With India at the forefront of a ‘demographic dividend’, it is essential for the country to capitalise on the advantage of a young workforce through developing a skilled manpower base. While the corporate sector had always recognized the need for skill development and invested in skilled manpower for their own operations, the introduction of Section 135 of Companies Act, 2013 gave a fillip to their efforts through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Under the ambit of CSR, skilling and livelihood development have appeared to garner considerable interest among companies.

India is currently facing a huge socio-demographic challenge given that majority of its population is in the working age with limited or no skills. As per the Labour Bureau Report 2014, the size of the skilled workforce in India is only 2%, which is extremely low when compared to countries such as China (47%), Japan (80%) and South Korea (96%). It is estimated that by around 2025, 25% of the world’s total workforce will be in India.

It has also been forecasted that the average age of India’s population would be 29 in 2021 as compared to China’s average age of 37, thus giving India a unique advantage of having one of the world’s youngest populations. However, a large young population alone does not guarantee India an advantage. The country needs to ensure that its young workforce is equipped with the skills and knowledge required in a workplace so it can reap the “demographic dividend”.

In order to understand the implementation process of skills and livelihood development programmes, a survey was conducted with approximately 155 non-government organisations (NGOs) involved in the skills and livelihood development space. Detailed interviews were also undertaken with a smaller subset to obtain a more nuanced understanding of the processes.

Overall corporate participation in skills and livelihood development is very high

Ninety out of the top 100 companies reported at least one programme in skills and livelihood development over the last three years. Most industries, apart from media and entertainment and financial services, reported a strong participation of over 75% in skills and livelihood programmes. Public sector undertakings (PSUs) showed a slightly higher involvement in skills and livelihood programmes (96%) than private sector companies (88%).

The high level of participation is not surprising as most companies are well-aware of the desirability of investing in human capital to build and run viable and successful businesses from their own experience. The government’s call to action through the “Skill India”, “Make in India” and “Digital India” campaigns could also have contributed to the high level of interest among companies.

Budget distribution

Budget calculations are based on data reported by 90 companies. Data shows that the amount allocated towards skills and livelihood development programmes accounted for around 12.7% of a company’s total CSR budget on average. Only six companies spent over 50% of their CSR budget in this sector. This reflects the general finding that most companies supported 4-5 causes on average.

The median CSR budget allocated to skills and livelihood development was Rs 3.92 crore with a median spend of 92% in 2015-2016. The budgets varied widely among companies as shown in the table below. Twenty-six companies (29%) reported a budget below Rs 1 crore, 37 companies (41%) had budgets between Rs 1 to 10 crore and 24 companies (27%) between Rs 10 to 50 crore. Three companies (3%), belonging to the IT and banking sectors had budgets above 50 crore, the highest amount being Rs 9,519 crore.

The CSR contribution to skills and livelihood development for the year 2015-16 was slightly more than one-third of the government’s budget towards key skills and livelihood schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), National Skill Development Agency (NSDA), National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) – the total CSR contribution amounting to Rs 944 crore, as compared to the government’s budget of Rs 2,618 crore.

CSR programmes are plugging sectoral skill gaps

Out of the 90 companies undertaking vocational trades, seven companies have not published any information on the type of trades supported by them. Hence, the valid total for analysis in this sector is based on information given by 83 companies. The data on types of trade supported indicates that almost all companies supported multiple trades. Based on the quantitative mapping, the top five sectors supported through CSR programmes were agriculture (52%), textiles (mainly sewing) (49%), building, construction and real estate (47%), auto and auto components (37%) and IT and ITES (30%).

While agriculture may not face a shortage of labour, it definitely requires skill enhancement in order to raise productivity — almost all companies (95%) supporting agriculture focused on improving productivity by enhancing the knowledge and skills of the farmers by emphasising on improved practices such as multi-cropping, sowing, irrigation, pest management, poultry and cattle training, among others. However, only 5% (two companies) facilitated market linkages. Enhanced productivity may not lead to income increases for farmers, if market linkages, especially those that reduce the role of middlemen, are not well established.

A few companies recognised the fact that it is not possible to look at agriculture in isolation—water scarcity is a key problem in many parts of India. Thus, their agricultural livelihood programmes were part of larger integrated community development programmes that included promoting better watershed development and management and storage practices; aiming to increase the resilience and productivity of farmers. The predominance of sewing programmes could indicate a worrying trend where certain trades are stereotyped for certain target groups (sewing for women, in this case), with little cognizance of the actual market requirement or value to the trainee’s life.

