On the morning that I read in my morning newspapers that Preity Zinta had filed a case of ‘molestation’ and abuse against her former boyfriend I also read that a young mother in Madhya Pradesh had been gang-raped and paraded naked in front of her 10-year-old son. A famous actress charging the great grandson of Mohammad Ali Jinnah with ‘molestation’ is a sensational story while brutality against rural women is routine in India that is Bharat. So barely anyone noticed the story of the woman from Khandwa district who, incidentally, was also forced to drink urine to make it absolutely clear to her that in the eyes of her rapists (who included her husband) she was just garbage. Nothing but a piece of trash. This woman from the Bhil tribe had the courage to go to the police and luckily for her the police actually helped her instead of raping her again as often happens in our police stations. Her rapists were arrested and she was taken to hospital. Blurry shots of her frail, shivering body lying in a green sari on a hospital bed with her little son sitting beside her appeared on some news channels but much more attention was devoted to Preity Zinta’s alleged molestation.
According to the actress her ex-boyfriend, Ness Wadia, abused her physically and verbally in the Wankhede Stadium in full public view and this made her feel shamed and violated. Compared to what happened to the woman in Madhya Pradesh and to what happened to those two girls in Badaun and to the thousands of other horror stories we hear every day what happened to Preity did not in my view merit the attention it got. The alacrity with which the Mumbai police acted made me angrier still because I know, from personal experience, how reluctantly they respond to complaints of children being trafficked to the brothels in this city. So I tweeted that it was wrong of Preity Zinta to turn a spat with an ex-boyfriend in a packed stadium into a police case. I had no idea that this would result in me being abused on Twitter in unprintable language.
Then Shobha De who has moved seamlessly from writing soft porn to social commentary decided to attack me in a column she wrote for NDTV and I found myself at the centre of a row that played out on national television. More vicious abuse on Twitter followed from arm chair feminists who have never raised their voices in support of their less privileged sisters who are routinely subjected to acid attacks, trafficking and rape. What interested me most about the attack on me from these enraged ladies was that it brought out the divisions between India and Bharat more starkly than I have ever noticed them before.
Shobha De and her twittering sisters live in a world that Ms De described as ‘polite society’ on one of her TV appearances lifting her bejeweled fingers to indicate the quotes around those two words. What incenses them are the sort of things that happen in that supposedly polite society where women do not dare talk about verbal and physical attacks from husbands, lovers and exes. Many would like to go to the police as Ms Zinta did but dare not because they are often dependent financially on their abusive spouses. Many have noticed when they try to take their problems before courts of law that judges take an unsympathetic view of women who demand maintenance from divorced husbands.
These are problems that India shares with most developed western countries and although they are problems they are not nearly as serious as the daily horror of being a woman in Bharat. To have to take public transport late at night as Nirbhaya had to on that horrible night in Delhi two years ago or to have to work late nights in a job and face the prospect of being raped by your taxi driver is something that the twitterers who attacked me have never experienced. Nor do they know what it is like to be raped in a village on the orders of a panchayat simply because you exercised the right to choose your own husband. The twittering ladies have no idea what it is like to be tormented and brutalized by husbands just because you have produced daughters instead of sons. That is what happens in Bharat dear ladies and it is for those very vulnerable women that the law was made more stringent after what happened to Nirbhaya.
When a famous actress uses it to defend herself against an alleged ‘molestation’ in a packed public stadium it amounts in my view to misusing the law. The police will always react with readiness to a complaint such as Ms Zinta’s because in addition to the ease of bringing charges against a well-known businessman there is the thrill of being on national television. But, in a country in which it will take an estimated 300 years to clear the backlog in our courts is it fair to add a case such as this one? Could Ms Zinta not have complained to stadium security and settled the matter? Could she not have shamed her former boyfriend by complaining to IPL officials about his behavior? Could she not have used the protection of going public with her complaints in interviews that the media would have lapped up greedily?
