1. Rising Communal Incidents
This
meeting of the National Integration Council is being held in the
background of rising number of communal incidents and violence in the
recent months which is a matter of serious concern. In the past few
weeks, there has been communal violence occurring in Kishtwar in Jammu
& Kashmir; in Nawada and Betiah in Bihar; and a major outbreak of
violence in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh where more than 40 people
have been killed. These have occurred after a series of communal
incidents in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the past one year.
What
accounts for the worsening of the communal situation in the recent
period? These are not spontaneous outbreaks but part of a planned
effort and designed by certain communal-political forces.
The
causes for the communal violence are the same as in the past –
religious processions moving through mixed areas and provocations taking
place; allegations of harassment of young women belonging to a
particular community by persons of another community; inflammatory
propaganda which leads to a climate of mistrust and any incident can
spark off a wider conflict. But what is more disturbing is that riots
are sought to be spread in the rural areas as it happened in
Muzaffarnagar. In all such riots, it is the minority community which
ultimately bears the brunt of the violence in terms of deaths and
destruction of property.
Certain organisations and
political parties espousing communal ideology, are indulging in communal
propaganda to build up tensions and to utilize any incident to incite
communal violence.
As per the figures supplied by the Home
Ministry, this year, from January to September, there have been 497
communal incidents in the country which have killed 107 people and
injured 1,697.
The forthcoming 2014 Lok Sabha elections
seem to be a catalyst for communal activities. It can be easily
identified who seeks to gain out of such communal polarization.
2. Measures to Tackle Communal Disturbances
Therefore,
in order to curb communal violence, it is necessary to first identify
such political-communal elements and organisations and take preventive
measures to curb their activities and propaganda. The laws concerning
the prohibition of communal propaganda, incitement to hatred etc. should
be applied.
The role of the administration in taking such
precautionary measures cannot be overemphasized. It is also essential
to see that the administration and the police act promptly and
impartially to curb violence and to book the offenders.
The
Prevention of Communal Violence Bill should be enacted into law
without further delay. The law should focus only on communal violence
and not broaden itself to other forms of conflicts and violence.
Further, the legislation should be in keeping with the federal principle
wherein the state governments have the primary responsibility for
maintenance of law and order and policing.
The espousal
of communal ideology through the educational system and textbooks which
promote communal and anti-secular ideas exist in some states – these
need to be dealt with.
We have seen the use of social
media and networking sites to promote inflammatory communal propaganda.
Just as in the case of other forms of communal propaganda, measures
should be taken to prohibit such content and take action against those
who upload such content. In this connection, the clause in the
Information Technology Act, Section 66 A, should be suitably modified,
so that this clause is not misused to suppress views and dissenting
opinion.
Above all, it is important that the problem of
communal violence is not seen merely as an administrative law and order
problem. Given the history of communal politics in India, it is
primarily a political issue and it must be dealt with politically. This
requires a firm adherence to the secular principle and the need to
combat communal ideology and politics, whatever their source and
origin.
There is another matter which concerns communal
harmony and involves having an equitable approach to the minorities.
Communalism promotes extremist activities such as terrorist violence.
While it is necessary to fight and curb terrorism whichever its source,
there has to be care to see that no single community is targeted.
Unfortunately, experience shows that in the name of fighting terrorism
often innocent Muslim youth are targeted. There have been a number of
cases where young Muslims have been arrested and implicated in false
cases and kept for prolonged periods in jail. There are many cases
where these youth have been eventually acquitted and the judiciary has
passed strictures on the way they have been booked on false or flimsy
evidence.
Such a biased approach on the part of the police and security agencies is causing alienation and anger among the community.
It
is imperative that such a discriminatory approach is given up. The
State has responsibility to compensate and help the rehabilitation of
such youth. There should be accountability and action taken against the
police and security authorities who are responsible for such travesty
of justice.
3. Safety and Security of Women
Sexual
offences and attacks on women and children have assumed alarming
proportions. Even as incidents of rape, gangrape, acid throwing on young
women, child sexual abuse have increased, the conviction rate in cases
of crimes against women, remains dismal. The utter failure and lack of
political will to put in place a system which ensures the certainly of
punishment encourages such criminality. Stringent action must be taken
against all those whether in the police or other investigation agencies
who sabotage the law. Fast track courts for such cases and time bound
justice are an urgent necessity.
Even though a new law has
been put in place as a result of public outrage following the brutal
Delhi gang rape, it is yet to be implemented properly and in any case is
not sufficient as it does not cover all the recommendations made by the
Verma Committee. For example, the horrendous killings of young couples
in the name of honour continues. There is urgent need for a separate law
against such so-called honour killings. It is unfortunate that such a
law has not been taken up as some state governments do not feel it
necessary to go against retrograde so-called traditions and social
conventions for narrow political considerations.
Communal
and fundamentalist forces in all communities seek to impose their
patriarchal values on women restricting and violating their rights.
Often sexual attacks and harassment of women are given a communal colour
and used by communal organizations to rouse passions and hatred against
the other community. It is necessary to take strong action against such
elements.
It is deeply regrettable that the number of
cases of men in high places whether in politics, in the sphere of
self-proclaimed “god men” and so on have often utilized that power to
harass women. The crime must be considered as an aggravated sexual crime
and action taken accordingly. No double standards of leniency in
applying the law against such individuals should be attempted.
At
the same time the inequalities in terms of access to employment, equal
wages. guaranteed social security, rights in land and other assets, make
women dependent and therefore more vulnerable to violence. It is
necessary to ensure a framework of economic policies which enable women
to attain economic independence, particularly for the poorer sections of
women, dalits and adivasis who are the most vulnerable targets of
sexual violence.
Women’s rights to an environment free of
sexual violence must be grounded as a fundamental and constitutional
right accorded to women on the basis of gender equality. The right of
women to live in a society free of sexual violence must be grounded as a
fundamental and constitutional right accorded to women on the basis of
the principle of equality. These principles must form part of the
upbringing and education of our young people and be reflected in
educational syllabi at all levels.
4. Welfare of SCs/STs
There
has to be allocation of budgetary resources for the development of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population.
However, the Planning Commission guidelines in this respect has
remained only on paper. The experience is that the funds of the Tribal
Sub-Plan and the SC Special Component Plan are diverted for other
purposes or are not fully utilised and lapse.
To prevent
this happening, legislation should be passed to ensure mandatory
implementation of the Sub-Plan and Special Component Plan for STs and
SCs respectively. The Government of India should bring such legislation
expeditiously in Parliament for adoption
