For Mother Divine

KIRAN DHAR





Dusk is falling, lamps are lit, the autumn air is cool and still.The bells are calling from afar.Join in Mother's adoration hour. I enter slowly, my heartbeat overtakes me. Will I see Her face to face? How shall I greet.... Dare I touch Her holy feet? The air is filled with incense smoke, the priest prostrates in reverent pose. The Mother in regal splendour stands enrobed in silks of red and gold. Glittering jewels and golden crown, from head to feet do Her adorn.Hibiscus, roses, marigold -in garlands fragrant, Her form enfold. Compassion fills Her lustrous eyes. Her coral lips are half-asmile. One hand is raised to grant us boons, the other dispels our deepest fears. Her beauty is beyond compare, with radiance of a thousand moons.The drums are beating rhythmic time, the cymbals sound a resonant chime. The bells are ringing loud and clear, conch shells sounding everywhere, scent of incense fills the air, devotees' voices raised in prayer, glory to the Mother evermore.Besides the Mother's shining form, a lovely maiden stands alone, gently turning with her hands a silken fan of rainbow hues. The priest begins the evening prayer, with sonorous chanting loud and clear. Then he takes the incense urn and all around the Mother turns.
O holy incense, fragrant smoke, your perfume does the Mother cloak. Next he takes the golden lamp, ablaze with myriad dancing flames, waves in circles round Her form, Around, around and all around, joy in every heart abounds. O holy lamp of brilliant light, blest you to be in Mother's sight.

Tackling sexual harassment at the workplace

In over a hundred towns across the seven states that we work, we run teacher learning centres (TLC). These are run-in rooms stocked neatly with books, educational kits and other material that is relevant for teachers. The rooms are clean and well-lit places, nice for groups of teachers to sit and chat. TLCS are run by our teams, in collaboration with local teachers, and that is what makes them work.

Locating a site for a TLC is not easy. Since TLC is often used after work hours, in the evening and on Sundays, its ease of access to the teachers (for example, being near the vegetable market) is an important factor. The room needs to be about 500 sq. ft, which is hard to find in small towns. There are other considerations for choosing a site. One of them is the treatment of women in such public spaces, including their safety.

This is not about the danger of possible assault, which also has to be always guarded against, but the pernicious lingering looks and presences, like a constant background threat of sexual harassment. Seemingly impossible to call out, but all too real to the woman. And always a slip away from overt sexual harassment. The streets and malls of Bengaluru and Delhi are no different in this regard.

With over 25% of our more than 1,200 employees being women, as are a large proportion of the teachers who come to TLCS, this is the most important consideration in the choice and operation of TLCS. Our attempt is to minimize the risk of this by the choice of location, for example, TLC must be in a busy area or a populated residential area, and it must not be away from the main street. Some operating methods also help, for example, a TLC team should have one man along with a woman. And if the woman is alone on any particular evening, she should lock up before dark.

Since a woman is known to be permanently located at TLC, it is a sort of focal point for this threat, needing extra care. However, women face these risks in our society everywhere. And so an attempt to minimize these risks influoften ences all our operating considerations, for example, how to travel, when to travel, where to travel, where to stay.

Unlike the background threat, it is quite clear how overt sexual harassment can be tackled. It has to be confronted head on, and the law enables this. Such overt sexual harassment within the organization can be dealt with swiftly and decisively, so long as there is genuine intent for, and not mere lip service to, the safety of women.

The same law enables actions in cases of sexual harassment across organizations. We have faced such situations a few times, and most of the time the other organization has responded. To the surprise of many of us, the swiftest response has often come from governments, when the perpetrator has been their employee.

While it’s never easy or simple to tackle, these situations of overt harassment are certainly clearer. And if the organization acts consistently, it helps with a more basic matter: It empowers and enables women to speak up.

Even in an organization like ours, where, by the very nature of the work, the women who join are gutsy and confident, it has taken sustained effort to develop a culture of speaking up, and we have to keep at it. Tolerance and silent suffering of sexual predation of all kinds is so deeply ingrained through our culture across the country, that women don’t even imagine that they can speak up; many of them are astonished when asked to do so. The culture of silence is pervasive.

