Progressive Attitudes to Women’s Sexual Rights In Marriage Decline in India

January 24, 2018

As the #MeToo movement against sexual violence gains global momentum, in India–the world’s second-most populous country–positive attitudes about consent and safe sex among men declined by 7 percentage points in the decade ending 2016, showed an IndiaSpend analysis of National Family Health Survey, 2015-16 (NFHS-4) and 2005-06 (NFHS-3) data.

Among men, progressive attitudes on women and their sexual rights in a marriage fell from 70.3% in 2005-06 to 63% in 2015-16. Among women, these grew by less than 1% in the decade to 2015-16–from 67.5% in 2005-06 to 68.4% now.

Currently, about one in six women (16.9%) believe a wife is not justified in refusing sex with her husband even if he has a sexually transmitted disease, or if he has multiple sex partners, or if she is tired or not in the mood. Less than one in six men (14.7%) shared the same view, the data showed.

Further questions to men on women’s sexual rights in a marriage revealed nearly one in 10 (9.2%) believe that men can force themselves on their wives while 8.9% felt that a wife’s refusal justified extra-marital sex.

In India, sexual violence against women is most often committed by individuals with whom they have an intimate relationship, NFHS-4 data showed. Among ‘ever married’ women–those between 15-49 years of age who have been married at least once, even if they are currently single–who have ever experienced sexual violence, 83% report their current husband and 9%, a former husband, as perpetrators.

The control women get to exercise during sexual intercourse is not only an indicator of their empowerment but also holds important implications for demographic and health outcomes, the NFHS report noted. It also measures women’s acceptance of the norm that socialises them into believing that they cannot refuse their husband sex for any reason, the report explained.

Sexual disease, adultery, exhaustion can’t be reasons to deny husband sex

For the second part of our analysis, we have focused on the proportion of women (16.9%) and men (14.7%) surveyed who said wives should not refuse their husbands sex even if he has an STD, has multiple sex partners or is feeling tired/ not in the mood.

Over the decade to 2015-16, the percentage of women (aged 15-49 years) who felt wives cannot refuse to have sex with their husbands rose by nearly 4 percentage points from 13.1% in 2005-06 to 16.9%. The percentage of men who felt this way rose by nearly 6 percentage points.

Source: National Family Health Surveys 2015-16 & 2005-06

Younger women were more likely to disagree with a wife’s right to refuse her husband sex, the data showed. The largest percentage of women who felt this way (22.3%) were between 15 and 19 years of age.

Among women who believed that wives could withhold sex, most were in the age groups of 25-29 years (71.3%) and 20-24 years (70.9%). Never-married women were most likely to hold the opposite view, in 2015-16. This was the case in 2005-06 too. More women in nuclear families (15.4%) shared regressive views compared to those in non-nuclear household structures (13.7%).

Uneducated women (17.2%), and those who belonged to the lowest wealth stratum (15.8%) constitute the highest percentage of women likely to hold regressive views on gender parity in marital sex.

Among men, those belonging to the youngest age group of 15-19 years (19.3%), uneducated (17.2%), never-married (17%), hailing from nuclear family structures (15.4%), and those belonging to the lowest group on the wealth index held the highest shares of this attitude towards consent and safe sex.

Over the decade to 2006-16, attitudes about women’s sexual rights in marriage among never-married men (17%) and currently married men (13.1%) declined by nearly 6 percentage points (from 11.1% and 7.8% respectively).

Sikhs, Jains hold most positive attitudes to sexual consent in marriage

Christian (21.3%) and Hindu (17.2%) women had highest proportions of respondents who felt a woman is not justified for refusing her husband sex for the three reasons, NFHS data showed, reporting not much difference from 2005-06. Meanwhile, Sikh (91.7%) and Jain (80.2%) women held the most positive attitudes about women’s sexual consent, the data showed.

Similarly, among men, Christians (16.5%) and Hindus (15%) had highest percentages disagreeing with women’s rights to refuse sex with her husband. In 2005-06, the largest groups to hold such views were Christian (12.4%) and Muslim (10.9%) men.

