When the buzz in Delhi is about the budget, it is good to hear that HRD minister Kapil Sibal thinks that our children are our most valuable asset. He denies that his education policy lays greater stress on higher education. Unless primary education is built brick by brick, higher education will be full of cracks. Sibal says that the first thing he did in his 100 days was to pass the Right to Education Bill. But of course there can be no more daunting a challenge than getting all our children in school. If this is not done, it will not be possible to get the critical mass of people to move into college. The Gross Enrolment Ratio at university level is 12.4%. The target is 30% by 2020. That depends on the number of children who go to school and complete their school education in urban and rural areas. The percentage of enrolment at university level will even then be subject to social and economic constraints. A lot will depend at the primary level on setting up neighbourhood schools. Will the government be able to put them up in sufficient numbers and rapidly? Add to that the problem of getting suitable teachers. The government seeks private sector participation. But will private sector schools offer free education?

The Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation System has become popular. But Sibal admits that the examination system needs much more overhauling with some creativity thrown in. He agrees that making class X optional is a procedural issue. Sibal’s new think is just scratching the surface. The main problem is primary education infrastructure as Amartya Sen emphasises. Sibal claims that he has delivered what he had promised. Maybe this is because he had not promised very much.

There She stood ... ten-armed and regal … riding her ferocious lion ... slaying the buffalo demon effortlessly. Eyes ignited with the power of love, her dark, cloud-like hair cascading like a black waterfall, She towered tall ... strength and benediction writ large all over her awe-inspiring form. It was the annual festival of the Great Goddess Durga. I was a child watching the festivities, mesmerized by the hypnotic rhythm of the drums and the cymbals beating in adoration, spellbound by the powerful Goddess. Both men and women turned to her in supplication for shakti (strength).

Suddenly, as if nudged by the Great Goddess, I was jolted out of my reverie ...

For a grotesque incongruity rose before my eyes - on the one hand, this quixotic ideal represented by the Divine Mother, and on the other, the dire subjugation of the Hindu woman. In enlightened Hinduism, the wife is said to be the shakti of her husband. But in everyday Hinduism, women bear untold humiliations in the hands of both men and women. While ills like dowry deaths have drawn attention, that unique intimate violence so characteristic of rape (marital and otherwise), has yet to be understood with adequate depth. Perhaps it cannot be understood until a deeper malaise representative of masculine lust is first excoriated and exorcized - the subliminal notion ingrained in the undeveloped masculine mind that somehow, he is in charge of a woman's virtue ... that all of this virtue is invested in her virginity… that his honor is therefore tied directly to her virginity. It is this mentality that underlies the horrific honor killings now plaguing some Islamic societies. Recently a sixteen year old girl was buried alive by the men in her family, for the "crime" of talking to boys. While true chastity is the greatest possible virtue, a sign of personal dignity and self-control in men and women alike, this vile distortion of real asceticism reduces the immortal being of a woman not only to her body, but to that which should really be her own business - nobody else's - namely, her virginity. It is really this presumptuous ownership of women's bodies (their wombs, their sexuality) that underlies many a case of murder by sinister mother-son pairs who douse young daughters-in-law with kerosene, setting them on fire ...

It was with wistfulness that I would note, in the Shillong of my childhood, the gait of the so-called tribal woman - a gait that bespoke a confidence that was, in my child's mind, well nigh impossible in the so-called non-tribal woman. I loved what I thought was the relative dignity of the Khasi woman. Yet, even in those pre-Meghalaya days, there were cases of domestic violence, in which the Khasi male would utter that old, blasphemous anachronism shared by wife beaters the world over - "I beat her because I love her" - a twisted logic that justifies violence in the name of love.

I read recently the excellent and eye-opening article, Meghalaya's Matrilineal Society run by Male Chauvinists: The politics of language, written by Ms. Patricia Mukhim. I read with sadness of impoverished Khasi women, abandoned by their husbands/partners, of Meghalaya having the highest number of female-headed households, of single mothers toiling as maid-servants, while their children, unable to attend school, ply their wares on the streets, of women in Meghalaya suffering from iron deficiency leading to anemia, of many dying during childbirth because they give birth at home in unsafe hands, of the spread of teenage pregnancies, and most importantly, of "sex workers" working for economic reasons (this demand-driven industry would vanish if the demand vanished) ...

