“The man who insists on seeing with perfect clarity before he decides, never decides.”
Henri Frederic Amiel (1821-1881), Swiss poet and philosopher
“सब कुछ स्पष्ट होने पर ही निर्णय लेने का आग्रह जो पालता है, वह कभी निर्णय नहीं ले पाता।”
हेनरी फ़्रेडरिक आम्येल (१८२१-१८८१), स्विस कवि एवं दार्शनिक
The Hornbill Festival, which is called the ‘Festivals of Festivals’, is a 10-day annual cultural fest of Nagaland that showcases the rich and diverse Naga ethnicity through folk dances, traditional music, local cuisine, handicraft, art workshops etc. The start of this festival (December 1) marks the Nagaland statehood day.
Every year the Hornbill festival is celebrated between December 1 and December 10 in the northeast region and in the state of Nagaland. The festival is named after the Indian Hornbill Bird. It is a large and colourful forest bird. The festival is named after the bird as it is displayed in folklore of most of the the tribals in the state of Nagaland.
The festival has contributed significant tourism revenue to the north eastern part of India. This is mainly because Hornbill festival provides an insight into the different Tribes of Nagaland. It provides a colourful mixture of craft, dancers, sports, religious ceremonies and food fairs. Naga Morungs exhibition is also organised during the festival.
The Naga Morungs are also called the Nagas. They are the ethnic groups native to North Western Myanmar and North Eastern India. These groups have similar culture and form the majority of population in Nagaland and Naga self-administered zone. The Naga self-administered zone is located in the Naga Hills of Sagaing region of Myanmar.
Apart from the Hornbill festival, the other popular festival of the Nagas is the Lui Ngai Ni. It is the seed sowing festival that is celebrated by the Naga Tribes of Manipur. It is celebrated in the month of February to mark the beginning of spring season.
Hornbill bird is common in tropical and subtropical Asia, Africa and Melanesia. The festival is named after this bird because, it forms the centre of many local folklore. Also, the tribes in the state consider the bird to be sacred. The IUCN status of hornbill bird is “Near Threatened”.
The income gap between top 10 percent and bottom 50 percent in India is 1 to 22 in 2021. The report noted India as one of the most unequal countries worldwide.
Among the BRICS nations, South Africa and Brazil have wider income inequalities as compared to India. Income gap between top 10% and bottom 50% stood at 1 to 63 in South Africa and 1 to 29 in Brazil. In China and Russia, the income gap was 1 to 14.
Ratio in richest nation that is US, is 1 to 17. The richest ten of the global population owns 52 per cent of global income. On the other hand, poorest half of the population earns 8.5 per cent of the global income.
Inequality in India has widened as compared to British rule. Report finds that, Indian income inequality was very high under British colonial rule, during 1858-1947. Top ten per cent of the population shared around 50 per cent of the national income.
A Bill that the government of the land intends to make law, cannot be exclusivist at the very outset; and at least, with the time of passage, it is imperative that it loses its biases. It cannot exclude certain categories of citizens from the benefits and rights that the law seeks to confer upon the people of the country. And, that is what the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020, that was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, has done, by excluding two categories — LGBTQIA+ and single men. Undoubtedly, the time has indeed come for such a Bill; for government intervention to regulate the field of fertility treatments, and by seeking to establish a national registry and registration authority for all clinics and medical professionals in the segment, it will fill a vacuum. The Bill has provisions to protect the rights of the donors, the commissioning couple and the children born out of ART, to grant and withdraw licences for clinics and banks depending on performance factors. It proposes to make it impossible for outlaws to operate within the system and profit from it, while exploiting patients. It also plans to put an end to illegal trafficking in embryos, and mistreatment of the poor coerced by their circumstances into donating eggs or sperm.
It is unfathomable that a Bill, so progressive by its very nature, would glaringly exclude members of the LGBTQIA+ community and single men. As citizens, these groups too have the right to exercise reproductive rights. The omission is particularly baffling considering that the legislation has made provisions for single women too, apart from a commissioning heterosexual couple. The Union Health Minister said that several recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee had been considered. Unfortunately, despite expert recommendations to include both categories, the Committee recommended ‘it would not be appropriate to allow live-in couples and same sex couples to avail the facility of ART’ citing the best interest of the child born through ART. It also recorded that ‘given [the] Indian family structure and social milieu and norms, it will not be very easy to accept a child whose parents are together but not legally married’. While the law would do well to be cognisant of the sentiments of the people, its purpose is also to nudge retrograde social norms out of their freeze-frames towards broader acceptance of differences and preferences. Legislators have also pointed out that the Surrogacy Bill intrinsically connected with the ART Bill was pending in the Rajya Sabha, and that it would only be appropriate that both Bills be considered together before they are passed. The ball is now squarely in the court of the Upper House; legislators can still set right the omissions and introduce the spirit of justice in the letter of the law.
Source: The Hindu, 3/12/21
To address the skills gap and empower India’s workforce for a career in cybersecurity, Microsoft today launched a cybersecurity skilling program that aims to skill over 1 lakh learners by 2022. The program is designed to give learners hands-on experience in the fundamentals of security, compliance, and identity.