Strategic orientation is slowly gaining traction in CSR interventions

With 28% of companies (24 out of 83) aligning their CSR in skills and livelihood development to their business in one of the three ways mentioned below, data indicates that while some companies are beginning to think strategically, many others still do not subscribe to this approach. A strategic orientation could be articulated in three ways:
 

• Aligning programmes to business objectives
• Aligning programmes to a company’s core product or service or expertise
• Aligning programmes to the needs of key stakeholders

Companies that aligned their programmes to their company’s core product, stakeholder or business objective believed that it helped to bring a higher level of rigour and expertise within the skilling ecosystem and also encouraged sustainability as the company saw these interventions as central to its business, and not just as philanthropy. Many companies reported following a dual approach—while the flagship programme was aligned to their expertise and synonymous with their brand, they also undertook more localised programmes in skills in the vicinity of their factories or plants to respond to the community’s needs.

Companies move towards rural areas for imparting skills and livelihood training

Only 57 companies clearly reported the type of geography of their programmes, with six companies mentioning pan-India as the focus areas of their programmes. Thirty companies did not provide any information on this aspect. Available data points towards a mixed pattern, with 25 (44%) companies conducting programmes in only rural regions, 10 (18%) companies conducting programmes exclusively in urban areas and 16 companies (28%) in both rural and urban areas. The same pattern held true for most industries, except for the IT (50%: only urban, 25%: only rural, 25%: both) and Telecom sectors (100%: only urban), where the concentration of skilling programmes was in the urban areas.

Interviews indicated that many companies were actively moving to address the skills gap in rural areas as they believed that urban areas were saturated with programmes. However, a few respondents believed that skills development in India was a predominantly urban phenomenon with urban NGOs running urban operations; there were very few expert NGOs in rural areas.

State-wise distribution of CSR programmes in skills and livelihood development reveals imbalances

Only two companies out of 90 did not publicly disclose the location of their programmes. The “Human Resource Deficits and Surpluses across India” map shows the expected surpluses and deficits in semi-skilled and unskilled workforce per state by 2021/2022, calculated as demand for workers by industry minus supply of workers. Ideally, skilling programmes should focus on states with a surplus of semi-skilled and minimally skilled workers (such as the north-eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Telangana) as these workers would be either under-employed or unemployed, thereby creating a greater need for them to be absorbed in gainful occupation through skilling or upskilling.

However, these are states in which less than 20 companies run skill development programmes individually. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the most popular states for CSR programmes, even though their needs were not as critical. This analysis highlights two conclusions –

• Essentially, training programmes occur where the need from industry is felt more acutely. Companies also appear reluctant to invest in training in geographies where the challenge of ‘placement’ is higher.
• States in the north-east, and Jharkhand and Chattisgarh are economically backward, have suffered from political turmoil and unrest and/or geographical isolation and, hence, do not have industrial markets to absorb the labour, leading to a surplus.

Solutions to these are two-fold—increase demand by focusing on developing micro enterprises that can create employment opportunities and simultaneously reduce the supply by undertaking “informed and safe” migration to states with employment opportunities.

CSR programmes in skills and livelihood largely ignore people with disabilities

Of the 88 companies that explicitly mentioned beneficiary groups, most companies reported conducting programmes across a multitude of beneficiaries. The youth (84% companies) and women (70% companies) were common target groups for programmes. On the other hand, only 30% of companies had programmes for people with disabilities. This falls in line with the lack of support received by disabled people in India in general.

Non-financial support by companies was marginal

While every company offering skills and livelihood programmes supported it financially (either covering infrastructure or trainees’ fees or both), only 17% (15 companies) offered non-financial support to the programme and their implementing partners. When provided, nonfinancial support was in the area of curriculum development (10), accommodation (six) and transportation (one) for the duration of the training. In the space of skills and livelihoods, companies have much more to offer than mere financial support. Companies and their industrial associations could leverage their expertise to help develop better curricula in their areas of expertise.

Additionally, companies could also use their cross-industry connections to facilitate trainee placements outside their operation areas. Employees can also play an active role in training or contributing to soft-skills programmes. The nonfinancial contribution of a company needs to be harnessed to ensure that this does not become a missed opportunity.

Courtesy: Counterview

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पिछले साल जनवरी में प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान शुरू किया था। आजादी के बाद यह पहली दफा है, जब भारत सरकार ने किसी जन अभियान के तहत कन्या भ्रूण हत्या का मुद्दा उठाया है। अठारहवीं सदी के ब्रिटिश जनगणना आंकड़ों ने भारत में महिला-पुरुष आबादी के बढ़ते असंतुलन की तसदीक की थी। इन आंकड़ों में किसी न किसी रूप में कन्या भ्रूण हत्या से लेकर सती प्रथा के जरिये महिलाओं को मार डालने की वजह से महिलाओं की घटती संख्या के बारे में चिंता जताई गई थी। लेकिन आजादी के बाद आई सरकारें इस मुद्दे पर बेहद उदासीन रहीं, भले ही कन्या भ्रूण हत्याएं महामारी की तरह फैल गईं। 

