Stray Thoughts on Kashmir
K S VENKATARAMAN


Kashmir problem has its origin in the diffidence and procrastination of Jawaharlal Nehru.
I have great respect for him. But Homer sometimes nods. And Jawaharlal Nehru, unfortunately, chose to be guided by Lord Mountbatten in this matter; brushing aside the sane advice of his native lieutenants. The result is we find ourselves caught up in this mess.
Kashmir was a Hindu country, ruled by a Hindu king. He had merged Kashmir with India. When Pakistan soldiers entered Kashmir, he sent SOS to India. Instead of acting fast, Nehru delayed it under the influence of Lord Mountbatten. And when at last he had to order military intervention, he was half-minded; and then he spoiled the whole thing by referring the matter to the UN under the influence of Mountbatten, and ordering ceasefire, leaving the work half-done; and leaving Pakistan in possession of a substantial portion of Kashmir. He did this much against the recommendations of the field officers. He muddled the whole thing.
Meanwhile, Hindu majority was changed by driving away the Kashmir Hindus and the inflow of Pakistanis. This demographic alteration has been carried on systematically during all these years. Three identifiable methods, viz. influx of Pakistanis, driving out the Hindus from Kashmir, and conversion of the helpless Hindus, have been employed without any hindrance to bring about the demographic change in Kashmir. It is true that Plebiscite, which is a very reasonable method, if held now, would be a great injustice to the Kashmir Hindus driven out of their native place. But the ground reality is that there is no other alternative.
More than sixty years have passed. The problem has already become putrefied. Now, what is the point in blaming x, y and z?
At present, Kashmir has a majority of Muslims. After having allowed the composition of population to change, what is there to be done? Thus, we have weakened our hold on Kashmir. What is the point in losing more and more money; and Indian lives?
Maybe the present demographic structure of ‘the people of Kashmir’ is the result of conspiratorial handiwork of Muslim fundamentalists. But they have succeeded and we have lost. It has become a fait accompli. We should now think of the people who are there; whatever be the past history, they are the human beings peopling the Kashmir. And they should not go on suffering endless curfews and difficulties of continued military occupation. They could not be denied the right of self-determination. They should not be made to pay the price for our folly. We cannot hope to win them over to Indian side by force. Our current policy would only alienate them more effectively.
Nirmala Sitharaman observes in her essay, ‘Words and Stones’ (Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, October 28, 2010):
The stones that Kashmir’s angry sang baz lobbed were unlike the pebbles of David’s catapult. These were rough-edged mortar and granite chunks. For citizens locked indoors for days, the unending curfews, closed schools, poor intelligence which couldn’t differentiate between a common man and a well-trained infiltrator and the consequence thereof, resulted in a trust deficit in the Omar Abdullah-Rahul Gandhi alliance.
The only sensible thing is to hold a plebiscite under the supervision of the UNO and go by it; even if it means losing Kashmir once for all. This is a very plaintive proposition; this is the Hobson’s choice we have. As a remote chance, Kashmiri Muslims may perhaps opt for being with India, discarding religious fundamentalism. Even if the don’t, at least, we can save money and lives in future; and can also extricate ourselves from the guilt of violation of human rights in contravention of the established principles of democracy.
Many people know this. But we do not have any statesman, who would take the right decision, even if the people may not understand it immediately. A statesman would be guided only by his conscience and would act only in the interest of the nation. Even if it would make him lose popularity among the mass, even if he has to lose power and position, he would do what he is convinced that would benefit the nation.
But we have only politicians, who are always worried about their earnings, power and position; and popularity that assures him of all these things in life. Even after having brought India to this predicament, they do not have the moral courage needed to take the right decision even now. They are afraid of the after-effects; of the possibility of the other party making use of it; of the possibility of losing power. So their preference is to allow the problem to continue as it is; what if a few thousand crores had to be spent more on defense? What if a few thousand soldiers have to lose their lives periodically? Enough, if their millions are safe! They would not take any decision that would give a chance to the opponents to remove them from power. So, where is the end?
Pakistan is also more or less in the same condition. Only difference is that having snatched a part of Kashmir, they have nothing to lose in terms of territory; but in all other ways, they are no better than us.
But the most important thing is that we should at least learn the costly lessons. Kashmir has served as an excellent experimental ground. The same technique of demographic alteration by using any or all the three methods viz. influx, conversion and driving out the Hindus, can be attempted in a larger scale for the whole India; if not immediately, when the opportunity is created. Our brilliant, pseudo-secular politicians, - who are busy with dividing Indian citizens on the grounds of religion, caste, region and language – who are busy making money and worrying only about their vote banks – who interact with people only through agents - would come to know of it, only when the matter goes out of hands.
The denouement of the Kashmir drama awaits the arrival of a genuine statesman to power in India; as in the ancient stories, the people have to wait for a divine avatar to happen; unless of course, our Indian Youth think and act differently.
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K S Venkataraman is the Associate Editor, Dynamic Youth Online Magazine. He may be contacted through e-mail: dynamicyouth_development@yahoo.com

Anti-defection Law: Where the Shoe Pinches?
K S VENKATARAMAN



In Jumping from one side to another for personal benefits, some of our politicians would put any frog to shame.

