'Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)' 57th session

After a string of disputes and negotiations, countries finally agreed on UN code to promote and safeguard women rights and fighting violence against women. At this point, let’s go through major points on draft conclusions by 'Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)' in its 57th session (4 – 15 March 2013).

1. Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. "Violence against women” means any act of gender based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering...threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty in public or in private life

2. Intimate partner and domestic violence remain the most prevalent forms.

3. Violence against women and girls occurs in all countries... is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations and systemic gender-based discrimination.

4. Condemn all forms of violence against women and girls and to refrain from invoking any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations. prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of violence and eliminate impunity.

5. Concerned about the gap between commitments and action; inadequate implementation of legal and policy frameworks; insufficient allocation of funding and resources. Existing efforts are not comprehensive, coordinated, consistent, sustained or adequately monitored and evaluated.

6. Strengthen cooperation mechanisms; information exchanges on best practices to address the transnational organised crime problem of trafficking.

7. Accelerate efforts to eliminate discrimination against women and girls; ensure women’s equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to education, health, social security, land, property, inheritance, employment, participation and decision-making in all spheres of life; address social and economic inequalities, poverty of women and girls and their lack of empowerment

8. Promote and protect their rights on matters related to their sexuality free of coercion, discrimination and violence, their right to the highest standard of health, including sexual and reproductive health, and their reproductive rights.

9. Prohibit early and forced marriage, sex selection, female genital mutilations and crimes committed in the name of honour.

10. Carry out awareness-raising campaigns; zero tolerance for violence and remove the stigma of being a victim of violence

11. Develop educational programmes (formal and non-formal) including comprehensive evidence-based sexuality education, that promote and build skills for respectful relationships based on gender equality and human rights, involving adolescents, youth, parents and communities.

12. Universal access to police and the justice sector, shelters, legal aid, health-care services, including services for sexual and reproductive health, psycho-social counselling and support, 24-hour hotlines, and services for accompanying children at shelters, as well as long-term assistance and support.

13. Address health consequences - physical, mental, sexual and reproductive health - of violence by providing first line support, treatment of injuries and psychosocial and mental health support, also emergency contraception, safe abortion where such services are permitted by the law, prophylaxis for sexually transmitted infections, as well as forensic examinations by appropriately trained professionals for those women who wish to pursue legal action.

14. Emphasizes that ending of violence against women and girls is not an option but must be a priority for the achievement of sustainable development, peace and security, human rights, economic growth and social cohesion. This should be reflected as a priority area in post-2015 development framework with clear targets and indicators for the realization of gender equality

Considering past history, there may not be any sudden major changes but hopeful that over a period of time countries will follow this agreement on letter and spirit.

References

1. The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls: Draft agreed conclusions - UN
2. Future organization and methods of work of the Commission on the Status of Women - UN
3. UN - Women Watch
4. UN women welcomes agreed conclusions at the commission on status of women- UN Women
5. Muslim states agree to 'historic' UN statement on women - Globalpost
6. Muslim and western nations have agreed on the UN wording of a code of conduct for fighting violence against women - AP

Simply incredible; what else can I say?

Uttar Pradesh Government spent over Rs 12.5 crore in organising functions for distributing unemployment cheques worth Rs 8.5 crore between March-November 2012.

- THe Hindu

Simply incredible; what else can I say?

Dakshinayana Part Ten: Nagpur – The Orange City

Nagpur Railway station

I reached Nagpur station at 7.20 in the morning. Railway station seemed to be engaged in a non-stop struggle to embrace the new world, but not yet ready to come out of the old fabric. Nagpur is famous for oranges, and that was the first thing I wanted to do in the city – buying one kilo Orange. Contrary to my expectation, orange was not cheap. Anyway, I bought around one and half kilo for breakfast.

After searching a lot, finally I found a bathroom in platform one. Already three to four people were in queue, soon another three joined behind me to increase its length. Unfortunately there was no option to lock the door; you have to take constant vigil on the door so that no one else would open it when you are in. Many in the queue were so impatient and behaved like their entire life depends on that single bath!!!

Clock room

Let me tell you something about Nagpur’s clock room. In order to keep belongings here, one has to get it sealed by RPF (Railway Protection Force) scanners. Procedure is simple; take the bag to front door, put it on a scanner’s conveyer belt and ask the police personal standing there to seal it. They would attach a paper seal in the main zip. What I didn’t understand was the effectiveness of this procedure.

