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Monday, August 31, 2009

What kind of children do we raise?

I distinctly remember the case of two Mira Road residents accusing their father of rape – on reading the article then I had a feeling of revulsion as to how a father could do what he was accused of doing. This case I had discussed with friends and the general feeling was one of abhorrence at the act. The mother was also made a party to the case and was a co-accused for abetting the crime. At that time the two girls were just 15 and 12 years old. The father, Manoj Patel, spent more than a year in jail!

The girls were apparently tired of their father putting restrictions on going out in the evening with friends and the final straw came on 31st December 2007, when their father told them they could not go out for a New Year bash. That is when they decided to “teach their father a lesson”. The sad part is the case was converted from molestation to rape at the instigation of a local NGO who convinced the girls to file rape charges against their own father. It has now been proven in court that the girls had falsely filed a complaint of molestation against their father because he was strict with them and did not allow them the freedom to go out and have a blast with friends. The court acquitted the parents when it was medically proved that there was no rape and the timing suggested by the NGO along with the girls coincided with the time recorded at the Greater Grace Fellowship Center at Kurla, which showed that the entire family was present there from 9pm to midnight on December 31, 2007 – the exact time ehn the girls had claimed they were attacked!

This behavior raises several questions on parenting and the relation between parents and their children. Considering the age of the children and the area in which they were living – Mira Road, which has a lot of night life – I feel that the father was well within his rights on controlling their activities. It just takes one small mistake for a girls’ life to change completely – but in this case they ensured that it did for them as well as for their parents! Should children question their parents on behavioral norms - especially when the parents and elders have seen far more of the world than they have? One’s choice of friends is very important in this day and age – as the right friends guide you and the wrong ones take you down the path of perdition. Teens are a delicate age when hormonal changes are happening in a girl which can cloud the mind into doing things which should not be done.

What was the role of the local NGO – why did they interfere and ruin the life of a family without trying to get to the truth? Were they in it for cheap publicity so that they could gather funds? The courts should ask the police to verify the antecedents of the NGO – and get the person responsible in asking the girls to file a false rape case convicted. The human rights of the parents have been grossly violated – their dignity has been ravaged and their place in society has been blackened forever – especially as they live in India -because of the way we think!

The father has forgiven the daughters for they did something without realizing the implication of their acts. The father now lives in seclusion – though he speaks to his daughters every day. The daughters will have to live with the guilt of their actions for the rest of their lives – a very heavy burden indeed. But what about the NGO – should the NGO not be shut down and action taken against the instigators of the rape complaint. Will the Human Rights watch wake up and take action – or is this too trivial a case for the Human Right watch as no famous person or politician has got tagged on to it?

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Media hype on Swine Flu

I have been reading with concern the extended print media coverage on swine flu. I am sure the visual media will be milking this for all it is worth asking inane and heartless questions to victims families such as how do you feel, was the treatment right, etc. Instead of being responsible and presenting a balanced and rational view on H1N1 – we have all kinds of negative publicity doing the rounds. Politicians have now stepped in and are using the SMS service to give their two bits on how to avoid getting the flu!

Questions asked by the visual media just help in fanning already insecure minds into rushing for H1N1 testing to already over crowded and inadequately manned testing centers. Our population is such that only large numbers will be generated – more people die on the roads than of swine flu. Out of a populace of nearly 1.25 billion people just a thousand odd have got the flu – and a few have unfortunately died – this does not mean the whole nation goes into a panic and states like Tamil Nadu giving travel advisories to its citizens not to travel to other states – now it is learnt Tamil Nadu also has claimed its first swine flu victim! Now what – does this mean no one should travel to Tamil Nadu? Everybody seems to be going off at the deep end. It looks more like a “panicdemic” than a potential pandemic! It is so funny and at the same time sad to see people behaving in a herd mentality and wearing face masks while walking on the roads, riding bikes, sitting inside air conditioned cars, hanging out of running trains etc. It has been mentioned that it is people who have a slight cold who need to cover their faces and not perfectly normal people – unaffected people while wearing the masks have apparently a greater chance of becoming infected!

