|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sustainable
Livelihoods, Environmental Security and Conflict Mitigation: A Case Study
of Pakistan's Dir-Kohistan Forests
Panel: Resource Rights and Sustainable Livelihoods
Shaheen Rafi Khan and Shahbaz Bokhari (Pakistan)
Dir-Kohistan is one of the most conflict prone areas in the NWFP. There are no formal land settlements/titles. Competing rights to natural (forest, land, water) resources are represented by and those asserted by the provincial government. The Colonial Forest Act of 1927, with some variations is the overriding legislation that controls the use of forest resources. Enforcement oriented, its primary purpose is to keep the communities out of the forests rather than including them in its management. Essentially, forest classifications under the act's mandate (reserve, protected, guzara) arrogate community rights and access to their resources to the forest department. Subsequently, such rights have been delegated to contractors under open or covertly collusive arrangements. The ensuing conflict over forest resources manifests itself in the guise of conflicts between local communities and the provincial government, between contractors and communities, between villages, ethnic groups and conflicts between communities and nawabs (local rulers).
The underlying problem is that communities have not only been denied their resource and access rights, but are also deprived of the benefits that accrue from exploiting these resources. The manner of exploitation also has long-term implications for sustainable livelihoods. While various donor interventions in Dir valley have mitigated the stress on local communities, the core problem continues to be rights and access to their natural resources and this is where remediation is key.
Two primary
sources of conflict can be noted. First the lack of formal land titling gives
rise to conflicts over arable land, pastures and forests. These conflicts
occur between individuals, ethnic groups and villages. Second, and more endemic
in nature, forest revenues pitch communities against the provincial government,
contractors and local nawabs (rulers).
This study demonstrates the links between resource rights, livelihood security
and environmental security with regard to forest resources. It assesses the
dynamics of customary and statutory law within a wider institutional context,
evaluates their impact on community livelihoods and analyzes the human-environmental
security and conflict potential. Policy recommendations aimed at remediation
and conflict mitigation are presented.
 |
The
Potential Impact of TBT and SPS Measures on Pakistan's Fisheries
Panel: Resource Rights and Sustainable Livelihoods
Fahd Ali and Dr.Shaheen Rafi Khan (Pakistan)
Pakistan's 1,050 km long coastline supports a total fishing area of approximately 300,270 sq. km. The fishing area's rich marine life is a source of biodiversity and commercial value for Pakistan's coastal economy and ecosystem. Unfortunately, the richness and diversity of this resource is not reflected in Pakistan's fish exports, which have hovered around the US $150 million mark for the better part of the last decade. As a means of livelihood, the fishing sector supports (both directly and indirectly) over one million people. Over 15,000 crafts of various sizes ranging from small to medium-sized boats and large launches engage in fishing related activities. In addition to being a largely indigenous sector, the GoP has allowed large trawlers, mostly joint ventures between a local business group and a multinational company, to operate openly in buffer zones with the intention to increase the country's exports. However, the GoP's 'liberalized' approach, towards the previously rejuvenation intended buffer zone, has raised sustainability and livelihoods issues. Overfishing by trawlers sets into motion a negative dynamic where fishing communities further deplete stocks, at the risk of the long-term health of the sector as a whole, in order to sustain themselves. Similarly, current practices in the processing of fish products are not encouraging either.
The world is increasingly moving towards a regime of uniformly regulated international trade under the auspices of the WTO. The WTO in turn, aspires to achieve this through harmonized standards. This study aspires to study the fishery sector of Pakistan in the context of various international trade standards. Of particular importance in this case are the agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary measures under WTO, HACCP by US FDA and Marine Stewardship Council's standards. This study analyses the possible effects of these standards on Pakistan's fishery sector and seeks to identify the areas where there exists a gap between current practices and international expectations. It suggests sector guidelines for adhering to those standards along with policy measures that should be taken up by the GoP to improve the overall health of the fishery sector.
|
Plantation induced Agrarian Transition
in North East India: Towards a Sustainable
Policy Perspective
Panel: Resource Rights and Sustainable Livelihoods
Dr. PK Viswanathan (India)
Building on the
economic viability and sustainability of rubber cultivation in the North-Eastern
states of India, the paper will focus on the need for a proper integration
of research with policy framework towards effective rehabilitation of the
tribal communities, who are otherwise engaged in the allegedly destructive
shifting cultivation (jhuming) practices through resource degradation on a
massive scale. Though there have been earnest efforts by the Government of
India towards rehabilitating the shifting cultivators through various programs,
most of these programs are found to be ineffective. However, of late, the
introduction of rubber cultivation in some of the North-Eastern states has
been found to be highly encouraging with significant impact on the economy,
society and environment with implications on agrarian transformation in these
states.
