Events & Issues

New Delhi, 28 December 2010

Live-In Relationships

WILL IT REPLACE MARRIAGE?

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

Live-in relationships have been accepted in our society today, especially after the Supreme Court gave its stamp of approval to such social living. In a recent judgment it held that children born out of wedlock in such cases had legal rights. Many couples in metro cities across the country are now openly declaring such relationships. Obviously, the ever-increasing influence of Western lifestyles has led to these relationships getting woven into our social fabric.

Live-in relationships represent a diversion away from the permanent knot of marriage. Couples who choose to live together have sexual relationships but these are devoid of any life-long commitment towards each other. Presumably, youngsters opt for live-in relationships either for companionship and possibly to share the cost of living. Intertwined in these ties is the option to get separated if the association does not work or when the companionship is found to be unsuitable for sustainable living.

True, it is debatable whether such live-in relationships have been accepted or not. However, those who go in for such ties do not care about social customs and traditional values. Also correct, there is no survey undertaken to find out whether such associations have worked out well and the couples are satisfied living in this way. Also there is no data available on what percentage of such relationships finally end in marriage.

Importantly, rising urbanization and the influx of materialistic values in society along-with a lack of a sense of responsibility and search for the desired life partner leads an individual to get attracted towards such relationships. Moreover, since marriage nowadays takes place not before the age of 30 or even later in life once a person is well settled, such affairs are expected to increase in the coming years.

As is well known, Indian marriages are generally family and society driven. Therefore, an individual refrains from ‘breaking-the-knot’ due to his reverence for social customs. In spite of stresses and strains, it has been found that a couple tries to keep their marriage going. Despite there being no physical relationship even then the couple does not set their marriage aside. However, in a live-in relationship, there is no obligation to carry on.       

Interestingly, there have been many cases where after a live-in relationship for 2-3 years the couple agreed to marry. According to experts there are strong possibilities of a better understanding, stronger ties and sustained love in married couples who started their journey with a live-in relationship. If there are to be believed, such marriages are more successful than arranged ones, where the couples do not understand each other well.

But, another section argues the obverse. They feel that marriage is an institution where the couples come together on a social and religious bonding. Marriage, they aver, has permanence where both the husband and wife develop strong emotional bonds and inter-dependence with the passage of time.

Besides, the bonding gets stronger as soon as a child is born. However, in modern times with couples being educated, marriage sometimes may not be easy to carry on as an increasing number of divorces and separations have revealed. Notwithstanding, that in a live-in relationship the bonding is only for physical satisfaction and sexual pleasure.

Pertinently, since pre-marital sex is no longer taboo, live-in relationships for a short period might be acceptable. But after a while, a marriage may become essential when the couple decides to have a child. Specially, as according to law one has to declare the name off his/her father and mother.

There is actually no rationale or yardstick to guide or decide the success rating of a marriage or live-in relationship. The ever-changing values of society have been greatly influenced by western values and materialistic considerations which are very much different from ours.

Thus it is indeed very difficult to pass a judgment on either of these relationships. Even the most intelligent experts (whether marriage pundits, sociologists or psychologists) would find their advice lacking because at the end of the day, the liaison between two individuals is a private matter and depends upon varied factors such as needs, environment, adjustments, desires and values.     

Significantly, the Supreme Court in a recent judgment laid out four conditions. Clarifying the phrase “relationship in the nature of marriage”, in the Domestic Violence Act of 2005, which expanded the scope of maintenance, the Court ruled that extending the maintenance rights too much could undermine the rights of the legally wife and encourage claims from women in short-lived relationships.

Indeed, the last criteria laid down by the Apex court rules out maintenance if either live-in partner is married to someone else at the time of the relationship. The ruling is intended for those women faithfully residing with a man and has been cheated upon.    

Despite this, there is no need to ponder whether the institution of marriage is withering away. Live-in relationships and marriage will exist side by side. But unmarried relationships may increase as individuals decide to marry late or when both the male and females partners are busy with their jobs and their career.

