The last decade has seen an exponential increase in women occupying top positions in marketing in businesses, the world over. Indeed the gender-wise representation shows a marked spike in marketing positions for women, as compared to other executive positions in the industry.
The list of the 29 most influential CMOs (Chief Marketing Officers) in the world (Business Insider, October 2012) has 14 women taking up just under half the spots. Interestingly, these women were evenly distributed throughout instead of simply being clustered at the bottom, with three of them in the top ten. Another ranking by iMedia on the top Internet Marketing Leaders and Innovators 2012 has 6 women in the top 10.
This heartening trend of larger numbers of women CMOs holds good in India Inc as well.
Dipika Warrier (Executive Director Marketing, Pepsi), Nadia Chauhan Kurup (CMO, Parle Agro), Tanya Dubash (Chief Brand Officer, Godrej Industries), Kainaz Gazder (Marketing Director, P&G India), Anuradha Aggarwal (Sr VP Brand Communication, Vodafone) and Virginia Sharma (Director Marketing, IBM) are excellent examples of this.
Of the 50 women awarded at the IMPACT 50 Most Influential Women Awards 2012, 19 of them were from the field of marketing.
Vinita Bali (MD, Britannia) and Sangeeta Pendurkar (MD, Kellogg India Pvt Ltd), among Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women, started their careers as marketing professionals and successfully held CMO positions before taking over as chief.
Fortunately, the diversity of the industries and the size of the companies these women represent leave absolutely no room for stereotyping!
This brings us to the next question: Are these listings coincidental or are they indicative of any gender-specific strength that makes women naturally good marketers? The stereotypical explanations are that women like softer subjects like marketing and design and hence gravitate towards marketing.
In my view, the truth is probably that women possess two strengths in greater measure – empathy and intuition.
Built for Empathy
Selling to customers is done on one of two bases: Rational or Emotional. Rational selling works on the assumption that the company truly has a superior product that consumers clearly agree is superior and there is a reasonable reason to believe that the product will retain its superiority and differentiation. Emotional selling relies on building emotional bonds and inspiring loyalty from its consumers. Both these approaches are equally justified.
For example, Procter & Gamble relies mostly on rational selling, while Nike, Starbucks and Red Bull take the emotional route.
Today’s marketplace is over-crowded, and assaults the consumer with infinite choices and a million legitimate alternatives. Psychologists and economists argue that this overload of options is actually paralyzing people and pushing them into decisions that are not the most rational ones. Instead, decisions are taken emotionally.
Marketers need to be able to get into the heads of their consumers, understand their beliefs, empathize with their needs, and then structure their strategies to build long-term relationships. In this context, marketing is essentially a challenge of understanding.
Women’s brains have been found to have a deeper limbic system, the area of the brain associated with emotions and emotional responses to situations.
According to extensive scientific findings, women’s brains are the default for all of us. For the first eight weeks of our existence in the womb we all have a female brain. Then, the sex hormones take over. In the case of boys, a huge surge in fetal testosterone results in the destruction of cells in the communication centers of the brain and the growth of cells in the sex and aggression centers. Meanwhile the female fetus, devoid of the surge in male hormones, continues to grow unaltered.
This leads to significantly different brains. Women’s brains emerge as superior organs for communication and emotional understanding. From an early age, girls display much greater sensitivity to the suffering of others, than boys. And in adult life, they have a greater ability to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. Baby girls, even as young as 12 months old, respond more empathetically to the distress of other people. When girls and boys were asked to judge when someone might have said something potentially hurtful, girls score higher than boys from the age of seven.
Women are also more sensitive to facial expressions. They are better at decoding non-verbal communication, picking up subtle nuances from tone of voice or facial expression, or judging a person’s character.
All this points to women, in general, exhibiting greater emotional empathy – the kind of empathy that fosters rapport, relationship and chemistry – a critical skill for the marketer.
Naturally intuitive
Today, marketers ‘know’ more than ever before. Millions of dollars are spent on market research, to collect information on customer’s needs, purchase patterns, spending behavior, preferences etc. With social media analytics, big data and social listening tools, marketers not only know what customers are saying, but they also know what customers actually mean when they say or do something. This data drives all marketing decisions.
But amidst all this data-worship, critics insist that data cannot trump intuition. In fact, data must be examined in the context of one’s experiences and intuition.
Many of the products that we commonly use today, the computer, the iPod, or chunky tomato pasta sauce, all came through visionary intuition of their inventors, not by the expressed need of the consumers.
The left half of our brain controls order and logical thinking, and the right half of our brain deals with emotions and creativity. The connecting pathway between the two hemispheres, the corpus callosum, is often wider in women than in men. This suggests that there is possibly a higher level of intercommunication between the two hemispheres, more transitions back and forth in women when compared to men. This greater interaction between logic and emotions is often referred to as ‘woman’s intuition’.
Xerox CMO Christa Carone describes a recent “major repositioning effort” for the company essentially as a result of a gut feeling. “It’s impossible to measure squishier, meaningful intangibles, such as human emotion, personal connection and the occasional “ahhhh” moment. Those things often come with a marketer’s intuition, and they deliver big-time.”
Summarizing…
While it is fair to conclude that women have a genetic advantage in fields such as marketing, it is important to remember that is not so much about the gender advantage as it is about the typical ‘male’ and ‘female’ traits in the brain. We live in a world of approximations. So while it is not accurate to claim that all women are better than all men at marketing, it is reasonable to say that a successful marketer would probably have more “female” traits, such as empathy and intuition, than others. By definition, women possess these in greater measure than men.
The strength of a woman has been paraphrased by Gandhiji thus, “Has she not greater intuition, ….has she not greater courage? ….Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?”
