The History and Mystery of Poramboke Resolved .....

The History and Mystery of Poramboke Resolved .....

The Formation of Private Property and Subsequent Changes after British Conquest:

            The early English administrators proceeded upon the assumption that the soil belonged to the sovereign. This made them believe that India should also have a similar system of property formation as European Feudalism where the King is the owner of all land of the Country and the subject can only have an interest upon the land. However, this stand did not help the British to seek revenue from the land. By the situation that prevailed at that time, the British opted for privatization of all land. However, by the despatch of Lord Wellesley, it was conveyed to the English masters that it was not desirable for the Government to be the custodian of the land and collect taxes from the immediate cultivators of the soil. At this point, the Government took a major step as to declare that all waste land/unappropriated land (Even Sir Thomas Munroe endorsed this view later), other than private control become state possession and the proprietor of the soil of cultivable land on the Zamindars (in the case of Zamindari Settlement) or by the cultivator himself (in the case of Ryotwari System) by way of Permanent Settlement in Bengal. Thus there were three distinct classification of Land in India called the (1) Agricultural (sounding to be Private), (2) and the Non- Agricultural which meant both the Waste land and the Common Property land vested with the State.

India has only three types of properties such as (1) Agricultural (2) Non-Agricultural and (3) Common properties. By social practice, we see a set of new unrecorded conventions and power structures with reference to Private Properties. However, Private property was never documented in ancient Indian literatures. It is also pertinent to point out that the Indian Land Administration derives its genesis from “Land Revenue Administration”, where every land record created aimed at tapping the revenue to the state.

The king generously donated agricultural land for temples so that the agricultural revenue from that land may be used for running the temple. The later legal system that was developed with the fusion of English Property system and Mughal system of Administration. The ‘gifts’ to individuals by the Muslim rulers called “Jagirs”, “Inams” etc and the grants made by the earlier Indian rulers as Brammadeyam and Dharamadheyam land paved way for the notion of private property system. The British , when they were conducting periodic land Revenue Settlement (every in thirty years), duly recognized the inheritance of property by temples and land lords that they inherited by way of gifts from the ancient kings supported by copper plate ( Seppedu or Seppu Pattayam) or any material evidence.  Invariably, all individual property ownership is associated with a term called “Patta”. In the case of waste lands or the unappropriated land the British termed as “Poramboke”.

The History of Poramboke

The whole area of a Tamil village dating to ancient Chola period and thereafter were divided into four classification :(1) Warapat, (2) Tirwapat, (3) Tarisu, (4) Poramboke.

Cultivable Land : Warapet and Tirwapet

            The first two namely Warapet and Tirwapet were under the control of private persons and are cultivable land.  Warapet generally were wetlands (‘Nanjai’, that yielded more produce and produce were paid as tax and the Tirwapet ( tirwai means tax assessment), the dry land in which only a fixed amount of money was levied because they belonged to the Dry category of the land or “Punjai”, without assured water supply from the state as in the case of Warapet.

            During the time of introduction of Ryotwari system, it was easy for the British to club the two as patta classification of land and levied tax as money for both Warapet and Tirwapet.

Uncultivated Land: Sheykal Karambu (Somewhat cultivable) and Poramboke (completely cultivable)

Tarisu are waste or uncultivated lands which are divided into two classes, sheykal karambu, (cultivable waste, yet no fixed owners ) and Anadi karambu, (immemorial waste, that is they have been never cultivated).

Poramboke

Poramboke are land incapable of cultivation or set apart for public or communal purposes. They are of various kinds of classification of Poramboke land according to the purposes for which they have been designated. In common parlance any land that does not yield revenue is known as Poramboke. But it is liable to revenue, but the right to levy assessment on it is given up by government for certain reasons (in the case of Ponmudi Nagar, the inhabitation became the cause of levy of B-Memo with an annual assessment).

The three main Classification of Land under Ryotwari System that exist today

Under the ryotwari system waste are classified into (a) assessed, (b) unassessed and (c) poramboke. Assessed waste are cultivated lands which have been left uncultivated, lands relinquished by ryots, and lands bought in by government in revenue sales. Unassessed waste are lands to which no classification or assessment has been assigned because they are considered unfit for cultivation. Poramboke denote lands set apart for public or communal purposes. They are also unassessed. The free- hold in these three classes of lands is in government.

