No Country for Women:

Despite being born and raised in a small town, never did my parents, school, friends or family friends ever made me feel that I was a girl and hence not equal to a boy. We were all raised together simply as human beings. Its only when we shifted to Delhi that everything came crashing down on me and I realised that I was a woman first and hence I have to be extra careful of what I do, say and where I go. Life became restricted.

Over the years, I have travelled to almost all the states of India. Things have changed where connectivity and accessibility is concerned. What hasn’t changed however is each state’s attitude towards women. Here is my list of how safe each state is for women (in ascending order).  The list is based purely on my experiences and observations while travelling. 

Delhi & Haryana – Well, it’s better not to be born as girls here.  These two places are way below rock bottom when it comes to treatment of women. Here I had to be constantly on guard whether I was home or outside. Right from your landlord who comes to your house in your parent’s absence on the pretext of checking, to a cyclist coming from the opposite direction, to autowalas who wants to take the secluded route home, to random strangers on bikes who would follow you for 10kms, to the uncle living next door who looks you up and down, this place will make you feel like shrivelling up and die or hide behind layers and layers of cloth. Even guys who are your friends or colleagues will never offer to drop you home at night once they know that they don’t stand a chance with you (in you know what...). I firmly believe that here if you drape a pole with a sari, somebody will still try and molest the pole thinking it to be woman.     

Kerala – Men on the street will look you up and down, slowly and deliberately making you conscious of every part of your body especially if you dress up differently than the women there i.e. in sari, salwar kurta and oiled hair in plait. The women looked mostly cowed down and even the woman in a business suit reading news on a local channel sounded and looked apologetic.

UP & Bihar (and now Jharkhand also) – The story here is of power and ego rather than lust (unlike the above). The same power and ego which makes them feel that what they say and do is right and they are above law. Everybody else should know their importance including of course the women. An example – when I asked one driver not to honk so much, he said it’s his car and he will do what he feels like.    

Punjab – I have never stayed here but passed it on my way north. People here are nice, warm and helpful but somehow the loudness and aggression never made me feel comfortable.

West Bengal – Apart from North Bengal, I didn’t find the rest of Bengal particularly nice. Yes, the women here are more equal to men than most other states, but the men are opportunists (for the lack of a better word in English).

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, AP (in that order) – I feel that here people are attitude wise more progressive and disciplined than the rest of India. But they live strictly by traditional and societal rules and perceptions. If you can stay within that, you will largely be okay. For example – there were women ticket collectors and conductors in buses and train way back in 2004, something which you can’t see anywhere else even now; but dressing up in tight tops then was not considered right. AP was a pleasant surprise for me and I felt at ease most of the time there.

MP & Chhattisgarh – Apart from the naxal belt and the gun totting people of Gwalior, its quiet comfortable being here. People are very simple hearted and helpful.     

Gujarat & Rajasthan – Being born in a family in Rajasthan is perhaps not good because it’s steeped with prejudices about women and their roles. But as an outsider, you will never be shunned or man handled. This was something I had perceived way back in 1989-90 (on a school trip) and continues to hold largely true even now.

Assam – Yes, it is safe despite that horrendous episode with the teenager. I am quiet suspicious that most men involved were unemployed or semi-literate with heavy influence from the neighbouring states.

Maharashtra & Goa – One of the best states for a girl to travel alone. Here people will just let you be and you can be yourself without any fear.

All the Himalayan States – From the conflict torn Kashmir to Sikkim (especially Sikkim), people are just awesome and wonderful. You can travel to remote corners without even looking once over your shoulder. I can trust them blindly. Safety however becomes an issue sometimes - not from its people but tourists from other states mainly Delhi.

Arunachal – For me this state has been the best experience so far. It’s here that I have felt like a human being rather than being genetically defined. I am as equal as anybody else. People (read tourists) who have been there say it’s not like India. I whole heartedly agree. As a tribal state, the attitude and thinking of the people are way ahead than the rest of India. I haven’t been to any other NE states but I have a sneaky feeling, all of them are just as good as Arunachal in that respect.

(*Orissa – People say lots of things have changed now, but all I can remember of this state was its extreme and heart wrenching poverty)

My father had told us long time ago that only those families and countries prosper which respects its women. Considering that most states are way behind in this aspect, we as a country have a really long way to go.

Why is Development always at the cost of Environment and People?

Well, can somebody please tell me how razing down an entire ecosystem (also called the Western Ghats) and building more than 400 industries, mines, SEZs, power plants etc in a narrow strip of land equal to ‘development’?  

Lots of money in a few pockets, yes. But development?  No way.

Why, u may ask. India needs more industries, more jobs, more markets, more money etc etc. Plus we do have to look after the ‘poor’ communities who live in the folds of these Ghats, don’t we?

Let me give you two examples and then I will let you decide.

