Deepalaya
The Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lectures Volume One: 2004 - 2009 Ms. Mrinal Pande Shri Ved Vyas 2004 2004
Ms. Aruna Roy Dr. C.S. Lakshmi 2005 2005 - 1 - Deepalaya
The Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lectures Volume One: 2004 - 2009
The lamps are different, But the Light is the same. - Rumi
- 2 - - 3 - AN INTRODUCTION TO DR. DEEPA MARTINS AND THE MEMORIAL LECTURES
It is not easy to give a glimpse of the life and work of Dr. Deepa Martins in a few words, yet there are five words that are metaphoric to her multi-dimensional and complete personality, and these five words were also very close to her heart and the work she did – dedication harmony, integration, compassion, communication. bUgha ik¡p “kCnksa esa ls ,d “kCn dks mUgksaus vius fuokl ds uke ds fy, pqukA os ik¡p “kCn gSa & leiZ.k] leUo;] lef"V] laosnuk vkSj laoknA leiZ.k dk Hkko muds laiw.kZ thou esa mtkxj jgk gSA 5 vizSy 1951 dks] vtesj esa ,d dqekÅ¡uh czkg~e.k ifjokj esa MkW- nhik ekfVZUl dk tUe gqvkA lkr Hkkb;ksa vkSj rhu cguksa esa lcls NksVh MkW- nhik ds vk/;kfRed rFkk pkfjf=d fodkl esa muds v/;kid firk Jh Hkxoku oYyHk iar dk laiw.kZ ;ksxnku jgkA muds ckÅth dh mnkjrk rFkk mudh Ãtk dh lknxh o dRrZO;c)rk ls gh muds O;fDrRo dh uhao dh jpuk gqbZA f”k{kk o fodkl dks lefiZr MkW- nhik izkjaHk ls gh izfrHkk”kkyh jghaA os u flQZ i<+kbZ oju~ vU; “kSf{kd o lg&”kSf{kd xfrfof/k;ksa tSls fd okn&fookn] ys[ku] vfHku; vkfn esa viuh izfrHkk fu[kkjrh jghaA flQZ vius gh ugha oju~ lcds laiw.kZ fodkl dh vksj lefiZr MkW- nhik vius ifjokj rFkk fe=ksa dks Hkh ges”kk izsj.kk nsrh jghaA lkfo=h Ldwy ls mUgksaus lSd.Mjh o baVjehfM;sV dj lkfo=h dkWyst ls ch-,- fd;kA viuh usr`Ro {kerk dk izn”kZu djrs gq,] os vius dkWyst dh Copyright: St. Stephen's School Society, Ajmer, 2010 izslhMsaV Hkh jghaA Not for sale. For private circulation only. 1972 esa mUgksaus jktdh; egkfo|ky;] vtesj ls vaxzsth esa ,e-,- fd;k www.ststephensajmer.com rFkk Jethoh dkWyst esa vaxzsth dh izoDrk ds :i esa v/;kiu izkjaHk fd;kA O;kid lksp vkSj n`<+ fu”p; ds lkFk 23 twu 1973 dks mUgksaus vius ewY;ksa rFkk Hkkoukvksa ds lkFkh] rFkk ,e-,- ds lgikBh Jh fxyjkW; ekfVZUl ds lkFk fookg fd;kA Strong-willed that she was, the idea of marriage with a Roman Catholic thirty-seven years ago in a small town like Ajmer did not deter her and this gave highlight to another inherent dimension of her Printed at: life that of harmonious coexistence. Vikas Printing Press leUo; muds gj :i esa izfrfcafcr gSSA tgk¡ vius vk/;kfRed thou esa Ajmer • M. 9829261177 mUgksaus vaxzsth o fganh Hkk"kk vkSj lkfgR; dh vksj viuh #fp dks leku
- 4 - - 5 - :i ls fodflr fd;k] ogha vius O;fDrxr thou esa gj rjQ dh vPNh mudk ekuuk Fkk fd erHksn fdrus gh gksa] laokn ugha NwVuk pkfg, vkSj ijaijkvksa dk uohu :i ls leUo; fd;kA vkt Hkh muds /kj esa eafnj dk blh /kkj.kk ds lkFk os vius deZ{ks= esa tqVh jghaA efgyk mRFkku esa Hkh nhid rFkk vkWYVj dh eksecfRr;k¡ ,d lkFk izTTofyr gks leUo; dh mUgksaus ges”kk gd ds lkFk ?kj tksM+us dk iz;kl fd;k vkSj vk”kkokfnrk o vkLFkk dks iwfjr djrh gSaA laiw.kZ laosnuk ds lkFk ekuokf/kdkjksa dh lqj{kk ds iz;Ru fd,A muds lkfFk;ksa ds “kCnksa esa] ^^cgqr lkjs yksx ,sls Fks] tks ekurs Fks fd vkSj dksbZ gks But this value too, like her life, was not confined to only one family. uk gks] nhik gSA*^ viuh laosnu”khyrk ds cy ij yksxksa ds ,glklksa dks She ensured that through her work as a genuine, grassroots-level social worker that harmonious co-existence enlightens her entire society. Nwdj os muds fnyksa rd vklkuh ls igq¡p cuk ysrh FkhaA Her work in organizations like Mahila Samooh, that she co-founded, Her social commitments gave many more dimensions to her family to and Inter-Faith Fraternal Association, with which she was closely grow on. Her personality was such that while being a committed associated since its inception, are testimonies to this. teacher and totally involved social worker, she was also completely Her life itself, in its social, professional and personal dimensions was a sensitive to her family needs and was the best wife, sister, mother and celebration of harmony, and despite her commitments, she was very friend at the same time. She would ensure that she is there for her particular about each and every loved one and reached out to them family while being there for her larger family and society