इस मुद्दे पर मोदी की पहल बेहद चौंकाने वाली थी क्योंकि उनके मुख्यमंत्री रहने के दौरान गुजरात में लडक़ों की तुलना में लड़कियों का अनुपात (चाइल्ड सेक्स रेश्यो- सीएसआर) का रिकार्ड सबसे खराब था। इसके अलावा महिलाओं के प्रति मोदी के विचार महिला अधिकारों के लिए लडऩे वाले कार्यकर्ताओं को हमेशा नागवार गुजरे हैं। जैसे- एक बार मोदी ने पांच साल से कम उम्र की लड़कियों में कुपोषण की वजह उनकी फैशन और डाइटिंग के प्रति सजगता को करार दिया था। हालांकि  प्रधानमंत्री के तौर पर उनके बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान पर महिला और बाल विकास मंत्री मेनका गांधी के विचारों की छाप साफ दिखती है। मोदी जी ने महसूस किया कि जिस तरह से अलग-अलग तरीकों से महिलाओं की हत्या की जा रही है वह एक राष्ट्रीय संकट बनता जा रहा है। इसके बावजूद बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ के उनके नारे से लगता है कि वह बेटियों को बचाने की भीख मांग रहे हैं। इस मामले में वह अधिकार की भाषा बोलने के बजाय अनुनय-विनय करते नजर आ रहे हैं।

भारत में कन्या भ्रूण हत्या को गरीबी और अशिक्षा से जोड़ कर देखा जाता है। जबकि आंकड़े कुछ और कहते हैं। हाल के जनगणना आंकड़ेे (2011 के आंकड़ें) के मुताबिक चाइल्ड सेक्स रेश्यो यानी सीएसआर (यह जन्म से छह साल की उम्र तक लडक़े और लड़कियों की संख्या का अनुपात है) सबसे गरीब और कम पढ़े लिखे समुदायों के बीच सबसे अच्छा है। दुनिया भर में 1000 लडक़ों पर 950 लड़कियों का अनुपात आदर्श माना जाता है। लेकिन आर्थिक समृद्धि और शिक्षा में बढ़ोतरी के साथ ही यह अनुपात बिगडऩे लगता है। देश के सबसे धनी राज्यों में लडक़ों और लड़कियों की तादाद का अनुपात 850 और इससे कम तक पहुंच चुका है। 2011 की जनगणना में 1000 पुरुषों पर 914 महिलाओं का राष्ट्रीय अनुपात है। यानी धनी राज्यों में महिला-पुरुष अनुपात राष्ट्रीय औसत से भी कम है। 1000 पुरुषों पर 914 महिलाओं का राष्ट्रीय अनुपात आजादी के बाद से अब तक का सबसे खराब अनुपात है। आर्थिक समृद्धि में बढ़ोतरी और उसी के अनुपात में 0 से 6 साल के बीच की लड़कियों की हत्या के बीच यह जो संबंध है यह हर जगह यानी पड़ोसी इलाकों, जिलों, गांवों, शहरों और राज्यों में भी दिखता है। यानी कम समृद्ध की तुलना में अधिक समृद्ध जगहों पर महिला-पुरुष अनुपात ज्यादा खराब है। यही चीज जिलों, गांवों, शहरों और राज्यों में भी लागू होती है।

अगर धार्मिक समुदायों की भी तुलना करें तो यहां भी यह गैप आपको नजर आएगा। देश के सबसे समृद्ध सिख और जैन समुदायों में लडक़ों की तुलना में लड़कियों की तादाद काफी कम है। लेकिन इसके उलट आदिवासियों और कथित निचली जातियों में लड़कियों और लडक़ों का अनुपात सबसे अच्छा है। जबकि ये समुदाय सबसे कम शिक्षित और निर्धनतम माने जाते हैं। जिन आदिवासियों के बीच शिक्षा और नौकरियों से समृद्धि आ रही है, वहां लड़कियों और लडक़ों का अनुपात बिगड़ रहा रहा है।

