Windows of opportunity

April 30, 2001

At the meeting of the All-India Muslim Personal Board last month, the women and the maulanas discovered that they are on the same side

Mujhe sehl ho gaieen manzilein/voh hava ke rukh bhi badal gaye
(My journey has eased/ direction of winds have changed). Lines from Majrooh Sultanpuri

For the first time, exactly a month ago, Muslim women were invited by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) to a conference on the ‘Genuine Problems of Muslim Women and their Solutions’. The venue was the engineering faculty of Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. Tension between the MPLB and various women’s groups had been brewing for a few years. This was reflected from time to time in press statements by both parties on various issues pertaining to Muslim women. Members of the MPLB were always seen by women as the orthodox face of Islam who would never permit women to own their own patch of sunlight.

Dr. Hasina Hashia, who coordinated the event on behalf of the MPLB, is one of its fifteen women members. The rest of the hundred and forty members are male. Among the audience there were women from all over the country, representing more than 40 NGOs. The hall began to fill; there were a few women in hijab, most of them were not. Half a dozen women members of the MPLB were also present. Women and men sat sharply divided, on either side of the aisle; the same division was evident on the stage. Interesting that the ‘women’s section’ was bang in front of the stage while the ‘men’s section’ was closer to the hall, but on the stage the setting was reversed. The men squarely occupied centre–stage while the women were squeezed into the far corner.

For me this was a much awaited and longed–for moment. As member of the National Commission for Women, I had toured the length and breadth of the country, holding Public Hearings with Muslim women in the gullies and mohallas of districts and tehsils. The findings of this survey had been published as a report on the status of Muslim women entitled Voice of the Voiceless. Having actually captured their voices as they deposed before us, there were some conclusions and recommendations which we addressed first and foremost to the Muslim Personal Law Board, then to all levels of government and finally to civil society. This conference was the first time that the very members of the Board who we had so far only addressed through the print media, had actually sat down to listen to us.

Some ground rules were laid at the very outset by Qazi Mujahidul Islam Qasmi, chairman of the MPLB. First, that this meeting was not about codification of Muslim law, second, that this meeting was not to ban triple talaaq, and third, that this meeting was not to approve the standard Nikahnama. Two other expectations were placed on the table; first, that this was not a time for mahaaz aarai (confrontation) and second, that it was not a case of ‘who wins, who loses’ but a case of finding solutions to problems.

Within this framework, discussions had to be held and some consensus hammered out in the next two days. Women were not fariq(opponents) they were rafiq (friends) and all problems had to be solved in the light of shariat because shariat gives women adl (justice) as well as masaavaat (equality).

The next two days were structured around sessions at which women presented the issues pertaining to nikaah, mehr, dowry, inheritance, talaaq, khula and maintenance. After each session one male member of the MPLB offered response on behalf of the Board. At the end there was an open session in the form of a Public Hearing. The conference ended with a declaration which delineated the future course of action for all parties.

What is the net result of this endeavour? This question has been raised often in the last month by different parties. Some have made public statements that it has added up to a big zero because the MPLB has ‘given’ nothing to the women. No improvement has been promised on the matter of triple talaaq or standard nikaahnama or codification of Muslim law. The feeling among some women’s groups is that they have once again been short–changed by the Board. These feelings were expressed on the floor of the conference as well as in media interviews which followed. Some groups, however, felt that there was a major breakthrough in the deadlock, a breakthrough which needs to be welcomed and put to work. On April 7 and 8, 2001 history was made by a courageous contingent of Muslim women and top ranking ulema from all over the country.

Let it be said for both sides that it is quite easy to be disgruntled and show annoyance. It takes much more to understand the other’s difficulty and help him/her overcome it. During the conference, some ulema showed very little empathy for the women who had travelled long distances to air their problems and demand solutions. Some women showed no understanding for the genuine problems of the maulanas who had taken considerable risk in calling this meeting. These hard-line postures were evident in various incidents which erupted throughout the two days.

About one thing let us be clear. It was not easy for the MPLB to have called this meeting. All shades and degrees had to be convinced before the conference was announced. But having once opened the road to dialogue there is absolutely no going back. The very fact that we all sat together for two days made the unspoken tension between women and the ulema disappear to an extent.

As Hasina Khan of Awaaz–i-Niswan said to the media, “we felt we could talk to them even on a personal level”. Or Hasanath Mansoor of FEMWOB Bangalore who said, “The atmosphere of suspicion has reduced to some extent”. At the end of the day it was felt that strident and belligerent postures taken by either side serve no practical purpose. They best suit the political parties and not people who are genuinely concerned about solving problems.

The women and the maulanas also discovered that they are on the same side of the issue. At the meeting they agreed that it was the ‘evils of its practice’ that were giving Islam an anti-woman image in the eyes of the world. It was this ‘evil’ which had to be killed at its root. Every one agreed that Islam was the first religion that enjoined gender equality. Surah after surah was quoted by the maulanas and the women, that spoke of women and men as equal partners. It was reiterated by all that Islam gave women property rights at a time when the girl child was killed at birth for fear of public censure. If the shariah had been properly understood and practised Islam would have been hailed by women’s groups all over the world as the ideal religion for gender rights.

Then came the declaration.
The crux of the declaration is that there is urgent need to create awareness among Muslims on the issue. Small workshops are to be held in all parts of the country where, with the help of imams and ulema, people would be educated about their rights and duties; especially those pertaining to marriage. A concerted endeavour is to be made to eradicate the frequent and irresponsible exercise of the right to divorce which brings distress all around. Special restraint on divorce is enjoined, which would mean that people will be encouraged to seek ‘advice and intervention’ of ulema, imams and community panchayats to determine if there is a genuine need for talaaq. The practice of dowry has been declared un-Islamic by the ulema; this edict has to be strictly enforced.

