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Gender roles and their blurred envision

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BY: Madhubrota Chatterjee[1], Kaibalyapati Mishra[2]

[1] Research Scholar, Population Research Centre, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore

[2] Research Scholar, centre for Economic studies and Policy, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore

The themes for International Women’s Day have always been evident to link gender equality with every sphere of societal concerns. This year’s (2022) theme proposed by the UN is “Gender Equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, throwing light on the climate crisis and its vulnerabilities majorly exposed to women and girls as the livelihood dependencies on collecting food, fuel, water are heavily inclined towards them. The focus is to finance gender-oriented climate solutions, increase awareness, building leadership and resilience towards the green economy.

Amidst modernization, gender inequality is rampant in this subcontinent. India ranks 140 out of 156 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index, 2021. These ranks throw attention towards the developmental concerns, showing the disparities arising due to poverty as the root cause of all the major issues, huge illiteracy as the Census 2011 brings the vast literacy gap among men (82.14%) and female (65.46%), and unawareness among women about their fundamental rights.

Covid pandemic has hit the world at its worst bringing unprecedented losses. India is facing an indication of the fourth wave, this June. Women in India are at higher risk of getting exposed to the virus due to the lack of resources. The majority of them cover the health force, where 80% are employed as nurses or midwives (frontline workers). Although wage inequality persists in India, the burden of unpaid care alarmingly rose for women during Covid lockdown as a significant proportion of their time goes after performing unpaid household chores, and looking after the elders, children, and sick. A report by APU stated that 47% of women lost their jobs as compared to the 7% of their male counterparts during the first wave of lockdown.

The recently published Pew research center’s report titled, “How Indians view gender roles in Family and Society” highlighted facts that are worrisome having been born in a country with 75 years of independence with a 3 trillion dollar economy. Left with a quarter of the population that thinks males can make better political decisions than females seems to have shattered the objective of the Women Reservation Act (108th amendment), above which the 33%  reservation of seats for women is still neglected.

Gender is socially constructed roles and responsibilities and norms are abide by the social acceptance of the behavior. In domestic set-ups, 9 in 10 Indians believe that wives should be obedient to their husbands (the cases of domestic violence against women ascertains that precariousness of scenario has increased). The shared responsibility of child care holds the traditional norm of the belief that it should wholly be carried out by women.

Though Indians are developing the inclined opinion towards the sharing financial responsibility among the couple, a huge chunk believes that men should be preferred above women. Even if the employment is full-fledged, the wage inequality tightens the concern, especially in the secondary sector.

Son preference has not been obsolete from society as 4 in 10 Indians believe that sex determination before birth is acceptable using modern methods, even after the implementation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Test (PCPNDT) Act, 2003. The problem of “missing girls” is still prevalent in India causing a sex ratio skewed towards males. The findings that highlight crime against women and other issues highlight a failure that years of economic development, growth, liberalization have not been able to influence human intentions even though our per capita GDP has increased and we are lagging behind the countries whom we are aspiring to cross in nominal terms.

Over the successive planning periods, the focus of economic policies in the country has shifted heavily towards brawn-based productions (manufacturing and real-estate jobs, which require higher physical health where males have a comparative advantage) while the brain-based productions (services sector like BPOs) are largely left on their own. This Brawn-Brain tradeoff has the notion of men being capable of carrying out physically oriented works while women are best suited for nurturing related activities. While this sectoral transition explains unequal gender roles, the solution lies in more capital infusion in mentally intensive work that can breach the female-male wage gap. This has a forward linkage, as more wages for women shall increase the opportunity cost of raising children and this shall push capital-labour ratio and growth further.

In a nation where the extension of legal rights for daughters is promoted and the same rights of a daughter-in-law are restricted, the explanation of unequal gender roles cannot be confined to economic ones only. The existing patrilocal and patrilineal system, makes parents feel reaping more returns to investments on son’s education and health, than that of the daughter’s. Extending on how culture and development interact, the old-age dependence on son doesn’t seem to have changed the notion that the son should take care of parents with the huge layout of pension schemes (though the dependency has decreased, the motives persist). On the other hand, the everlasting issue of the dowry system also enthuses pro-male biased behaviour, as with economic growth dowry seems to be more prevalent in disguised terms. In 2020, Honourable Supreme Court, however, valued and extended the daughter’s legal importance of property over her father’s properties as the new amendment of the 1956 Hindu Succession Act.

Eliminations of unequal gender roles will require explicit policy interventions. One of such is uplifting their overall socio-economic sphere through legal interventions. Providing financial incentives on having a girl has become popular however the small amount of money can hardly allure the son’s preference away. As Seema Jayachandran, finds out three things that can address the issue of unequal gender roles are, first, a sectoral shift away from agriculture toward services occurs, second, technological advances reduce the time needed for household chores, and third, the frequency and risk of childbearing decline.

Tech sanctions from west- Lessons for India

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Tech sanctions from west- Lessons for India

Just days after Russian troops entered Ukraine, on March 1st, 2022, Apple and Google stopped their payment services across Moscow and Russia. Most EU/US and Western world that takes pride in the liberal values and suggests Indians / Asians be treated separately from their state actions did exactly opposite to what they preach all along. Un-announced technical sanctions and calls by Hilary Clinton to wage a cyberwar against Russians are a few examples where the west can not and should not be the only partner for tech reliance.