all the same. with her values and love. She would be the first one to wish her dear Her sensitivity and commitment to education also came up in the fact ones on their special days and would bake them cakes of good wishes that she was instrumental in shaping the lives and careers of many of and blessings. her students, and often, when they couldn't get time and space at their Her role as a lecturer in Hindi, 1975 onwards, after doing her MA in homes to study, Dr. Deepa would bring them home and heartily gave the subject ensured that she gives meaning, direction and inspiration them her time. to her students, not just in class, but far beyond the confines of muds O;fDrRo dk gj vk;ke bruk laiw.kZ Fkk fd ;fn fdlh dk muds classroom teaching. No wonder she is the role model for so many of ,d vk;ke ls ifjp; gksrk rks oks mUgsa bruk iw.kZ yxrk fd os ;s ugha her students. le> ikrs fd muds vU; vk;ke Hkh mrus gh izcy rFkk laiw.kZ gSaA While maintaining her commitment with Savitri College, where she viuh ckr j[kus vkSj euokus dk mudk vankt+ vius vki esa vuwBk FkkA worked from 1976, she alongwith her husband Mr. Gilroy Martins os iw.kZ euks;ksx ls ckr djrh ftldk iw.kZ izHkko gksrk Fkk & ,slk fd decided to nurture the very young with the establishment of St. fl)kar&Hksn j[kus okys O;fDr Hkh muls lgt izHkkfor gks mBrsA Stephen's Ajmer in 1985. While Mr Martins fathered the school, Dr. ftthfo"kk v©j vikj ÅtkZ d¢ lkFk mUg¨aus vfLrRo&c¨èk d¨ viuk ewy Deepa was, is and will be its guardian angel. She would keenly monitor and be involved in every activity, every aspect of the school. ea= cuk;kA MkW- nhik ekfVZUl dh iafDr;ksa esa & ij mudk nk;jk ?kj] Ldwy vkSj dkWyst ls Hkh cM+k Fkk vkSj mudh lksp esa dÒh jke dÒh “;ke us fd;k Fkk esjk m)kj vikj foLrkj FkkA blfy, uk flQZ muds ys[ku cfYd muds lkekftd ij vc eSa Lo;a gh cuwaxh viuh uS;k dh [ksougkj dk;ksZa esa Hkh lef"V fparu dk Hkko mtkxj gksrk gSA efgyk&lewg] “kfDr d¨ viuh lafpr dj tkÅ¡xh f{kfrt d¢ ikj loZ&/keZ eS=h la?k] ihiqYl ;wfu;u Qksj flfoy fycVhZt] izkS<+ f”k{k.k uà lgL=kCnh dh ÅtZfLork eSa] vc ugÈ ekuw¡xh gkjAA laLFkk] flfVt+Ul d‚ÅfUly rFkk vtes: i=dkj la?k tSlh vusd The Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lecture Series was initiated in April lkekftd] dykRed] lkfgfR;d o lkaLd`frd laLFkkvksa esa mUgksaus viuk 2004 to mark her 53rd birth anniversary. Each year a social activist of laiw.kZ ;ksxnku fn;kA national repute is invited to share her views and work with the efgyk lewg dks rks os vius vfLrRo dk i;kZ;okph ekurh Fkha vkSj loZ/keZ students of St. Stephen's and the people of Ajmer. This Lecture series eS=h muds thou dk izfrfcac FkhA mUgksaus gj eqn~ns dks nks :iksa esa le>us links the academic aspect of Dr. Deepa Martins with her passion for o le>kus dk iz;kl fd;k & igyk laosnuk ds lkFk fQj laokn }kjkA grassroots-level social work, and hence celebrates her multi-
- 6 - - 7 - dimensional contribution to the city. Over the past six years, eminent speakers have shared their experiences in various fields, which are linked to current issues and especially to causes close to Dr. Deepa's heart – inter-faith harmony and women empowerment. The students, through these lectures, not only get first-hand information about the current situation of various aspects of our society – women's health, the secular fabric of the country, children's education, the Constitutional entitlements of women and the like – but also get ideas and ways to choose and apply their own contribution to their society, which indeed is a fitting tribute to Dr. Deepa Martins. Dr. Deepa Martins The Lecture series is successful through the efforts of the people associated with Dr. Deepa, especially her friend and co-worker Ms Aruna Roy, who takes personal interest in inviting a suitable speaker each year. Her family, with particular help from her brother Dr. Col. C.S. Pant, who also helped invite some of the speakers, is instrumental in and committed to making these lectures successful each year. I invite you on behalf of all those who have been associated with these Lectures over the years to imbibe and cherish in the light that With Mr. Gilroy Martins The joy of motherhood — “Deepalaya” brings. We look forward to bringing these out at regular on their wedding day with Shefali and Anupam intervals, and may this be the first of many.
