Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Two-thirds of prisoners in India are undertrials’

The ‘Prison Statistics India 2015’ report was released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on Monday. Here are five things the data tells us about the state of Indian prisons.

The problem of overcrowding

The report calls overcrowding as “one of the biggest problems faced by prison inmates.” It results in poor hygiene and lack of sleep among other problems. “Keeping in view the human rights of the prisoners, it is essential that they are given reasonable space and facilities in jails,” the report says.

The occupancy rate at the all India level at the end of 2015 was 114.4 per cent.

Look at the map below. The red-coloured states have overcrowded prisons while the green ones have adequately managed their prison population.

At 276.7 per cent, Dadra & Nagar Haveli is reported to have most overcrowded prisons, followed by Chhattisgarh (233.9 per cent), Delhi (226.9 per cent), Meghalaya (177.9 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (168.8 per cent).

Two-thirds of the prisoners are undertrials

Sixty-seven per cent of the people in Indian jails are undertrials — people not convicted of any crime and currently on trial in a court of law.

Among the larger States, at 82.4 per cent, Bihar had the highest proportion of undertrials, followed by Jammu & Kashmir (81.5 per cent), Odisha (78.8 per cent), Jharkhand (77.1 per cent) and Delhi (76.7 per cent).

Three States from the Northeast also had a high proportion of undertrials: Meghalaya (91.4 per cent), Manipur (81.9 per cent) and Nagaland (79.6 per cent).

On an average, four died every day in 2015

In 2015, a total of 1,584 prisoners died in jails. 1,469 of these were natural deaths and the remaining 115 were attributed to unnatural causes.

Two-thirds of all the unnatural deaths (77) were reported to be suicides while 11 were murdered by fellow inmates — nine of which were in jails in Delhi.

Foreign Convicts

Over two thousand foreign convicts (2,353) were lodged in various jails in India at the end of 2015. The highest number of foreign convicts — 1,266 — were in jails of West Bengal, followed by Andaman & Nicobar Island (360), Uttar Pradesh (146), Maharashtra (85) and Delhi (81).

Prisoner Profile

Seventy per cent of the convicts are illiterate or have studied only below class tenth.

Source: The Hindu, 24-10-2016

e sentence.

1,584

Be a Verb, Not a Noun

OSHO

The atheist says there's no god, but when I say there's no god, and atheists like Charvaka, Karl Marx, Lenin and Epicurus say there's no god, there is a big difference between my statement and their statement.Because, I say at the same moment, that there is godliness.The world consists of verbs, not of nouns. You see the river.You call it a river -you have made it a noun. It is rivering. It will be more accurate to the existential to say that it is rivering, flowing. And everything is changing, flowing. The child is becoming a young man; the young man is becoming old; life is turning into death; death is turning into life. Everything is in continuity , continuous change; it is a continuum. There never comes a full stop. It comes only in language. In existence, there is no full stop.
When you say `god', you are using a noun, something static, dead. When I say `godliness', I'm using a word for something alive, flowing, moving. So, these points have to be clear to you.God -who is perfect, absolute, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent -is dead, cannot be alive, cannot breathe. I reject such a god, because with such a dead god, this whole universe will be dead.
Godliness is a totally different dimension. Then the greenness in the tree, then the flowering of the rose, then the bird in flight -all are part of it. Then god is not separate from the universe. Then the universe is vibrating, pulsating, breathing godliness.

