Desicritics Category: Culture: Crime

Male Dominance and Historical Wrongs done to Women

Sumanth — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:20:34 EST

It is a male dominated world and men control women. It actually looks like a massive conspiracy of global scale for thousands of years. A lot of historical evidence suggests that. For example, women were not allowed to vote till very recent times in human history. Women were burnt after being tortured to confess that they are witches. There are many allegations that women were or are even now treated as property. There are kings and rich who maintained harems of women.

There seem to be huge historical injustice on women. Large numbers of evidences, research and studies for decades point to this historical injustice. It actually appears like a huge crime “against humanity” that such atrocities are committed against women for thousands of years and the world is kept “male dominated”.

Hillary Clinton said in Beijing-95, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women’s Right”. People cheered.

With this awareness of the large scale historical injustices, men have every reason to feel guilty as they have perpetrated all these crimes. Even today men hit, rape and torture women across the world. Many women’s organisations in fact say that the crimes against women across the world are increasing at a rapid rate, which requires urgent action from all men and women in the world.

The picture below shows the dynamics of male-female relationships for thousands of years.

This guilt has made many men to call for “positive discrimination” of men. Said in a simple way, they want men to be denied civil liberties, democratic rights, freedom and dignity. They feel if men across the world are discriminated now, then that will compensate for the historical injustices and create a world that is safe for women.

Now, what’s the problem? The problem is I am an Engineer. The Engineer in me wants to integrate all parts together. Unfortunately, I find all the facts do not fit together.

The kid in me thinks that the rich and the powerful always had higher life expectancy, less diseases, less accidents and better quality of life compared to the slaves. The whites, who discriminated African Americans in US or other places in history had higher life expectancy, lesser diseases and lesser accidents.

If women were treated like slaves and kept deliberately poor in a male dominated society, then how come men have more diseases and lower life expectancy. Why more men die due to suicides or accidents?

This does not fit when I integrate the data and all evidences. I ask, “Did men had better time than women ever in history of humanity?

Then, I found that the Model used to explain “male dominance” is too naive.

The Evolution created a division of labour for men and women. Nature and evolution are violent processes. Anyone who has watched discovery or animal plant even once will agree with me.

The men positioned themselves around the outer periphery of human tribes, fighting against a hostile nature and violent beasts. They took great risks on their lives to hunt and gather food for everyone. Sometimes, they have to fight with other tribes brutally for food so that their own tribe can survive. This shaped men and their attitudes and behaviour for thousands of years.

The advanced model of Relationship between Male, Female and Nature is below:

In this Model of understanding, the nature is most violent entity. The men remained in the outer periphery fighting violence and acted like a cushion for women, children and old people in the central core.

Men absorbed most of the violence directed towards the humans by nature and in the process they risked diseases, injuries and faced death for thousands of years.

Now, how appropriate it is to insult and degrade men claiming that men acted selfishly in history and exploited women for their own betterment?
Will we create a better society, when we go on to degrade and insult our own ancestors for all the sufferings they took on themselves so that the future generations have a better place in this world?

Men absorbed the violence to protect the women, who spent most of their time either remaining pregnant or raising children. There were hardly 20 million humans in this world 5000 years back and children were important for survival of humanity.

However, men cannot absorb all the violence directly from nature and environment; neither all of them have the capacity to heal themselves mentally from all the violence they absorbed in their minds. That creates a domino effect and some violence seeps in to reach the inner core containing women. Now, a whole hue and cry is raised out of the consequences out of that domino effect with rhetoric on “domestic violence” or other violence on women by men.

Even today, most men remain in the periphery protecting the central core of women, children and elders by risking murders, diseases and deaths. Even today, the men are pushed to outer periphery to face “positive discrimination” or violence from state due to gender based civil liberties violations.

It is no fun for men to live in a world unacknowledged for what they contributed or contribute even today.

Ideologues want men to partner them in eliminating violence against women. How can they eliminate violence and create peace, when men are made to live in a red hot high risk zone of unemployment, murders, suicides, violence or accidents?