In the worst cases, organizations are complicit in these culturally ingrained silences. But even organizations which have zero tolerance for such predatory behaviour fall short, unless they emphatically and actively support women to speak up.

So how can the background threat of sexual harassment be tackled? Let me just share what we have learnt from our experience and that of others, without suggesting that this is some kind of a formula. First, it is about best efforts to minimize the risk of this happening. Second, is to support women in recognizing it as something that must not be tolerated, and then to enable them to speak about it. Third, is to confront it head on if it happens.

This is much like what one would do in cases of overt sexual harassment. How to confront it head on is never clear, but it’s clear that it must be confronted. This approach may seem like overzealous paternalism to some, but the extent and perversity of this background threat is such that most women find it empowering and comforting.

The majority of men are not sexual predators, but a corrosive, significant minority are. While it is not the complete solution, they have to be confronted everywhere. And organizations have a central role to play.

Even organizations such as ours, which are driven by a social cause, are no different. We are not naturally cleansed of this malady within, nor does it make our external environment different. But some of us tend to live with an illusion of difference.

Anurag Behar is chief executive officer of the Azim Premji Foundation and leads sustainability initiatives for Wipro Ltd. He writes every fortnight on issues of ecology and education.

Source: Mintepaper, 29-09-2016

To revive an old friendship

The Russia-Pakistan joint exercises raise many questions. New Delhi has to rebuild ties on its strengths and common concerns with Moscow.

The Russian Embassy announced that their first-ever joint military exercises with Pakistan, that were initially to be held in the sensitive Gilgit-Baltistan area this week, would be shifted with due respect to Indian sensitivities. Why is India’s time-tested strategic partner engaging with Pakistan at this juncture? Is there a shift in Russian geostrategy and linkage with China that is impacting Moscow’s relations with India? Have India’s own foreign policy shifts and new relations set off a reaction in Russia? The Russia-Pakistan joint exercises raise many questions.

A Russia on the move

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has shown assertiveness in international affairs. It has taken a clear position on opposing Western intervention and militarist regime-change policies in Iraq and Libya and now in Syria. Russia has used counter-force in the fight against the Islamic State in backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It retook the province of Crimea that it had gifted Ukraine in 1954 due to (Soviet) historical reasons. This invited unilateral sanctions on Russia from the U.S. and the European Union. Demonised by the West, Russia has become a strategic partner of China and they have significant convergence of interests.

India as an emerging power has developed a strategic partnership with the U.S. There are real and perceived shifts in Indian armament policies where Russia dominated for years. India has opened up to the U.S., France, Israel, all of whom are gradually edging out the Russians in some sectors. Russia-India trade has not grown to great heights despite the encouragement of both states. Yet India has been supportive of Russian positions and has a careful and calibrated response to all Russian actions — in Chechnya, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere, India has supported Russia.

The Russians, on their part, have dutifully backed the Indian position on Kashmir; they share Indian concerns on terrorism; they continue with deep collaborations, providing sensitive technologies, military equipment, nuclear power engines and much more to India. They have a partnership in energy. Yet a Russia dependent on arms and energy exports is constantly looking for new markets and Pakistan is a potential one. The planned exercises were an extension of this search.

Moscow’s Chinese concerns

The reality is that the world situation is one of multipolarity and consequent interdependency, contradictions, compromises and pressures. Countries across the spectrum are building multiple alliances. There is scope for both linkages and dependency. So China, who we think the U.S. is trying to ‘contain’ (and India could get a role in this), has got its yuan accepted as world currency by the International Monetary Fund and the New York branch of Bank of China has been designated as the clearing house for the Chinese official currency, the renminbi. China is leveraging its economy and relationships to build a hegemony (G-2) with the U.S. where both can share international financial domination.

Russia is well aware of this, and has its own concerns about the Chinese dominating Russian markets, exploiting Russian resources, and not backing Russian security concerns. China is enticing countries, including Russia, with its One Belt, One Road plan that will develop huge new linkages and develop trade routes. Pakistan is a satellite state for China. Russia has concerns about Central Asia vis-à-vis China and Pakistan.

