of the complex issues that leads a young kid barely out of his or her teens to take up an AK-47 without batting an eyelid.

It’s an irrefutable fact that journalists working in this violence-scarred region, especially in Manipur and Nagaland, are constantly flirting with danger. In a state like Manipur, where over 20 different underground outfits operate, editors have been killed by unidentified gunmen and journalists stopped from doing their jobs by militant outfits that have gone to the extent of closing down newspaper offices. Mediapersons often have to face the wrath of both the underground outfits and government agencies, including the security forces.

Reporting hardcore conflict also includes visiting militant camps, which, of course, has its share of adventure. Meeting the female cadres is an intriguing experience, but most of them are lower-rung cadres waiting to serve tea and cook lunch. For the militants, it’s an equally awe-inspiring experience to interact with a journalist and, that too, a woman. I still shudder when I recall this incident while I was on my way back from a designated camp of a militant outfit in ceasefire in Assam, another state in the region. A member of the publicity wing called me and asked me to stop wherever I was. We stopped the car at a small marketplace and waited for them to turn up. I was tense and apprehensive. Then their car steered close and one of them called me towards their car. I was stunned when he thrust an envelope in my hands. He looked very uncomfortable and asked me not to open it then as it contained some important papers. I hastily sat in my car again and started off in my journey back. Then I gradually opened the sealed envelope and to my surprise I could see a wad of notes! They had actually tried to bribe me! I somehow managed to send the envelope back and I could understand the cause of the discomfiture of the man. He did not know how to bribe a female journalist! And to think of it, he thought it was imperative to bribe me.

Militant outfits are equally media-savvy, and nowadays it is not unusual to receive emailed press releases from them. As I began to write this piece, I had been reading an emailed press release sent by a militant outfit in the region. I recall what Sunil Nath, a surrendered militant, had told me once. Nath was the publicity secretary of the United Liberation Front of Assam, ULFA in short. He told me how the militant outfits were conscious of the power of the media and the publicity wing was one of their most important wings. He recalled how in 1989, the banned outfit had first acquired its prized possession – an Apple Macintosh for a steep price of Rs 1.5 lakh from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was kept a secret and few in the outfit knew of its existence. Prior to that, the militant groups used human couriers to deliver messages, which was not safe for them. But the internet changed things and they could break across geographical barriers to send across their message to the outside world, especially the media.

It is intriguing to report from a conflict zone, but it has its share of perils. It’s a tightrope for us ‘combat’ journalists as we have to grapple with threats from both the state and non-state actors. I had exposed a fake encounter by the state police in broad daylight in Manipur’s capital Imphal. A local photographer who was present at the site took minute-by-minute pictures of the gory incident and was petrified of publishing it in the local papers. Not caring for the scoop of a lifetime, he sent it to us and the story sparked off angry protests and a civil uprising in the state.

The story won global acclaim, but for me, doing the story was a traumatic experience. I was not just an objective journalist here but also a woman and a mother. The photographs haunted me. I had sleepless nights. It’s not just the physical dangers that we have to combat but also the psychological trauma, which often goes unnoticed. And to top it off, there are no support services for counselling a traumatised journalist. A journalist friend tells me that it’s a myth that journalists have to be tough. After all, we are human beings too and, most importantly, women.

ends

‘Why I screamed, rape us, take our flesh’

2010-03-30T14:16:00.003+05:30

This piece appeared in Tehelka magazine, in the May 31, 2008 issue.

Laishram Gyaneswari was among the twelve Manipuri mothers who stripped themselves four years ago to shame the Indian Army. TERESA REHMAN meets the iconic protestor
IT’S EARLY HOURS on Imphal’s Nagamapal Road. Fateh Chand Jain, proprietor of the Indo-Myanmar Furniture Shop, is unlocking its wooden shutters. He deflects enquiries about his wife, Ima Laishram Gyaneswari, with a self-effacing wave: “You put your questions to her. I don’t interfere in her matters.” But press him a little more and he speaks with pride of how this 56-year-old Meitei homemaker joined a dozen Manipuri imas, mothers, on July 15, 2004, to lay storm to the Assam Rifles headquarters at Kangla Fort. Stripping naked, they thronged the gates, screaming their outrage at the rape and alleged custodial murder of Thangjam Manorama, a 32-year-old suspected member of the banned People’s Liberation Army. Jain recalls how he didn’t even know what his wife had left the house for that day; it was only in the afternoon that he got to know of the imas’ unprecedented act of protest. “I had an inkling my wife might be involved. She had touched my feet before she left the house, something she usually does when she leaves for something important. But this time she didn’t tell me where she was going.”
“I’m very proud of her. Not everyone can be so brave, isn’t it?” he adds.
Gyaneswari joins us at this point, walking in fresh from prayers at the small temple in the courtyard. A science graduate from Ghana Priya Women’s College, Imphal, she had been an ardent political activist as a student, something she set aside after her marriage when bringing up four children took priority. Yet she remained an active member of the local chapter of the Meira Paibi, the mass-based Meitei women’s human rights movement.
Of enduring anguish was the incendiary Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA). “Back in 1960,” Gyaneswari recounts, “some J&K Rifles personnel raped a girl named Chanu Rose; she committed suicide afterwards. Ever since then, there have been several incidents of molestation, rape and torture by army men; even pregnant women were not spared. All these pained me deeply.” Then there were the many young people taken away by army personnel, never to be seen again. “I know of many mothers who have gone insane after their sons and daughters disappeared.”
Thangjam Manorama was one of those taken into the security forces’ custody, never to return. She was arrested on July 11, 2004. Her body was found the next day, dumped near her home, branded with marks of rape and torture. “Our Meira Paibi members saw her body being brought to the Regional Institute of Medical Science for the post-mortem, and they spread word of the incident. I was heart-broken when I heard. If this is what lies ahead for the young girls of Manipur, what will become of our community? We had to rise up to protect our girls,” says Gyaneswari.
On July 12, 2004, 32 local organisations came together in a conglomeration called Apunba Lup, to launch a movement to demand the AFSPA be repealed. But Gyaneswari and her associates felt this was not enough. Gathering for a closed-door meeting on July 13, they debated alternative ways of confronting the situation. “What emerged in our discussion was the feeling that we, the women of Manipur, were virtually naked — we were always insecure, forever at risk of molestation by the security forces. Why then should we not walk in the streets naked, what clearer protest could we make to teach a lesson not just to the security forces here but to the whole world?”
One hundred women were to congregate at Kangla Fort. Gyaneswari left home at 6 in the morning. “I touched my husband’s feet before I left,” she says. “In my mind, I
Outrage: The July 15,2004, protest outside the Assam Rifles headquarters asked him to forgive me because I was going to do something very crucial and I couldn’t possibly tell him about it.” By the time she reached the gates of Kangla Fort, 30 women had assembled there; 10 more trickled by a little later. While these were nowhere near the numbers that had been hoped for, time was getting on. “We felt that if we delayed, the security forces might get suspicious and impose a curfew,” explains Gyaneswari. Steeling themselves to make a rush on the gate, the protestors did not realise that there were finally only 12 of them. “I did not count the number of women then. I had no awareness of anything. I was in my own world, shouting slogans, screaming at the Indian Army to rape us, take our flesh. All that filled my mind was the image of Manorama’s corpse,” she recalls.
The imas met the men of the Assam Rifles unit with fire in their hearts, Gyaneswari says. “It was the culmination of the rage and agony we had harboured for years. We challenged them to come out and rape us before everyone. We demanded they tell us what they were stationed here for: to protect our people or to rape our women.”
Returning home that day, Gyaneswari says she was apprehensive of how her family would react. “I was scared,” she smiles as she cuddles her grandchild, “I had not sought my husband’s permission. But he told me that I had done the right thing as whatever I had done was for the women of Manipur.” Her mother, Laishram Gambhini, and her four children all felt stirred by her courage. Says her elder daughter Girija, “My mother has inspired us to do something for our women. My mother’s willpower is very strong. I have never seen her weak or breaking down. She can face anything alone.”
FOUR YEARS later, does Ima Gyaneswari feel any change after that day of radical protest? “I do feel the armed forces are more cautious while dealing with women now. The acts of molestation, rape and torture have come down. But the inhuman crimes committed under the AFSPA’S cover persist. Anybody can still be arrested or killed without explanation.”
She is also surprised at the apathy of both the Central and the state governments to the Manipuri mothers’ courageous protest. “The indifference of the government is really distressing. They are behaving as if they had neither seen nor heard a thing. Nobody ever came to meet us, not even to ask why 12 mothers of Manipur had to stage such a demonstration.”
But it cannot be this way forever, she feels. She speaks of Irom Sharmila Chanu, who has been on a hunger strike since November 2000, demanding that AFSPA be repealed. “Irom was awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2007 by the Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School of South Korea. We have activists worldwide talking about the repeal of the Act. The government will have to listen to us sooner or later,” she says
Some preliminary steps have already been taken to phase out the Act. A review committee was formed and its recommendations have been submitted to the Centre. But will peace return once the Act is repealed? There are still 20 militant outfits active in Manipur, and bordering Myanmar is a safe haven for rebel groups.
Gyaneswari points out that the AFSPA was imposed to control the insurgency in Manipur, but it has actually inflamed the rebels. “The Act is harming the very social fabric of Manipur. Common people are suffering as this Act has led to more intense conflict between the insurgent groups and the armed forces. The Act has to go.” •