How can violence against women reduce to zero, when men are denied services or counselling from the state or society to heal themselves?

Are not societies getting closed, judgemental, blind and paranoid about the issues? Is not it going to mislead us all and damage our sense of fairness and rational judgements?

A boy has 3 times more chance to die due to murder, suicide or accident than a girl, when he grows up. Now, are we going to create a better society by denying civil liberties and stereotyping him in schools? Can we discriminate him as he grows up and expect him to make a great partner to a woman?

Men have made great sacrifices for humanity for ages. They have the capacity to make more sacrifices and most importantly, they remain silent about pain and sacrifices unlike women, who go all around cribbing about the headache they got in the afternoon after watching TV.

However, will we have a better society, when we consider it a virtue to insult and invalidate all that men have done or do now?

Is it a male dominated society or “Male-Sacrificing Society”?

Now, let’s go back to Hillary Clinton. She said in Beijing 95, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights and Human Rights are Women’s Rights”.

A school kid can understand what it means according to “set theory”.

It is difficult to live in a society knowing that the society hates you because you are a male. It is difficult to live in a world, when you know that your words will never be trusted by the society. It is difficult to live being continuously apologetic to historical wrongs.

It is difficult to live in a world, where you know that your contributions will not be acknowledged just because you are a male.

AMU's Suspension of (Allegedly) Gay Professor - Unconstitutional

Ruchi — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 08:03:02 EST

Aligarh Muslim University suspended the chairman of its Modern Indian Languages post after a sting operation (allegedly funded by the university) yielded footage of the professor engaging in consensual homosexual sex in his official residence. The university cited “gross misconduct” as reason for suspension. The professor was due to retire in September of this year.

First, it’s not the professor but the university, the local television channel and anyone else, involved in the sting who are on the wrong side of the law. In this case, it’s almost irrelevant that homosexuality was decriminalized last year, because the evidence thereof was obtained through premeditated and calculated violation of the professor’s constitutional right to privacy (under the expanded scope of Article 21, right to life). His privacy was invaded twice: entering his home without consent; and filming him while having sex and distributing it for public consumption. The continuing inquiry into his private sexual life is continued invasion of privacy and the suspension is not just illegal discrimination based on his sexuality but also impinges on his right to livelihood.

There are other issues that bear consideration. The university and some news channels note the professor’s partner’s profession, “rickshaw puller”. Why is this detail relevant if not for its moral aspersion, the sneaky insinuation of promiscuity and/or prostitution given the class difference between the two men. Had his partner been some nondescript middle-class professional such as engineer or chartered accountant, would this detail been brought up so frequently? Obviously not.

In addition, our news media, which just till last week portrayed themselves as guardians of free speech and democracy have chosen not only to not take a firm stand on the issue but have also downplayed the news with minimal coverage. Constitutional rights have been trammeled but gone is the moral outrage that marked the coverage of the SRK’s standoff against Shiv Sena. The reason is obvious: the professor lacks SRK’s saleability and more importantly, the corporate interests that govern our news media cannot be certain of the viewer’s reaction, given the fact that a large section of Indians still frown upon homosexuality. Hence, instead of the clearly defined pro-SRK stand and ad nauseam coverage seen last week, we see detached and neutral reporting here (while it is agreed that the job of credible news media is to report, keeping the analysis/opinion confined to the appropriate pages/shows, the discussion is about the double standards of the media). It also bears mention that Shahrukh Khan is still waxing eloquent (diplomatically) about Sena’s misguided ways but is completely ignoring this issue even though he’s made a predictable routine of modern haha homosexual insinuations with his loyal sidekick, Karan Johar in movies, award shows and interviews.

The university’s decision to suspend the professor is in violation of both the court’s decision (which decriminalized consensual homosexual sex between adults) and its central tenet of inclusiveness. While, it is unfortunate that the professor himself has chosen not to fight against the university’s decision (instead leaving quietly to return to his hometown), the rightness of a fight is not based on the subject’s own willingness and/or ability to fight (e.g., the fight against Sati was not led by the thousands of women who perished in the tradition’s flames). The mark of a just and open society is how well it protects the interests of its minorities, not the powerful.