 केरल का इतिहास मातृसत्तात्मक रहा है। वहां कन्या भ्रूण हत्या का इतिहास नहीं रहा है। यहां लड़कियों और लडक़ों का अनुपात सबसे अच्छा था। उच्च साक्षरता दर (92 फीसदी) इसकी वजह मानी जाती रही है। लेकिन 2011 के जनगणना आंकड़ों में सीएसआर में 8.44 फीसदी की गिरावट दर्ज की गई। राज्य में कन्या भ्रूण हत्या और छोटी बच्चियों की हत्या की बेतहाशा बढ़ती दरों की वजह से ऐसा होना स्वाभाविक है। इसका संबंध भी आर्थिक समृद्धि में बढ़ोतरी से है। केरल में बाहर से (प्रवासी केरलवासियों की ओर से धन भेजने की वजह से) खूब पैसा आया है। हर साल यहां विदेश से 20 अरब डॉलर आते हैं।  राज्य में लंबे समय तक कम्यूनिस्ट शासन रहा है। फिर आखिर लड़कियों से छुटकारा पाने की वजह क्या है? खास कर जब आप समृद्धि की ओर बढ़ते जा रहे हैं तो ऐसी क्या मजबूरी है कि लड़कियों को मारा जाए? दरअसल इसकी वजह है दहेज- धन के स्वामित्व और वितरण पर कब्जा जमाने के लिए एक घातक, महिला विरोधी और पितृसत्तात्मक  राजनीति। जैसे-जैसे परिवार आर्थिक तौर पर समृद्ध होता जाता है वैसे-वैसे धन पर पितृसत्तात्मक पकड़ के उसके माध्यमों पर भी निवेश बढ़ता जाता है और यह बेटियों को अपने इस लक्ष्य में बाधक के तौर पर देखने लगते हैं। दरअसल, लडक़ी जितनी शिक्षित होगी और उसका परिवार जितना समृद्ध होगा, उससे उतना ही ज्यादा दहेज लाने की अपेक्षा होगी। दहेज को लड़कियों से छुटकारा पाने के रास्ते के तौर पर देखा जाता है ताकि वह परिवार की आर्थिक विरासत पर अपने हक की आवाज न उठाए। लेकिन अब बढ़ती शिक्षा की वजह से लड़कियां अपने मां-बाप की संपत्ति में अपने हक की लड़ाई लडऩे लगी हैं। 

दूसरी ओर, एक पुरुष को न केवल अपने मां-बा की संपत्ति का हक मिलता है बल्कि उसकी पत्नी के मां-बाप की संपत्ति का भी हिस्सा मिल जाता है। बेटा धन हासिल करने का आसान माध्यम होता है। वह जितना शिक्षित होगा, उसका परिवार उतना ही ज्यादा दहेज मांगने का हकदार माना जाएगा। असल में शादियों की बातचीत के दौरान खुलेआम दहेज का रेट चार्ट बांटा जाता है। इसमें नकद, लग्जरी कार, प्रॉपर्टी, सोने और हीरे के गहनों की किलो के हिसाब से मांग की जाती है। वास्तव में जिन इलाकों में दहेज के रेट ज्यादा हैं वहां से इससे जुड़ी हिंसा, हत्या और आत्महत्याओं की रिपोर्ट भी ज्यादा आती है।

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गरीब और निरक्षर समुदायों में जो चीज लड़कियों को बचाती है वह है पितृसत्तात्मक की विपरीत सामाजिक व्यवस्था का विस्तार। यह  व्यवस्था उस पितृसत्तात्मक समाज के बिल्कुल उलट है, जिसमें महिला को इंसान न मानकर एक खरीद-बिक्री की वस्तु माना जाता है। ऐसी चीज जिसे इस्तेमाल कर फेंक दिया जा सकता है। गरीब घरों में बेेटियां इसलिए बची रह जाती हैं कि क्योंकि  बच्चे के तौर पर उनसे आर्थिक गुलामी करवाई जा सकती है। गरीब घरों में बेटियां सफाई, रसोई के साथ, पानी और ईंधन इकट्ठा करने जैसा काम करती हैं। वे परिवार के लिए काम करके पैसा भी कमा सकती हैं। लाखों लड़कियों को उनके परिवार वाले शहरी इलाके में घरेलू नौकरानियों के तौर पर काम करने के लिए भेज देते हैं। श्रमिकों को तौर पर ये लड़कियां खेतों से लेकर फैक्टरियों और सेक्स इंडस्ट्री में काम करने लगती हैं।