With this in
perspective, the paper tries to examine the specific aspect of rubber based
plantation agriculture and its impact on agrarian transition in the NE states
of Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura. The paper also addresses the need for integrating
the state policies supported by activism towards affecting economic surveillance
of the tribal communities,
sustainable development and management of the resources.
|
Panel: Literature and Development from the perspective of South Asian Writers
Arshed H. Bhatti (Pakistan)
This paper seeks to explore conceptual locations and avenues where literary
products interact, encounter, interplay, affect and influence development
processes.
One has tracked the key stages, and counted the core actors who play certain roles in the development processes - ranging from theorization of development dreams to delivering and implementation of promises. A list of literary products (as well as pre, by and proxy-products) has been juxtaposed against the former to identify the potential interplay of literature and development.
This mapping has offered the premises for conceptualization of areas where the supposed interplay between literature and development has worked or could work; and more importantly, identification of gaps where, despite favorable assumptions and popular biases of the intelligentsia, this desired interaction and interface is absent.
The paper also attempts to examine the notion of the 'economy of knowledge' and brings into perspective an alternative concept of the sociology of knowledge, in order to highlight the hazardous trends of the former notion, where mainstream knowledge producers blatantly perpetuate ignorance. This happens when various strands of local knowledge are denied a space and medium to interact with the so-called mainstream knowledge production.
By way of prescription, the paper will also investigate the potential relationship between E2 poverty and I2 richness, in order to state how we can have a more effective, realistic and humane interaction and interplay between literature and development for the benefit of the 'imagined' communities. E2 poverty refers to the non-access to resources of knowledge and information in English and on E-space, and I2 richness alludes to Indigenous (body and articulation of) knowledge and Informal ways to share it.
The paper will also cite several examples to substantiate the presence and absence of the interplay between literature and development.
|
From "Thinking too much" to "Extinguishing of the heart"
_ the case for Qualitative research in Social and Health Policy Planning
Panel: Population, Health and Poverty
Dr. Eaisha Tareen (England)
In this paper
the need for more qualitative research in all areas of human endeavour is
highlighted. Whether the issue under consideration is poverty or family planning,
education or health, each can benefit from greater qualitative input, particularly
in terms of bridging the research/policy gaps. For sustainable development,
it is necessary to listen and understand the narratives of the 'recipients'
of the developmental policy.
Firstly, the qualitative approach will be defined and conceptually differentiated
from the quantitative approach, with a brief consideration of the philosophic
underpinnings. The methodological and analytical differences of the approaches
will also be outlined.
As a framework, the area of mental health will be used to illustrate the different
approaches. Most research in this area, being based on the biomedical paradigm,
has focused on and aimed for objectivity and reliability. Individuals' personal
accounts have generally been devalued as 'subjective'. This devaluation tends
to be greater if the individuals are women, and even greater if they are considered
to be mentally ill.
Some recent quantitative studies on depression in women in Pakistan, particularly
with regard to their conclusions and policy implications will also be examined,
including personal research conducted on women in Lahore, which was a qualitative
study of women's perception of social support and their experience of depression.
This involved in-depth interviewing of women from different socio-economic
backgrounds, who had been clinically diagnosed as depressed.
Analysis of women's narratives reveals the importance of social and economic
factors, as well as cultural norms and expectations in shaping the meaning,
nature and experience of support in the context of specific relationships.
It also reveals the women's complex and pluralistic conceptualisations of
their experience of depression.
Women's personal
accounts of their condition, primarily located in their interpersonal relationships
and in familial concerns, linked by extension to the wider social structures
and institutions will also be explored. This study raises the issue of the
cross-cultural validity of the diagnostic category of depression.