In India’s present atmosphere of competitive symbolism, finance minister’s announcement of a women’s bank didn’t spring any surprise.
It doesn’t matter if it’s going to really help women or not, but at the expense of some short change (Rs 1000 crore), P Chidambaram has tried to add some oomph to otherwise staid phrases such as “women’s empowerment” and “inclusive financing”.
Whether they got the entire plot right or not, some women’s organisations have even welcomed the move.
If the finance minister and the UPA were indeed serious about women’s empowerment and inclusive financing, they didn’t have to invent anything new, but to look inward. One of our greatest national institutions, the India Post, has the right infrastructure, plans and decades of experience to translate this intent into action.
And the government would need to spend only half this money and start with absolutely no boot-up time.
Before going further, let’s ask Chidambaram, a few fundamental questions about his fancy women’s bank.
Will this bank for women serve the entire country? If yes, how long will it take to roll out across the length and breadth of India? Will it go to the hinterlands, where bulk of our disempowered and un-creditworthy women live? What is that “extra” which will make it work even when nationalised banks and micro-credit institutions are struggling to “include” people at scale in rural areas? Most importantly, will banking rules change for women’s inclusiveness or in simple words, will you lend without collateral? Will you have door-to-door women-agents who will help illiterate and home-bound women bank?
A similar effort in Pakistan (only in terms of the name – women’s bank), which looks like the idea that the UPA has borrowed from, doesn’t inspire much. All that Pakistan’s First Woman Bank (FWB), could achieve so far in the last 14 years of its existence is 38 branches. And its visage is quite corporatish.
Now let’s look at the banking services of the Indian postal system that should have been Chidambaram’s choice for helping women.
It has 154, 979 (yes, more than 1.54 lakh branches) post offices, out of which nearly 90 per cent are in rural areas. Each post office is a veritable bank, which has been running something called Post Office Savings Bank for decades.
People who grew up in rural areas without banks, or in places where petty bankers were too highhanded to entertain the illiterate villagers, know where to go for the safe-keep of their precious money: that little window at their neighbourhood post office.
It’s not a long trek to the post office. There is a post office for every 7176 people in the country. In rural areas, the coverage is even better – one for every 5682 people. When the UPA government was struggling to find a way to transfer the wages for NREGA beneficiaries, it was this network that came to its rescue. About 2.2 crore people get their NREGA payments through the post offices.
People in rural and semi-urban areas who are familiar with the post office savings banks also know that it is the most women-friendly and inclusive banking system where agents even come home to take your money, update your passbooks and even return the money on maturation.
In rural areas, there are about 2.69 lakh agents (Grameen Dak Sevaks) who come home to help people, mostly women, with banking. Almost all these agents are also people from the neighbourhood and are familiar with the beneficiaries. It is a unique banking eco-system that only Indian Post can claim credit for. It is a model that has evolved over time and is very hard to replicate because it is driven by the sheer needs of people, and nourished by trust and relationships.
It’s impossible to find another system, than the Indian Post, that has such penetration and coverage anywhere in the world. Unarguably, there is no other network of such scale. Although they are not directly involved in financial transactions, how many of us know that each postman is obliged to know every household, right up to the doorstep, in his locality?
And this is where, the UPA is coming up with its idea of a bank for women and financial inclusion. Why do we need a new system, that will take at least a few decades under the best circumstances to spread out, when we can easily strengthen and expand a functioning network?
More over, while announcing the all-women bank, the UPA hasn’t told us many things, which really makes one doubt its intentions.
The most important is that the Indian Post has not only thought of converting its savings bank network into a complete banking system, but also has taken concrete steps. Its proposal is to set up a Post Bank of India and is all ready to apply for a banking license by July under the new RBI guidelines.
At present, the post office savings banks are only about savings and do not offer credit and other services which are essential to make them real banks, and work more inclusively. The main idea behind the Post Bank of India is to make available the entire range of banking services. The Department of Posts has even hired consultants to prepare an application to the RBI for its bank.
But being a government department, this progressive move will require cabinet approval. According to highly placed sources, Kapil Sibal, who is responsible for the department, is very keen on this idea and has been pushing for it for some time. Anybody with a modicum of sincerity on inclusive and women-friendly banking should have gone to town with it and celebrated it big time.
Instead, the finance ministry kept it away from us and is trying to roll out a totally superfluous system with no guarantee for results.
The Post Bank of India, is an idea that is born out of sheer experience and necessity, and its bonafide right to run a banking network. Let’s look at some more numbers.
The savings banks scheme has a whopping cash balance of about Rs. 6 lakh crore and about Rs. 22.5 crore accounts. It also includes more than a million of senior citzens’ savings schemes. The most striking part of this is that 89 per cent of it serve the country’s rural areas. Significantly, all this money is lent to state governments (its main source of public borrowing) and not to loss-making airline companies.
The postal system also runs a low-premium Postal Life Insurance scheme serving about 1.69 crore people. In the last two years, the Department has invested about 10-20 per cent of the premiums in mutual funds with considerable success. Its portfolio managers are as good or better than that of the regular banks.
Kapil Sibal and his team has done their home-work in preparation for the Bank very well. At present, the department is rolling out the IT-backbone for Core Banking Solutions (CBS), which will enable account holders use ATM cards in any part of India, transfer money across branches and do other transactions. The backbone is being laid by none less than the IT-major, Infosys.
In a nutshell, everything is ready for a headstart to roll out perhaps the world’s biggest inclusive and women-friendly government banking network.
But then, banking is the hallowed preserve of the finance ministry. That is Chidambaram and his elite officers of the Banking Division in the ministry. Why should Kapil Sibal get into banking? Let him have his five minutes of glory by releasing commemorative stamps!