While researchers may point to Meghalaya's difficulties with coping with modernity, the rapid intrusion of globalization, the growing sense of property and the consequent landlessness, etc., one must remember that most of the quantitative Social Sciences, with roots in Anglo-American intellectual traditions, come with methods that point to social transformations as sources of explanations of social ills. They cannot model, using quantitative methods, the significance of free-will and personal accountability. At best, they can paint a credible data-laden mathematical painting of the state of society. They cannot rise to the greater objectivity of tracing these ills to the level of personal accountability. Women thus abandoned, abused and neglected are ill served by this unintended intellectual whitewashing. Their very bodies are at stake, their health, their personal dignity, their survival ... a deeper critique is necessary ... one that names names. Such a critique should help the government fulfill the mandate given to it by the people of Meghalaya ... the mandate to care for the dispossessed ... for women's woes are not "mere personal matters" to be resolved by personal will power alone ... but of crucial concern to the overall wellbeing of society, especially the next generation.

Broadly speaking, women may be the "victims" and men the perpetrators of rape, domestic violence, abandonment, etc. … with many nuances in between ... but the protest against such ills through enlightened feminism should be gender-free, for this is a matter of that God-given conscience inherent in human nature … a conscience that can never be gendered. In fact, such protest should really come from men ... and not just from women. It should be self-respecting men of integrity, and not women alone, who organize themselves into protest groups, to combat members of their own gender ... to educate young men on questions of violence against women. Here in the US there are such men's groups, with names like "Men against violence against women."

It should be men who tell truculent men, that behind many a case of abortion, there is an absconding male … that true manliness lies, not in romantic conquests, but in fulfilling family responsibilities … that to love a woman means to love her in sickness and health … that the specter of fatherlessness haunting modernity can be avoided by responsible behavior … that likewise, the specter of anorexia and other eating disorders in young girls, deriving from patriarchal body consciousness can be avoided by rising beyond the body ... that it is atrocious to declare love in the throes of romance, but feel nothing for the same woman's body, when she is pregnant, or undergoing labor pain, or sick … that true manliness and chastity lie in respecting the personhood of women, in venerating all mothers ... in loving one's biological mother with objectivity … not in being ruled by her ... that the desire to rule signifies extreme moral weakness ... that the long standing karmic repercussions of abandoning, abusing, or raping women - these being crimes, and not merely sins - are metaphysically terrifying ... for, as all the great teachers of the world have warned, there may be a special place in hell for such scurrilous offenders …

We may be spectators to the undulating flow of history ... but we are not passive bystanders. We can be active agents. Meghalaya can avoid the errors of western nations and thus be saved from many-a-heartache tied to the travails of modernity. Faced with this encounter that brings with it the benefits of modern technology, the comforts of materialism, and a much needed liberalism ... but also an atomized sense of property ownership, the sexual revolution (an oxymoron), and its accompanying ills of a new body consciousness, loosening family ties, neglect of family values, etc. ... the people of Meghalaya can utilize not only their own sterling cultural institutions, but also ideas and ideals that have worked in other similar societies. They can strengthen family values by focusing on wisdom, true spirituality, and ethics, by venerating women for their sacrifices as mothers, by focusing on pre-natal and post-natal care, etc.

A society that permits the abuse of women and tolerates a rank neglect of mothers, especially abandoned mothers, is a society doomed ... of this I am convinced. Here in North America, when I witness the grim neglect of mothers … when I hear of domestic violence, rape, and horrifying patriarchal practices like pornography, I shudder for the future of this nation. For unless its purges itself of these ills, it will spiral downwards. In the case of Meghalaya in particular, where, as Ms. Mukhim points out, the Khasi matriliny is laden with myths, the answer blowing in the wind lies, perhaps, in neither a matriarchy nor a patriarchy - for both can detract from true justice by expressing mere power - but in enlightened and liberating forms of modernity that elicit a respect for and a societal gratitude to young women who are mothers. For it is the mother who sacrifices her body to give the Khasi his most valuable legacy - namely, the next generation.