Shefali Martins April , 2010
Gifting a poem to Mr. Gilroy Martins on his 50th birthday
- 8 - - 8(i) - Katha Pathak Club Rajasthan Lekhika Samelan Founder Member, Mahila Samooh, Ajmer
At Savitri College: teacher, mentor and friend
Kavya Ghoshthi Campus Diversity Initiative Celebrating International Women's Day
- 8 (ii) - - 8 (iii) - CONTENTS The First Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lecture, 2004 1. Òkjr dh fó;k¡ v©j mudk LokLF; Ms. Mrinal Pande, Keynote Speaker
2. orZeku ifjos“k esa Òkjr dh fL=;¨a dh n“kk ,oa mudk lkEçnkf;d ln~Òko esa ;¨xnku Shri Ved Vyas, Guest of Honour
The Second Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lecture, 2005 3. èkeZfujis{k lekt d¢ mRFkku esa efgykv¨a dh Òwfedk Ms. Aruna Roy, Keynote Speaker Secretary, Governing Body, St. Stephen's School Society, Ajmer 4. Being a Woman, Being a Human Dr. C.S. Lakshmi, Guest of Honour
The Third Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lecture, 2006 5. Constitutional Entitlements of Women Ms. Indira Jaising, Keynote Speaker
The Fourth Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lecture, 2007 6. The Avatar of Manushi Swachh Narayani: The Goddess of Good Governance & Economic Freedom Ms. Madhu Kishwar, Keynote Speaker Vice President, PUCL, Ajmer President, SID, Ajmer Chapter The Fifth Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lecture, 2008 7. Battle for Schools: Struggle of the First Generation Learners Dr. Shantha Sinha, Keynote Speaker
The Sixth Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lecture, 2009 8. Faith & Tolerance Dr. Syeda Hameed, Keynote Speaker
President, Inter-Faith Fraternal Association, Ajmer
- 8 (iv) - - 9 - Ms. Mrinal Pande, daughter of the Hindi novelist Shivani, is a renowned television personality, journalist and author. Ms. Mrinal Pande has worked with The Times of India and she was Editor at Saptahik Hindustan, and till recently, chief-editor of the Hindi daily, Hindustan. She was the first woman editor of a multi-edition Hindi daily and was also the Group Editor for the Hindi publications of The Hindustan Times. Ms. Pande is appointed chairperson of Prasar Bharati, India's largest public broadcaster and an autonomous corporation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. eSa “kfDr] eSa ÅtkZ] eSa rstfLouh Having studied initially at Nainital, Ms. Pande completed her Master's esjs gh xÒZ ls tUers gSa rqe le ç[kj rst&iqat degree from Allahabad University. She further studied English and Sanskrit vius O;fDrRo d¢ egdrs fofoèk vk;ke literature, Ancient Indian History, Archeology, Classical Music and the ugÈ yxrs eq>s èkM+foghu] vçklafxd] yqatiqat Visual Arts at the Corcoran in Washington DC. She has been on the faculty of lgpjh cu uo&vfLrRo c¨èk d¨ vius Allahabad University, Delhi's Jesus and Mary College and has also taught at ij[kuk] igpkuuk] lgstuk eSaus lh[k fy;k gS the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal. Subsequently, dkyiq#’k] ;qxiq#’k] v¨ bfrgkl iq#’k! she joined the news agency, Samachar Bharati. rqEgkjh psjh cuuk eSaus vc N¨M+ fn;k gS Ms. Mrinal Pande hosts a weekly interview show, Baaton Baaton Mein, on eSaus vc N¨M+ fn;k gSA Lok Sabha TV Channel, having earlier worked with Doordarshan, STAR News and NDTV. From 1984-87 she was also the editor of the popular magazine Vama, a women's monthly brought out by the Bennett and v¨ dkyiq#’k&;qxiq#’k&bfrgkl iq#’k Coleman Group. &M‚- nhik ekfVZUl Ms. Pande's work includes serials like Adhikar, Drishtikon and