What an Idea?

Suresh Naig — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:29:37 EST

I exclaimed “What an Idea?” in disgust, because of its foolishness and lack of forethought. My son was in possession of a prepaid SIM from the service provider Idea Cellular, which along with the handset he had lost a couple of days back. When I called up the number, surprisingly someone answered and I sincerely felt that the handset and SIM were in the hands of some Good Samaritan. However I was jolted when the person arrogantly answered that the phone and the number belonged to her, which she was in possession for over a year.

I immediately called the customer care division to register the loss and block the number. I was in for a second round of shock. The call was transferred to an executive, and after listening to my complaint he said a prepaid cell number cannot be blocked, as per the company rules. Instead he gave me a docket number acknowledging my complaint reporting loss of SIM. I also learnt to my consternation that any person can pay and augment the talk time which will not be refused by idea cellular, in spite of the docket number.

If a handset with a SIM which is lost cannot be blocked, and can be used by any person whose identity could never be established, is it not a farce to demand ID proof while activating the connection. Is it not a possibility, that any person with criminal intent can acquire a SIM and later report loss, so that he can be absolved of a crime, still the SIM continues to be used by his associate?

I feel the Government had banned the sale of prepaid SIM cards in Kashmir, due to this loophole. It is time the Government changes the rules to plug this loophole, lest criminals will continue to rejoice, “What an Idea?”

Will Behavioral Change be an Effective Remedy?

Suresh Naig — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 07:14:52 EST

I am recalling a well known old story, which is pertinent even in today's circumstances. A king wanted to test his subjects' integrity and he announced that each family should pour one measure of milk into a common container towards a public cause. Against his expectations of a few defaulters, the entire container was filled with only water and not a drop of milk. Everyone thought what if I alone pour a measure of water and in turn everybody had poured only water and no one contributed milk.

This simple story has lots of morals and I have used this effectively in training sessions. A simple inference could be that, all the people in the small kingdom were cheats, but which could not have been true. Every head of a family, would have been regular in paying taxes, taking care of the younger and older people in the household, consistent in getting the daughters married, imparting education to the male wards in the family and nowhere any negligence at personal level would have been noticed. Then why this misbehavior towards collective responsibility of pouring water instead of milk?

When personal integrity is beyond question, what could have gone wrong? Was it due to Parkinson's second law- "There is always a disregard for work among a group", popularly known as passing the buck? Everyone thinks the other would do it and eventually no one does. Perhaps that would answer the "only water no milk" phenomenon. But again, if the milk is sought from every family towards a temple ritual, I am sure no one would have played the spoilt sport.

The moral of the story could thus be, since there was no clear incentive for doing an act, people have defied and because the fear of divine punishment was the great deterrent, everyone had contributed milk towards a temple ritual. It might appear so simple, but delving into human mind is not so simple, that it fits into the binary theory of "good and bad", "malefic and benefic", "positive and negative".

There was an interesting anecdote in the book Don't say yes when you want to say no authored by a psychologist. The author treated a person, a compulsive gambler who had ruined his life betting on horses. The solution appeared illogical but it worked wonders as per the author. The person's urge towards gambling had a specific sequence and the psychologist had broken the sequence weaning his habit. The routine as per the author started in the morning at the break-fast table, where the patient would skim through the daily Newspaper and he would compulsively go to the Sports page to see which all the horses are participating in that day's race and by post lunch he would be in the race course to lose his money.

By simply changing his Newspaper to Wall street Journal which does not have a sports section, the psychologist claimed that he could break the gambling habit of his patient. He further says in his book that though the patient's wife was happy that her husband stopped gambling, she harbored misgivings that it was not out of a moral insight. But the author claimed in his book that the person never gambled as long as he was followed up. A simple behavioral change towards a better discipline.