The paper will briefly outline some of the relevant methodological issues
and ethical dilemmas experienced before considering the conclusions. Lastly,
the comparison of the policy implications of this study with the previous
ones will be done to show how different research approaches to the same issue
can have radically different practical implications.
|
Social
Science Research and Education in Pakistan: Relevant/Irrelevant
Panel: Ir/relevance
of Social Sciences in South Asia
Dr. Faisal Bari (Pakistan)
The literature on the philosophy of science in general, and the philosophy
of social sciences in particular, has tackled the issue of whether social
sciences qualify for being a science or not in great depth. The success or
failure of the social sciences, therefore, get annexed to the discussion on
whether they qualify for the status of being a 'science'- a status that has
largely been defined with the methods of the 'pure sciences' in mind. In most
cases the model has actually been physics and pre-Einstein physics at that.
But this does little justice to the areas of study that we call social sciences. The above-mentioned issue involves a debate that does not look at the role that the social sciences can and should play in a society. Almost all science is contextual: it depends on the historical circumstances it developed in and the environment. Social sciences are more contextual than pure science. Though we cannot create theory in the social sciences that is as context-free as in the pure sciences, it does not detract from the important role they can play in understanding our social context, in making sense of the environment, and in creating both small and large scale inputs into policies.
The paper will
explore the role that social sciences can play in connecting us with the priors
that come from humanities, and that give us some of the ultimate ends that
root our being and furnish us with a purpose. Here social sciences can act
as a bridge between the world of ends and the world of means.
The paper will also talk about the state of social sciences in Pakistan and
then see what directions can be moved in to improve the current situation
and connect it with the desirable levels that we would ultimately want. Most
of the examples used will come from economics.
|
Deconstructing the Human Rights Discourse: Relevance for Afghan Women
Panel: Women and Security/Peace
Huma Ghosh, US of America
A dialogue on human rights has become integral to the discourse on development. In recent years, particularly for Muslim societies, women's empowerment has been discussed within the framework of human rights under the assumption that Islam does not grant equal rights to women. This discussion on human rights has not come without a deconstruction of the concept and its relevance to women in different cultural contexts. The paper will discuss the varying historical and political interpretations of human rights and their location in the debate on development for women in Afghanistan. The question raised here is whether the discourse on human rights as women's rights is a western and urban elite discourse, or is it an essential concern for women in Afghanistan today?
|
Women,
Security and South Asia
Panel: Women
and Security/Peace
Swarna Rajagopalan ( India)
In the summer of 1993, a group of young Pakistani and Indian women sat around in a posh Pakistani hotel discussing their participation in a workshop on security, arms control and technology. The women had different occupations, areas of specialisation, backgrounds and interests. But all of them were at the workshop primarily because of their professional and political interest in the sub-continental peace process. They were trying to put their finger on what was discomforting about the workshop sessions. Was it individuals, styles of engagement, topics or reading materials? Or were they simply interested in different issues? The informal conversations of that week did not really yield specific conclusions. Is the fact that the field of international relations so male-dominated the cause? Assuming for the sake of exploration that it is, then would more women in the field alter both its agenda and the interactive styles of its practitioners? This counter-factual speculation (not assertion) is the point of departure of this paper.
This speculation has two dimensions. First, it posits that the very presence of more women in security studies (and policy areas) would alter the style and substance of the field. Second, this statement is underpinned by an assumption that men and women think differently about these matters. There is, it implies, a 'women's way' of thinking about security and conflict. In so speculating, this paper thus echoes and at the same time, questions basic liberal and essentialist feminist ideas. The sub-continent provides the context for discussion of these questions, with the hope of generating research and policy ideas.
Do women understand and define security differently from men? Are they animated by the same concerns about state and national security? Are there other issues that concern them? Would a feminist agenda for security policy and for research in security issues be substantially and substantively different from the present agenda? What would such a policy and research agenda include? In other words, what is the relationship between the three nouns listed in the title of the paper: 'women,' 'security,' 'South Asia'?
If the women of South Asia are not a monolith or a unitary actor, can this paper serve any constructive purpose? It does. Three questions that would relate 'women,' 'security' and 'South Asia' in a manner that facilitate this exercise have been asked. First, what are the sources of South Asian women's security and insecurity? Second, what, if any, is the agency of South Asian women in creating, inflicting, perpetrating and perpetuating insecurity on the one hand, and in creating, sustaining and extending a sense of security on the other? Lastly, what is the impact of South Asian women on the making of security doctrine and policy?
