Rajasthan government is on the track to centralization

 

Centralization as a system is

inconsistent with a non-violent

structure of society

 - Mahatma Gandhi

The more the concentration of power with a few dominant people, the less will be the citizen’s participation which ends up collapsing the entire system of democracy.

Rajasthan government is not in favor of building the narrative of a community-centric approach, rather it is skewed toward a centralized approach to accomplishing its ambition. The congress-led Rajasthan Government has turned a blind eye/ ignorant to the sorrow of rural communities. We often listen to the line “Mukhya Mantri Ji ki Mehetwakanshi Yojana”. It’s CM's ambition, who has drafted the policy in the AC rooms and is unaware of the miseries of the community. By the way, the term ambition infuses a negative sense, it is used for the fulfillment of desire by going to any extent.

The government claims to benefit the rural women by facilitating Saras license for establishing 1000 dairy booths and 1320 Milk Collection Centers all over the 33 districts of Rajasthan with the support of an MOU signed between RCDF and Rajasthan SRLM. This component was articulated in the budget announcement for FY 2022-23. This project seems to have been designed and “imposed” without priorly brainstorming its limitations such as Saras is incompetent to compete with the highly competitive and fluctuating local market, the production of milk is not the same in every season, and not every woman is affluent enough to establish Saras booth.

However, women SHGs are formed taking into consideration SECC 2011 deprived households, In the FY 2022-23, the Rajasthan SRLM has a target to achieve saturation anyhow and 100% SHGs to hold membership in Village organizations and CLF. SHG, VO, and CLF are separate entities and responsible to make their own decision with a consensus of all members. Within 3 months of SHG formation, 3 office bearers of SHG visit the bank for opening an SHG saving account, and after 9 months all SHG members visit the bank for seeking a loan. Numerous women cadres have been developed in each vertical of SRLM to run the project smoothly, these women in themselves are agents of change and the epitome of women empowerment being self-reliant, but if the government does not consider them capable to put their opinions on the table, then it is raising a question mark on its project. 

Image of centralization 

There are juggernaut people to take care of CM's ambition and go to the bitter end to meet his expectations because no one wants CM to take umbrage by showing disagreement even in the sweetest manner, but who will pay heed to women’s plight, her dreams, her expectations, and her everlasting hope from the incumbent government? Has anyone ever asked a woman about her thoughts on nation-building/ economic and social growth? 

The government is simply serving a chicken feed and restricting the community to some petty narrow-minded ideas when they deserve to go beyond the horizon with vibrant minds and magnificent hearts because the sky is the limit to obtain in the development prospect.

For the sake of creating a philanthropic image, some officials visit the village, distribute some articles, click pictures, post it on social media platforms and return to their AC rooms. Why does the government feel pity for the poor and tag them as “beneficiaries”? If the poor get benefited from the government project, are the government officials not earning bread and butter from the same? And CM and other ministers aren’t getting paid and advantaged with lavish facilities for delivering their services? If the project had not been running in the state, then lakhs of people would have been roaming unemployed. After all, they all fall under the category of labor according to economics jargon.

To my mind, firstly the officials who are holding the position in top-level management need to unlearn the concept of centralization in policymaking and implementation of development projects/ schemes and imbibe the modern way of development that comprises a community-centric approach. We are often eloquent about social/ behavior change and frequently use the statement like transforming the lives of rural poor/ changing the mindsets of the community. Primarily, we require correcting our concept of development, then only any difference can be made.

Merely a stint of one year left to the Rajasthan Assembly Election, the easiest way to make people believe in the Congress government is to emphasize the research part more and plan accordingly. Instead of filling the gaps, it believes in throwing the baby out with the bathwater as it is hostile to the numbers. Living in a cuckoo land is the most comfortable zone, but when reality hits, one receives a great degree of shock, and this status quo has become a dime a dozen for Congress. The focus area of the government should be to convert the citizen’s dreams into reality instead of sticking to their vision. People support the leader who connects to their problems, puts himself/ herself in their shoes, and combats those difficulties compassionately. 