Public opinion has to be mobilised to eradicate evils like non-payment of mehr and contracting second marriages without doing justice to the first. Strictures were also placed on the ‘unhelpful’ role of a ‘number of women’ in matters of dowry demands. Finally, there was a plea to the government of India for the establishment of Darul Qaza (Islamic judicial panchayats) as well as shariah benches within the Family Court system.

With the exception of the demand for Darul Qaza, the points in the declaration attempt to cover the issues which have been most contentious for Muslim women since the Shah Bano agitation. So far as Darul Qaza is concerned, let it be understood that establishment of a parallel judiciary is not the answer. Problems of pendency plague the entire judicial system causing untold hardships, particularly to women. And who can guarantee the efficacy of Darul Qazas, the quality of the presiding judges, the efficiency of proceedings? Ulema themselves understand this conundrum; therefore it is surprising that time and again they continue to raise this issue. But so far as the other aspects of personal law that cause Muslim women untold suffering, the MPLB has tried to address them in this declaration. The maulanas have listened and reacted. The fact remains that they could have done much more. But they have chosen to tread the path with utmost care; perhaps because they wanted to keep all the factions together.

Let women’s groups try to understand the ulema’s difficulty and with practical wisdom keep chipping away until the citadel breaks down to let the winds of change blow through. It is a fact that the maulanas have the pulpit and millions of the ummah listen, weekly, to their Jumma Khutbas. When it comes to Muslim masses, it is mostly they who can bring in the desired change. Laws have never been able to change whole scale mindsets; else we would by now have eradicated child marriage and female foeticide. Maulanas are equally chagrined at the distorted image Islam is getting all over the world. In short, they need us as much as we need them. So, let us join together, let this conference go down in history as the turning point for Muslim women.

Archived from Communalism Combat, May 2001 Year 8 No. 69, Cover Story 4

Breeze from Bangladesh

April 30, 2001

While Muslim orthodoxy continues to stonewall any attempt at reform, neighbouring Bangladesh contemplates sweeping changes in family laws

Divorce may no longer be such a traumatic experience for women in Bangladesh. If the country adopts the Uniform Family code (UFC), women will have a greater say in marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance and child custody. The proposed uniform family code seeks to reform existing family laws to make them more humane and beneficial to women. By reforming laws to end discrimination against women in these matters, the UFC seeks to give equal rights to women belonging to all religions.

The UFC, which is presently under consideration by the government, is the brainchild of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP). The BMP has been working for women’s rights over the last 30 years. “We realised that women are subject to oppression and discrimination in matters relating to personal rights. They are also denied access to opportunities for development, despite the Constitution guaranteeing equality to men and women,” explains Ayesha Khanam, general secretary, BMP.

Since they provided legal aid, BMP members were conversant with all laws, particularly those relating to women. According to Khanam, although 85 per cent of the population in the country is Muslim, the demand for a uniform family code cuts across all religions. “Although laws for women do exist, like the Cruelty to Women Ordinance, Dowry Prohibition Act, and the Family Court Ordinance, structural weaknesses limit their efficacy,” contends Khanam. It is these limitations that the UFC hopes to redress.

In the first part, which deals with marriage and divorce, the UFC makes it mandatory for every marriage and divorce to be registered. It also lays down the minimum age of marriage for boys at 22 years and for girls at 18. “Many girls are married as soon as they reach puberty, sometimes even earlier. These are rarely, if at all, registered. So the girls are deprived of their rights if they are abandoned or divorced by their husbands. If marriages and divorces are registered, it will give women legal grounds to get what is rightfully theirs,” points out barrister–at–law Tania Amir.

In a bid towards gender equality, the UFC gives women equal rights to property acquired during the course of the marriage. The UFC also outlines grounds for divorce for both men and women. While there are eight grounds on which men can claim divorce, women have 10.

Besides the usual reasons like immorality, impotency, and physical and mental torture for which women can claim divorce, the UFC also puts down dowry demands as a valid ground. Inability to pay maintenance for two years or disappearing for the same period also gives women reason to demand divorce. In fact, even if the husband is addicted to drugs of any sort, divorce claims are valid. A husband can also ask for a divorce in the event of his wife being a drug addict.

However, although the UFC gives husbands the right to seek divorce if the wife is a lesbian, it does not give women the same right if their husbands are gay. Says Khanam, “This aspect could be looked into later. We first want men and women to understand that a woman cannot be divorced merely on the whims of her husband. The reasons have to be in accordance with the laws. Women are often taken for a ride because of their ignorance.”
In the second part, the UFC provides for maintenance to become compulsory and uniform, thus transcending religious customs and traditional laws. While laying down the grounds for maintenance, it also outlines the course of action that can be taken if the maintenance amount is not paid.

“The number of abandoned women is on the rise,” contends Farida Arif, executive director of the SERWTCI Trust, a quasi-governmental body that looks after the socio–economic development of distressed women.
“Organisations like ours try to make women economically independent. But if maintenance becomes their right by law, their aspirations for self–sufficiency will become greater and reduce their dependency on others,” says Arif.
The third part of the UFC deals with the appointment of guardians of minors and lays out eligibility conditions for guardians and their duties and rights. It also provides for regulating the conduct of guardians if they act against the welfare of the minor or the property they have been nominated to protect.