Who cares if people, much less women, benefit or not. It’s all about symbolism. And it will continue to keep India the poorest super power in the world.
Social attitudes that put family 'honour' above the damage caused to children keep incest from being properly addressed. A recent surge in reports of incest is shedding more light on the difficulties in overcoming this.
The recent, Mira Road expose of a father's sexual abuse of his daughter for nine years has opened a Pandora's box of similar cases of incest across the country. Increasingly, this is also shedding light on the legal system's shortcomings in dealing with incest, as well as on social attitudes that hinder effective solutions.
The Indian legal statutes do not contain any specific provisions against incest. Many developed countries such as Britain, the US and Germany have strong laws against incest. UK, which made incest punishable in 1908, sets a prison term of 12 years for the offence. Punishment in the US varies from one state to another; extending to 20 years in the state of Massachusetts, while in Hawaii it is five years. Some countries have, however, abolished or diluted their laws against incest - this is invariably because many of them viewed sexual partnerships between closely related persons - even adults - as incestuous, and in recent years there has been some liberalisation of their views on this. Incest involving minors, on the other hand, is uniformly frowned upon in the developed world (and is also the specific focus of this article).
As everywhere else in the world, in India too incestuous conduct is almost never consensual. Instead, it is rooted in physical force as well as familiar and other power which the abuser uses to pressure his victim. Nor is child abuse by parents and other elders confined to a single political ideology or to one economic system. It transcends barriers of age, class, language, caste, community, sex and even family. The only commonality is power, which triggers and feeds incest in families. This power is multiplied several times over when the relationship between the abuser and the abused is of father and daughter. Disbelief, denial and cover-up to 'preserve the family reputation' are often then placed above the interests of the child and its abuse.
Some years ago, in a popular late-night legal-awareness television serial Bhramar, one episode explored the true case of a father impregnating his 14-year-old daughter after abusing her sexually for months together while the mother was forced to remain silent. For fear of a public scandal, the parents decided to poison the girl. The paternal grandfather, the sole witness to the murder, complained to the police. But the perpetrator went scot-free on the argument that he had other children to care for, and if he were to go to prison, they would be orphaned! When the criminal was set free, the older man left the home and was never seen again.
A report from RAHI, (Recovering and Healing from Incest), a Delhi-based NGO working with child sexual abuse titled Voices from the Silent Zone suggests that nearly three-quarters of upper and middle class Indian girls are abused by a family member - often by an uncle, a cousin or an elder brother. Anuja Gupta, founder-executive director of RAHI says, "Not legislating a strict punishment amounts to the law reiterating that it is not a serious issue. If stringent punishment were made legal, then it has to be accepted that incest exists. But we don't even want to admit that. It is treated more like an aberration so there is no harsh punishment. This is true across the world and it is a terrible truth to own up to."
A 1985 study by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences revealed that one out of three girls and one out of 10 boys had been sexually abused as a child. Fifty per cent of child sexual abuse happens at home. In 1996, Samvada, a Bangalore-based NGO, conducted a study among 348 girls. 15 per cent were used for masturbation mostly by male relatives when they were less than 10 years old. Seventy- five per cent of the abusers were adult family members.
Vidya Reddy, who runs Tulir-CPHCSA (Centre for Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse) in Chennai, says, "Most people imagine abusers to be shadowy and frightening strangers with a psychiatric disorder. In fact, often an abuser is a 'regular' person who leads a 'routine' life and is known to the victim, but has no inhibition or qualms over having sex with children." This was proved to be true in the Mira Road case. Neighbours and local residents who know Chauhan well were shocked because he appeared to be a decent and well-behaved person.
Women's rights activist and lawyer Flavia Agnes opines, "In most cases of sexual abuse, it is the father who is responsible for the heinous crime. He is the custodian of the child. So a case of custodial rape should also look at the father as a suspect. Somewhere, we do not want to interfere with our family values and choose to keep quiet about such cases." The tight-knit family structure, the domineering role of the fathers and uncles, the submissiveness of women who are mute witnesses to gross injustice and the ingrained tendency not to allow "family shame" to be exposed whatever the cost, are factors that help the abusers get away with it all.
But there are those who disagree with this view. One expert with a contrary view is Mohammad Abdul Kalam, professor of Anthropology at the University of Madras who says that cases of incest should be seen as individual perversions and believes that stricter laws would not bring down incest in Indian society.
Legal lacuna
What Ramalingam does not say is that the same father cannot be held under the law for anything called 'incest.' Indian laws do not even recognize incest as a crime, though rape and sexual abuse, especially of minors, are serious crimes relating to incest. The Delhi High Court is considering framing guidelines for conducting investigation and prosecution in crimes relating to incest, in the wake of several incest cases surfacing at present. But Ramalingam believes that the existing laws would suffice to punish the perpetrators of crimes like incest and CSA (criminal sexual assault).
Child rights activists have long been demanding a more clearly defined law to prosecute perpetrators of incest. In 1983, the law against rape was amended to include policemen, hospital and prison staff who abused women in their custody which amounted to custodial rape. But it did not include sexually abusive fathers, whose sexual abuse of a daughter is the worst form of custodial rape.
Legal Loopholes
- There is no central law on child abuse.
- Laws dealing with sexual offences do not specifically address child sexual abuse.
- The India Penal Code 1860 does not recognise child abuse. Only rape and sodomy can lead to criminal conviction.
- Anything less than rape, as defined by the law, amounts to 'outraging the modesty.' These laws are already problematic when applied to adult women. They are even more difficult when applied to children.
- While sec. 376 IPC seeks to provide redress against rape to women, it rarely covers the broad range of sexual abuse (particularly of children), that actually takes place.