‘Natham’ or ‘nattam’ or ‘gramanattam’ is the site on which village habitations are situated, and is held free of assessment. Except the Nattam Poramboke, which is permitted for inhabitation, all other Poramboke such as Lake, River, Hill, Grazing Ground, Cattle pond, Forest and similar classification of Poramboke of public use or common use are completely protected from any kind of people’s enjoyment.

Individual Ownership of Land – The Patta Mystery of India (Tamil Nadu)

Individual ownership and related records – legal system, their understanding by common people.

Common people consider “patta” as their ultimate proof of title of ownership of the land. Patta is nothing but the copy of the document called “Settlement Register”, maintained in the Revenue Office at each Sub-division of a District. The Settlement Register mentions that a specific land measuring such extent is under the enjoyment of a particular individual.

This Patta reflects the land registry and in practice, not all patta may reflect the reality, because eaqch time the land gets sold , the title change does not happen automatically. The system as it exist today require the land purchaser to follow the process of updating of records and many illiterate, unaware citizens do not have a patta even though they would have purchased the land. This has indeed given many civil litigations and contestations.

However, the relevant point relevant that the term “Patta”, that is the one word understood as (1) Ownership Title Deed (2) Certificate of Ownership.

The understanding of patta as ‘deed system’ is the institutional interpretation to deal with  tax, registry of possession and assertion of the control of the statecontrol and in social practice would mean ‘patta’ as a presumptive title, where the name of the  Individual gets links to the landed property. There is one more practice oriented possession of land called “Adverse Possession”, that legitimizes the claim of Squatters called “ B-Memo”, that is the sole proof of squatters, if they are habiting a classification of Common Land called “Poramboke Land. The possession of B- Memo is in the case of ‘Ponmudi Nagar’ Study, what is being studied, has made the people of ‘Ponmudi Nagar’, obtain their patta.  

Understanding of Patta
Legal	Practice
It is issued to Squatters that they are levied a penalty of a meager amount say Rs. 5/- per cent for a revenue year for squatting Government Land without binding to law. The text of the patta is very rude and sharp and say that the squatting is not legal and liable for eviction.	People consider that this one step for regular title and claim that B- Memo will assure them patta ultimately. In other words B- Memo is a deemed to be an imitation of Patta. Example: The modern day famous Chennai city Medical College owned by a private firm stands on a lake completely filled with sand. The classification is Eri/lake Poramboke. But somehow Tahsildar was pressurized to issue B- Memo to prove that the lake did not exist and then pressure was exerted by the private management to the Government and ultimately the land/Lake was placed at the disposal of the Government

Conditional patta (1822) colonial arrangement for ensuring property to landless Legal base what is called today as free House Site patta (Revenue Standing Order 15)

State Sponsored Patta for Squatters involve a Process called “De-Classification of Common Land/Poramboke”

The process of declassification is a clear evidence of theory-practice divide. For example, on revenue record viz., the settlement register it might appear “River”, or “ Cattle Pound”, or “ Grazing Ground” or as in the case of Ponmudi Nagar “ Lake”. But in reality, due to changing land use pattern, change of river course and other natural and manmade causes, the classification of the land has been done by the State inorder to place the common land for public/private use. Since human habitation cannot be legally done in a land classified as lake, the Government orders for change of classification and then calls it as “ Natham Settlement (Habitable Land)” or “ College Poramboke ( if it has been given for starting a Government College)”, depending upon the exigencies.

Issue of Land Title by Expropriation

Land reform, the process of acquiring surplus land from the land lords and expropriating it to land less poor as redistributed of private properties also invoke the same declassification procedure.  In this case, the Private Land/ Individual Patta lands are taken possession by the State by notifications under Land Reforms Act and the classified as “Government Poramboke”, and then the procedure as per R.S.O (Revenue Standing Order 15) for conditional patta is made and given to individuals. Page 66to 87 of the Policy Note of Government of Tamil Nadu throw much light in these kind of transaction.