 

 

Patriarchy and caste centered society

Words like freedom, equality, secularism, and dignity, etc. written under the constitution often pour us into a feeling of pride and how marvelous our India is. Does it hold or is it just lying in a certain piece of paper? Better ask a marginalized community or a vulnerable group of society, for whom the access to these great words is far away, who is a victim of disdainful cast hierarchy, raising voice is not less than a crime, for which they bear a huge cost in terms of rape, murder, and violence. They are hardly entitled to any rights. One cannot understand their situation, obviously, but may get an idea of the acrid veracity of India that aspires to achieve SDGs by 2030, in which the goals of Reduced Inequalities, Gender Equality, and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions also falls.

The Hathras case caught the limelight due to the intolerable cremation of the deceased woman by cops without the nod and presence of family, which cannot be accepted in any aspect, it is completely a wicked deed, unless no one cares. And the BJP lawmaker just do away with by saying police have violated the right to religious belief, oh really? Is it mere a contravention to the right to religious belief? Ask the kins of her family, what it feels not being able to complete the end rituals and the sorrow of not meeting their daughter for the last time, every right got snatched at that moment. After all death and birth are the two most precious times of human life.

People say that giving a job, house, and compensation is enough to do justice. The government cannot compensate for the loss of a daughter that the family has lost due to the ego of the upper caste family. She muttered the name of preparators, days before succumbing to death. Police are denying the allegation of rape citing the forensic test report which seems to be distorted as the sample did not go for testing, earlier. She found in an entirely naked situation, bleeding vagina, damaged spinal cord, and slashed tongue. It may be the case of honor killing or rape, not cleared yet. But no evidence could be bigger than the victim herself naming the culprits, why don’t you catch those culprits and put them behind the bars. Why are you sheltering the criminal? What was the reason to impose 144 in Hathras? Why the police are restricting the entry of media, Why the authority is afraid of transparency, if not hiding facts? It is surely an incident of choking on democracy to death.

Also, have a look at CM Yogi’s mindset, a few years back he wrote a misogynist essay that reflected “Women not capable of being left free or independent”. And now doing drama of favoring the woman and her kins. How the state can overcome the challenge of rising cases against women when the leader is against empowering them? How the misogynist lense can agree to the policies that empower women? Who will ensure that the women are safe in Uttar Pradesh?

No matter how well the UP government is doing in ease of doing business, in building an expressway for boosting exports, constructing Ram temple, and also the plaza, but if it is not capable enough to facilitate safe haven to women, then it has failed somewhere. It is empowering the upper caste community; could be depicted through its inclination to provide the gun license to Brahmins for safeguarding themselves. The Yogi government would have desired to build a state where women could have step out freely along with the restoration of democracy. The reason why rapists slit her tongue, is, they wanted to show that the Dalit woman does not possess the freedom to speak and she must not forget limits that the society has fixed. It is rather India where the patriarchy and caste hierarchy cannot let bridge the gap of gender, caste, and income inequality.

Educational divide

 “The wry humor of the situation becomes apparent when we recall that Saraswati is supposed to be the goddess of learning. UP is a state where illiteracy is endemic. Universal education for all children under 14 years of age, as mandated by the Constitution, has not been a priority with any of the successive governments this state has had since Independence… Could it be that the insult to the goddess of learning in keeping millions of people illiterate is sought to be compensated by forcing school children to do in ritual what the government won’t do in reality?… If we forfeit discernment at this juncture, Saraswati Vandana could well end up as a litany in the cult of political power…”

-        Swami Agnivesh (In 1998, when the Kalyan Singh government compelled students to recite Saraswati Vandana in UP’s schools)

Some of the worrisome figures can get a picture of the global digital divide. A dismaying 82.6 crore students do not possess computers and 70.6 crores do not have access to the internet, it accounts for 50% and 43% of the total number of learners, respectively. No matter, how far the information communication technology and artificial intelligence have spread its legs with no restriction of place, age, sex, religion, class, and caste (especially in the time of COVID- 19), but it makes no sense to the one who cannot afford it because solutions discovered by technology could only serve the people who hold purchasing power, knows the application and uses to transform their lives and with whom the reliable internet connectivity is available.