At the same time the commercial sharks are out – the pharmacies are doing roaring business in face masks – the much touted N-95 (no no not nokia’s high end mobile) masks are being sold at ridiculous prices – Rs. 500 - because the masses have been told through the media that this mask can protect you from the big bad germ. Nothing like a good public scare to send the masses into a frenzy while rationality goes for a toss.

St. Peters School, Panchgani, should be the perfect example for those who need to know how such situations should be tackled. 17 students were diagnosed with the infection and the school acted coolly and calmly while isolating those who tested positive and keeping 15 other students with similar symptoms but with a negative test result in another room – these students were treated and are back to normal without any panic either amongst the students, parents or teachers. Some lessons need to learnt and imbibed by the media – I think they should go to this school to learn to behave rationally!

Friday, August 7, 2009

Is a ration card valid proof of identity or residence in Mumbai

The expose carried out by the MNS showing how easily a bogus ration card can be obtained nails the lie of proponents who insist that the ration card is a valid document for proving residence and identity. It is a known fact that politicians and builders connive with the rationing officer and the collector’s office for issuing of bogus ration cards. Every election sees a spurt in the issue of fake ration cards for obtaining voter identity cards. Builders connive to get bogus people into the list of people entitled for flats under the SRA scheme by using fake ration cards. Since 2001 the RBI and the central consumer affairs ministry have discouraged the use of ration cards as documents to prove residence or identity due to its easy procurement by paying a price.

The Chief Justice of the High Court in Mumbai, Mr. Swatanter Kumar was shown a ration card issued in his name with a Shivaji Park address by the MNS representative! This was genuinely issued by the rationing officer for a price, thereby emphasizing to the Court that it is easy to obtain a fake ration card. This dramatic course was taken up to emphasise that the ration card should not be used as an identity/residence proof document for registering new voters for the forthcoming state elections.

In the past, it has been reported that in Andhra Pradesh fake ration cards were issued in the names of Sachin Tendulkar and Sania Mirza. In 2005, during local elections in Navi Mumbai more than 80000 bogus ration cards were seized. This is a nation wide problem which needs to be tackled on a war footing. The proposed National Identity Card and Mr. Nandan Nilekani’s plan to generate a unique national citizens identity number should ensure that all parameters are checked to prove the identity of the individual before allotting the number. This has national security implications and the people responsible for allotting this number should have integrity of the highest standard and should be above reproach – no political interference should be tolerated. If identities cannot be proved, then such cases should be given to a special task force to see whether such people are illegal immigrants who have come for economic reasons, whether such people are here to do political or economic mischief, terrorists for carrying out their plans, etc. People who have come for economic reasons may be given an identity number which could be something like a green card given in the US – a permanent residency but not citizenship – on humanitarian grounds, if and only if, they can prove they have been staying in that locality for say five years or more and can get at least five citizens of standing to vouch for them.

If identity/residence cannot be proven, then the government needs to take appropriate steps as per the law of the land for illegal citizens. For citizens of India who migrate from one city to another in search of jobs, the national identity card should be his proof of identity and permanent residence. Tax payers in Mumbai, should stop having to bear the burden of providing free residence for people staying illegally on land grabbed for hutments. The Maharashtra government is planning to extend the cut-off to the year 2000, in light of the forthcoming elections. This is political expediency at its worst – hopefully better sense will prevail and the High Courts order will be followed with regard to not extending the cut off date from 1995. There will be no end to this – as this is a vicious cycle – date extensions, will require residence proof, more bogus ration cards to accommodate more voters, more money exchanging hands all round for this, and the saga of the politico-builder nexus taking money from the poor with the promise of free housing will continue. Somewhere this nonsense has to stop.