Shakti, all of which sensitize people to women related issues. Apart from her work in media, both television and press, Ms. Pande has published a number of books. Her first story was published in the Hindi weekly Dharmyug, at the age of twenty-one. She has continued to write since then, covering a wide range styles from short stories to novels and drama. Her books include Devi, Tales of the Goddess in Our Time, Viking/Penguin; Daughter's Daughter, Penguin Books; That Which Ram Hath Ordained, Seagull Books; The Subject is Woman, Sanchar Publishing House, New Delhi; and My Own Witness, Penguin. Ms. Mrinal Pande has dedicated several years to the National Commission for Self-Employed Women, inquiring into the conditions of rag-pickers, vendors and domestic help.
- 10 - - 10 (i) - Hkkjr dh fL=;k¡ vkSj mudk LokLF;
nhik th dh gh rjg] eSa Hkh mRrjkapy ls laca/k j[krh gw¡A ge yksxksa ds ;gk¡ tc fdlh Hkh fiz;tu dks vkSipkfjd fpV~Bh fy[kh tkrh gS] rks mlesa lnk ,d okD; gksrk gS & ^izFke xkr dks tru dfj;yks] rcS vkiq.kh iky;uk gksyh ------A* bldk eryc gS & lcls igys vki vius 'kjhj dk ;Ru vkSj lkj lEHkky dhft,xk] rHkh gekjs tSls yksxksa dk ykyu&ikyu Bhd rjg ls gksxkA ;s ckr fL=;ksa ij c[kwch ykxw gksrh gS fd vxj fL=;k¡ Ms. Mrinal Pande Ms. Aruna Roy vius xkr dk tru djrh gSa] rks dqVqEc dk ykyu&ikyu gksrk gS ysfdu delivering the keynote address & Ms. Mrinal Pande vxj fdlh dkj.ko”k fL=;ksa ds LokLF; dh mis{kk gksrh gS] rks u flQZ fL=;k¡ cfYd iwjk ifjokj ,d izdkj ls chekjh >syrk gS D;ksafd ifjokj dk ykyu&ikyu] cPPkksa ds O;fDrRo ds fuekZ.k dk dke] mudh f”k{kk&nh{kk vkSj dqVqEc esa lHkh yksxksa ds LokLF; lqfo/kkvksa dk [;ky j[kuk ;s gekjs Ms. Mrinal Pande ;gk¡ ikjEifjd :i ls efgyk,¡ gh vf/kd djrh gSaA & Ms. Aruna Roy lighting the lamp before dqN o"kZ iwoZ tc eq>s ,d iqLrd fy[kus dk dke lkSaik x;k] iqLrd dk the portrait of fo"k; Fkk ^Hkkjrh; efgyk,¡ vkSj mudk iztuu LokLF;* vkSj bl flyflys Dr. Deepa Martins esa eSaus vusd izkarksa dh ;k=k dh] djhc Ms<+ o"kZ rd mlds fy, lkexzh ,df=r dh rks eq>s ;g ns[kdj cgqr vpEHkk gqvk fd lÒh y¨x LokLF; ds fo"k; esa fdrus vutku gS] ftlesa eSa Lo;a dks Hkh fxurh gw¡A ge i<+s&fy[ks f”kf{kr yksx vkSj Lo;a efgyk,¡ Hkh LokLF; ds fo"k; esa vutku gSa] HksnHkko dh f”kdkj gSa vkSj cgqr lkjs va/kfo”oklksa vkSj iwokZxzgksa ls xzLr gSaA blfy, vkt gekjs lekt esa LokLF; leL;k,¡ ,d Hkh"k.k :i /kkj.k djrh tk jgh gSaA tks lcds LokLF; dk [;ky j[krh gks] ;fn os Lo;a LokLF; lqfo/kkvksa ls oafpr gks rks vki lgt gh vuqeku yxk ldrs gSa fd lekt esa LokLF; dh D;k n”kk gksxh\ eSa fdlh Hkh “kgj esa tkrh gw¡ & vki cM+s “kgj rks NksM+ nhft,] eSa vtesj dks Hkh cM+k “kgj ekurh gw¡ tc NksVs ls NksVs dLcs esa eSa tkrh gw¡] ogk¡ ij tks pkj&ik¡p nqdkusa gksrh gSa] fuf”pr :i ls mlesa ,d izkbZosV Dyhfud gksrk gS vkSj ,d dsfeLV dh nqdku gksrh gS] vkSj ml “kgj dh lcls vf/kd dekbZ djus okyh nks nqdkusa ;s gh gksrh gSaA ijpwuh ;k fdjkus dh nqdku ls dgha vf/kd dekbZ dsfeLV dh vkSj ml MkWDVj dh gksrh gS tks Dyhfud pyk jgk gS vkSj vkdyuksa ds vuqlkj vc rd tks losZ{k.k gq, gSa] buesa ls rsgRrj Qhlnh Dyhfud ,sls yksxksa }kjk pyk, tk jgs gSa] ftuds ikl MkWDVjh dh O;ofLFkr i<+kbZ dh dksbZ Hkjkslsean fMxzh ugha gSA ;s >ksykNki MkWDVj gSa] ftUgksaus dHkh dEikmUMjh Ms. Mrinal Pande with Ms. Shefali Martins, Ms. Anjali Martins, dh gS] ;k dsfeLV dh nqdku ij dke fd;k gSA eSa dqN iz”u iwNuk pkgrh Mr.Gilroy Martins & Mr. Anupam Martins