Titling for Urban Poor

In the state of Tamil Nadu by the year 1975, urban unused Government Land as well as land acquired from Private person were developed as vertical tenements with all civic amenities and handed over to beneficiaries as part of “Social Empowerment Project”. In this case, the beneficiaries are granted a ‘joint-patta’ after the expiry of ten years and until then, legally the tenements must not be sold.  But the practice is that the tenements under Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board have seen enormous sale transaction outside the purview of the state that is, the sale transacted would be never registered and the integration and identification of real owner and the title of ownership of the tenement are seldom verified and checked.

The Mystery of Indian Property System: Poramboke, Patta, Land Titling and Beyond

The Mystery of Indian Property System:  Poramboke, Patta, Land Titling and Beyond

Landed Property and its management has been a challenge in Modern India whether Urban or Rural. Though there are scores of scholars working on Property, Land Titling on Urban or rural context, one missing part in their literature is “The History of Property System and its understanding in Indian Context”.

I tried to sketch the outline of the historicity of property system with a series of question encountered from a French Geographer and a research Collaborator. My reply to him has been summated as a brief history. I wish this is the first piece of its kind written on Indian, especially the Post Colonial understanding of Indian Property System.

The aim of this paper is to give a clear and documented statement on what is shaping the India’s property debates and practices today in urban context. It offers a description of the historical setting of the present legal landscape structuring the principle of real property (common, public and private). We are studying titling of individual possession in urban squatter area. In order to understand what is titling we have to have the background of property system in India. I wish at least one or two will be interested to work for PhD under my supervision, which not only benefit the administrative system but also fetch them a good career. Unfortunately, I have not come across one single PhD candidate with a fire in his/er eyes, approaching for PhD. The success of this blog post, I would see that some one passes the information that in the entire India, there is one man in Pondicherry University within the age group below 40 is on the watch for suitable candidates.

Property System in India:

             The Indian Independence from British in 1947 resulted in a series of property reforms, that reflects in present day India:  as (1) Abolition of Intermediary and Conversion to Ryotwari (2) Land Reforms Acts. These both legislative interventions paved way for access to land by landless poor.

Urban Context:

            The consciousness of “Urban Property” or “Urban Context of Property” in India came to force only in late 1960’s. What differentiated urban and rural was merely the intervention made by the English Colonizers. Though the term “Pattanam[1]”, meaning “City” existed in ancient Tamil literatures, they merely meant the regional and the intercontinental markets that formed the hub of commercial activity. There are very evident sources in India especially in Chennai the capital of the province of Tamil Nadu that the very first legislation on Urban Property Context were made in 1976.It was Urban Ceiling Act, 1976. The ever increasing population in urban agglomerations made the government to announce various schemes to accommodate the migrant as well as native population in City area that gave way for “Slum Clearance Board”, where in vertical tenements were built for the urban poor by the Government. Thus it was only a reactive administration in urban context in India and it was never proactive.

Transforming Towns and Villages and their impact on Property Management

The case study we have taken for instance displays the problems associated with (1) Generating Funds for basic service maintenance such as Drinking water, sanitation and road infrastructure (2) and the issue of “Property Titling” – It is at this point it is stated that there are very many aberrations are there in the available literature. Our present study not only studies property system in an urban context but also to provide some clarity of the various terms often misunderstood and misinterpreted. It also sets out to measure land titling in urban context and the relative chance of capital formation because of the Lad Titling system.

A brief outline of Indian Property system with reference to Land Titling

India has only three types of properties such as (1) Agricultural (2) Non-Agricultural and (3) Common properties. By social practice, we see a set of new unrecorded conventions and power structures with reference to Private Properties. However, Private property was never documented in ancient Indian literatures. It is also pertinent to point out that the Indian Land Administration derives its genesis from “Land Revenue Administration”, where every land record created aimed at tapping the revenue to the state.

The king generously donated agricultural land for temples so that the agricultural revenue from that land may be used for running the temple. The later legal system that was developed with the fusion of English Property system and Mughal system of Administration. The ‘gifts’ to individuals by the Muslim rulers called “Jagirs”, “Inams” etc and the grants made by the earlier Indian rulers as Brammadeyam and Dharamadheyam land paved way for the notion of private property system. Invariably, all individual property ownership is associated with a term called “Patta”.