It is the citizens who should intervene and stop Mumbai going down the drain due to the selfish motives of retarded politicians. Maharashtra is already losing its premium ranking as a place to do business, with inadequate power, water and horrible roads to Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, etc. Mumbai is an ordeal to stay and work in – roads are in a perpetual state of dis-repair, housing is unaffordable, train/bus travel is stressful, there are no green open spaces, people are arrested for spitting – people spit to clear throats which are infected by the polluted air – people shitting on the roads is allowed but spitting is a crime. I do not deny it is unhygienic – but have the authorities created an atmosphere which is hygienic – that is the question. I guess I have digressed from the original theme – but I think in Mumbai at least – everything is interlinked!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

India's first Swine Flu Death

The flu Pandemic officially named “new H1N1" was first identified in India in April 2009. In simple terms it is called “Swine Flu”. It is a global outbreak of new strain of influenza virus. It covers many areas of India and many people suffered from swine flu. The areas which are mostly affected by swine flu include New Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad. The swine flu showed its virulent effect and a small innocent 14 years old girl died because of swine flu. A Pune girl Rida Shaikh died on Monday August 3, 2009 because of swine flu. She was the first victim who died because of swine flu in India as a result of multiple organ failure. Rida first consulted a local doctor when she reported symptoms of swine flu on July 21, 2009. After two days she recovered and again joined the school on July 23, 2009. But again on July 25, 2009 she felt fever and was admitted to a private hospital – namely Jehangir Hospital - on July 27, 2009. After admitting when her condition worsened she was shifted to the ICU and put on a ventilator. To get clarification about swine flu her sample was sent to National Institute of Virology where it was confirmed that she was suffering from swine flu. After that she was put on Oseltamivir and finally died on Monday August 3, 2009. Her death was the first death in India because of the H1N1 virus.
The upset family of Rida has decided to sue the hospital for negligence. Rida’s father said that if they had sent the samples to NIV at the right time then his daughter would be alive today. I can sympathise with the parents who want to sue the hospital for perceived negligence – but is that the right course to take? In Pune only NIV has the wherewithal to test for swine flu and Kasturba Hosital is the only hospital which has been designated a quarantine center. Mumbai still does not have a testing center for swine flu, with the Haffkine’s Institute now being prepared to do the testing. All swabs have to be sent to NIV from Mumbai, and with Pune reporting so many instances of swine flu, it is going to be a challenge to keep things under control.
The challenge is to get the infrastructure in place, quarantine centers, testing laboratories, information dissemination on symptoms, all doctors should be told to mandatorily have the H1N1 test done in cases where even some of the symptoms are on display. Only with a completely holistic approach will we be in a position to contain the outbreak of a real pandemic. With India’s size and population it is a miracle that we have had just one death (which is one too many) so far. If we compare India with rest of the world, there are more than 160 counties to have been affected with lakhs of cases. Over thousands have been affected and have lost their lives globally. Till date over 40 lakh people have been screened at various entry points in India as claimed by the Health Minister. India must be the first country to have screened so many people in almost 20 odd international airports. Over 45,000 people are screened on a daily basis. The ones who tested positive were isolated and treated. We had almost 558 cases out of which 470 cases have been treated effectively. This virus is treatable and the medicine is available. It is not made available over the counter because of the fear that it would be prescribed indiscriminately. As a result the human body could form a resistance to the drug and with the virus mutating rapidly, we could face greater risk from the virus.
The Health Ministry should come out very quickly with guidelines on treatment, it should set up testing laboratories in all major cities and have designated hospitals as quarantine centers stocked with tamiflu tablets and nurses trained to tackle the influx of patients. The sooner this is done the safer we will be.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Should cricketers be subjected to dope tests

There is a raging controversy going on with regards to subjecting our cricketers to dope tests. Doping is the bane of all competitive sports and the world sports bodies have agreed to accept the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) compliance requirements. The question is whether cricket is a competitive sport or it is a game played by a few select nations. It is a pretence at competition because large amounts of money involved because of the clout of the BCCI and the cricket fanatics in India. The money drives the so called spirit of competition – ask any cricketer who stands at third man or long leg all day long with the ball coming to him maybe once or twice in an entire innings whether he was physically stressed!