Source: National Family Health Surveys 2015-16 & 2005-06

Fewer urban men now have progressive views on marital sex

While men and women in urban and rural areas held largely similar views on consent and safe sex in 2015-16, a faster, greater decline in attitudes was found among men in urban areas. In 2015-16, the percentage of urban Indian men who believe women are not justified in refusing their husband sex was 7.2 percentage points higher than in 2005-06. In rural areas, men holding such views grew by 5 percentage points.

Source: National Family Health Surveys 2015-16 & 2005-06

The percentage of women (12.1%) in urban areas who disagreed with women’s rights to deny sex on these grounds, grew by 5.1 percentage points from 2005-06, compared to a 3 percentage point-growth in rural areas.

More men now believe wives should be punished for refusing sex

The NFHS surveys also include additional questions posed to men to assess gender egalitarian attitudes. To understand environment of consent or the lack of it, men were asked: If a woman refuses to have sex with her husband, does he have the right to 1) get angry and reprimand her; 2) refuse her financial support; 3) force himself on her; and 4) have extra-marital sex.

While 77.6% men felt a wife’s refusal to have sex did not justify opting for any of the four responses, the percentage of men who do agree with all four has risen by 3.7 percentage points from 1.1% in 2005-06 to 4.8% in 2015-16.

More than a fifth of men (17.6%) said women refusing sex on the three grounds mentioned earlier justified anger and reprimand. Further, 9.2% agreed men can force themselves on their wives while 8.9% felt it justified extra-marital sex, as we said. About 10.5% agreed that if wives did not consent to sex for the three mentioned reasons, they would withdraw financial support.

Men in the second-highest stratum (or fourth quintile) of the wealth index–there are five equal strata called quintiles, depending on ownership of consumer goods–held the highest share of those who justified all four responses. This is a departure from other parameters on sexual consent where those belonging to the lowest quintile held the highest share in negative attitudes. A decade ago, men belonging to the third quintile of the wealth index were most (1.4%) to hold this view.

Source: National Family Health Surveys 2015-16 & 2005-06

Currently married men held the largest share (5.1%) among those who felt they had the right to be angry and reprimand (18%), withdraw financial support (10.7%), use force for sex (9.4%), or have sex with another woman (8.9%) if a wife refused.

Men in 25-29 age group more in favour of controlling behaviour

Across parameters, most men who agreed with all four behaviours were in the age groups of 40-49, 30-39 and 20-24. The highest percentage of men who agreed to the use of force with a wife even if she doesn’t want to were in the age group of 25-29 years (5.6%).

More men in urban than rural areas agreed with the four behaviours but the margin between the two groups is small. Men in nuclear family settings also supported this behaviour more than those in joint family structures.

Muslim (5.1%), Sikh (5.1%), and Hindu (4.9%) men agreed the most to all four behaviours. In 2005-06, Sikh (3.2%) and Jain (1.3%) men held the largest percentages in this regard.

More Muslim (10%) and Hindu (9.2%) men were in favour of forced sex when the wife was unwilling. They also agreed the most, 11.8% and 10.5% respectively, with the action of withdrawing financial support to wives if they did not consent to sex.

While Christian men were the largest group still reporting unchanging attitudes towards women’s consent and safe sex in marriage, as we said, after Jains (1.3%), they were the least to agree (3.3%) that acting out in all four behaviours is justified.

Still, Christian men formed the highest group (11.4%) agreeing that men can have sex with another woman if the wife refuses to on the three reasons, followed by Muslims (9.3%).

Level of schooling had little effect on men’s attitudes. Men with 8-9 years of schooling held the lowest share of men (3.9%) with all four attitudes.

Source: National Family Health Surveys 2015-16 & 2005-06

(Saldanha is an assistant editor with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

“The citizens are facing the worst time in the hands of right wing”: Raosaheb Kasbe

January 24, 2018

In a talk organised by the Mumbai Collective, eminent scholar Raosaheb Kasbe talks about the alarming instances of vigilantism, and the rise in violence and lynchings in the name of religion, that have increased over the past three years. He also talks about the unscientific notions, like the study of ancient vedas, that are being propagated by certain right-wing organisations for their own political purposes. During times like these, the need of the hour, according to him, is to join hands with all those who oppose these things,regardless of our personal differences, and fight against it unitedly.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

Haj subsidy: Inaction of Muslim leaders allowed BJP to perpetuate bogey of minority appeasement

January 24, 2018

Hindutva’s selective secularism is suspect.