Furthermore, the Intended SWIFT blockade will push Russia in the corner is more surprising, it’s the ordinary people in Moscow and Russia will bear the brunt of delayed settlement and payment issues by banks, while their opinion on the state matter may or may not change, their day to day activities, business, transactions, etc. will forever change. Russia’s interest in linking payments to China or possibly Indian settlement systems (e.g. UPI) could be a way out of this situation. In India – the scenario is different, Govt. led initiatives like NPCI and UPI have been the backbone of India’s Fintech revolution and domestic payment systems.

If India has a strong payment infrastructure, what should be the learnings here? we have a strong tech resilience workforce, No IT Project in the world could be started without Indian IT hands and brains, we have world-class training facilities and democratic selection procedures, and competitive colleges like IIT that offer best in class talents, Let’s try to understand a few aspects.

Skills and Employability:

Most IT Engineers from India need stringent training and communication skills when working for an IT organization or when setting up their own journey of entrepreneurship. In both cases – significant additional training is required to be at par with the global level. Thanks to cheap internet and mobile accessibility – young talent from small-town has access to information and awareness as any bloke in the UK or in the US, however – values like good communication, strategic vision, need of planning come after employment period and learning curve and resistance to mindset change hinders overall growth of individuals, many IT Organization struggles with up-skilling and hence most manager ‘out-source’ the training needs to learning and development department, which sometimes take clear guidelines from western tech organizations, usually offering certifications of AWS, Azure, Google or Alibaba or PMP, Agile, Scrum, etc. There has been minimal effort to create comprehensive syllabus and certification catalog by any Indian institutes that relies solely on and for the demands of the Indian IT landscape. While Govt. can step in, it’s the industry and flagship giants that need to up the sleeves for upskilling IT for India Stack and Indian Management styles. To be a shadow of the west is good for a decade or two, but now clouds are there on the horizon.

AI and Machine Learning

Let’s face it, Indian IT has lost a battle against China and the west in areas of AI and ML, although there are Indian few values pick that does good work in AI/ML areas, but comparing the scope in China / US /EU – India is nowhere in comparison, Single biggest thing is lack of NLP artifacts for Indian languages, today – close to 90% of AI/ML tools cater to the English language and perhaps more than a billion Indians will be deprived of their contribution in AI/ML since chosen language is prescribed by West, e.g. any remarks or comment in Hindi / Tamil / Telugu or any regional language has significantly less value in expression metrics to gauge the contributor’s views. Even if there are tools that translate regional Indian languages to English, the essence and value often get lost in translation. there is an urgent need to spearhead a mission to invest and execute AI/ML workload for Indian content that rivals the size of China or the US.

Who owns the data

Perhaps the most significant aspect is data ownership and identity management, today from AWS, Google to LinkedIn almost all US/West owns information of all Indians, this needs to be addressed at the government and highest level of administration, while Modi Govt. is focussing on introducing data privacy laws, there is a sure need to up-shot the revolution from the ground. We need an entrepreneurship movement for data-center startup-tech. data at home is way secure with data outside and with locks on.

What’s next

With the rise in tech literacy – there are opportunities to continue the ‘atma-nirbharta’ on tech-sphere, Let’s hope the organization and entrepreneurs take this up after looking at how west may act.

India has capabilities and content to keep options open, be it at war or in peace.

Opinion: Left wing exposed? (using basic mathematics!)

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Opinion: Left wing exposed? (using basic mathematics!)

Many countries have a weird notion of socialism. They take money from the hardworking and distribute it among the so called poor people under the garb of equality.

Induction of equality shall never undermine the contribution of extra hard working people else it will give rise to liabilities who think they are entitled to equality despite insignificant/disproportionate contribution.

People who contribute more shall get more privileges. Nevertheless all the citizens loyal to the country shall be given a basic set of inalienable rights (subject to reasonable restrictions and societal expectations)

If the said people are made to do compulsory community work in order to contribute as much as a rich man contributes in taxes, they would cite human rights to get rid of the labour.

Many leftist politicians and self proclaimed intellectuals promise to alleviate poverty by leaving no person below average :

Consider two positive numbers a and b

Their AM = (a+b)/2

Their RMS = √((a^2+b^2)/2) 

Their GM = √(ab)

Their HM = (2ab)/(a+b)

Any kind of aforementioned mean (or ‘average’) will always lie between a and b.

This means that if the magnitude of difference between a and b is non zero, one of them will be greater than any of the aforementioned means and the other one will be smaller/less than any of the aforementioned means.

If a=b then all the means will become equal to a (or b) but this is not feasible in the real world.

If every person has equal income (thus equal tax payable), the previously poor people would cite historical reasons and demand tax concessions. This would lead to reduced tax collection and the economy would dwindle.

Here’s an example:

Consider a society where net wealth is 500; the wealthier faction holds wealth=400 whereas the humbler section holds wealth=100

Consider that the tax rate is 30% for the wealthier section and 10% for the humbler section

In this case, the total tax collected is 120(wealthier)+ 30(humbler) = 150

Now, if the wealth is distributed equally, each section now holds wealth=250

Now, due to the equal distribution of wealth, no economic disparity exists so, to get the same amount of tax, they should pay 75 each so that

75+75=150

but, if they cite historical reasons and get the concession offered earlier, the tax collection would now be 100 [75(previously wealthier)+25(previously humbler)]

This is 33.33% decline. Such drastic decline will not be able to sustain the previous standard of living. Also, since the previously wealthier section is no longer wealthier due to the redistribution, it would be difficult for them to pay the tax at previous rates. Also, it would be pure discrimination if they have to pay more despite the equal amount of wealth possessed after redistribution. The so called leftist intellectuals fail to address these points.