A similar behavioral therapy had a cascading positive effect in Bangalore in the eighties. During the eighties local buses were operated by the Government and it was known as BTS. Many contemporaries of the Super Star Rajinikanth - conductors of BTS busses would never issue tickets and offer unofficial discounts to commuters, which would directly go to their pockets instead of BTS. What had started as a small time pilferage turned out to be rampant corruption, eating away the profits of BTS. Periodic checking with mobile squad could not contain the corruption and one person had introduced a simple scheme which had changed the behavior of the commuters and the conductors fell in line.

In the early eighties, owning a color TV set was prestigious and BTS had given away one color TV each day using BTS tickets as raffle. Though initially it was not very popular, by repeated advertisements in Newspapers about people winning the color TVs it gathered momentum. Commuters started demanding tickets from conductors, obviating the need for checking squads and controls.
Even after the scheme was withdrawn later, the behavior of buying tickets in Government owned buses had become a habit with fewer defaulters. It was to the credit of the public that a bad practice was halted, inculcated by a simple behavior change.

Will the idea initiated by Narendra Modi, to declare a person who does not vote in local elections as a defaulter, bring in the necessary behavioral change?

Sleaze with Ease

sufferingsocrates — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:40:15 EST

A multitude of issues are tumbling out of the ongoing sleaze charges against Narain Dutt Tiwari (N.D. Tiwari) and the molestation case against S.P.S Rathore. If not being responsible enough about the position they held wasn't good enough, they have been cunning enough to have hidden away their cheap escapades using political clout and misuse of office.

It is funny to note that these high flying gentlemen are well past their reproductive capabilities (Tiwari is 85 and Rathore is 67), but still manage a fling. I can be argued against by stating that S.P.S Rathore molested Ruchika almost 19 years back. Ironically, 28th December is precisely the date when the charges were levelled against the supposedly celebrated police officer.

N.D.Tiwari on the other hand, has been a step ahead, as should be the case with someone administering affairs of a state. While being chief minister of U.P. it was an open secret to many of his extra marital affairs. He did use his wife's gynaecological knowledge to manage his flaccid endowment on three women. It is as yet unknown if his performance or the lack of it with the three women was the reason for his ouster from governorship of Andhra Pradesh.

While Tiwari can be pardoned due to his inherent weaknesses and willingness of women to satisfy him, what S.P.S Rathore did to Ruchika was indeed lewd and outright perverted. Public sentiment will always remain doubtful against police officers, especially when high ranking officers blatantly misuse their power. Inspite of being chargesheeted, the ex-Haryana DGP had the guts to harass Ruchika's family for almost 5 years.

Unfortunately for the Indian public, such are the headlines topping the print and visual media towards the end of a year. The Congress with a majority at the centre can afford to ask a senior political veteran and Congress loyalist like N.D. Tiwari to quit his post after the expose by ABN channel. Similarly, it is good to note that S.P.S Rathore's cases will be revisited, his pension reduced and his president's police medal stripped off.

However, for the mental trauma he inflicted on Ruchika and her family, his sentence of 6 months and a meagre 1000 buck fine is disgusting. Sadly for Ruchika's family though, Rathore is 67 and even if he is given life imprisonment he may not live too long. Even so, is there a point in punishing someone who is utterly remorseless?

Another Bungled Blow-up: Passengers Safe, Suspect Apprehended

temporal — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 22:04:46 EST

Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on the runway after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport from Amsterdam. Northwest and Delta have merged. (J.P. Karas / Associated Press)

They arrived safely. It was a merry Christmas for the 278 passengers aboard Northwest/Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Republican Congressman Peter King identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit.

The alleged terrorist tried to set fire to an 'incendiary device' as the plane began its descent.

The suspect, identified by a U.S. government official as 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was placed in custody and is being treated for second- and third-degree burns on his thighs, according to federal law enforcement and airline security sources.

The sources said the suspect flew into Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on a KLM flight from Lagos, Nigeria, and is not believed to be on any "no fly" list, although his name does appear in a U.S. database of people with suspect connections. He did not undergo secondary security screening in Amsterdam, the administration official said.

