And the fight for gender equality rages on
Shemin Joy, New Delhi, Dec 28, 2016, DHNS:
Girls are still killed in wombs, dowry continues to claim lives and acid attacks disfigure many but the fight for gender equality is still being waged -- whether it is for entry into holy shrines or flying a fighter jet or opposing a discriminatory divorce law.
Same is the case for Dalits, who were brutally beaten up and in some cases, even killed for the job they do. The flogging actually flocked them together to fight for political space and bargain for their rights.
India is changing with the economically and socially underprivileged not shying away from a fight against the patriarchal colossus in 2016.
This is the year India could boast of crossing the one billion mark in mobile connections, signalling a new high with more people WhatsApping and Facebooking as well as using the Internet for venting their anger and anguish on issues of their concern.
One big take-away
One of the biggest take-aways was the fight for women’s entry into holy spaces. Whether it was Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar or Kerala’s Sabarimala or Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, women were in the forefront of a fight against a custom which was evidently biased.
They won in Shani temple and Haji Ali Dargah but the legal battle is still on in Sabarimala. Though religious orthodoxy helmed by men managed to keep the women away from holy spaces, the fairer sex have now managed to create fissures in it.
“What right does the temple have to forbid women from entering any part of the temple? Can you deny a woman her right to climb Mount Everest? The reasons for banning anything must be common for all,” Supreme Court Judge Justice Dipak Misra said during one of the hearings on Sabarimala.
Another issue that got prominence in the country’s discourse was the issue of triple talaq. The debate was not restricted to rights of women but got enlarged to whether personal laws can be violative of Constitutional provisions.
It has not reached a logical conclusion in courts but those who raised it have managed to strike a chord among several people.
But the question is how they could wade through the vested electoral interests of parties of all hues as well as Muslim orthodoxy and emerge victorious in their fight.Tempers also rose on the Uniform Civil Code with the ruling BJP pitching for the idea but it still needs to gain traction as a section of Muslims and other minorities are still wary of any such move.
Though several secular and Left academicians and intellectuals are supportive of the idea, they doubt the intentions of BJP, as they believe that the ruling party is pushing forward a divisive agenda.
Dalit atrocities, too, hogged the limelight with more and more underprivileged taking assertive political stands. Dalit rights became a talking point after some youths were beaten up for doing their job – skinning dead cows – in Gujarat.
Censorship
Shrillness in TV studios and social media, sometimes bordering on rational and informed debate taking a back seat, was another highlight of 2016.
Tamil author Perumal Murugan, who returned to writing this year after he faced trouble for his novel, summed up this August, “A censor is seated inside me now.
He is testing every word that is born within me. His constant caution that a word may be misunderstood so, or it may be interpreted this way, is a real bother. But I am unable to shake him off.”
Same is the case for Dalits, who were brutally beaten up and in some cases, even killed for the job they do. The flogging actually flocked them together to fight for political space and bargain for their rights.
India is changing with the economically and socially underprivileged not shying away from a fight against the patriarchal colossus in 2016.
This is the year India could boast of crossing the one billion mark in mobile connections, signalling a new high with more people WhatsApping and Facebooking as well as using the Internet for venting their anger and anguish on issues of their concern.
One big take-away
One of the biggest take-aways was the fight for women’s entry into holy spaces. Whether it was Shani Shingnapur temple in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar or Kerala’s Sabarimala or Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, women were in the forefront of a fight against a custom which was evidently biased.
They won in Shani temple and Haji Ali Dargah but the legal battle is still on in Sabarimala. Though religious orthodoxy helmed by men managed to keep the women away from holy spaces, the fairer sex have now managed to create fissures in it.
“What right does the temple have to forbid women from entering any part of the temple? Can you deny a woman her right to climb Mount Everest? The reasons for banning anything must be common for all,” Supreme Court Judge Justice Dipak Misra said during one of the hearings on Sabarimala.
Another issue that got prominence in the country’s discourse was the issue of triple talaq. The debate was not restricted to rights of women but got enlarged to whether personal laws can be violative of Constitutional provisions.
It has not reached a logical conclusion in courts but those who raised it have managed to strike a chord among several people.
But the question is how they could wade through the vested electoral interests of parties of all hues as well as Muslim orthodoxy and emerge victorious in their fight.Tempers also rose on the Uniform Civil Code with the ruling BJP pitching for the idea but it still needs to gain traction as a section of Muslims and other minorities are still wary of any such move.
Though several secular and Left academicians and intellectuals are supportive of the idea, they doubt the intentions of BJP, as they believe that the ruling party is pushing forward a divisive agenda.
Dalit atrocities, too, hogged the limelight with more and more underprivileged taking assertive political stands. Dalit rights became a talking point after some youths were beaten up for doing their job – skinning dead cows – in Gujarat.
Censorship
Shrillness in TV studios and social media, sometimes bordering on rational and informed debate taking a back seat, was another highlight of 2016.
Tamil author Perumal Murugan, who returned to writing this year after he faced trouble for his novel, summed up this August, “A censor is seated inside me now.
He is testing every word that is born within me. His constant caution that a word may be misunderstood so, or it may be interpreted this way, is a real bother. But I am unable to shake him off.”
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