In the Lote Industrial Area of Khed Block in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, over 377 industries have been set up. Out of these, 177 industries are fully functional and 53 of these are chemical plants which have been using the Dhabol creek to dump its chemical waste in. Till a few decades ago one could find more than 120 varieties of fish from the river systems here but now none exists. According to local fishermen who once used to live a comfortable life, the creek and river system is so polluted that they themselves don’t eat fish caught from anywhere in the region. The pollution has spread to the fields where even the growth of alphanso mangoes has decreased. And these fishermen are traditional fishermen who have no other skills, hence no jobs in these terrible plants as well for compensation. So from a life of abundance, they are now struggling to cope.

                                                          (fishermen at the konkan coast)

Sindhudurg is a tiny strip of land, all of 5207sqkms just before Goa. It’s one of the 18 bio-diversity hotspots of the world and is an elephants’ corridor as well. For me, this place represents a perfect piece of paradise, a unique example of how humans and nature can live harmoniously each benefitting from the other.

Most villages in the region are self sufficient as they get everything from the forest and land itself. Their main sources of livelihood are cashew nut plantation, areca nuts, pepper and coconut. Vegetables, rice, millet, chillies, jackfruits etc is grown here for their own usage. The villagers here joke that apart from tea and sugar, they do not need to buy anything. And no, they do not cut down trees to clear land for farming. Instead, they look for flat land near water bodies or natural streams where they can farm. Cutting down trees is not allowed and each village has a sacred grove or ‘devrai’ where not even a leaf is plucked. Each grove has its own animal god as its reigning deity.

                                                             (a Devrai in Sawantwadi)

                                                                (Areca nut plantation)

The people of the villages have even demarcated areas for grazing of cattle in different seasons, so that a particular area is not overgrazed and gets time to regenerate. Here the forest is not owned by the state government but by the village community themselves. On an average, a village of about 350 members often earn around Rs. 1.25 crores every year. People here are well off, women are educated and all children go to school. Well, can anyone ask for more?

It seems the state government does.

60% of this tiny strip of fertile land with happy people has been notified by the state government as mining zone. There are 49 mining and 19 power projects planned in the region. Around 17 mines are already operational dumping waste in people’s farms and polluting crystal clear rivers, the regions only water source. The funniest part is that these companies (all of which have violated their Environment Impact Assessments) have approached the communities with offers of jobs!!! Why would anyone need a job when you are getting aplenty at your doorstep through nature.  

India has three main watersheds which provide water to the whole of the country. The first of course is the Himalayas, the second is the Satpuda Range in Central India and the third is our very own Western Ghats which provide water throughout the year to states starting from Gujarat to Kerala. The region is thickly forested with so many varieties of unique plants, trees and animal life that it’s virtually mindboggling. Yes, there are way too many people who are not bothered with what happens to these plants and animals. But you destroy this eco-system and the main sufferers will ultimately be us; because you are destroying a whole watershed region of the country.

Yes, mining and other power projects are required for ‘development’. But we as a country do not have enough integrity to distinguish between working for real development or just for money.  Each state government needs to think strategically about the future - of how much to take and how much to preserve.

On second thoughts, that might just never happen.     

A Fool’s Paradise:

Demographic Dividend.

How I hate the term.

To the uninitiated, this term was lapped up by politicians, economists and probably all rights based NGOs when they realised long ago that India can never be able to control the country’s population from growing despite setting goals. Taking advantage of the media brouhaha about the shining status of our country, they happily threw sand into people’s eyes by explaining how we are a nation of ‘young workforce’ who will lead the country to be the next superpower.
And we as a nation of gullible or rather hopeful lot, believed every word of it and happily added numbers to that ‘young workforce’.

If it were a country where all systems worked well, the rise in population could still work out to its advantage. However this is India, where most systems have failed, more than half its 1.2 billion population lives in rural areas and around 40% of its people are still poor, farmers who produce food for us are left with no food for themselves, children are still uneducated and grossly malnourished, youths have next to no option for any skill development or jobs, women are still not economically independent and old people have no safety net to live the rest of their lives with dignity. Now imagine adding more people to such a scenario.

Demographics in India is like walking on a knife’s edge...it’s just a matter of time when one slips and gets bloodied.  Anybody who doesn’t see it still, is living in a fool’s paradise. I do not understand the complexities of politics and economy, but as a worried citizen I feel that things will not improve unless we bring in drastic reduction in population growth, change in the way the country is governed and save whatever natural resources is left in this country. 

Our country’s wealth is limited and natural resources finite. The only person who seems to have understood this and its repercussions was Sanjay Gandhi. And perhaps we missed a great opportunity with him of setting things straight for this country.

There! Dear all (human) rights based NGOs, misguiding politicians and optimistic citizens, I have said it aloud and in the open.

Let the brickbats begin.