Women are victims and agents, as well as narrators and interpreters of (in)security-related experiences. All these roles must be considered in our response to these questions. As an organisational device, this section will identify several key locations or arenas in which women's lives unfold and come to pass. These are the home, shared public space, the workplace, the social group and the state. The regional and global contexts will also be considered.
|
Environmental
Quality Standards and its
Application in Developing Countries
Panel: National
Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) Implementation in
Developing Countries for Industrial Pollution Control
Irfan S. Alrai, Pakistan
The Pakistan Environmental Protection Act of 1997 had resulted in the creation of Environmental Protection Agencies in Pakistan with the aim of enforcing the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS), in addition to other pollution control provisions. Ten years have passed since the NEQS were notified in Pakistan, but we are still living in circumstances where these standards are not complied with and this non-compliance appears very likely to continue in the future.
Regardless of the fact that developing countries have established environmental laws, environmental quality standards and formal governmental structures to address serious environmental problems, the hard realities of environmental compliance is still unknown and these countries are still marked by polluted air and water, open waste disposal systems, non-existent effluent treatment plants and polluting technology.
It is an established fact that developing countries have remained far from successful in alleviating environmental problems. This paper recognizes conditions, limits and the main factors affecting the enforcement of environmental quality standards and outlines various problems that may require special attention in the enforcement of these environmental quality standards. Some of these problems, which the paper outlines, include lack of technical knowledge, interest in the recognition of market-based strategies, environmental awareness, motivation to internalize pollution abatement cost, informative tools, strong political will, environmental legislation, economic incentives, monitoring and research. The fragile technology base, non-existence of continuous monitoring networks, meager and inadequate economic and human resources, centralization of powers, limited principles for setting standards and normative overlapping etc. further compound the situation.
|
What went Wrong in NEQS Implementation
inPakistan?
Panel:National
Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) Implementation in
Developing Countries for Industrial Pollution Control
Azher Uddin Khan (Pakistan)
Success needs many prerequisites. Development of a good product is only the first half of the work, its proper marketing is the second half. In Pakistan, this is not the case since development of a good product is mostly considered its completion. Such has been the case with the NEQS in Pakistan.
Pakistan developed NEQS and its implementation mechanism on the basis of three years of consultations with the stakeholders that also served the function of marketing it to the industry. At that time industry (predominantly export, large and multinational) was ready to implement the NEQS and were making arrangements for compliance. On the other hand, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council (PEPC), Ministry of Environment and Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak.EPA) failed to sell the NEQS enforcement to the government of Pakistan, cabinets for different governments and relevant ministries. This failure led to the issuance of a statement in one of the briefings to the Planning Commission of Pakistan, by the Governor of State Bank: " Let us do industrial and economic development first and the environmental issues would be handled later."
This paper reviews the factors behind the poor NEQS implementation in Pakistan and suggests some ways out for the future NEQS implementation.
|
Environmental Protection and Pollution Control in Industrial Development as
a Requirement for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries: Evidence
from Bangladesh
Panel: National
Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) Implementation in
Developing Countries for Industrial Pollution Control
Dr. Saiful Islam, Bangladesh
This paper focuses on environmental protection and pollution control necessary to counter unwanted and unforeseen consequences of industrial development and the demand of increasing population in Bangladesh. For this purpose, some glimpses of pollution, particularly water pollution from industrial activities, are presented. It also looks into the implementation of pollution-control standards in Bangladesh. Secondary data on Bangladesh and Pakistan presented in this paper show that measured levels of effluents from textile and leather production far exceeded the recommended standards. The review of existing environmental laws and regulations in Bangladesh shows that there has been a lack of effective implementation of legislative control. The present paper tries to make the point that the ultimate solution of industrial pollution problems lies in the transformation of a materialistic human society into a humanistic society.
|
NEQS Implementation in Pakistan: Rhetoric
and Reality
Panel: National
Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) Implementation in
Developing Countries for Industrial Pollution Control
Syed Ayub Qutub (Pakistan)
National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) have yet to be enforced in Pakistan. The Environment Division of the Federal Government was established nearly three decades ago. It is two decades since the law (PEPO, 1983), which provided for quantitative effluent and emission standards, was enacted. Professor Roger Perry of Imperial College London submitted the draft NEQS in 1986. Why has implementation not matched the intention?
While NEQS remain paper tigers, a good number of progressive industrial units in Pakistan are taking measures for cleaner production (CP) and for installing end-of-pipe (EoP) treatment facilities. The treatment plants entail significant costs. The investment is mainly in response to the demands from the international markets. Some industries with a domestic market are also undertaking CP and EoP investments to maintain their corporate image and out of a sense of social responsibility. What are the prospects for these alternate routes to environment-friendly industrial production?
