When Teachers turn to Rapists, who else won’t?: The Bikaner Gang Rape Incident

It is not even a month after an acid attack in the country when a rape incident crops up. And then this one is different. It was committed by a group of teachers in a school in Bikaner, Rajasthan. The girl was molested over a period of two years and was given medicines to prevent pregnancy. It was not until she developed cancer-like symptoms did her parents notice the issue.

The lamest thing is that the parents never once noticed their child in 2 years. The child is not to be blamed but did she never even trust her parents to tell them about school. And worst of all the teachers who never thought to stop for a single time whilst they were doing this ghastly crime of raping a child. This is not the first time that the country has proved that India is progressing in everything.  Starting from a booming economy, a dedicated space research organization breaking all conventions and records; India has moved ahead in everything. Even in crime, India has gone the next level.

 

It was in 2008 that we heard about an incident regarding a gang rape committed by a group of teachers in a PTC college in Patan, Gujarat. The case was similar to this and the girl was mentally unstable by the time this incident was noted. Then later we saw the Damini case where the rapists broke all records and went on to be labeled as the rarest of the rare case. There is no dearth of cases that depict the paralysis that the Indian legal systems. 

The system works like an analog watch in an atomic clock age. By the time the clock strikes twelve the criminal might be at six. The accused are now absconding and police are under the heat of finding them out as fast as possible. The NCW has appealed to the Rajasthan government that they take this case very seriously and punish the criminals. 

But this case is not just because of the law and order system. Two years is not a small time and the parents are the real handicap. They never notice their child. They are not even trusted by their kid. And all this is the courtesy of the moral policing that Indians are famous for. They teach the kids that they should never think about anything that even remotely relates to sex. And this leads to ignorance and consequently to crime. Let us not forget that the main reason of crimes in the society is not only the courage of the criminals to do it but also the ignorance of the victims who have it done to them. 

The Chappal is more powerful than the Constitution for Shiv Sena

Time and again there have been incidents about Members of Parliament and MLAs misbehaving with common people and displaying their high-handedness. And though some of them have totally refuted the claims, there are others like Ravindra Gaekwad of the Shiv Sena who thinks that he should accept that he did it. The incident occurred at a plane that arrived at the Delhi airport and the MP who was on board had an altercation with a 60 year old staffer of the Air India and Mr. Gaekwad beat him with his chappal and also tried to throw him down the aisle onto the stairs.

The media took up the issue and all the national TV channels pointed out his high-handed behavior. Apparently Gaekwad is not sorry about the incident and says that he did what anybody would do. He told the staffer misbehaved with him and insulted him. The Shiv Sena MP has no apologies to serve to anybody.

But what is the reason that the ministers of the country consider their privileges to be their birth rights, something that ‘they were born to own’. The Shiv Sena has no comment on this topic and Chief Uddhav Thackeray has not decided whether he must remove this minister from his party. The Shiv Sena has always been a face of violent expression in the political image of Maharashtra and time and again the Sena has been expressive to assert the Swarajya model of Chhatrapati Shivaji. But to assert their status as MP for a business class seat doesn’t seem like the right thing to do. The FIA has banned Gaekwad on any of its planes unless he asks for forgiveness.

But will that be enough. This is not the first incident where a minister has shown unconstitutional behavior. There have been fights over paying tolls at toll booths, allowing uninterrupted flows on traffic jams and more. If violence is the only answer to be given to misbehavior and insult possibly the women must go on to break every law and kill people who stalk them in buses, trains and roads. People must engage in fist fights and verbal abuses in markets. Employees must hurl chairs and tables at their bosses and parliament sessions should be done using swords and AK-47s. And everybody should accept this law of barbarianism and forget our constitution.

Otherwise the wise Chief of Shiv Sena should take an informed decision to remove this tainted minister from his party and punish him for his inappropriate behavior. This is a chance for Uddhav Thackeray to come out of his father’s shadow and emerge into Maharashtra as a powerful leader who will respect the law of the land. Or else it will a chance for MNS chief Raj Thackeray to get the center piece in Maharashtra politics.

Road Romeos or Acid Throwers, Who’re the Real Culprits

It is not even a week from the time that the UP government started. From the Yogi government is already on its way to prove to the people that it is different from the previous governments of UP. And some of the notable directives that have been brought into force are quite interesting. One among them is ban on tobacco and gutkha products and paan products inside government buildings. And it doesn’t end there. The police has taken up a task of punishing road romeos. The initiative was taken up and many videos showing the punishing techniques have been uploaded on Youtube. In fact even national TV celebrated it by showing these funny punishments. 

The police could easily raise their collars for these initiatives, but hold on this is no Rowdy Rathore moment for them. These videos were a testament that women will not be tolerating any attacks on their freedom anymore, but just by punishing few teenagers is not going to end this madness. The real crime that we are talking about is acid attack.

