Dustbin chained to a post at one of the university bus stop. Its funny how they are scarce!

What moves me...

Inculcating a sense of acceptance in the society has driven the youth to an extent where they forget who they are. I get deeply moved looking at the number of divorce cases happening everyday in our Indian society. The trend seems to be picking up and I am not here to criticize the lot. What concerns me are the children whose families are divided and therefore the bond which they create with other materialistic things to seek comfort is what should be looked into.

Seeing people in my family going though such a phase, I can only relate to the child. The child feels miserable and devastated going through a split where the love will be distributed like a commodity. ‘How does it matter if I cry or smile? What will happen if I don’t come back home?’ Simple doubts like these start to infiltrate their mind. They isolate themselves to seek inner soul, but what results this into, is depression.

By isolating oneself might give more comfort but it only increases the risk of being an antisocial person. Children whose parents are going through a split try to gain attention by creating all sorts of havoc.

But we are not here to talk about the cause and symptoms. Looking around us, we should not sympathise but support them and encourage. As a child, drain out all the negative thoughts, and look at the brighter side of life which is waiting for you.

Scribbles Diary

I was wondering...how do we judge people. I mean, on what basis are we as humans judging another human for the same actions! According to every constitution in the world, we have the right to speak and have the freedom of expression. But why look at the legality of this matter! After all it is 'us' who made the entire legal system.

Why not go beyond this and try to understand the basic human communication force, which could possibly solve the entire issues of terrorism. I don't quite know if this could be making any sense, but my point is that why cant we go back to our medieval system and have an inter personal communication. What is stopping us? We aren't any machines which are designed to fight. We are compelled by the same race to retaliate and act fierce for which humans are to be blamed. As far as the communication is concerned, with the advent of tough manipulative mass media, it is becoming very difficult to find your self. Our opinion is being controlled by the decision makers who technically rule the society. After all, class less society can never really exist!

AFSPA: A harsh lash or a solution?

Hundreds of people have died in clashes between police and protesters in the North East and Kashmir. The ongoing fight has devastated the most flourished lands in India. As citizens, how much do we care about the bloodshed? Are we even aware of what their plight is? Or has this become a regular thing for us!

What started as a small protest (which one coz there is so many, specific) became a three month long affair of violence and tension in the Kashmir Valley. It got further fuelled by the desecration of the Quran by protesters in New York. The fact that religion played a crucial part and exploited the issue to a great extent made matters worse and brought down the trust between the public and government. Looking at the present condition, dialogue is no longer the solution.

One proposal by the government to curb out the violence was to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from most parts of Kashmir. After the all-party meeting on Sept. 15th in New Delhi, the Centre decided to send a delegation of political parties to the State to meet all sections of the people and assess the ground situation. The meeting failed to arrive at any consensus on partial withdrawal or dilution of the AFSPA. But before we get into the details, let us first look at a brief introduction of AFSPA and why it was implemented.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act of 1958 (AFSPA) is one of the more harsh legislations that the Indian Parliament has passed in its 45 years of Parliamentary history. Under this Act, all security forces are given unrestricted and unaccounted power to carry out their operations, once an area is declared disturbed. Even a non-commissioned officer is granted the right to shoot to kill based on mere suspicion that it is necessary to do so in order to ‘maintain the public order.’

As a matter of fact, according to the Indian Constitution the AFSPA violates Article 21-Right to life; Protection against arrest and detention-Article 22; the military gets immunity as they are protected from arrest for anything within the line of official duty by Section 45 of The Indian Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Section 6 of the AFSPA provides them with absolute immunity for all atrocities committed under the AFSPA. So if a person wishes to file a suit against a member of the armed forces for abuses under the AFSPA, he/she must first seek the permission of the Central Government. It becomes difficult to state ones opinion about decision that will decide the fate of not just one but seven other states in North East India. Keeping in mind the historical background of Kashmir and the North-Eastern states and their struggle, many people have sacrificed their lives for this struggle. We need to respect that sentiment. The government needs to see the current problem in a larger picture.

If the AFSPA is not repealed, it must at least be altered to an extent that the civilians get back their rights. This means that the powers to ‘shoot to kill’ under section 4(a) must be revoked. Arrests must be made with warrants and no force should be allowed. Person arrested under the Act should be handed over to the police within twenty-four hours. Individuals who suffer abuses at the hands of the security forces may prosecute their abusers. Armed forces should not be allowed to arrest or carry out any procedure on suspicion alone. All their actions should have an objective basis so that they can be judicially reviewed.

