Un-Veiling Dress Code Impositions

(An analysis of French ban on Face Veils)

There was an interesting story which became popular after the Cricket World Cup 1996, when India pulverized Pakistan in the Quarterfinals; The Pakistan team fearing public wrath had arrived back in the middle of the night and were whisked away incognito. Few days later in an up-market shopping mall in Lahore, two women wearing Burka, were haggling for some product with the shopkeeper, when one of them spoke to the other softly, “Wasim Bhai! Please let me buy this product, you can have another one” the other woman was shocked hearing the first lady call ‘her’ Wasim Bhai and replied, “How do you know I am Wasim Akram”, “Because I am Waqar Younis” replied the first woman as ‘he’ lifted ‘his’ veil uncovering ‘her’ face to Wasim Akram, who was disguised as the second lady.

This is just one benefit of wearing a Burka or Abaya or Hijab or Naqab or Veil or a deluge of many such synonyms which are doing rounds of the Dinner table discussion of all those people who don’t wear a Naqab or should be least affected or bothered by their neighbors living in nearby house, or in a distant city of France thousands of kilometers away, who are wearing one. This issue became notorious due to some overzealous French politicians who initiated a bill to ban full face veils in public in France, with countries like Denmark, Belgium and Netherlands too contemplating similar laws for their Muslim citizens (read women).

There are many different kinds of such veils which range from full face veils to long scarves to other different types or fashion statements which vary from Muslim women in USA to European countries to North African sub-Saharan terrains to the Middle East, Indian subcontinent to South East Asian peninsular regions. The reason for the differences in the veils worn by the women in these countries is not religion but the tradition, the culture, the local and societal influence on the way they dress and they present themselves or rather cover themselves. Rather the Purda system was there in India since the ancient times where newlywed girls had to keep their head and faces covered in the in-laws house out of respect to elders and demonstrate a shy and innocent demeanor, which was highly appreciated for a bride. The tradition is still followed in Rajasthan and other northern states and rural areas of India.

The main stress on bringing upon the regionalization aspect of dress codes or it’s so called imposition on people, specifically women is purely cultural and in no way religious. A quick glance on the Veil Fashion reveals (pun intended) that the full face veils or the Naqab's are majorly worn only by women in gulf countries restricted to the conservative Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, the Taliban suppressed Afghanistan, tribal Pakistan and some parts of India. Most other countries comprising of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bahrain, Central Asia and others in and around these regions will have women adhering to the basic recommendations of covering their heads while keeping their faces open in public. While Muslims women in some Western European countries and America’s would wear long scarves to cover their head, while wearing the normally worn clothes common in those regions. Now this is not an autopsy of the clothes worn by Muslim women around the world, but just an attempt to showcase the minority percentage of Muslim women who wear full face veils. Considering the majority which does not follow any norms or traditions or these so called imposition myths associated with Islamic dress code or its rather forceful decree; does not stand by way of development or modernization or growth of Muslim women around the world in terms of Education, Career, Governance, etc.

Hijab has never been a gender discriminatory tool of Islam to suppress women. Rather the mention of Hijab in few places in the Holy Quran has been mentioned addressing the men and women in equal measures. Hijab as mentioned by Quran refers to the instructions to both men and women to dress in a modest way, so as not to expose your Awrah in public or in front of strangers. The definition of Awrah too varies differently as per interpretation of various scholars more influenced by their regional considerations than what the message actually put forth by Quran. Awrah refers to parts of body which can be termed as intimate or construed as objects of desires, to safeguard ones modesty and decency in public. These Quranic phrases had an objective at the time in 15th century Arab region when barbarism and violence was rampant. Killing of girl child, child marriages, brutality against women and their denigration as third grade members of the family was commonplace. It was the influence of Islam and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) with Quran as a guide and reference which helped in upliftment of women, their education, equal rights within the family and society. (Read my blog ‘Female Education: Vision of Islam’ http://fardinq.blogspot.com/2008/08/female-education-vision-of-islam.html). Decrying the ancient traditions, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) asked the people to maintain decency not only in terms of their way of dressing, but also in behavior, flaunting of wealth, compassion towards poor, respect to elders and decency in way of life. This was applicable for equally for both men and women.

A few Hadith’s (teachings based on Life of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)) do mention how women were advised to maintain a particular dressing sense before strangers (unknown men), which was basically to self guard their respect and honor. People take them as a basis to criticize the Hadith’s while at the same time ignoring what it says about men. As Prophet Muhammad (SAW) mentions, ‘Men should walk upon the streets not with their chest jutting out and showing arrogance or proud, but should walk calmly and always lower their gaze and head in respect upon seeing a woman’. So aren’t these generic advice and education, which we are taught even by our parents since our childhood about maintaining decency, respecting others and dressing appropriately irrespective of our sex or our culture or our religion. I recently read a news snippet about a leading Oscar nominated Hollywood actress, declaring herself as a strict Mom, instructing her two daughters about which type of clothes to wear and whom to befriend. A bit surprising since we generally correlate American and Western society and culture as open and unhindered when compared to our Indian culture and more specific the so called ‘oppressing’ Arab or Islamic tradition. But then it is animal instinct which we see on a Discovery or Animal Planet; a mother lioness pulling her cubs when they entangle themselves in the bushes or fight with each other; she growls and snarls when they don’t listen, because she knows the dangers of the jungle and its threats. Similar is the case with us, human beings; our parents righteously advise us what is good for us and what can cause us harm from nature, society and our surroundings, at an age when we are quite naïve to judge it ourselves about right and wrong around us. So was the case in erstwhile Arab peninsula when Islam and Quran as a guide came upon its people as an advice about the way of living and as a fountain of knowledge of the universe to show them the righteous path.

