Image Courtesy: PTI

However, this time around, some have raised doubts about whether the BJP will be able to repeat its 2014 performance. Gujarat is home to two of BJP’s top campaigners and major leaders–Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. Both have campaigned extensively in Gujarat. Shah, who is running for a seat in the Gandhinagar constituency, held roadshows in Ghatlodia, Kalol, Naranpura, Sabarmati, Sanand, Sarkhej, and Vejalpur, as well as four group meetings with residential societies, per the Ahmedabad Mirror, which noted that Modi spoke at rallies in Amreli, Anand, Himmatnagar, Junagadh, Patan, Songadh, and Surendranagar. A top BJP leader told the Ahmedabad Mirror, “We won all the 26 seats in 2014 LS polls. Then in 2017 Assembly polls we got only 99 seats, the lowest ever in more than two decades. Hence, two of our best faces – Modi and Shah – camped in Gujarat longer this time for maximum impact.” Indeed, an editorial in The Hindu in December 2017 noted of the Gujarat assembly election results, “Whatever the BJP leaders may say, the victory — by an extremely slim majority and well short of the 150-plus seats it aimed to win — is a setback.” 
 
Gandhinagar has been the constituency of BJP veteran LK Advani, and although Shah has been campaigning across the country, per ThePrint and NDTV, a backroom team has been conducting his campaign in Gujarat’s capital, even going so far as using life-sized cutouts of the BJP president. While some believe that the constituency will be an easy win for Shah, his opponent, the Congress’s CJ Chavda, who is a veterinarian and ex-bureaucrat, told ThePrint that the “battle isn’t tough at all. I do not think there is any challenge to winning.” 
 
Congress president Rahul Gandhi spoke at five public meetings across Gujarat, and one of the party’s most popular campaigners, Navjot Singh Sidhu, also campaigned there on the last day before campaigning had to be stopped, The Week reported, noting that although the BJP had said it would win all the Gujarat seats, “on Saturday, Congress leader Ahmed Patel exuded confidence that his party would win 10 to 15 seats.” The Week highlighted that BJP has relied on the central government’s accomplishments, the Balakot air strike, and “Modi’s emotional appeal,” while the Congress “has tried to exploit the anger among the farmers and small businessmen.” 
 
Per FirstPost, which cited the Pocketbook of Agricultural Statistics of 2017 that is published by the Union agriculture ministry, almost 43% of the 39.31 lakh agricultural households in Gujarat are in debt. Moreover, Adivasis, which comprise 8.6% of the state’s population have grown increasingly angry with the BJP government, Outlook India reported in March. Dr. Praful Vasava, a local tribal leader, told Outlook, “As per the law, the gram sabhas have to agree to give away land, but they were not asked either before the Narmada weir or the statue were built. In 72 villages, 75,000 tribals were affected: they neither received compensation nor land elsewhere. The promised jobs have also not come. It’s a fight for our jal-jameen-jangal (water, land and forests). The government probably feels we don’t matter. But our protest is going to impact the results.”
 
LiveMint has highlighted the divide between urban and rural Gujarat, noting that more than half of the 99 seats the BJP secured in the 2017 assembly election were in cities, and emphasising that the major causes for the BJP’s lacklustre performance that year, including unemployment, farm distress, and the negative impact of the GST and demonetisation, still persist. In fact, the Business Standard highlighted how both parties’ campaign events have been in rural areas, and away from Gujarat’s major urban centres. Gandhi’s public speeches were delivered in the primarily agricultural areas of Kutch-Saurashtra, in Bhavnagar and Rajula, as well as Navsari and Bhuj. 
 
Multiple rural farmers criticised the BJP government when speaking to LiveMint’s Darshan Desai, who is based in Ahmedabad. In the Jesar village in the Amreli constituency, Mansukhbhai, a farmer, said, “Please understand clearly. We want a government for the poor, for us farmers, not for a handful of people. I don’t want to hear about all this desh-bhakti (nationalism). We want an MP (member of Parliament) whom we will get to see and who will sort out our issues.” When asked about the Rs. 6,000 aid proposed for all farmers, Hardasbhai of the Kadegi village said, “They seem to be merely mocking our situation,” adding, “We will get a paltry amount of ₹2,000 first. It would have been better if this was not given. We have not received adequate support prices for our groundnut and cotton crops. The government should have looked into that”. 
 