In the coming years, it would be necessary to mould human relationships not on the basis of needs and desires but on compassion, love and fellow feeling. These values are intrinsic to our society and our tradition. It is, however, very difficult to visualize whether these would be able to offset materialistic trends that have made great inroads among the young generation. However, one has to agree that with changing values and mindsets, no relationship can be ignored as every relationship is unique.   ----- INFA 

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The World

New Delhi, 28 December 2010

2010 Diplomatic Footprints

LAUNCH PAD FOR MORE TIES

By Monish Tourangbam

Research Scholar, School of International Studies (JNU)

In the year that went by, India’s foreign policy has been largely dictated by its effort to secure more partners around the world. Especially in the Asian continent, evident from the regularity of high-level diplomatic visits. It has been New Delhi’s intent to create a zone of friendship around. With the phenomenal rise of neighbouring China with which India has not had the best of relations, the Manmohan Singh Government has been serious about increasing India’s foothold.

As the world takes baby steps toward securing the still fragile global economic recovery, the importance of countries like India has undoubtedly risen. In the changed circumstances, the salience of groups like the G20 of which India is a primary member, have dramatically increased. Moreover, the country’s economic performance and the opportunities in store for any country to do business with India have increasingly attracted attention,.

Significantly, it is in this context, that the visit from the leaders of all the five permanent members of the UN Security Council assumes importance. The Russian President Medvedev’s recent visit completed a full circle. His visit followed that of Britain’s David Cameron, the US President Barack Obama, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy and China’s Premier Wen Jiabao.

Apart from the symbolic importance, all the leaders who came calling in 2010 were men on a mission. They meant business and concluded their visits conversing on a host of issues concerning both sides and re-assessing the relations besides inking a lot of agreements spanning a lot of areas.

Among the P-5 members, India has had the most complex and difficult relationship with its neighbour and rising power China. The two countries share a protracted border dispute and do not see eye to eye on a number of vital issues, including the culpability of Pakistan for heightened anti-India terrorism.

But, this does not take away the kind of traction that India has been able to gain in its relationship with the major powers in the elite club of the Security Council. Apart from China, all the other four countries in the P-5 including the US which had been dilly-dallying has come out strongly in favour of a permanent seat for India in an expanded Security Council in the future.

China has maintained a rehearsed and rather lame assurance. The most that Beijing continues to say and one that was repeated in the joint communique recently is, “China attaches great importance to India's status in international affairs as a large developing country, understands and supports India's aspiration to play a greater role in the United Nations, including in the Security Council.”

But New Delhi should not be hugely concerned about this because it also emphasizes Beijing’s insecurity of a rising India. Besides, the issue is not something that will pay immediate dividends. It serves like a secure investment that paves the way for understanding in a number of other strategic issues.

The fact that Britain, France, Russia and the US supports India’s aspirations for a permanent seat does not mean that the reform would happen in the near future. However, it surely gives the message that for these countries, New Delhi is a responsible international player and the presence of India in the club would not be a liability for them.

In the field of civilian nuclear energy, India has come out quite a winner. The exception again is the Chinese side that concentrates on doing nuclear business with Pakistan, a country with a shoddy non-proliferation record. Wherein its own nuclear scientist A.Q.Khan was exposed as a czar of the nuclear black market.

Otherwise, major countries, including erstwhile skeptics have come around to either signing or at the least discussing the possibility of cooperating with New Delhi in the field of civilian nuclear energy. Nuclear commerce with India is the buzz in the international system and the niche and cooperation that follows it should be used as a launching pad for extending cooperation in other areas.

In fact, the India-US ‘123’ agreement really served as the ignition, which combined with the Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver (NSG) led to the windfall. France came out as one of the earliest and strongest supporters of India joining international nuclear commerce. The synergy between Russia as a major energy producing country and India as a major energy consuming country is the catchphrase for India-Russia cooperation in this field.  Indeed the results are encouraging.

Undoubtedly, as expected, the Nuclear Liability Bill has raised some concerns among foreign countries hoping to invest in India’s nuclear energy market. The good part is that countries wishing to do business with India have not taken strong positions against the Bill. This gives New Delhi some space to negotiate as to how its  domestic concerns can be balanced with the demands of international nuclear commerce. This issue has to be worked out in a graduated manner that will not hamper the vital interests of any side.

Also, as the issue of terrorism becomes ubiquitous in all bilateral and multilateral, New Delhi, intends to make other major power acknowledge the seriousness of this threat in the Indian context. Whereby, we saw a general pattern where the burgeoning economic partnership between India and China did not translate in optimistic gestures on other issues of core interest.