In these circumstances, India has to rebuild on its strengths and common concerns with the Russians. They have to revitalise their earlier agreement on sharing intelligence for a joint strategy on terrorism. If India is concerned with state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan, Russia is concerned with the backing that states are directly or indirectly giving to terror groups in West Asia and Central Asia. India will have to be more forthright in condemning states that on the pretext of regime change or local geopolitics are allowing the growth of terror groups in West Asia.

Balancing new and old allies

Russia and India have common positions and concerns in Afghanistan. Last week the Afghans, in a peace deal backed and welcomed by the U.S. and Pakistan, rehabilitated the mujahideen “butcher of Kabul” and India hater Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. This snubs the Indian and Russian policy of isolating all terrorists and instead has accommodated and compromised with who they wish to label ‘good Taliban’. This policy is an extension of using terrorists for strategic use. Indian and Russian anxieties on terrorism need to converge and bring about some positive outcome.

India has its own military exercises with the U.S. and has signed logistics agreements which can eventually give the U.S. access to Indian naval bases. Is India willing to do the same with Russia? Given the growing U.S.-Russia hostility, has India reassured Russia that this access will not jeopardise Russian interests? If not, it should do so.

India needs to deepen its scientific and technological relations with Russia since a base for this already exists. Often agreements are signed amidst bilateral rhetoric and are not sufficiently followed up. The Russia-India investments in the oil and gas sector and exports to third countries need to be energised. Joint manufacturing needs to be planned. A continuous engagement and follow-up plan need to be made.

India and Russia are engaged in several multilateral efforts that are greatly favoured by Russia such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. The BRICS meeting in a few weeks will give a great opportunity for the leaders of these countries to further deepen their engagements. Russia had proposed a Russia-India-China (RIC) forum. India is hesitant about this because of the unresolved issues with China. This has not moved ahead like the BRICS has. Our argument should be, if China can have compromises and contradictions with the U.S., then why not with India? India can use some creative means to build an RIC alliance.

India should use the interdependency and pressure-compromise strategies to leverage its interest to isolate Pakistan. A former U.S. Secretary of State had called Pakistan an international migraine, but then moved on to use it as the U.S. front line in Afghanistan and West Asia. No matter what India gives the U.S., this equation will not change. The U.S. will always have a dual approach to India and Pakistan, because it needs both. Russia, on the other hand, will not. But India has to actively ensure that and not take this strategic partnership for granted.

Leveraging multilateralism

India needs to move on in the international system. In some ways it has, but in other ways it is moving backwards. Its foreign policy is only an extension of its domestic politics. India has to fix its domestic issues to further social cohesion and make special efforts to build bridges between communities. India’s domestic politics has to move towards inclusive democracy, non-militarism, rights and the rule of law. This will give it an edge in the international system. Any dilution would damage it deeply. Indian foreign policy should focus on its strengths of working with the global South, opposing militarist interventions, building norms and depending on multilateralism. India cannot be in denial of its history even as it moves forward.

As far as Russia is concerned, it might appear that there is some strategic shift. But Russia has been pushed into that position. In reality, it knows that India is still its most reliable ally. It has no conflict of interest or anxiety about India as it does about others. India was instrumental in the construction of a multipolar international system. This system has benefitted India and Russia, not to speak of others like China. To retain this, India and Russia need to be active strategic and economic allies. But both will have to make an effort for this.

Anuradha M. Chenoy is a Professor at the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, JNU.

Keywords: India-Russia bilateral relations, Gilgit-Baltistan area, joint military exercise, Pakistan-Russia joint military exercise

Source_ The Hindu, 29-09-2016

It is time for a uniform asylum law

The debate surrounding Brahamdagh Bugti’s request for asylum in India has largely focussed on the foreign policy implications. Numerous legal issues deserve consideration.