Meanwhile, the drumbeats of nationalism seem to have reverberated in Gujarat’s urban areas. LiveMint pointed out that slogans at Amit Shah’s roadshows had little connection to his constituency, Gandhinagar, or even Gujarat; a commonly used one was ‘Kashmir hamara hai (Kashmir is ours)’. “Across urban Gujarat, large hoardings of Narendra Modi’s face with the accompanying slogan ‘Attacked terrorists inside enemy’s homes’ dot the landscape,” LiveMint reported, adding, “Several cities have witnessed special screenings of Uri: The Surgical Strike”. Arjun Modhwadia, a senior Congress leader in the state, told LiveMint, “In the state’s rural regions, people are not interested in the nationalist rhetoric…We don’t see anything less than ten seats… all drawn from rural and Adivasi dominated regions”. 
 
While agricultural distress, and an underwhelming performance by the state administration came in power after Modi has upped Congress’s advantage, it too has suffered some setbacks. In 2017, as the Times of India noted, the party made gains in North Gujarat–which has a significant population of Dalits, members of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), and the Patidar community–because of Alpesh Thakore, Hardik Patel, and Jignesh Mevani, two of whom were elected to assembly seats. However, Thakore quit the Congress just earlier this month, and Mevani, a Dalit leader, has aspirations for national role, the Times of India noted. Meanwhile, the Gujarat High Court denied Patel’s plea for a stay on his conviction in a 2015 rioting case. However, Patel, who officially joined the Congress in March 2019, is still a major campaigner for the party; per The Week, he addressed more than 50 rallies in the state. 
 
Per The Telegraph, the Lok Sabha election has generated little interest in Gujarat. A paan seller, Panditji, in Navrangpura in the Ahmedabad West constituency said, “Maahaul bilkul thanda hai (the election is absolutely dull)”. Moreover, The Telegraph noted that “crowds had to be ‘managed'” for Modi’s rallies in the states. “No one ran out of their shops and homes when his chopper landed. People had to be brought to the rally,” went an oft-repeated phrase following the Prime Minister’s rally in Surendranagar, Saurashtra, which has been dealing with drought. 
 
Analysis from the Economic Times indicates that the race is a narrow one in Gujarat, with the BJP keeping hold of major urban constituencies, but the Congress also appearing as a strong contender in Sabarkantha, Patan, and Banaskantha in northern Gujarat, and its candidate Bharatsinh Solanki “in a strong position in Anand”. The Economic Times noted that, in 2015 and 2016, Mahesana was the epicentre of protests seeking quotas for the Patidars, who “were strong BJP supporters” ahead of the demonstrations, but “may be splitting their votes” this time. The votes of the Thakore community could also be divided in north Gujarat, per the Economic Times, which also noted that while the tribal vote in the state is also typically divided, a majority of voters in the Dangs, Chhota Udaipur, and Panch Mahal areas have complained of water scarcity. 
 
While the BJP has had a strong hold on Gujarat for years, it must be noted that in 2009, the Congress won 12 of the 26 parliamentary constituencies, repeating its performance from 2004, the year that the NDA government’s major ‘India Shining’ campaign failed to draw votes, and resulted in the formation of the UPA government. With the current race seeming to be a delicate balance, it remains to be seen whether Modi’s party will retain power in his home state. It seems, however, that Prime Minister has high expectations of Gujarat voters. Speaking in Patan on Sunday, April 21, he reportedly said, “The duty of the people of my home state to take care of the ‘son of soil’ and give all 26 seats in Gujarat to me,” per NDTV. 
 
Kachchh has been a BJP stronghold since 1996, according to FirstPost, which said that although the Kachchh district has a majority of Hindus, it is also home to almost 4.42 lakh Muslims, and nearly 2.59 lakh people who belong to Scheduled Castes. 
 
Banaskantha is noted for its mineral reserves, including granite, limestone, and marble, per FirstPost. The constituency also regularly gets funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme.
 