Not soon after these videos started to show on headlines, than the news of an acid attack in Meerut came up. Now what is the use of punishing a few teenagers in one lane when a girl is being attacked by a scorned lover just a lane away. These punishments don’t serve the basic purpose of making the criminal feel guilty. The acid throwers are the culprits who don’t like when their ego is hurt. And when it is hurt they turn into a snake, spitting venom on its enemies. And then there is a phone call from ‘above’ and they are let loose because they happened to be the family or family-like of the police.

The problem is that the criminal system makes discrimination between a person who is not the family of a policeman and one who is. They are tried by different laws apparently and that makes all the unfair advantage. And since the perpetrators know they are going to get away with it they enjoy the thrill again and again.

I think it might be a good time if Yogi Adityanath thinks about computerizing the entire law system as such and eliminates all humans from it. Perhaps that is the only solution for the system to be crack-proof. Because time and again these things happen and then we have some minister sitting on his chair and explaining that it was the girl’s fault. And then we will have women’s rights commission gaining publicity on the issue by dragging the poor girl in and out of government offices. Or perhaps there should be a separate commission for handling this all together, like a Molestation and Allied Offences Redressal Commission.

The system will never change itself, it will only try to add a new body in the government and that is the end of it. In the evening news, the so called thinkers and experts will be called on a news channel and India will be reminded of its heritage and diverse culture and then asked to adjust for everybody’s survival.

Possibly one way to deal with it might be allowing the girl/woman and a group of women of the same age and lifestyle to have a prime say in the case proceeding. The group could say where they feel the system is failing and particularly the girl can say if she is satisfied with the process. A lawyer from the Higher Court can make sure that the girl is not influenced and in a matter of 10 days the process should be finished.

There are many alternatives to think about and the sky is the limit for one who thinks. But when we see our history the Nanavati case reminds us that even if the system shows itself to be impregnable our own instincts betray us. Maybe we need introspection whether we are the real culprits or the acid-throwers. Perhaps imagine ourselves walking down the street and have somebody throw acid on our face. But the burn will not be real in this case.

Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri-Masjid- The Unending Enigma of Ayodhya

The Globe Theater in London might be famous for Shakespeare’s plays, but it can never surpass the Babri-Masjid Ram Janmabhoomi drama. The case started getting its eyeballs when the mosque was demolished on December 6 1992. And since then it took a dark turn bringing in violence in the heroic scene. Later on a riot ensued, killing nearly 2000 people across the country. But that will not be the end of it. The successors of these riots continued their battle into courts, until the court gave a judgment of division of the land into 3 parts in 2010.

But still the lure of ultimate victory made the parties to disagree. The Jain and Buddhist sects also joined the fight claiming their cultural history on the land and that brought new parties into the bi-party dispute. The enigma still continues to haunt people’s dreams in Ayodhya.

But the Ayodhya issue is not something that has ever remained calm. It was tumultuous then as it is now. The difference lies in that the British were just diplomatic in their approach and much better in suppression of conflict. There have been various accounts of the mosque been built on earlier structures of temples. Some reports and historical records suggest the existence of a Hindu temple before 18^th century. Some claim that there was Jain temple built before 11^th century. Other reports also state a Buddhist vihara existed at that place once. But these claims are all substantiated by equally compelling reports. How can all claims be true? 

But the most important coincidence is that this looks exactly like the problem with the city of Jerusalem and how it is divided between various claims. Some people might say that since the Jerusalem dispute has not been resolved, how can Ayodhya dispute be resolved? And now let us start dating exactly when this dispute had begun. Possibly it might be the 16^th century or 10^th century. And this makes it about 500 to 1000 years old. And we claim that we are one of the oldest civilizations on the planet of the earth. Why then did the knowledge of so many years not help us in resolving this issue? Entire generations lost just so that people can have their ego sated and violence committed.

This is not a new scene in the Indian scenario, where anything can be turned into a business. Be it politics, religion, science or archeology. These themes have always been used to drive the unsuspecting public into mobs, while the owners of such propaganda sit watching the drama unfold somewhere else. Just a simple non-cooperation from the people can solve this issue. The people must not show interest even in the minutest way possible in any development over this issue. The case would then be solved within no time.

But this scheme would also require the media and the politicians to stop raking up the issue for publicity and political stints. Or else Ayodhya will forever be remembered as the place of perennial battle like the wall of Jerusalem. On the brighter side this does bring publicity to the place as such and brings tourists from all over the world. Well won’t that be a business everyone is interested in. Local traders and traditional artisans can try their luck at making a fortune during festivals.