- Most of these forms of abuse are sought to be covered under sec. 354 of the Indian Penal Code as a violation of a woman's modesty. Though offences under Sec. 354 of the IPC are cognizable, they are also bailable, allowing the perpetrator to abscond before the case comes up in court.
- The Juvenile Justice Act, amended and rewritten in 2000, makes no attempt to identify sexual abuse on children. Sec. 23 of the Act deals with assault, exposes, willful neglect, mental and physical suffering, for which imprisonment prescribed, is only for 6 months.
- Section 5 of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1956 prescribes punishment of not less than 7 years for inducing a child into prostitution, but does not directly address child abuse.
- The word 'rape' within law, is too specific because it does not include abuse on boys.
- 'Intercourse' is often interpreted to mean with an 'adult' and almost always implies 'consensual' sex.
Supporting the victim
Sudha Ramalingam, lawyer and activist with the People's Union for Civil Liberties points out that if a father perpetrates abuse on his daughter, he could be arrested for custodial offences. "But in a society like India, the family wants to protect both the perpetrator and the victim. That is why most of such crimes go unnoticed. They are anxious to protect the child's future and safeguard the reputation of the family. The psychological and physical impact it would have on a child is rarely taken into consideration."
Says Delhi-based senior consulting psychiatrist Dr. Sanjay Chugh, "child sexual abuse often comes to light when childhood histories are explored and in most cases the perpetrator is a known person who is close to the family or inside the family." He is concerned about the effect of incest on the victim. "The psychological harm on the victim is massive as it evokes doubts, raises questions for which answers are not easy to get. The victim may suppress emotions or be filled with feelings of rage, guilt and shame. It is difficult for such victims to trust others later on in life. The victim needs to stand up for himself/herself and not to allow the trauma to make them psychologically and socially weak. Active social support from family, friends, guidance centres and counsellors can bring the victim's faith in the goodness of human beings back," he explains.
"People need to realize and accept incest as a part of our society that happens in every socio-economic group. Closing our eyes and getting into the denial mode will not make the problem go away. We need to spread the word at a mass level where people are made aware not only about its existence but also about the help available. Workshops in schools and colleges that highlight such problems should be conducted for children and teachers to become more sensitized. Parents need to be educated about how they can protect their children or help those who have suffered. We need to take the responsibility of educating each other, reaching out to each other and take active steps to stop this physical, psychological and social pain that gets inflicted upon innocent lives," Dr. Chugh sums up.
Incest, he says, will persist as long as the collective conspiracy of silence within the family, the state and the society allows it to go on.
Too little for the little ones
The provisions in the laws for tackling paedophilia as well as the incestuous abuse of children are far from adequate.
In a span of 15 days, Goa has seen four cases of heinous child abuse, and once again a problem long known to exist is in the spotlight. The state is now witnessing an alarming rise in sexual abuse against children in the 7-16 age group. The recent arrests and investigation by social groups reveal that more than 10,000 paedophiles visit the coastal state every year and molest children, especially brought for the trade from Karnataka. Recent cases prove that many foreigners implicated in this exploitation lure children with expensive gifts and money. They also buy gifts for the families of the children, to convince them to let the young ones stay with them. But the exploitation is also Indian, and not limited to crimes committed by tourists.
The first of the recent cases is especially shocking. A 9-year-old girl was alleged raped by an Italian, aged 56 years, a frequent traveler to Goa. Navhind Times reported earlier this month that it is now believed that he has been abusing many children for over 10 years. A popular host to many parties, he used a perviously abused girl to procure a child as a domestic servant in his house. It is alleged that he raped her for three days continuously after tying her hands and legs, and that he performed forced anal sex on the little one.
A shameful history
Foreign paedophiles are not new to Goa; it is well known that many visit tourist destinations around the world for a few months every year, usually in the months corresponding with winter in their country of residence. In Goa, tourist agents involved in the racket provide information on beaches to visit, and how to find and approach potential targets. The 'channawalla' or the 'ice cream seller' on the beaches acts as a pimp. In some cases, a child lives with the paedophile in his room, with the knowledge of the proprietors of the hotel or guesthouse. A number of impoverished families from the nomadic Lamani tribe as well as from villages in northern Karnataka are engaged in vending wares on the beach. Their children inevitably interact with foreign tourists lounging on the beach, providing an easy and regular avenue for exploitation.
The history of this crime in the state is long, and as a result Goa is destined to become the child sexual abuse capital of the world, having already attained that status within India. The first 10-year long racket of paedophilia came to light in 1991. Freddy Peats, the aged mastermind, is presently serving life imprisonment in Goa along with his accomplice, New Zealander Eoghan Colm McBride, also into his sixties. Interestingly he enjoyed the respect of the people of Margao for his supposed dedication to the welfare of poor children. Five of his partners from Australia, Sweden, Bangkok, Germany and France are still absconding.
The state's response to these crimes has been appallingly indifferent; Peats' conviction was a rare prosecutorial success in an ocean of neglect and failures. More typically, cases are rarely brought, and almost never concluded properly. A good example of this is the case of John Colin Middleton, a 71 year-old Briton, who was arrested on 19 March 2001 from a guest house where he was found with three children he brought with him from Nepal. He was alleged to have served a sentence for a previous conviction for sodomy with a child in New Zealand. Middleton was released on bail on 23 March 2001. His passport was later returned to him and the case against him was declared 'closed'. Such arbitrary waivers of prosecution and punishment are common.