Journalists' unions unite in Assam

2010-03-28T07:07:00.000+05:30

This write-up appeared in www.thehoot.org

Journalists' unions unite in Assam

Journalists' organizations in the state recently came together to rally for their joint concerns. TERESA REHMAN does an overview of their demands and woes.

Posted Saturday, Mar 27 19:31:06, 2010

For a change, journalists in this trouble-torn state have woken up to demand for their rights. Recently, 10 different organizations of journalists and newspaper employees of Assam staged a sit-in demonstration and demanded early implementation of the wage board recommendations in all newspaper houses.

The 53-year-old Assam Tribune Employees' Union, one of the oldest employee's union and probably the only active employees union in a media house in Assam took a leading role in the campaign. The Union is also affiliated to the All India Newspaper Employees Federation. Saifuddin Ahmed, president of the Union rues, “It's a general impression that unions agitate and oppose the owners which in turn lead to the closure of the organization. But how can we survive if our organization closes down?”

Ahmed explains that their first priority is growth of the organization as they are dependent on it. “We co-operate with the owners with regard to any measures taken to increase circulation, advertisement or procurement of new machinery. But we are also aware of our legal rights and we hold discussions with our proprietors,” he says. He however, admits that The Assam Tribune is an ideal media house in the sense that it has so far implemented all the wage board recommendations.

Evolution of a joint platform by newspaper employees to demand for their rights dates back to 1994 when the All Assam Newspaper Employees Federation was launched. The Federation had staged agitations when employees of newspaper organisations like ‘Natun Dainik' and ‘Aajir Batori' did not get their salaries, PF or gratuity. “Many employees were sacked at will and were not even issued appointment letters. We agitated and some of us were even jailed,” adds Ahmed.

Gradually the functioning of the Federation slowed down. This latest attempt is a renewed effort to evolve a joint footing to fight for their rights. The organizations that joined hands this time are the Assam Tribune Employees' Union, Sangbadik Karma Parishad, Journalists' Union of Assam, Asom Bartajibi Sangha, Assam Press Correspondents' Union, Assam Photo Journalists' Association, Journalists' Federation of Assam, Journalists' Forum, Assam, National Federation of Newspaper Employees and All India Newspaper Employees' Federation.

These organizations voiced their concern about the apathy of the authorities towards resolving the grievance of the journalists as well as the non-journalists. “Some media houses claim that they follow the wage board recommendations but in reality they don't. Though most of the employees are aware of their rights, they are scared to raise their voice for the fear of losing their jobs. Also there is a lot of discrepancy with regard to the salaries of one rung of employees and another. These are deliberate tactics to make the employees refrain from being united in fighting for their rights,” says Ahmed.

The organizations also expressed their concern over the plight of the correspondents in the mofussil towns and villages. Most often they don't get paid though there is a provision for them under the Wage Board that they should get 1/3rd of the salary of a sub-editor with all benefits like PF, gratuity etc.

Keshab Kalita, president of the Assam Union of Working Journalists rues, “These correspondents get paid even lesser than the ones with job cards under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Most often they don't get paid. Some media houses give a fixed monthly payment which ranges from Rs 200 to Rs 1000. And they are paid Re 1 to Rs 2 per column/cm. But they do get the press card which is often misused.”

Kalita feels that these circumstances literally force a correspondent to corrupt practices. “They are literally being used as guinea pigs by the media houses. We want to bring the mofussil journalists under the ambit of the wage board,” he says. These organizations also feel that the increasing tendency to hire all employees under the contract system have absolved them of all their rights and benefits.

Photojournalists too suffer the same fate. There are no adequate technical back-up or facilities from the media houses. There is no provision for division of beats for photojournalists unlike in national media houses. Chinmoy Roy, president of Assam Photo Journalists' Association says, “We are in a bad shape. Most often our proprietors are themselves in a bad financial shape and we cannot expect them to provide us with adequate facilities. Inspite of that we are doing good work. Its more of a passion that is driving us.”

Roy, a senior photojournalist has been working without salary for more five months now. “I joined in the demonstration not for myself but for my fellow photojournalists,” he says.

Economic, social as well as security of life for journalists as well as non-journalists is something (for which) which this joint campaign is planning to strive for. They wanted an assurance from the government to compensate the family of the journalists and non- journalists killed while on duty. Till date more than 20 journalists and non-journalists have been killed in the State and the killers are yet to be identified and booked. The organizations also expressed concern over the soaring prices of all essential commodities including food items which has hit the common people hard.

Bhabesh Barua, Advisor, Assam Press Correspondents Union wants to carry on this campaign as a sustained movement with these common demands. “The proprietors don't even care to follow High Court directives forget about wage board recommendations. The ultimate step we can take is ‘Pen Down' for a day,” he says.

Teresa Rehman is a journalist based in Northeast India. She can be reached at www.teresarehman.net

Fight For Life

2010-03-26T10:01:00.003+05:30

This article appeared in Tehelka
Fight For Life
MLAs in Nagaland and Manipur contribute time and money in the fight against AIDS
By TERESA REHMAN

When five members of the Legislators Forum on Aids (LFA) in Manipur visited the Community Care Centre in Churchandpur district last year, the bedridden, terminally ill patients were euphoric. “If VIPs like them visit us, I can definitely see a ray of hope for people like us. We also apprised them of the infrastructure and other facilities at the Centre and they promised to take care of it,” said an inmate of the Centre.

The LFA, Manipur officially was unveiled on June 30, 2007. On the launch of the forum, the Imphal Declaration was signed as a mark of commitment by the elected representatives on HIV-AIDS. All the members of the 60-member assembly are part of it including the Speaker of the House as the Chairman and its Secretary from the Opposition party, Manipur People’s Party.
The MLAs started visiting the best practice sites put in place by the NGOs and the government.

The elected representatives were also taken on an exposure trip to Sonagachi, a red light area in Kolkata to apprise the MLAs of the activities the sex workers were engaged with. As part of the sensitisation programme for the MLAs, public hearings with the church leaders, Panchayati Raj Institutions, church leaders and also with the key population were conducted. And the LFA, Manipur has 12 constituency-level conventions to its credit and they occasionally take stock of the functioning of the various Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) centres in the state.

Manipur was one of the first states to fall prey to the HIV virus in India and also had the most cases. The first case of AIDS here was detected in February 1989. Manipur now has over two percent of the country’s reported cases of AIDS despite having but 0.2 percent of the national population.

“For the first time in Manipur’s history, World AIDS Day was observed in the Legislative Assembly premises. We also constituted a forum of the elected Panchayat representatives at the grassroots,” says Sushil Huidrom, Coordinator, LFA in Manipur.

In a bid to sustain the programme which was originally funded by UNAIDS, the chief minister announced a grant of Rupees one crore and twenty lakhs to the Forum. And Rs 1 lakh each would be deducted from the MLA Local Area Development Fund amounting to a total of Rs 60 lakh. “We wish to be financially self-sustaining with technical support from UNAIDS. Now most of the MLAs make it a point to discuss the epidemic whenever they address the public and the NGOs too involve them in their activities,” adds Huidrom. The MLAs are made aware of the increasing feminisation of the AIDS although there is only one female elected representative in Manipur.