The uniform law of adoption forms the fourth part of the UFC. It simplifies adoption procedures for married couples. But it has still not made a provision allowing single women or men to adopt children if they so desire.
The most important aspect of the UFC is the uniform law of inheritance. Property rights are often the most contentious. This law lays down that women, whether married or unmarried, shall have equal rights to property. In fact, it also makes provisions for children born out of wedlock — it gives them the right to their maternal property.

“Property rights are one of the most important tools for empowering women. This helps them control their resources and become independent,” avers Aroma Dutta, chief of the PRIP Trust, a Dhaka–based non–governmental organisation (NGO) working towards women’s empowerment.
New dreams and aspirations are stirring within Bangladeshi women. Education is helping more women realise that they are entitled to certain rights under the Constitution. But since structural contradictions of laws still exist, reforms are imperative to make these dreams come true.

Women’s organisations pushing for the UFC have received considerable political support, not just from the coalition parties in power but also from the Opposition led by former premier Begum Zia. Since a woman Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, is in the saddle at present, hopes are high that the Uniform Family Code will be adopted soon.

(Women’s Feature Service).

Archived from Communalism Combat, May 2001 Year 8 No. 69, Cover Story 5

Indian Muslims and the bumble-bee

April 30, 2001

According to all known laws of aerodynamics (science of flying), the body shape of a bumble–bee is such that it is impossible for the poor thing to fly. But the bumble–bee does not know this and continues to fly anyway.

According to the teachings of Islam, marriage is a social contract between two consenting adults for which no moulvi or kaazi is essential. All that is needed are two Muslims respected by the local community, willing to be witnesses to the contract between a man and a woman to marry each other on mutually agreed terms. But because the poor Muslim does not know this (or chooses to be ignorant), he continues to be a slave of the moulvi saheb anyway.

Why blame the poor moulvi saheb alone? The moment he puts his signature on the nikaahnama (wedding document), his role is over. This is because while a Muslim male marries in an ‘Islamic’ way he divorces in a totally ‘secular’ fashion. A post-card, a telegram, now an e–mail, is all that he needs to snap the marital bond without a moment’s notice either to his wife or to any moulvi saheb.

And once the post-card, telegram or e–mail has been served on the hapless wife, even a well–intentioned moulvi saheb is totally helpless because of his belief that though socially abhorrent, the triple talaaq practice is theologically unobjectionable. Even if he were to subsequently intervene and convince the errant male to rethink, its too late. The only way out for the summarily divorced wife is to find another man who will marry her, consummate the marriage and give her an instant talaaq. Only then can she remarry her first husband.

Make no mistake. The moulvi sahebs and the kazis who adorn the All–India Muslim Personal Law Board are no hermits who need a ‘dialogue’ with this or that group of Muslim women to become aware of the plight of Muslim women. If indeed they are concerned with Islam getting a bad name, they should ask themselves why they so obstinately continue to resist change. One has only to go through the preceding two articles to realise how far the Muslim woman in India is behind her sister even from ‘backward’ Bangladesh.

Be it Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, or any other Muslim society, one thing is obvious. In each of these countries, the impetus for pro–women reforms has come from other societal or state institutions, while the bulk of the clergy remains opposed to change. How can it be otherwise in case of India?
As in all other organised religions, the Muslim clergy, too, is entirely male-dominated. And its but natural that a male-centred body — be it a ‘Men Only’ club or a religious body — will be male–oriented in thought and in deed.

No one can deny that when Islam was born, the teachings of the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet were radically pro-women, far in advance of the then prevailing social ethos. But we are not talking here of Islam or its Prophet. We are talking instead of the male–dominated Muslim clergy that through the centuries has subverted the egalitarian thrust of the Quran in the matter of man–woman relations. The MPLB is part of that subversive tradition.

It is not to be denied that some men of religion, who occupy important positions in the MPLB hierarchy, are genuinely concerned about the pathetic plight of Muslim women in India. But to expect such a body to be an agent for change is to ask for a miracle. To believe that the same clergy that has been the bulwark of patriarchy, orthodoxy, conservatism and worse, elsewheres in the world will through some magical process in India be the harbinger of change.

Archived from Communalism Combat, May 2001 Year 8 No. 69, Cover Story 5

A journey to remember

April 30, 2001

Perhaps for the first time, women from areas of continuing conflict — Kashmir and the North–East — meet to share experiences and draw sustenance from each other

From a climate of widespread fear, insecurity, death, ‘disappearances’ and the memories of it, women arrived in Delhi from Kashmir and the North–East last month for a two–day dialogue between them. These were women who had, directly or indirectly, been affected by the continuing conflict in these two regions and had learnt not only to reconstruct their own lives but that of others, including their own families.

In this atmosphere, women are particularly impacted and have to cope not only with increased violence in their lives but also with increased burdens as well as the tasks of providing for the family. Yet these experiences are seldom talked about or considered at moments of decision making Women from both these regions have also played major roles as peace makers; they have helped in resolving problems and rebuilding lives as it is to them that the task of putting together the damaged fabric of society has fallen.

The objective of the meeting was to bring together from these two regions women who have faced ongoing conflict. It was hoped that through being able to share their experience and coping strategies, the women would be able to build networks, make links and quite simply, share information.

The participants were survivors who have lived in the grip of political violence for long years, finding ways on a daily basis not only to cope with it and manage their lives but also to devise new ways to overcome the hazardous consequences of such violence….

How would they cope with the summer heat and dust of Delhi was our concern as we received them. But they were unmindful of it – relieved that the busy landscape was not dotted with men in uniform toting guns, army or paramilitary convoys bringing traffic to a sudden halt or the ever present threat of being stopped and searched….
For some of them, it was their first ever exposure to life outside where they lived. But meeting each other was a fresh and unique experience for all of them. A conflict spanning decades, it has left an indelible imprint of deep fear, trauma and suffering on generations of people including men, women and children.