We move to the subject of state interference in imposing dress code and so called perceived threat of face veils in guise of anti-social elements. The democratically elected Government of France thinks that extremists can wear the face veils and move within the public and cause damage to human life and property without being noticed. A very basic question which crops up here is, ‘Do these extremists tie the explosives on their face and then trigger them?’ No obviously not, they may have it tied around their bellies and around their bodies, etc. So what should be the logical reasoning on screening these anti-socials from the general public?, “Governments should ban wearing clothes altogether”, so that everyone and everything is open and a police officer can easily detect from a distant if a naked man has any explosives tied around his body. A few years back the ‘smart’ Traffic Police authority of the Nagpur (central Indian city) started imposing fine upon people who used to cover their faces with scarves while driving two-wheelers. The intention of the rider was to save his/her face from direct and harmful impact of summer heat-waves reaching almost 49 degrees, causing fatal sun strokes. The Traffic Police said chain snatchers and thieves were executing crimes under this disguise and running away undetected. A lady advocate filed a PIL in the High Court against this draconian edict, which the Honorable Judge overruled. The very next day, two local criminals wearing Helmets with dark visors snatched a bag from a lady waiting at the traffic signal and in the ensuing melee, caused grievous injury to her. The lady advocate filed another PIL justifying banning of Helmets as well, to avoid such crimes. The embarrassed Judge reversed his decision of upholding the Scarf ban and instructed the Traffic Cops to be more vigilant about ensuring Traffic Rules compliance rather than inventing such foolhardy laws.

Now after France; other countries like Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark are contemplating Face Veil bans for its citizens. Remember the last two of these are those whose government rather tried to justify the turmoil which rocked the world when some nut-head editor of their local newspaper published disrespecting caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) rather than directing them not to interfere and hurt religious sentiments of people (Islam forbids usage of cartoon and imagery of life forms when linked to religion). So we can very well judge that the intention of such a law is not safety or security purpose but some personal vendetta against targeted communities. While it is very well knows that the number of Muslim women wearing full face veils comprises not even 0.005% of the total Muslim population in these countries.

I conducted (tried to) a small survey amongst the female relatives and acquaintance about their views of imposition of face veil ban in European counties. The following are some details of the exercise:

· Targeted Population: 37 (All Adult Females, studying or working in different industry sectors; 4 of these were Muslims)
· Mode of Communication: E-Mail
· Replies received: 16 (2 Muslims)
· Analysis of the Response and Questions Asked:

Now out of 37 only 16 took pains to reply to the questions asked. Of the remaining 21 there are/were many who would seek clarifications from me every time there is some new Fatwa issued in some corner of the world or some incident happened related to Muslims. While I would try to give a just meaningful reply, there would be counter questions upon my view point and also why is such and such rule in place, is it not oppressive, is it not against the law of nature and a plethora of such naïve queries. Now when I asked them about their viewpoints, they chose to backtrack and did not reply, so as not to reveal their thought process and opinion on such issues. Well!! No Hard Feelings, its’ Individual perception

The very purpose of conducting this exercise was to assess what today’s educated women think about other women who are at the receiving end of such laws. The results as shown in the graph above gives a very clear indication, that a majority of women do not support the Face Veil imposition and Government interference in religion and dress codes. They also do not think that Face Veil is a symbol of suppression, verily in congruence to the viewpoint I tried to depict in the earlier part of this blog. To summarize let me quote a couple of beautiful replies received from some of the respondents of this survey (Identity hidden on request).

“During the evolution of religion, in those days, the face veil and other restrictions were acceptable and must have been more common. In today’s age of matured world, (I am not referring to the science and technology, but I am referring to the world of maturity as we are in today), I do believe that these two Quran verses were not interpreted appropriately. I opine these verses personified the need of dressing properly and decently, it’s an epitome of self-restraint and discipline for one self”

“I feel it is not the matter of Oppression or Suppression for all the women but depending upon the environment they have been brought up in, depending upon the value they are given for traditions or customs, depending upon ones individual comfort level, one can take it in positive sense or the other way”

Dress Codes, Religious impositions, Rituals, Decrees, Laws, etc are only justifiable as long as they provide an individual, a sense of belief resulting from its benefits for ones overall safety and development vis-à-vis the society, the culture and upbringing. Interference upon an individuals’ basic freedom of movement and expression in any form is truly condemnable. All the present religions, evolved centuries ago, were not with the intention of intruding one’s existing faith and personal life or its impositions, but as a guide to righteous path for their followers to lead and inculcate the good things and learn to make better their lives mentally and spiritually. An informal survey was conducted by an NGO’s in Mumbai in 2008, upon discovering a slight increase in the percentage of girls wearing full face veils while travelling in Local Trains. The results were startling for them. More than 60% of these girls were non-Muslim’s and were wearing the Naqab’s just as a precautionary safeguard against urchins and eve-teasers in the Local Trains while travelling alone to workplace and colleges. According to them the particular attire as a cover helped them avoid the undue attention from those lecherous hooligans’s, although they would never compromise on the issue of freedom of expression and choice. They would pack their Naqab’s in their bags upon entering the college premises or offices.