Mahesana has a majority Hindu population, 92.6%, with 6.7% Muslims, FirstPost noted, adding that the Patidar community has a strong presence, and there are 3.5 lakh people from the Thakur community. “OBCs and Dalits also have a sizeable presence but it is the Patidars who play a crucial role in deciding who wins from the constituency,” FirstPost said. 
 
Gandhinagar is a key constituency, with BJP president Amit Shah contesting from it. The majority of its population is Hindu–94.81%. 
 
Surendranagar in Saurashtra has a majority of Hindus, but also has a significant Koli population, FIrstPost noted, adding that it supplies almost 25% of the country’s salt, and is also a textile centre. 
 
In Rajkot, three communities have been key in influencing political outcomes, according to FirstPost; these include the Koli community and two sub-castes in the Patel community: the Kadva and Leuva groups. 
 
Anand encompasses the entire Anand district, which is home to nearly 21 lakh people, per FirstPost. The majority of the population, 85.95%, is Hindu. It is known for being home to Amul, and the centre of the milk revolution. In fact, dairy farming has become a major election issue, per ThePrint, with farmers complaining of drought, low prices, and no support from the government.
 
In 2014, current Prime Minister Narendra Modi contested from the Vadodara constituency, and won with a sizeable margin. The constituency covers parts of the Vadodara district, which is home to more than 41 lakh people, primarily Hindus. However, per the 2011 census, there are more than 3.85 lakh Muslims in the area, FirstPost reported.
 
The Chhota Udaipur constituency includes parts of the Narmada, Panchmahal and Vadodra district, and the latter has a large population people belonging to Scheduled Tribes–11.49 lakh people, per FirstPost.
 
The Surat constituency includes parts of the Surat district and is home to around 60.81 lakh people, per the 2011 census. It is a hub for diamond manufacturing, and has been the constituency of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai of the Janata Party.

The post In Gujarat, an urban-rural divide, as nationalism is pitted against development appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Tension mounted in Kerala on Wednesday, October 17, before the Sabarimala temple open its doors to women of all ages for the first time since the Supreme Court, on September 28, ruled that these women should be permitted to enter the temple. Police deployment was upped in the area, with police saying that 500 officers, including 100 women, were posted, Reuters reported. However, in spite of the Supreme Court’s verdict, LiveMint reported that several thousand protestors descended upon Nilakkal and Pamba, the temple’s two base camps within the 24 hours leading up to temple opening its doors. 

Inspector General of Police Manoj Abraham told Reuters, “Nobody will be allowed to prevent anybody. We will do everything possible to implement the law of the land,” adding, “None will be allowed to take law into their hands.” However, there were reports of women being barred entry. Madhavi, 40, of Andhra Pradesh, came with her family and was accompanied by the police until they reached near the shrine, NDTV reported, saying that the family claimed that the police then stopped, and asked them to go ahead on their own. The family had to eventually turn back, after being chased by protestors raising slogans. In another incident, The News Minute reported on Libi CS, a journalist and editor for a news website named Newsgil, was surrounded a crowd at the Pathanamthitta bus stand. Police surrounded her to protect her from the protestors, and The News Minute reported that the “confrontation appeared to be on the brink of violence, as several of the angry protesters pushed against the protective ring and attempted to take swipes at her or push her. But the police effectively kept them away from Libi, and the protective ring of officers escorted her to a police van, which drove away from the bus stand, presumably to Pamba.”

Women journalists attempting to cover the event were also targeted. The News Minute reported that its own reporter, Saritha S. Balan, “was on the bus to cover the Sabarimala protests, when it was ‘inspected’ by Karma Samithi. Saritha was intimidated by the mob and violently physically attacked and verbally abused.” Saritha said, “I have no intention of entering the temple, I am only here to cover the protests. This should have been clear from my attire — I’m wearing jeans and a kurta. Then how can they claim I was trying to enter the temple in the guise of a devotee?” adding, “If they did not want reporters to cover the protest, why did the BJP invite the media for coverage?” ANI reported that India Today journalist Mausumi Singh and her crew were attacked at Nilakkal. India Today subsequently reported that the National Commission on Women (NCW) had taken cognisance of the attack on Singh. Pooja Prasanna of Republic TV was also targeted; Republic TV tweeted, “Mob of 100 smash car, attack Republic TV’s South India bureau chief Pooja Prasanna”. “The mob of anti-women Sabarimala protesters had snatched batons from the police and attacked the television crew,” NDTV reported, saying that its own reporter Sneha Mary Koshy and cameraperson SP Babu were heckled and told to leave, and that their camera was snatched. NDTV said that CNN-News18 and Aaj Tak personnel were also targeted. The situation escalated, with protesters turning violent, prompting lathi-charge by the police, News18 reported. India Today reported on Wednesday evening that Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed in certain areas around Sabarimala, with the temple remaining open until 10.30pm. 