When a Naga woman activist elaborated on it, stressing that among the people who have been deeply affected are women and children, it found resonance among the Kashmiri women. A woman from the North–East pointed out poignantly that at first men used to be their protectors but now the women have had to become the protectors of men as they had to step out to take on the role of negotiating for a just and peaceful resolution of conflict.
The stories began to flow as women spoke of their experiences. Despite the social, cultural and historical differences, a remarkable similarity emerged in what they had to narrate. Experiences of living in terrible fear and intimidation, of not knowing when they might become the targets of cordon and search operations or when their family members — men, children, young boys and sometimes even young girls – might be picked up and taken away.

The search for a missing family member, whose numbers today run into thousands might often be rendered impossible by the total abuse of human rights in both regions. Even their fundamental right to live in dignity and freedom, and without fear had been taken away. “When we step out in the morning, we are not certain we would return home to our loved ones in the evening,” said an old woman from Baramullah. She has spent ten years searching for her husband who was picked up by the security forces from his shop and has not returned since.
“We have had to close down the shop as there is no male member left in the family. I have six daughters and I cannot risk their lives. With this only source of livelihood closed for us, I work in other people’s homes to earn a living. And when I return home, my daughters and I work on the charkha to earn a little more…. There are scores of women like me, whose lives have suddenly been transformed.”

In many families, where men have either been killed or are missing, other than women being forced out of their homes, children have had to give up their education as they were sent out to support their families. The women shared each other’s anxiety and the burden of nurturing a new generation growing up in a hostile and violent environment, and how to protect their innocence, health and well being.

For the women, the opportunity to speak to each other in the course of the dialogue was a valuable learning experience. Many of them felt that it had helped them realise that they were not alone in their struggle for justice and peace and in their attempt to restore hope and confidence where it had been eroded. When women from the North-East, particularly Nagaland, spoke about the strategies they had evolved and adopted to negotiate for peace in their region, the Kashmiri women articulated their concerns and constraints in doing the same. For them the fear of the bullet was a daily threat and reality which restrained them. “Even as I go out to work each day, I see myself as a wife and mother, anxious to safeguard and protect my family….”

Four days of staying together and talking to each other about their concerns had clearly established that despite the hardships they had suffered, most of the women did not perceive themselves as victims. Having crossed the threshold of their homes not only to seek livelihood but also justice, women were in fact giving rise to a new equation of relations both within their homes and outside, no matter that their role and contribution is not yet fully recognised by society.

This exchange, when it extended outside the meeting hall, saw women relate to each other in warm camaraderie as they ate together, posed for photographs with each other and sang songs. They also went out to see the city for the first time, returning with small gifts to take back for their dear ones.

As they exchanged addresses they promised to stay in touch with each other, hoping that someday they would be able to build a network of lasting relationships and common strategies. This meeting was a first step towards this process….

(The dialogue was organised jointly by the Violence Mitigation & Amelioration Project (VMAP) of Oxfam India Trust and the North–East Network).

Archived from Communalism Combat, May 2001 Year 8 No. 69, Special Report 2

‘Victory of secular forces’

April 30, 2001

Kanpur, May 2, 2001

Warm greetings from Sakhi Kendra, India! You might be aware of the violence that broke out in Kanpur during the month of March 2001.

Actually, for three–four months before the out–break of violence, there was some tension in the city but the administration and police chose to ignore the developments. Just one day before the outbreak of violence i.e. on March 15, 2001, a few hooligans made an attempt to burn an effigy as a protest against rumours of the burning of the Quran in Delhi, when the police stopped them. To enforce their will, a bomb was flung on inspector Suresh Chandra Badhauria of Beconganj police station. One week before this incident, volunteers of the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) plastered posters and leaflets regarding the incident of the burning of the Quran, in Anwarganj, Chamanganj, Beconganj, Bajariya, Meston Road and other sensitive areas of Kanpur. This created tension and inflamed sentiments but the police and administration chose not to pay attention and not to intervene.

It was only when this procession reached the Shikshak Park, Naveen Market and tried to burn an effigy of the Prime Minister that the police intervened… As is usual during communal riots, the police gave a go–by to lawful conduct and instead of first scattering the mob with the use of tear gas, began indiscriminately firing.

According to official figures, 25 were killed, 8 are missing and 50 persons are injured. Unofficial investigations reveal that 100-200 persons have sustained bullet injuries and with as many as ninety per cent of those injured having injuries above the waist.

Though fundamentalists from the Hindu community also tried to give communal flare to this incident, they were utterly unsuccessful.

The police supported the communal criminals (belonging to the majority community) and there is evidence of this: The bangles’ market and shoe markets, where a majority of the shops are owned by Muslims was gutted down and though the these markets are located just behind the kotwali (the main police station of the city/control room) where a large police force is available all the time, the destruction was neither averted nor stopped. Incidentally these areas have never been targeted before during previous riots; they cannot therefore be categorised as communally sensitive localities.In order to raise issues related to the welfare of the victims of violence, we have formed the Kanpur Citizen’s Council. Members of this council met the police commissioner on April 3, 2001 and put our concerns before the administration. These are:

Those students who have missed their examinations because of the imposition of curfew should be allowed to give their examinations;
An accurate assessment of losses incurred should be made and reparation and compensation paid in accordance with the loss.
A regular occurrence during communal violence is that the police fails in its primary duty towards citizens by failing to register complaints. Hence the Kanpur Citizen’s Council has taken the initiative of visiting various areas, establishing complaint complaint camps in different localities to collect complaints. The police commissioner has assured us that the district magistrate or the ADM will be present at these camps and that these complaints will be registered and treated as an FIR. Already, on April 5 and 7, two complaint camps were held at which nearly 100 complaints were registered. Most of these complaints were not registered by the police. Others were complaints, which had been registered but had no action taken by the police or the administration. The KCC is following up each of these complaints with the police.
We have asked the administration to gather the complete records of persons missing, injured and killed during violence.
Members of the KCC have decided to hold survey on the basis of government survey in order to get an accurate picture of the violence.
During the violence, many innocent people have been indiscriminately arrested and hence the KCC has placed it’s demand with the administration that these people should be released forthwith We also took out a peace march under the banner of Manav Sadbhavana Abhiyan (a combined platform of activists and organizations of Kanpur) to convey a message of peace, solidarity and harmony.

Thanks to some of these combined interventions by the citizens of Kanpur, the administration has admitted that the violence was not communal violence but occurred because of the failure or the lack of desire to intervene. This admission itself is a victory for secular forces.

Neelam Chaturvedi

Sakhi Kendra, Kanpur, (India).

Archived from Communalism Combat, May 2001 Year 8 No. 69, Open Letter

Hidden apartheid

March 31, 2001

From August 31– September 4, when the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Intolerance, Xenopho bia and Related Intolerances(WCAR) meets in Durban, the first time since the discriminatory and centuries old regime of apartheid was overturned through much sacrifice and struggle in that country, another group of subordinated peoples, discriminated by descent and occupation, forcibly segregated by tradition and religion from access to common resources, will make their voice heard before the international community.

They will demand that caste-based discrimination, which amounts to descent and occupation based oppression, segregation and exclusion be recognised as a distinct form of racism. A distinct form of racism, because it amounts to the denial of basic human rights based on prejudice, discrimination or antagonism and is justified by well–entrenched beliefs about high and low, superior and inferior.

A wide network of Dalit groups from within and outside India will voice this demand on behalf of 160 million Indians. They will make their case through public testimonies of victims and documents drawn up by the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights — NCDHR.

Predictably, there have been strong attempts by the Indian government to resist the bid to raise the issue of caste discrimination in an international forum. At the preparatory meeting for the WCAR, on February 19 in Teheran, the government made it’s stand clear — introducing caste into the ambit of the WCAR at Durban would amount to diluting the concept of racism. The government delegation was represented, among others, by the attorney general, Soli Sorabjee. More significantly perhaps, government spokesmen stressed that the problem of caste was an ‘internal’ one and therefore out of the purview of the UN.

Using his weekly column in The Times of India, (March 4, 2001) to emphasise the government’s position, Sorabjee endorsed the overall rationale behind the theme of the forthcoming conference;an acknowledgement that “no country is immune from the virus of racism whose roots lie in the hearts and the minds of the people”. He mentioned the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ECERD) convention but commented on the “misconceived attempts by some NGOs to equate racism with caste–based discrimination which is based on birth and occupation and has nothing to do with the race of a person.” Our Constitution, he said, recognises the distinction between race and caste, which are separately mentioned as prohibited grounds of discrimination.

In stark contrast to the Indian governmental position was the Nepal government’s candour on the same issue, confronted as it is with recent assertions of Nepali Dalits who account for not less than 15 per cent of the total population. The government of the only Hindu kingdom in the world openly admitted that caste is the source of acute discrimination and segregation within Nepal. This, it held, was a serious issue that falls under the theme of the forthcoming conference and should, therefore, form part of the official deliberations at the WCAR at Durban.

Apart from the Indian government, several academics, individuals and groups have also voiced serious concern over what, in their perception, is a Dalit move to link caste to race. This, according to them, is a dangerous move that would lead to a revival of the theory of race that resulted in “Hitler’s disastrous racial policies” and that was discounted decades ago (anthropologist Andre Beteille in The Hindu, March 12).

According to Beteille, “interested parties within and outside the UN would like to bring caste discrimination in general and the practice of untouchability in particular within the purview of racial discrimination… The practice of untouchability is indeed reprehensible and must be condemned by one and all; but that does not mean that we must begin to regard it as a form of racial discrimination. The Scheduled Castes of India taken together are no more a race than are the Brahmins taken together. Every social group cannot be regarded as a race simply because we want to protect it against prejudice and discrimination… We cannot throw out the concept of race by the front door when it is misused for asserting social superiority and bring it again through the back door to misuse it in the cause of the oppressed. The metaphor of race is a dangerous weapon whether it is used for asserting white supremacy or making demands on the basis of disadvantaged groups.”(Emphasis added).

There are two substantive issues involved here. One is the theoretical rejection and support for Dalit demands by not just academics but other groups and individuals, movements and formations on the lines that Beteille argues. The other is the resistance to any attempt to take the issue of caste–based discrimination to a global forum; to solicit international condemnation of caste–based discriminatory practices and support for the struggle against it.

Put together, both amount to attempts to distort and thereby contain efforts by the Dalit movement to seek international focus and attention on caste based discrimination, legitimised for centuries through scripture and followed in practice by notions of high and low, superior and inferior, pure an impure. Even half a century after independence, the problem continues. The Dalit condition, which was the result of such a pernicious theory, is the result of a pernicious understanding of race by perpetrators of this condition and not the other way around. It is not the metaphor of race that is being invoked but the metaphor of racism, which was the outcome of the misplaced metaphor of race.