In closing, I thank my childhood friends, Ms. Janet Hujon Moore and Ms. Paromita Lahiri-Mueller for their valuable feedback ... for encouraging me to write about Shillong. (The author is Associate Professor, Philosophy, Purdue University North Central, Westville, Indiana, USA)

It is a classic case of double-talk by the government. The chief ministers were assured of strengthening the Public Distribution System (PDS) to keep a check on prices. Instead, it has now slashed the spending on it by 25 per cent. The budget estimated a higher GDP growth, but it is not reflected in per capita income and consumption pattern, which has come down sharply.

It is a moot question as to how or whose GDP is rising. A natural corollary to the GDP growth should have been seen in increased incomes of individuals. This has not happened. On the contrary the per capita income measured in terms of the GDP at constant prices has declined from 8.1 per cent in 2007-08 to 3.7 per cent in 2008-09 and expected to touch 5.4 per cent in 2009-10, partially owing to pay-revision of government employees.

Contribution of private consumption to GDP has come down to 36 per cent in the current year from a high of 78.2 per cent in 2008-09, and 51 to 58 per cent during the preceding three years. This should ring alarm bells as contribution of government spending to GDP has been constant at 10 to 11 per cent during the past seven years.

People’s capacity to spend has taken a terrible hit. Private consumption as per government estimates continues to decline from 8.3 per cent in 2007-08 to 5.4 per cent in 2008-09 and a dismal 2.7 per cent in 2009-10. The expenses have gone below even the 2006-07 level of 3.8 per cent.

It simply means people are unable to spend more as commodities and minor luxuries are going beyond their means. Last year people spent almost nothing on clothing and footwear and spiraling prices drastically brought down their expenses on food, beverages, and tobacco.

Spending on clothing and footwear was almost nil at minus 0.6 per cent in 2008-09. It was a high of 24 per cent in 2005-06, 23 per cent the next year, came down to 8 per cent in 2007-08. The trend coincides with the inflationary figures and rising loss of jobs. No wonder this must be reflecting on the turnover and profits of these two industries, which symbolize growth. The two industries employ, both direct and indirect, the highest number of people with an average of 8 per cent share. As inflation gallops the health of these two industries may further get affected.

That people have less capacity to spend is also testified by fewer expenses on recreation, education and cultural services. They have spent only 5 per cent of their income in 2008-09 against 7 to 13.2 per cent in the preceding years. Obviously, the people are constricted on spending on minor luxuries, if it can be called so, not only because they have to shell out more for food but also for commuting. Expenses on the latter have increased to 12.3 per cent now from 5 per cent in 2005-06. This signifies that transport fare has been increasing primarily because of higher fuel prices.

Another area that has taken a hit is furniture and furnishings. Expenditure on furnishings is characterised as an improvement in lifestyle pattern. However, this has apparently been affected with private expenditure on it coming down from 15.9 per cent in 2006-07, to 14.6 per cent the next year to a mere 3.7 per cent in 2008-09. It signifies that the middle class, who is supposed to be the engine of growth, is lacking in capacity.

The expenditure on medical care and health services has suddenly increased in 2008-09 to 8.1 per cent from 2.5 to 5.8 per cent in the preceding years. The figure coincides with higher job losses and consequent possibility of less capacity to afford for nutritional food on the one hand and higher physician’s fee and medicine costs on the other. The share of expenditure on food items has been gradually declining over the years. It was 35 per cent in 2008-09 as against 39.6 per cent in 2004-05.

Indeed, this raises a fundamental question-- whether the government is justified in deciding to spend 25 per cent less on monitoring of food, civil supplies and PDS. Besides, it exemplifies that the government has a far less political will to tackle the serious food inflationary situation, which is hovering between 17 and 20 per cent.

While the government allocated Rs 7.2 crore in 2009-10 for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, it spent only Rs 2.83 crore suggesting it had not taken much initiative to ensure that the commodity prices remained under check. Overall, for monitoring and research in food grains, management and PDS the allocation was Rs 40.40 crore, whereas the expenditure was a mere Rs 14.6 crore.