Scroll reported that on Tuesday, in spite of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan saying that the government would not permit vehicles being checked for women heading to Sabarimala, “vehicle checking continued unabated.” Scroll reported that police officials on duty on Tuesday did nothing to bar groups of people from “flagging down cars and buses to check if they had any women passengers.” Nilakkal resident Satyabhama who was among those who checked a bus travelling to Pamba told Scroll correspondent TA Ameerudheen “that she would sacrifice her life to protect the sanctity of Sabarimala. ‘Lord Ayyappa would become angry if menstruating women entered the Sannidhanam [temple],’ she said. ‘As the natives of Nilakkal we will stop anyone who tries to break the custom and traditions.'” On Tuesday, Ratnamma, 60, an Adivasi woman working at the Nilakkal Estate of the Travancore Devaswom Board attempted suicide, The New Indian Express reported, saying that a police officer’s intervention saved her life. 

On September 28, the five-judge Constitution Bench of India’s top court, headed by now former Chief Justice Dipak Misra, ruled that women of all ages could enter the Sabarimala temple. Misra said, “Patriarchal rules have to change. Patriarchy in religion cannot be allowed to trump right to pray and practise religion“. Justice Indu Malhotra wrote a dissenting opinion in the case, saying, “Issues of deep religious sentiments should not be ordinarily be interfered by the court. The Sabarimala shrine and the deity is protected by Article 25 of the Constitution of India and the religious practices cannot be solely tested on the basis of Article 14.” 

The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has issued a statement saying that it “strongly condemns the efforts of BJP-RSS backed right wing groups to create a communal frenzy against the implementation of the orders of the Honourable Supreme Court in the Sabarimala Case,” noting that “Some RSS-BJP leaders have even threatened to molest and “cut into two” the women who will enter the Sabarimala temple to worship the deity.” The organisation said it “stands strongly against the political parties like the BJP and the Congress and reactionary forces like the RSS that are trying to subvert the progressive Sabarimala judgment,” and called for the arrest “of all BJP-RSS leaders and supporters who are issuing open threats to women and women activists and trying to disturb the atmosphere of peace and harmony that has been fostered by the Left movement.”

The post Chaos in Kerala as Sabarimala Temple opens its Doors to Women of all Ages appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On Wednesday, July 18, 2018, the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Maneka Gandhi, the Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development (WCD), tabled a Bill aimed at curbing human trafficking in India. The Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018 was first approved by the Union Cabinet in February 2018, and was drafted by the WCD Ministry. 
 

A brief overview of the Bill

The draft anti-trafficking Bill separates offences into the categories of “trafficking” and “aggravated trafficking,” the Times of India has reported, with “trafficking” offences carrying a punishment of 7-10 years’ imprisonment. According to a release from the Press Information Bureau the Bill approaches trafficking with the aim of prevention, rescue, and rehabilitation. It addresses “aggravated forms of trafficking, which includes trafficking for the purpose of forced labour, begging, trafficking by administering chemical substance or hormones on a person for the purpose of early sexual maturity, trafficking of a woman or child for the purpose of marriage or under the pretext of marriage or after marriage etc.”

The Bill includes features such as the confidentiality of victims, witnesses and complainants, time-bound trials, and the immediate protection and repatriation of victims. It also calls for designated courts in every district to try the cases, along with the creation of a Rehabilitation Fund that will be “used for the physical, psychological and social well-being of the victim including education, skill development, health care/psychological support, legal aid, safe accommodation etc.” Under the Bill, punishment ranges from ten years’ to life imprisonment, and a fine of not less than Rs. 1 lakh. The Bill also seeks to punish those promoting or facilitating trafficking.