Individual Ownership of Land – The Patta Mystery of India(Tamil Nadu)

Individual ownership and related records – legal system, their understanding by common people.

Common people consider “patta” as their ultimate proof of title of ownership of the land. Patta is nothing but the copy of the document called “Settlement Register”, maintained in the Revenue Office at each Sub-division of a District. The Settlement Register mentions that a specofoc land measuring such extent is under the enjoyment of a particular individual.

This Patta reflects the land registry and in practice, not all patta may reflect the reality, because eaqch time the land gets sold , the title change does not happen automatically. The system as it exist today require the land purchaser to follow the process of updating of records and many illiterate, unaware citizens do not have a patta even though they would have purchased the land. This has indeed given many civil litigations and contestations.

However, the relevant point relevant that the term “Patta”, that is the one word understood as (1) Ownership Title Deed (2) Certificate of Ownership.

The understanding of patta as ‘deed system’ is the institutional interpretation to deal with  tax, registry of possession and assertion of the control of the state control and in social practice would mean ‘patta’ as a presumptive title, where the name of the  Individual gets links to the landed property. There is one more practice oriented possession of land called “Adverse Possession”, that legitimizes the claim of Squatters called “ B-Memo”, that is the sole proof of squatters, if they are habiting a classification of Common Land called “Poramboke Land. The possession of B- Memo has in real, given a confidence to people that they have crossed the first hurdle in their long struggle of obtaining their Patta.  

Understanding of Patta
Legal	Practice
It is issued to Squatters that they are levied a penalty of a meagre amount say Rs. 5/- per cent for a revenue year for squatting Government Land without binding to law. The text of the patta is very rude and sharp and say that the squatting is not legal and liable for eviction.	People consider that this one step for regular title and claim that B- Memo will assure them patta ultimately. In other words B- Memo is a deemed to be an imitation of Patta.

Conditional patta (1822) colonial arrangement for ensuring property to landless Legal base what is called today as free House Site patta (Revenue Standing Order 15)

State Sponsored Patta for Squatters involve a Process called “De-Classification of Common Land”

The process of declassification is a clear evidence of theory-practice divide. For example, on revenue record viz., the settlement register it might appear “River”, or “ Cattle Pound”, or “ Grazing Ground” or as in the case of Ponmudi Nagar “ Lake”. But in reality, due to changing land use pattern, change of river course and other natural and manmade causes, the classification of the land has been done by the State inorder to place the common land for public/private use. Since human habitation cannot be legally done in a land classified as lake, the Government orders for change of classification and then calls it as “ Natham Settlement (Habitable Land)” or “ College Poramboke ( if it has been given for starting a Government College)”, depending upon the exigencies.

Issue of Land Title by Expropriation

Land reform, the process of acquiring surplus land from the land lords and expropriating it to land less poor as redistributed  of private properties also involve the same declassification procedure.  In this case, the Private Land/ Individual Patta lands are taken possession by the State by notifications under Land Reforms Act and the classified as “Government Poramboke”, and then the procedure as per R.S.O (Revenue Standing Order 15) for conditional patta is made and given to individuals.

Titling for Urban Poor

In the state of Tamil Nadu by the year 1975, urban unused Government Land as well as land acquired from Private person were developed as vertical tenements with all civic amenities and handed over to beneficiaries as part of “Social Empowerment Project”. In this case, the beneficiaries are granted a ‘joint-patta’ after the expiry of ten years and until then, legally the tenements must not be sold.  But the practice is that the tenements under Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board have seen enormous sale transaction outside the purview of the state that is, the sale transacted would be never registered and the integration and identification of real owner and the title of ownership of the tenement are seldom verified and checked.

*****************

 ( This is a contribution towards a research Project by me. Sharing in Public Domain to assist young administrators in Civil Service dealing with Land Revenue Administration. No part is to be reproduced in any form for academic writing without obtainig the consent from the research team)

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[1] Kaveripoompattinam, Kayalpattinam, Nagapattinam were well established coastal cities along the South eastern coast of India.