The administration official said there was no evidence that Abdulmatallab was a hard-core, trained member of al-Qaeda.

According to Syed Jafri, who was sitting three rows in front according to CNN, or three behind according to CBC and L A Times, a young man jumped on the alleged terrorist and subdued him.

He suffered minor body burns and is being hospitalised.

***

Questions:

* How much more can the airport security be tightened?
* Is there a better way to detect potential terrorists?\/
* Will this lead to more racial and ethnic profiling?
* Why don't they stop all carry on save medicines, diapers and baby food?
* What is the IQ of the alleged terrorist? (The timing of the act).

Indian Police - Protectors or Perpetrators?

J Srinivasan — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:19:57 EST

The Ruchika molestation case is only the latest in a history of police acting as criminals in their own "den" - the Police Station. Then the Court awards a six month sentence after 19 years and provides bail along with the sentencing.

The perpetrator was in police uniform, i.e. in police service and was a top cop (DGP*) to boot when this happened. The girl committed suicide unable to bear the humiliation. Again, everyone will "take up the case" and TV will gets it TRPs for 24 to 48 hours before dropping it. Some ministers will instruct the CBI to appeal the verdict. 20 years later, we may see another verdict and maybe the perpetrator will still be alive but too old to serve the sentence. He'll then get pardoned on "humanitarian" grounds.

Sorry if I've stretched a point. But give or take some, this will sum up the scenes that would play out in a movie, if one were made. On life in India. Who is accountable?

This is what we will hear:

The Congress Union Government: No we are not. The state government is responsible for law and order.

The Congress State Government: No, we let (gave permission to) the CBI prosecute him and it is for the courts to deal with punishment.

The Court: You have no right to question us. Else we will put you behind bars for contempt of court for 2 years!

The following State Government: What can we do? Once he was under a cloud, we transferred him out. But his promotions after the incident are a matter oif the civil servants' rules.

The Congress Union Government Rep in TV shows: But the BJP also had power for 6 years, why didn’t they do something to him?

The BJP Rep on TV Show: We made CBI take up the case. What can we do if the court thinks six months is enough?

The Congress State Government: How can we prevent the courts from giving him bail? That’s his constitutional right!

I better stop. Otherwise I may actually get a contract for a script for a movie that I'd also die of shame if I was a part of making!

Why can this continue? Because we think "it doesn’t affect me, so why should I take any risk? I'll be smart and watch. If it happens to me, I know this person and that. I'll make sure they influence things and get the SOB finished off, etc. Don’t tell me that's not familiar. Aurangzeb ruled us. The British ruled us. Now ?

If you have a doubt, watch TV. But if you are not yet raging mad, wait for the story of Chief Justice Dinakaran's dirty linen unfold. This is the case of the HEAD of a High Court, not some ordinary (!) DGP of Police. It only gets higher with each day. I know you're probably thinking, what can I do? I'm only a small, helpless individual. Maybe you and I are, just that.

---------

* DGP = Director General of Police

A Magic Pill to Eradicate Corruption

J Srinivasan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 01:15:02 EST

For long now, we have seen enough and more about widespread and rampant corruption in India. We see it in daily headlines and TV news, day in and day out. Given that we are also a very righteous people, rampant corruption was at first obnoxious. Then it became a handle of ridicule. Later, it turned on our feeling of helplessness. In recent times, we began to ignore it as we go about our daily life, as if somehow, we must learn to survive and even succeed inspite of it. This has in turn led to most taking the view that we simply build in the costs, thereby making it an integral part of our life! That’s legitimacy without responsibility, since it’s all done hush hush, and the deep seated feeling is one of utter helplessness; overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem. What can I, an individual do? Why should I be the first goat sent to the slaughter house? Apathy at work!

This is more or less, briefly, roughly, approximately, the sum and substance of our current view of corruption in public life, in India.