Amit Dave/Reuters

The Bharatiya Janata Party, the political wing of a Hindu supremacist organisation that is committed to turning India into a Hindu Rashtra, seems to have discovered to its glee that even secular means can be useful in the pursuit of a communal end. The latest example of this is the scrapping of the Haj subsidy. What is more, this helps the myth promoted by the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that political parties calling themselves secular are in fact “pseudo-secular” and that the lotus, the BJP’s election symbol, is the sole representative of true secularism in India. What could be better from the perspective of the brotherhood in saffron?

When asked for the government’s view on a petition filed by Muslim victims of triple talaq – instant, unilateral divorce that is pronounced only by men – the Narendra Modi government had no hesitation in telling the Supreme Court that the practices of triple talaq, nikah halala (the stipulation that a divorced Muslim woman cannot remarry her former husband until she marries and divorces another man after having sex with him), and polygamy among Indian Muslims must be struck down as unconstitutional. Which thinking person would disagree that such practices discriminate against women and must therefore be banished? On August 22, the Supreme Court “set aside” the practice of triple talaq, while two of the five judges on the Constitution bench prompted that a new law be passed by Parliament on the issue. Advantage, BJP and its parivar.

In the Winter Session of Parliament, which began on December 15, the Modi government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017, in the Lok Sabha. While declaring triple talaq as “void” and “illegal”, the Bill criminalises the practice. It proposes a three-year jail term for men who violate the law. This is not the place to delve into the Bill’s serious flaws, including its implicit communal intent. But one must remember that none of the major self-proclaimed secular parties dared to vote against the Bill in the Lok Sabha lest their commitment to secularism be scrutinised.The Bill was held up in the Rajya Sabha but only because the government refused to accede to the proposed amendments. No one questioned the Modi government’s intent. Advantage, the BJP and its parivar.

Then there is the new policy of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government regarding women travelling to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Haj. This is a pilgrimage that all Muslims are enjoined to go on at least once in their lifetimes. In his Mann Ki Baat radio address last month, Prime Minister Modi said that his government would allow groups of Muslim women above the age of 45 to travel on Haj unescorted by mahram – male relatives they are prohibited from marrying under Islamic law. In this case too, the BJP emerged again, smelling of roses. The Union Minister for Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, has seized every opportunity to let the world know that this was something the Congress could well have done but chose not to. Once again, advantage, BJP and its parivar.

The scrapping of Haj subsidies is the latest move in the BJP’s ostensible pursuit of secular politics. “This is part of our policy to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement,” Naqvi has told the media. Nothing demonstrates the cynicism with which the BJP clothes its communal politics in a secular garb more than the bogey of “appeasement of minorities”.

Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj speaks with pilgrims in New Delhi on June 16, 2015, ahead of flagging them off on their journey to Mount Kailash in Tibet. (Photo credit: Prakash Singh/AFP).

Sangh Parivar propaganda

Since the 1980s, the propaganda machinery of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar has successfully used the appeasement canard to demonise Indian Muslims. Throughout this period, the Haj subsidy for Muslims figured prominently in the long list of alleged appeasements. It sounds like a legitimate grievance on the face of it. After all, what business is it of a secular state to subsidise religious activity? This secular principle, however, has never been the basis for the Sangh Parivar’s angst. The BJP, RSS and the rest of the saffron brotherhood has never had any issue with the government subsidising Hindu religious yatras.

According to official statistics, since the Supreme Court’s 2012 order to end Haj subsidies over a 10-year period, the total subsidy from the Union government has been scaled down year after year, from Rs836 crores in 2012-’13 to Rs408 crores in 2016-’17. But besides the Haj subsidy, the Union government also provides a subsidy to Hindu pilgrims for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. It organises the yatra to Tibet, spending money on facilities for pilgrims and on their security.