First of all, people can come to the platform without scanning their bags. Secondly, first platform’s main gate is not the only entrance to the station. Thirdly, places close to the clock room are accessible to common public. Fourthly, they will seal only the main compartment of the bag. Even after sealing you can open other compartments and place anything there. Fifthly scanner is placed at the platform’s entry point, which means anyone can board the train from nearby stations and reach here without anybody checking their baggage.

After seeing these type of equipments – hand held scanners, metal detectors, vapour tracers - sitting idly on the gates of many private and public companies, railway stations, I can only say that don’t simply go and buy it because someone else use it, or someone else recommend it. If we are not using it in a proper way, it’s a pure wastage of resources.

Tekdi Ganpati Temple

Tekdi Ganpati Temple

Located close to railway station this Ganesh is on the sides of St. Tulsidas road. I don’t know whether it was because of Jan 1 or not, there was a huge crowd in front and inside the temple. I also went in and walked towards the big Ganesh idol in orange red colour. After praying there, I came back to Tulsidas road.

As the width of the road was not enough, riders were using the sidewalks as well for their two wheelers. In breaking these rules, girls were not far behind.

Zero Mile Pillar

Zero mile Pillar

Next on my list was zero mile pillar located on the sides of Surat - Hazira bypass road. Erected by British, this monument consists of four horses and a sand stone pillar. I don’t think this pillar is exactly at the geographic centre of India, but the distance through road from Delhi (1105km), Kolkata (1125km) and Chennai (1129km) are very close. I walked from Tekdi Ganpati temple towards Zero mile, it’s just 1.4 kilometres.

Shaheed Gowree Smarak is located close to it.

History of Nagpur

Looking to this old sandstone pillar, I stood there for some time. Don’t know why, but had a feeling that this pillar doesn’t belongs to that small corner of road.

Nagpur - also called 'Orange city' - is the political centre of Vidarbha region and winter capital of Maharashtra. The word Nagpur - was originated from a river called 'Nag' flowing through the city (Nag means 'Snake' in Sanskrit). This region was earlier ruled by Rashtrakutas, Vakatakas, Badami Chalukyas and Yadavas. Allauddin Khilji invaded the region in 1296 AD; then came Tughlaqs. Later Mughals conquered this region; however, regional administration remained with Gonds.

Like many other kingdoms during the rise of Marathas, Nagpur came under their rule (Bhonsle dynasty). However, third Anglo-Maratha war (1817 AD) altered the equations and Nagpur fell in to the hands of British. Following the death of Raghoji III in 1853 AD, British annexed the kingdom under 'Doctrine of Lapse'.  From here, till the formation of 'Central Provinces' in 1861 Nagpur was ruled by commissioner appointed by Governor General of India.

Some important incidents associated with Nagpur

A Busy Road in Nagpur

1. Tata group started country's first textile mill 'Central India Spinning and Weaving Company Ltd'.
2. Congress launched Non-Cooperation movement in its Nagpur session (1920).
3. RSS was founded by K. B. Hedgewar in this city (1925). Organization's current head quarter is located in this city.
4. It was in the Deekshabhoomi of Nagpur, Ambedkar and his 3,80,000 followers accepted Buddhism after taking the oath of Three Jewels, five precepts, and 22 Vows.

Sitabuldi Fort

Founded in early 19th century, this fort lies between the twin hills of Sitabuldi. Currently housing the 118th Infantry Battalion of Indian Army, this old fort witnessed Anglo-Maratha wars and uprising of 1857 as well. During freedom struggle, M.K Gandhi spent some of his prison days here. Unfortunately fort is not open to public except twice in a year - August 15 and January 26.

Deekshabhoomi

Deekshabhoomi

I resumed my journey on foot through the city. From another junction got a shared auto to Deekshabhoomi. It was here in the grounds of Deekshabhoomi, B.R Ambedkar along with his 3, 80,000 followers accepted Buddhism on Oct 14, 1956. In Buddhism deeksha indicates accepting the religion, like baptism in Christianity.

At present there is a large stupa (designed by Sheo Dan Mal) in the ground, which probably based on the designs of Sanchi Stupa. Unlike numerous other Buddhist stupas this one is hollow. Significant numbers of photographs displaying various events in Ambedker’s life were displayed inside the calm and quiet atmosphere of stupa.

22 Pledges

Outside, there was a big tablet engraved with 22 pledges took by people on the eventful day of Oct 14, 1956. Buddha Vihara is located close to the tablet. On the other side another tablet displays the front cover of ‘Indian Constitution’ both in English and Hindi. After spending some more time, left Deekshabhoomi and headed towards Nagpur Railway station.