इन लड़कियों के दम पर एक और धंधा फलता-फूलता है और यह है गरीब लड़कियों को धनी राज्यों में दुल्हन बना कर बेच देना। इन इलाकों में इन गरीब लड़कियों को गुलाम की तरह रखा जाता है और उनके साथ यौन दुव्र्यवहार होता है। इन लड़कियों को बच्चे पैदा करने के लिए लाया जाता है और फिर किसी दूसरे परिवार में दुल्हन के तौर पर बेच दिए जाने से पहले परिवार का हर पुरुष उनके साथ दुव्र्यवहार करता है और शोषण करता है। हैदराबाद में तो यह कारोबार खूब चलता है। खाड़ी देशों के कामुक अमीर यहां की मुस्लिम नाबालिग लड़कियों के मां-बाप को अच्छी खासी रकम देकर ले जाते हैं। इन लड़कियों से एक तरह की अस्थायी शादी की जाती है और फिर इनके साथ गुलामों की तरह बर्ताव किया जाता है। उन्हें प्रताडि़त किया जाता है और फिर स्वदेश लौटने से पहले उन्हें तलाक दे दिया जाता है।  देश में बच्चों की खरीद-फरोख्त का नेटवर्क भी खूब फला-फूला हुआ है। यह नेटवर्क अक्सर सरकारी अनाथालयों से ऑपरेट होते हैं। यहां से गरीब आदिवासी समुदायों की नवजात बच्चियों को 5000 रुपये में खरीदा जा सकता है। हालांकि  बेडिय़ा, बांछड़ा, कंजर,सांसी और नट जैसे कई ऐसे जनजातीय समुदाय हैं जहां बेटियों और बहनों को वेश्यावृति के धंधे में डाल कर उन्हें आय का ोत बनाने की परंपरा रही है। इसे परिवार का धंधा माना जाता है। इन समुदायों में लड़कियों की वर्जिनिटी को नीलाम करने की परंपरा रही है। दस साल तक की छोटी बच्चियों की वर्जिनिटी की बोली लगती है। जो जितना ज्यादा पैसा देता है उसे लडक़ी सौंप दी जाती है। 2011 की जनगणना में चौंकाने वाले आंकड़े दिखे हैं। आदिवासी समुदाय में प्रति एक हजार पुरुषों में महिलाओं की संख्या 950 है। लेकिन बेडिय़ा समुदाय में 1000 पुरुषों में महिलाओं की संख्या 1276  है। यह असामान्य रूप से ज्यादा है।

 बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान पर काफी पैसा खर्च किया जा रहा है। लेकिन इसमें बेहतरीन रणनीति और सूझबूझ भरी परियोजनाओं के बजाय नारेबाजी पर जोर है। इससे इसके लक्ष्यों के प्रति संदेह पैदा होता है।

सामान्य समझ तो यह कहती है कि बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान में फोकस मध्य और उच्च वर्ग पर होना चाहिए। आंकड़े बताते हैं कि इन वर्गों में लडक़े और लड़कियों का अनुपात (सीएसआर) सबसे खराब है। इसके बावजूद इस अभियान का पूरा फोकस ग्रामीण देश के ग्रामीण और सबसे गरीब जिलों पर है। राजनीतिक नुकसान होने के डर से अभियान का पूरा फोकस गरीबों और कम समृद्ध इलाकों पर है। जबकि फोकस मध्य और उच्च वर्ग पर होना चाहिए।

गांवों में बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान के तहत जिस एक पॉपुलर प्रोग्राम को खासा फंड दिया जा रहा है- वह है बेटी के जन्म पर एक पेड़ रोपना। इसके पीछे तर्क है कि जब बेटी को दहेज देना हो तो पिता इस पेड़ को काट कर इसकी लकड़ी बेचेगा और कुछ पैसे जुटाएगा। इस तरह से यह उसी दहेज की कुरीति को बढ़ावा देना है, जिसकी वजह से कन्या भ्रूण हत्या बढ़ रही है।

बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान शुरू करने के वक्त जो दो अहम और प्रभावी परियोजनाएं सुझाई गई थीं वे अब तक शुरू नहीं हो पाई हैं। इनमें से एक सुझाव में कहा गया था कि हर इलाके मेंं एक सार्वजनिक बोर्ड लगाया जाए जिस पर पर हर महीने वहां और आसपास के इलाकों के सीएसआर आंकड़ें दर्ज किए जाएं। इससे लोगों को लडक़ों और लड़कियों के अनुपात के बारे में पता चलेगा। यह अभियान शहरी, मध्य और उच्च वर्ग वाले इलाकों में चलाया जाना चाहिए। इसे प्रभावी तौर पर लागू करने कि लिए पुलिस और लीगल सेल की भी मदद ली जा सकती है।

दूसरा सुझाव यह था कि सभी बच्चियों की जन्म और मृत्यु का अनिवार्य रजिस्ट्रेशन हो। इसके साथ ही 15 साल की उम्र तक हर लडक़ी की निगरानी की अनिवार्य मॉनिटरिंग हो। इस उम्र तक बड़ी संख्या में लड़कियां मार दी जाती हैं या गायब हो जाती हैं। वास्तव में कई बार निम्न सीएसआर अनुपात की वजह कन्या भ्रूण हत्या को माना जाता है। लेकिन जनगणना आंकड़ों के विश्लेषण से पता चलता है कि 84 फीसदी से अधिक लड़कियां एक से छह साल के भीतर मार दी जाती हैं। दरअसल भ्रूण जांच और जन्म लेने के बाद से एक साल के भीतर दस लाख से कम बच्चियों को मारा गया है। लेकिन एक साल से छह साल की उम्र तक पहुंचते ही 70 लाख बच्चियां खत्म कर दी गईं।

इस डरावनी स्थिति को देखते ही बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान में इन दो परियोजनाओं को लागू करना सर्वोच्च प्राथमिकता होनी चाहिए।