And finally regarding my views on Face Veils; I respect all those women who willingly and out of their own conscious decision wear them, but hate those men who try to impose the same upon their wives and sisters and female family members. Summarizing the same in two cases:
Case 1: On my way to Mahabaleshwar (a Hill Station in Western India) in a byway garden restaurant, I truly appreciated the dressing sense of a Muslim family, not out of any religious consideration but how nice they all looked. The bearded father (around 35) wearing a prayer cap covering his head and a pathani suit, was playing with his two kids; one boy (aged around 3) and a girl (aged around 5) as his wife (wearing a full face veiled black Abaya) sat on the bench nearby. The boy was wearing the same dress as his father, while the girl looked an angel wearing a small colorful Abaya just like her mother, only her face was uncovered.

Case 2: At a high end shopping Mall in Hyderabad, I saw a Muslim couple; the man was attired in a jazziest possible way; tight jeans, patterned party shirt, with top three buttons holes open, unkempt hair, unshaven face and a funky belt, flaunting a high end mobile phone. Walking besides him was his wife with her head down, walking slowly and shyly, wearing a black Hijab draped from head to toe with her face covered as well. It was very apparent that while the husband is chilling out, his wife is being subjected to this forceful imposition of wearing an Abaya.

(Un) Happy Republic Day ! :-(

“Oil Mafia Burns Alive Additional District Collector in Malegaon” – On the eve of 62nd Republic Day of our country, a righteous Government Officer Yashwant Sonwane, while on regular patrol in Malegaon (Maharashtra), spotted some crooks illicitly carrying out adulteration of Petroleum Tankers. As he tried to stop them while making a video film of their act on his mobile phone, the goons, six in number, knocked him down and burnt him alive; so screamed the Front page Headlines of our Newspapers, when we would have leisurely woken up to a relaxing holiday on January 26, 2011.

As I walked back to my house after the morning jog, I could see around at major junctions on the road, social areas of housing colonies and elsewhere, people, young and old preparing for the flag hoisting. Brilliantly colored strings of tricolor hangings, balloons, wreaths, and other decorative items all in shades of our national flag beings propped up. At some places workers were hurriedly making last minute beautification, painting the podium steps alternating with saffron, white and green paints. All along this simultaneously as the loudspeakers blared inspiring patriotic songs, as a ritual for the two glorious days which mark the Indian calendar. A sense of déjà-vu filled my conscience as well, upon hearing the voice of legendary Mohammad Rafi in the song “Jahan Daal Daal, par Sone ki Chidiya Karti hai Basera, Wo Bharat Desh hai mera, wo Bharat Desh hai mera”.

Does our country still radiate the attributes showered upon it as the lines of the song say? Yes we have progressed beyond comprehension of our own expectations on economic front; the western world sees us as the land of opportunities and prosperity, rising above the Naked Fakir image of Gandhi as Lord Irwin described him in 1931. FDI’s are flowing in (although it has slowed down since 2006-07), we are producing billionaires and leading czar’s of the industrial world, making a mark on global stage, we produced our best performance in sports arena in Commonwealth Games and the subsequent Asian Games and many other fronts of this endless list of achievements; but have attained the similar progression on socially and ethical platform as well? A question which surfaces every time when we read such news articles along with other rosy painted depiction and our overtly self-proclaiming depiction of our progression. Just to emphasize on this question and the resulting comprehensible answer, is the scenario of those places in which they were making meticulous preparations in the morning for flag hoisting. They proudly unfurled the flag, sang the National Anthem, shouted hoarsely “Vande Matram”, “Jai Hind” and other similar passionate war cries for the amusement of their own self and young audience and distributed sweets and then quietly dispersed along their own paths. However as the evening sky painted a reddish hue and sun was on its descent, you could see torn and mutilated flags lying on the ground, being carelessly trampled upon by passerby’s. Used paper plates, plastic glasses and other informative pamphlets strewn around, making the place resemble a garbage dump. While the proud flag of the morning now meekly hanging from its mast ashamed of its surroundings; so much for the celebration in the name of the nation and patriotism.