Floor-crossing for pecuniary benefits by the elected representatives of the people is a shameful affair. But, for those politicians, who want to earn money by any cheap method, for whom politics is only a business, who want to become simply filthy rich as soon as possible, and who have no value system and thrive like pigs living on feces, defections are golden opportunities.

The Tenth Schedule of Indian Constitution, to be read with the Articles 102 (2) and 191 (2), deals with ‘disqualification on ground of defection in Parliament or Legislative Assembly. If a member elected as a candidate of a given party, voluntarily gives up his membership of the party or votes against the party directives, becomes disqualified for being a member of the Parliament or Legislative Assembly as the case may be.
If one-third of the party’s members come out and form a group, it is considered as a ‘split’ and is not deemed as defection leading to disqualification.
In the implementation of the anti-defection law, the role of the Chairman or Speaker of the House is significant. On any question relating the disqualification of any member, the decision of the Chairman or Speaker is final.
In the beginning, the matters connected with disqualification of any member were kept outside the jurisdiction of the courts; but the Supreme Court struck down this provision as unconstitutional in November 1991. So the proceedings under anti-defection law are now subject to judicial scrutiny.
The general intention of the anti-defection law is to prevent the members from jumping to some other party with ulterior motives.
A quarter of a century has passed since the tenth schedule was incorporated by the Fifty second Amendment 1985. During this period, the country has witnessed a number of defection episodes, that would have made any honest Indian citizen hang his head in shame, but not our ‘leaders’ made of a different stuff. The latest is the ongoing drama of 11 BJP MLAs and five independent MLAs. The validity of these defections is pending decision with the Karnataka High Court.
Whatever may be the judicial decision in this case, the uselessness of the anti-defection law, in its present form, is obvious. It has not prevented floor-crossing of the corrupt politicians, whenever an opportunity presented. The defecting members being segregated and taken to luxurious spots to stay, and the stories of crores of rupees changing hands to persuade these ‘people’s representatives’ to change sides (which are never challenged by these dishonorable ‘leaders’) have reduced the standard of democracy in India to a laughable matter.
P C Alexander, a senior administrator and political observer has said, in his article ‘Permission to defect’ published in Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, October 28, 2010:
During the fairly long period of its existence, the 10th schedule has not succeeded in achieving what was expected of it. Instead it has facilitated more defections than would have been possible otherwise, and given legal respectability to corruption and lowered the standards of political morality among the leaders of political parties. I would recommend for the consideration of lawmakers that the 10th schedule, the entire anti-defection law, be scrapped and defection by any elected representative be treated as a breach of trust placed in him / her by the electorate and instantly result in them losing membership of legislature.
P C Alexander has also pointed out that the national political parties in India have not evolved on ideological lines, as they ought to be; and this has led to the emergence of small state level parties, based on caste and sub-caste loyalties. He has added:
This, indeed, is a dangerous trend and since the anti-defection law has failed to have the desired impact, the only possible remedy seems to be to replace the existing law with a new one whereby anyone who wishes to leave the party which elected him / her should lose his / her seat in the legislature instantly. Even the independents who got elected should lose their seats if they join a political party. Anything short of this would betray the trust vested in them by the electorate.”
Indeed, this is a very responsible thinking. Not likely to appeal to most of our political ilk but certainly would help lift Indian politics from the bottom level to which it has sunk.

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K S Venkataraman is the Associate Editor, Dynamic Youth Online Magazine. He may be reached through e-mail: dynamicyouth_development@yahoo.com

A Wrong Gender Perception
K S VENKATARAMAN

Generally, ‘Perception’ refers to a mental organization; it is based on an accepted way of interpretation of something to which the person concerned has given some thought or could attach some past experience or could relate some emotions. Our perception on a subject usually decides our approach towards it; also it has substantial influence over the decisions we take on any relevant matter. Perceptual Constancy can mould a definite tendency for the person’s interpretation.
We come to know about a person’s perception only when he expresses an opinion or lets it be known through some other action. Whether openly expressed or not, a perception can lead a person towards a certain decision even without his being aware of it.
Dr. Nutan Thakur, a social activist has highlighted a male perception that can easily play havoc in delivering justice to the women, as follows:

I present a live case before u. It started with my putting forth a small statement - "A Lt General accused of molesting a Colonel's wife is thrown out of Army. Ye kya ho raha hai?” on the social networking site Facebook. To this there were different answers but the one that really stunned me was from a friend whose view was that- " No man can molest a woman, and that too a married woman of force ... NEVER, without her willing consent". He also says that - "I have always observed ... that this type of stupid behavior is common in love affairs.”
It is this statement by an otherwise learned and sober person that I want to present before you all for discussion and opinion making. To me the person who made the statement is not important, nor is my idea to criticize him or to dissect his background. To me what really matters is the fact that even today, in the 21st Century, there is a male perception that goes on to say that molestation of a woman (particularly a married woman) is not possible (without her consent). If slightly extended this statement comes to mean that molestation, rape and such other lurid and heinous crimes against women are simply not possible as long as the women are not a party to it. Frankly I not only completely disagree with this statement but also find it absolutely sickening. And also terrifying. Terrifying because it is this kind of male mind-set that is responsible for many heinous and dangerous crimes against women go completely unheard and unpunished. What this gentleman is saying might as well be the mental thought process of the Judge or the Magistrate who has been given the responsibility of delivering Justice. And if the person has already made a presumption that there can't be a crime of this nature against a woman (more so in the case of married women), then one can understand what kind of justice is the woman going to get from the concerned court.
We have seen the dramatic version of these situations in the celebrated film "Damini" where "Taarikh pe taarikh" could not give justice to the raped woman till the very end. We also know of such widely discussed cases on rape like the Mathura rape case and Bhanwari Devi case where victim had to pass through such insulting times even in the law courts that it led to great revolt and resistance by the women activists from all over India. But it seems that no change of law and regulations on Rape has been able to actually change the deep-rooted antipathy of this kind of people for whom women are nothing more than a plaything.
If what these people say is true then what is the need of any law on Rape? Why have different sections on women abuse and molestation? I am not commenting at all on the case related with the Lt Genera in the Army where he lost his job due to the allegations made by a Colonel's wife. Each case is different and must be treated so. I also don't say that women don't feign wrong abuse. In my husband Amitabh ji's policing career, I have myself come across such cases where it was clear that the woman is making false accusations. I remember a case in Gagaha police station in Gorakhpur, when my husband was very new in the service and after a raid that he had conducted, the woman whom they had arrested with weapons had made written accusations of rape against 10-12 police officers, except luckily my husband. The matter got exposed within a day or two but it had given my husband a lot of mental harassment.
But then to sweepingly generalize such a statement is really too much. In my opinion it shows the poor mental outlook and extremely biased world view of many of the male folk. It also gives the reason why still justice is being denied to one half of the human population in such a large measure.
I as a social activist and a gender-rights activist not only strongly condemn such wrongly-placed mental outlook but also consider them extremely dangerous for the proper development and functioning of human society in a just manner. I know that such a statement by an individual is not really important, what actually counts is the overall gender perception. And this statement somehow seems to represent the same distorted gender perception.

Dr. Nutan Thakur’s concern is justifiable. Perception, as a generalized, fixed idea, can prevent a logical analysis. The male perception referred to by her is a well-known and common one. I have also heard such views from men on many occasions. Once, a senior gentleman tried to illustrate his point of view using the example of needle and thread. The molestation and several other offences against women generally involve use of force against their wishes, disregarding their human dignity.
Being in a position to influence their minds or being capable of intimidating them in some way or other could make the woman’s willingness irrelevant. Finding herself in a lonely spot or a helpless situation could make her position vulnerable.
It may be true that some such unpleasant incidents happen because in the beginning the girl foolishly encourages men making passes at her. Such cases, like the one Dr Nutan Thakur has also mentioned, should not be generalized.
The bottom line is that negative or positive, the gender perceptions should never be allowed to jeopardize logical analysis of offences.
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Dr Nutan Thakur is the Editor, Nutan Satta Pravah; Secretary, Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS), Convener, National RTI Forum; Coordinator Indian Public Academy, Lucknow
# 94155-34525
nutanthakurlko@yahoo.in

Saina Nehwal – A Pride of India
K S VENKATARAMAN

Saina Nehwal beat Japan's Sayaka Sato 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 in the final in Jakarta on Sunday, June 27, 2010. She has achieved the hat-trick after her India Open GP Gold and Singapore Open Super Series titles over the last two weeks.