For the year 2010-11, the allocation has been slashed to Rs 29.69 crore under these heads. This is surprising particularly in view of the importance laid by the government on strengthening of the PDS. Additionally, no one in the government is denying that the price situation would worsen in the days to come.

This is alarming as the Economic Affairs Department of the Union government virtually contradicts the growth projection made in the budget. The department says that there are no major changes in the overall growth rate of GDP at constant 2004-05 prices, except in 2007-08, where it has been revised to 9.2 per cent from 9 per cent. Interestingly, this is a sober way of saying that in real terms the GDP is not growing.

The department has also expressed concern over the decline of share in agriculture to 15.9 per cent from 17.4 per cent and manufacturing to 9.9 per cent from 10.9 per cent. In short, other than presenting a contradiction it also smacks of a grim economic scenario.

The budget is an indicator of the government’s unwillingness to empower the private consumer. The imposition of service tax on goods transport – road, rail and air – would only make life difficult. Truckers have jacked up rentals by 6 to 8 per cent owing to higher diesel prices and the service tax on goods. Railways and air bookings too would be expensive by 10 per cent. Simplified, it would further cut down private expenditure and hit growth prospects. ---INFA

Editor,

Through your esteemed daily I want to make known to all our readers about the real speed of our speed post system. On 15th of February 2010 a letter containing important documents was posted to me by speed post service from Kottayam, Kerala. The people at the counter guaranteed my brother that the papers would reached me for sure within 72 hours. The letter no EL 10405309IN reached me on the 8th of March at 4.45.pm after a gap of 21 days. Instead of the promised 72 hours it took an added amount of 756 hours. This has not been the only experience of mine with the speed post going at snail's pace.

I must say a word of appreciation to one who brought it to me from the main post office. He told me that he rushed here with the letter as soon as he got it.

I really request the authorities not to entice the public into using the speed post with the promise about its false speed. Please tell us the customers the truth and do not mislead us with the real speed. And to the simple public I must exhort you to be cautious before believing the speed of the speed post.

Yours etc.,
Fr.Devasia Vazhayil
Shillong-14

Editor,

The Don Bosco Centre for Indigenous Culture which houses a state of the art museum is fast growing in stature as the Pride of Meghalaya and the North East.

This is evident from the fact that even Mrs. Sonia Gandhi in her understandably tight scheduled gave her valuable time to visit this wonderful repository of the cultural wealth of North East India (not to mention the several dignitaries of the Indian government who have visited it in the past). It is, however, unfortunate that the Museum received only a showpiece attention from its own people and the government. Even today, many Meghalayans are unaware of the existence of a museum of international repute so close to their home. Instead tourists from all over the world make it a compulsory part of their itinerary and get to imbibe the rich culture of the region.

Apart from the rare artifacts from the region there is a data bank which academics and intellectuals can access.

It is high time, that this museum gets proper attention from both the state and central government as it is very clear by now that the Don Bosco congregration have given the best on their own initiative. If the state or central government shares the pride of this Museum, they should also be serious enough (not just flamboyant promises) to share the burden with the people who have toiled and sweated to carve out this wonderful structure which houses the exotic culture of every tribe of North East India.

Yours etc.,
A concerned observer,
Via email

Editor,

Congratulation Sachin on your spectacular performance in cricket, where you have achieved 2 centuries which is an unbeaten score at anytime. Watching you on T.V. that day it created such excitement, and suspense at the same time lest anything should go wrong. But No! every hit was magnificient! This has brought India to the highest slot.

Everyone must have noticed that with the last and final shot, how you raised your bat, hands and head to the skies, to give thanks and adoration to God for granting such success. You were so humble, yet so poised and dignified! You are an sterling example to your team especially the young men who gave you their unstinted support. All of you played for the sport itself. All of you have given your best. This is worth emulating.

We Indians may take Sachin's example to work honestly and sincerely in our own spheres of life to contribute to the welfare of our people and country, to forget our own selfish motives to gain wealth and fame at the cost especially, of those who are underprivileged, depriving them of the basic amenties of life.

Yours etc.,
Q. Rynjah
Laban

You can e-mail your letters to the Editor at: letters@theshillongtimes.com

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