Umpteen times has the comparison been made for making Bombay into Shanghai or a Bangalore into a Silicon Valley, all very true on development aspects, but falling flat on one basic thing - Our Social Behavior. So what if a high profile film personality threatening a police constable, when he tried to stop her from letting her pet poop on the seaside pavement; we are considering only if, we are uncomfortable, ready to shower abuses on the administrators the next day if we step on some filth lying on the road. This story I read as part of my school curriculum still hinders; A renowned Swami of yesteryears, visited Japan for some conference. While on his way back to the airport in the evening, as he was waiting for a taxi, he looked around to find some shop or stalls for fruits to break his fast. Unable to find any, he murmured to his assistant, for the lack of availability of fruits in Japan. A young Japanese student overheard his concern and after a few minutes was seen running towards the Swami, with a basket full of fruits of all possible varieties. He offered the basket to the Swami and declined to take any money in return; instead he spoke in a very polite and appealing manner, “Please take these fruits as a token of gratitude from all the Japanese people, but promise not to tell anyone back in your country that you don’t get good fruits in Japan”. The Swami stood flabbergasted with tears rolling down his eyes in admiration for the boy, his countrymen and the whole of Japan for producing such a culture and consideration. And here we are beating our chests proudly for our ubiquitous culture, our heritage, our past and our ancestry, while we continue to abuse and rape our country’s present image before others. How seriously do we consider the advertisement “Atithi Devo Bhava”, wherein a Amir Khan tries to stop people from sullying the monuments and harrowing foreign tourists, as they return with an image of disgust and ineptness of our country and its countrymen back to their people?

In the last six months having got the opportunity to travel the seams of Asian continent from Saudi Arabia and UAE in the west to Malaysia and Singapore in the east, my perception about cultures and heritage has changed a lot. Let me start from my own country and its gateways to the foreign world; the airports, and its staff. The Hyderabad International airport was awarded the 5th rank among the best airports of the world, but I wonder what rank it will get on mannerism of the staff and the comfort and ease of paper work and assistance to the passengers. We as Indians are under so much pressure and anguish all the while the immigration officers, turn the pages of your Passport and scrutinize your profile in person and on paper, like a CBI officer questioning a convict. I quiver to think what hassles the poor perceived gods in our motto “Athithi Devo Bhava”, aka, the foreign tourists have to go just to get the IN stamp marked on their passports. Well I got the opportunity very soon as we landed at the Jeddah airport, perceived as one of the top 10 busiest airports in the world and by far the largest airport in terms of total area. There were touts selling us cheap mobile SIM’s and luring us with fast cabs for Madina and Makkah right at the arrival and inside the custom area. Kudos for the security and safety of the worlds’ busiest airport! The best part was yet to come, as we lined up for the immigration and stamping queue, we found out harried passengers trying their best to converse with the immigration officers, who looked young brash kids asked to sit at this place of imminence for international travelers without knowing a word of English or rather any other language apart from Arabic. They were talking or rather trying to admonish the people particularly from Indian sub-continent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc) with utmost disdain, as if we were illegal immigrants caught trying to cross the Saudi border. While at the same time pilgrims from USA, Europe, Iran and Turkey were bestowed a royal welcome, with all their processes, form filings etc being taken care by the seemingly urchins at the immigration check.

Welcome to the holiest land in the world for Muslims. Wondering at my first instance of such treatment and discrimination for being an Indian, I turned towards my parents to seek answers as they had visited Saudi Arabia earlier for Hajj pilgrimage. While I was aghast and perturbed at this reception, my father all the while was least bothered and to him it seemed a routine procedure. Upon enquiring, I was educated by him, “Don’t be surprised, it is our own undoing, particularly the Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshi’s”, he said. “You should have seen people from these countries, during the time of Hajj pilgrimage, when the Saudi government has to make arrangements for lakhs of pilgrims coming from all parts of the world. They work overtime to make the best possible arrangements for us in terms of comfort, food, accommodation and transport, while maintaining complete hygiene and cleanliness. But we embarrass not only ourselves but also our country in front of everyone, through our acts and conduct. During Hajj, people from each country are given ribbons or wrist bands marked by the color of flags of their respective countries for ease of identification, in the event of some mishap or chaos, hence we Indians or rather anyone’s nationality can be easily identified just by looking at his ID card ribbon or wrist bands. Everyone watches in disgust when Indian pilgrims throw garbage around, eat and drink wherever they please, rather than designated places marked for the purpose and leave leftover food, containers and empty bottles behind, leave the taps running in washrooms as well as the faucets of Ab-e-ZamZam for drinking purpose. They would sleep and loiter around the prayer areas, talk loudly without caring about other pilgrims, cross the roads without any consideration for traffic signals, haggle with shopkeeper and bus drivers and create all sorts of nuisances. All the while the humble and polite workers appointed by the government authorities would be around cleaning their filth, closing the taps, and requesting them to maintain decorum, be quiet or follow the rules laid for their own comfort and safety. At one point when rich Arabs out of their own self conscience and seeking blessings and Dua of the pilgrims would bring packed food for them, it would be the Indians who would run around them asking and begging for more food packets, and packed boxes just for the sake of one-upmanship, knowing well enough that they would get more the next day and the food would be wasted. The polite Arabs bear all this with a smile during Hajj, as they do not want to disrepute the sanctity of the annual event by showing anger, hatred and scorn for their Muslim brethren from around the world.