The LFA in the neighbouring Nagaland, which also has a high incidence of HIV-AIDS has an all-male assembly. Though the Forum was formally launched in 2003, it officially started functioning from September 2007. The Legislators Forum is a platform to complement and consolidate the AIDS control programmes implemented by Nagaland State AIDS Control Society (NSACS) with the assistance of over 40 NGOs in the state.

Dr Vinito, co-ordinator of the LFA in Nagaland says, “The Forum mainly works on political advocacy and is like a support unit to the State AIDS Control Society. Our main aim is to involve all the 60 members at their own levels – be it at the state, district, or their own constituencies.”

The main objective is to use the political platform to reach out to the grassroots. Till date, NGOs were operating independently but not involving the political leaders. We want to them to be the main spokespersons to eradicate the stigma associated with HIV-AIDS,” adds Dr Vinito.
The chief minister of the state is the chief patron and the speaker, the patron. In the first annual general meeting, all the 60 members were briefed about the importance of their involvement in the cause in spite of them holding different portfolios.

Last year the LFA, Nagaland organised a state-level convention and invited key players from all walks of life including NGOs, civil society and religious organisations. Each MLA contributed Rs 50,000 last year and this year they have promised Rs one lakh each. “The politicians encourage the people to come forward and undergo blood tests, thereby helping to do away with the stigma,” adds Dr Vinito.

Incidentally, a series of collaborative meetings between parliamentarians, media careerists and community leaders of Kenya, Mexico and India — all women — were held in Washington DC in June this year. This effort by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) and The Center for Women Policy Studies (CWPS) wanted to bridge the gap between the politicians and the other two sectors – media and community leaders— so that they work together to combat HIV-AIDS.

As of now, the LFA is functional in only the two states of the Northeast — Nagaland and Manipur but nevertheless it is a good beginning and sends out a positive message. Hopefully, such forums will be active in the other states of the region too. These are the two states with the highest incidence of HIV-AIDS mainly contracted through intravenous drug use. The proximity to Myanmar, one of the highest opium producing countries, has not helped.

The forum has also raised expectations among AIDS patients with their leaders now speaking up for them. L. Deepak Singh, president of the Manipur Network of Positive People says, “It’s a challenge for our elected representatives to bring this issue in the public fora. It calls for more commitment and should not exist just for namesake.”

Singh points out that, apart from organising public meetings, it is pertinent to address the issue of the new generation, a number of them having infected at birth. These young HIV positive patients need special care and counseling as they face the same stigma and discrimination for no fault of theirs. Singh says, “Many of them even hesitate to come to the ART centres to for their medicines as they are asked uncomfortable questions. Our leaders should understand that the dying cannot wait.”

Posted on Dec 12 , 2008

Business is not a man’s domain: Selima

2010-03-25T15:55:00.002+05:30

This article appeared in The Telegraph

Business is not a man’s domain: Selima
Passing Through / Selima Ahmad

The lady means business. Elegant, poised and confident, Selima Ahmad, founder of Bangladesh Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a non-profit organisation set up to bring about women’s economic development and empowerment, is a trendsetter. Draped in a crisp kantha saree, Ahmad says in her typical no-nonsense fashion, “We are here to do business. We are open to any kind of new ideas and business proposals.”

On her first visit to the city to take part in the 11th edition of the Guwahati International Trade Fair, Ahmad is optimistic. She says, “We will talk only of positive things and explore ways in which we can strengthen business relations with the region. We should work on the basis of comparative advantage rather than competitive advantage.” She adds, “With growing globalisation, the West is coming to the East. We are on a mission to strengthen ties with our neighbours.”

Ahmad got into the business of manufacturing artificial silk flowers at the age of 18. She completed her masters in business management from Dhaka University. “In Bangladesh, women are very active. Our government policies are very women-friendly. The work done by the Bangladesh Gramin Bank to strengthen the role of women in the micro-credit sector is particularly commendable,” she says.

The sight of the mighty Brahmaputra makes her feel that things could take a revolutionary turn for both countries if river transport was opened up. “Brahmaputra flows through our country, too, and could link both countries,” she says.

She was initially very apprehensive about coming to Guwahati. “I heard a lot of negative things about the region. But you do not get to know the reality unless you visit a place personally. I am overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people here,” she says. During her brief sojourn to the city, she visited and was enchanted by the ambience of Srimanta Sankardev Kalakshetra. “It is a beautiful place, which reflects the contours and colours of the cultural heritage of the region,” she says.

Set up in June 2001, the Bangladesh Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry is among the two business chambers for women in the world, the other one being in Sri Lanka. A smiling Ahmad says, “We felt the need for a separate platform for women entrepreneurs.”

The chamber now has 220 members, 10 non-governmental organisations and over 10,000 micro-level women entrepreneurs working in tandem. “Our main objective is to provide support to women entrepreneurs to undertake business and trade activities. We are like an incubator nurturing the business skills of the budding women entrepreneurs,” she points out, adding that they have been providing valuable support to members in terms of training, market access, access to finance, networking, business awareness and capacity building.

The chamber is a strong community voice, lobbying for micro and macro-level women entrepreneurs and providing services and benefits to support the growth of its members. “We serve all kinds of business with a special focus on small rural women entrepreneurs,” she says.
“Our members are not confined to the traditional women-dominated sectors. We have women involved in the information technology sector, media and items made of recycled glass and metals,” says Ahmad.

Discovering a common thread with the women in the region, Ahmad says she was recently in Rajasthan for a counselling session with rural women. “I was astonished by the similarity. All these women have the same problems, dreams, commitments, hopes and aspirations.”
Asserting that business is not a man’s domain, she feels, “It is the mindset of a few disadvantaged people. In fact, it is a very good career option for women as they can find time for their family.”

She sees a bright future for Indo-Bangla ties in five years. “I can feel the pulse. We will have to implement policies, which are conducive to trade and commerce,” she says. Lauding the efforts of the trade fair authorities, she says, “We need to organise more such trade fairs, which can serve as a platform to showcase each other’s products and explore the market. I believe in business and not in unnecessary formalities.” She is also hoping to participate in the trade fair at Shillong, which will be held soon. “We need to know more about each other. This can only be done with a open mind and heart,” she says.

Teresa Rehman

Discovering inner strength

2010-03-24T22:03:00.002+05:30

This article appeared in The Telegraph

TERESA REHMAN PROFILES A TECHNOCRAT WHO GAVE A NEW MEANING TO BRAVING CHALLENGES

I had to start life all over again,” says technocrat Bolen Baishya with a stoical look that quite masks his extraordinary grit and determination. Baishya is at present secretary of the Assam Public Health Engineering (PHE) department.

His world came crumbling down just as his life was blossoming. “You will have to spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair,” doctors at Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, had cautioned him. Disaster struck in October 1977, when he was posted at Diphu, Karbi Anglong, as executive engineer (PHE) just after two-and-a-half years of his service life. Baishya had a nasty fall and suffered from a serious neck injury while he was surveying a water supply scheme.

Recalling those turbulent times, he recalls, “The year 1981 was a turning point of my life. In the month of July, 1981, I suddenly suffered an acute disc prolapse and was paralysed from neck downwards, an outcome triggered by my fall then.” He was admitted to Gauhati Medical College Hospital immediately but due to lack of sophisticated investigating methods like CT scan and MRI in GMCH in those days, he was shifted to CMCH, Vellore.

“I was operated upon under the supervision of Dr Mathai, then head of the department of neurology at CMCH, Vellore. The post-operative verdict was that I had survived but would have to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair,” he says. His wife was eight months pregnant then and Baishya was in Vellore with his brother, a doctor. “My brother had, in fact, asked the doctors if he could go in for mercy killing,” he remembers.

Two decades on, it is a miracle that Baishya can walk and carry on with his duties. “After the doctors gave the verdict, I was sent to Bagayam rehabilitation centre in Vellore for 16 weeks, where I had to undergo physiotherapy, occupational therapy, magnetic therapy and extensive physical exercise. As a result of this lengthy spell, I gained the ability to use a wheelchair,” says the technocrat.