I am no M K Gandhi. Nor am I Jay Prakash Narayan. Or a Nelson Mandela. Or even a K Chandrasekhar Rao who went on a hunger fast for a separate State of Telangana. Neither am I a lawyer, let alone a Constitutional Lawyer. I am a simple Citizen of India – like some of you who are reading this, and I feel exactly like you, helpless and resigned to this cancer afflicting us all. But I’m also an ontologist and I believe that at the root of all behavioral things, there is usually a very simple cause. Human Beings are driven by simple, even childlike core traits of character. Anyway, that is my belief but it is not the topic of this post but the explanation of why I undertook a study of this vexing problem.

Note: She = He = You and Me.

The nature of endemic corruption is that it flows Top Down.

If an underling is corrupt and her higher authority is not, the underling is unlikely to last very long in her position. Worse, she runs the risk of being punished for the crime, sooner or later. Thus corruption is top down. Period.

Corruption happens when a person holds the power to permit or deny an applicant, and is not accountable for the decision – or lack of a decision – to the applicant. This is the– no accountability to stakeholders. This immunity from prosecution or punishment is provided by articles in our (Indian) constitution. I’m not going to get into the legalities of this since it will distract from the main thrust of this post. Suffice it to say that in India, we need the permission of the perpetrator’s highest authority (often The President) to even investigate let alone prosecute her.

By the way, this works the same way in the private sector too. Almost all M & A (Memoranda & Articles of Association) contain a clause providing immunity to the employees from liability in the course of discharge of their work.

This argument has been used since the British Raj and the new rulers, the civil servant (?!) took it forward with glee.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for adequate safeguards against any form of harassment of officers doing their work. Be they from the government or the private sector. However, when the size of the organization becomes unwieldy and very decentralized as is the case of government in India, the need for protection against misuse must gain far greater weightage. The permissions must also be decentralized and so must be the criteria for granting such permissions be less protective.

Take the appalling case of Union Carbide and the Bhopal Gas tragedy. The Victims continue to suffer while the high paid Indian executives who managed the plant and the company have gone away scot free. The engineers who were directly responsible for the fiasco – I don’t even know who they were or even their names! Do you? The company is US based and will remain “immune” for all I know. The ‘compensation’ has not brought justice.

This high profile case illustrates the crucial failure of the “Doctrine of pleasure” incorporated in the Indian Constitution to protect government servants by giving them almost total everlasting unqualified immunity. I never fail to recoil at the word government servant. How can a person who is not accountable to you and me be a servant? Some will be quick to point out that they are called government servants, not yours or mine. LOL

That only means government, in our democracy, isn’t the servant of the people.

Since the government isn’t standing for elections, only politicians. Then too, can a whole election be run on the basis of some injustice or should they be contested on the basis of policies and goals? How, even by the most stretched of imagination, can you and I get accountability and justice for the different atrocities and scams committed by various officials, when some distant elected representative stands for re-election, possibly in a different constituency? And should we be voting for political parties or individual candidates? I could go on, but I’m sure you will agree that this bogey of politicians being held accountable doesn’t cut ice when it comes to accountability for failures in government, especially local ones. Parties are changed in government for much larger issues.

Thus, there is no accountability of government. And that’s where all corruption starts. No accountability. Specific accountability, not general, vague, ‘answerable to the people’ kind of accountability. And majority in an election does not absolve anyone from guilt, only the courts do.

I suggest that at the very heart of our endemic corruption lies Article 311 in our constitution. This is where it all starts, nOT the ‘funding of elections’ that is so often suggested as the reason why such large amounts of unaccounted money is generated. I’ll share more on this red herring thrown down to us by the powers that be in a subsequent post on this subject. However, if you take this hypothesis as true, then:

The magic cure for eradicating endemic corruption in India is to drop this unqualified, everlasting, personal immunity to each and every civil servant from being a constitutional right.

I started out by saying I’m no legal expert. I end by saying, again, that I’m no legal expert. The legal brains can figure out how it’s all to be done. But the important thing is to eliminate the protection against accountability to stakeholders being restored.