The paper will provide preliminary answers to these two researchable questions. It will seek to set out the scope for subsequent enquiries.
|
Story
telling: Past, Present and Future
Panel: Literature and Development from the Perspective of South Asian Writers
Maniza Naqvi, USA
This paper locates our stories and imagines future story telling in the context of boundaries, poverty, democracy, justice, peace, war, occupation, trade, corporations, development assistance and the international court of justice. Imagine narratives that neither define nor glorify the powerful as those who can do harm. The paper discusses the possibility of a world that would have a different context than the one we are living in today. A place where the rights of defining the past, present and future would belong to all of us and not just to a handful of the privileged. A different world- where the terms of engagement, that affect all our lives, would be in a framework of cooperation, not conflict. A world- where the discussion on issues that affect us all, would not be embedded in bombastic nationalism or hopeless religiosity, nor dismissive, disingenuous, reductionist, self-serving and bullying statements backed by military might for the sole purpose of profiteering, extraction of minerals, oil, arms sales, nor occupation and invasion, nor the destruction of the environment, and threats of endless war. A world- where the discourse would be centered on a viewpoint of earth instead of real estate, cooperation instead of coercion, and cooperatives instead of corporations.
|
Gender and Development in South Asia: A Comparative Analysis
Panel: Population, Environment and Development
Dr W.G. Somaratne, Pakistan
In most South Asian countries, the gender-based division of labor and gender inequalities have reduced economic growth and development and increased the level of poverty. The low investment in education and health sectors with heavy population pressure have further strengthened the gender inequality, while reducing the Human Development Index (HDI) in most nations of the region. Though, most countries have developed their economic strategies considering the new dynamism in world development including the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), South Asian countries are facing the problems of extreme poverty alleviation and reducing the gender inequality. This paper analyzes the issues in mainstreaming gender and development in South Asia.
The comparative analysis of gender and development issues in South Asia shows that gender inequality retards economic growth and poverty reduction. The disparities between males and females in sharing power and resources; gender biases in rights and entitlements; and conventional and religious taboos and myths about gender hinder true economic growth and reduce the well-being of men, women and children in the region. Multi-dimensional and complementary economic and other policies, operational options and programs are suggested to reduce gender inequality and improve the economic development in South Asia as a paradigm shift in the right direction to achieve the South Asian regional MDGs.
|
Environmental
Goods and Services: Some Key Elements for Positive Outcomes from Trade Liberalization
in Latin America
Panel:
Trade and Sustainable Development
Annie Dufey (Chile)
The WTO' Doha Ministerial Declaration in 2001 includes trade liberalization
of environmental goods and services (EGS). Although EGS has been identified
as a key sector where the potential is high for win-win-win outcomes from
trade liberalization, there are several elements that would stand in the way
for realizing these benefits. To start with, there is no agreed definition
of EGS at the level of the negotiations. In the WTO, there is no definition
of environmental goods, and environmental services are defined according to
the W/120, which is criticized for being too narrow. At present, the most
relevant proposals to define and classify EGS in the WTO are biased towards
industrialized countries' interest, and include very few products of commercial
interest for developing countries. Thus, it is important that developing countries
work on a convenient definition of EGS, one which includes those relevant
products in their environmental needs and those in which they display comparative
or competitive advantages. However, the development of a national position
on EGS does not only involve definitional aspects only. Non-tariff trade barriers,
as well as domestic policies, play an important role in defining whether or
not gains might be realized from trade liberalization in EGS. Some key issues
in this context are subsidies provided for the development and production
of EGS, patent laws, tied aid and export credits, as well as certification
procedures for EGS. This paper explores these principal elements concerning
the elaboration of a convenient definition of EGS for Latin America.
|
Panel: Peace and Security in Nuclearized South Asia
Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa (Pakistan)
Shifting the
focus from defense to development in a country like Pakistan or in a region
like South Asia is difficult due to the 'militarization' of policymaking.
However, there is also the issue of minimal resistance from the civil society
to change the existing imbalance between the two sectors. The lack of opposition
to policies that favor military security over development and socioeconomic
growth also relates to the structural problem: the lack of data, information
and a systematic debate that evaluates the issue of the sectoral imbalance
in a structured manner. Does defense pose a burden on development? Is it an
issue borne out by facts? What are the parameters required to make such an
assessment? These are some of the questions that need to be answered for one
to be certain about the link between defense and development.