The hand that rocks and rules the world

Mothers have been an eternal part of any civilization. They are termed as the first teachers of any living soul on the planet since they start teaching their child in their womb. They can be different in their methods of care. But one thing no one can deny is that everybody lays down their defenses in front of a mother. 

The legendary saying that 'The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world' needs to be remembered today on this occasion of Mother's Day. To spend some time with their mothers, and make them feel special, this day is pretty useful. But there is no denying the fact that the mothers have sacrificed much of their lives for us. But in this Industrial World we have become too formal and mechanized to give such uniform treatment to every element in our lives. We are so busy in our own careers that we just ignore the very roots that nurtured us. Some people are just totally indifferent that their parents need a little attention. 

The world is in an elaborate drama where everybody is trying to be a grown up and act like one rather than being one; and they are pathetic at it. They are so busy playing 'House House' with each other that they don't realize that they are in the real world unless they have a child and they get a rude shock shaking them into reality. They start understanding the value of attention and start giving attention rather than getting attention. They start craving for attention that they used to get from their mothers all these time. And then comes the Mother's Day celebration. But why take such pains to understand that a mother is as much a part of your life as your job. 

These Mother's Day celebrations are a way to entice more consumption by product marketing firms and companies to make people spend more than their average. They are just special sales days for these companies and a chance to clear the old stock of warehouses. The people must realize that rather than spending a whole year barely communicating with your parents and coming back on such days, they should keep a constant touch with them. 

Such celebrations are good in spirit but they should be only used to celebrate the spirit of motherhood on a larger social platform; not for individual gratification. Because however big a tree grows, it cannot stand tall without its roots grounding it to the earth. It is time we water those roots with some love and compassion daily. A phone call a day, a text or a video call; some funny message, a Whatsapp forward, anything could make them feel that you are still with them. Because the biggest fear of any man is to be left alone.

It is IDEA-vodaFONE now!! New-born delight or old-dog survival?

Mergers are never an easy option for any company. It is a headache for both the employees and the owners. The employees are apprehensive whether they will be laid off or not. The owners worried about the market reception of such a move. But each knows that it is inevitable. The recent merger of Aditya Birla group and Vodafone India is an expected move. 

  

Vodafone was one of the market leaders in Indian telecom industry and was only rivaled by the likes of Airtel, Reliance or state-owned BSNL. Idea was quite popular in some places in the country but not as expansive as Vodafone. But the recent entry of Jio has shaken these two by their very core. The free voice calling and data-centric marketing of Jio has shrinked the market place for the other players in the telecom industry and disrupted the industry practices. Jio wishes to redefine the industry in its own terms by using a data-centric approach. But the traditional telecom industry has always viewed voice calls as the primary source of income.

These are hard times and hard times call for desperate moves. Vodafone is merging its Indian telecom arm with Idea to battle the Jio catastrophe. It is selling about 14% of its stake to Idea in a time of three years to allow Idea an equal stake of around 35%. The resultant venture would be run by Mr. Kumar M Birla with a CFO from Vodafone’s side and a CEO by mutual consent. This would make the telecom industry to be ruled by 4 big players namely Idea-Vodafone, Bharti-Airtel, Reliance Jio and BSNL.

But what can bring them back into the game? The brand had two distinct personalities and the new merged venture needs to present itself as a new fresh look. This is just the same difference between a new-born baby wonder and an octagenerarian who had a bypass surgery. People will have a delight to receive a new-born baby. The CEO will be responsible for the image upheaval in the market. A merger can be a double-edged sword. It depends on the use whether it hurts your opponent or you.  

Ola Uber or Adios Uber!

The taxi-ride market in India is just witnessing its tough competition between two giants. The Uber and the Ola had dominated the Indian market for taxis almost to saturation. Now the American Silicon Valley startup is battling for its ground with the home-turf startup Ola cabs. 

  

Uber had been running into many problems lately which included rape charges on its drivers, market shrink due to newer entrants and also price war with Ola cabs. But the well-funded startup was undeterred by these. But now the departure of personnel from the company has put the company in tough times. Jeff Jones is the latest to depart the ride-sharing business as president of marketing and public image. He will be followed later by the VP of maps and Uber application platform Brian McClendon.

Uber has raised more than $8billion in funding as compared to Ola cabs, which raised about a fourth of that. But Ola plans to counter this using improvement in its user experience. It has presence in over 100 cities across India compared to 29 of Uber. It employs its own map system which is inspired by the fact that various places in India don’t have a proper name to be put on the map. Also it offers its services in more than 20 languages across India. Ola is using its home-grown potential to its advantage. 

This will make it difficult for Uber to expand in it. The current strategy to maintain its footing and bear the attacks until a strong leader comes at its helm, who can understand the importance of local people and culture. The huge capital surplus can help in cushioning the blows. But Ola can go all-out offensive in this situation and gain new turfs.