Microsoft will conduct these courses along with its strategic consortium of partners including Cloudthat, Koenig, RPS, and Synergetics Learning. The course modules are designed to support all levels of learners, regardless of where they are in their cybersecurity journey.
Microsoft has introduced four new security, compliance, and identity certifications, of which the accredited certification for Fundamentals will be offered at zero cost for any individual who attends the associated training through this initiative.
Additionally, in collaboration with its partners, Microsoft, offers learners discounted offers on the rest of the advanced role-based certifications to drive deep skills for addressing cybersecurity challenges.
Source: Indian Express, 8/12/21
The Nagaland Cabinet on Tuesday recommended that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958 be repealed from the state after the incident in Mon district in which security forces gunned down 13 civilians. This has been a long-standing demand in the North eastern states. After the firing, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma have both called for repeal of AFSPA.
Nagaland leaders feel the killings have the potential to create mistrust in the Indian government and derail the peace process currently underway between the Centre and the Naga insurgents groups.
The Act in its original form was promulgated by the British in response to the Quit India movement in 1942. After Independence, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to retain the Act, which was first brought in as an ordnance and then notified as an Act in 1958.
AFSPA has been imposed on the Northeast states, Jammu & Kashmir, and Punjab during the militancy years. Punjab was the first state from where it was repealed, followed by Tripura and Meghalaya. It remains in force in Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, J&K, and parts of Arunachal Pradesh.
Are there safety nets?
While the Act gives powers to security forces to open fire, this cannot be done without prior warning given to the suspect. In the Mon firing, it has been an issue of discussion whether the security forces gave prior warning before opening fire at the vehicle carrying coal miners, and then later at a violent mob.
The Act further says that after any suspects apprehended by security forces should be handed over to the local police station within 24 hours.
It says armed forces must act in cooperation with the district administration and not as an independent body. In the Mon operation, local law-enforcement agencies have said they were unaware of the operation.
In 2000, Manipur activist Irom Sharmila began a hunger-strike, which would continue for 16 years, against AFSPA. In 2004, the UPA government set up a five-member committee under a former Supreme Court Judge. The Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission submitted its report in 2005, saying AFSPA had become a symbol of oppression and recommending its repeal. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission, headed by Veeerapa Moily, endorsed these recommendations.
Former Home Secretary G K Pillai too supported the repeal of AFSPA, and former Home Minister P Chidambaram once said the Act, if not repealed, should at least be amended. But opposition from the Defence Ministry stalled any possible decision.
The UPA set up a cabinet sub-committee to continue looking into the matter. The NDA government subsequently dropped the sub-committee and also rejected the findings of the Reddy Commission.
How often have state governments opposed it?
While the Act empowers the Centre to unilaterally take a decision to impose AFSPA, this is usually done informally in consonance with the state government. The Centre can take a decision to repeal AFSPA after getting a recommendation from the state government. However, Nagaland, which has freshly recommended a repeal, had raised the demand earlier too, without success.
The Centre had also imposed AFSPA in Tripura in 1972 despite opposition from the then state government.
In Manipur, former Congress Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh had told The Indian Express in 2012 that he was opposed to the repeal of AFSPA in light of the dangerous law and order situation.
Many politicians have built their careers on an anti-AFSPA stance, including incumbent Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who contested his first election in 2002 in order to “fight AFSPA” after 10 civilians had been gunned down by the 8th Assam Rifles at Malom Makha Leikai in 2000.
Nagaland and Mizoram faced the brunt of AFSPA in the 1950s, including air raids and bombings by the Indian military. Allegations have been made against security forces of mass killings and rape.
It is in Manipur that the fallout has been perhaps best documented. The Malom massacre in 2000, and the killing and alleged rape of Thangjam Manorama led to the subsequent repeal of AFSPA from the Imphal municipal area.
Human rights activists have said the Act has often been used to settle private scores, such as property disputes, with false tip-offs provided by local informants to security forces.
Have these excesses been probed?
In 2012, the Extrajudicial Execution Victim Families Association of Manipur filed a case in the Supreme Court alleging 1,528 fake encounters between 1979 and 2012. Activists said these peaked in 2008-09.
The Supreme Court set up a three-member committee under former judge Santosh Hegde and including former Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh and former Karnataka DGP Ajay Kumar Singh. The committee investigated six cases of alleged fake encounters, including the 2009 killing of 12-year-old Azad Khan, and submitted a report with the finding that all six were fake encounters.
The Court set up a special investigation team that included five CBI officials and one National Human Rights Commission member. The CBI booked Army Major Vijay Singh Balhara in Khan’s death in 2018, but there has been no prosecution against security forces in other cases.
Activists note that AFSPA creates an atmosphere of impunity among even state agencies such as the Manipur Police and their Manipur Commandos, believed to be responsible for most encounters in the state, some of them jointly with Assam Rifles.
The SIT has investigated 39 cases involving deaths of 85 civilians so far, and filed the final reports in 32 cases. While 100 Manipur police personnel have been indicted, no action has been taken against Assam Rifles personnel with the exception of the Khan killing.
Written by Esha Roy
Source: Indian Express, 8/12/21