- 10 (ii) - - 11 - gw¡A blesa nhik th dh dfork dh iafDr;k¡ vkids lkeus eSa nksgjkrh gw¡ & lcls vf/kd rknkn~ /kVh gS tUe ls ysdj N% o"kZ rd dh vk;q dh yM+fd;ksa dh vkSj blds ckjs esa fo”ks"kKksa dh jk; gS fd cgqr cM+s iSekus ij ^tc dHkh thou dh yach Mxj esa f”kfFkyrk gkoh gksus yxs vYVªkok;ysV lkm.M }kjk vtUes f”k”kq dk fyax tk¡p dj dU;k Hkzw.k gR;k lkjs ekxZ & lc fn”kk,¡ va/ksjh lh fn[kus yxsA dh tks ?kVuk,¡ c<+ jgh gSa] ;s blds fy, dqN gn rd ftEesnkj gSaA vkSj iz”ufpg~u gj /kqekonkj ixMaMh ij vM+dj dqnjrh rkSj ls ;g lEHko gh ugha gS fd ,d xk¡o esa yM+fd;k¡ iSnk gksuk gh f{kfrt dks /kwfey djus dh dqea=.kk djus yxs can gks tk, ;k fdlh izkar fo”ks"k esa yM+fd;ksa dk tUe gh de gks tk, ] rc gk¡ rc vius gh Hkhrj [kkstuk gj iz”u dk mRrj yM+dksa dh rknkn~ c<+ tk,] dqnjr dk U;k; bl i{k esa ugha gSA dqnjr iz”uksa dh m/ksM+cqu ls gh vadqfjr gksrs gSa thou lR;A* Lo;a larqyu dk;e j[krh gS] ysfdu tc ml larqyu ls NsM+NkM+ gksrh gS ;g iqLrd tc eSaus fy[kuh “kq: dh] rks igys ,d iz”uksa dh yEch J`a[kyk vkSj uotkr yM+fd;ksa dh mis{kk gksrh gS ;k mudks dqiksf"kr j[kk tkrk gS] lkeus vk;hA gekjs ;gk¡ veweu iz”u iwNuk vPNk ugha le>k tkrkA ge rks ;k rks mudh e`R;q gks tkrh gS ;k os tc cM+h gksrh gaS rks mudk “kjhj Lo;a dks cgqr gh vuq”kkflr o nCcw lekt cukus dh izfØ;k esa Hkkxhnkj bruk det+ksj gksrk gS fd muds xHkZ ls tUe ysus okyh gj larku det+ksj gSaA blfy, ifjokj esa cPps }kjk ;k L=h }kjk iz”u iwNuk vDlj cgqr cM+h vkSj de vk;q nj okyh gksrh gSA bl fLFkfr dks lq/kkjus dh tc Hkh ckr vHknzrk ekuh tkrh gSA pkgs iz”u fdruk gh O;ofLFkr D;ksa u gksA ysfdu mBrh gS rks ,d rdZ fn;k tkrk gS fd ;fn ifjokj dh fL=;k¡ [kqn gh vki fdlh Hkh thoUr lekt dks ns[k yhft,] tks ubZ jkg cuk jgk gS] iq:"k larku dks tUe nsuk pkgrh gSa] yM+dh gksus ij nq%[k eukrh gS rks mldh ubZ jkgsa gh iz”uksa ls QwVrh gSaA LokLF; ds ckjs esa Hkh gekjs ;gk¡ bldk eryc ;g gS fd fL=;ksa dks gh fL=;ksa ls cSj gS] fL=;k¡ gh yM+fd;ksa ;gh ckr gksrh gS fd vkf[kj D;k otg gS fd tc Hkh ge tuLokLF; ;k dks tUe ugha nsuk pkgrhA MkWDVjh is”ks ;k vLirky okys ejht ;k LokLF; chek dk pSd dkVus okyksa ;gk¡ ls gV dj ;fn vki fL=;ksa dh n`f"V ls iwjh fLFkfr dks ns[ksa rks vkids ds ckjs esa lksprs gSa] rks gekjs eu esa iq:"kksa dh gh Nfo vkrh gSA vkSjrsa jktLFkku esa gh ftu yksxksa ds ikl /ku&lEifRr ;k [ksr gSa] mu yksxksa ds iq:"kksa dh rqyuk esa vf/kd yacs le; rd chekj jgrh gSa] ;s ckr vki vkSj vxj yM+ds ugha gksrs gSa] rks ikfjokfjd lEifRr esa mudks fgLlk ugha fn;k ge gj ?kj esa ns[krs gSa] ysfdu fQj Hkh tu&LokLF; ds nk;js esa vkSjrksa dh tkrk gSA fdrus ,sls okfd;s izdk”k esa vk;s gSa tc ukrs izFkk ds varxZr n”kk] mudh “kkjhfjd gkyr vkSj ?kj ds lalk/kuksa esa muds fgLls dh ckr fcuk csVs okyh L=h dks ifr dh e`R;q ds ckn nwljs ifjokj esa csp fn;k x;k ge vyx ls djuk t:jh ugha le>rs gSaA gSA eSa cspuk gh dgw¡xh D;ksafd blls mlds ihgj okys rFkk llqjky okys lu~ 2001 dh tux.kuk ds vkadMs gekjs lkeus gSa vkSj ;g lkQ fn[kkbZ ns nksuksa dks gh /ku dh izkfIr gksrh gSA blh izdkj ls mRrj izns”k esa] fcgkj esa] jgk gS fd gj izkar esa iq:"kksa dh rqyuk esa vkSjrksa dh rknkn~ ?kV jgh gS vkSj ftu fL=;ksa ds yM+ds ugha gksrs gSa] mudh lEifRr dks [kqnZcqnZ djus ds fy, bldk dkj.k xjhch ugha gS] D;ksafd ftu izkarksa esa lcls vf/kd rknkn~ ?kVh vDlj mUgsa Mk;u crk dj mUgsa iRFkjksa ls ekjk tkrk gSA >kj[k.M esa dbZ gS] os lcls vehj izkar gSaA iatkc] gfj;k.kk] fnYyh] rfeyukMw] eqacbZ vkSj ,sls izdj.k gq, gSaA vxj fL=;ksa dh n`f"V ls ns[ksa rks yM+ds dh mudh gol vgenkckn tSls le`) /ku&dqcsjksa dh uxjh esa vkSjrksa dh rknkn~ iq:"kksa ls blfy, ugha gksrh gS fd os mUgsa Js"Bdj ekurh gaS] oju~ blfy, gksrh gS bruh de gS fd dgha&dgha rks gtkj iq:"kksa ds ihNs vkB lkS ls dqN