The tabling of the anti-trafficking Bill comes soon after the US State Department, in its annual Trafficking of in Persons Report, said “Government of India does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.”
 

Arguments against the Bill

Several groups have raised objections about the Trafficking of Persons (Prevention, Protection and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2018.

Congress leader Dr. Shashi Tharoor, in a letter dated April 17, 2018, wrote to Maneka Gandhi, noting that there are multiple existing legislations addressing human trafficking. He noted that a comprehensive law would be one that “harmonizes all the laws related to that specific topic,” but said that the proposed draft anti-trafficking Bill “fails to do so, and instead creates more confusion among law enforcement agencies by adding to the existing range of laws.”
 

How the Bill could affect sex workers

Tharoor has also met with Gandhi, Live Law reported. He was accompanied by Anjali Gopalan, Director of the Naz Foundation, which works on sexual health and HIV/AIDS, Meena Seshu, the General Secretary of SANGRAM, which has worked with sex workers and on HIV/AIDS, as well as Aarthi Pai of the National Network of Sex Workers (NNSW). At the meeting he presented a collection of comments on the draft anti-trafficking Bill from 30 civil society groups, more than 240 lawyers and activists, and endorsed by more than 4,000 sex workers.

The comments note that while trafficking needs “strict measures to combat unscrupulous persons who exploit the vulnerability of workers,” but say that “all measures to deal with trafficking focus on the victims rather than the perpetrators of the crime.” The recently tabled Bill, the comments say, “criminalizes vulnerable individuals in the absence of comprehensive policies, programmes and measures that address the factors that make persons vulnerable to trafficking,” later adding that it is “focused solely on a surveillance mechanism that could be misused to target adults whose work is deemed immoral by the state. The Bill does not adopt measures to encourage victims to approach law enforcement when violated.” It notes that “The harmful impact of assuming all forced workers as trafficked victims will result in the ‘forced rescue’ of adults earning a livelihood and incarcerated in ‘Sudhar gruhas’ be they domestic workers, bonded labourers, beggars, sex workers or surrogate mothers.”

Particularly for sex workers, which the comments term “one of the most vulnerable sections,” they say that the Bill considers trafficking victims to be “on par with adult persons in sex work.” The comments state, “Trafficking of persons into forced or coerced labour (including sexual exploitation) should not be equated with sex work undertaken by consenting adults,” adding, “This conflation could lead to misuse and over-broad application of the provisions in this Bill.”

The NNSW itself has written to Gandhi, calling on her to “explicitly recognise the agency of adult women, men and trans people and remove adult consenting sex workers and their clients from the ambit of this proposed legislation” in adherence with the Justice Verma Commission, which drafted Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code, and defined trafficking as: “The members of the Committee wish to clarify that the thrust of their intention behind recommending the amendment to Section 370 was to protect women and children from being trafficked. The Committee has not intended to bring within the ambit of the amended Section 370 sex workers who practice of their own volition. It is also clarified that the recast Section 370 ought not be interpreted to permit law – enforcement agencies to harass sex workers who undertake activities of their own free will, and their clients.”

Dr. Smarajit Jana, who has served on a Supreme Court-appointed panel on the rehabilitation of sex workers, told News18 that the law would also negatively affect those with HIV, and that it could imperil HIV prevention and intervention.
 

How the Bill could affect the LGBTQ community

Activists have noted that the Bill could also put the LGBTQ community under threat. As Shyamala Nataraj, founder and executive director of South India AIDS Action Program (SIAAP) told the Times of India, “The Bill has 131 pages, 59 sections and 15 chapters and has no explicit definition of trafficking. If passed, it could be applied all forms of informal labour, migrants, sex workers, LGBTQ communities, beggars, surrogate mothers and the use of internet and e-applications such as Tinder and Grindr”. LGBTQ rights activist Vikramaditya Sahai noted that “When a law prescribes life imprisonment for trafficking leading to AIDS or begging or injecting of hormones, it will ultimately lead to criminalisation of trans-identities,” The Hindu reported.