The legal picture
Paedophilia, or Child Sexual abuse [CSA], is the physical or mental violation of a child with sexual intent, usually by an older person who is in some position of trust and/or power, vis-Ã -vis the child. The term paedophile refers to any adult who habitually seeks the company of a child/children for the gratification of his/her sexual needs. A child is defined variously by different Indian laws. In this article, a child is defined by age - as anyone below the age of 18 years - as per the definition contained in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Child sexual abuse occurs in three ways typically: incestuous abuse (i.e. by family members of victims), sexual abuse by strangers, and child prostitution. In conservative societies, as ours is, incest is less likely to be reported to the police, because of fear of social disgrace. Families often chooses to 'resolve' the issue privately because they view it as not a criminal matter. From the victim's point of view, however, incest may be more traumatic than rape by strangers, because such behaviour may be continued over a period of time and the victim remains helpless to protect herself from such abuses. In addition, it may have long-term psychological effects. The victim develops an inner sense of guilt and depression, which may have long-lasting effects on her personality development.
The laws dealing with sexual offences do not specifically address child sexual abuse. It is disconcerting but true, the India Penal Code 1860 does not recognise Child abuse. Only rape and sodomy can lead to criminal conviction. Anything less than rape, as defined by the law, amounts to 'outraging the modesty'. These laws are problematic when applied to adult women, but they are even more difficult when applied to children. While sec. 376 IPC seeks to provide women redress against rape, it is rarely interpreted to cover the broad range of sexual abuses [particularly of children] that actually takes place. The word 'rape' is too specific, this does not include abuse on 'boys'; moreover, 'intercourse' is often interpreted to mean with an 'adult'.
Most of these forms of abuse are sought to be covered under sec. 354 of the Indian Penal Code as a violation of a woman's modesty. Offences under Sec. 354 of the IPC is a cognisable offence but is also bailable, which allows foreigners to simply leave the country before prosecutions begin. While Andhra Pradesh, by a state amendment, has made the offence cognisable, non-bailable and to be tried by a court of session [where the minimum punishment is imprisonment for 7 years, and a fine], other states have not followed. What is also lacking is a central law on the subject. The Juvenile Justice Act was amended and rewritten in 2000, but it makes no attempt to identify sexual abuse on children. Sec. 23 of the Act deals with assault, exposes, willful neglect, mental and physical suffering, for which imprisonment for a term of just 6 months is prescribed. Sec. 5 of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1956 prescribes punishment of not less than 7 years for inducing a child into prostitution, but does not directly address child abuse.
India is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989. India ratified this Convention in 1992. This international Convention obligates members States to protect and promote the physical and psychological health of children. State parties must take affirmative action in protecting children from all forms of sexual abuse, neglect, exploitation, torture, or any form of cruelty.
The Goa Children's Act
With sexual abuse of children becoming increasingly associated with the tourism trade, Goa formed a model law and proposed the establishment of a Children's Court. The idea of a Children's Court was first mooted in the Government of India Children Act 1960, which is today a forgotten piece of law. The Goa Children Act 2003 is legislation against child sexual abuse, especially those related to tourism. The legislation has specifically made any such cases of abuse non-bailable offences under section 2 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973. The fines and jail terms are also severe -- Rs 100,000 with imprisonment between one to three years for sexual assault and incest, and Rs 200,000 with seven to 10 years jail term in case of a grave sexual assault. The setting up of a Children's Court to try all offences against children is a bold step prescribed by this law. A child-friendly court will help to minimize the double trauma that abused children are subject to in courts, which even adults find awesome and terrifying.
The Goa Children's Act is unusual because it does not merely recommend punitive measures against offenders. Instead, in dealing with child sexual abuse it attempts to place responsibility on different sections of society to play a role in protecting all children and preventing the abuse of any child. The hotel owners, the photo studios, cyber cafe operators, the police, the tourism department and all those involved in the travel and tourism trade are expected to keep their eyes open and fulfil their duties, sensitive to the situation of any child they may come across in the performance of their duties. Moreover, it also seeks to establish child-friendly court procedures, which will help to ensure that children are able to give evidence without being in the presence of the perpetrators of the crime.
Already there have been at least three cases booked under the Goa Children's Act. However, the rules of operation under the new law are yet to be formulated. The Goa Children's Act has also come in for severe criticism for its poor drafting, and the lack of legal insight into some of its provisions. The Act was passed in a great hurry to meet the growing problem of child abuse in the state, but ground realities have led it to rough weather. Activists in the legal community believe that the legislation may need drastic amendments to meet its objective.
It is absolutely necessary to alert government, civil society and concerned citizens to play a more active role in promotion, respect and appreciation of the rights of the child, and thereby to prevent the abuse of children, especially in sexual ways. Merely acknowledging this on the International Day for the Rights of the Child - 19th November - is insufficient. What is needed is continuous development of law and civil society responses to a perennial problem. In the legal arena, the problems in addressing child abuse are not so much related to the absence of law, but more due to the lack of a system of awareness, the lack of information, and poverty - which makes this problem that much challenging.
There is much that the legal system must do to improve its response to this crime. The baby steps a few states have taken must mature into adulthood themselves.
Did Majlis MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi in Hyderabad make those hate speeches to whip up communal hatred as per a plan? Police have no doubt. They say it was all done as per a plan.
The police expressed this view in the counter it filed in the state high court. Additional DIG Vinay Kumar charged that Akbar laid the seeds for a scheme to whip up communal disharmony at his party’s meetings at Nizamabad and Nirmal on December 8 and 23. He said the speeches were part of a criminal conspiracy.
The DIG gave a full text of Akbar’s speeches to the court. He also charged that Akbar was denying that he made those speeches, to cover up his controversial comments. Stating that the speech CDs were sent to the Forensic Lab in Chandigarh, the DIG said a report from the lab was awaited. He appealed to the court to dismiss the petition of Akbaruddin to club all the cases filed against him at different places. The court posted further hearing of the case to Tuesday.