Having grown up in an environment of Gandhian ideology of love and brotherhood, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, he learnt to accept the pitfalls of life gracefully. “I have tolerance for all religions, an open mind, a deep sense of respect for all forms of labour and faith in my own ability,” says Baishya.

Born in the lush green hills of Raitsamthiah, Meghalaya, in 1946, his childhood was spent in North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now Arunachal Pradesh, in places like Liekmargherita, Tezu, Krimein and Zero. After the devastating earthquake of 1950, the then NEFA authorities set up an orphanage to accommodate the earthquake victims near the coal town of Margherita. “I was an inmate of the orphanage not because my parents were victims of the earthquake but because of the untimely death of my father in Zero. My widowed mother had to fend for four growing children,” he says.

Gandhi’s influence
Gandhian doctrines were imbued in the inmates by the legendary ardent follower of Gandhian philosophy, late M.N. Bordoloi. Octogenarian educationist and social reformer Indira Miri was then director of education in NEFA. The inmates in the orphanage were taught how to be self-reliant. “We were taught the art and intricacies of spinning thread for weaving shuttles, construction and maintenance of pit latrines and the indigenous knowhow for growing seasonal vegetables,” he says.

Baishya shifted to Guwahati in 1955 and went on through his academic journey in Manik Chandra Madhyamik English School, Cotton Collegiate School and Cotton College. He completed his graduation in civil engineering in 1969 from Jorhat Engineering College and joined the PHE department as a trainee engineer in 1970.

Overcoming odds
Since the beginning of his career, Baishya had been facing challenges. In 1972, when the then chief minister of Assam Sarat Chandra Sinha suddenly decided to shift the capital of Assam from Shillong to Guwahati, his department was given a period of three months only to construct the water supply scheme along with full distribution network for the temporary capital complex, Baishya recalls. “Till date, it gives me immense pleasure that we could execute this challenging task before the stipulated time period,” he says.

The accident though, left him a changed man. “Initially I was disheartened. But I could feel a surge of willpower emanating from within my soul. My strong faith in God endowed me with the power to carry on,” he says. His attending physician and nurse assured him that a day would come when he would be able to walk again. The physician’s assurance elated his spirit. The nurses’ words, “The will to walk again should come from within. If you realise your inherent strength, there is nothing that can stop you from walking again,” still reverberates in his mind.

Baishya came back to Guwahati after six months at Vellore and went through a strict and rigorous regime of physiotherapy for a whole year that made him capable of walking slowly with the help of a stick. He lost no time in joining the chief engineer, PHE’s office in the capacity of executive engineer and within a very short time resumed his normal duties.

With a sense of pride, Baishya says, “I have not been out of the state for as many as 23 years, yet I manage to keep pace with day-to-day developments at the national and international levels just by studying the background material. My disability never came between me and my duty.”
His never-say-die spirit reigns supreme. With four months to go for his retirement, Baishya now wants to work for the disabled. “I want to generate awareness about the rights and privileges of the disabled. I want to remove the social stigma about these kind of people who are otherwise able,” he adds.
ends

Pachyderm panic in Assam

2010-03-23T19:45:00.004+05:30

This article appeared in http://www.infochangeindia.org

Pachyderm panic in Assam
By Teresa Rehman

Rampant habitat destruction has forced Assam’s elephants into close contact with humans. It is now all-out war between hungry elephants and angry tea estate workers. And still the forest department, the tea authorities and the district administration keep passing the buck

There was a time when elephants were considered fun. Children would run after them and the elderly offered prayers to ‘Ganesh Baba’ at the sight of the pachyderm. Pallab Lochan Das, the young general secretary of the All-Assam Tea Tribe Students Association (AATTSA) has memories of elephants visiting his peaceful Pabhoi tea estate near Biswanath Chariali, in Assam’s Sonitpur district. “We used to feed them bananas and other fruits. We used to even enjoy short rides on them. It was an exciting moment for us,” he says.

As he grew up, he began to witness the conflict between these peace-loving animals and human beings. By the time he was in high school in the early-1990s, Das and his friends were active participants in bursting crackers and carrying lighted lamps across the tea estate to scare away rampaging elephants.

Gradually, the destruction caused by the animals left him pained and angry. Not at the elephants but at the authorities for turning a blind eye to the cause -- the rampant depletion of forest cover that had destroyed the elephants’ traditional habitat and food sources and had forced them to seek food and water inside tea estates.

Over the years, the conflict between man and elephant has intensified; it has now become a virtual war between hungry elephants and angry tea estate workers. Estates located on the fringe of the forests, on the Assam-Arunachal border on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, are the main targets of herds of elephants that have lost their natural habitat to deforestation. The animals prefer to stay inside the tea estates during the day because of the shade; at night they invade the paddy fields in neighbouring villages.

In earlier days, the elephants would move from Arunachal Pradesh to the nearest waterbody -- usually the Brahmaputra. Today, their movement is restricted with man-made encroachments on their habitat and corridors, in the form of brick kilns, tea estates, even residential dwellings. This has resulted in animals going on the rampage in the adjoining tea estates and villages.

Das expresses anguish at the heartrending cries of Sulung Munda, mother of three children who were crushed to death by a herd of wild elephants in the Monabarie tea estate in November 2008. At first the elephants destroyed the house and killed two children who were sleeping; they then returned and killed her third child. The parents, Nakul and Sulung, managed to flee with their youngest son. Both of them were injured.

“I am pained by her plight. She seemed so helpless and the authorities seemed equally helpless. She has been crying inconsolably,” Das says. Unlike his own carefree childhood in the tea gardens, parents now are reluctant to allow their children to go out and play. Who knows? They could be crushed to death by a herd of wild pachyderms.

Das and his associates from AATTSA, who have been running from the district administration’s office to the forest department asking for relief for victims of marauding herds of elephants in the tea estates of Assam, decided that enough was enough. The powerful students’ body has now issued a diktat to the concerned authorities: implement an effective control mechanism or face a lock-up at the tea estates. He says: “Five people were killed in the past one month, including three children. We want to ask the authorities why these peace-loving animals have turned into destroyers within a span of a few years.”

Das narrates several incidents that took place in November 2008.
On November 23, a herd of marauding elephants visited Dibrudolong tea estate in Dhekiajuli, in Assam’s Sonitpur district, at around 1.30 am. Bablu Nayak, 38, a tea worker who was sleeping in his thatched house, was trampled to death. The elephants destroyed 10 labour quarters and five houses. In Brahmajan tea estate, in Gohpur in the same district, a herd of elephants entered the estate during the day and scared the workers. Till date, the forest department has not given any of these people compensation or a rehabilitation package.

Das says: “The rampant deforestation on the north bank of the Brahmaputra has made the tea estates vulnerable to herds of wild elephants. The forest department comes and inspects the area and does not even pay the prescribed compensation. We have repeatedly asked the forest department to give us kerosene to light fires, and crackers to scare away the elephants.”
The association has demanded compensation to rebuild houses and put up electric fencing. “If our appeals are not heard we will resort to agitations and declare a lock-up of gardens in the area,” he says.

There are around 800 tea plantations in Assam, with the state accounting for over 55% of India’s annual tea production of about 900 million kg. Around 107 big estates exist in the north bank region of the Brahmaputra. They include the four tea-growing districts of Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Sonitpur and Darrang. Sonitpur district, the worst affected of them, has 74 big gardens and several small ones. Each garden supports around 500 permanent workers and their families, besides other employees.

According to WWF-India figures, between 1996 and 2009 there have been 204 human deaths and 131 elephant deaths in Sonitpur district alone. Damage to houses and property varies from tea garden to tea garden, but on average, it amounts to Rs 1 lakh. Often, deaths and injuries go unreported because of lack of awareness.

Wildlife activists blame the destruction of forests and traps that have led to the death of stray elephants. Anupam Sarmah, landscape coordinator of the North Bank Landscape Conservation Programme, WWF-India, says: “Elephant cubs often fall into trenches. Sometimes, unscrupulous elements deliberately spray pesticides in waterbodies where the elephants come to drink water. This kills many elephants. Sometimes live wires are placed for deliberate electrocution. But if you compare these numbers, they are not high. Forest loss is the root of the conflict. Other reasons like change in food habits etc are secondary causes.”