State governments also chip in with this and other yatras. For instance, the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh used to give a subsidy of Rs 50,000 per pilgrim for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. The Adityanath government doubled this amount shortly after it took over last year. Nearly a dozen state governments also provide subsidies or fully paid pilgrimages to the Char Dham Yatra – which entails going on a circuit of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri in Uttarakhand – as well as the Sindhu Darshan Yatra in Ladakh. Yet, the BJP and Sangh Parivar have never questioned such widespread appeasement of Hindus in secular India.

The matter of gender justice

What is true with regard to a secular state’s subsidy for religious pilgrimages is equally true about the issue of gender justice. The same Modi government and the BJP who swear by their “Muslim sisters” appear to be least concerned over the plight of deserted Hindu wives who far outnumber the victims of triple talaq. Nor has the Modi government said a word about the repeated demand of the Congress party to reintroduce the lapsed Women’s Reservation Bill, 2008. Given the Congress’s support, the Bill is certain to sail through both houses of Parliament.

If Hindutva’s selective secularism is suspect, the Haj subsidy issue also highlights the tactical myopia of the self-proclaimed secular parties as well as that of the Muslim religio-political leadership. If state subsidies to religious observances of all faiths is a given in the Indian version of secularism, what has prevented governments run by secular parties from running sustained advertisement campaigns to highlight the fact that Hindus are being appeased no less than Muslims?

It is interesting to note that both religious leaders and political leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi have welcomed the scrapping of the Haj subsidy. This is not surprising for various reasons. One, this subsidy was never a demand of Muslims. Two, Haj is an obligation only for Muslims with means, and, three, the subsidy benefited national carrier Air India, not the pilgrims.

Considering that Muslims across the board in India were so clear on this, what prevented them from foiling the Sangh Parivar’s three-decade long anti-Muslim propaganda by proactively launching a nationwide movement to demand the scrapping of the Haj subsidy? Imagine what that might have done to the perception about Muslims in India.

Javed Anand is Convener, Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy and co-editor, Sabrang India.

This article was first published on Scroll.

Dalits Attacked On Daily Basis, But Government Remains Apathetic

January 24, 2018

Even as the ST and SC (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is not being properly implemented in NDA-ruled states, Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde compares Dalits with dogs.

Newsclick Image by Sumit

Even as attacks on Dalits have been rising across the country in recent times, police are becoming increasingly reluctant to take action against the offenders, who are mostly from upper castes. Instead, the victims are being booked on various charges.

The trend has become a common practice in NDA-ruled states. While the instigators of Bhima Koregaon violence are allegedly being shielded by political forces from arrest, social boycott of Dalits has become a regular practice for upper castes in Andhra Pradesh, despite everyday resistance struggles from oppressed sections. Meanwhile, Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hedge compares protesting Dalits with barking “dogs”.

Hindutva groups attacked Dalits who were on their way to participate in a commemoration event in Pune’s Bhima Koregaon on January 1, resulting in the death of one person and leaving several others injured.

While two people – Milind Ekbote and Sambhaji Bhide, founders of right-wing groups Hindu Ekta Aghadi and Shivraj Pratishthan Hindustan, respectively – were booked for instigating the aforesaid violence based on complaints from eye witnesses, both of them have not even been taken into custody by the Maharashtra police. It is likely their affiliation to the ruling BJP helped shield them from arrest, although the incident got nationwide coverage. Dalit organisations in different states have protested demanding the arrest of culprits responsible for the violence and also various parliamentarians have raised the issue in Rajya Sabha in the recently ended winter session.

It has been reported that Ekbote and Bhide along with others had desecrated the Samadhi of Dalit icon Govind Gaikwad in Wadhu village, near the Koregaon village, on 29 December, instigating violence between Dalits and Marathas which turned into a riot-like situation in the Pune district.

Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar questioned why the Maharashtra police failed to arrest the accused in Koregaon. “We have been demanding the arrest of Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote, but to no avail,” Ambedkar said on 22 January at a press conference.

Meanwhile, on 23 January, a Pune court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Milind Ekbote in this matter.