If the cricketing community thinks theirs is a competitive sport then there should be no objections to be tested for drug abuse. The only reason these guys may be objecting is because they may be taking life style drugs for stress relief – who knows! There are enough cases of drug abuse by cricketers – not performance enhancing drugs but the other kind – which give people a high - on record for the cricketers to adopt an holier than thou attitude. For once, I am in sync M.S. Gill’s view that there should be no exception to the rule and all sportspersons, regardless of the sport / game should be tested for doping.

Clauses like the whereabouts clause can always be negotiated with WADA, there is no reason for BCCI to use its financial clout to completely by-pass something which is good for sport internationally. The BCCI’s demand for an independent anti-doping code lacks credibility – it looks like the BCCI is aware of the skeletons in its cricketer cup-board, hence would prefer to bully its way out of a sticky situation.

It would be best if cricket is de-recognized if cricketers as an international sport if the players or their parent bodies refuse to submit to such tests.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Television’s two controversial programs

I have been asked by quite a few friends as to why I have stopped writing – apparently they are missing their daily fix from reading the blog – this is quite encouraging, hence I have decided to write again, but try and give a positive spin to whatever I write. This is because whatever I wrote ended up in criticism of the system with my thoughts for improvement thrown in. The first thought which came to my mind was to write about the current two controversial shows on TV – “Sach ka Saamna” and “Rakhee ka Swayamwar”. I have not watched either of these shows, but I have my views on them, for better or for worse.

At the outset let me say that the program “Sach Ka Saamna” attracts people who derive vicarious pleasure in seeing strangers squirm in the hot seat. My view is that this copy of the American show “The Moment of Truth” is nothing but a crude attempt at buying participants with titillating or sensationalistic question-answer sessions by awarding prize money to the participants. I am sure the participants – whether male or female – discuss amongst themselves the likely questions and answers and decide to participate – even though it brings shame to the family (in the Indian context) because along with the shame comes oodles of money – and time will take care of the shame. Out of sight is always out of mind – and money buys everything anyways in today’s society – one mans meat is another mans poison as the saying goes. The moot question is whether people will be willing to share their peccadilloes if the money offered was piffling – or this was a cultural show where truth must prevail has any social bearing or impact. In fact, if such a show needs to be aired, then the target participants should be industrialists, film star, bureaucrats, politicians, sportspersons, etc who have influence and an impact on society. Exposing such people on the program could possibly help in improving governance and exposing hidden scams – but I am sure this will be too hot for the media channels to handle. Everything is business – and what sells is what people want to see.

The other show which is making waves and attracting eyeballs is “Rakhi ka Swayamwar” – this is another show in which viewers get to see some kind of titillation with the effervescent Rakhi interviewing and rejecting various participants and then sort listing the one she would get engaged to! Well, if people get excited by watching such drivel, then I guess the media channels are dishing out programs which carry the flavor of the day. Today, it is Rakhi’s engagement, tomorrow it could be her “wedding”, then God knows what, finally culminating in a “divorce”. I personally do not think a “marriage” carried out in full view of the public is going to last – if it does I will be very happy. This is a “marriage” made for the moolah it is dishing out – it is money for making a spectacle out of one’s self – so if there is any sanctity in the institution of this marriage I have yet to see it.

The noise the public (so called social workers) and Parliament have made over these programs is something which I have failed to understand. By giving unwanted publicity to the shows, these guys have actually pushed people who would normally not watch these shows into watching them. What I fail to understand is that these shows are on pay channels, which you are free not to subscribe to and if you have subscribed to it you are free to not watch these particular programs. I fail to see why our august Parliamentarians should get all excited and talk about self-regulation for the media or talk about setting up a media regulatory authority! In a democracy – especially in a mature one (I personally think we have matured) – I do not see any reason why the government should interfere as long as the content is not downright degrading or morally perverse. The concept of freedom of choice should prevail – freedom to the media to telecast what they think would attract the relevant eyeballs and freedom to the viewer to decide whether he/she wants to watch the programs which are dished out. Ultimately, if the viewers decide that the content is not good, the programs won’t go on air as they won’t attract the kind of viewer ship which will give the media channels the TRPs to pull in the ad revenue. My view is it is a free country and the good and bad can easily be decided by the paying public, as long as the programs do not become downright vulgar!