There is no doubt in my mind that many, many, many people before me have pointed this out. Many may have well been legal brains and social scientists, but that does not mean I must abstain. As a Nifty Futures trader, I can never tell when the market may turn in my (idea’s) favour. That is the purpose of this post.

If you think it makes sense, use the power of social networks you are in to spread the word. Retweet, as we say on Twitter. If you can have your local voters group campaign for this amendment. In short, take it up.

Security Agencies & Personal Freedom

Suresh Naig — Wed, 9 Dec 2009 10:38:57 EST

A news item caught my attention recently. A person had moved the Supreme Court claiming infringement of his personal freedom, for the security personnel at Chennai airport had detained him for over 15 hours. He was carrying Rs.65 lakhs in cash which was properly accounted for and the money was returned to him after 2 months by the Income tax department. He contended that though the money was accounted for, he was detained at the airport for over 15 hours which he claimed as infringement of his personal freedom by the security personnel at the airport.

The Supreme Court rightly rejected his petition without passing any strictures on the security personnel as sought by the petitioner. The court had observed that the security agencies should be sensitized against the allegations of personal freedom, for any inconvenience is aimed only for the safety of the public at large. The Court also observed that the security agencies had reacted as expected, since terrorists' transactions are mostly in cash. At the same time the Court had mildly reminded the security agencies to refrain from its enthusiasm of going to the press, without verifying the facts which was the main contention of the petitioner.

When a huge amount of Rs.65 lakhs is carried in hard currency it only attracts the suspicion of the security agencies. If Courts are moved against security agencies for doing their duty, we become vulnerable.

Three years back in a construction site the M.D. of the organisation was stopped by the security person manning the inward gate, for he had not carried his ID card. He called me on my mobile and I had to take him inside. Contrary to everyone's expectation, I complemented the security agency in general and the person in particular, for he did not lose his balance on seeing the BMW car or the authority my M.D. flaunted.

Remember Bhopal

Anjana Menon — Thu, 3 Dec 2009 20:42:47 EST

On this day, 25 years ago, for some unknown (and still disputed reasons), huge quantities of deadly Methyl Isocyanate descended upon the city of Bhopal and attacked the living without warning. Many were killed in their sleep and many others died slow, painful deaths soon after. Some were trampled to death in the stampedes that followed a mass exodus of people looking for less lethal air to breathe. And those who didn't lose their lives were soon to discover that they were to lose much more in the battles for compensation, that continue even today. They may have survived, but have died on the inside long ago; their hopes, dreams, ambitions and aspirations crushed like dry twigs in the footfall of time.

Twenty-five years is a long time to wait for justice. The collective memory of the nation has replaced the terror of the biggest industrial disaster with the kind that is synonymous with Black Friday and 26/11. The ghosts of the past have been taken for granted in the race to heal with time. It is a great shame that safety measures had to be compromised in the face of rampant corruption; that the greater community good never mattered in the face of immediate capitalist gain. It is an even greater shame that people today still suffer the after effects of the collective carelessness of Union Carbide and the Centre, drinking contaminated water with toxins that have percolated through Bhopal's soil over the years. Since that fateful day in 1984, three generations have been victims of the gas leak, and the ones to come are fated to be unwilling victims as well. Does this not fill us with fear anymore?

Somewhere in a forgotten corner of our history textbooks sits a passage describing factually the concise happenings of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the anti-Sikh riots, and the Indo-Pak and Indo-China wars, which are taught to us in the same drone as the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre or the Revolt of 1857. And in the scramble to ace our exams, we absorb, assimilate and spit out these facts never to remember them ever again.

So when my timeline on Twitter today was sparse about Bhopal in complete contrast to about a week ago, when it was flooded with hashtags galore about Kasab, the LeT and 26/11, I couldn't help but think. About how knowledge may be power, but ignorance seems to be bliss. By no means does this indicate that we are obliged to don our activist boots to justifiably remember and acknowledge Bhopal. Sometimes all it takes is to know the right facts, and not the way it is neutrally imparted to us in schools.

Remember Bhopal.