If an ecosystem has 1000 lions and 1000 deer, it is not feasible because on average, only about 10% of energy stored as biomass in a trophic level is passed from one level to the next. This is known as ‘the 10 percent rule’. Hence in a feasible setup the number of deer should be greater than the number of lions (this is just a reference to ecology and shall not be taken otherwise)

In reality, the absolute wealth needs to be increased

Consider the following :

Case 1

Total wealth = 100

Group 1 : 50

Group 2 : 50

Disparity : nil

Case 2

Total wealth : 1000

Group 1 : 900

Group 2 : 100

Disparity : yes

Despite unequal distribution, people in case 2 are richer.

Gini coefficient intends to represent income equality. It is a number between 0 and 1 where 0 means perfect equality and 1 means perfect inequality.

Gini coefficient of Austria(2018) is 0.308 whereas Gini coefficient of Myanmar(2017) is 0.307. Despite higher income inequality, people in Austria are in general wealthier than the people of Myanmar.

In businesses too, most of the income comes from around 20%-25% of the regular customers/top spenders. Hence, companies focus more on them and give them special coupons and concessions. However an assured minimum non trivial amount of attention is given to all the customers.

The illustrations clearly show that the idea of so called equality is just a stunt performed by the so called leftist intellectuals and self proclaimed reformers to pose a fabricated, perennial looking problem so that they can garner support by making unreasonable (impossible to fulfil) promises.

Source (Gini Coefficient : https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI)

Aadi Shankaracharya and women

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Aadi Shankaracharya and women

My first introduction to Adi Shankaracharya was when I heard my father sing verses of the poem “Bhaj Govindam”. I never cared what he was saying and I was least interested in finding out the meaning of what they meant until after my father’s death when one day I felt like listening to this Bhajan. I listened to it for several weeks- every single day. Whatever little bit I understood gave me peace. I eventually looked up its English translation to understand fully. One specific worse whose meaning is as follows struck me —

Do not get drowned in delusion by going wild with passions and lust by seeing a woman’s navel and chest. These are nothing but a modification of flesh. Do not fail to remember this again and again in your mind.

Adore the Lord! Adore the Lord! Adore the Lord! O fool!

I thought about this and after analyzing it in more detail I had an interesting realization — By asking men to remind themselves over and over that a women’s chest and navel are nothing but, a modification of flesh; Sankaracharya put the responsibility on men to control their minds instead of, blaming women and holding them responsible for a man’s lust. He did not ask women to cover their bodies, control or restrict their freedom in any way nor advised men to stay away from women instead, he called such men as fools and asked them to meditate on the lord.

I developed a deep respect for Sankaracharya and also felt a bit proud thinking how profound, respectful and modern our religious gurus were. I started to read more about him and I found another incident that goes like so..

Sankaracharya went to Bihar to debate with a learned brahmin named Maṇḍana Mishra. Maṇḍana and Sankara decided that Maṇḍana’s wife Ubhaya Bharati would be the arbiter. It was decided that if Mandana lost he will renounce household life and become a disciple of Shankara. The debate started and after some time Mandan started to lose. Maṇḍana’s wife got worried of loosing her husband and being his wife had the right to continue the debate with Shankara. Sankara accepted the challenge.

This brings some interesting points about both the learned men — They both respected women. Shankara could have easily made statements like – “I don’t debate with women as they are low in stature” but instead, he was quite comfortable with the idea.

When the debate started she asked him questions on Kamashastra (The science of sex). Shankara could have called her a shameless and characterless woman because she choose to debate on sex but, instead he asked her for 6 days to learn and then participate in the debate.

This clearly shows the profoundness of Sankara and the society of those times which treated women not only with respect but, as their equals. Also, sex was not considered anything bad and it was respectful to debate about that. In the rest of the world during the time period of Sankara’s (700–800 AD) this attitude towards women is unheard of!

A movie with the impetus for Bharat’s healing

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A movie with the impetus for Bharat’s healing

​“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana

We citizens of Bharat have a centuries long history of suffering and persecution. We may have not forgotten it all, but we see it repeating time and again in different ways and have carried with us the trauma it brings. I think because we suppressed the trauma, the pain, that’s what strayed us from demanding justice for the atrocities we faced, and we denied ourselves the opportunity to address it and begin trials at healing the intergenerational trauma. We also never stopped to question ourselves, are we empowering ourselves to prevent the history from repeating itself?

In 1990, what the Kashmir valley and the independent India witnessed was a holocaust, which has been ignored, suppressed, painted as an ‘en-masse exodus’, ‘the empowerment of poor over the hegemony of the Rich Kashmiri pandits’. And worst of all, it was called a choice…. After 32 years, finally we have a movie made by Vivek Agnihotri ji and Pallavi Joshi ji, with a stellar, brave cast that addresses the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus.

I’m an Indian, and a doctor. And much like most Indians, I am one of those people responsible for the lack of justice meted out to the Kashmiri Hindus. You see it isn’t enough to just know about it and talk about it with your social circle and post on social media about this Black day in Indian history. The genocide was an ignored, suppressed humanitarian crisis, the results of which we see with our own eyes:
•An entire community living as refugees in their own nation.
•Our crown state, less than a ghost of it’s formal glory.