gh D;ksafd ;g muds thus&ejus dk loky gSA vxj mudk csVk gS rc mudks vf/kd efgyk,¡ cph gSa vkSj bldk lh/kk vlj gfj;k.kk] iatkc esa ns[kus lEifr feysxh] rHkh mudks ml ?kj dh vf/kdkj&lEiUu cgw dk ntkZ dks feyus yxk gSA ogk¡ xk¡o ds xk¡o ,sls gSa tgk¡ uojk=ksa esa dU;k iwtu ds feysxk] vU;Fkk mudk Hkfo"; vU/kdkje; gSA eku yhft,] de mez esa fy, yM+fd;k¡ gh ugha feyrh gSaA ogk¡ ij yM+dksa dh “kknh ds fy, cgq,¡ muds ifr dh e`R;q gks x;h] mudk dksbZ j[kokyk ugha gksxkA rks ;s ugha feyrh gaS blfy, muds ifjokj mM+hlk ls ;k cqansy[k.M ls muds lkekftd fo"kerk gS vkSj ;g euq"; fufeZr gSA blds fy, fL=;ksa dks nks"k fy, ifRu;k¡ [kjhn dj yk jgs gSaA ;g ,d Hk;kog fLFkfr gS vkSj ;g nsuk eSa mfpr ugha le>rh gw¡ D;ksafd os vius thou ds fy, yM+ jgh gSaA eSa fn[kkrh gS fd ge dqnjr dk cuk;k gqvk rkyesy vkSj lUrqyu fcxkM+dj bruh efgykvksa ls feyh gw¡] fdUrq vkt rd eq>s dksbZ ,slh L=h ugha feyh vius fy, gh cgqr cM+k ljnnZ iSnk dj jgs gSaA ftlus dgk gks fd oks viuh yM+dh dks i<+kuk ugha pkgrh ;k mldh “kknh ugha djuk pkgrh gSA ewy pht+ xSj ugha gSA ewy pht+ ;g gS fd L=h gksus
- 12 - - 13 - ds dkj.k mlds vf/kdkjksa esa cgqr vf/kd dVkSrh lekt esa “kq: dj nh vkSj rkdroj {ks= gSA lHkh cM+s “kgjksa esa vc cM+s vLirkyksa dh psu [kqy tkrh gS] ftlesa mlds lEifr ds vf/kdkj gSa] ftlesa ekuokf/kdkj gSa] x;h gSA fnYyh esa Hkh cM+s&cM+s vLirky [kqyrs tk jgs gSaA vkidks yxsxk jkstxkj djus ds vf/kdkj gSa rFkk f”k{kk ds vf/kdkj gSaA bu vf/kdkjksa ls fd ;gk¡ brus vLirky gSa] ;gk¡ chekjh dh dksbZ leL;k ugha gksxhA ysfdu oafpr vxj mls j[kk tkrk gS rks og u flQZ Lo;a ls ?k`.kk djus yxrh gS ,slk ugha gSA loZizFke ;gk¡ ftrus cM+s futh vLirky gSa] os egaxs gSaA ;gk¡ vfirq mldh dks[k ls tUeh yM+dh ds fy, Hkh mldks Hkfo"; va/kdkj esa ij Hkjrh gksuk dherh gS] dejs esa jguk vkSj T;knk egaxk gSA nokb;k¡ yxrk gSA vDlj bUgha vLirkyksa ds vUnj ls [kjhnuh iM+rh gSaA fQj tk¡psa gksrh gSaA vxj vkids uk[kwu esa Hkh buQSD”ku gS] rks vkids flj dk flVhLdSu fy[k ;g dg dj fd ^vkSjrsa gh rks vkSjrksa dks ekj jgh gSa] ge D;k dj ldrs gSa\* fn;k tk,xkA dbZ ,sls Hkh elys izdk”k esa vk, gSa fd dksbZ Mhi&dksek esa gSa viuk iYyk >kM+ ysuk Bhd ugha gSA eSa lksprh gw¡ fd ;g cgqr gh LokFkZ vkSj MkWDVj us dg fn;k fd mlds efLr"d dh e`R;q gks pqdh gSA tcju vkSj va/ksiu dk ifjpk;d gS] D;ksafd vkt ls 100&150+ lkS lky ckn] tc mldks lalk/kuksa ls ftUnk j[kk tkrk gS rkfd fcy eksVk cu ldsA ;gk¡ fL=;k¡ gh ugha cpsaxh] rks lekt dh D;k n”kk gksxhA ;gh lkspdj eu esa MkWDVj lsok ds fy, ugha equkQk dekus ds fy, vkrs gSaA vkt ljdkjh flgju gksrh gSA vius ;gk¡ L=h&LokLF; ds ckjs esa dksbZ [kkl lksp ;k vLirkyksa dh gkyr bruh [kjkc gks x;h gS fd oh-vkbZ-ih- yksx ljdkjh ljksdkj fodflr ugha gks ik;k gSA ;gk¡ rd fd mldh e`R;q vkSj xSj vLirkyksa esa ugha tkrsA ljdkj us mudh lqfo/kk ds fy, ,d fu;e cuk ekStwnxh ds ckjs esa Hkh loky ugha iwNs tkrs gSaA mn;iqj ds ikl ,d xk¡o esa fn;k gS fd tks cM+s vf/kdkjh vQlj gSa] ;fn os chekj iM+rs gSa vkSj mUgsa eSa x;h Fkh] ogk¡ ij tks efgyk ckyokM+h dh ifjpkfjdk Fkh] eSaus mlls iwNk ;g yxrk gS fd mudh chekjh dk bykt ljdkjh vLirky esa ugha gks fd bl xk¡o esa izlwr esa fdruh efgykvksa dh ,d lky esa e`R;q gksrh gS] rks ldrk] rks os jsQj dj fn, tk,axs vkSj os ljdkjh vLirky ls futh mlus dgk lky esa ;gk¡ rks gj eghus nks&rhu toku efgyk,¡ izlwr vLirky esa tk ldrs gSaA blfy, ges”kk ,slk gh gksrk gS fd vxj fdlh fcxM+us ls ejrh gSa rks eSaus dgk fd blds fy, rqe yksx ;k xzke iapk;r Hkh {ks= esa cM+s yksx f”kjdr ugha djrs gSa] rks og misf{kr gks tkrk gS] vkSj D;k dksbZ fjiksVZ rS;kj djrs gks\ jftLVj esa mldks