Righteousness Comes From Many Perspectives

M P K Kutty

Most scriptures agree that love is an important manifestation of a man's spirituality or religiosity The next virtue expected in a spiritual. person is holiness. Holiness is nothing but righteousness. When righteousness prevails in a society , its effect is justice and peace. But the problem is that the concepts of righteousness, of right and wrong vary from person to person; they are coloured by his world view, environment and other factors. In fact, while everyone is looking for justice and righteousness, conflicts arise as to what constitutes righteousness.Imperfect as human nature is, man is more inclined to be self-righteous than righteous in a real sense. Man has an infinite capacity for self-justification.This is at the root of all problems, violence and war. Our unrighteous selfishness prompts us to take advantage of others for our benefit.
For righteousness to prevail, we need to overcome the hate, selfishness and greed that devastate our hearts. Henry Clay said, “I would rather be right than president,“ an expression that is quoted to manifest the spirit of righteousness that dwells in the human heart.Abraham Lincoln risked near dissolution of the American nation when he stood resolutely for abolition of slavery. “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery , I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally ,“ the great emancipator had commented. Such boldness in standing for what is right is a rarity among politicians these days. Of course leaders had always endeavoured to go with the crowds. The Pharisees were a highly religious, righteous group who lived in the time of Jesus. Addressing them, Jesus had declared: “For I tell you unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.“ (Matthew 5:20) A World War II incident illustrates how the boldness of a righteous soldier saved the lives of more than 200 Jews. Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds served in the US army during World War II. He participated in the landing of the American forces in Europe and was taken prisoner by the Germans. Together with other American POWs, including Jews, he was taken to a camp near Ziegenhain, Germany . In line with their anti-Jewish policy, the Germans singled out Jewish POWs, and many of them on the Eastern Front were sent to extermination camps or killed. One day in January 1945 the German authority asked all Jewish POWs in the camp to report at a particular spot the following morning. Master Sergeant Edmonds, who was in charge of the prisoners, ordered all POWs Jews and non-Jews alike to stand together.When the German officer in charge saw that all the camp's inmates were standing in front of their barracks, he turned to Edmonds and said, “They cannot all be Jews.“ To this Edmonds (himself a Christian) replied: “We are all Jews.“
The German took out his pistol and threatened Edmonds, but the Master Sergeant retorted, “According to the Geneva Convention, we have to give only our name, rank, and serial number.If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and after the war you will be tried for war crimes.“ The German gave up, turned around, and left the scene.After the war, Edmonds received many honours for saving the lives of Jews by his righteous stand.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Economic & Political Weekly: Table of Contents

Vol. 51, Issue No. 43, 22 Oct, 2016

Editorials

In the Name of Women

Kashmir's Lonely Struggle

Comment

Bob Dylan--Lyrics as Poetry

Law & Society

‘Right to Choose’ as a Fundamental Right

Alok Prasanna Kumar

Strategic Affairs

Belt and Road Initiative

Atul Bhardwaj

Commentary

Book Reviews

Modi: From Gujarat to Delhi

Arvind Krishnaswamy

Classical Economics, Marx, Marginalism, and Keynes

Alex M Thomas

Insight

Wages of Communal Violence in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli

Harsh Mander, Akram Akhtar Chaudhary, Zafar Eqbal, Rajanya Bose

Special Articles

'Only What Does Not Fit In Can Be True': De-professionalisation and Academia in Relation to Adorno and Tagore

Rosinka Chaudhuri

Converting Urban Cooperative Banks into Commercial Banks

Vijay K Khanna, K Ramesha

Determinants of Recovery of Stressed Assets in India

Rekha Misra, Rajmal, Radheshyam Verma

Discussion

Brexit Offers No Particular Spoils for India

Babak Moussavi

Current Statistics

Postscript

Roadside Blues

Shobhit Mahajan

The Wonder Years

Chitvan Singh Dhillon

Last Lines

Letters

A True Teacher and Comrade

Ramesh Kamble

War Is No Solution

Suleiman Khurshid, Ranabir Samaddar, Sushil Khanna, Prabir Sinharoy

Appointments/programmes/announcements

Appointments/Programmes/Announcements

Web Exclusives

Telangana Chief Minister Makes Cornwallis Turn in His Grave

Kingshuk Nag

India needs to talk about mental illness

National Mental Health survey shows urban areas to be most affected

At least 13.7 per cent of India’s general population has various mental disorders; 10.6 per cent of them require immediate interventions.

While nearly 10 per cent of the population has common mental disorders, 1.9 per cent of the population suffers from severe mental disorders.

These are some of the findings of a National Mental Health Survey held recently and conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS).

That is not all. The prevalence of mental morbidity is found to be very high in urban centres, where there is a higher prevalence of schizophrenia, mood disorders and neurotic or stress-related disorders. This disturbing scenario could be due to fast-paced lifestyles, experiencing stress, complexities of living, a breakdown of support systems and challenges of economic instability.

In 2014, concerned over the growing problem of mental health in India, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had appointed NIMHANS to study mental health status in the country.