Durga Shakthi Nagpal: A Fiery Spirit at the Mercy of Foolish Democracy

Durga Shakthi Nagpal: A Fiery Spirit at the Mercy of Foolish Democracy

                   The young lady Officer Ms.Durga Shakthi might have sung this Bengali song “Hao Dharmete Dheer, Hao Karomete Bir ... Hao Unnato Shir…..Naahi Bhay…. When she passed out of the Academy a few months ago after undergoing the rigorous a year and few months training in India’s LBS National Academy of Administration. The English version of the song as it appears in the official website of the Academy, reads as:

“Be firm in your faith, be courageous in action, Keep your head erect—fear not; Forget all your differences, let all march onwards,    God is with us—victory is assured; Many languages, many creeds, many costumes,   Let there be unity in this diversity, Watching the rise of the great Indian Nation, The world will be filled with wonder   The world will be filled with wonder”

            The young girl, would not have known that the song is a mere cliché of post-colonial mindset until she could find her own service colleagues maintaining distance with her, after the son of Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh has reaffirmed his act of suspending the her. The whole universe knows that the act is irrational, outrageous and done with the mind of a "thug", in the guide of a democratic function.

            It is not known if Ms.Durga is being negotiated a “Kerala State Karunakaran’s type of suspension”, where the suspension is later rewarded with plum posting just to satisfy the media and the power hungry political mafia- In any case, the slap of the suspension order is indeed a slap on the steel framework of India- the ethical premise upon which the Indian Bureaucracy has been built upon.

           This is not the first time Civil Servants are targeted by mafias and goons. A many go unreported. Also mafias and goons need not always from politics, they are everywhere even inside bureaucracy albeit a sizable few are mentally retarded and the madness perpetuates problems as dangerous as from the goons. The present assertion that the demolition of the mosque wall by Durga , as the Chief Minister of UP says is based on Intelligence reports, that the District Magistrate have refuted and sent a report dismissing the claim! Who is an accountable institution? The District Magistrate or Intelligence Agency? What locus-standus the intelligence report has when the District Magistrate has sent his report black and white? Shamelessly, her own colleagues, fellow service colleagues, the white collar criminals have fallen in line with the fraud and suspended her.

Now a series of questions arise: In what way Durga Shakthi’s suspension gains importance to be discussed in public space why the suspension not only needs to be revoked, the culprits behind it whoever they may be must be brought to Justice? Why a stray incident in Noida in UP needs to be discussed all over India?

One reasonable answer could be that, this is not like the candle light fantasy of Anna Hazare’s Tamasha. The Ram Leela maidan was staging a comical drama where Anna Hazare was a meeting point of ‘beetlemania’ and ‘megalomania’. It was a mega film shoot with flood lights!

But this attack on Durga Shakthi  is real! The guiding principle of ethics in governance displayed by a young bureaucrat who represents the arm of the Government is reduced to dust. She now stands victimized! in the mental stage of mafias, the officer is made to stand mutilated of her limbs! It is not merely Durga Shakthi who stands mutilated but the consciousness of the middle and  upper middle class! 

The foundations of ethical seriousness and reliability on the State has been slayed. God Bless UP Chief secretary Javed Usmani, who will soon process the Note in a file recommending charge sheeting the young officer. If this ever happens, that would mark the collapse of the dictum "Satyameva Jayate" in Indian State's Symbol. 

The speed and sensitivity the Indian State showed on the Naxal abducted Vineel Krishna and Alex Paul Menon, should apply in this case too. Earlier the two IAS Officers were abducted by anti-state forces, and this is even more dangerous! The naxals just challenge the Indian State with a countering ideology! Durga Shakthi is abducted by even deadlier forces of destruction of the "very Idea" of Government of India! But in Durga Shakthi episode, it is Goonda Raj that gets political legitimacy a destruction of the liberal democracy itself. As seen by all, the executive arm of the government gets eclipsed by goons in the guise of Intelligence report. If this happens to Durga, anyone can be taken to task based on intelligence report! The Chief Secretary who defends this atrocious and outrageous act may also would become victim of this goonda raj, and the Chief Secretary may be declared a terrorist on the basis of "Intelligence Report". If this is not nipped off in the bud, the entire question of Constitutional Democracy gets hijacked by goons. 