Unfortunately, the theoretical work available does not necessarily establish
a direct link between these two. The econometric models are general and do
not necessarily have an inbuilt sensitivity towards the development needs
of the South.
This paper aims at evaluating the existing literature on defense versus development,
analyze the current debate on the subject in South Asia and consider additional
variables or models that must be used for assessing the net effect of the
defense burden on socioeconomic development.
|
Between the Sacred and the Secular:
History Teaching and Identity Formation in India and Pakistan
Panel: Education and Identity
Rubina Saigol (Pakistan)
One of the foremost functions demanded of educational systems in post-colonial states is national identity formation. The process termed 'nation-building' by educationists has focused on all discursive formations, but the prime knowledge instruments used for this task are the subjects of history, geography and civics, together called 'social studies'. In newly formed states, the process of 'nation-building' takes on a special urgency as parochial and narrower loyalties and sentiments have to be weakened in favor of a more centralized 'national' identity. All kinds of social differences and divisions tend to be impediments on the road to a homogenized sense of single nationhood. Curtailing the discursive power and emotional intensity of these other, relatively more stable and older, identities, which puncture and interrogate the centralized one, becomes a national imperative. The process of nation-building thus becomes necessarily one riddled with blood and violence.
In the effort towards nation-building, the notion of nationalism is up for grabs. Who gains power and who loses it, comes to depend on the basis from which the definition of nationalism is derived. In Pakistan the process of nation formation was intensified right after partition and especially during the era of Ayub Khan when the notion of one unit was launched. The educational discourses of the era are replete with the need to forget the past and, along with it, the identities belonging to it in order to create a new Present and a remodeled future. The second period when the need for forging a national identity became urgent was after the war of 1971 when a large part of the state's territory and the majority of its people broke away in a painful separation. The post 1971 educational policies and curricula reflect the urgency to create a sense of nationhood and oneness in a polity deeply divided along religious, sectarian, ethnic, class and gender dimensions. This process was most vividly apparent in the educational discourses of the era of General Zia when religious identity was called upon to define Pakistani identity overriding the many and varied other sources of the Self. Everything secular was denigrated and degraded in favor of an overarching identity drawn from a single source - religion. Having formed Pakistan in a communal break, religion was chosen by the rulers to discredit other sources of belonging.
In India, the national was initially not defined in sacred terms. Rather, the national was declared to be secular and the rulers jealously guarded this identity, even though there were shades of communalist stirring among many a secular leader. With the rise of the BJP, RSS and VHP (the Sangh Parivar as it is called in India), the drive to redefine India's ideological boundaries in sacred terms was intensified. This led to a major battle between the staunchly secular and/or socialist historians of the JNU school of thought, and the textbook historians of the Saffron brigade. History, as the most crucial identity- forming subject and carrier of the past (and by extension of the Present and Future), was seized upon to re-create, re-define and appropriate India as a Hindu state. The struggles over knowledge and truth became intensified with the publication of the National Curriculum Framework and the publication of Hindutva inspired textbooks by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). The battle was ultimately taken to the Indian Supreme Court, which in October 2002 allowed communally inspired textbooks to be used in schools funded by the state. This was a violation of the Indian secular constitution that prohibits the teaching of religion in educational institutions funded by the state. The Supreme Court Judgment was preceded and followed by heated battles over the nature of state, polity, pluralism, democracy, secularism, the role of religion and public knowledge systems.
The proposed paper will examine the educational ideology debates in India and Pakistan with a view towards understanding the relationship between power, ideology, knowledge and identity in India and Pakistan to find similarities, contrasts and points of divergence and confluence. The effects of control over knowledge and its dissemination will be explored.
|
Panel:
Gender (In)justice
Subhashini Ali (India)
Feudal societies with strong patriarchal traditions and structures which restrict
and confine women within traditional roles and boundaries also, seemingly
contradictorily, depict them as repositories of the 'honor' of the clan, the
caste or the religious grouping. A very important part of the way in which
parental and patriarchal control is exerted in such societies is the institution
of 'arranged' marriages and its natural corollary the complete aversion to
the notion of 'love' or 'self-choice' marriages. In all such societies, 'honor
killings' or the killing of young men and women who break these taboos have
been a not uncommon feature through the ages. Most often, the clan or caste
members of the victims including their relatives and, more often than not,
their parents commit these killings.