After a pilot feasibility study in Kolar district, Karnataka using a sample size of 3,190 individuals, the team which comprised senior professors from NIMHANS, G. Gururaj, Mathew Varghese, Vivek Benegal and Girish N., began the survey in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Manipur.

The study — which covered all important aspects of mental illness including substance abuse, alcohol use disorder, tobacco use disorder, severe mental illness, depression, anxiety, phobia and post-traumatic stress disorder among others — had a sample size of 34,802 individuals. Primary data collection was done through computer-generated random selection by a team of researchers, and local teams of co-investigators and field workers in the 12 States.

While the overall current prevalence estimate of mental disorders was 10.6 per cent in the total surveyed population, significant variations in overall morbidity ranged from 5.8 per cent in Assam to 14.1 per cent in Manipur. Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat reported prevalence rates less than 10 per cent. In eight of the 12 States, the prevalence varied between 10.7 per cent and 14.1 per cent.

Treatment gaps and impact

A major concern in the findings, which were recently submitted to the Union Health Ministry, is that despite three out of four persons experiencing severe mental disorders, there are huge gaps in treatment.

Apart from epilepsy, the treatment gap for all mental health disorders is more than 60 per cent. In fact, the economic burden of mental disorders is so huge that affected families have to spend nearly Rs.1,000-Rs.1,500 a month mainly for treatment and to access care.

Due to the stigma associated with mental disorders, nearly 80 per cent of those with mental disorders had not received any treatment despite being ill for over 12 months, the study says. Poor implementation of schemes under the National Mental Health Programme is largely responsible for this.

Dr. Gururaj says that there is also a paucity of mental health specialists, pointing out that mental disorders are a low priority in the public health agenda. The health information system itself does not prioritise mental health.

Recommending that mental health financing needs to be streamlined, he says that there is a need to constitute a national commission on mental health comprising professionals from mental health, public health, social sciences and the judiciary to oversee, facilitate support and monitor and review mental health policies.

Prevalence of mental disorders in different States

Manipur: 14.1 per cent

Madhya Pradesh: 13.9 per cent

Punjab: 13.4 per cent

West Bengal: 13 per cent

Tamil Nadu: 11.8 per cent

Chhattisgarh: 11.7 per cent

Kerala: 11.4 per cent

Jharkhand: 11.1 per cent

Rajasthan : 10.7 per cent

Gujarat: 7.4 per cent

Uttar Pradesh: 6.1

Assam: 5.8 per cent

Key findings
Common mental disorders such as depression, anxiety and substance use are as high as 10 per cent in the total population

Almost 1 in 20 suffer from depression; it is found to be higher in females in the age-group 40-49 years

22.4 per cent of the population above 18 years suffers from substance use disorder

The highest was contributed by tobacco and alcohol use disorder

Nearly 1.9 per cent of the population is affected by severe mental disorders

These are detected more among males in urban areas

While prevalence of mental illness is higher among males (13.9 per cent) as compared to females (7.5 per cent), certain specific mental illnesses like mood disorders (depression, neurotic disorders, phobic anxiety disorders etc) are more in females

Neurosis and stress related illness is also seen to be more in women

Prevalence in teenagers aged between 13 and 17 years is 7.3 per cent

yasmeen.afshan@thehindu.co.in

Keywords: mental illness, mental disorders

Source: The Hindu, 23-10-2016

Making cities inclusive

The challenges of a rapidly urbanising world and of providing people with equal opportunities in cities were the central themes at the just-concluded UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Habitat III, in Quito, Ecuador. As a once-in-a-generation event, the Habitat conference sets a guiding compass for member-countries for the next 20 years, and attracts wide governmental and civil society participation. Yet, the process has to be strengthened to evaluate how countries have fared since the two previous conferences on issues such as reducing urban inequality, improving access to housing and sanitation, mobility, and securing the rights of women, children, older adults and people with disability. Moreover, as services come to occupy a dominant place in the urban economy, the divide between highly paid professionals and low-wage workers, the majority, has become pronounced. All these trends are relevant to India, where 31 per cent of the population and 26 per cent of the workforce was urban according to Census 2011, with more people moving to cities and towns each year. Urban governance policies, although mainly in the domain of the States, must be aligned with national commitments on reduction of carbon emissions under the Paris Agreement, and to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 11.