( रीता बनर्जी लेखिका, फोटोग्राफर और जेंडर एक्टिविस्ट हैं। इनकी किताब – सेक्स एंड पावर : डिफाइनिंग हिस्ट्री, शेपिंग सोसाइटीज,  जेंडर, सेक्सुलिटी और भारत मेंं सत्ता के संबंधों पर ऐतिहासिक अध्ययन है। वह 50 मिलियन मिसिंग कैंपेन की संस्थापक और डायरेक्टर हैं। )

यह लेख सबसे पहले ओपन डेमोक्रेसी में प्रकाशित हुआ था।      

The post खामियों से भरा और दिशाहीन है मोदी का बेटी बचाओ, बेटी पढ़ाओ अभियान appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Prime Minister Modi’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ (Save the Girl, Educate the Girl) programme, launched in January 2015, was the first time since independence that the Indian government had raised the issue of female genocide in a public campaign. British census data in the 18th century had attributed India’s skewed sex ratio to female infanticide and other forms of femicide, such as sati, but after independence subsequent governments remained bizarrely indifferent to the issue even as it reached epidemic proportions.

 

Expanding Worlds: mural on the wall of a girls high school depicting career options for women. Photo: Rita Banerji

Modi’s initiative was all the more surprising, given that Gujarat had recorded the lowest Child Sex Ratio (CSR) for girls under his stewardship as state minister.  Modi’s views on women often infuriated women’s activists, for example when he attributed  the high rate of malnutrition among girls under five in his state to dieting and fashion consciousness.  However, as Prime Minister, his Save the Girl campaign appears to have the imprint of Maneka Gandhi’s (the Women and Child Development Minister) independent thinking on women’s issues.  Mr. Modi observed that female genocide  is a national “crisis” although his plea to let girls live and to educate them was framed as the ‘Prime Minister… begging for the lives of daughters’ rather than in the language of rights.

India’s female genocide is widely attributed to poverty and illiteracy even though data and facts say otherwise. As India’s most recent census data from 2011 shows, the CSR, which is the ratio of girls to boys from birth to six years, is best among the poorest and least educated communities. Globally a CSR of 950 girls to 1000 boys is considered ‘normal’.  CSR in India gets worse in proportion to increases in wealth and education. The wealthiest states have a CSR of 850 and below, much lower than the national CSR of 914 in the 2011 census, itself the lowest since India’s independence. This correlation between increase in wealth and a corresponding increase in the rate of killing of girls in the 0-6years age group is repeated across the spectrum in neighbourhoods, districts, villages, cities and states. 

Even a religion wise comparison reveals that the worst CSRs are to be found among the wealthiest communities: the Sikhs and the Jains. Conversely, the highest CSRs are among the tribal and lower caste communities who are also the poorest and least educated.  Yet even among the tribals, when there’s access to wealth through education and jobs, there is a corresponding decline in CSR.  Kerala, with its matrilineal past and no history of female infanticide, had a higher than national average CSR which was always attributed to its high literacy rate (almost 92%). However by the 2011 census Kerala too showed a drop of 8.44% in CSR with reports of rampant foeticide and infanticide. This corresponded with an influx of wealth (almost $20 billion/year) into this historically communist state from Indians working overseas.

What is this driving compulsion to be rid of daughters, particularly with upward social mobility? The answer is dowry – the insidious, misogynist, patriarchal politics of wealth ownership and distribution. The more wealth a family accrues, the more invested it becomes in the patriarchal retention of that wealth and views daughters as a threat to that goal.  Indeed, the more educated a daughter is, and wealthier her family, the bigger the dowry she is expected to bring. Dowry is seen as a way of dispensing with a daughter who then can make no further claims on the family’s inheritance, but because of their education daughters are increasingly fighting for their legal share of parental property. On the other hand, a man not only has an inherent right to his own parents’ property but to his wife’s parents’ wealth too. A son is an easy means of wealth acquisition; the more educated he is, the larger the dowry the family feels entitled to demand. Indeed there are openly exchanged dowry rate charts that list copious amounts of cash, luxury cars, property and gold and diamond jewellery by the kilos.  In fact wealthier neighbourhoods record the highest rates of dowry violence and dowry related murders and suicides.

Nonetheless, this clear correlation of wealth and education with female genocide is anything but an evil-rich and pious-poor divide. The factors that save girls in poorer and illiterate communities, or at least don’t kill them in the same high proportions, are an inverted extension of the same patriarchal system in which women are simply dehumanised and turned into buyable, sellable, usable and disposable commodities. Daughters in poorer homes are allowed to live because as children they can be put to the economic servitude of their families. Poor families use daughters for cleaning, cooking, fetching fuel and water, and for earning an income for the family.  Millions of girls are leased or sold by their families for work as domestic help in urban areas, as labour in fields and factories, and to the sex industry.