For instance, an elephant was electrocuted on Bhutiachang tea estate in Udalguri district, in November 2009. The female pachyderm died when it came into contact with a high-tension transmission line in Section-1 of the tea garden. Elephants often run into cables that are connected to high-tension power lines running above, which farmers lie in their paddy fields to keep the elephants away.

Sarmah explains that elephants stray into tea gardens simply because they have nowhere else to go. “Many people die, but elephants die too. What we need is efficient tackling of the problem and an immediate compensation mechanism. In districts like Udalguri, relatives of the victim do not get compensation due to a continuing ‘resource crunch’.”

Compensation by the forest department includes an ex-gratia of Rs 40,000 for a person who has died; Rs 20,000 for permanent disability; Rs 1,000-2,000 for damage to a house; Rs 2,000 for damage to crops. Meanwhile, forest officials continue to highlight efforts made to curb the menace. Chandan Bora, DFO, Sonitpur, explains the anti-depredation drives with the help of kunkis (trained elephants). He says: “The tea estate owners must also take this up as a social responsibility. They can provide items like searchlights, crackers and kerosene to light fires to scare away the elephants.”

In a bid to promote the co-existence of man and elephant, the government organises one of India’s largest elephant festivals, in Kaziranga National Park. Held jointly by the forest and tourism departments, this annual event aims at increasing eco-tourism and raising awareness about the elephant’s struggle with man for limited resources. The idea is to find ways to resolve the conflict.

Interestingly, a major attraction for the elephants is country liquor that’s prepared on the fringes of the tea gardens. The forest department in Udalguri district has urged the district administration to carry out an eviction drive in the liquor dens to keep the elephants away.

Meanwhile the tea authorities express their helplessness as, under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, they have no powers to deal with the elephants. “The government seems to be more favourable to the elephants. Elephants have ravaged hearth and home and razed them to the ground. We have organised awareness workshops and adopted several strategies like electric fencing, but nothing seems to work,” says Robin Barthakur, Additional Chairman, Bharatiya Chah Parishad.
And so the blame game carries on and the authorities keep passing the buck. The tea garden authorities blame the forest department; the forest department blames the politicians and district administration. And the man-elephant conflict in Assam’s tea estates threatens to become uglier with each passing day.

(Teresa Rehman is a journalist based in northeast India. She was awarded the Sarojini Naidu Award for Best Reporting on Women and Panchayati Raj in 2007 and the Sanskriti Award for Excellence in Journalism 2009)

Infochange News & Features, February 2010

Creating a sectoral partnership

2010-03-23T09:40:00.004+05:30

This one appeared in The Hoot.

Women parliamentarians, journalists and civil society members from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh begin to work together on women and HIV-AIDS. TERESA REHMAN describes this coming together of three sectors.

Posted Sunday, Jan 24 23:42:35, 2010

Little did three women meeting for a friendly luncheon at Heritage India at Dupont Circle in Washington DC irealize that they would actually propel a novel sisterhood of women all over the world.

The three friends, Leslie Wolfe, Jane Ransom and Yolonda Richardson were powerful women, heads of three international women?s organizations based in Washington DC ? Centre for Women Policy Studies (CWPS), International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) and Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) respectively.

What came out of the lunch was a resolve to chart a new course of partnership among women's rights organizations. Particularly among three sectors -- parliamentarians, journalists and civil society who rarely work together in a 'safe space'.

Wolfe explains, "We wanted to create an environment of sisterhood and trust which, to be honest, would resemble our own trusting and sisterly relationship. It was especially important to us that our three NGOs were not competitors in any way, as we had different constituencies, different convening strategies, and different sets of expertise."

Therefore, the trio resolved to do something different. They decided to complement rather than compete with each other in order to have a multiplier effect on the way the toughest women's human rights issues could be address through women's policy leadership -- as policy makers, policy advocates, and policy reporters.

Their idea bore fruit and with grants from Ford Foundation, their first programme titled "Advancing Women?s Leadership in Global HIV-AIDS policymaking" to foster new global partnerships to promote woman-centered HIV/AIDS policy in their countries. Two women each from the three sectors -- parliamentarians, journalists and women living with HIV-AIDS and NGO leaders representatives from three different countries India, Kenya and Mexico came together to attend a series of high-level meetings at the US Congress, Washington DC and the UN Headquarters, New York in June 2008.

The participants resolved to go back to work in their own milieu but also continue this partnership and try to expand it to other sectors as well. The main concern was the similarity in their problems inspite of being from diverse countries, the escalating feminization of the epidemic and the alarming rise in HIV positive cases in married women in monogamous relationships. These revelations broke new ground ? on how the very definition of HIV-AIDS is skewed and how it perpetuated stigma and discrimination. And how the stigma is killing more people than the virus itself. The meeting inspired the initiation of a listserv called Red Ribbon Media where women from these three sectors share news and information relating to HIV-AIDS.

In 2009 again, the resolve moved from "global to regional", the focus this time was on South Asia in order to see some specific regional follow-up plans that two participants each from the three sectors in three different countries -- India, Bangladesh and Pakistan would develop and commit to implementing during 2010. During the South Asia Initiative held in Washington DC in December 2009, the participants resolved to work together on various issues like property rights, sex education for adolescents and access to information on HIV/AIDS. The idea was to bring the women together in new ways that might not reflect their Governments' traditional and current relationships.

The women discussed various issues and how its time to stop focusing on specific "risk groups" of women and instead consider that all women face some level of risk of HIV infection, some level of stigma and discrimination, some level of sexual violence and economic dependency. Once again it dawned on everyone that women and their issues were similar, only the circumstances varied.
Of greatest importance is the fact that women's self-defined needs are not yet at the absolute center of HIV-AIDS policy and programming. At long last, during the past decade, women have gotten onto the agenda at a higher level, but unless we move to the top of the policy agenda, I fear we will still be having these conversations again in 20 years -- and that would be a tragedy for the world," adds Wolfe.

The first step in bringing the three sectors together to achieve a shared mission had been accomplished. Yasmeen Rehman, Member of Parliament from Pakistan feels it's a brilliant idea. "In Pakistan taboo and stigma is a big problem. Some people bracket HIV-AIDS with bad sex behaviour. Moreover, there is no clear-cut policy on stigma and allocation of funds. The silence is killing and we have to come out of this state of denial." She has some ideas like mainstreaming of HIV-AIDs with other health services, educating adolescents and motivating religious leaders to talk about it in the sessions after the prayers called the 'Khutba'. As a representative of the people, she feels that if she goes out and meet HIV positive people, she will succeed in breaking the stigma to a great extent.

Member of Parliament from India, Prabha Thakur who is also on the Parliamentary Forum on HIV-AIDS feels that these three sectors are anyway interlinked though not formally. "I am looking forward to this formal interlinking through ngos, public representatives and media monitors. The ngos give information to the public to create awareness, the MPs can talk on policy making and take it up with the health ministry and media can create awareness through education and knowledge," she says.

Bangladesh already has a vibrant civil society. Mufaweza Khan, Executive Director, Concerned Women for Family Development, an NGO of Bangladesh feels that it is important to take forward the existing policies and programmes rather than creating something new. She feels that care and treatment of HIV positive women is a real issue. "The reporters will write, the civil society will keep them informed and act as a pressure group on the parliamentarians to implement the policies," she says.

The journalists from these three countries have always been working with the civil society but are enthused by the involvement of the Parliamentarians. Journalist from Bangladesh, Zannatul Bakiya working with Channel I, the first satellite channel of the country feels that these linkages will have to created step by step. Yasmin Reema, working with "Daily News", Bangaldesh feels that for 16 long years, she has been working on the issues of HIV-AIDS but in isolation. She looks forward to working in collaboration with these three sectors now.The Pakistani journalists are buoyant about working together too. Sumera Khan, from Express news channel feels all the three sectors will have to do continuous follow-ups and work for the cause. Her colleague, Huma Khawar, a development journalist says, "The meeting broke the ice between us. We will be on better terms once we go back to our countries. We develop a bond in such forums to take it forward. I am very positive about it." Hopefully one luncheon will lead to a chain reaction -- of many more luncheons all over the world and usher in positive changes in women affected and vulnerable to HIV-AIDS.