Dalits attacked in Pedda Gottipadu village, Andhra Pradesh
Since the past three weeks, Left parties and Dalit organisations have been demanding the arrest of some upper caste men who have attacked six Dalits at Pedda Gottipadu village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh on the new year’s eve. As per sources, two persons among the victims were severely injured in the attack, and are still under medical assistance in the Guntur government hospital.

Instead of booking the accused persons under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Andhra Pradesh police have reportedly taken the route of compromise between the two castes. Since the incident, Dalit youths who have been working under the upper castes have claimed that they are being boycotted from their regular work, as per sources. Raising these issues, CPI(M) and CPI parties in the state have called for a rally, “Chalo Pedda Gottipadu”, on 24 January, to demand justice for the victims.

In Karnataka’s Bellary, a group of Dalit protesters blocked Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Ananth Kumar Hegde’s convoy in protest against his controversial statements on the Indian Constitution, in a meeting which he had attended on the same day on January 20. Regarding this protest, Hegde reportedly said, “We are stubborn people. When dogs bark on the road, we don’t care.” His comments attracted a wide range of criticism from opposition parties and Dalit organisations.

Dalit leader Jinesh Mevani demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi drop Hegde from his council of ministers for the insulting statements about Dalit communities.

In a press statement, Mevani said, “The minister has insulted the Dalit activists who were staging a protest for his statements… this shows the Brahminical and evil mindset of the Sangh Parivar and its functionaries from top to bottom which has no place for Dalits.”

The above mentioned incidents are only a few among the oppressive incidents Dalits face in this country on a daily basis. Even though it is obvious that the hate crimes against Dalit communities have increased since the BJP came to power in 2014, there hasn’t been any steps taken by the political leaders ruling the country.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

Palestinian legislators are ‘dragged out’ of Knesset as Pence promises embassy will move in 2019

January 23, 2018

As Vice President Mike Pence began his speech to the Israeli Knesset this morning, Palestinian lawmakers protested the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, waving posters that said, “Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.” They were forcibly removed from the chamber– reportedly all 13 members of the Joint List– as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood to cheer their removal.

Mike Pence and Benjamin Netanyahu, on an earlier occasion.

Head of the Joint List Aymen Odeh said on social media the action was a “legitimate protest, against the Trump-Netanyahu regime’s exaltation of racism and hatred, who speak of peace solely as lip service.”

Israel

The astonishing moment caused Andrea Mitchell, NBC diplomatic correspondent, to remark on the discrimination of Israeli democracy: “Can you imagine Capitol Police dragging members of the congressional black caucus off the House floor?”

Pence went on to speak to an all-Jewish legislature and vowed that the Trump administration will move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by the end of 2019. The move is not a blow to peace, Pence said. “We have chosen fact over fiction, and fact is the only basis of a lasting peace,” he said. The decision does not affect “final status issues” in peace negotiations, or affect the ultimate boundaries of the capital, not does it preclude the creation of a Palestinian state, Pence said; and he called on Palestinians to return to the bargaining table.

“If both sides agree, the United States will support a two state solution,” Pence said. Netanyahu did not applaud this statement, though he continually applauded other statements by the vice president.

Palestinians hold posters bearing portraits of US Vice President Mike Pence during a protest at the Manger Square in the town of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, on January 21, 2018. (Photo by Wisam Hashlamoun/ APA Images)

In a religiously-themed speech aligning the United States closely with the Zionist project of bringing Jews to a national home in Israel, Pence drew standing ovations for his fiery comments about Iran. He seemed to threaten regime change when he offered a message from the American people to the “people of Iran: we are your friends, and the day is coming when you will free from the evil regime that suffocates your dreams and buries your hopes.”

He also said that the Iran nuclear deal is a “disaster” that has allowed Iran to continue to develop nuclear weapons. The U.S. will no longer certify that deal and will soon act to resume sanctions on Iran, unless the deal is “fixed.”

Coupled with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s refusal to meet with Pence, and Abbas’s speech to a friendly European Union gathering in Brussels today, Pence’s speech marks a new moment in U.S. middle east policy in which it is openly aligned with Israel in defiance of world opinion. While Pence referenced earlier meetings on his trip with “great” U.S. allies King Abdullah in Jordan and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Egypt, King Abdullah told him that Jerusalem must also be the Palestinian capital, and Palestinian leaders do not regard the U.S. as an honest broker for negotiations, ending a 25-year period of peace processing in which they have accepted the U.S. role, even if those negotiations have done nothing to end the occupation or deliver a Palestinian state.