Another thriving business involves the sale of thousands of girls as ’brides’ through a network of agents to wealthier states with low sex ratios. These girls are kept as slaves, to sexually abuse, to bear babies, and are abused and exploited by all the men of the house, before they are resold as ‘bride’ to another family. In Hyderabad, there’s a flourishing business where wealthy paedophiles from Gulf countries pay poor Muslim families handsomely to arrange a temporary “marriage” with their underage daughters, who they enslave, abuse and divorce before returning to their countries. There are also thriving baby trafficking networks, often operating out of government orphanages, where the babies, all girls, can be bought for as little as Rs 5000/- (approx. £60) from poor tribal communities.

However, there are also numerous tribal communities like the Bedia, the Banchada, Kanjar, Sansi and Nut, where traditionally the sex trafficking of daughters and sisters has been a primary source of income for families and is considered a ‘family trade.’ These communities are also known to openly auction the virginities of their daughters as young as ten, for large sums to the highest bidders. The 2011 census’s CSR for the Bedia population shows an interesting anomaly.  While tribal communities generally have normal CSRs of about 950, census data shows the Bedia community with a CSR of 1276, which is abnormally high.  Investigations reveal that tribal communities like the Bedia and Nut have interstate networks to traffic girl babies, who they  adopt and raise as their own ‘daughters’ and prep for the ‘family trade’ by injecting them with hormones to sexually develop them by the time they are seven and eight.

Although the ‘Save the Girl, Educate the Girl’ campaign is well-funded, its emphasis on rhetoric instead of strategic and well thought out projects puts into question its ability to accomplish its goals. Common sense says that the focus needs to be on the middle and upper classes where census data shows CSR to be the worst. Yet, the campaign focuses on rural and poorer districts, instead of targeting the more powerful classes for fear of a political backlash.
 

Colour My Life: a mother buys a colouring book for her daughter from a vendor outside a primary school. Photo: Rita Banerji

A popular rural project that’s been massively funded by this campaign is the planting of trees at the birth of a daughter. The logic behind planting trees is that fathers of girls can harvest these trees to pay dowry. Encouraging the custom of dowry, the very factor contributing to female genocide, contradicts the campaign’s aims. Two of the most important and likely to be effective projects suggested at the campaign’s inauguration unfortunately have not yet seen the light of day, and must be implemented.  One of these projects is putting up public boards that note the CSR of every neighbourhood, on a monthly basis, thereby forcing members of communities to be watchful of and accountable to each other. These particularly must be set up in urban, middle and upper class areas in coordination with police and legal cells for effective action.  

The second recommended project that must be implemented is the compulsory registration of all births and deaths of girl children. Additionally, there must be a system of compulsory monitoring of all girls till they reach the age of 15, as 95 % of girls are killed or go missing between the ages of 1-15 years. Indeed, the low CSR is often falsely assumed to be due to sex-selective abortion.

The breakdown of the CSR census data shows that more than 84% girls are actually killed from age one to six years.  Less than one million girls were eliminated through sex selection and/or killed as infants after birth and up to age one. But by age six, that number escalated and  7 million girls were exterminated. 

In order to save girls, the implementation of these two projects must be the campaign’s number one priority.

Rita Banerji is a writer, photographer and gender activist. Her book 'Sex and Power: Defining History, Shaping Societies' is a historical study of the relationship between gender, sexuality and power in India. She is the founder and director of The 50 Million Missing Campaign, a global campaign to end India's female gendercide. Twitter handle: @rita_banerji

This article was first published on openDemocracy.

 

The post How the PM’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ Campaign is Misconceived and Misdirected appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Research shows

The Super Bowl is not just the biggest and most-watched event of the year in the United States, it’s also one of the most important for advertisers, who shell out an estimated US$5 million for every half-minute of air time.

Indeed, the ads are almost as well watched as the game itself, offering companies spending an estimated $377 million altogether a chance to get a laugh, burnish their brands and reach more than 100 million people with their corporate message.

But what if a brand took that large chunk of cash and bought something else with it? Is there a better way to spend it that could both be good marketing and do more for humanity?

Audi, which along with its parent company Volkswagen is accused of using software to allow its vehicles to emit excess emissions, for example, bought 60 seconds in the first quarter. Is a minute of product-oriented advertising really the best way it has to restore its image when the essence of its brand is in question?

This is not to say that the 40-some advertisers that have already bought ad time need a new message to repair their brands. Rather, the question for me – with one foot in sport marketing research and the other in public policy – is whether they could do more for society and for their own reputations (typically the purpose of advertising) if they were to take a different tack.

In other words, be brave advertisers! Here’s how.

Branded benefits
This isn’t a novel idea, of course. There are plenty of examples of brand-sport relationships diverting their advertising value to society and benefiting in the process.