(The writer is a journalist based in India and has been part of this programme. She can be reached at www.teresarehman.net).

Standing up for the rights of the disabled

2010-03-22T20:46:00.002+05:30

http://infochangeindia.org/201001078122/Disabilities/Stories-of-change/Standing-up-for-the-rights-of-the-disabled.html

Standing up for the rights of the disabled
By Teresa Rehman
In the northeastern state of Assam, riddled with insurgency, the rights of disabled people get even lower priority than elsewhere in the country. Disability Law Unit-North East has come up with successful legal interventions to secure the rights of the disabled in the region and to spread awareness about the protections available under the law

In Assam’s Morigaon district school teacher Prafulla Pator goes for his evening walks along the lanes of his village leaning on his crutch, attends panchayat meetings, and exudes a new-found confidence while working in his school. His speech problem, however, continues and he still cannot teach in the classroom. A well-known singer once, he continues to take active part in social and cultural functions in his locality.

Things were not so smooth ten years ago. In 1999, Pator suffered a stroke which paralysed the left side of his body. This left him with a locomotor disability. The school authorities refused to let him work and he was denied any salary for six years. This was the same school he had founded in 1982. He was so badly off financially that he had to mortgage some land so that he and his joint family could survive.

Pator’s village is located some 100 km from Assam’s capital city, Guwahati. He was the first person from his village to graduate from a college in Guwahati. He returned to his village and founded the Bishnu Rabha High School in 1982. So, quite naturally, his illness and the attitude of the school authorities left him shattered. He could not afford any advanced treatment and struggled for six years to meet the basic needs of his family.

His story appeared in a local daily in May 2005 and it caught the attention of the Disability Law Unit-North East (DLU-NE) of Shishu Sarothi, an NGO, which intervened in his case. The DLU was set up in 2003 to fight for the rights of persons with disabilities in the region. Since 2006, it has been supported by Light for the World, Austria. The unit advocates policy change, litigation and awareness among stakeholders.

DLU helped Pator to file a case in the Guwahati High Court to fight for his rights under the provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, which states that no government employee acquiring a disability during service shall be removed from service or reduced in rank. As a person with 50% disability, Pator falls well within the ambit of this Act.

In a landmark judgment in May 2006, the Guwahati High Court directed that Pator be reinstated and given full back wages with 6% interest. “This judgment was our first success story. We followed up his case with the education commissioner and made sure he got his compensation,” says Anju Talukdar, lawyer and co-ordinator of the unit.

Pator’s case was a pathbreaker and had a ripple effect. It inspired others to approach DLU-NE to fight for their rights. An engineering graduate from Jorhat Engineering College today, Irshad Alam filed a case with the help of DLU-NE after he was denied admission on the basis of being ‘medically unfit’.

Nripendra Nath Mahanta was an employee of the Life Insurance Corporation of India when he lost his vision due to a brain tumour. He was due for a promotion but was not allowed to join work. He approached the DLU which approached the Guwahati High Court which issued a notice to LIC in July 2007. Within one month, Mahanta was allowed back at work and was also promoted to branch manager.

The rights of the disabled are generally ignored in a region like the northeast of India which is plagued by conflict and violence. But the DLU-NE has been doing commendable work in ensuring that the basic rights of the disabled are not violated due to ignorance and lack of legal support.
Armaan Ali, former co-ordinator of DLU-NE, who is himself physically challenged, says that disability advocacy is still regarded as a charity and welfare measure. In 2006 he had filed a PIL and asked for and obtained a stay on the Assam Civil Services Examination. The advertisement for the exam had contained reservations for everybody except the disabled. As per the law, a minimum of 3% of seats have to be reserved for the disabled. The Assam Public Services Commission had to re-advertise with the required provision.

In another intervention, DLU-NE filed a case for Duleswar Nath who works for the Central Reserve Police Force as a havaldar. He has three daughters all of whom have cerebral palsy. He was transferred to Tripura, but argued that it would be difficult for him to get the special needs of his children attended to there. The Guwahati High Court suspended the transfer and he was posted close to Guwahati.

DLU-NE disseminates information on issues of the disabled and organises sensitisation workshops for lawyers and NGOs. It has also tried to monitor the accessibility of polling booths in Arunachal Pradesh and pointed out that job advertisements in Meghalaya’s North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEGRIMS) did not reserve seats for the disabled.

DLU’s Talukdar says that of all kinds of human rights, rights of the disabled are the most neglected in the northeast region. Physical barriers in the environment together with social discrimination limit and often extinguish opportunities for disabled people to work and lead a normal life. There is little documentation of the extent of disability in the region. There are even differences on how disability is defined and therefore on the numbers of disabled people.
India has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2008 and is therefore obliged to amend its laws in tune with the provisions of the Convention. Parties to the Convention are required to promote, protect and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law.

Over the last two decades, the protection of persons with disabilities was made mandatory with the passing of certain legislations like the Persons with Disabilities Act (1995), the Mental Health Act (1987), the Rehabilitation Council of India Act (1992), the National Trust Act (1999), and the National Policy for Persons with Disabilities (2006). The National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with Human Rights Law Network has come out with a publication titled Handbook on Employment for Persons with Disabilities in Government of India. The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has come out with a Corporate Code on Disability for voluntary adoption by companies, which would help them be recognised for their social responsibility and commitment.

Meghalaya has been very active in creating awareness, especially in rural areas, through DLU-NE’s partner organisation Bethany Society. One of the major interventions by Bethany Society is the formation of Disabled Persons Organisation (DPO) in every district and block level. These DLOs have come together and formed the Association of Challenged People, Meghalaya. DLU-NE provides technical and legal aid to these DLOs.

Carmo Noronha, director of Bethany Society says, “We have been able to put a lot of pressure on the government in order to ensure that at least some of the rights of disabled persons are looked at. For instance, reservation in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, in higher education, and 3% reservation in all poverty alleviation schemes including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act schemes.” Bethany Society has also drafted a policy on disability for Meghalaya state.

In a region like the northeast, where the rights of the disabled are eclipsed by other pertinent issues of violence and insurgency, creating awareness of the rights of the disabled is a long-drawn-out process. Talukdar adds, “We can start with education and access which can change things on the ground. There are reservations and employment in government services but not enough qualified applicants.”

Most often, due to large-scale ignorance of the law among disabled people, bureaucrats distort the laws to suit their own ends. Talukdar cites an example. In 2008, the Director of Medical Education, Assam, issued a notice for admission to paramedical courses. In order to fulfil the mandatory 3% disability quota, the definition of disability was changed to include only ‘persons with locomotor disability of the lower limbs and having 50-70% disability.’

Under the Persons with Disabilities Act, 'person with disability' means a person having 40% or more blindness, low vision, leprosy-cured, hearing impairment, locomotor disability, including cerebral palsy, mental retardation and mental illness. “This was a mockery of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 and the Constitution of India,” Talukdar says.

The hilly terrain in most parts of the region makes life even more difficult for people with disabilities. For instance, Chaing Puii, secretary of the Spastic Society of Mizoram, says that most disabled people are denied their basic right to vote as polling booths are not accessible. “Acquiring motorised wheelchairs for everyone is not a feasible idea for economic reasons and most often disabled people remain confined to their homes. Parents are often reluctant to bring out their children and many are confined to their homes,” adds Puii. The Spastic Society, which is a partner organisation of DLU-NE, is working on community-based rehabilitation programmes in 30 villages of Mizoram.

Hopefully, organisations like DLU-NE will be able to generate awareness of legislations on disability and overcome impediments like social exclusion, poverty, and accessibility which make the disabled an ‘invisible minority’.