Apart from the Chinese Premier, other leaders of the P-5 including President Obama were quite categorical in their condemnation of the existence of safe havens across the border. True, be it Britain, France, Russia or the US, there will be differences and opposing viewpoints on many issues, expected in any broad-based relationship, but at this juncture there seems to be no conflict of interest on any core issue.

But, on the Chinese front, there are some hardcore issues that could seriously impede the relationship. Adding to the inevitable competition between the two rising powers in the same geographic region, China through the stapled visa issue has continuously poked at the question of India’s sovereignty.

This time around, India took the right move towards a restraint aggression by diverting from the norm and not making any reference to Chinese sovereignty on Tibet and the ‘One China' policy, so dear to Chinese ears. The burgeoning economic relationship between New Delhi and Beijing is often flaunted as the hallmark of ties but in this department too, all the huge bilateral trade figures are nothing more than a chimera until the trade imbalance is not corrected.

So, as 2010 came to an end and India’s stature in the international system became more cemented than ever, its ties with the major powers of the world increased in some substantial areas. But as a country that aspires to sit at the high table of diplomacy and make its viewpoints counted in international decision-making, India should be more pro-active in its foreign policy making.

The milestones achieved last year should serve as launch pads toward substantial engagements in the years ahead. And an opportunity to better assess the loopholes that could hinder India’s ambitions in the future. ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Round The States

New Delhi, 30 December 2010

Corruption Year 2010

ANDHRA, SIKKIM JOIN BANDWAGON

By Insaf

Andhra Pradesh and Sikkim are the latest entrants in the year-end season of corruption scandals. Already under siege with the CWG and 2G Spectrum mega scam, the Congress is now saddled with graft charges against its former Chief Minister K Rosaiah in Andhra. A Hyderabad local court has directed the State government’s anti-corruption bureau to register a case against Rosaiah and 16 others for their alleged involvement in a land-scam worth Rs 200 crores. The former CM came under the scanner after a group of petitioners claimed that nine acres of land, in the Ameerpet village and mandal of Hyderabad, was handed over by him to a private party during his term. The court has asked the bureau to submit a report before January 28. The timing of this case couldn’t be more inappropriate for the Congress High Command as it gives the Opposition further ammunition against the UPA’s corruption-ridden governance. Worse, it will force New Delhi to silence its guns against ‘tainted’ Yeddyurappa in Karnataka.   

Up north-east, Sikkim’s Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling is too caught in the corruption cross-hairs. The CBI has sought clearance to investigate Chamling and several of his Cabinet colleagues in an assets case. Scandalously, Chamling stands accused of amassing nearly Rs 23 crores in Sikkim and outside by abusing his official position first as an MLA from 1985-94 and then as Chief Minister since 1994. More, he awarded 26 hydro electric projects to companies in violation of all norms. Adding to Chamling’s woes, the Comptroller and Auditor General has also come down heavily on favouritism shown by him to his relatives’ business ventures which caused a huge loss to the State exchequer. While the Centre is silent, the CBI has requested the Chief Secretary for a sanction to register a case. What next?

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Chhattisgarh’s Thieves

Forget Maoists, thieves are the latest encumbrance for the Chhattisgarh State Government. Whereby, its much-touted rural solar electrification project in the ‘red zone’ has become a money-making source for the robbers, especially in villages located inside forests and on hilly terrains. Ironically, while the Naxalites have facilitated the State’s electrification plans in remote areas, the burglars think otherwise. Coming in gangs from across the State they take away photovoltaic panels as a hapless police looks on. Another problem is that the thieves damage panels while trying to remove these. Interestingly, the Maoist cadres have found a new use for the solar equipment: recharging mobile phones and other electronic gadgets. Creditably the Government has so far provided electrification to 1400 villages but over 2000-odd villages still need electricity. Also under a project for Ashram Shalas, solar power plants have been installed in 950 tribal hostels, benefiting hundreds of students. Who will show light to the Government to bell the thieves?

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Punjab MLAs Poor Record

The UPA’s flagship Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan has failed to make any impact in Punjab where the dropout rate stands at over 40 per cent across primary, middle and high schools. Call it a coincidence but over 42 of the State’s 117 MLAs are school or college dropouts. This scandalous fact came to the fore in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s glossy Who’s Who. A cursory glance showcases how many legislators come with prefixes and suffixes like “under middle”, “under-matric”, “pre-engineering”, “pre-medical” or “BA Part I” and “BA Part II”. More scandalous, three MLAs are school drop-outs before class VIII. This is not all. Two Cabinet Ministers are only matriculates. Happily, 44 MLAs including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the PCC Chief are graduates. The State boasts of its Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is an MBA from California. Undoubtedly, he is all set to give an impetus to educating his State MLAs.