The re–emergence of a vibrant and vocal Dalit movement (after the Dalit Panther movement of the seventies) in the mid-eighties and early nineties has formed the backbone of the national campaign whose demands are now being heard. The systematic campaigns (see box), documentation and theorisation that have emerged reflect the painful reality of 160 million Indians (not counting Dalits of other religious denominations) even 54 years after political independence and democracy.

Even the dictionary meaning of the word racism, (Shorter Oxford: racism is the belief in or adherence to, by the perpetrators not the victims — advocacy of the theory that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities qualities etc specific to their race distinguishing as inferior or superior to another race or races; prejudice, discrimination or antagonism based on this), needs to hark to the theory of race to describe it’s consequences — the condition of racism described as antagonistic or prejudicial or discriminatory. Moreover, within political science and sociology circles, racism has come to typify and describe systems of inequality and discrimination.

The condition of 20 million Dalits more than fulfils the description of the conditions used to describe racism. The term is now being invoked to show how the same kind of dehumanising prerequisites (in terms of definition) that are used to describe, understand and protest against racism are more than fulfilled (thousand times over) when we speak of untouchability and caste–based discrimination.

Is it not time that we fill and feed such terminology with our own histories and thereby deepen their meanings?

To argue that caste-based discrimination — through exclusion, dehumanisation, segregation, violent atrocities and practices — is a distinct form of racism is surely not out of a desire to dangerously re-introduce, as Beteille seems to argue, the theory of race. Rather, the intention is to emphasise that despite the ostensible world wide rejection of the theory of race, even today, a fifth of the population in South Asia has to endure bitter prejudice, segregation, exclusion and discrimination legitimised by a tradition of superior and inferior, pure and impure. (In any case, the supposed rejection of the theory of race is obviously restricted to limited circles, as even today neo-Nazi squads in the West are a grim pointer to the awesome gap between theory and lived experience. )

The very theory of the atishudra — that even now, in the twenty- first century excludes an entire segment of men, women and children out of the Hindu caste fold, but controls this section through an elaborate system of exploitation, economic, social and political — is a theory of superior and the mleccha, the pure and the impure. The millions so exploited are used for backbreaking manual and menial tasks. Worst of all, they are even excluded from discourse, from the mind’s eye.

To state that caste, descent and occupation-based discrimination is a distinct form of racism is to evocatively highlight the depth and details of the sub–human conditions that a fifth of the population of India is forced to endure — through segregation, exclusion and discrimination, hierarchy and domination.
It is to racism, and not the theory of race, that the Dalit movement as a whole seeks to link it’s condition and demand world understanding, international condemnation and, yes, support. There may be individual voices within the movement who hark back to the issue of Dalits being a race but for the moment, at least, the overwhelming Dalit position goes beyond it. (Incidentally, theorists associated with the movement intimately, especially Thorat of the JNU, are emphatic in pointing to Dr BR Ambedkar’s own rebuttal of the Brahmanical theory of race that justifies the exclusion and brutalisation of the atishudra.)

The Dalit campaign urges all people, political parties, civil liberties groups, human rights organisations, to address not the whys of caste but address it’s present day existence, manifestation and reality. What continues to motivate us as a people and a civilisation to segregate so brutally 20 per cent of our people and prevents us from lending support to their struggle?

Elected representatives across party formulations — RPI, Congress(I), CPI and the CPI(M) — have allied with the ongoing struggle for international condemnation of continued caste-based discrimination and exclusion. At the preparatory conference in New Delhi between March 1–4, former prime minister, Inder Kumar Gujral, former chairperson of the National Commission for Women, Mohini Giri, CPI MP D Raja, RPI MP, Ramdas Athavale, Congress MP, Praveen Rashtrapal, CPI(M) MP, Arindam Sen, all declared allegiance to the move for international solidarity.

Yet, in the wider section of the political class, the intelligentsia, academia, progressive groups and organisations, there has been a distinct tendency to stay aloof from the issue at hand. The general fragmentation of social movements could be one of the reasons for the exclusion of the Dalit issue and its specific demands from other struggles and also the misunderstanding of the thrust and focus of the Dalit campaign. But the distance and divide is also reminiscent of what happened 50–70 years ago, when the voices of Ambedkar and Periyar were drowned in the lead-up to the national struggle against colonialism, for freedom against foreign yoke.

Then as now, Ambedkar’s stance was deliberately misconstrued and ignored by the dominant discourse. Ambedkar had to bear the burden of being labelled a traitor simply because of his plea that the rights of Dalits, the ‘untouchables’, should be made a pre-condition for independence from the British. His own lived experience, of having to endure the humiliation of being treated as ‘impure’ even after his education at Columbia University, pushed him towards the demand for separate electorates. Today, an honest look at not just the plight of Dalits (see box) but also the exclusion of the Dalit issue from other struggles is a stinging reminder of the possible validity of Ambedkar’s position.

The questions raised by Ambedkar decades ago are relevant even now. They are questions about prejudicial and discriminatory methods of production and social relations, methods and relations based on principles of exclusion, denial and humiliation that have existed within the Indian sub-continent for 3,000 years before the British arrived. These centuries’ old practices continue to result not only in the creation of wealth and security for half of the population at the cost of the rest, but also in the distinct dehumanisation of a fifth. This state of affairs, sanctified by religious scriptures and practised in the name of caste, is not very different even today.