India is a land of paradoxes, home to well-acquainted IIMs, IITs, and other sophisticated institutes transfiguring the personality of candidates to beat or compete with their peers all around the world, on the other hand, it is also a country of those 27% students, who do not have smartphones and laptops to attend online classes, EWS students who have been excluded from attending online classes due to non-payment of fees. In this pandemic, they rely on television broadcasts, community radios, or laptops/ smartphones donated by fees paying parents, etc. But, these options are not sufficient as some households consider television as a luxurious commodity that they can’t afford and gadgets cannot reach all underprivileged children through donation. The HC of Delhi has told to private and government schools to end “digital apartheid” and instructed Kendriya Vidyalayas to distribute free gadgets to EWS students who are currently working through borrowing neighbor’s gadgets or take patent’s phone when free.

Another vital factor is malnutrition,  at present, 189.2 million people are mired into malnutrition, and looking to the current scenario, the Global Burden of Disease has alarmed India that it cannot reduce the number of low birth weight, underweight and stunning, each by 2% per year and anemia among children, women and adolescent girls each by 3% per year by 2022. To combat it, the government has launched Poshan mah to encourage diversity in food grains. The situation became even worse when the pandemic hit these people as in initial months, midday meals were not provided to them. A healthy candidate can study with greater efforts than a non-healthy one, hence building biases not only on the grounds of education but also on the health and consequently making them less competent to peers.

Then comes, electricity and poor network connectivity…...another major challenge! A power cut and poor internet connection have always been an issue that throws spanners in the works of students and this time, emerged out as a bigger problem. Despite numerous plans of the government, the rural parts are still being deprived of high-speed internet and electricity. To overcome internet trouble, two IIT Bombay students developed an application that runs on 2 G speed for their students in J&K. It could be applied to the entire country with modifications if needed or may build another application. But the electricity problem will take a long time to be resolved.

The time when a nationwide lockdown was imposed, all students went back home. Many students are being engaged in household chores that’s why they are not able to spare an adequate amount of time on studies. It’s the stereotypical mindset of their family members that online education is of no use, one has to go outside to earn bread and butter. It makes psychological pressure on students and on the other side, some parents understand that something is better than nothing. It does create an education divide.

Now comes, children of migrant laborers…..the condition of migrant laborers is nerve-wracking and their children lack stability and consistency in education. They are mired into poverty, craving for basic amenities. MGNREGA is not fulfilling their aspirations, somehow facilitating subsistence. Going through such a situation, one can’t think of education and there have already been various interruptions in this academic year, first, they came to the home, now returning to the place of work.

The government has also focused on the SWAYAM portal for free learning, some organizations like Intellify and online platforms like Coursera, Edx are putting sincere efforts to not only connect students with teachers of India but to all over the world. Even the small gatherings at tuition classes cannot be organized to restrain the spread of COVID-19. In other countries like Bhutan, educators are going door-to-door to teach fewer children in one place, but in India, this is not possible because of scarce human resources. Although, projectors could be installed to teach students by following social distancing norms.

Many not-for-profit schools are on the verge of shutdown or are already closed due to a lack of funds to run the day to day activities. The School Management Committee workers of Delhi are burning the midnight oil for making 5^th to 8^th class children admitted in the government schools by traveling to every home. The central government may collaborate with ITC e- Choupal to mitigate the technological barriers to education.

The new education policy is all capable of upskilling candidates with the right skills if implemented nicely, ironically, it contains no component for plummeting discrimination in education. The government would have brought a sound reform to counter inequality, learning from the pandemic scenario. It’s sad to see the potential students who are striving to explore and learn are deprived of education, notwithstanding the right to education. It is indeed a disrespect to the goddess Saraswati as Swami Agnivesh once mentioned.

 

Wake up call for viewers

 “Discussion and dissension are crucial for a spirited democracy, and it must hold public institutions accountable for all their actions and inactions. There should always be room for the argumentative Indian and not the intolerant Indian. The media must be the watchdog, the mediator between the leaders and the public”.

-Former President Pranab Mukherjee

Media is 4^th pillar of the Indian democracy which has access to the right to free press. Its role is inevitable and holds a big responsibility, the one who courageously poses questions in front of politicians and the one who never afraid of unveiling harsh truths. Does it apply in the current scenario? Do people ask questions or are the ideologies directly being imposed? Do people discuss and analyze government policies in the public sphere? Is the right to free press still relevant or it is under the control of populists? These questions are of serious concern in this era, one must deeply think about it. Democracy is like a building, rely on 4 pillars, if any of the pillars fall, then whole democracy will collapse.

