Indo-Pak History via Mail

When will they become humans?

http://www.boloji.com/wfs/wfs091.htm

Sati : What Lies Beneath

Women`s organizations are understandably distressed over the public response to the congregation at the Rani Sati temple in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan, in early September. Over 15,000 pilgrims - men, women and children - attended the three-day annual puja (prayer) at the temple, thereby reinforcing the controversial practice of sati. The puja was held after a gap of several years, following the Rajasthan High Court`s recent go-ahead to the puja - at the Rani Sati temple, as well as the Dhauli Sati temple in Sikar district.

The court`s decision carries the imminent danger of glorifying the practice. Sati was first declared illegal in India as far back as 1829 by the British, largely due to the efforts of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. In more recent times - 1987 - the Roop Kanwar incident in Deorala, Rajasthan, created a furor. Kanwar`s death on her husband`s funeral pyre led to widespread protests by women`s groups. The latest case of sati, reported from Madhya Pradesh in August 2002, brought the controversial issue into focus yet again.

Women`s activists and legal experts express concern over the revival of sati for commercial considerations; and they do not rule out this aspect in the Madhya Pradesh incident. Supreme Court lawyer Dr V N Saraf says that by performing puja, the temple authorities gave in to the people, especially the illiterate, who offered money and material donations to the Rani Sati temple.

Kavita Srivastava, an activist with the People`s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), alleges that the Rani Sati temple trust has been trying to expand its operations because its entire economy, running into millions of rupees, depends on donations from devotees. There are at least 250 sati temples in the country.

There is an urgent need to take pro-active steps in order to prevent the revival of sati. So far, the steps taken to stop sati have come as reactions. It is important, say activists, to unravel the reasons that drive a woman towards sati. What are the social parameters drawn out for women by our patriarchal society? Why are women forced to eliminate themselves in the name of religion?

Subjected to various indignities every day of their lives, a majority of Indian women are conditioned to stay with their men or consider themselves unworthy of living. On her husband`s death, a widow usually foresees a life full of harassment and humiliation. The fear of an identity crisis, and the prospect of being subjected to harassment and indignity are at the root of the compulsion felt by women who want to - or do - immolate themselves in the name of sati.

Meera Khanna, Joint Secretary of the Guild of Service, blames the government and society for the prevailing condition of women in the country. ``There is a resistance to 33 per cent reservation of seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies... Women do not get an equal share in property. They do not get equal opportunities in jobs. Under such circumstances, how can you talk of equal rights to women?`` she asks. She suggests that action be taken against those propagating sati.

The Rani Sati temple in Jhunjhunu has long been embroiled in controversy and litigation. Six years ago, women`s groups had protested against the puja to celebrate the sati of 14-year-old Narayani Devi because the celebration reinforced the oppression against all women. Following the protests, the High Court of Rajasthan had imposed restrictions on the chunri ceremony, specific to the worship of sati, and disallowed worship inside the temple. However, the recent Rajasthan High Court order allowing worship has come as a retrograde step.

Devotees, however, have welcomed it. Among those who throng the temple are women who perceive sati through traditional eyes. According to Meera Devi Jhunjhunwala, a regular visitor to the Jhunjhunu temple, ``Sati is a symbol of power.`` And for Santosh Khandelwal, a businessman from Alwar district of Rajasthan, Sati is the goddess of his community and he is following the community tradition. Pawan Khetan, on the other hand, has a blind faith in the tradition - and doesn`t like to be questioned on why he supports it.

Jaswant Kanwar - considered a `living sati` - stays in Shiv Shakti temple in Triveni Dham village in Shahpura, 230 kilometres from Delhi. A strong supporter of the sati tradition, she inadvertently echoes the perceptions of women`s activists. ``The practice is more prevalent in our Rajput community where a widow is not allowed to remarry. Where will the poor widow go after the death of her husband? Who would she look to for support?`` she asks.

Two key questions are necessary here, on the basis of the perceptions of those who say they support the practice. First, would a woman really want to immolate herself on the funeral pyre of her husband if she could be sure of a life free of the harassment and humiliation she foresees for herself?

And second - why are our social values so favorable for men and so demeaning for women?

Besides, even if a woman is driven to sati under the pressure of an extreme set of circumstances, these ought to be probed thoroughly. After all, by law, the act of suicide and its abetment are both punishable.

– Anju Grover
September 29, 2002

Re: # 522
Pre-Partition days were horrific thus I do not think there was any other choice. Given the Direct Day Action call by Jinnah, British policy of divide and rule and the real fear of civil war it was best to for partition.

re:#517 by Salim_Chauhan
(My complaint against Jinnah is that, if he was not happy with the result, why did he accept a ``moth-eaten`` Pakistan? Murder is a crime, but suicide is stupid.)
Well said.
You should also have asked Manto, our ``Jinnah specialist``, what he thought about the fact that Jinnah`s great idea of a seperate muslim nation founded to give the minorities a homeland left them as a greater minority in India. So, what was the purpose?
Anyway, Manto can`t answer that. Logic is something Pakis are not taught in school.
Sridhar

re: Manto`s post
(so ... instead they allowed Gandhi as an alternative to outright rebellion ... he was pumped up... while he was in jail, his statues were allowed to go up else where... while the British government officially designated him a ``rebel``, some of the leading British newspapers deliberately concocted his myth... )
Brilliant!
Now, hurry up and write a PhD thesis on this. I am told there is a dearth of PhD in your country.
Sridhar

#521, arjun {``Pakistan comes in at 84 sandwiched between Gambia and Nigeria on top and Ukraine and Mali below. ``}

Arjun,
Did Cowasjee first check with Shri BahramJi Atishband Gannawalla? At least, you can say that Atif2 was right all along. Pakistan looks quite European when it is in the same league with Ukraine.