Now how does this lead to a doctor recommending every citizen to watch a movie? Especially when we’re in the middle of witnessing another humanitarian crisis, and fresh out of a devastating pandemic. Wouldn’t watching the movie add to our anguish and hurt sentiments?
You see pain is an integral part of human existence and evolution. But this pain isn’t something we can just live with by ignoring and suppressing. We have to address it, accept it, and treat it.

In this day and age, with the ever increasing Mental health awareness, we can contribute to the start of the healing of an entire community by watching the devastating, painful truth. We brace ourselves to face it, we go through it, because only then do we equip ourselves to deal with the intergenerational trauma and ongoing cultural genocide the Kashmiri Hindus face even now.

By watching the Kashmir Files, we create a safe space where we no longer have to start with re-narration of the past. When we all know what really happened, the truth will set us free, equip us to deal with what happened mentally (though there is no point in denying the fact that the truth will aggravate some people). We also put an end to the insulting gaslighting of Kashmiri Hindus, in fact of all the Indians, who believe/are told that the exodus was a “choice” and not a genocide.

With the truth so blatantly out in the open for everyone to see, the suppression and victimization stops. With every Indian facing the truth of the reality and results of communal ethnic cleansing in independent India, perhaps finally we’d start considering the necessity for civilization nationalism and the importance of asserting our culture. And with it, we also get a source of inspiration- ‘the Kashmiri Hindus‘. You see, even after facing the most dehumanizing atrocities, they picked themselves up, and persisted… Kashmiri Hindus are the proof to the whole of humanity that ‘hurt people don’t have to hurt people’. They are proof that even when faced with the worst of times, humans are capable of being better humans, even inspirational humans.

Watching this movie also finally stops with the narrative of justification of the development of monsters who carried out this atrocity. The glorification of the pain of the perpetrators who committed the crimes against the Kashmiri Hindus stops.

And I maybe unrealistically hopeful here, but this movie could serve as the catalyst towards the start of finding a solution to the ever increasing (apparent) polarization we face. I personally believe that there isn’t an increase in polarization, just more people having the opportunity to finally express, which obviously doesn’t sit well with the mainstream narrative. This movie could pave the path for the addressing of the suppressed history and trauma of Bharat. The way we fulfill the Kashmiri Hindus right to justice could perhaps set a precedent globally!

Contribution of women in national economy

BHAVSIMRAN
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Contribution of women in national economy

Women are the most integral part of society on this planet. Without women, we cannot even imagine our existence. They perform numerous roles whether it is productive or reproductive. Their list of chores starting from the household goes on and on to the society, nation, and then at the world levels. Women are the pioneers of the nation. Their roles have no boundaries and they go on as educators, caretakers, birth givers, wives, mothers, and the list is endless. Women are of prime importance in any society. Their contributions however are not accounted for very well and are confined to some limited stereotypical roles.

In the presence of a patriarchal society, the fate of a woman is often left in the hands of a man and their potentials are left undiscovered. Whenever we talk about the role of a woman the first thing which attacks our mind is the picture of a kitchen. This is not strange as the overall thinking of society is mended in such a way and this thought does not bring any expression of surprise to our mind. These types of beliefs tend to cage our thoughts, our feelings behind the bars of the wrong perception of an ideal woman. This thought sits right in our roots of so-called traditions and customs which flow from generation to generation. Women’s access to resources also becomes limited in this way. A sense of insecurity arises whenever a woman asks for any role except that of a household. Her identity is mistaken as she will not be able to match her male counterpart be it in terms of strength or intelligence and so on.

A man and a woman are two different individuals their differences in strength and capabilities are bound to exist but that does not guarantee that they may be fully incapable and therefore limited to only households. Women as a human entity stand at par with humans and they prove that women have the “beauty with brains”. A woman is leading a life that is catering to various domains starting from family to profession to social arenas and a lot more. She performs multiple roles while being in a single body. It is not wrong to call her the best creation of God.

It is a crystal-clear fact that women perform n number of functions but the question here arises that out of all these functions they perform do these account in the “Productive category”? Most of the contributions that are laid down by women are often termed as noneconomic ones as they do not help in raising any income. The examples include the job of a homemaker who performs functions like cooking, cleaning, taking care of the family, etc. for which she is not paid.
Due to this issue, their works are not accounted for in the national income contribution.

A glance at some data and stance
It is estimated that women in India contribute 17% of the national GDP, as against the global average of 40%. This illustrates a significant gap that is being underutilized in the recovery efforts. data released by the World Bank regarding female Labour Force Participation Rates (LFPR) for 2018-19. The data show that the share of working-age women either being employed or available for work in India is as low as 21.8%, whereas the global average is 40%. India ranks 120 among 131 countries in female labor force participation rates and rates of gender-based violence remain unacceptably high. It’s hard to develop inclusively and sustainably when half of the population is not fully participating in the economy. Women constitute nearly half of the Indian population, yet these figures show that they remain a dependent demographic. We cannot think of the inclusive development of any economy if we unsee the contribution that can come from the other half of the society simply because of gender differences.