(Teresa Rehman is a journalist based in Northeast India)
Infochange News & Features, January 2010

The hills are alive with the sound of FM

2010-03-22T14:39:00.002+05:30

http://thehoot.org/web/home/searchdetail.php?sid=4372&bg=1

The hills are alive with the sound of FM

In a region mired in bloody conflict, the magic of radio is back and has struck an emotional chord with the music loving populace of the region. TERESA REHMAN describes how Private FM radio is rocking Shillong, Agartala and Itanagar

Posted Sunday, Feb 28 17:16:18, 2010
Shillongites have a new watchdog now. Reckless taxi drivers, public smokers, those urinating in public in Shillong are wary of Kong Lor, a character in an “on air special” show on Red FM. Kong is an endearing term in Khasi language used to address a lady.

In fact, Kong Lor, a fictitious character, who takes up a pertinent social issue on her very popular show has become the talk of the town. Listeners call her up and urge her to take up issues such as certain outdated customs, red tapism and civic problems.

With the tagline “Its Rocking”, this 24x7 FM station in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya which was launched only on June 2009 is literally rocking the state with its unique shows. Their star is a 70-year-old RJ Leslie Hardinge Pde better known as Bah Besbha who has a droll interactive show full of wisecracks. The channel has a range of 120 kms and all its RJs are local as the programmes is mostly in the Khasi language and in the Jyantia dialect.

Denizens of small towns and cities of the Northeast are literally rubbing the dust off their radio sets as private FM channels are ushering in a new interactive radio culture. Before the advent of FM, radio meant only the national news and programmes produced and broadcast by the government-owned All India Radio (AIR) and over amplitude modulated (AM) signals. After the initial phase I of the expansion of FM radio broadcasting services through private agencies in May 2000, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting formulated the Phase II of the expansion and 336 radio stations spread over 91 towns/cities of A+, A, B, C and D categories across the country have been given to private players in 2005.

Guwahatians got their first taste of FM radio when the first FM station of the northeast, Radio Ooo La La 91.9 FM was launched in April 2007. The station now has over 18 RJs and 37 different programmes. Their very own jargon and colloquial speech and cultural nuances are adding a local tang to radio communication. “Our programmes airing social messages are so natty that many ngos have asked us to do their promotional packages,” says Bhupesh Saikia, its station head. The Ooo La La network belongs to the group which owns NE Television.

The FM train has also touched Agartala in Tripura after the first and only private FM station was launched in August, 2007. On air from 6 am in the morning to 1 pm at night, Radio Ooo La La here also broadcasts entertainment programmes apart from talk shows on certain pertinent issues. Apart from playing Hindi, Bengali and sometimes English songs, there is a one-hour show in Kokborok, a tribal language of the state. The station also plays a play by local artistes every week.

Sanjib Deb, its station head says, “The response has been overwhelming. We cover almost two-third of Tripura and an aerial distance of 50 km. Commercially too, it has been viable and within one year, we are in a break-even position. We hope to go live 24 hours soon.”

The FM story in the Northeast is incomplete without its share of quaint tales. For instance, Radio Ooo La La in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, launched in August 2008, is actually running on a generator. Its general manager Anurag Singh says, “We have electricity in the main station but not on the transmission site. But we hope to get it soon.” There are 10 young local RJs in the station and they have been given a crash course in RJing. Compared to the big metros which have so many FM stations, they play a very important role in communication. “Once we had broadcast some messages from the district administration of Arunachal Pradesh on possible landslides which helped in cautioning the people in advance,” Singh adds.

RJs, the public face of any FM station, take a proactive role in social activities such as flood relief campaigns and spending time in the cancer hospital. RJ Hansraj of Big 92.7 FM says, “Its no work at all. I enjoy every moment.” Paranjit Borkotoky, promo producer and sound engineer of Big 92.7 FM feels that every FM station tries to beat their rivals by incorporating innovative shows in the local flavour.

And for a place like Shillong which has rock bands in almost every street, the FM channels are literally taking them back to their roots. Ian Khongmen, Station Head, Red FM, Shillong claims, “Our station is unique as we play superhit music from the 60s to the present generation including the local Khasi bands. We get calls from 6 am in the morning to 12 midnight, which is quite remarkable for a sleepy town like Shillong.”

One of their innovative shows feature local folk singers playing English hit numbers in their own traditional instruments and singing the same song in their native tongue. Khongmen adds that inspite of their office being located on the fourth floor, their fans regularly visit them, congratulate them and even send them cards. “We have a certain kind of formatting and we follow the international standard. We play more music,” he adds.
As the famous Bob Marley number goes, “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain”. In a region mired in bloody conflict, the magic of radio is refreshingly back and has struck an emotional chord with the music loving populace of the region. And going by the number of FM stations increasing day by the day, one can easily claim that radio is here to stay.

A 70-YEAR-OLD RJ

RJ Leslie Hardinge Pde popularly known as Bah Besbha

“I am not 70. I am 70 years and five months. I am the oldest man in the station. I am older than the station head,” he chuckles. Brimming with energy, Besbha has become a household name in Meghalaya after his popular weekly show “Kylli Na U Besbha” (Ask your questions to Besbha) on SFM was launched in July last year. His show is full of wisecracks for listeners and the character that Besbha is, listeners don’t expect grim answers to their queries.

His is quite an unconventional ingress into the realm of RJs which is usually the domain of the young and the restless, making him probably the oldest RJ in India. A retired bureaucrat with the Meghalaya government, Besbha is not a novice in the entertainment industry. Oozing with confidence, it did not take long for Besbha, a veteran stage performer and actor, to pick up the nuances of his new vocation as an RJ.

A lovable grandfather, Besbha is a darling of his nine grandchildren. They enjoy it when people call their grandpa Besbha. Besbha says, “Young people like to be with me. I forget to get old as I am always running short of time. I enjoy anything that entertains people and adds to my knowledge. And because of my experience and knowledge, my fellow RJs respect me. I am literally a trouble-shooter for them.” He had evolved the character of Besbha on a 70-episode comedy serial, Ki Kam U Bah Besbha on Shillong Doordarshan Kendra.

Besbha unearths humour in little things in life and he tries to address grave issues through humour and even satire. He is also the founder-member of Khasi Humour Society and has done several humourous plays and skits. He sums it all, “A man who doesn’t have a sense of humour is not a man at all.”

FM radio is literally ushering in a revolution and is heard by both young and old and Besbha is proud to be a part of the bandwagon. “I am amazed at the callers who call from as far as Bangladesh border. I also try to ensure that I do 99 and half percent of the show in Khasi as I want to cultivate and keep the language alive among the masses,” adds Besbha, who is also the author of several books in Khasi language. Some of his books and translations have also been prescribed in the curriculum of North Eastern Hill University.

He feels that radio will even take over television because of its portable nature. He recalls one such interactive session when a young boy from a remote village asked a funny question. The question was – “What type of a plant has no seed?” The boy gave 10 seconds to Besbha to ponder. And when Besbha failed, the boy answered that it’s a mushroom. Besbha says, “I literally fell from my seat. They learn from me and I learn from them. What I enjoy most is the immediacy of the reaction of the listeners.”

But for Besbha RJing is just an extra-curricular activity in his hectic roles as a writer of books, a columnist, a live performer and some oen who tends to his kitchen garden. “I try to divide my time and devote time to all these activities,” he adds. But this “young 70-year-old” is definitely an example for the elderly and he hopes to make it to the Limca Book of Records someday. For the time being, he’s enjoying his celebrity status even in remote hamlets across Meghalaya. He’s happy RJing and yes, being just Besbha.

'Comic activists' take on climate disasters

2010-03-20T10:30:00.001+05:30

12 Mar 2010 15:22:00 GMT12 Mar 2010 15:22:00 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove
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Written by: AlertNet correspondent

A young 'comic artist' in northeast India works on a cartoon about disaster risk reduction as part of an innovative effort to raise awareness of climate change-related disaster risks.
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By Teresa Rehman
GUWAHATI, India (AlertNet) - Looking for ways to effectively spread awareness about disaster prevention and risk reduction, youthful activists in northeast India have hit on a hot idea - comics.

"Nowadays people do not have the patience to read long narratives. On the other hand, a cartoon with an element of humour can easily attract the attention of the public," said 13-year-old Nilotpal Lakhar, one of group of students in India's Assam province being trained to draw disaster awareness comics.

The young "comic activists" are the brainchild of 'Nayi Dishayein' or 'New Ways' a project of mass communications students at Guahati University that aims to tackle problems in the region, particularly a lack of awareness about disaster management and preparedness, through the medium of comics.