ntZ djus ds ckn tks {ks= mUgsa lalk/ku miyC/k djkrk gS] oks {ks= g`"V&iq"V gksrk gSA eku ysa vf/kdkfj;ksa dk /;ku [khaprs gks\ mUgksaus dgk fd nsf[k, tc dksbZ toku ,d cM+k g`n;&jksx dk vLirky gSA gekjs ns”k esa cM+s yksxksa dks vDlj vkSjr ejrh gS rks dksbZ eD[kh Hkh ij ugha QM+QM+krh gS] ysfdu vxj dksbZ g`n;&jksx gksrk gS rks ftrus Hkh cM+s&cM+s ,e-ih- ;k fefuLVj gSa] ftuds cw<+k vdky ls Hkh ejrk gS] rks iwjk ljdkjh veyk thi esa Hkjdj vkrk gS g`n; dh /kefu;ksa dh lQkbZ tks MkWDVj dj pqdk gS] ml MkWDVj dh vki ;g ns[kus ds fy, dSls bldks vUu esa fgLlk ugha feyk vkSj fQj ;g igq¡p dk vanktk yxkb,A ;fn oks ,d Qksu djsxk rks mlds fy, lc lkfcr djrs gSa fd vdky ls mldh e`R;q ugha gqbZ] oks rks igys ls gh njokts fle&fle dh rjg [kqy tkrs gSaA dksbZ muds vLirky esa dsl chekj FkkA mUgksaus ;g Hkh dgk fd vdky pwafd ,d jktuSfrd elyk gksxk rks os [kqn Hkh ckr ugha djsaxsA muds ;gk¡ ,d NksVk MkWDVj Qksu cu x;k gS blfy, vdky ls gksus okyh ekSr rks ntZ gksrh gS] ysfdu izlo djsxk rks [kqn vkbZ-th- Lrj ls mudk dsl jQk&nQk gks tk,xkA ;g tSlh dqnjrh vkSj furkar ;qok fL=;ksa ds thou esa ?kVus okyh fLFkfr esa ,d futh laxfBr {ks= cgqr gh cf<+;k {ks= cu ldrs gSa D;ksafd gekjh bruh toku yM+dh ej jgh gS vkSj ,d txg ugha vfirq xk¡o&xk¡o esa ej jgh gS] cM+h vkcknh gS fd tc rd futh {ks= dh Hkkxhnkjh fpfdRlk {ks= esa ugha bldks ysdj dksbZ loky ugha iwNsxkA bu lokyksa dk u iwNk tkuk ,d gksxh rc rd yksxksa dks vkjke ugha feysxkA ysfdu t:jr gS fd bl {ks= e`r ;k laKkghu lekt dk y{k.k gS] tks vius vki esa cgqr fparktud gSA dh ekWfuVfjax dh tk,A lektlsoh laLFkkvksa dks futh laxfBr LokLF; vc vkrs gSa LokLF;&{ks= ijA gekjs ;gk¡ rhu rjg dh LokLF; laLFkk,¡ gSaA {ks= ds ckjs esa Hkh loky iwNus ds vf/kdkj ds ckjs esa lkspuk pkfg,] D;ksafd igyk gS xSj&equkQk {ks= ftls Lo;alsoh laxBu] fe”ku ;k nkrO; laLFkku ;s {ks= cgqr cM+h lsok dk L=ksr cu ldrk gS] ysfdu bldh pkSdlh dh] pykrs gSaA buesa ls vf/kdrj vPNk dke dj jgs gSa] ysfdu mudh {kerk bldh fuxjkuh dh] rFkk blls loky iwNs tkus dh cgqr cM+h vko”;drk vkSj {ks= lhfer gSaA ftu bykdksa esa ;s gSa ogk¡ ij vPNk dk;Z gks jgk gSA gSA ysfdu vki vkSj ge lc tkurs gSa fd bl rjg ds laxBu de gSaA rhljk] tks cgqr cM+k {ks= gS] oks gS vlaxfBr futh {ks=] ftldk dksbZ nwljk gS] laxfBr futh {ks=A ;g vkt ns”k dk lcls cM+k mHkjrk gqvk iathdj.k ugha gS] ftldk dksbZ C;kSjk miyC/k ugha gS vkSj blesa cgqr cM+h
- 14 - - 15 - rknkn~ esa ,yksisfFkd ls brj fdLe dh fpfdRlk lqfo/kk miyC/k djkus gksuk iM+rk gS] ysfdu [kq”k gksus ls igys ;g Hkh tku ysa fd vLlh Qhlnh okys yksx gSaA ;wukuh nokbZ[kkus Hkh gSa] gksE;ksiSfFkd ds Dyhfud Hkh gSa rFkk VsªUM MkWDVj futh rcds d¢ izkbosV lSDVj esa gSA ljdkjh {ks= esa tgk¡ >kM+&Qw¡d o tknw&Vksuk djus okys yksx Hkh gSaA vkidks ;kn gksxk] dqN vf/kd fcNkSus gSa] ogk¡ chl Qhlnh izf”kf{kr MkWDVj gSaA futh {ks= esa tgk¡ eghus igys dsUnz ljdkj ds ,d jkT;ea=h vius flj ij lk¡Ik ysdj ukps flQZ chl Qhlnh fcNkSus gSa] ogk¡ vLlh Qhlnh izf”kf{kr MkWDVj gSaA Fks vkSj dgus yxs Fks fd os tknw&Vksus ls mipkj dj ldrs gSaA ftl ns”k bldk eryc MkWDVlZ flQZ vks-ih-Mh- Lrj ij mipkj dj ikrs gSa vkSj esa xjhch] vf”k{kk vkSj cngkyh ds pyrs bl izdkj dh ekufldrk ljdkj fQj T;knkrj yksxksa dks jsQj dj nsrs gSaA blds ckn ftlds ikl iSlk gS ds loksZPp inksa ij cSBs yksxksa esa gks rks vlaxfBr futh {ks= dh D;k fLFkfr oks izkbosV Dyhfud tkrk gS vkSj ftlds ikl iSlk ugha gS oks ljdkjh gksxh\ ;g le>uk dfBu ugha gSA blesa vf”kf{kr nkb;k¡ Hkh gSa] blesa voS/k vLirky esa HkrhZ gksrk gSA ljdkjh vLirkyksa esa Hkh HksnHkko [kwc pyrk gS xHkZikr djkus okys yksx Hkh