Why did the national movement not lend support to Dalit concerns? Was it an internal discomfort, a discomfort in dealing with and facing the reality and shame of caste, that reduced us to denigrate and label Ambedkar then and what impels us to resist the demands and support the Dalit movement now?
In the face of growing articulations from the Dalit movement,and demands putbefore the forthcoming WCAR, serious introspection is required over our resistance to the Dalit move to list the shame of caste, in facts and figures and to seek international solidarity and support. Our response is especially strange considering that in non–governmental circles especially, international solidarity on issues of social concern — for example, the iniquitous new economic regime under GATT, displaced persons by big dams, discriminatory labour laws, gender issues, peace and de–nuclearisation — is accepted practice. Why then is there such resistance to the idea of caste indignities being highlighted internationally?

The significance of the forthcoming conference should not be underrated. The abolition of apartheid in 1991 did not, of course, immediately result in the transformation of South Africa into an egalitarian society with an equitable distribution of resources. But the discrediting and abolition of such a discriminatory system within South Africa was largely due to international pressure and support.

The world has seen, before and since, a variety of exclusions, xenophobias and intolerances that have resulted in the genocide of different sections of the people. The plight of Bosnia and the Bosnian people in the very heart of Europe is an example. It will be interesting to see where and how that issue gets representation, if at all. The orchestrated genocide of the Iraqi and Afghani people suffering exclusion, death and poverty as a result of the unjust UN–imposed sanctions ought to find some space in the deliberations if at all the WCAR is intended as an event meant to convey a serious commitment to the issues under deliberation. Caste–based discrimination goes back thousands of years and it is time it receives world condemnation.

And what of the other sharp and very real intolerances that have emerged in South Asia and even Southeast Asia? Can we honestly look at South Asia in the context of the theme of the Global Conference and not reflect on or highlight the intolerances that have so sharply surfaced in the name of religion?
The crude destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas recently cloaks what the terror of the Taliban means to it’s own people especially women. In India we have been witness to the insidious movement of the Hindu rightwing, which in the name of Hindutva is manipulating the individual faith of millions to legitimise a religion–based nationalism and destroy democracy. Strife and sectarian violence within Pakistan are testimony to the failure of religion–based nationalism. Bangladesh that fought a secular liberation struggle for independence from Pakistani Punjabi domination is today grappling with it’s own demons in the garb of Islamic fanatics. Farther east, for the past three years Indonesia has been torn apart as ethno–religious strife (between Muslims and Christians) poses a serious threat to the polity.

Can we from South Asia really speak at the ‘World Conference Against Racism, Racial Intolerance, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances’ without any mention of the intolerances and xenophobia being created in our part of the world in the name of faith?

Caste in the United Nations

The United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 referred to race, colour gender and religion but not caste as a basis or source of discrimination.

For many years, UN bodies and international covenants, conventions such as ICCPR, ICESR, ECERD and CEDAW and ILO omitted any reference to caste. As a result, Dalits could only make little use of the space offered by human rights bodies to raise the issue of caste-based discrimination.

It was the ECERD committee in 1996 (whose convention has been ratified by India in 1969) that for the first time made explicit reference to caste discrimination, untouchability and the scheduled castes.

On September 17, 1996, the concluding observation of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ECERD) was “that the situation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes falls within the scope of the convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,” and that the term “descent” contained in Article 1 of the convention does not refer solely to race, and encompasses the situation of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. (Document ECERD/C/304/Add.13). The present demand emanating from the Dalit movement for human rights that is being strongly resisted by the Indian government is an echo of the progress already made within international covenants and the law.

In 1996 and ‘97, the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism and Racial discrimination had requested a visit to India to “evaluate the situation (of untouchables) in co-operation with the government and the community concerned.” The Indian government has, to date, refused the request for a visit.

The CEDAW committee, in its final report, 2000 had mentioned, “The committee considers (that) such social practices as the caste system present major obstacles to the implementation of the convention.”
The 52nd UN sub–commission in Geneva in August 2000 unanimously passed a resolution commissioning expert member Rajendere K Goonasekere to prepare a working paper on ‘discrimination based on descent’. The objectives of the report were to a) Identify communities who continue to experience discrimination based on occupation and descent; b) Examine existing constitutional, legislative and administrative measures for the abolition of such discrimination c) Make any further concrete recommendations and proposals for the elimination of such discrimination. The Indian government has opposed all these resolutions.