Those goals seemed more distant than ever. Pence made no reference to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, let alone to the occupation. He referenced the bible and said American presidents going back to Washington and Lincoln had supported Zionist aspirations of Jewish return to Jerusalem. He was applauded by U.S. ambassador David Friedman, who is himself a settler advocate.

For his part Netanyahu gave a speech in which he called Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “one of the most momentous decisions in the history of Zionism.”

Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and negotiator, condemned the tone and substance of Pence’s appearance in comments distributed by the Institute for Middle East Understanding:

“Pence is a dangerous religious fanatic who supports Israel unconditionally because of his Christian Zionist ideology. His visit to Israel is effectively a victory lap for promoting international disorder and religious extremism. Moreover, his scheduled visit to holy sites in occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem is a major provocation, particularly so soon after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“In the wake of Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as part of Israel, in violation of international law and seven decades of official US policy, and after Israel killed more than 16 Palestinians in protests that ensued, Pence is sending Israel the message that it will be rewarded for its decades of illegal behavior.”

In Haaretz, Sam Bahour writes that Pence has confirmed that the U.S. is out of the peace process.

He … repeated, mantra-like, the claim that the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was justified as “fact”. The word “Palestinian” was barely mentioned, and “Palestine” – not at all.
Pence also said the U.S. would support a two-state solution, but only if both sides support it – echoing Trump’s comments at his Jerusalem announcement. The meaning? The U.S. is abandoning the two-state solution. A sovereign Palestinian state is no longer a necessary and critical aim of U.S. foreign policy.
Donald Trump, it appears, will do nothing to stop or rebuke Israel’s accelerated settlement building…

Courtesy: http://mondoweiss.net

Educating Girls Can Reduce India’s Population Spiral

January 23, 2018

If a girl in India studies for 12 years or more–till the age of 18–she is less likely to have teenage pregnancy, less likely to have shorter interval between children and less likely to have more than two children during her lifetime, according to the latest national health data.

A woman with 12 years or more of education has her first child at the median age of 24.7, which is 3.7 years more than the median age of first pregnancy (21) for women between 25-49 years, according to the National Family Health Survey, 2015-16 (NFHS-4) report.

A woman with no schooling has her first child at 20.

Almost one-third or 33.6% of India’s population is born of adolescent pregnancies; delaying the onset of child bearing could reduce India’s projected 2050 population of 1.7 billion by more than a quarter, IndiaSpend reported on January 12, 2018.

If a woman studies for 12 years or more, she has an average of 2.01 children, compared to 2.2 for all women and 3.82 for women with no education, based on the mean number of children born to women aged 45-49–a period that marks the end of a woman’s fertility.

“Postponing first births and extending the interval between births have played a role in reducing fertility in many countries,” said the NFHS-4 report.

The total fertility rate for women–the number of children she will have in a lifetime–between 15-49 years is even lower at 1.71 for women with more than 12 years of education compared with 3.06 to women with no education and 2.2 for all women.

“Education is the best contraceptive pill,” said Poonam Muttreja, executive director, Population Foundation of India, an advocacy working on family planning.

There is enough global evidence showing that educating women can reduce the fertility rate of countries, Muttreja said. “Now, national evidence also points that educating women can be a good population control strategy.”

Source: National Family Health Survey, 2015-16

Source: National Family Health Survey, 2015-16
*Mean number of children ever born to women aged 40-49

Only 4% of women with 12 years or more of education have teenage pregnancies compared with 8% for all women and 20% for women with no schooling.

Child bearing at a very young age is associated with increased risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth and higher rates of neonatal mortality.

Children born to educated mothers have higher chances of survival; under five mortality–deaths per 1,000 live births of children under five–of children whose mothers had no schooling was 67.5 while it was less than half (26.5) for children of mothers who had more than 12 years of schooling, IndiaSpend reported on January 16, 2018.