But they display their disdain during other times, when Indians visit their shores for Umrah (the non-compulsory pilgrimage at other times apart from Hajj), for visiting their relatives or for employment purpose. They are treated with disregard and given least priority during the immigration process, and show little inclination to ease their travel hassles and other paperwork. Rather you clearly see the discrimination when the Air India plane is allocated the farthest runway at the Jeddah airport and passengers have to wait significantly for the buses to take them to the terminal. And surely then, when we do return back to our shores we do feel happy and proud to be an Indian, continuing our habitual garbage throwing, spitting, spiting, shouting and scorning our government and our countrymen for everything. We should be thankful to the Arabs for showing us the mirror for what we do to our own country.

Well the situation was much improved in Dubai, where thousands of Indians have settled for decades and are very much part of the governance, administration, finance and economic build up as well as the culture and heritage of that world, gelling seamlessly with the locals. So we were treated as esteemed guests with an eye on our pockets to spend our cash on their goods, which they bring from India, repackage under international brand names, park them in pompous shopping malls and sell them back to us. And we buy those stuff and show off back in India, proudly displaying our Dubai clothes or watches or gadgets. Yes, but gold only in form of biscuit is the only thing worth buying there.

The world changed 180 degrees when we landed on the shores of Kuala Lumpur for our vacation. The immigration took hardly 4-5 minutes for all of us with a young smiling lady in her mid twenties greeting us with a “Good Evening! / As Salam Alaikum! Welcome to Malaysia”, after checking our names and documents. We collected our bags and were guided at each passage by either a smiling staff personal or bright prominent Sign boards for various amenities available at the airport without the gun totting security forces or wretched faced policemen observing us with suspicion back in airports in India. While in the city, there were help kiosks at every major tourist spots, malls, stations, terminals, hotels, market places, etc, for the comfort of the tourists. Although Malay is the official language of Malaysia, all the sign boards and guidelines are in English with Malay in smaller fonts in the bottom, knowing well enough what the language of the world is. Back in India when I was travelling with my family by car from Nagpur to Hyderabad for the first time, we were perplexed to find 90-95% of the sign posts and milestones marked in Telugu or Marathi in their respective states. Clearly ignoring the facts that users of the National Highway would be people from other parts of the country as well, who in all probability wouldn’t know a word of either of the language. Score 1 for national integrity; which is why even after 64 years of Indian independence we are still fighting on the basis of cast, creed, religion, language, ethnicity and plethora of other trivial reasons.

The situation was even better when in Singapore airport every passenger was being welcome and offered candies at the immigration check counters. As I picked one candy, the young lady smiled and offered me to take few more; I picked another, so she indicated that I pick a fistful. I politely said, “No Thanks, this would be sufficient”. After I walked out of the area, I wondered was the image of India being a country of hungry and poor gave her a chance to jibe at me alluring with the candies or was it that some of my brethren had created mayhem at the candy box before I walked in. Whatever, it was a pleasant experience.

Politeness, Discipline, Courtesy and Decency in demeanor are the crowns which everyone in these countries wears with a smile on their face. At the public places, transportations and tourist places forming a queue even when not asked for is natural. Courtesy for others is a given, while politeness even from a lady doing a night shift at the ticketing counter of a monorail station is conspicuous. It happened once out of our habit, as the train approached we ran as the automatic gates opened, to get a seat in the train. To our surprise others waiting around us instead of jostling for entry themselves, immediately gave way and allowed us to board the transit first. We were so embarrassed and ashamed that we followed the adage, “When in Rome do as the Romans do” to the hilt thereafter.

I am reminded a thousand times by not only jibing peers and friends but sometimes also my inner voice when I introspect the pathetic predicament my country finds itself; it reminds me the immortal words of John F Kennedy during the space wars with erstwhile Soviets, “Ask not what the country can do for you but what you can do for your country”. Agreed and acknowledge the power of those words, but then what do I do if the countrymen are hell-bent upon molesting my country of its resources, its reputation and its marketed deportment at a worlds stage. Would JFK had had the same words, save his countrymen had been so apathetic for their own country? So forget about Bombay (not Mumbai) becoming Shanghai in 2020 or 2050 or 2550. Let’s first learn to rise above petty issues all the while polishing our own selves in terms of basic things as demeanor, politeness, courtesy, simplicity and other such characteristic jewels to decorate our profile. No 10% or 20% GDP growth, a nuclear power break through, or a 100 Gold’s in Olympics (sic) would uplift us, if we continue spitting in public carriageways, relieving ourselves at the nearest available crevice (not even required for some of the shameless) or incoherently tossing away that chocolate wrapper from our car window. While our politicians are and would continue to create landmarks and new summits in terms of corruption booty or scandals, be happy go lucky erecting their own statues, renaming cities to Shri Sambhajinagar, Shri Sahujinagar till the time you go maniac or become lunatic with Parkinson’s, we would continue to elect them rather them hold against them for lack of development or any fruitful work done for us or the constituency.