At present, there are 432 million working-age women in India, of which 343 million are not in paid formal work. A report by McKinsey Global Institute has estimated that India could add $770 billion to its GDP by 2025, simply by giving equal opportunities to women. “Around the world, women perform two-thirds of the work for 10 percent of the income and only 1 percent of the assets. Women also constitute 70 percent of the world’s poor” according to the data from the UN. Does this data put a question mark on this dire situation around us?

Causes
The cause of such issues arises from the grassroots levels the major one being education. Literacy rates among women are among the lowest in the world because education for females in India is discouraged, often being viewed as wasteful or heretical. Even with limited skills development, a large proportion of educated women fail to secure gainful employment. Even when women are able to work, they still often face challenges from the family and from a society that does not readily support working women. With a lack of basic infrastructure and childcare provision, often many women simply give up on their careers. The reasons cited tend to be family needs, such as after having children, or if someone in the family becomes unwell. There is also a great deal of gender discrimination within the private sector, which prefers to have a male workforce due to the perceived lower expenditure in terms of gender-specific provisions such as maternity benefits, etc. Most important is the cause of safety factors that contribute to keeping women away from the public domain of work. External safety constraints such as the lack of safe transportation, and internal constraints including sexual harassment in the workplace are both major issues.

The other one is the skilling of the workforce primarily in the rural sector where women are largely uneducated and highly unskilled because they were never seen as economic resources. This is particularly true for the large number of women employed in the unorganized sector who are exposed to these concerns on a much greater scale, yet because they have neither a fixed income nor any job security, their role in the economy becomes almost negligible.

In nutshell
The theme for International Women’s Day, 8 March 2022 is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”. There are ample amount of questions which arise be it for women getting less paid, or informal sector women working conditions or women at rural households who are excluded from all other thinking except for being as wives and taking care of livestock and their families. So till now, we are well aware of the problems, their causes, their presence in our

society. It is well understood how much work needs to be done to help women achieve their basic contributions which have become a barrier to the development and growth of women. Due to some social stigmas or taboos existing around us we are continuing to unnoticed the great power of transformation which can turn our economy upside down if we use our human resources efficiently irrespective of the so-called gender boundaries being set in our society hold no scientific or practical reasons to exist. It’s high time when we need to break down these chuckles around us and should act as an educated human resource that wants to give equal space to another gender as well. There is sufficient evidence to suggest that opportunity and access to knowledge & resources can make all the difference.

Let’s turn down this inhuman attitude towards co-existing gender and instead assist them in making their contribution towards our economies. Before moving this way forward, also don’t forget to clear your minds of specific gender roles assigned as a man or a woman. Women should be equally respected and should be given equal wages and other benefits as their male counterparts. Both men and women have the right to enter and explore any workforce area be it entrepreneurship, corporate world jobs, and importantly at your home! Let’s contribute every inch to this and help in making this world a better place to live which supports and respects the rights and responsibilities of each gender unbiasedly. We need to make it successful so that our coming generations will be able to take forward sustainable growth of our societies, our economies free from the existence of any such gender-related issues and make this world a better place to live!

Cubanizing Ukraine

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Cubanizing Ukraine

Kwame Nkrumah, the former president of Ghana (a country which was then a newly decolonized country trying to find its way towards the overwhelming yet necessary path of democracy) once said, “The forces that unite us are intrinsic, and are greater than the superficial forces that superimpose us.” Sadly enough, this 20th century quote still remains relevant. For the past few weeks, there’s been an atmosphere of fear all around, where on one hand, Indian parents are waiting for their kids to return from Ukraine, and on the other hand, the international community is grappling to showing its complete resistance to Putin’s freak show. 

But where is this coming from? This newly escalated war is not new, rather it is the culmination of a series of events which started back in 1946, when the former allies; USSR and USA, entered into a major power tussle. Now , this antagonism was not the usual one which included bombs and missiles, (that did form a part of the developments, but weren’t the essence of the war.) but one of ideology. Our founding fathers surely did leave behind a legacy for human beings to defend their points of view, but Uncle Sam and the communist Soviet took that a bit too seriously, and rather took that up a notch.

This period of a Cold War of ideologies and a quest for dominance through their respective political systems, that is, capitalism for the US and communism for the USSR, lasted for a lot of time, from 1946-1989. Perhaps this was not only the longest war between two such powerful nations in history, but also one of the very few which have had an effect even during contemporary times. What was hurt, towards the end of 1989 was not just the Soviet economy, but rather its global image and the failure of its ideology. That was surely a hard one. Thankfully for the logic of deterrence after the second world war leading to arms control, it didn’t escalate into a full blown war.

So profound, was the Soviet’s helplessness at that point, that its President Mikhail Gorbachev during 1990, had to rely on the US Secretary of State’s words that NATO would not expand its alliance towards the east, and he had no option but to acquiesce to the same. However, it wasn’t a big surprise when in 1999, NATO began to expand again. Though, it cannot completely be called an unfair move, because all the NATO did was that it simply offered the European nations to join its alliance. It never pressured any of them or invaded them. This augured well for the US, because it led to 14 former Soviet nation states joining the NATO, which was obviously bound to trigger the old ego battle between the two frenemies again. 

In this whole war of ideas, There was one island nation that was completely snatched of its identity as a sovereign state;Cuba. Being an ally of the USSR, its close proximity to the states made it nothing more than a parking hub for Soviet arms, and a defence point for the US .Similar has been the sentiment with Ukraine, which is increasingly being seen as the new Cuba. Now, for making a point to the US, Mr.Putin decided to go down that road again. 