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Leh’s Link To Tourists

As Leh grapples with the sweeping cold, it can warm its cockles that the Union Railway Ministry has approved the 498-km all-weather broad gauge Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line. Importantly, once through the line will prove to be a vital link to connect strategically important border areas in Leh and transport military supplies, keeping in view the communication upgrade being done by the neighbouring country along the border. This is not all. The railway line would give a leg-up to tourism in India’s snow clad areas. The Government’s seriousness is evident by the fact it has asked the Planning Commission to accord top priority to this project. There is also another proposal to link the Manali-Leh line with Pathankot-Joginder Nagar line in Himachal Pradesh. Clearly, this one proposal will facilitate free flow of tourism in the two States: Kashmir and Himachal.

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Another First By Bihar

Bihar has notched up another first. It has become the foremost State in the country to use the latest cell phones for centralized monitoring of road construction. From this month on, the Bihar State Road Development Corporation will deploy Android phones to help executive engineers keep an eye on road construction from district headquarters. Given that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar credits his stupendous success in the recent elections to the network of roads built in his first term. Since 2006-07, Bihar has constructed 23,606 km of roads besides augmenting and repairing 1,657 km of national highways. Not only the road department but Bihar’s State Bridge Construction Corporation too uses GPS enabled phones to help mobile inspectors track engineers on duty.  ‘Dial mobility’ to track growth seems to be Bihar’s latest catch-word.

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Bengal’s Potato Woes

Onions may be driving India to tears. But West Bengal is crying over potatoes too. The State is facing acute scarcity of this most-demanding vegetable which forced the Government to buy it from other States. After a bumper crop in March wherein it was exporting to neighbouring Assam, today it needs to import from the traditional potato exporting State Uttar Pradesh. Worse, it is saddled by rotten potatoes at high prices. With State elections round the corner, the Food Department is at its wits end of how to deal with the potato-onion double whammy. Against the backdrop that the State coffers are already stretched to the limits. It remains to be seen whether potatoes will become Buddhadev Bhattacharya’s Waterloo. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

Political Diary

New Delhi, 31 December 2010

What’s There To Celebrate?

ANDHER NAGRI CHAUPAT RAJA

By Poonam I Kaushish

How does one begin an epitaph of the year gone by? Uncork the champagne and roll out the drums? By welcoming 2011 on the wings of new hopes, dreams and promises? Not at all. Clearly, 2010 will go down in history as annus horribilis.

The year India morphed into the Republic of Scams. Exposing the ugly face of the subversion of our democracy. From IPL-gate, Adarsh housing scandal, PJ Thomas CVC bungle down the Rs 70,000 crore CWG swindle to Radia-tapes topped by the mother of all swindles Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G spectrum scam. What to speak of Parliament’s paralysis, ‘communalising’ terror, skyrocketing prices, rising disparities et al.

Who could have imagined at the beginning of 2010 that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would be fighting a political battle to save his famous personal honesty, integrity and credibility? Wherein he had to evoke Caesar’s wife being above suspicion. True, none doubt his truthfulness but can he deny that he heads the most corrupt Government since Independence? As the aam aadmi’s chief guardian did he do everything to stop the flagrant and crude diversion of public funds into our polity’s private pockets? Did he stop Raja? Was he unaware that the 2G scam would result in monumental financial loss to the exchequer?

One may cynically argue, when was Indian politics about political integrity, any way? What is the use of having a Prime Minister with impeccable credentials if he has to carry for political compulsions tainted baggage in his Cabinet? Such is the appalling state of our rajniti that we have hit rock bottom politically, administratively and socially. Making India reel in disgust and anguish.

Underscored by the ‘adjournment’ of Parliament’s winter session over the Opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee to unravel the 2G spectrum scam. The longest shutdown for the first time in independent India. Overall, there was full or partial shutdown of Parliament for as many as 38 of the total 83 days, costing the exchequer around Rs 240 crore. Ironically, the very year when MPs rewarded themselves with a manifold increase in salaries and allowances.