Although a critic of my nation on many fronts, I am a devote admirer and ardent nationalistic from the bottom of my heart in at-least one field and that’s Cricket. Come Feb 19th and we will forget our indifferences and ill-mannerism. All will be well, when it concerns Cricket. Go India!! The World Cup beckons you.

Conveniently Ignoring Vidarbha

A D-Day or rather a T-Day in the political history of Andhra and Telangana, was marked on 9th December 2010 when the Central UPA government agreed to take further the demands of a separate Telangana state to be carved out of North Andhra region. This, coming weeks after some intense and often violent agitation by members of the TRS party workers, Osmania University students and people & students from elsewhere in the districts representing the Telangana region. The period of turmoil marked burning of public properties, damaging malls and private establishments, roadblocks, rallies, suicides, stopping trains, gate-crashing into assembly and virtually holding the state government to ransom as well as putting the common man in the city of Hyderabad and elsewhere into great inconvenience and continuous threat. Result; Government bowing down to the pressure and agreeing to set up a Panel under Sri Krishna Commission to discuss the viability of a separate Telangana state. Although after 12 months of the farcical process wasting exchequers time and money they submitted a report which had nothing path-breaking or possible solution for the cause. The bone of contention being the city of Hyderabad, with both Telangana and Andhra unwilling to let go of the city, which has seen tremendous development on all fronts in the past decade and is the major revenue source for the state.

The reason for presenting this as a prologue to the subject of the topic is that, perhaps this could very well serve as an ingredient or war-plan for the people of Vidarbha, who have a deep yet un-ignited aspiration to see an independent state of Vidarbha. Also unlike the contentious issue of state capital, Vidarbha is well served with Nagpur as its unanimous capital city, bejeweled with all attributes befitting the citadel of an independent state. The culturally and socially peace loving people of Vidarbha have remained much calmer during the communal troubles than the rest of India, and have not been very vocal or effusive in their support for a separate state. Unlike some smaller states which were carved out during the last decade based on language or political situations, a separate Vidarbha state is justified not only because of if continuous abandon by the rest of Maharashtra but also for its distinct demography, culture and need to develop and establish a distinct identity.

In recent times, there have been few calls for a separate state of Vidarbha, due to the continuous apathy from the Government of Maharashtra towards this region and the inept and opportunistic political leadership in Vidarbha. Though being culturally, politically and financially diverse than the rest of Maharashtra, the calls to a separate state come in picture only when the leaders from this region are marginalized by the other higher authorities in the state government or at the time of elections. The selfish leaders of Vidarbha have been raising this issue to bake their own bread, often pressuring the government for getting a cabinet seat in the Maharashtra assembly or to get some plum portfolio from wherein they can fill their coffers. A major antagonism for the cause of Vidarbha has come from Shiv Sena, who does not want their influence to be confined only to the Western Maharashtra and Konkan, as well as to counter the MNS who have not found many takers amongst the peace loving people of Vidarbha. Even top leadership of NCP has been ignorant about the plight of the region and its demand for severance from Maharashtra.

The earliest dated demand for a separate identity for Vidarbha statehood has been noted as long back as 1905 when the Maha Vidarbha movement was voiced for separation from the CP & Berar region. However since there have been but a few and unheard voices being raised for a statehood. Votaries for Vidarbha find their most forceful argument in the recommendation of the State Re-organization Commission under Justice Fazal Ali (Para 8 of the Commission's report of 1955) which favored "an independent state of Vidarbha" for it to become "fully self-reliant and viable". Promises to grant Vidarbha more than its share, made in the Nagpur and Akola pacts, have been empty ones. In 1971-73 the agitation was at its peak when Jambuwantrao Dhote had undertaken a 21-day fast to highlight the cause. He was later elected to the Lok Sabha as an Independent candidate on the same plank and on that achievement the issue subsequently went down the cold basket. The Dandekar committee on regional imbalances noted in 1980 that the per capita development expenditure was Rs 222 for Mumbai, but a mere seven rupees for Vidarbha. Also, while per capita crop loans of Rs 76 were distributed to farmers of western Maharashtra, those in Vidarbha received only Rs 22. Many of the 125 irrigation projects planned for the region remains incomplete and only eight per cent of the total area is irrigated. The situation has only further worsened in the recent past. The imbalance continues on the industrial front too. The growth in employment between in western Maharashtra was significantly higher than in Vidarbha, in spite of the fact that the region has more than 60 per cent of the forest wealth and 80 per cent of the mineral wealth of the state and produces more than half of states share of generated power. Clearly, these disparities are fuelling public sympathy for a separate state.