As someone who has often had to report on horrific and much more serious crimes against women and little girls I find it hard to feel sympathy for Ms Zinta. If the Twitter sisterhood who I have so offended had seen just the ravaged body of the two-year-old girl who died from being raped by her mother’s boyfriend in a Delhi slum. She was left in the charge of this monster and his friend because her mother had nursing night duty in a hospital. When they found her the next morning she lay dead between her two rapists who had not noticed that she had died and lay on either side of her in a drunken stupor.
This was long ago in the days before Twitter but it is a story that has haunted me ever since. So forgive me dear sisters if I have no time for your ‘feminist’ tantrums and your ‘feminist’ causes. My advice to you is take a deep breath and find out what happens every day in that country called Bharat that is next door to the India in which you live.
Useless feminism
Srinagar land grab
Illegal and unauthorized occupation of Government or non-Government land, called land grabbing, in the jurisdiction of Srinagar city has been a long standing complaint of people and stakeholders. In fact land grabbing is a new type of mafia activity that has become current in Kashmir as well as Jammu regions for quite some time. Repeated warnings from media exposing part of the land grabbing activity by a nexus have belatedly borne fruit and the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir formally constituted a Committee under the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar to probe the case of unauthorized land grabbing in Srinagar and submit the report to the Commissioner.
In February last, the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir had ordered the probe and the constituting of a Committee, which, in its turn, conducted the probe through subordinate officials of Revenue Department and has finally come up with the finding that has been submitted to the Divisional Commissioner. This is a startling report and what one learns from it is that Government land worth 10,000 crore rupees stands grabbed by various agencies/persons in the peripheries of Srinagar city. It accounts for 22, 339 kanals of State land and 264.4 kanals of water bodies under the illegal occupation. Amusingly Government organizations like the Department of Police and Headquarter of Special Operation Group are included among the illegal occupants of Government land. 126.7 kanals belonging to Srinagar Municipal Corporation is under unauthorized occupation of 74 encroachers. The report says that 170.2 kanals of land is under 110 beneficiaries of Roshni Act and they have not fulfilled the requirements under the Act.
The question is that we have an elaborate Revenue Department with vast field network whose primary duty is to oversee protection and preservation of Government land. How come that these functionaries who have been drawing fat salaries from the state exchequer have become victims of dereliction of duty? Why did not they inform higher authorities at proper time and moved all concerned agencies to stop unauthorized occupation of the land that belongs to the Government? Obviously, the simple answer to this baffling question is that there exists a nexus between the land grabbers and revenue officials. Srinagar is a highly congested city and land is rarely available for construction of residential buildings. Under these conditions, it was more important that Revenue authorities were sensitized to the issue of land grab by unauthorized persons. Are these land grabbers so powerful and influential that the Government cannot vacate the illegal possession and retrieve its property? We can say with fair amount of confidence that even higher Revenue authorities in Kashmir have advertently or inadvertently overlooked the case of land grabbing and allowed the irregularity to happen. The question is what the authorities should now do in this case. The law is clear and they have to be dealt with according to the law of the land. Illegal occupation of the Government land has to be vacated and rent for the period of occupancy has to be realized from the occupants. Alternatively if the land is to be allotted to the occupants formally, they should pay the market price of the land. There cannot be any concession for them.
It has also to be reminded that in a similar irregularity case, land grabbing in Jammu has also been reported by the media. Actually land grabbing has become a state level issue and the Government will need to take a firm and clear decision of how to deal with this menace. Intriguingly the report submitted by the Assistant Commissioner Revenue Department in regard to land grabs in Srinagar city does not make any mention of what action the Government or the Revenue Department has taken to retrieve the land. There have to be clear and exclusive orders to the Revenue Department officials to act and get the occupancy vacated.
High fiscal deficit exposing India to shocks: Moody’s
NEW DELHI, June 19: Indian economy is exposed to “shocks” on account of high fiscal deficit and the country’s credit outlook will depend on government’s initiatives in the next month’s budget to contain expenditure and reduce exposure to global commodity prices, rating agency Moody’s said today.
“More relevant to (determine) the sovereign credit outlook will be whether the budget includes measures that address the government’s low revenue base, high current expenditures and exposure to commodity prices,” Moody’s said in a report.