Nothing, said a science fiction writer, is always absolutely so. Yesterday, responding to a question on reducing the age of juveniles from the existing 18 years to 16, Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir pointed out that only Parliament, and nobody else, could take such a decision. Warning against trial by media, the CJI termed it “a matter of grave concern” and emphasized that cases “should be left to the courts to decide”. He was almost entirely right.
Of course, it is ultimately Parliament’s prerogative which law or amendment it wants to enact. But the media, or any citizens’ group or individual, has every right to lobby for any legal reform it feels necessary. Trial by media in a case, on the other hand, infringes on the exclusive domain of the court. But we also remember quite a few high-profile cases which were reopened only after the media had got into the act. The downside, however, is that media can never follow millions of pending cases and anyway justice should not be seen to be hinging on its preferential intervention.
But the issue of lowering the age of juvenile is a little more complex. There are two principal justifications for according certain legal concessions to an underage person. First, the accused may not be mature enough to fully comprehend the gravity or the consequence of a crime. Secondly, an underage accused is still impressionable and has a far greater chance than an adult to change for the better.
Globally, the age limit for juveniles (read legal maturity) varies from 16 to 18. In a few places, such as Washington, it depends on the nature of the crime. Many argue that juveniles accused of adult crimes – such as murder and rape —should be treated like adults. In England, juvenile courts do not, as a rule, deal with homicide and are free to send cases of rape to the Crown’s Court. Similarly, most states in the USA treat murder as an adult crime and juvenile courts often transfer cases of severe offences committed by juveniles to regular courts.
While certain homicides — killing of an abusive father by an underage son or daughter, for example — can potentially draw our sympathy, rape is always considered too adult a crime to allow any concession for the juvenile accused. Indeed, the USA’s Centre for Sex Offender Management estimated that juveniles were responsible for 20 percent of all rape and 50 percent of all child molestation cases. Globally, several studies indicate a gradual rise in serious crime committed by the adolescent over the last four decades.
We have not invested much thought in understanding what is turning so many of our very young to crime. Instead, involvement of a 16-year-old in a gruesome rape has made many of us demand that the juvenile age be lowered to 16. Will we press a fresh demand tomorrow if a 13-year-old is caught in the act? The question is not hypothetical because 1300 or more than 5 percent of those arrested for rape in the USA in 2006 were under 15 years. Where will we draw the line? Or are we better off demanding different juvenile age-limits for different crimes?
The argument that only a fraction of those coming from poor socio-economic background or troubled homes take to crime, and hence cannot be shown any mercy, may make sense in the context of adult criminals but not juveniles. But our reluctance to address the issues that push so many underage to crime not only undermines the chances of crime prevention but also of subsequent criminal reform.
The preferential treatment of underage offenders is aimed at giving them a chance to reform. Proper handholding and guidance can have that sobering influence on these young ones. Since most of them do not have a family, or a healthy family atmosphere, they can be sent back to, the onus is on the state to provide them education, healthcare and, most importantly, a home-like atmosphere where a community feeling may revive their interest in the positives and possibilities of life.
Instead, underage offenders are dumped at juvenile homes that have become one of the most fertile breeding ground for hardened criminals. It is anybody’s guess how many juvenile delinquents took their first lesson in crime as orphans or runaway or rescued kids in these homes or shelters where they are routinely subject to sexual and other forms of assaults. By which yardstick should we judge their conduct when they manage to escape these hell-holes and return to society? Whatever be the juvenile age, what purpose does that preferential legal treatment serve when these kids are sent back to the same juvenile homes?
Irrespective of what the CJI feels, we have every right to debate and lobby for the best legal provisions that we feel may secure our society. But that does not mean the media can pretend to be delivering justice. That is the job and responsibility of the court. Similarly, the demand for altering the juvenile age may not significantly impact crime rate unless we consider the very purpose of legal concessions to minors. If we can’t give underage offenders a chance to reform, if they are anyway doomed to a lifetime of crime, how does it matter if they are hanged as adults when they are 18 or 14?
The reaction by the markets to the budget was negative. The Sensex and Nifty fell over 1.5% each, the Indian Rupee (INR) fell close to a percent while the ten-year bond yield rose by 8 bps. Equity market volumes touched record highs of Rs 427,000 crore as derivative market volumes jumped 100%.
The negative market reaction to the budget was largely caused by a few factors affecting sentiments of investors. On the equity side, increase of surcharge in corporate tax and dividend distribution tax from 5% to 10% for domestic companies hurt market sentiments. The INR followed equity markets down as FII’s sold around Rs 1,300 crore of equity.
Bond yields rose on the back of higher-than-expected borrowing numbers. The government is borrowing a net of Rs 484,000 crore and a gross of Rs 629,000 crore while the markets expected a lower gross borrowing number as the government had hinted of using its excess cash balances of Rs 80,000 crore for debt repayment. The gross borrowing number on a pure net borrowing plus redemption basis is Rs 579,000 crore and the government is planning to carry out a switch of illiquid to liquid securities for Rs 50,000 crore.
The question is whether the post budget fall in markets will continue or will markets stabilize at lower levels and climb up again?
Markets will stabilize at lower levels and climb up. The budget itself is not going to do much for the economy in terms of taking it up or bringing it down. GDP growth is estimated in a 6.1% to 7% range for 2013-14 from growth levels of 5% in fiscal 2012-13. The budget does not have enough thrust in spending or reforms to take up GDP growth by 1% and above. Plan expenditure for 2013-14 is pegged at 29.4% higher in the coming fiscal but it remains to be seen if the target will be achieved.