#520, samosa {``He was the one to convince gandhi about agreeing on partition``}

Samosa,
His advice on agreeing to partition may be his worst crime. :)
As you suggested, I will read up some more on Patel and his accomplishments. Thanks. The ``Muslim Goonda`` comment has been used over and over by those who justify Pakistan as to the real thinking of powerful Hindus - and that is very unfortunate.

Check out what a paki parsi thinks of the comparison between India and Pakistan...illustrious paki at that, not a illegal immigrant cab driver in Austin..

Brass hats & mortar-boards-II

By Ardeshir Cowasjee

There is no good news on the home front. One bit of bad news is that Professor Dr Attaur Rahman, chief of the Higher Education Commission, has admitted regretfully that his country does not possess one university which ranks amongst the first 500 in the world. Befittingly with our sunken standards, we had the sacking engineered by the Vice-Chancellor of the prestigious Quaid-i-Azam University, retired army captain U. G. Isani, of scholar Q. Isa Daudpota of Comstech (simply, his contract was not renewed).A recent paper published by Salman Baset, a doctoral student at Columbia University, should be read by all who have the slightest interest in furthering the educational standards in this unfortunate country. It relates how Captain Isani obtained a PhD in education from the National Institute of Modern Languages (NIML) in Islamabad. Daudpota, luckily for him, has moved on to a better job out of the education sector. The loss is the country`s.

There is yet more depressing news. The Swiss-based World Economic Forum (WEF) has recently issued its Global Competitiveness Report for 2004-2005 evaluating and ranking 104 countries. It has been compiled by Michael Porter of Harvard University, Klaus Schwab of the WEF, Xavier Sala-i-Martin of Columbia University and Augusto Lapez-Claros of the WEF.

The report is broken up into various sections. Under the heading `Technological readiness`, India is listed at 26 with Korea and Luxembourg above it and Panama and Malaysia beneath. Pakistan comes in at 84 sandwiched between Gambia and Nigeria on top and Ukraine and Mali below.

`Firm-level technology absorption` has India at 18, with Norway and New Zealand above and Austria and the Slovak Republic below. Pakistan is listed at 44, under the Czech Republic and Bahrain and over Namibia and Jordan.

`Prevalence of foreign technology licensing` lists India at 8, with New Zealand and Japan above and the United Arab Emirates and Germany below. At 67, Pakistan lies between Tanzania and Nigeria and Costa Rica and Venezuela.

Under `FDI and technology transfer` India lies at 20 below Kenya and the United Kingdom and above Luxembourg and South Africa. We are at 96, between Ecuador and Mali and Ukraine and Macedonia.

`Quality of scientific research readiness` has India at 17, below France and Norway, and above New Zealand and the Russian Federation. We lie at 94, below Bangladesh and Vietnam and above Peru and Ecuador.

Under `Company spending on research and development`, India is listed at 26, with South Africa and Ireland above and China and Indonesia below. We enter at 101, between Bolivia and Paraguay and Angola and Chad. The last listed under this heading is Ethiopia at 104.

India tops the list at No.1 under `Availability of scientists and engineers` with Finland at 2 and Israel at 3, while Pakistan lies in the second half at 61 with Slovenia and Bangladesh above and Ghana and Croatia below.

Depressing also was a report in the press last week from Khalid Hasan in Washington on the subject of the annual `index of economic freedom` exercise conducted by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal. Pakistan is included among 10 of the 155 countries surveyed whose performance `worsened` during 2004. It is now bracketed with Ethiopia, Uganda, Haiti, Bangladesh, Morocco, Qatar, Cuba and Tunisia. Pakistan is listed at 133, and India at 118.

Are we destined forever to be just hovering above the bottom of the list?

Re: # 516 Salim
I had no idea that samosa would be filled with mutton.
I dont know about the ``muslim goonda`` comment but you cannot be more wrong about sardar.
He was the one to convince gandhi about agreeing on partition. He is a person who was against appeasement of any community. He gave the order to shoot during the riots be it hindu, sikh or muslim.
I do not know about your sources about patel but please spend 15 minutes on wikipedia. Though wikipedia are not supposed to be accurate but it potrays very correctly his life and misconception of being anti-muslim.

Re: # 518 Manto
Everyones life is not as easy as yours that by fasting one day you get what you want. It was a struggle that had to go through decades and through a nonviolent and persistence of truth. Other factors might have aided but the only if Millions of Indians did not fought for their freedom none of those factors would have mattered. Following are very few actions taken by Gandhiji. The biggest would to change the constitution of Indian National Congress in 1918 to include Complete Independence as final goal.

• Champaran agitation


• Kheda Satyagraha


• Opposition to Rowlatt Act


• the boycott of foreign-made goods


• mass civil disobedience


• dandi march


• Quit India Movement


• Getting millions of Indians involved in freedom struggle