Archived from Communalism Combat, April 2001 Year 8 No. 68, Cover Story 1

Broken people

March 31, 2001

In 1950, the Indian Constitution abolished untouchability (not caste), which meant that upper caste Hindus could no longer segregate Dalits or force them to perform ‘polluting’ occupations. The reality, however, is that caste bias continues to run deep. Even the police and judiciary are not immune to it; they let caste atrocities go off lightly and unpunished.
A high caste judge in Uttar Pradesh got his chamber washed with the holy water from the river Ganges to purify it since the earlier occupant of the judge’s chair happened to be a Dalit.
A Dalit boy was mercilessly thrashed and died as a result. When the matter was being heard in the Gujarat High Court, the police prosecutor spiritedly defended the police action (the thrashing that led to death) saying, “My Lord, the law differs from person to person.” Subsequently promoted to the bench, the same prosecutor is today a sitting judge of the Bombay High Court.
A sessions judge charged with the murder of a Dalit youth still enjoys his position. The investigating officer is on record stating that the accused is interfering with the evidence in the case.
Allocation of jobs on the basis of caste is one of the fundamentals of the caste system. While within the caste system, the division of labour for the four varnas is not the most rigid, for the Dalits who occupy the ‘lowest’ caste category, it is caste and caste alone, which is the determinant factor for the attainment of social, political and economic rights.
A lack of access to education and training, combined with rank discrimination while seeking other forms of employment, has relegated Dalits to jobs like leather workers, disposers of dead animals and manual scavengers — all jobs that are basic become dehumanising when relegated to one section, forcibly. We have 8,00,000 manual scavengers in India despite abolishment of the practice in law (Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993. Offenders, which include those who employ manual scavengers and those who construct dry latrines, are liable to punishment of a year in prison and fine in addition to prosecution under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989). But the Act has been rendered toothless by the judiciary itself (see box).
In the Eighth Five–Year Plan, Rs. 464 crore was allocated for the construction of flush latrines in place of dry latrines and the rehabilitation of scavengers; the money is completely under–utilised.
A job as a manual scavenger is physically and mentally soul destroying. Most scavengers live in segregated colonies and are forcibly prevented from using common resources. At times, in one row of toilet there can be as many as four hundred seats that have to be manually cleaned. Even other scheduled caste people will not touch the safai karmachari; it is untouchability within untouchables.
In Gujarat alone, reported deaths of manual scavengers due to inhaling of carbon monoxide while inside a manhole was a staggering 20 over a year. In Mumbai, even today children are lowered into manholes and there have been deaths.
In 1995, the Commission on Bonded Labour appointed by the Supreme Court estimated as many as 1.25 million bonded labourers in Gujarat. This despite the Bonded Labour (Abolition) act, 1976, and the SC/ST (POA) Act, 1989. Around 80-90 per cent of the bonded labourers are from the scheduled castes or scheduled tribes.
Of the total Dalit population, 85 per cent live in rural areas. Presently, almost half (49 per cent) of the rural Dalit population are agricultural labourers while only 25 per cent are cultivators. In stark and shocking contrast, in 1961, 38 per cent of rural Dalits were cultivators and 34 per cent were agricultural labourers.
Only 31 per cent of Dalit households have electricity as compared to 61 per cent non–Dalit households. Only 10 per cent of SC households have sanitation while 27 per cent of non–SC households enjoy this facility. The state and socially dominant groups play an active role in denial of basic amenities. Electricity, sanitation and safe drinking water are provided in the dominant caste section but not in the Dalit colony.
SC persons in most rural areas have separate sources of drinking water.
Since the early 1990s, violence against Dalits has escalated dramatically in response to greater demands and awareness of rights’ violations. Between 1995 and 1997, as many as 90,925 cases were registered all over India as crimes and atrocities against scheduled castes. Of these, 1,617 were for murder, 12,951 for hurt, 2,824 for rape and 31,376 for other offences listed under the prevention of atrocities Act.
The abysmal failure of successive governments to provide free and compulsory education is a failure that has affected all sections, only Dalits proportionately more. So, two–thirds of the Dalit population is illiterate as compared to half of the rest. The literacy gap between Dalits and the rest of the population reduced by a bare 0.39 per cent between 1961 and 1991.
Dalit enrolment in the year 1993 at the primary level was a low 16.2 per cent while among non-SCs, it was 83.8 per cent (annual report 1994–95, HRD, GOI)
According to two annual reports of the SC/ST Commission (1996-97 and 1997–98) the dropout rate for Dalit students was a high 49.35 per cent at the primary level, 67.7 per cent for middle school and 77.65 per cent for high school. The factors behind dropout rates include the compulsion to work. But abusive treatment of Dalit children is increasingly being recorded as a significant form of discrimination.

Dalit rights are human rights — the campaign

March 31, 2001

The National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) was initiated in December 1998 by human rights activists working among Dalits and studying the effectiveness and implementation of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), 1989.

The campaign was launched by Dalit Ezhumalai, minister for health and family welfare on December 9, 1998; three days later, a delegation met President KR Narayanan with the documents that detailed the focus of the campaign.

Support was assured to the campaign from the then leader of the Opposition, Sharad Pawar and Ram Vilas Paswan (union minister for communications).

On December 13, and 14, 1998 an NCDHR delegation consisting of PL Mimroth (national convenor), Rajini Tilak, Attam Singh Bhatti and MP Chaudhary met Prime Minister AB Vajpayee, Lok Sabha speaker Balayogi, and leader of the Opposition, Sonia Gandhi.

A ‘Black Paper’ was released from 15 states and Union Territories on December 8, 1999 in New Delhi; at the release function, Paswan gave the inaugural address and Ramdas Athavale, MP and secretary of the SC/ST Parliament’s Forum, gave the keynote address.

On December 8, 1999 the National Dalit Women’s Conference was held at which 300 delegates countrywide attended. Ms Veena Nayyar, member of the National Commission for SCs/STs gave the keynote address. The outcome was a Dalit women’s charter of demands.

December 9, 1999: Submission of 25 lakh signatures collected from all over the country in support of Dalit human rights.

The cross–party delegation consisted of Paswan, Athavale, Bhandaru Dattatheya, deputy minister for urban development and Bangaru Laxman (both Dalit representatives).

The demand was for the tabling of a White Paper in Parliament and declaration of the next decade as ‘Ambedkar Decade’.

The culmination of one set of the NCDHR’s activities was the National Public Hearing organised at Chennai in April 2000. A representative jury, consisting among others of former judge of the Bombay high court, justice Suresh, former judge, AP high court, justice Punnaiah, former judge, Patna high court, justice Amir Das heard 57 cases from 10 states highlighting 17 major forms of human rights violations. These included untouchability practices, denial of access to cultivation, grazing and ownership of land, rights of Dalit women, manual scavenging and continued state violence against Dalits.

Internationally, the Dalit rights campaign has included the formation and activities of International Dalit Solidarity Networks (IDSN), programmes undertaken by international human rights activists, advocacy and lobbying efforts at the UN level and in different countries.

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Broken people

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