In this glamorous time, where everyone’s mind is attracted to drama and spices and discovering the stuff that is not at all ameliorating cognitive development and even deteriorating and circumscribing the mind’s ability to certain nonsensical material, asking logical questions to the government doesn’t fit here or rather treated as a crime. Where is this India heading towards? People are slowly marching towards the oblivious state, they do not know the impact of GDP decline on their surroundings.

Journalists are not paying heed to forest dwellers woes whose land will be acquired for the construction of bullet train, neither are they concerned about historic GDP decline, not even dedicated a single mournful session for ex-President Pranab Mukherjee’s demise. And showcasing every minute detail on the Sushant Singh Rajput’s case. Why CBI is even allowing the media to interfere in its investigation? Veteran Journalist Gauri Lankesh would have got justice if these channels showed this level of commitment and boldly outspoken that how the BJP and RSS were celebrating her assassination.   

Media has spread its leg into heterogeneous activities, sometimes it plays the role of CBI, judiciary, NCB, sometimes licks the feet of the government, and sometimes digs the truth by harassing the alleged party, but unfortunately lagging in performing its predominant function. The cacophony voices and the greed of gaining more TRP than peers to secure the number one position have somewhere undermined its vision, mission, and objective statement.

They would have a shout out for the rights of forest dwellers, they would have raised voice for the PDS scam of Madhya Pradesh, would have debated for daily wagers who are succumbing to death. They are businessmen who do need analysis and serves the viewers what they ask for. This is how the news channel exists and earn huge profits in the competitive market. All toes the line of NDA because it has allocated Rs. 3214.7 crores to print and electronic advertisement in the first three years of coming into the power, whereas UPA spent just Rs. 2658.24 crores in the overall tenure of 10 years. These alarming numbers indicate that NDA’s strategy is to sack out the opposition (already in a crisis), indoctrinating Hindutva Rashtra ideology to the masses, and producing more bigots.

Subject of debates	Number of debates
Attacking Pakistan	79
Attacking the opposition (including Nehru)	66
Praising Modi and the BJP/RSS	36
Ram Mandir	14
Bihar floods	3
Chandrayaan Moon Mission	2
Rape case against Swami Chinmayanand	1
PMC Bank Scam	1

Figure 1 Based on the analysis of Dangal (Aaj Tak), Aar Paar (News18), Taal Thok Ke (Zee News), and Kurukshetra (India TV) (Bureau, 2019)

The above data shows how the level of journalism is falling and engaged in advocating Pro-Hindutva leaders, dividing masses through political polarization, and promoting majoritarianism. It is altogether subjugating the idea of India that is well defined in our constitution. Media is the voice of the people, acts as a channel of communication between people sitting at an administrative position and the common man. Viewers must wake up to completely reject the quality of news that is shown. The game of TRP has to end to bring back the essence of discussions and debates because in last reliable and unbiased news matters.   

 

Need rethinking of policies in a gender centric way

In the scenario of the lockdown due to COVID- 19, discussions are happening on numerous topics, all over the globe and this pandemic has taken such a gigantic form that now we can connect everything to it, so why not gender? The Indian government is taking extraordinary measures to soon get rid out of this “National disaster”, even WHO is praising it for its lockdown move, but where all the doors are locked, trans people have been worst hit, financially, socially and physically. The objective of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Welfare Scheme (launched by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman) is nobody will remain without money and food. It concerns the migrant workers, the women and the disadvantaged of the society. Sorry to say, but not a single word was amplified in the interest of the third gender in that press conference! The government has turned a blind eye to the needs of trans people as it does not have collection of data. The trans people who holds ration cards, gets the food, but nobody is concerned about their need assessment.