In recent past leaders like Satish Chaturvedi, NKP Salve, Vasant Sathe, Banwarilal Purohit, Ranjit Deshmukh, Sharad Joshi, among others have been vociferous in support of Vidarbha state, but the issue raises its head only during the elections and once the leaders get their desired positions the demand gets dumped for another 5 years. Few of the leader’s in-spite of holding major and influential positions in the State & Central Government and their respective party working committees, have not been able to do anything worthwhile for the regions cause. Shetkari Sangathan, Vidarbha Rajya Party, Vidarbha Rajya Nirman Congress, Swatantra Vidarbha Rajya Samanvay Samiti, Vidarbha Sena, Vidarbha Parishad and Vidarbha Rajya Congress Steering Committee any many other vote garnering parties were formed over the time but all of them failed to have any impact on the Central Leadership to press for the demand. And people of Vidarbha too, sensing their opportunistic agenda didn’t show any enthusiasm in supporting the personal motives of these parties for the separate Vidarbha’s cause. Vidarbha has given many important leaders to the country from our present President Pratibha Patil (from Amravati) to erstwhile Late Prime Minister Narsimha Rao (represented Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency), and has been one of the important citadels of the Indian Freedom Movement be it in Nagpur or Sewagram, but the region has been always been given a step-motherly treatment by political parties on the national scale. The issue came to light when Salve and Sathe resigned from Congress party upon receiving a negative response from Sonia Gandhi on the demand to bring up the statehood of Vidarbha, but even this move was no more than a ploy by the leaders to bring the spotlight upon their dwindling political career rather than the gross adversities and neglect being faced by the people of the region.

Separate Vidarbha – Viable and More

Vidarbha occupies 31.6% of total area and holds 21.3% (over 26 million) of total population of Maharashtra. Situated in central India Vidarbha has its own rich cultural and historical background distinct from rest of Maharashtra. A majority of Vidarbhites speak Varhadi a dialect of Marathi and Hindi. The region is famous for growing oranges and cotton. Vidarbha holds two-thirds of Maharashtra’s mineral resources, three quarters of its forest resources and is a net producer of power. Vidarbha generates around 3600 MW power through the thermal and hydro-power plants at several places, with Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station (CSTPS), being one of the biggest in Asia. Still, there are the daily power cuts in the region for 5-8 hrs in towns and 10-12 hrs in the rural areas of Vidarbha, while the people of Mumbai, Thane and Pune continue to enjoy 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply to cater to their extravagant lifestyle. Recently a study conducted by the Times Group pointed out the gross injustice and health risk being meted out to people of Vidarbha, in terms of air and water pollution through a deliberate and meticulous plan for power generation set-up. While the polluting and heat generating sources of electricity vis-a-vis the thermal power plants numbering more than 47 are being planned to be setup in Nagpur-Chandrapur-Yavatmal belt, which aleady has established and significant number of coal based thermal power setups, sufficient for the region. This the study pointed out will lead to large amount of particulate matter and other air pollutants being released in the atmosphere of the region, putting the health of people and animals at risk. The effluents released by these power plants will also cause huge amount of soil and water pollution thus indirectly affecting the agricultural produce of the nearby regions and also diverting a huge quantity of irrigation water to these gas guzzlers in an already draught prone region. This being done, when simultaneously much cleaner sources of power generation being planned in Konkan and Western Maharashtra region, like Nuclear and Hydroelectric based power plants. People of Vidarbha are at loss to decipher such step-motherly treatment being meted out to them regularly in the name of pseudo-development. The much vaunted Model Solar City project for Nagpur city is yet to see sunlight, for which 2012 has been marked as the deadline. In the end again citing lack of resource and funding in Nagpur, these corrupt power-mongers of Mumbai will shift the project to either Pune or Nasik or some remote ghetto of Konkan in the name of development.

Agriculturally too Vidarbha has been self sustaining, with cotton, oranges and soya beans being the main cash crops. The Orange city - Nagpur and Amravati are the largest Orange growing regions. Traditional crops as jowar, bajra and rice are grown and exported extensively from the region, with Gondia being the largest rice growing district. However, recently Vidarbha region has become infamous for a large number of farmer suicides occurring. The farmers in the region are living in the worst condition compared to the rest of India. There have been more than 32,000 farmer’s suicides in Maharashtra in a decade, of which 70% being in the 11 districts of Vidarbha region. The figure has been 892 in 2009, with approximately 95% of the cotton growers of Vidarbha under massive debt. This is mainly due lack of ample amount of water resources, lack of new technologies or proper financial aid or debt schemes by the ministry and due to the negligence of the state govt. towards the farmers needs. The main crop in Vidarbha being Cotton, but the farmers growing it don't get their share from the govt., which has lead to the high distress among them, leading to the massive suicides. Due to the absence of any responsible counseling either from the government or society there were many farmers who did not know how to survive in the changing economy. Such stresses pushed many into a corner where suicide became an option for them. This also led the farmers and others in this region to make a call for a separate Vidarbha state. The recent fiasco of Rahul Gandhi and his patronizing a widow Kalavati; whose husband committed suicide, brought the plight of farmers of Vidarbha in national picture, resulting in the PM announcing a grand relief package for the riots. But as with the earlier declared or promised measures this too remained either only on paper or money never reaching the sufferers.