India’s ambition to harness science and data for orderly urbanisation is articulated in a set of policy initiatives, chiefly the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation. There is little evidence so far that these could achieve the scale needed to address the contradictions of building 21st century cities for 20th century industrial technologies. Today, these conflicts are reflected in the lack of adequate parks and public spaces, suitable land for informal workers who offer services in a city, egalitarian and non-polluting mobility options and new approaches to low-cost housing. In the national report prepared for the Quito conference, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation identified subsidised redevelopment of slums (which represented 17 per cent of urban households in 2011) involving private agencies, and low-cost, disaster-resistant, prefabricated constructions as key to the ‘Housing for All’ policy. This important programme should be pursued with a vigorous annual review that ranks States on the basis of performance. The Centre should also take its own National Urban Transport Policy on developing cities around mobility networks seriously, and liberate cities from the tyranny of traffic. UN Habitat plans to review country-level progress on its New Urban Agenda in Kuala Lumpur in 2018. India’s performance on improving the quality of life in its cities will be watched.

Keywords: Habitat conference, UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, urbanisation

Source: The Hindu, 24-10-2016

The laws against harassment are there, if only all women knew about them

The Trump gropathon saga saw women coming out almost every day with horrific stories of the presidential candidate’s predatory behaviour. Closer home we had the Pachauri episode, in which the climate change czar allegedly harassed a young colleague at the workplace. The victim here had evidence in the form of emails to prove her allegations though an almighty fight was put up by the offender including insisting that his emails were hacked.

The good news is that the Indian law on this issue is surprisingly comprehensive and I think it is just that many women don’t know enough about the provisions designed to protect them. Every organised sector is meant to have an internal committee to decide on matters of sexual harassment at the workplace. Few including government departments take this seriously. The inquiry into a complaint from a woman is meant to be completed in 90 days, according to the Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Act, 2013. This is rarely done except in a few workplaces which take this issue seriously.

The harassment is not confined to the workplace and here again the law is on the side of women in no uncertain terms. The ridiculous and demeaning practice of eve-teasing, glorified by our films, assumes threatening proportions on the roads. In films, the hero will follow a girl, jostle her in public places and pop up in unexpected places to embarrass her, and finally she gives in to his dubious charms. You will be glad to know that singing lewd songs to women in public spaces constitutes sexual harassment with a three-month jail term. That ought to silence budding roadside songsters but how many women know of this law. Women I know as well as myself have faced countless incidents of harassment in buses and other forms of public transport. I once actually filed a case against a man who harassed me relentlessly in a train to Kerala while I was in college. Of course, such sweeping laws were not in place at that time. I found no support among the women in the compartment or the police on account of the fact that the harasser was the nephew of the then chief minister of the state. The attitude of the public also is that these are harmless little indiscretions which don’t amount to violence and hence why should women make such a fuss about their private spaces being violated?

Demanding sexual favours, a form of harassment that takes place mostly at the workplace, could get the offender up to three years in jail. Stalking, of course, can get him three to five years. This is a serious problem in India, where many men almost feel entitled to a woman’s compliance if he happens to fancy her. In one case, the stalker followed the victim all the way to another city where he killed her. The police tend not to take complaints about stalking very seriously and in several cases the victims who approached the police were met with indifference.

Capturing images of a woman without her consent is voyeurism and punishable under IPC Section 354, which can get the accused up to seven years in jail. Making sexually coloured remarks against a woman too is punishable with up to three years. The same goes for using sexually inappropriate language in the presence of a woman. This has been a problem in many workplaces and the woman who objects is seen as a prude or hypersensitive. Yet, in India most men do not even seem to realise that their language or “locker room” banter as Donald Trump would have it is offensive and demeaning to women.

But the real problem lies with the majority of women in India who work in the unorganised sector. If they are farm workers, they have no particular law to protect them at their workplace, apart from the general laws. Since they are daily wagers, there is little chance that they will report untoward behaviour from landlords. In the small units which employ less than eight people again, the harassment law does not apply, leaving women wide open to all manners of abuse. So, we have excellent anti-harassment laws if only all women knew about them and it applied evenly to every one of them.

Source: Hindustan Times, 22-10-2016

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