The budget on the other is addressing some pressing problems of the economy in terms of deficits. Fiscal deficit issue is being addressed with commitment to lower fiscal deficit to 3.6% of GDP in 2015-16. The government has not stuck to earlier fiscal deficit targets but this time around the weak INR, that is trading around 6% off all time lows, is forcing it to act on deficits. The fact that the government achieved a 5.2% fiscal deficit in 2012-13 despite GDP growth falling to ten year lows indicates the keen eye on deficit numbers.
The FM is also watchful of the current account deficit (CAD) that is trending at all time highs of 4.6% of GDP as of first half of 2012-13. The FM is looking to plug the CAD through foreign capital flows and for more flows to come through the macro fundamentals of the economy must strengthen. Hence lower fiscal deficit and lower inflation is the priority for the government. Inflation as measured by the WPI (Wholesale Price Index) is down from levels of 9% to levels of 6.5% over the last one and half years. Inflation is expected to stay at around 6% to 6.5% levels in 2013-14 despite weak economic growth as prices of administered goods is passed on to the consumer.
The economy correction process is not short and easy. It is long and painful as growth is sacrificed for long term fiscal consolidation. India is in the long and painful path of economic correction and that is wholly positive for markets. Lower fiscal deficit and lower inflation will bring down interest rates in the economy leading to lower bond yields.
Equities will start doing well as the economy is seen, as being on the mend while a good equity market will bring in capital flows leading to a stronger INR. Global factors of central bank liquidity and good prospects of growth in the US on the back of improving housing and labour market will help Indian equities stabilize and run up going forward.
Short term volatility will be high for markets but that is part and parcel of the game.
For more than sixty five years we have been a democracy and we are even called the largest democracy in the world. Some call our democracy vibrant and some others brand it “raucous”. Whatever one might call it, it is universally accepted that it is indeed a democracy. We have all the elements of a democracy – a parliament, an independent judiciary, a government that acts in the name of a constitutional head and a press or, one might say, the media that claims to be free and independent.
Having all the trappings of a democracy the country should have ensured freedom of every kind to the citizens. But that is not so. The freedoms that one seeks in a democracy – those of speech and expression, thoughts and actions, that of movement within the country and so on – are, of late, being severely restricted. In fact, one tends to feel that our democracy is increasingly becoming restrictive on various counts.
Let us take the fourth pillar of democracy, for instance, the media. Only the other day the Chairperson of the Press Council of India (PCI) advised governments to shun the practice of “blackmailing” the media by stopping the flow of ads to them to counter criticism. Describing the practice as “undemocratic”, he threatened legal action if such practices were brought to his notice. This, however, has been the practice ever since our democratic framework came into existence. No wonder the media houses came in support of the chairman PCI. Ads largely sustain affordable dissemination of information. Governments and their agencies command enormous amounts of funds for advertisements and they have been using this clout with impunity to browbeat the media. Most fall in line but some, made of sterner stuff, choose to plough a lonely furrow at great personal cost. Unable to compete with media houses well-fed with ads of governments they either scrounge around or fold up. In the process, truth and objectivity become casualties, depriving the people at large accurate perspectives of all that happens around them.
I, for one, can quite comprehend the way the governments gag people’s voices. About a decade ago a large number of columnists in Bhopal, including your reporter, used to write comments in the local papers on all that transpired or did not transpire in connection with the town’s civic amenities. The pieces were generally critical of the local government and its agencies. Nonetheless, the local readers and even the bureaucracy used to appreciate the comments. All the columnists, they said, acted as opinion makers. Soon, however, the dailies, including several national ones, stopped publishing what they called unsolicited articles. Even the “letters” column has been banished from the city supplements. One feels so helpless. One cannot air, forget about opinion, even one’s grievances. All are left wondering whether the press has been bought off.
Political corruption spawned by the country’s electoral system also contributes to curtailment of freedom. In the prevailing “first-past-the-post” system votes are purchased by or on behalf of the candidates. Political parties, therefore, collect huge amounts legally or illegally to further their chances of winning elections only by majority of votes polled. Those which capture power would seem to be hitting gold. In this era of coalition politics even a minor political ally can generate enormous amounts of funds through their respective representatives in the governments or in the legislatures. One cannot forget the candid statement given in one unguarded moment by DMK’s Andimuthu Raja of “2G Spectrum”-fame that he had a party to take care of, national interests seeming to be immaterial to him.
Every political party indulges in this practice, the Grand Old Party of India having become a past master in the game. The slush funds are used in electoral campaigns, to buy support or even legislators to enable capture of power or to cling on to it. Mindboggling illegal amounts are collected in dodgy ways only to enable further milking of the system and plunder of public resources depriving common man his freedoms of employment, education, health care and so on. In the midst of rising inequities politicians and industrialists are rapidly becoming billionaires in the country’s liberalised economy while the common man continues to languish in poverty, disease and squalor. The lure of power has converted our politicians into crooks. Not only there are riches that come within one’s grasp but also all that which power alone can secure – whether legal or illegal, ethical or unethical. Self-serving, as they are, they think only of furtherance of their own interests and those of their close relatives and friends. Emergence of dynastic politics is a direct consequence.
Ours is no longer a democracy; it is an oligarchy that uses the public resources to serve only a few, their families and sycophants to the exclusion of the vast majority. General wellbeing of the nation is mostly put on the back-burner. Thus, in repeated quests of power and taking a partisan view a railways minister would approve projects that serve only his own constituency and an industries minister would locate industries despite difficulties of infrastructure and logistics in the area that has returned him to power. In the era of weak governance of the ruling coalitions together with the scourge of what is known as the “coalition-dharma”, this evil has become a full-blown curse affecting the lives of a vast section. In this connection one recalls the resignation of Dinesh Trivedi, Railway Minister, who dared to deviate from his party-line to think of strengthening the railways by way of raising fares that had remained static for years. Despite being applauded by the Prime Minister for his refreshingly new and genuine national perspective the “Coalition Dharma” didn’t allow his continuance even at the risk of the Railways going bankrupt. Everyone takes such aberrations as fait accompli.