India’s budget deficit is high and this increases macro- economic imbalances and thus “expose the economy to shocks”, Moody’s Investors Service said in the report titled: “Frequently asked questions on India’s fiscal position and the forthcoming budget”.
“In absence of measures to reduce the fiscal deficit, the future high growth rates many forecast for India may not be realised. The July budget could indicate whether fiscal constraints on India’s sovereign credit profile will ease over the coming years,” Moody’s said.
The Union Budget is expected to be presented in the second week of July.
Whether the new government’s FY2015 deficit estimate is above or below the previous regime’s estimate of 4.1 per cent of GDP, it will not be the key determinant of India’s credit outlook, Moody’s said. The deficit in 2013-14 fiscal was 4.5 per cent.
Moody’s assigns a ‘Baa3’ rating on India, with a stable outlook.
“India’s high budget deficits are partly due to a large population and low per capita income levels. Low income levels limit the government’s tax revenue base and at the same time drive socio-political pressure to increase government spending on subsidies and economic development,” it added.
However, Moody’s said that other countries with low per capita income have avoided deficits as large as India’s. This suggests that fiscal discipline can improve budget outcomes despite structural challenges.
The report added that wide budget deficits have kept India’s inflation high and contributed to a widening current account deficit between 2011 and 2013, which heightened exchange rate volatility and resulted in higher domestic interest rates.
These trends have exacerbated the slowdown in GDP growth since 2011, it added.
The report outlines the reasons behind India’s high fiscal deficits, provides a comparison between recent fiscal developments in India and in other similarly rated countries, explains how fiscal policy has affected growth and addresses the possible credit implications of the newly elected government’s forthcoming budget. (PTI)
Tehran, world powers ‘begin drafting nuclear deal’
TEHRAN, June 19: Iran and world powers have started drafting a comprehensive nuclear agreement but still face many sticking points, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
“Today (Wednesday) we have slowly begun to draft the final agreement… But there are still many differences” over the text, ISNA news agency quoted Zarif as saying from Vienna yesterday.
“This does not mean we have reached an agreement,” said Zarif, according to IRNA news agency.
“Fundamental disagreements” continue to divide Iran and the P5+1 powers – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany – he said.
But Zarif said the two sides have agreed on a title for the text, which will be known as the “General Joint Plan of Action.”
A new round of negotiations between Iranian diplomats and those of the six powers, which opened Monday in Vienna, had been “very difficult” so far.
The talks, which run through tomorrow, are aimed at clinching a comprehensive nuclear deal by a July 20 deadline set up by an interim agreement.
Iran’s top negotiator Abbas Araqchi earlier told IRNA news agency that Iran hoped to settle all differences with the six powers by the target date.
The main sticking points are the timetable for a full lifting of crippling US and EU sanctions, and the scale to which Iran would be allowed to continue uranium enrichment, he said.
Enrichment is the sensitive process at the centre of Western concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, as it can produce both fuel for nuclear power stations and, in highly extended form, the core of an atomic bomb.
The P5+1 want Iran – which insists its nuclear drive is purely for civilian use – to drastically reduce its uranium production capacity, and keep only a few hundred centrifuges active.
They want to ensure that Iran’s nuclear activities are purely peaceful. In return, Iran wants the removal of international sanctions that have choked its economy.
US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said yesterday Iran’s economy remained in a “state of distress” despite limited sanctions relief.
Tehran said yesterday that successful nuclear talks could lead to co-operation with the US over their shared interest in Iraq – where Sunni militants have seized large swathes of territory in a lightning offensive. (AGENCIES)
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Taliban strike NATO trucks in east Afghanistan
KABUL, June 19: Afghan officials say three Taliban suicide bombers targeted NATO fuel trucks at the border with Pakistan, setting off a gunbattle with police guards.
A spokesman for the border police in eastern Nangarhar province, Idris Momand, says the attack took place early today at the parking lot of the NATO outpost near the Torkham border crossing, a key supply route for the alliance.
Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, the spokesman for the provincial governor, says two of the attackers were killed by police while one blew himself up in the attack.
Abdulzai says 37 NATO fuel trucks were destroyed by explosions set off during the gunbattle.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid says his group was behind the attack.
Most NATO cargo shipments go through the Torkham crossing, toward Pakistan’s port city of Karachi. (AGENCIES)
Victoria Beckham likes to poke fun at herself.
LOS ANGELES, June 19: Singer-fashion designer Victoria Beckham claims that she has a great sense of humour and doesn’t take herself seriously.
Beckham, 40, is known for her poker face and rarely flashing a smile for the cameras, reported Femalefirst.
“People are probably surprised that I have a sense of humour. I like to take the mickey out of myself. As much as I take what I do very seriously, I also want to have fun.
“I like to poke fun at myself… And I think that surprises people.” she added
Beckham said she puts a huge amount of pressure on herself to make her fashion empire a success.
“I’m not afraid. I think you can learn from everything. I don’t ever think of the negatives, I think of the positives. I’m not competing with anybody else out there; I’m just competing with myself, said Beckham
“I never went into this to prove anything to anybody, other than myself. I think if you’re too afraid of failure then you won’t challenge yourself, then you won’t move forward. I like to challenge myself,” she added. (PTI)
Madonna dating choreographer?
LONDON, June 19: Pop diva Madonna is reportedly dating a 26-year-old choreographer Tim Steffens.
The 55-year-old singer was previously seen on number of dates with Steffens, a Dutch dancer, in January 2014, reported Contactmusic.
However, the couple were spotted together again on Kune 16 to see new Broadway musical Holler ‘If Ya Hear Me’, stimulating speculation about their relationship status.
The pair met in Switzerland while Madonna was residing at fashion designer Valentino’s estate, a source said and also claimed that the romance “is not serious”. (PTI)
Dozens of bodies found in Mexican mass grave
TRES VALLES (Mexico), June 19: At least 28 bodies have been recovered from a mass grave in Veracruz, an eastern Mexican state plagued by attacks on migrants and drug cartel violence, officials have said.
The state government yesterday said officials found the grave on a ranch outside the town of Tres Valles. It said investigators were still excavating the grave, but did not release any more details. A local newspaper reported that marines found the bodies after spotting vultures on a dirt road.
The area was being guarded by federal and state police forces, while people with missing relatives or friends began arriving at the offices of state authorities in Tres Valles to see if their loved ones were among the victims.
Investigators were looking for more bodies on the ranch, which is known as El Diamante.
On Monday, authorities found seven bodies in a grave in the nearby town of Cosamaloapan. Authorities said the victims were all members of one family from Tres Valles.
The Gulf Coast state of Veracruz has suffered years of fighting between the Zetas drug cartel and its rivals. It is also crossed by tens of thousands of Central Americans migrants heading toward the US each year.
Officials have discovered a series of mass graves around Mexico in recent years, several filled with the bodies of migrants slain by the gangs that control profitable migrant-smuggling routes.
One of the largest single mass graves found in Mexico in recent years was discovered in 2010 in Tamaulipas state. It contained the bodies of 72 migrants, whom authorities said were slain by members of the Zetas angry that the victims declined to work for the cartel. (AGENCIES)
Top state bank official pleads guilty on corruption charges
BEIJING, June 19: A former top executive with the Agricultural Bank of China, who was accused of taking bribes worth USD 5 million, has pleaded guilty.
Yang Kun, former vice-president of the Agricultural Bank, yesterday appeared before the Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern city of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province.
He has been accused of taking bribes worth over 30 million yuan (USD five million) from 2005 to 2012 by using his position to obtain benefits in loan and product sales for enterprises and individuals, Intermediate People’s Court said.
Yang had no objection to the charges and pleaded guilty at the court, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.
The trial was open to the public.
The court said the verdict will be announced at a later date. (PTI)
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurating seminar on “Solar Powered Water Pumping Systems” at India International Centre, New Delhi on Thursday.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurating seminar on “Solar Powered Water Pumping Systems” at India International Centre, New Delhi on Thursday.