Overall, the Congress-led UPA II is directionless and has failed on all fronts. The main Opposition Party, BJP is boxed in by grandiose pretensions of being a ‘party with a difference’ but is in fact a party with differences with votaries of the Sangh Parivar pulling in different directions. The Left parties are divided over economic policies and most of the regional parties are faced with simmering discontent. All hurting for satta.  

Nothing highlights this more than the tu-tu-mein-mein between political rivals over terror. No, I am not talking of the in-decision over hanging Parliament attacker Afzal Guru on the facetious plea that his file for Presidential clemency is pending. Or that it is costing the Indian tax payer large sums as Mumbai 26/11 attacker Kasab awaits justice. Since when do Pakistani terrorists qualify for clemency under the Indian Constitution?  The US did not squirm when they had to hang Iraq’s President Saddam as in American perceptions he had waged war against it.

Worse, our polity has stooped to a level of communalizing terror. Whereby, in the name of secularism, political parties tended to blatantly exploit religious sensitivities. Obviously, to woo the minorities and deflect attention from scandals plaguing the party, scandalously the Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh suggested that Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare had called him a few hours before he was killed in  26/11 to discuss the threat to his life from Hindu extremists linked to the Malegaon bomb blast. No matter that he was playing into the hands of Pakistan and its hand maiden Laskkar e Toiyba.

As a result, instead of nation security issues transcending politics and uniting parties to set effective institutional capacity to fight the ever-more sophisticated terror networks, we first blame the outside forces and then training guns at ourselves. It has once again become a Hindu vs. Muslim debate: Whose terrorists are better, mine or yours?

This is not all. The aam aadmi plank of the party appeared to be coming unstuck, bringing onion tears to the Congress leadership, as price rise continued to give a tough time to the common man. Will ending the financial year with GDP growth of 7.2-7.5% and achieving 8% in 2010-11 alleviate the misery of the aam aadmi, crippled by the onslaught of rising prices and sky-rocketing inflation?

Look at the irony. The country has frittered over Rs 35,000 crore on the 14-day razzmatazz CWG, lost over Rs 60,000 in the 2G spectrum scam, and spent $2.1 billion on Delhi’s new airport terminal, written-off over $107 billion of the super-rich and boasts of over 50 billionaires in the Forbes list. Yet, has no funds for the sick, diseased and hungry. Notwithstanding that India ranks 66 among 88 in the Global Hunger Index and 134 in the UN Human Development Index below tiny Bhutan and Laos.

Forget Brand India, see Asli Bharat which is in the grip of the Bolangir-Kalahandi syndrome – hunger, poverty and suicides. According to the Global Hunger Index 2010 recently released, India is placed at the 66th spot out of 88 countries surveyed. Of which 12 States fall in the ‘alarming’ categories. With 87% of the population living below the poverty line, the struggle to eke out a living is an onerous task. Shockingly, nearly one million Indians die every year due to inadequate healthcare facilities

Importantly, who will put an end to the miseries of 762.9 million people earning less than Rs 20 a day who satiate their starving bellies by longing looking at the neon signs of sumptuous pizzas and burgers? Or for that matter, the 74 million ‘Nowhere Children” who are neither enrolled in schools nor accounted in the labour force or the 44 million children aged between 5-14 years engaged in economic activities and domestic and non-remunerative work? What to speak of the much-touted National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme which is mired in corruption wherein the benefits are not accruing to the end user.

Needless to say the economic policies of UPA II, far from being able to address the central problems of inflation, agrarian crisis (agriculture production has dropped) and rising unemployment are adding new ones for the Indian economy. Disillusionment and discontent among the aam aadmi is spiraling. Borne out by rising farmers’ suicides, despite doles by the Prime Minister, chakka jams and bandhs.

True, we get the leaders we deserve. But at the same time are the netas worthy of us? The time has come to bell the political cat of convenience. And bring probity and morality into our national life.

As India enters the next decade our netagan must see the writing on the wall. Time to stop getting their shorts in knots over excessive trivia, get their act together, take responsibility, amend their ways and address real serious issues of governance. The  aam aadmi wants change. He has blown the conch against the fraud repeatedly wrought on him: Enough is enough. Tough times call for tough action. But the moot point: Are the leaders capable of tough action? Do they have the will to assert: Yes, we can! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)