This is not the problem of One Durga Shakthi , but all honest souls in the Politico-Administrative system of India - the Judges, the honest politicians, students, Academicians and all clean hands are under threat! 

Ms.Durga Shakthi must know by now that the 'media howling' merits no legitimacy because the media barons are merely merchants of sensations -merciless merchants of sensations and mercenaries of creating public opinion of promoting goons. They will soon turn their attention if something more lucrative would happen.

          Of all, what surprises me is the mobilization among the dormant bureaucracy who is individually challenging and defiant but collectively just like a ‘docile hippopotamus’ (as the IAS Officer Association of UP Cadre). Hats off to the All India IAS Officer’s Association and the office bearers for their bold maneuverings with the concerned Central Minister Mr. V.Narayanasamy. It is high time that the concerned District Magistrate and the SDM be called on some exigencies on Central Deputation. Mr.V. Narayanasamy should know that defending Durga Shaakthi  is more important than defending the cause of Koodankulam Nuclear Plant.

( The author is a former Professor in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie and would like to dedicate this to Mr. Yatendra Kumar, a serving IAS Officer in Manipur Tripura Cadre who suffered similar injuries all through his life. I  feel proud working with him for few months) 

                                  

Tamil Movie ‘Viswaroopam’s Release – A Ruckus or a Subaltern rectitude?

Tamil Movie ‘Viswaroopam’s Release – A Ruckus or a Subaltern rectitude?

The great sensation created with Kamal Hasan’s Viswarropam (viswaroop) in Hindi with protests from religious quarters and endorsed by the populist politics of Tamil Nadu and blindly copied by the Republic of Pondicherry in banning the release of the movie (In Pondicherry the entire bureaucracy and political leadership apparently depend on the Gazette of Tamil Nadu Government to run their day to day activities, a story that needs treatment in this blog separately) has drawn certain fundamental questions for any common man who is literate and has a least common denomination of commonsense.

1.      When the Central Board of Film Certification has cleared the movie, who else have any legal validity to oppose the release of the movie?

a.       In the event that a movie cannot be released for creating Land & Order disturbances, what is the way out – whether the theatre needs protection or the Movie needs to be banned?

2.      When it is legitimate for the Religious heads to express their freedom of expression not to release the movie, does Mr.Kamal Hasan entitle for the same measure of freedom of expression to screen his movies

3.       Is a religion so fragile to be changed its ideology and core principles just if a movie depicts it in the way the people of that religion does not want to?

4.      When the movie did not earmark any precondition for being an audience whether one belongs to religion ’A’ or religion ‘B’ what if the people other religion did not oppose the movie, what about their right of free will?

5.      What is the principle behind the decision of Tamil Nadu Government in banning the movie?

6.      When the same religion dominated people of another country has not protested, and patronizing the movie, what is wrong with the people of Tamil Nadu?

a.       Or do they have a different version of religion?

Some years ago I have read the following words of Antonio Gramsci: 

“Subaltern Mindsets crave for real solutions for Imaginary Problems and identify imaginary Solutions for real Problems” – Antonio Gramsci

The Name of the New Delhi Rape Victim is Eve!

 Though I am not religious, the accepted first woman of this majority population of world is Eve. If one believes that the unknown Indian Girl raped and dumped out from the moving bus with her intestines allegedly pulled out with a iron bar (Source: Wikipeadia, in the absence of other authentic source), the victim is indeed connected to her Mom by way of umbilical cord and if a person traces the continuity of the umbilical cord, the 16^th December, 2012 victim is also connected to the first woman of this Planet, the Eve. Hence by all means she can also be called as a Fragment of Eve. Hence I call her Eve.

Also for the very first time the Indian megalomania Media have followed the basic Journalistic ethics of not revealing the name and the picture of the victim of a rape incident. It is unfortunate that this basic norm is not known to the megalomania media who advocate “celebrating” the name of the Victim. May be, now she is no more and hence the norm of not divulging the name ceases and hence the Government may name the victim or may not. But is that the issue of contemplation?