The Bill criminalises giving someone chemicals or hormones to accelerate their sexual maturity, News18 reported, potentially imperilling the transgender community. Nisha Gulur, a transwoman who heads the NNSW’s Executive Committee, told News18, “I was born a man and wanted to become a woman. I left my hometown to find others from my community and could help me change. My trans sisters helped me procure hormone therapy so that I could finally achieve my identity. What is wrong with that?” News18 noted that the Bill does not indicate such situations as exceptions; if it becomes law, those who helped Gulur could be considered accomplices to trafficking.

News18 stated that transgender activists have also criticised the Bill’s provision to send a trafficking victim back to their hometown, potentially endangering them further. As Nisha Gulur, a transwoman and transgender activist who heads the NNSW’s Executive Committee explained to News18, “I ran from home because of gender based violence. I joined the sex trade because of the lack of acceptance for transpersons in professional fields. I am a dignified person who has a job. But now this Bill makes me a ‘victim’ and sends me back to my hometown after allegedly ‘rehabilitating’ me from my chosen profession.”

The Work in Freedom programme of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Decent Work Technical Support Team (DWT) for South Asia and Country Office for India, along with Dr. Prabha Kotiswaran of King’s College London, recently held a consultative workshop on “re-imagining anti-trafficking legislation” in light of this latest Bill. One of the observations from transgender rights activists was that while the Bill criminalises trafficking for begging, it does not decriminalise begging itself, thereby criminalising one of the main sources of income for transgender people. It was also observed that the Bill could imperil transgender people’s alternate family arrangements and support systems, and could lead to their impoverishment due to its provision for asset seizures.
 

How the Bill could affect labourers

One of the observations from trade union leaders attending the ILO consultative workshop was that the Bill lacks a definition of forced labour or migrant work, nor does it discuss the fate of a worker’s wages if they are in forced labour. Moreover, the Bill only addresses individual liability, but not corporate liability for trafficking and forced labour. They also highlighted that the Bill places employment-related issues under the purview of criminal law, “which is not adequately equipped to deal with issues of economic denial, discrimination in employment and protection of workers’ rights.”

Bonded labourers’ groups in attendance observed that the Bill seeks to address solely the economic reasons for trafficking, instead of social reasons, “such as the caste system, which is responsible for the bonded labour system.” It was also observed that the Bill “goes against the spirit of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act” because it “focuses on raid, rescue and rehabilitation rather than economic rehabilitation,” and that it does not “provide for opportunities enabling businesses and employers to address decent work deficits and forced labour. If implemented, the Bill could lead to the closure of businesses and loss of employment.”

Migrants’ rights groups in attendance at the workshop observed that the Bill neglected years of international advocacy regarding the anti-trafficking movement and its impact on migrants and sex workers. They observed that the “wording of this Bill would impact several waves of workers migrating from the different parts of India for work, by putting them under the criminal justice system, including migration of skilled workers,” and that it neglects to mention safe migration or the rights of migrants. Noting that India receives the most remittances in the world, they said that it needs to “adopt a more worker-friendly approach in negotiations on the Global Compact on Migration.”
 

How the Bill could affect children

The HAQ Centre for Child Rights, a partner of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), has released collated comments on the proposed draft anti-trafficking Bill, emphasising that they “strongly believe that the concentration must be on better enactment and implementation rather than creation of new laws, especially Special Laws.” HAQ has highlighted that the Bill does not contain provisions clarifying if it will replace the existing Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, noting that Section 59 of the Bill “states that it is in addition to existing laws dealing with trafficking and will have an overriding effect in case of any inconsistency with provisions of the other existing laws.” HAQ has questioned if the investigative and justice mechanisms under the ITPA will work alongside those under the new Bill, saying that this has not been mentioned, “only allowing victims to be shunned from one authority to another“.

Moreover, HAQ has also stressed that while the Bill references the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, “children are also trafficked for labour, noting that this is recognised by IPC Section 370, as well as for marriage. Given this, HAQ has also question how the proposed Bill, if passed, “will intersect with the other relevant laws for children such as the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act…and Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act”. Moreover, HAQ has noted that it is also unclear how the bill would intersect with Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) in cases where a child has been sexually exploited. HAQ has also stated that the “proposed Bill does not cover all forms of trafficking of children,” explaining that “many recognised and well documented forms of child trafficking such as trafficking for and through adoption, or trafficking of children by placement agencies for domestic servitude find no mention in the Bill.”