When somebody asked about her rankings, 20 year-old Saina Nehwal replied, “I want to be 100 per cent at every tournament. I’m not concerned about rankings. If I win, my ranking will improve. My focus is on improving my game and fitness. If that happens, everything else follows.” What a healthy philosophy of life, this youngster has as the foundation of her life! In these few words, she has given the teachings of the Bhagawad Gita in nutshell: ‘Concentrate on your duty, without worrying about the rewards. If you can perform unswervingly at your best, understand that it is the major reward of life.’
Prakash Padukone won the English Masters Championship in 1979 held at Royal Albert Hall, London. Further, he won the Danish Open and the Swedish Open Championships in the year 1980. These Swedish, Danish and All England titles lifted him to world No 1. The summit that Padukone scaled is now within sight of Saina as well. Not that she cares too much about rankings.
Saina Nehwal is now the ace Indian badminton player, holding the world rank number 3. Her latest victory at the Djarum Indonesia Open Super Series, enabled her to retain the crown on Sunday and gave her the third title in the last 19 days.
Saina began briskly her first game and secured a 9-4 lead. But Sayaka Sato was not a pushover. She fought back and led Saina at 16-17. Saina had to win three consecutive points to move to 19-17. Still Sayaka managed to save a game point but very soon the first set ended in Saina’s favor.
Sayaka returned with a lot of determination. She put forth her best and hit the shuttle very hard. She rushed to a 14-7 lead! She smashed 14 winners and Saina had to concede the set to her opponent.
Saina came back and asserted her superiority in the third set. Her concentration was superb. She did not give much air and kept the shuttle in play. She also forced her opponent to the net frequently. Sayaka committed many errors and could not control Saina’s progress. Finally, in the battle that lasted 45 minutes, Saina Nehwal smelt victory; with four successive points, she emerged victorious and defended well her championship here.
Saina acknowledge her success gracefully and said, “I am very, very happy. It’s a memorable moment in my life. To defend the crown is exciting and to win a third title on the trot is a great feeling. I am delighted.” She added, “This is my 15th consecutive match and winning all of them is great. I am extremely satisfied with my performance. Winning at Chennai, Singapore and here was just amazing. I am very happy that I have been consistent over the last three weeks.”
The next challenge for Saina is already very near and in sight. It is the World Championships to be held in Paris from Aug 23 to 29. She has said, “My next target is the World title. These three victories have given me immense confidence. I want to train hard and do well at the World Championships.”
Her victory in Jakarta may not take her higher than her present third rank because here she had only defended the points she had already won. But no doubt, the boost to her self-confidence would be great.
Her coach Pullela Gopichand has said,, “It’s phenomenal. Very few players are capable of winning three titles in a row. It’s a result of her fitness and rigorous practice. She’s very young and I am expecting more such performances from her. Once she’s back we’ll start preparing for the World Championships.” He also added, “She’s been very consistent and is getting better all the time. It’s simple — just use your brains while training, don’t complicate things too much. I don’t use computer software or anything to analyze.”
Dr. Harvir Singh Nehwal, Saina’s father said with justifiable pride, “I always believed she can do well at international level. Before going to Singapore she told me, ‘Papa, I’ll win this title.’ It’s God’s grace that she’s doing so well. I hope she’ll come up with a good performance at the World Championships as well. She’s made the country proud.”

Born on March 27, 1990 at Hisar in Haryana (India), Saina Nehwal has already an impressive list of achievements. She has already been honored with Arjuna Award and the title of Padma Sri.

Her International / Indian Titles

Czechoslovakia Junior Open 2003
Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament 2005
Philippines Open 2006
Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament 2006
Indian National Badminton Tournaments 2007, 2008
Yonex Chinese Taipei Open 2008
World Junior Badminton Championships (First
Indian to win a world Junior title) 2008
Indonesian Open Super Series (First Indian to
win a Super Series event) 2009
India Open Grand Prix Gold Event 2010 (June 13)
Singapore Open Super Series 2010 (June 20)
Indonesia Open 2010 (June 27)

Other International Performances

Commonwealth Games, 2006 Bronze medal in mixed team event
Beijing Olympics, 2008 Quarterfinals (First Indian woman
to reach Olympics Quarterfinals)
Badminton Asia Championships, 2010 Bronze medal
All-England Super Series, 2010 Semifinalist

The field is vast. Many a summit is there to conquer like the Asian Games, the World Championships, the Olympics and so on. Saina is only 20. With her courage, determination and positive frame of mine, she will, no doubt, easily accomplish much more and make the country proud.

Saina Nehwal is a source of inspiration and role model for the global youth. Dynamic Youth Online Magazine congratulates Saina Nehwal on her remarkable achievement and wishes her a long successful sports career and that she should become numero uno soon.

Sources

http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/27/saina-nehwal-wins-indonesia-open-super-series-crown.htm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/badminton/Super-Saina-shines-supreme/articleshow/6099486.cms

http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_saina-nehwal-does-it-again-clinches-indonesia-open-title_1401907

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K S Venkataraman is the Associate Editor, Dynamic Youth Online Magazine dedicated to Global Youth Development and freely viewable in www.dynamicyouth.org
He may be contacted through e-mail: dynamicyouth_development@yahoo.com
http://www/linkedin.com/in/ksvenkataraman