It had been thought, that modernization, education and development would lead
to such barbaric practices dying a natural death. Certainly, the proponents
of unfettered globalization in developing countries made every effort to convince
people that the economic and political measures that they were proposing would
ensure that this happened. In fact, the experience in many parts of South
Asia like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and among migrant communities from
these countries, living in the advanced countries of the West, runs totally
counter to this belief.
While data for these crimes is very limited as far as earlier times are concerned,
it seems very probable that their incidence is actually increasing. This may
appear to be surprising, but if we analyze what globalization is doing to
developing nations we will see that actually all kinds of obscurantism, fanaticism,
exclusivist identities, anti-women, retrograde social and religious beliefs
and practices are being encouraged, reinforced and reinvented by the globalized
market and the ideology that makes it possible in the first place and then
continues to sustain it.
Studies on the colonial era like Tanika Sarkar's 'Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation'
and many others have illustrated and emphasized the fact that a typical male
response to imperialism and the consequent loss of control experienced, has
been to reinforce the seclusion and constriction of women in order to guard
their 'purity' both physical and cultural. Something similar seems to be happening
at a time when a new and perhaps even more enslaving kind of imperialism -
globalization - is taking over minds and markets the world over.
In India, the spread of the phenomenon of honor killings is actually being
widened by re-inforced caste and communal feelings that are also very important
aspects of present-day political mobilization. At a time when the State is
actually withdrawing from many areas like health, education, sanitation, providing
minimum civic amenities etc., this sort of mobilization is becoming more and
more the mainstay of mainstream politics and politicians. As a result, political
and electoral conflicts are turning more and more into caste and communal
conflicts. Age-old prejudices, hatreds and tensions are being renewed and
reinforced with each college, university, co-operative, village panchayat,
local body, state and central election. The globalized market encourages and
fuels these conflicts, hatreds, prejudices and tensions, because not only
does a divided society succumb to its domination, but hierarchies are strengthened
allowing exploitation to become ever more severe. Changing caste equations
with more and more assertion by formerly lower and untouchable castes are
exacerbating the situation, as is increasing communal tensions and suspicions.
The results are horrifying, but not widely known outside the country. Honor
killings amongst Pakistanis living in Pakistan and in the West are widely
publicized and Muslim countries openly oppose the attempt to ensure implementation
of CEDAW despite religious or traditional mores at the international fora.
Since India is a secular state, governed by a secular, democratic constitution,
and since democracy in India is very vibrant and visible, the darker sides
of Indian social life are sometimes obscured.
100 young men and women have been murdered by their parents, relatives or
clans in just one month (mid-Sept. to mid-Oct.2003), because of marriage in
just a few districts of Western Uttar Pradesh. In the last year, the State
unit of the All India Democratic Women's Association has intervened in more
than six cases of honor killings of young people who had dared to have inter-caste
marriages, and also in one case in which a Muslim boy and his Hindu wife were
hounded by her family members for more than three months. At this very moment,
our activists are touring some of the villages of Western Uttar Pradesh to
prepare a report on the recent incidents that have included inter-caste marriages
and own-choice marriages. The most recent incident that has been reported
from this area is one in which a Muslim girl eloped with a Hindu boy and subsequently
his minor sister was gang-raped by the girl's father and some young men whom
he had brought with him. The only reason that a major communal clash did not
erupt was that many Hindus in the area felt that the rape had 'some' justification.
It is in the state of Haryana that honor killings are the most numerous. The
State unit of AIDWA has intervened in dozens of cases and has prepared a detailed
report on its work.
It is extremely important to collect as much experience of this practice from
the entire region so that strategies to combat it can be formulated. It is
not enough to simply condemn, the problem has to be studied, analyzed and
effectively opposed. It is also not enough to intervene after a ghastly crime
has been perpetrated. To effectively challenge, expose and change views adhered
to in the name of tradition and religion is imperative.
|
Food
Security and Policies of Globalization
Panel: Food and Security
Ms Subhashini Ali (India)
It used to be said in the fairly recent past even by people of the eminence of Amartya Sen that one of the accomplishments of Indian democracy was the fact that since independence famines had been averted. This was because a system of procurement of food grains at a fixed, viable price by the government combined with a universal system of public distribution of subsidized food grains, sugar, kerosene, etc. was evolved that, despite corruption, inefficiency etc., did succeed in both increasing the production of food grains and ensuring that widespread starvation was averted. Over the years, an impressive buffer stock of rice and wheat was built up and stored in government owned godowns that were used in food-for-work programs and for famine and flood relief measures. These systems played a very important role in providing hundreds of thousands of workdays for poor women and men in the rural areas, and also in ensuring a very minimum, but still essential level of nutrition for large masses of the rural and urban poor.