HAQ has questioned the wisdom in creating new bodies, with the Bill providing for the establishment of anti-trafficking units at the state and district levels, which HAQ has said “will only lead to multiplicity of authorities as there are already the State and District Child Protection Units that are in place, along with the Child Welfare Committees that have been mentioned in the Bill.” HAQ has questioned the units’ purpose, saying that “they will become yet another set of institutions that will intervene into the lives of victim children, leading to further victimisation and confusion.” Moreover, HAQ has noted the likelihood, given the “multiplicity of institutions and authorities” that “the child victim of trafficking will fall between the cracks and be denied justice and rehabilitation.”

HAQ has also specifically taken note of several specific sections of the proposed Bill and outlined the issues with these, and has suggested potential amendments to address these concerns.
 

A criminal law solution for a social problem

As The Wire noted in March 2018, the proposed anti-trafficking Bill “falls into the familiar trap of trying to use criminal law to solve a social problem,” and explained that it “relies on the raid, rescue and rehabilitation model,” which in its current form is nothing but victim detention”. It termed the Bill “vague and too broad,” since it “casts a wide net on who can be charged with the offence of trafficking.” For instance, “a bus driver whose vehicle is being used for trafficking without his knowledge can also be booked for aiding the process,” The Wire explained. It also noted that the Bill has human rights implications, contradicting human rights norms regarding proof to establish guilt. “If this Bill were to be passed into law, the burden of proof will rest with the offender to establish his/her innocence. These sorts of aggravated measures are unprecedented and rarely applied other than in counter-terrorism policies,” it stated. Moreover, the Bill’s “wide ambit and…vague clauses,” along with the stringent punishment, “it is bound to disproportionately affect those who are already vulnerable and marginalised,” including women, The Wire opined.

However, some trafficking survivors are pushing for the Bill to be passed. Reuters reported that a 23-year-old, who was trafficked when she was a teenager, said in a statement from Uthaan, a survivors’ organisation, that “Our lives depend on this and we cannot be held hostage to demands of adult sex workers, who choose to work”. Anti-trafficking activist Sunita Krishnan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that consensual sex workers’ “apprehension is about livelihoods (of adult sex workers) being hit. If they are running a brothel and have trafficking victims, it will be hit. But if not, why will it hurt them?”

A group of activists that includes lawyers, transgender rights activists, lawyers, as well as child rights and labour rights groups have called for the Bill to be presented to a parliamentary standing committee, The Wire reported.
 

Related:

Draft Anti-Trafficking Bill
March against Bride Trafficking
No easy answers to ending Forced Labour in India
 

The post Controversial Anti-Trafficking Bill tabled in Parliament appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Today is the 25th anniversary of World Press Freedom Day, which was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1993 on the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference. It is therefore a solemn day for Indian journalists given how the Press Freedom is being curtailed in the country, by both, state and non state actors. Here’s a look at the struggle to establish and honour Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression across the world as well as how India is still struggling on this vital front.

The Windhoek Declaration

Since then, May 3, which is the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, has been commemorated as World Press Freedom Day. The Windhoek Declaration was compiled by African journalists in 1991. It was introduced at a UNESCO seminar for ‘Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press’ that was held in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia from April 29 to May 3, 1991. 

The Windhoek Declaration prompted similar moves, DW Akademie reported: in 1992, a UNESCO media conference in Kazakhstan adopted the Declaration of Alma Atma, which proclaimed complete support for the Windhoek Declaration. A similar move came with 1994’s Declaration of Santiago, and in 1996, the Declaration of Sana’a highlighted the priority of creating completely independent journalists’ associations, trade unions or syndicates, as well as publishers’ and editors’ associations. In 1997, too, the Declaration of Sofia called on “all parties concerned that the principles enshrined in this (Windhoek) Declaration be applied in practice.”

Click here to read the full articles
 

The post India cuts a Sorry Figure on World Press Freedom Day appeared first on SabrangIndia.