Should there be Student politics on Campus

The article is entirely based on the results of the poll. Goes with what the majority thinks.

In a recent poll on the question, ‘Do you think that campus politics is good?’ conducted by the UoH Dispatch online blog, 65 per cent of the student polled that there was a need to continue with the present system of elections on campus, only 25 per cent of them felt that the elections where unnecessary whereas 10 per cent of them did not have an opinion.

The question is slightly redundant due to the pronouncements of the Supreme Court as well as the Lyngdoh Committee report on Guidelines on Students’ Union Elections in Colleges/Universities constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

As per the Direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the poll would have been apt if the questions were, “Are elections on campus being conducted in a fair manner?”; “Are the elections helping the university in any manner?” or “Do the elected representatives functioning in an efficient manner?”

The very reason why the elections are conducted is to inculcate a sense of duty in the students or would be voters, future constituents of the nation and to help them understand the working of the democratic process. The basic premise of a Democracy is that its constituents/voters, who are bestowed with the right to elect their representatives, know the importance of this right and value it for the change it can bring in as well as script their destiny.

In this day when efficient governance is but a myth which is seen as something desirable, how do we expect people to believe in proper working of a democracy? How do we ensure that the lost confidence in their ability to bring about a change in the kind of politics of a nation can be restored? The simple answer is student politics.

A political science class only helps up to a point. But to see, feel and enjoy the change which can be brought about in the working of a university, a cleaner hostel or better food is truly inspiring which gives a better hope for the nation as a whole.

What can be done and should be done to ensure that the university politics does not interrupt the academic schedule of the university has been clearly detailed in the Report prepared by Mr. Lyngdoh. According to the report:

• Elections be held on a yearly basis and between six-to-eight weeks from the date of commencement of the academic session.
• Undergraduate students should be between the ages of 17 and 22 to contest elections. This age range can be appropriately relaxed in the case of professional Colleges. For Postgraduate Students age limit would be 24 to 25 years. For research students maximum age is 28 years.
• The candidate should have attained the minimum percentage of attendance as prescribed by the University.
• The candidate shall not have a previous criminal record or been subject to any disciplinary action by the University authorities.
• The maximum permitted expenditure per candidate shall be Rs. 5000.

All the recommendations were aimed at giving the first priority to academic activities as the Committee was clear that the academic institutions are meant for educational activities, not for politics.

‘SPECIAL RACIAL PROFILING’

We all know about the recent over hyped incident of Shah Rukh Khan experiencing “secondary detention” at Newark’s Liberty International Airport. But was it all that headlines managed to generate, or is it really a concern? Individuals born in certain countries, having Muslim names or just ‘look Muslim’ are often pulled up at US airports. According to the Americans, ‘looking Muslim’ means having brown skin! They are often asked about their religion, whether they hate the US government, and whether they have visited any mosques in the country. This kind of a ‘routine’ process often lasts for hours. 

Interestingly, people with no Muslim background, like the Sikhs, are also an easy target. Often they are asked to remove their turban and are pulled aside for “secondary screening.” It is personally humiliating and sets a negative example for the people to see a Sikh repeatedly pulled aside. Every foreign traveller arriving in the US has to go through ‘primary inspection.’ This basically involves, basic frisking and documentation check. If the CBP officer has doubts, the traveller is subjected for ‘secondary inspection.’ This could last for hours of intrusive questioning and extensive research, which is extremely humiliating. Laptops and luggage is inspected, in case you are carrying a religious book, information will be recorded and questions shall be asked about your religion. Sometimes laptops, cell phones, and cameras will be confiscated and copied. Questions, such as, ‘where do you pray’ and ‘what do you think of the war in Iraq,’ will be asked, which has absolutely no relevance and are completely unrelated to the individual. In this case even being an American citizen wouldn’t be of any help. 

It is not just the Muslims or the Sikhs, but South Asians are routinely profiled. African American taxi drivers are pulled over by the police for paper check. This creates a sense of fear among the public to travel during the dark. Arabs and Latinos are also suspected usually for travelling without proper documents, and hence are subjected for secondary inspection. The concern now is that the burden of “secondary inspection” is not being shared equally by all the travellers. People are unfairly treated and feel targeted. People don’t know what their rights are and don’t realize when they are being violated. There has to be more awareness on this aspect, which the government has to fulfill.

This steady pattern of discrimination can give rise to several security issues that the US government has been hiding. The question now is, the way the US government treats its foreign travellers, will this improve relations between the US and rest of the world, or further create tension and agitation.