'New Ways' was created as part of World Comics India (WCI) - a collective of artists, media personalities, social activists and grassroots journalists who see comics as a powerful tool to bring about social change.

DRAWING FROM FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE
The young comic artists have plenty of first-hand material for their work. As climate change takes hold in the region, Lahkar, from Barbhag in lower Assam, has seen the once annual floods in his village turn into unpredictable disasters, with waters sometimes rising six or seven times a year.

His school books were washed away in one severe flood, he remembers. In another, he and his family had to take shelter at a makeshift camp on an embankment. The district is vulnerable to cyclones, hailstorms and floodwaters rushing in from the neighbouring mountain nation of Bhutan.

Now, he and other students are drawing comics based on their experiences, their understanding of the changing weather and climatic conditions and their ideas of how communities could gear up to meet these crises.

Hemanga Kaushik Sharma, 13, for instance, recalls his uncle telling of an incident at Bangalmur village where it was decided that anybody who saw a breach in the community river embankment would alert villagers by beating the drums at the community prayer hall or 'naamghar'.

When a breach happened, a villager rushed to the drums, alerting villagers in time to evacuate to higher ground. That night, the embankment gave way and the entire village went underwater.
The new comic artists, trained at a recent workshop, have turned out comics on a wide range of disaster-related issues, from the problems of sanitation and hygiene during floods to the inconveniences women face during disasters.

Studies show women are particularly vulnerable in disaster situations because they often care for young children and the elderly, and tend to be more housebound. Pradip Mahanta, the programme manager of Gramya Vikash Mancha (GVM), a local NGO working on disaster management and climate change, said his organization had conducted a survey in 40 local schools and asked students what means of communication they found most compelling.

STUDENTS FIND CARTOONS MOST COMPELLING
"Most of the students admitted that they enjoyed cartoon shows on television and comic books the most. We thought it would be ideal to work on the issue of preparedness of climate change adaptability through the refreshing medium of cartoons," he said.

Learning to draw cartoons took a little time. At a workshop, the students introduced themselves by drawing caricatures of each other. "The participants, very apprehensive in the beginning, enjoyed the exercise once they started doing it. They wonderfully captured each other's prominent features in the drawings they had made," said Usha Dewani, who conducted the workshop.

Gradually, the students were initiated into the different types of disasters - their causes and impacts, how precautions and early warning systems work, and how to reduce risks.
"The participants came up with their personal feelings on how a situation like flooding affects their lives when they have to forego their studies for indefinite time periods. They spoke out on how they get disconnected with their friends or relatives in situations like this," Dewani said.
Then they were asked to weave a story, convert the story script into visuals and create a final artwork. The comics later were taken for field testing in two schools, and were well received, she said.

Locally produced comics, she believes, may prove a particularly apt grassroots means of getting out the message on reducing disaster risks. "Here, people from the community make comics themselves on their own issues, using local context and flavour. Therefore, the issue is not seen as 'black' or 'white' but rather in its own different shades. So it is a democratic medium which brings out grassroots issues," she said.

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.

Wettest place in the world drying out, locals say

2010-03-20T10:26:00.000+05:30

18 Mar 2010 12:44:00 GMT18 Mar 2010 12:44:00 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove
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Written by: AlertNet correspondent
An boy carries drinking water containers in the remote Indian town Cherrapunjee in 2004. Cherrapunjee once had the highest recorded rainfall on earth, but is now having to learn water conservation techniques as climate change takes hold. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw
blog ## for search indexer, do not remove -->CHERRAPUNJEE, India (AlertNet) - There was a time when denizens of Cherrapunjee, reputed to be the wettest place in the world, invoked Lae Slat, the rain god, to stop the rain.
On occasions such as funerals, when gathering mourners was difficult because of incessant rain and wind that sometimes beat down for weeks on end, village elders would sit under a banana tree and pray for the rain to end, at least for one day, in one village.
"But now people are praying for more rain," says 46-year-old Robert Symper Kharmuti, who was born and brought up in the town and has seen its rainfall plunge over the last four to five years.
Climate change is bringing increasingly erratic weather around the world. In Cherrapunjee, a small town on the southern edge of the Khasi Hills in northeast India's Meghalaya state, that means dry times in a place where drenching weather has long been a way of life.
In 1974, Cherrapunjee recorded 24,555.20 millimetres of rain for the year, the highest recorded total for any place in the world. Local people traditionally have manufactured and worn knups - huge tortoise-shaped bamboo and palm leaf baskets that are worn over the head - to stave off the weather.
Today, though knup-makers are running out of buyers, and not just because more people can afford umbrellas.
"The knup was comfortable as both hands were free and people could work in the rains," Kharmuti said. "But now the knup-makers are facing a crisis as there is less demand for knups now as there is less rainfall. Moreover, people prefer stylish umbrellas and raincoats now."
Residents of Cherrapunjee are perplexed at the changing weather conditions, even if funerals have become a bit easier to plan.
TEMPERATURES UP, DISEASES FLARING
Outbreaks of unusual fevers and stomach problems are becoming more frequent as the rains dry up, they said. They blame the changing weather in part on rampant deforestation in the area and felling of trees to set up limestone kilns and illegal small coal mines.
When Sushil Pathak, a chemist, first came to Cherrapunjee in 1987, the temperature never rose about 17 degrees Celsius, he said.
"But now it goes up to 29 degrees. Suddenly it has become hot when it doesn't rain. Earlier the frequency of rainfall was more. It used to rain 30 to 35 days at a go," he said.
The changes aren't all bad news. For women, washing and drying clothes used to be an ordeal during the rainy season. Many used a bamboo basket placed over a heater or coal stove to try to keep washing dry.
Now, "it's easier as it does not rain that much and it's quite sunny," said Baiadamon Nongkynrih, one village woman.
The overall annual total of rainfall in Cherrapunjee does not show a drastic change, researchers say, but the continuous, predictable rain of the past has vanished in favor of more intense, episodic rainfall.
Dr K K Nath, an agro-meteorology specialist at Assam Agriculture University in Jorhat, has analysed rainfall data for the entire northeastern Indian region for the past 200 years, from 1800 to 2000.
"The number of years with sub-normal rainfall is increasing in frequency. Though there are some years with above-normal rainfall, their frequency is decreasing," he said.
DEFORESTATION MAY BE PLAYING ROLE
Nath believes some of northeast India's rainfall may be moving west, to the Indian state of Maharastra, where precipitation totals are increasing. Deforestation in Cherrapunjee and in Meghalaya state as a whole may be to blame, he said.
"Deforestation may be a possibility because convectional air current that form clouds may have become weaker," he said.
He however, feels that more research needs to be done on this complex phenomenon, which in some respects contradicts expectations about climate change.
"An increase in temperature implies more evaporation and more clouds, hence more precipitation, which is the general trend. But here these two things are moving in the opposite direction. There has to be an intermediary reason which we will have to analyse," he said.
Residents of Cherrapunjee say they used to see rain in every month of the year, including the driest months of November and December.
But "now we hardly have rains in November and December," said A.M. Roy Malngiang, one resident. "The grass is dried up and there is no water for new grass to come up. Local people accidentally burn the grass by dropping a lighted cigarette on it. Even a small spark can lead to a wildfire."
He is concerned by the growing scarcity of water.
"Earlier the natural springs had a perennial flow of water. Now the springs and streams have dried up and there is an acute water shortage. Sometimes there is no water to drink," he said.
LEARNING WATER CONSERVATION
Soon, he said, the people of Cherrapunjee will need to be educated in water conservation and water harvesting techniques. Already, the Ramkrishna Mission School at Cherrapunjee, with 1,050 students and teachers, has set up a reservoir for water harvesting.
"We collect rainwater from the roof through a pipeline. In the winter season, there is a scarcity of water and we use it," said Swami Shuddhabhabananda, an official of the school. "In the past few years, there has been a scarcity of water, though the public health department supplies water through a pipeline. But during winters this water supply becomes erratic."
Such examples are yet to be replicated in other places in the town. As Malngiang says, "we fear Cherrapunjee might one day become a desert."
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.