India stands poised to make one of the most critical decisions with respect to its refugee policy, but without a domestic asylum law and without having signed the UN Refugee Convention of 1951. This has left India without a structured and institutionalised framework for addressing refugee inflows. At the same time, however, the country is known to have a broadly humanitarian approach to asylum, and is bound by both its own constitutional principles and customary international law. As the Home Ministry examines Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti’s asylum claim, the debate has so far largely centred on the foreign policy implications. There remain, however, numerous legal issues which demand serious consideration.

Unanswered questions

First, the manner in which the current asylum claim has been made raises the question of whether a person can apply for asylum in India from outside the country. International refugee law only states that a person needs to be outside his/her own country to seek asylum; it is silent on whether the person needs to be physically present in the territory of the country where s/he hopes to receive asylum or whether s/he can make such an application from a third country. This is a much debated issue in international law and countries have adopted varying policies in this regard. Having allowed Mr. Bugti to seek asylum from Switzerland, it is unclear whether India has made an exception in this case or is now open to asylum applications without physical presence within its national borders. This question needs to be settled.

Second, Mr. Bugti claimed in a recent interview that his asylum application to Switzerland was turned down on account of his party being put on a terror watch list by Pakistan. While this could be a politically motivated act by Pakistan, as per international refugee law, this does trigger the need for a prospective asylum country to examine whether Mr. Bugti has committed or been involved in activities referred to as crimes against humanity, war crimes, serious non-political crimes, and so on. A fundamental principle of international refugee law is to not grant asylum to such persons, as doing so would go against the humanitarian spirit of refugee protection. The civilian character of a refugee populace is paramount, and active combatants are excluded from the same. Therefore, Mr. Bugti’s activities as a Baloch leader need to be thoroughly examined.

Third, India’s approach towards the larger Baloch refugee community in the future is yet to be addressed. Does India intend to grant asylum to Mr. Bugti alone, or to other Baloch asylum-seekers as well, or on a case-by-case basis? Irrespective of the modality it chooses, the Indian state will have to invest in setting up both a policy mechanism as well as the physical infrastructure for management of this group.

Legal rights

Finally, if Mr. Bugti is granted asylum in India, what will his legal rights be? Since Indian law does not even mention the term ‘refugee’, there are no clearly defined rights and duties for refugees. In practice, there are multiple approaches towards the different refugee communities, so much so that there isn’t even a common form of documentation that is issued to them. The outcome of this is that they have widely disparate access to basic rights. For example, while Sri Lankans and Tibetans have government-issued IDs, the vast majority of Afghan and Burmese refugees have only the documentation given to them by the UN, which is not widely recognised. There is still no clarity in this regard, and the Baloch would be yet another group of refugees for whom a separate policy would have to be created.

The most pragmatic way to address these legal issues would be for India to adopt a uniform asylum law for all refugee communities. It would allow for the codification of India’s best practices with respect to asylum, which would, at the very least, eliminate the need to revisit its historical policies each time it faces a new question of refugee protection. A national asylum law would also reduce the need for parallel mechanisms, and put in place a structured system for asylum management in the future.

Roshni Shanker and Vasudha Reddy run the Ara Trust, a centre for refugee law and forced migration studies, based in New Delhi.

Keywords: uniform asylum law, refugee policy, Brahamdagh Bugti’s asylum claim

Source: The Hindu, 29-09-2016

God and Devotion

SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV





Nobody is `gifted'. You have to earn everything. Either you earn joyfully, or you earn miserably. That is all the choice there is. There are a variety of practices through which one earns. But the simplest way, the easiest way and also the most self-destructive way, is devotion.What is Grace, first of all? If you look at yourself as a machine -you have brains, body, everything. But what you call as `Grace' is the lubrication. Without lubrication you have a great engine but you get stuck at every point.Devotion would be the easiest way to become receptive to this Grace so that the process of life becomes graceful. The cunning mind, however, is unable to devote itself to anybody or anything. You can sing songs of devotion, but you have your own calculation: What has God done for me? Calculating minds cannot be devout.Trying to be devout will be just a waste of time, and life.
A devotee is not somebody's devotee. Devotion is a quality. Devotion means a certain single-pointedness -you are constantly focused towards one thing. To such a person, Grace will happen naturally and he becomes receptive. What or whom you are devoted to is not the issue. What you need to know is, God does not exist. But where there is a devotee, God exists.
So the power of devotion is such that it can create the Creator.