This conflict was, although, triggered not now, but back in 2008 itself, when NATO encouraged Ukraine and Georgia to join its alliance, which led to Russia’s invasion of Georgia in the very same year via the Russian dominated areas of Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia. An invasion on Ukraine was also bound to happen, which is reflected by the same happening in 2014, with the annexation of Crimea. 

Sadly for Mr.Putin, one of the major reasons due to which he is bound to lose this war, is because, its attempt to regain prominence as a world power is stemmed in his desire to make Russia the new USA. But that is unrealistic anyway, because the reason for US’s victory in the Cold War and subsequently, its emergence as a superpower, was not merely its weapons, missiles, or an expression of military prowess. Rather, it was the liberalism that it stood for. Despite the fact that it has been a hypocrite on many occasions like the Iraq invasion,the 9/11, etc.

It has, over time, gained its stature by emerging as a hub of opportunities, as a land that is liberal enough to take criticism and to accommodate immigrants from all over the world to accentuate its own profits, instead of wasting tons of long greens on arms to forcefully occupy other countries, as an agenda. Its existence is rooted in the idea of liberal democracy and open market capitalism, which is bound to occupy the centre stage as the most preferred form of polity, definitely the best form of government one can wish for (although the same may be debatable when it comes to capitalism per se). Long gone are the days when communism and inveterate socialism could turn heads.

What Mr.Putin also doesn’t realise is, that this fragmented approach to power isn’t going to help anyone. Many experts pointed out, that even if Russia invades Ukraine, it will not be able to hold any stability of dominance there, because of the biggest factor of all, its people. Even if the Russian beaurocrats make a place for themselves in Kiev, There are going to be hundreds of Ukrainian civilians out in their windows with their rifles, ready to defend their nation.More than anything , it is impossible for any foreign force to colonise a place whose people are extremely intolerant from the very beginning. Not just the people of Ukraine, but thousands of aware citizens of the world, who are out of their homes, in front if their respective parliaments, ready to fight, for not just the lives of the Ukranians, but for the idea of sovereignty, integrity, and tolerance. The spirit of the people is what the essence of politics and progress is. History is testimony to the fact that nothing can stand in the way of the will of the people.

Coming to the most contentious part, the position of India in the Security Council. I was indeed saddened by the abstention on the part of India on the resolution brought forward by the US and Albania. This was coupled by anti-war protests in India that I fully support. But it is valid to consider the fact that India cannot afford the risk. It finds itself torn between its need to defend its stature as the largest democracy in the world, having also seen the clutches of colonialism and the fact that it can understand the socio- economic ramifications of the same. But the whole problem arises because of China. With the still ongoing tensions on the LAC, India cannot afford beef with the US, because it needs to maintain the relevance of the Quad in order to counter China. But equally important is its equation with Russia, which is necassary to have a sense of security of mediation in case the issue escalates any further. However, there also lies the risk of us making a mistake like the one Nehru made despite Patel’s constant caveats. Russia and China are not true friends , and Russia may abandon us the way it did during the 1962 war, when it openly proclaimed that it would support its Chinese brothers rather than its Indian friends, also subsequently delaying the shipping of much needed arms to India during the crucial time. 

The Indian citizen today, feels torn. Should we defend our own territorial integrity first, or should we follow what Germany is doing? It sacrificed the Nordic Stream 2 pipeline with Russia,which will lead to a number of economic losses for Germany,that is heavily dependent on Russia for oil, not to mention the price of oil being nothing less that $100 a barrel. But it stood up for its cause, because it sees in Putin the same madness Germany saw not long ago in one of its own dictators! However, one must also acknowledge that Germany is militarily and politically more secure than India is, having the security of being a NATO ally to be the biggest of all. India has a tricky neighbourhood too, which raises its costs for taking such actions. 

With the current scenario continuing to change every few hours, it waits to be seen how the world deals with this disaster. Hopefully, the will of the people will prevail, and neo- colonialism will be resisted.

CUBANIZING UKRAINE
This article was also published on Revolutionize- a wordpress.com website.

By: Kovida Bhardwaj, a Law Student.

Renewable Energy for Resurgent India

saumyashikhar
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Renewable Energy for Resurgent India

USA had been embroiled in numerous bloody conflicts within West Asia (Middle East) for several decades. Paid protests, support to terrorist groups, regime changes, you name it and the USA had done it. Starting mid 2010s, there has been a sudden drop in active US involvement in the region. What changed?

Shale gas, an alternative to natural gas started to be produced within the USA at the turn of the century. By 2015, it had put the country in a position to be sufficiently independent of reliance on the countries in West Asia. And thus, there has been a marked reduction in conflicts. So much so that, staunch rivals like UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Israel are all talking to each other about sustaining peace for the long term. US, Israel and UAE signed the Abraham Accords in 2020 which has been a milestone in the road to peace.

What’s the lesson from this for India?

India imports a staggering 82-86% of its oil and gas needs from several countries around the world, accounting for an expenditure of around ₹15 lakh crore/ year. To put this in context, India spends ₹25 lakh crore on its overall defense!

For a country which ranks third around the globe in oil consumption, being overly reliant on imports is not just a pinch on the wallet but adds a huge uncertainity factor and is also dangerous from a global relations point of view.

There is also a huge opportunity cost. Were India self sufficient in providing for its own energy, it would have rescued that amount from going out of the country and be able to direct it to fields like education and health.