In addition, a peculiar phenomenon is being currently witnessed. Small social groups or those from religious fringes have developed the audaciousness and the spunk to torment and curtail liberties of the innocent. In Haryana, for instance, a “khap” bans the use of cell phones by women or prevents them from marrying men of their own choice for the sake of upholding what they consider to be the “tradition” or, far away, in caste-conscious Tamil Nadu a dalit is ostracised for marrying an upper-caste. For a misconceived affront to a faith, a Rushdie is prevented to attend Literary Festivals, a Taslima Nasreen is not only chased out of Kolkata by a fanatical mob, a supposedly secular metropolis, she is also assaulted in Hyderabad and the iconic artist MF Hussain is forced to live his last years abroad and even die there. Likewise, while, three Kashmiri teenagers had to say goodbye to their rock-band in compliance with a fatwa, another set of youngsters were assaulted for partying in a way disliked by “moral policemen” of a small obscure religious group in Karnataka.
In this country today one is not even free to express one’s opinion or lampoon those who happen to be in power. Thus cartoonists are put in prison for their satirical cartoons and cases are filed against those who criticise people in power for their perceived misdemeanours. Drunk with unhindered power the political class has increasingly shed all humour and has become intolerant of criticism. A move was afoot to censor even the social networking sites. Mercifully, the effort was given up owing to the hue and cry raised by the civil society.
Given above is a list which is only illustrative of the ways democratic freedoms of our countrymen guaranteed under the Constitution are being whittled down. What is more, while the traditional liberalism of the country and the freedom to practice it progressively shrinks with small socio-religious groups bullying the rest, the dispensations seem to be unable to move in to stem the obvious rot for fear of losing their political support base. None seems to want to rock the boat, little realising that such indifference, over a period of time, would only nourish a growing monster.
In the absence of strong political formations at the Centre and ascendance of regional political set-ups the future does not hold out any hopes. Dependence on regional satraps has seemingly emasculated the national parties and hence the period of non-governance and ambivalence towards rule of law is likely to get prolonged. In the process, democratic freedoms, as we have known them so far, may also progressively get pared down.
I, Me Aur Main is Mama’s boy, Ishaan Sabharwal (John Abraham) gone badass in an extreme way. Ishaan, a music producer in a music company, CMC, lives in with his lawyer girlfriend of three years, Anushka (Chitrangada Singh) in a plush apartment owned by her.
He does not pay rent to live there, he does not help in any chores for the general upkeep of the apartment, hosts all nighter parties and trashes the place down and, he does not pay the monthly milk bill as he “drinks only black coffee”. When Anushka says “I love you” he smarmily retorts, “I love me too”. You get the drift. He’s selfish. And according to his mum Nisha (Zarina Wahab) and him, Ishaan is the best, which is reiterated many a time in the film.
Despite his obvious shortcomings, Anushka is ready to marry him and confides in her best friend, Shivani (Mini Mathur) about her plans who advises her to leave her no-good brother, who will not come through with a commitment to her or anyone else. On love struck ears of course!
So, one day, rather, one night, when Ishaan forgets about their “meet the parents” plan in Pune and is out drinking with friends, Anuskha shuts him out of her life and her apartment for good. He moves into an apartment across a very friendly and chatty neighbour, Gauri Dandekar (Prachi Desai) who is a fashion stylist and lives by herself. No sparks fly, except for the occasional electrical trip ups. But nevertheless, she seems to have a way with him and can make him apologize (a big deal in Ishaan’s world) when he’s wrong and in general, tries to turn him into a responsible and mature adult.
But his doting mum, on hearing of his break up with Anushka, moves in with him, ajwain parathas et al. She, being tired of his retired father’s constant demands, has also decided to leave him in Pune and living with Ishaan permanently in Mumbai seems perfect to her, but not to him naturally.
At work, things are just tiresome for him, as well as the viewer, with an ego-fuelled tussle between him and his boss, Bina (Raima Sen) over whose vocal chords need to be pushed in the music market. The script is scattered all over the place and it gets a bit crazy towards the latter half. The characters speak a certain way and behave in a completely contrasting manner, almost out of character. Gauri’s stable nature takes a flighty turn when she goes into the bit about moving to Paris, Anushka’s speech of life makes absolutely no sense given the path the story has taken so far, the mum going back to the father overnight and Ishaan’s sudden change of heart in matters of the heart make him look even more selfish.
Director Kapil Sharma makes his debut with the film, but even though it is a sincere effort on his part, the screenplay is not befitting of the premise of its lead character being a man-child – it does not have the required depth to take the story or the players’ parts forward in its narrative.
John Abraham’s boxers aren’t as exciting as his six-pack, and he plays the part to the best of his acquired ability to act. Chitrangada Singh, as always, puts on a great show of beauty and talent but the best performance in the film is by Prachi Desai as the spunky girl next door. Her portrayal of Gauri is real and seems effortless with the ease she essays it. Zarina Wahab is excellent as the mum, leaving no room for anything but praise. Mini Mathur, who is director Kabir Khan’s (Kabul Express, New York, Ek Tha Tiger) wife, makes her acting debut in the film and breezes through given her years of experience as a television host.
I, Me Aur Main would have been a far better film, had the screenplay been more generous with expanding on key elements and developing the plot in a more engaging manner, rather than letting the loose ends hang unashamedly. I’d say the screenplay is far more selfish than John’s character in the film, leaving the audience shortchanged with its shaky, faltering bits.
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