Transmit password via your body

New Tech A Safer Option Than Transmission Through Wi-Fi Or Bluetooth

Scientists have devised a way to send passwords through the human body rather than over airborne radio waves like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth which are vulnerable to hacking.University of Washington computer scientists and electrical engineers have devised a way to send secure passwords through the human body using benign, low-frequency transmissions generated by fingerprint sensors and touchpads on consumer devices. “If I want to open a door using an electronic smart lock, I can touch the knob and touch the fingerprint sensor on my phone and transmit my credentials through my body to open the door, without leaking that personal information over the air,“ explained Merhdad Hessar, a student at the university .Sending a secret code over radio waves like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth means anyone can eavesdrop.
“Fingerprint sensors have so far been used as an input device.We have shown for the first time that these sensors can be re-purposed to send out information confined to the body,“ said Shyam Gollakota, assistant professor at UW .The process employs a sequence of finger scans to encode and transmit data. The team achieved rates of 50 bits per second on laptop touchpads and 25 bits per second with fingerprint sensors -fast enough to send a password or code through the body and to a receiver within seconds. In tests with 10 different subjects, the researchers were able to generate usable on body transmissions on people of different heights, weights and body types. The system also worked when subjects were in motion.
“We showed that it works in different postures, like standing, sitting and sleeping. We can also get a strong signal throughout your body . The receivers can be anywhere -on your leg, chest, hands -and still work,“ said Vikram Iyer, a UW electrical engineering doctoral student.
Normally , sensors use these signals to receive input about your finger. However, the engineers devised a way to use these signals as output that corresponds to data contained in a password. When entered on a smartphone, data that authenticates your identity can travel securely through your body to a receiver embedded in a device that needs to confirm who you are.
The technology could also be useful for secure key transmissions to medical devices which seeks someone's identity before sending or sharing data.

Source: Times of India, 29-09-2016

Bimaru' shines in urban reforms

Dipak Dash

New Delhi:





Municipalities In Bihar, MP, Raj, UP Fare Better

Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh ­­ traditionally tagged as `Bimaru' states ­­ have made major progress in urban municipal reforms in recent years, while Delhi has not submitted any claim of reforms.States such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, which have always performed better in such reforms, lead from the front again in the assessment by the urban development ministry .The assessment is based on documentary evidence after 23 states and Union territories submitted their claims for 436 of the 500 cities covered under urban renewal mission, AMRUT. The mandatory reforms under this scheme include e-governance, double entry accounting, water and energy audit and 90% collection of municipal taxes and user charges.
“The states that have made good progress in the past one year will be rewarded with financial incentives on Friday during the India Sanitation event,“ an urban development ministry official said. Good per formers will be rewarded a total of Rs 400 crore at the event, sources said.
Officials said the 436 cities and towns, including those with over one lakh population, have taken significant initiatives to enable e-governance, credit rating necessary for issue of municipal bonds, professionalisation of municipal cadre, augmenting revenue collection and efficient use of water and electricity .
On the whole, 329 of the 436 cities have shifted to double entry accounting ­­ which give a clearer picture of assets and liabilities ­­ and 345 have introduced energy and water audit. An official said 131 of the cities have achieved over 90% collection of user charge and 141 cities have recorded similar collection of municipal taxes. Increasing revenue base remains a tough task for municipal bodies.
Cities that collect 90% of municipal taxes and user charges include Lucknow, Allahabad, Mathura, Chandigarh, Raipur, Dewas, Kolhapur, Surat, Vadodara, Thiruvananthapuram, Mysuru, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Cuttack and Aizawl.
According to the assessment, 381 cities and towns have taken steps to bring young professionals in municipal bodies and 78% have initiated measures towards single window clearances.
Under JNNURM implemented during the UPA (2004-14), urban reforms were promoted in 65 cities.

Source: Times of India, 29-09-2016