Not to mention that all of the oil and gas imports are fossil fuel based and hazardous to the environment.

Overall, fossil fuels account for 60% of India’s energy with the rest coming from hydro, solar, wind and other renewable sources. India has promised the world to take this number down to 50% by 2030 and reach a net zero carbon state by 2070. Internally, the country aims to be self reliant in energy by 2047.

All of this to say, the lesson is to become self-reliant and go renewable if you want to avoid geo political stress and an unsizable hole to the pocket.

India as net exporter of Hydrogen based energy

Can India be the H(e)-Man for the world?

In his independence day speech in 2021, the PM announced ‘Mission Hydrogen’, providing for a 40-50% cut in hydrogen fuel production costs. This is a whole new frontier of renewable energy, produced by using electricity from renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind power, to split water into two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom through a process called electrolysis [1]. The benefit with hydrogen as a fuel is that it produces water on being burnt and not carbon dioxide, like other fossil fuels.

Hydrogen as an alternative fuel has been generated in the past globally, however the electrolysis has been powered by fossil fuels. With all year sunshine and multiple sea frontiers acting as hydrogen farms, India is at an advantage to produce clean hydrogen using renewable means.

Several companies including private giants like Reliance and Adani as well as PSUs are setting up clean hydrogen fuel plants across the country, which will start coming online by 2024.

The country aims to produce 5 mn tonnes of clean hydrogen by 2030 compared to about 0.08 mn tonnes that is produced by the entire world today! This would mean a significant reduction in oil imports and prove to be a brand new avenue for Indian export.

What is helpful to this effort is the fact that India is almost energy deficiency free now; meaning that every unit of energy demanded is being fulfilled. This is an indicator that the demand supply equilibrium has been reached and the time for optimizing the supply portfolio is ripe.

With addition of clean hydrogen to its energy portfolio, India aims to supplement efforts around electric vehicles and hydro/ solar/ wind production to be fully self reliant in energy.

[1] Times of India

India as a pole in a multi polar world

saumyashikhar
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India as a pole in a multi polar world

During the past few days, you would have seen several comments from Western ‘academics’ and India born western ‘intellectuals’ about supporting the ‘free world’ in Ukraine’s conquest to defend democracy on behalf of the world. On the other hand, you would also have seen a thousand articles, memes and news bites on how Russia has supported India in the past and hence India must stick by it and return the favour.

Then there’s yet another section of people (albeit much smaller than the two above) which professes India’s non-alignment which means India should not get into such international affairs at all.

One of the many articles

India’s actual foreign policy however is a bit more complex, but well thought out.

S Jaishankar (currently India’s External Affairs Minister) wrote a book called ‘The India Way’ which came out in 2020. The book is arguably the best articulation of India’s foreign policy for the 21st century.

The central theme in his book is ‘convergence’. Jaishankar argues that in an ever changing, uncertain world, you can not rely on either a strategy of alliances or of non alignment. What India does instead, is create benefit/ issue based convergences with multiple countries and groups of nations. The QUAD is a great example of convergence. India, US, Japan and Australia have come together in the QUAD setting to maximise gains in areas like vaccines, technology, supply chain and security.

The International Solar Alliance where India leads 101 countries is another example.

If you think about it, ‘convergence’ is a far more pragmatic and mathematical solution (an optimizer if you will) compared to the extreme models of allyship (total convergence on all issues) or non alignment (no convergence no divergence).

Does this mean India has no global leadership ambitions?

It is often also said that if India doesn’t support US’s stand, it would result in India somehow not being taken seriously for a global leadership role.

However, that is a flawed argument which plays to the Indian inferiority complex accustomed for white skin validation. The fact is that India does have global ambitions. However, it doesn’t seek to reach there in the conventional way where there are only 1 or 2 major global players. India aspires to be an independent pole in a multipolar world. Also, if India wants to reach a pole position, it is natural it can’t do it just based on favors of other countries. US would support India only to the point where it doesn’t become a competition like China has today – a fact well established by US policy statements where they refer to India as an emerging regional power, not global.

It is no hidden fact, that India is one of the top 5 economies by GDP (Nominal) basis. With time, India will be within Top 2. Regardless of whether the Indian population’s per capita income increases, the overall macro standing itself would be enough to push India’s political clout to a pole position.

Hence, India has been confidently implementing its approach of becoming a pole by maximizing its convergences without conciously making a friend or foe.

Is Hijab really essential in Islam?

shrijeet
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Is Hijab really essential in Islam?

The legal tussle in the Karnataka High Court on the hijab issue has attracted unprecedented public attention. Common people in India are basically more interested in knowing the cardinality of hijab in Islam than any other legal niceties involved in the matter. This is not the first time any secular authority, such as a court has been put to decide a theological issue which has a bearing on the faith of followers of a religion.

A much touted customary practice of hijab is under challenge by another secular authority, that is, the state. Empirically, it is accepted that only secular authorities have the wisdom to solve the religious deadlock owing to various schools of thought propagating different interpretations of religious practices. Therefore, the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts have laid down certain touchstones to determine the clickbait of any religion.

The constitution of India under Art. 25 permits any practice subject to certain qualifications such as public order, morality, and health, however, to acquire constitutional protection for any religious practice, it should be essential in nature, and it is a law declared by the Supreme Court of India. The analogy behind the said principle of essentiality is to sift out detrimental and inhuman customs from genuine religious praxis thus, to obtain immunity under the Indian Constitution, hijab supporters are required to pass the test of essentiality.