Nagpur Railway station

I covered almost half the way on foot. Roads are straight, wide and clean. In between somewhere one person offered me a lift in his bike and dropped me in front of railway station.

After having lunch from railway station, I bought a general ticket (29 INR) to Sevagram. Time was around 1.30 in the afternoon, waiting for the train to depart...

Sajeev.

Front page of Indian Constitution

Netaji's statue

For reading rest of the articles please visit,

Dakshinayana Part One – An Introduction
Dakshinayana Part Two – Bangalore to Bhopal
Dakshinayana Part Three – Sanchi
Dakshinayana Part Four – Bhopal: The city of lakes
Dakshinayana Part Five: Ujjain – The Holy City, hearing the sounds of forefathers
Dakshinayana Part Six: Indore – Trade hub of Central India
Dakshinayana Part Seven – Jabalpur: Kalchuris, Gonds and Narmada
Dakshinayana Part Eight – Kanha National Park and Mandla
Dakshinayana Part Nine – Chhattisgarh and Raipur
Dakshinayana Part Ten: Nagpur – The Orange City
Dakshinayana Part Eleven – Sevagram: Walking with Gandhi
Dakshinayana Part Twelve – Aurangabad: The City of Gates
Dakshinayana Part Thirteen – Ellora Memories
Dakshinayana Part Fourteen – U shaped Ajanta
Dakshinayana Part Fifteen – Pune: The Maratha heartland

Pipelines returns, only to fade away

Kazahk-India Five nation pipeline

Shymkent is the third most populous city in Kazakhstan. Travellers once used to take rest here, to recover from tiredness caused by long journeys through ancient Silk Route. On the other hand, Atari (India) is located close to Wagah international border between India and Pakistan.

Recently, I just checked the distance between these two cities using Google maps - Its 2025 km. In the era of bullet trains and High Speed Rail, this is not a big deal. But the problem here is, this route also passes through one of the most unstable (politically) and difficult terrains (geographically). Apart from a number of CIS states, this route goes through Afghanistan and Pakistan as well. In total five states.

You may be wondering, why I am talking about the route between Shymkent and Punjab. Well, let me take you to a recent report on ‘The Hindu’,

"...proposed pipeline would cover about 1,500 kms...making it longer than the planned Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline... It will head from... Shymkent..."

I don’t understand; why we keep on proposing so many unviable hydrocarbon pipeline projects. First one was, Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, which sunk to the annals of history following West’s fear over nuclear Iran. Then came, ‘Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)’ pipeline; considering the route (both politically and economically) it’s difficult to tell, whether it will ever come out of drawing paper. This newly proposed one creates one more entry in this list.

Before proposing another more pipeline projects, authorities should go through a simple checklist.

1. Are we going to delink gas prices from oil prices?
2. Will international Oil & Gas price come down once US and Canada start exporting shale gas?
3. Will a big success in Arctic drilling be able to reduce the oil & gas prices further?
4. Is there enough oil/gas in Central Asia’s fields to sustain and justify the huge cost of expenditure involved in the creation of pipe line?
5. Considering the cost of construction, will the Kazakh gas be cheap in India?
6. Who will ensure the security of pipeline in Af-Pak region? 
7. Is this pipeline route better than bringing the Central Asian gas to the Iranian port of Chabahar and then through Sea?

There are more, but let’s start with these ones.

Sajeev.

References

1. India proposes hydrocarbon pipeline from Kazakhstan - The Hindu

Two year old flyover's collapse in Kolkata and India's infrastructure dream

Recently a flyover crashed down in Kolkata (Ultadanga area - connecting ‘Eastern Metropolitan bypass’ and ‘VIP Road’) taking down a truck carrying marbles along with it. Fortunately, accident occurred at 4.30 in the morning, when traffic was low.

Are you about to blame the old infrastructure? Wait a minute; this structure was just around 2 year old – sprang up under the recent spells of investments in infrastructure.

Crumpled flyover raises many questions. Currently, we are investing billions of rupees of tax payers and private money in creating new infrastructure - new roads, flyovers, railway tracks etc. In this rush are we properly ensuring whether proper procedures, quality assurance tests etc are followed in letter and spirit?

Hope that, the sound of a crashing down flyover will wake up people and force authorities to undertake strict quality tests. Otherwise India's trillion dollar infrastructure build up will end up as trillion dollar nightmare.

Sajeev.

References

1. Truck falls into canal as portion of Kolkata flyover crashes - The Hindu