Of course, the experience all over India was far from uniform. In a state like Kerala, where due to the significant presence of the Left in successive governments, more than 80 percent of the population not only had ration cards, but also used them to buy subsidized rice, kerosene and sugar along with 16 other items that were sold through these shops in that state. These included dal, exercise books, tea leaves, etc. In addition, the state also established a chain of fair-price shops that sold vegetables and life-saving drugs at prices significantly lower than the open market. The impact (in combination with other state policies) this had on the health, life expectancy, IMR and MMR in the state was impressive. At the other end of the spectrum was a state like Uttar Pradesh, where only about 10-25 percent of the population had ration cards restricted to the urban areas. But even here, the restraining effect of the PDS on open-market prices was exercised; buffer stocks were used for rural employment creating some rural infrastructure and, of course, the procurement policies gave a boost to agricultural production. The '70s and '80s saw widespread and sustained movements in most parts of the country for improving and extending the PDS and people in many states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra benefited from the gains that these movements could extract from governments under pressure.
Things changed drastically after 1991 when full-blown SAPs were adopted by the then Central Government. Subsidies began to be reduced, state governments found their financial powers further curtailed and a system of targeting (in the name of making the PDS more effective, more friendly to the poor and less wasteful) began to be designed. In many parts of the country, ration cards were cancelled in the name of being 'bogus', it became increasingly difficult to get new cards issued, issue-prices of PDS food grains were drastically increased at a time when market-prices were low so that many card-holders stopped availing their quotas and, since the profit margins of the shop-owners were reduced and fewer items were now part of the PDS, many of them were just not interested in running the shops, and simply black-marketed their stocks. Generally, the PDS was considerably weakened by all these measures and grain off take was considerably reduced.
After l996, the new government introduced a system of 'Targeted PDS' under which income-tax payees were denied subsidized food grains and BPL and APL (Below the Poverty Line and Above the Poverty Line) cards were introduced. This actually dealt a body blow to the PDS that was only partially softened by the fact that issue prices were lowered considerably. But, the exclusion of some led to the exclusion of many, most of whom were the poorest of the poor.
The real effects of growing, government-induced food insecurity have been felt after l998. The TPDS has been changed once again and, instead, of two categories there are now four - APL, BPL, Antodyaya (very poor, destitute) and Annapoorna (destitute old). Each category is supposed to get grains at different prices and quotas have been fixed for the number of people in each district who will get which kind of card. The resultant chaos and injustice has created havoc in peoples' lives and in the PDS itself. Most of those who should be beneficiaries have been left out altogether. The lower and lower rates of government procurement each successive year, and complete neglect of food-for-work programs turned the acute drought of last year into famine-like conditions in many parts of the country. Starvation deaths are now a regular occurrence especially among dalits and tribals and in the poorest most drought-prone areas. Per capita calorie consumption has gone down in the last five years. It has been calculated that the poorest 40 percent of the population eating 10 to 25 percent less now than they did five years ago. This is a horrifying statistic as it tells a tale of starvation, unemployment, sickness and destitution.
AIDWA has had an on-going campaign for affordable food grains and employment for the last few years and we have had many struggles and movements for ration cards, for work and a complete overhaul of the PDS. In April 2003, AIDWA had a huge Protest Sit-in at New Delhi demanding universalization of the PDS and issue prices of three per kg. and two per kg. for rice and wheat respectively. In the context of huge buffer stocks lying idle and rotting in government godowns at an immense cost to the public exchequer these are very viable demands. The government response has been inadequate. The Supreme Court is also intervening in the situation, but its interventions have not been very effective.
The effects of growing food insecurity on women and children are disastrous - apart from the obvious adverse impact on health, the desperate need to find work of any kind and on any terms has forced agricultural women workers to work more for lower wages and increased their vulnerability to physical and sexual assault and exploitation. In drought-prone areas, prostitution and trafficking have become commonplace. Male-migration has increased the burden on the women left behind to look after the elderly and children.
The demand for an effective, affordable and universal PDS, combined with the demand for work programs in rural and urban areas have become absolutely crucial for the development, survival and well-being of Indian women and children.