The four major hierarchical authorities in the Islamic tradition are: the holy Quran, Sunna (traditions based on the life of Prophet Paigambar), ijma (juristic consensus), Qiyas (analogy). At the apex is the holy Quran, Sunna is second in command and except for the holy Quran, nothing is superior to Sunna, not even the opinions of scholars thus pathological analysis of hijab tradition has to be made in the light of the holy Quran, first. Surah Al-Ahzab, Verse No.55, states: “There is no sin for them (the wives of the Prophet) in (appearing without hijab before) their fathers, or their brothers, or the sons of their brothers, or the sons of their sisters, or their own (Muslim) women, or their slave-girls. And (0 wives of the Prophet,) fear Allah. Surely, Allah is witness to everything”. There is another verse (no.59) in Surah Al-Ahzab, which reads “O prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers that they should draw down their shawls over them. That will make it more likely that they are recognized, hence not teased. And Allah is Most-Forgiving, Very-Merciful”.

In Verse No.55, Allah uses the word “sin” and the verse ends with the words ‘fear Allah’ per contrain Verse No.59, – Allah does not mandate but only conveys his wish, which is expected to be passed on to all believing Muslim women through the Prophet and verse ends with the words “Allah is Most-Forgiving and Very Merciful” in other words God is saying except in front of certain category of persons only wives of prophet are perforce to wear hijab otherwise it would be called sin and the wrath of God may descend on them, however, Verse No.59 is applicable to all pious women but in this verse God only conveys his advise by saying that women should ‘draw down shawls over them’ to get identified and avoid tease. Some Islamic scholars interpret it as covering the head also, but even if their opinion is accepted, by no stretch of imagination can hijab be held essential for all women, as Verse 59, ends with the words ‘mercy and forgiving God’ which means if women flout the advisory of God they will not be punished.

The other frequently quoted verse from the holy Quran is in Surah An-Nur 24.31, which is: ‘And say to the believing women that they must lower their gazes and guard their private parts, and must not expose their adornment, except that which appears thereof, and must wrap their bosoms with their shawls, and must not expose their adornment except to their husbands or their fathers or the fathers of their husbands, or to their sons or the sons of their husbands, or to their brothers or the sons of their brothers or the sons of their sisters, or to their women, or to those owned by their right hands, or male attendants having no (sexual) urge, or to the children who are not yet conscious of the shames of women. And let them not stamp their feet in a way that the adornment they conceal is known. And repent to Allah O believers, all of you, so that you may achieve success’.

This verse mandates to cover private parts and again instructs to cover bosoms with shawls, however, nowhere does it talk about hijab or headscarf to cover the head or face, but hijab supporters intentionally ignore the edicts of the holy Quran and keep quoting opinions of Islamic scholars, their analogy and hermeneutics, thereby distorting the true precepts of holy Quran.

Islamic traditions are divided into three parts first is ‘Farz’ or strictly obligatory in nature, such as Five times prayer, Compulsory payment (zakat), Fasting, etc. Second, Haram: Those are strictly forbidden. Consumption of liquor, eating of pork etc. Third, Mandub: things which are advised to do but not compulsory. If Allah wished to make hijab inevitable, then that would have been incorporated in the category of Farz, therefore, providing immunity to patriarchal order in Islam seems to be the principal intention behind calling hijab an essential practice having no standing except as Mandub in the light of the holy Quran. 

In one of the Hadiths, Prophet Mohammad is reported to have said to his sister-in-law Asma “O Asma! It is not correct for a woman to show her parts other than her hands and face to strangers after she begins to have menstruation.” But nowhere does the Prophet warn that not wearing a hijab is haram, therefore, this statement of the Prophet is merely advise. If the Prophet allows demonstration of the face, why does it not include the head too? There is no other logic except to impose male superiority over women by the maulanas and mullahs who boastfully call themselves scholars of Islam.

Two judgments are frequently quoted to show hijab is an essential practice. One is by the Madras high court, which is not much relevant here because that judgment primarily deals with the issue of purdah in Islam. The other is by the Kerala High Court in Amnah Bint Basheer vs Central Board Of Secondary….wherein court after expressing its obiter dictum on the essentiality of hijab in Islam, made a very important observation, the court said ‘there is a possibility of having different views or opinions for the believers of the Islam based on ijithihad (independent reasoning). This Court is not discarding such views. The possibility of having different propositions is not a ground to deny the freedom if such propositions have some foundation in the claim.”  If there is a difference of opinion on hijab in Islamic scholars, how can it be termed as Farz? Hijab supporters who rely on this judgment of the Kerala High Court must remember that the court has passed a judgment on the basis of the opinion of a few scholars only, therefore it is of no avail to come to the final conclusion on the obligatory nature of hijab.

If any practice is to be called essential in nature, then without following it one cannot be termed as a believer, is this trapping applicable to hijab? If the answer is yes, the subsequent question is why there is a difference of opinion among scholars on the compulsion of hijab or types of hijab? The constitution of India is liberal enough to protect the key stipulations of every religion, but it is equally a force deterrent to zealots endeavoring for the establishment of a theocratic state with a special leaning for one particular religion. With this note, let us hope that an opportunity before the full bench of Karnataka to correct gender discrimination in Islam would not go in vain.

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