The Chandrapur, Gondia, Gadchiroli, Bhandara and Nagpur Districts form the main mineral belt, with coal and manganese as the major minerals. Chandrapur district alone contributes 29% of all mineral output of Maharashtra. Iron ore and limestone are identified as potential mining resources. Though rich in minerals, coal, forests and mountains, this region is always underdeveloped because of the continuous dominance of the political leaderships form the other parts of the state, especially Western Maharashtra. Traditionally Vidarbha has lagged way behind Western Maharashtra in industrial growth. Various incentives were granted to attract industries but have failed mainly due to an indifferent attitude of the politicians. Butibori Industrial Area MIDC outside Nagpur is one of the largest industrial areas in country but few industries have actually opened there as there were no promotional schemes neither there have been any and tax incentives being granted to attract investments, unlike the Mumbai-Pune-Nasik belt where government has gone head-over-heels to help foreign industries to set up their establishments. Neither has there been encouragement for heavy industries to establish setup in the region apart from few Cement industries in Ballarshah and Chandrapur. The major textile mills in Nagpur and nearby areas have died a slow indifferent death, as they found no patronage from amongst the major industry brands nor the willingness of the political parties, in-spite of Vidarbha being a major cotton producing region.

MIHAN an international cargo hub project is currently underway at Nagpur. The project aims to exploit the central location of Nagpur and convert the present airport into a major freight hub with integrated road and rail connectivity along with a Special Economic Zone. However the project has been plagued by long delays and policies and is progressing at such laggardly pace that the people of Vidarbha and Nagpur in particular who are working in companies and industries in various parts of the country have lost hopes of ever returning to their homeland and settle there. Even the IT industries have shown a marked neglect towards investment in Nagpur as a potential amongst the Tier -2 segment for IT and ITES sector. Apart from the entrepreneurial ventures by Nagpurian’s in form of Lambent Technologies, Infospectrum, etc and few others as Persistent Tech and Premier Tech, there are hardly any names to boast of in terms of Software companies in Nagpur. Although there have been major investments by Satyam, IBM, HCL, TCS in terms of land acquisition in Nagpur, but the intentions and urgency to bring up a likely Developing Center anytime soon has been poor, compared to the cities of Jaipur, Indore, Chandigarh, Cochin, etc which too were marked at the same time as Tier-2 targets and are developing at a very fast pace.

Nagpur is an important city for the scientific community as it is headquarters of number of national level scientific and governmental establishments like the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), National Research Centre for Citrus, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Aluminium Research and Development Centre. Nagpur is also an important city for the Indian armed forces. The city is the headquarter of Maintenance command of Indian Air Force. The Indian Army's Ordinance factory and staff college are located on west side of city. Nagpur’s suburb Kamptee has cantonment of Regimental center of Indian Army’s Brigade made up of National Cadet Corps’ Officers’ Training School, Institute of Military Law and other establishments. Nagpur’s National Civil defense College provides civil defense and disaster management training to pupils from all over India and abroad. Indian Air Force’s giant IL-76 transport planes nicknamed “Gajraj” are based in Nagpur.

Tourism too has a major industry prospective in Vidarbha which has lush green deciduous forests, home to a variety of flora and fauna. These attract a large number of visitors each year. All of Maharashtra's tiger reserves are located in Vidarbha. They are Melghat Tiger Reserve, Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve and Pench Tiger Reserve. Nagzira wild life sanctuary and Navegoan Bandh National Park (bird sanctuary) are also very popular. The Tadoba is Maharashtra's oldest National Park created in 1955, spanning 575.78 sqkm, one of India's 25 Project Tiger Reserves. The Satpura mountain range in Amravati and its beautiful surroundings in Chikaldhara, the major spots of attraction as Ramtek and Khindsi, Pench Dam, Deeksha Bhumi, Tajbagh, Sitabuldi Fort in Nagpur, Kanhan and Waingangā rivers have seen people crowd these places during holidays and weekends. All in all Tourism can be a major economy in Vidarbha if properly addressed and developed.

The city of Nagpur the largest of Vidarbha has every potential of become a state capital having a special civic body, the Nagpur Improvement Trust, which along with Nagpur Municipal Corporation is responsible for overall development and planning activity. Other significant cities like Amravati and Akola too have their own municipal corporation. Urban areas are split in different wards and each ward elects a representative. Rural areas have a Panchayat raj system. Vidarbha is represented at national level by 10 Lok Sabha seats and 62 assembly seats at state level, which is significant when compared to some of the very small states of India hardly representing 3-4 Lok Sabha and are stretched to make up 40 minimal assembly seats to constitute a State Legislative Assembly. As part of the Nagpur pact the winter session of Maharashtra assembly is held as Nagpur Vidhan Bhavan (although it has become a farce and a mockery of exercise by the ministers and elected members, with the number of days of active session dwindling continuously and without any meaningful outcomes). The city of Nagpur has its own and unique Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court apart from the District Court to address the issues.

Vidarbha has seen enough of disregard for its right to a separate and respectful identity. It has always been sidelined economically compared to the rest of Maharashtra and has been plagued very much by poverty and malnutrition. People have waited patiently and have seen their trust betrayed by their so called elected leaders. As in case of Telangana, it is now up to the common man, the students and business class to unite and fight for a common cause to realize their dream of a separate state of Vidarbha. “Jai Hind. Jai Vidarbha.”