According to the 2011 census data, the population of transgenders is 4.8 lakh, out of which, only 10% possess Adhar card. The transgender community has people working in diverse areas. Many of them earns through social events and metros and trains, which has come to halt. They are paying house rent through past savings. One who works as a sex worker or indulges in begging is worst affected and they often get forcefully evacuated from their houses and pressurised to live in overcrowded slums and chawls, which could be a hotbed for the virus. Their life even becomes tougher when they face social ostracism in public places. At Hyderabad metro station, defaming transphobic posters were found and there was a warning written there that if you talk to trans people, then you will be infected with COVID- 19. 

Trans people are usually hesitant in opening up about their health problems even in front of doctors as they start taking puberty blockers doses to hide their trans identity before the age of 12 or 13 to eliminate the risk of gender dysphoria. They also take hormone therapy to make their body look symmetrical to desired sex. A regular medical check-up is crucial for the one who goes for such therapy or puberty blockers, but due to lockdown, they are unable to reach doctors. On the other hand, some of them are undesirably living with another sex or their families for quarantining or isolating themselves, which is again traumatic and exasperating.

Transgender community facing food
and financial crisis in Pakistan

At this point, when coronavirus cases are surging, the third gender has to take extra precautions because most of them are cancer and HIV patients or smokers or consumers of tobacco. They consume these deleterious substances 50% more than the general public. As per the research, 1 out of every 5 adult transgender suffers from at least one or more chronic health condition such as diabetes, arthritis, or asthma. Healthcare practitioners carry several questions in their minds in the wake of coronavirus outbreak such as: Where to place the third gender in? In the transwomen ward or male ward while in quarantine? Should a female doctor or nurse assist them? These questions should have been answered much earlier, gender sensitive healthcare may slip through the cracks.

In the US, President Trump is amending an act against trans people by revoking trans people from the beneficiaries of the Affordable Care Act. However, it is at the halt as lawyers are putting an argument that this law should not be amended at least for now when COVID- 19 is at its verge of spreading. But Idaho lawmakers have proposed three bills against transgender, first restrains trans people from changing their gender identity on their birth certificates, second bans transwomen and girls from competing for the female sports teams and third treats trans youth for gender dysphoria a felony. The first two bills have already been passed and signed by the Governor and the third one got killed in the committee itself. “Boys are boys and girls are girls”, “No doctor, no judge, no Department of Health and Welfare is going to change that reality.” Republican state Sen. Lee Heider said. It’s really a disgraceful and condemnable act as the government has taken the undue advantage of this situation, when there is public health emergency, and no one is caring about such things.

When we talk about whole LGBTQ community, it highly suffers because of the orthodox and stereotypical thinking of patriarchal society. The society is always sceptic about the love gays and lesbian couples share with each other. Going to schools and colleges make them interact with their cisgenders and enjoy life, usually families do not understand them. But living 24*7 with family may suffer mentally at the period of lockdown. Their families are talking about marriage with opposite sex and commenting on appearance, resulting in self- isolation and it’s further hampering mental wellbeing. This even may lead to suicide, which can be stopped even if there is a support of one family member. There are 10 times more chances of a LGBTQ person delve into depression than his/her cisgender. How his/her family acts or thinks on this identity since childhood, plays a very vital role in shaping the career and personality.

I have heard that this virus is secular, any person of any religion could be gripped by this virus. Here, I am adding a few more words to this statement that this virus believes in gender equality, it could infect any gender. We all are in this together, leaving behind third gender will automatically make a space for virus to spread. Different genders have different needs and ignoring these needs leads to wrong implementation and failure of policies. Equity can be achieved when these different needs tackled and fulfilled by wearing a gender lens.  

They won, we lost!

Politics could be used for both, instigating hostility and sowing the seed of love, it depends on the leader whether he wants to follow the path of Sardar Patel, whose birth date is celebrated as Unity Day or he is impressed by British Raj. Party can’t retain its power for long until it divides people on the basis of cast, religion, status, and gender. The riots which are happening in Northeast Delhi are a warning to the middle and poor class that if you do protest, you will have to face nerve-wracking repercussions. Democracy is just a saying in our country, in reality, vulnerable groups do not possess any right to protest. It’s a fabricated scene because the action could have been taken immediately after a single death. Honorable Home Minister Amit Shah and Honorable Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were engaged in deep discussions on how to stop violence when the Northeast Delhi was set ablaze, may I know where is the outcome of the meeting? Why the central and state government have been waiting for the death toll to become 40 or 45? What is the reason for delaying the implementation of section 144? Are they capable of giving answers to the kin of the deceased? Is it not the duty of the state to protect its citizens? No matter how greater the amount of compensation is, one can’t measure the value of a person for his family. India is the nation’s state and the government has to value the life of citizens; it can’t use them for the politics of divide and rule.