In this country, in rural pockets, bonded labours, migrant labours and a large section of marginalised women are subjected to brutality of sexual abuse which is one of the forms of abuses to them. When the same is happening in New Delhi, the issue now carries its core message. It is apparent that Women in general are not safe whether it is rural or urban or semi urban.

Where does this start from?

In this case, the bus is owned by a Private School, which plies bus for school children’s commutation. The driver of the bus one among the accused has been serving a school as a bus driver! How come his other side remain undetected? One may ask, is that the job of the School Owner. Yes! It is the job of the School owner who runs the school for his private benefit with only a minimal social benefit. Would he permit such persons to serve his house as his personal driver for his wife or son? Each day those innocent school kids have literally escaped this onslaught and “Eve”; you have taken it on you. RIP.

The friend of Eve, has made a statement that he went unconscious and knew about the whole gamut of incident only after he read the statement of Eve. Typical of Adam!

The Young Girls of Delhi, according to Rasheeda Bagha quoted from an article in Business Line ‎"Indian women are tired of being lectured on how to dress, speak and behave. All these years the onus has been on them to remain safe. If they were molested or sexually assaulted they were to blame. A clear message that came out from young girls holding placards which said:”'You have the evil eye and I should stay covered?”. Perhaps this is the turning point in Indian Social Behaviour where very clearly the girls, women have sent a strong message (of course in an Urban Context) that they no longer subscribe to the fake protection of men, the prime perpetrators. But the million dollar question is that how far our Legal and law enforcing institutions are accommodative to this vital question:

1.      The existing institutions where females are employed say for example Defence, Police Service and even other fields where by Constitution they are levelled at par with male, the situation of their status and recognition is grim.

2.      The number of women officers who feel insecure in service whether coveted or non gazetted are growing more, merely because of their very identity, admits a survey conducted by bonafide organisation.

Thus when females are not in a position to levitate themselves where they are constitutionally empowered , what about a moving bus with tinted glass controlled by few vandals or the rural , subaltern space where the “Body of the Woman” is commoditized completely.

            What is the sad irony is that these girls holding placards shouting for liberation might fail the test for contending such emancipation in true sense – for example:

a.       How many of the Girls are not conditioned that her body is never hers but for the pleasure and procreation of another male? Is that not the bounded duty of every parents and if any eve violate she will be honour killed! The post modern revival of Sati, killing the girl along with the lost honour!

b.      How many of our girls mentally don’t have the feeling that they are groomed for becoming someone’s wife and forbear children, lest her purpose of creation gets defeated?

c.       How many women here, there and everywhere are able to lead a life of her choice or at least given some exposure?

d.      If this is in urban context, how many rural Indian women Pradhans/Panchayat presidents – officially elected by the Village people as their representative are given a minimum dignity by their husbands? ( I know the reality as a researcher in many of the Northern States)

(if anyone who reads these above positions and discuss among your friends, there lies the success of this blog)

The corporate media that fuel the enraged mass movements are also inserting advertisements of beauty products and cosmetics. Here they conveniently mislead the world on “Freedom of Choice” and the recent media advertisement, later bungled up for criticism on “tighty whity vagina is the height of such corporate arrogance. It is these merchants of opportunities, merchants of commodifying women as a symbol of sex speak of women liberation. For them TRP rating matters and the dose of visual opium matters for filling their coffers. (http://www.firstpost.com/living/tightey-whitey-vaginas-the-boys-are-depending-on-us-413651.html). We are living in a civilized society and there are people who advocate “ It is choice that matters – Freedom of Choice” – yes I agree ! to what extent and at what cost with what objective? Can we fall prey to these corporate honey traps, that has been all along been selling womanhood as a profitable commodity? Wake up Girls wake up. Revolutions not mean boosting the sales of candles. It is beyond that. Let us redefine definitions. Prepare for a mental revolution.

The rogues who stand accused of this heinous act of violence are also our products – Yes We the State, we the Civil Society, we the corporate, we the spineless intelligentsia, we the people who cannot educate them, who cannot give them a equitable education are abettors to this crime!

Sorry Eve! We know you will never pardon us...yes shamelessly we plead your apology. We will again come up with another apology shamelessly after another incident and promote candle sales!

Not at all a Happy New year!