A woman with more than 12 years of education waits three years (35.7 months) to have another child, compared to 31.3 months for women with no schooling.

Birth intervals of less than 24 months can harm newborns and their mothers, causing preterm births, low birth weight and death.

Only 21.5% women aged 15-49 had studied for more than 12 years, compared to 29.6% of men.

In 2017, only one in five adolescents–14 to 18 years–had completed eight years of schooling and by 18, 32% females are not enrolled in schools against 28% males, according to the latest Annual Survey of Education Report, IndiaSpend reported on January 17, 2018.

(Yadavar is a principal correspondent with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

BJP’s Unscientific Ideologies Will Result in Slow Death of Scientific Temper in Education

January 23, 2018

What can be the future of India’s science and technological development when our government doesn’t want the country’s children to be able to think?

Interview with Prabir Purkayastha
Interviewed by Pranjal

Satyapal Singh, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, issued a statement claiming evolution never happened since no one saw an ape converting into a human. Such statements by our highest ranking ministers show the lack of rationality in BJP’s core ideologies. What can be the future of India’s science and technological development when our government doesn’t want the country’s children to be able to think?

PMO protecting Bhima-Koregaon violence accused: Prakash Ambedkar

January 23, 2018

New Delhi (IANS): Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar on Monday alleged that the PMO had given orders not to arrest Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide, booked on the charge of orchestrating violence during the celebrations of the Battle of Bhima-Koregaon this month.

He claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bhide had good relations.

“Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had assured on the arrest since an FIR had been registered. But when we inquired, we learnt the message had come from the Prime Minister’s Office not to arrest Bhide or take action against him,” Ambedkar told the media here.

“Modi had worn saffron turban during his first speech from the Red Fort on Bhide’s advice. Modi praised him in an event. This is the relation.”

He warned that in case there is no response from the government, his organisation will take the issue across the country.

The Dalit leader said Bhide had not even filed any application for interim bail since he was quite sure that the PMO was protecting him.

Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of the Indian Constitution’s chief architect Dr B.R. Ambedkar, demanded that Bhide and another pro-Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote be arrested immediately for the Bhima-Koregaon violence.

“Unscrutinised and loose” organisations in the Hindu fold had become a threat to society and the nation, said Prakash Ambedkar, chief of the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh.

He said such organisations had become a parallel to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its existence was virtually in danger. “They are basically challenging the existence of the RSS,” he said.

“These unscrutinised organisations are dictating terms and so the government is hesitant to take action against them,” Ambedkar said.

“They are declaring themselves above the law. That is what (Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder) Hafiz Saeed is doing in Pakistan: He has positioned himself in such a way that the Pakistan government cannot touch him even when international forces are asking for action. We will not like to have another Hafiz Saeed in India,” he said.

“The RSS had stated that relations with Bhide were severed seven years ago and with Ekbote some eight years ago,” he said.

Clashes broke out on January 1 in Bhima-Koregaon and surrounding areas in Maharashtra during celebrations of the Battle of Bhima-Koregaon, after some people carrying saffron flags pelted cars going towards the village with stones.

The violence spread to Mumbai and other parts of the state on January 2 and January 3, with protesters calling for a bandh across Maharashtra.

Courtesy: Two Circles

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Progressive Attitudes to Women’s Sexual Rights In Marriage Decline in India

“The citizens are facing the worst time in the hands of right wing”: Raosaheb Kasbe

Haj subsidy: Inaction of Muslim leaders allowed BJP to perpetuate bogey of minority appeasement

Hindutva’s selective secularism is suspect.

Sangh Parivar propaganda

The matter of gender justice

Dalits Attacked On Daily Basis, But Government Remains Apathetic

Even as the ST and SC (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is not being properly implemented in NDA-ruled states, Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde compares Dalits with dogs.

Palestinian legislators are ‘dragged out’ of Knesset as Pence promises embassy will move in 2019

Educating Girls Can Reduce India’s Population Spiral

BJP’s Unscientific Ideologies Will Result in Slow Death of Scientific Temper in Education

What can be the future of India’s science and technological development when our government doesn’t want the country’s children to be able to think?

PMO protecting Bhima-Koregaon violence accused: Prakash Ambedkar

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