The Northeast is the most crowded district of India with a population of 22.42 lakhs, 29.3% Muslims and 16.7% Dalits. This district has no history like other cities. It saw an incessant surge in population from the last 3 decades which led to urban agglomeration. Their economy is predominantly dependent upon small unorganized units and most of the labor class is migrant. The government has been failed in ensuring good health and sanitation for them. 72% of residents of Northeast Delhi still discharge wastewater into open drains, institutional delivery, and full immunization is also less as compared to Delhi's average. The reason why this is important to understand is, they are vulnerable folks, even lacking basic amenities, so it’s easy to target such residents and shut their mouths. What were they protesting for? They are bearing the cost of protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), for which lakhs of people get down the streets and corners to stand against. The government does not have an ideal formula of identifying between the genuine and the bogus, that’s why it is simply giving citizenship on the basis of religion, which may be a threat to the nation’s security. The act got easily passed in Lok Sabha because the benefit of the majority is with NDA. Whatever it is, the constitution provides us the right and not any political party.

This riot has not only destroyed land and property and did a monetary loss but also ruined the peace and harmony of the district. Where people were used to sharing sweets in festivals and used to exchange wishes on auspicious occasions, from now they will exchange barbs because their minds are filled with bigotry and atrocity. They are no more friends, congratulations to all the politicians. They won, we lost! Clean sweep!

Pushing the panic button

Imagine a geriatric patient in your neighborhood who got susceptible to dengue. You closely monitor his sufferings and you are compassionate for him as well, but in the end, he dies. Now you become very cautious, you bring a mosquito net, odomos, face mask and mosquito-killing racket, etc and you don’t even permit your child to play outside as dengue mosquitoes could be anywhere. There is a thin line between being cautious and losing your sense of proportion. Have you ever thought that what kind of diseases he was inflicted with (other than dengue)? What was his age when he died and how his immune system used to perform? Instead of comprehending the medical history of the patient, you just threw a quick judgment that dengue is a nerve-racking disease. And it’s the icing on the cake if you are prone to watching news channels and browsing social networking sites because they hold Ph.D. in creating unnecessary panic.

What do you say about coronavirus? Coronavirus outbreak in China, a massacre, snatching lives of many, WHO has declared a public health emergency, the death toll is incessantly rising, currently surged to 814, 6,196 are on their last leg and your country could be the next, roll up your sleeves to fight against Thanatos. Just a spin of sophisticated vocabulary and fearful expression, nothing else, calm down, don’t panic, all is well! That’s how these journalists fabricate and exaggerate things. Now have a look at the data with an optimistic view, out of total 37,556 coronavirus positive patients till the date, 2,769 recovered, which carries 7.26% of the total number. Most of the patients who died were previously inflicted with comorbid medical disorders such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiac disease, etc and they were also exposed to Huanan seafood market (live animal and seafood market) in Wuhan (the epicenter of coronavirus). We need to appreciate the Chinese government which established 1000 beds hospital within 10 days. All the governments are burning the midnight oil to cease the virus, and they are quite successful as well. However, it could be the wrong idea to fly down their citizens from Wuhan to their respective countries. But they are doing the best they can do for assuring the good health of their citizens.

On the other hand, it’s interesting to note the impact of coronavirus on the global economy. The economy runs on the basis of how a consumer behaves, his behavior differs from situation to situation. At this point in time, a consumer is in fear, so it’s hampering the demand side of economics and consequently effecting the supply side as well, altogether constraining this quarter’s GDP. South Asia is already on the verge of recession, if this panic continues, then it may create an even bigger economic slowdown.

The patients who are lying on their death beds, may recover, hope for the best! Why penetrate negativity in the minds of the public when responsible, audacious and potential health systems are performing their best? It’s a life-taking disease and be aware of its symptoms, causes, and preventive measures. But don’t push the panic button unless it’s required.