Hublot, a Geneva-based luxury watchmaker, did just that after it signed on as a sponsor of UEFA’s Euro 2008 soccer tournament. Rather than use its allocated stadium advertising space to trumpet its brand, it promoted its values instead by donating all of this valuable space to Unite Against Racism, a program that seeks to counter discrimination in European football.

This sweeping gesture had a ripple effect as other teams, sponsors and federations took on the social responsibility message. Moreover, it was a meaningful and positive gesture for the watchmaker as well.

More recently, BNY Mellon and Newton Investment Management announced that they would donate their title sponsorship of the Oxford versus Cambridge boat race to Cancer Research UK. As a result, the race to be held on the River Thames in late March will be known as “The Cancer Research UK Boat Races.”

The societal benefits of these actions are clear, but importantly, brands that do good things also benefit.

Research in the U.S. by the Economist Intelligence Unit found in 2008 that being a good corporate citizen supports revenue growth, increases profits and offers cost savings.

Hublot, a Geneva-based luxury watchmaker, did just that after it signed on as a sponsor of UEFA’s Euro 2008 soccer tournament. Rather than use its allocated stadium advertising space to trumpet its brand, it promoted its values instead by donating all of this valuable space to Unite Against Racism, a program that seeks to counter discrimination in European football. This sweeping gesture had a ripple effect as other teams, sponsors and federations took on the social responsibility message. Moreover, it was a meaningful and positive gesture for the watchmaker as well.

Similarly, a research review by RBC Global Asset Management concluded investments in companies with high social responsibility rankings perform just as well as their peers and can even do better.

The Super Bowl itself has already seen some calls for action and delivery of cause-related messages.

At Super Bowl XLVIII, for example, U2, Product (RED) and Bank of America collaborated to benefit the Global Fund, which aims to eliminate AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Also in 2014, Chevrolet used its ad time to support cancer survivors and raise awareness for World Cancer Day.

Consumers, however, seem to want more than just words (and ads). Research by public relations firm Cone Communications shows that 82 percent of those surveyed are more likely to purchase a product from a company that clearly demonstrates results from its CSR initiatives.

A thought experiment
What we need to do, then, is imagine profound social investments. My list may not be the same as others, these are issues I think deserve more attention, but that’s the point: to think freshly about how we spend and invest.

In one thought experiment, I imagined that the $5 million slated for a 30-second ad was instead invested in cookstoves. Yes, stoves for cooking. Small three-stone fires are used by nearly half the world’s population to cook meals, according to InStove, a nonprofit dedicated to relieving suffering by developing renewable technologies.

It doesn’t get a lot of attention, but the firewood harvested for cooking by this method is a major contributor to deforestation and its burning indoors results in 4.3 million premature deaths annually.

A clean-burning cookstove able to use wood and biomass costs only about $1,000 and can serve the needs of an extended family or even a small village. Its high efficiency reduces fuel use by 75 percent to 90 percent and health-harming emissions by 90 percent. Easy math says that $5 million could buy 500,000 cookstoves – enough to supply dozens of countries in Africa and Asia.

This is a trifecta win for the environment, human health and the reputation of a company.

Alternatively, Super Bowl advertisers might band together and – in partnership with a nonprofit – buy a vast tract of old growth forest along the coast in the Pacific Northwest. At an estimated $2,000 per acre, 25 minutes of advertising time (at a cost of about $250 million) could purchase 125,000 acres in Elliott State Forest.

Oregon, which owns the land and allows some logging, is considering selling it. Helping a conservation group to buy it would preserve habitat for species that most of us have read about as children such as the Great Horned Owl, save less known endangered species such as the marbled murrelet that prefers to nest in old growth forest and seed stock for plants we have not even named.

Another idea close to my heart: $5 million would go a long way in limiting the trade of elephant tusks. Poachers reportedly slaughter as many as 35,000 African elephants every year, with only 500,000 estimated to remain alive. One 30-second ad forgone could double the total grant contributions toward elephant conservation administered by the African Elephant Conservation Fund in 2014.
 

Better for brands and society
The purpose of this article is not to denigrate the Super Bowl, football, advertising, brands or anything else as American as apple pie.

This is about how wealth might be mobilized to do some of the things we know need doing and some of the things that may not have occurred to us.

It’s also about understanding the relative cost of actions with long-term implications for society and environment and how corporations as “citizens” can communicate and validate their social responsibility record. Corporate social responsibility activities are related to economic performance of firms but claims must ring true.

Socially responsible behavior must be validating and observable in order to influence stakeholder actions and have the positive effect on revenues research shows can happen.

Brave corporate decisions, paired with clever communications, need not cost more for the firm than the millions they freely spend on Super Bowl advertising, but it does require that we think creatively.

Any company needing inspiration or an idea of how to back up their CSR words with actions need look no further than the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For the next 15 years, these goals aim to transform our world. After reading the facts there, only a cold soul would be unable to find a CSR project that deserves a $5 million infusion.

This article was first published in The Conversation

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