gSa] blesa ukbZ Hkh gSa tks fd xUns jstj ls QksM+ksa vkSj ge lc ;g tkurs gSa fd bu ljdkjh vLirkyksa ds vf/kdka”k MkWDVjksa esa phjk yxkdj mlesa eyge yxkrs gSa] blesa os gyokbZ Hkh “kkfey gSa] us vius Dyhfud [kksy j[ks gSa tks ogk¡ ij ejhtksa dks jsQj dj nsrs gSaA ;s ftuds ikl tys gq, dk dqN jkeck.k bykt Hkh ik;k tkrk gSA ljdkjh ywV&[klksV dk tks Hkkjh /ka/kk gS] bldh cgqr cM+h dher ge pqdkus tk vLirky esa tkuk] iphZ dVokuk] ogk¡ MkWDVjksa dh roTtks ikuk bruk jgs gSa tc rd fd ge bl ij fopkj u djsaA nq"dj gks x;k gS fd >d ekjdj yksx futh {ks= esa tkrs gSaA futh {ks= esa ,M~l ds jksx ds ckjs esa ge lc us lquk gSA la;qDr jk"Vª laxBu ds vuqlkj ftuds ikl iSlk gksrk gS mudh rks iqNok;h gS] ftuds ikl iSlk ugha gS vHkh Hkh Hkkjr esa vKku vkSj Hk; cgqr vf/kd gSA yksx blds ckjs esa cksyuk fQj os vlaxfBr futh {ks= esa >ksykNki MkWDVjksa ds ikl tkrs gSa tks ;k rks ugha pkgrs] [kkldj fL=;k¡ bl ij fdlh Hkh izdkj dh ppkZ djus ls ikuh dh lqbZ yxk nsrs gSa ;k fQj vuki&”kuki nokb;ksa ls mudk bykt cprh gSaaA dqN Lo;alsoh laxBuksa] ftUgksaus bl ij ppkZ djus dh dksf”k”k dj nsrs gSaa dqy feykdj tc ge LokLF;&{ks= dks ns[krs gSa rks gesa yxrk dh] mUgsa ekjihV dj Hkxk fn;k x;k] ysfdu ftl ns”k dks nqfu;k esa lcls gS fd LokLF;&{ks= ;gk¡ dk lcls chekj {ks= gS vkSj ljdkj blesa cgqr vf/kd laHkkfor ,M~l&laØfer yksxksa dk ns”k ik;k x;k gS] ml ns”k esa de iSlk [kpZ dj jgh gS] tcfd ;g lpeqp thou&ej.k dk loky gSA vius LokLF; dks ysdj bl izdkj dh Hkzakfr ikyuk vkSj mldks ysdj bl vFkZ”kkL=h MkW- veR;Z lsu us nks {ks= crk;s Fks] tks gekjs tSls fodkl”khy rjg dh ft+n ikyuk fd gekjs ;gk¡ bl izdkj ds ;kSutfur jksx ugha gks yksdra= dks lcls vf/kd ÅtkZ o cy nsrs gSa] ,d f”k{kk vkSj nwljk ldrs gSa D;ksafd ge yksx cgqr iwtkikB djrs gSa] eq>s yxrk gS fd ;g tu&LokLF;A f”k{kk ds {ks= esa rks vPNk dke gks jgk gS] tSlk fd ;g ijys fljs dh csodwQh gS vkSj gedks blls NqVdkjk ikuk pkfg,A fo|ky; dj jgk gS] ysfdu tu&LokLF; ds {ks= esa D;k gks jgk gS] gedks vfu;ksftr {ks= esa gekjh uCcs Qhlnh efgyk,¡ [ksrh] i”kqikyu] lM+d & vkidks dqN irk ughaA ,slk yxrk gS fd dksbZ lksprk gh ughaA ge fuekZ.k tSls dke dj jgh gaSaA ,d rks ;s cpiu ls dqiks"k.k dh f”kdkj gksrh yksxksa dh fMfxz;ksa dh fpark dj jgs gSa] dkWy lsaVjksa dh fpark dj jgs gSa] yksx gSa] mlds ckn fQj tYnh fookg o ,d ds ckn ,d lUrku mRiUu gksrh ftUnk gaS fd ej jgs gSa] bldh dksbZ cqfu;knh fpark gh ugha gks jgh gSA gSA blfy, uCcs Qhlnh efgykvksa esa ,fufe;k ik;k tkrk gSA budh ljdkj dg jgh gS fd gekjs ikl blds fy, iSlk ugha gS vkSj ge blls gfM~M;k¡ Hkh det+ksj gksrh gSaA dke djus ls vkSj vf/kd det+ksj gks tkrh gkFk [khaprs tk jgs gSaA futhdj.k dks ge c<+kok nsaxsA ;g ,d cgqr gh gSaA dSfY”k;e dh deh ls rks pkyhl dh mez esa buds QzSDpj gks tkrs gSa] [krjukd pht+ gSA blfy, reke tu&laLFkkvksa rFkk turk ls tqM+s yksxksa dej >qd tkrh gS] vkSj ml mez esa os dekbZ nsus esa vleFkZ gksrh gSaA vr% dks bl ckjs esa ljdkj ij ncko Mkyuk pkfg, fd f”k{kk vkSj tu&LokLF; mudh Hk;kog mis{kk gksrh gSA bu nks {ks=¨a ls ljdkj drbZ gkFk ugha [khap ldrhA viuh cqfu;knh ftEesnkjh ls eq¡g ugha eksM+ ldrh gSA ge dgrs gSa fd gekjs ;gk¡ cw<+ksa dk vknj gksrk gSA ge muds ik¡o Nwrs gSaA ijarq oLrq&fLFkfr ;g gS fd xk¡oksa esa tgk¡ xjhch cgqr mRdV gS] ogk¡ Òh gekjs ;gk¡ tks ljdkjh vLirky gSa] mudh D;k n”kk gS\ orZeku esa gekjs v©j “kgjh {ks=ksa esa Hkh cw<+s yksx nwljksa ds fy, ,d cks> gaSA tc rd O;fDr ;gk¡ tks gkWfLiVy cSM~l gSa muesa ls ;g tkudj [kq”kh gksrh gS fd vLlh nks gkFk dh dekbZ djds ugha yk jgk gS mldh ?kj esa dksbZ iwN ugha gSA Qhlnh cSM~l ljdkjh vLirkyksa esa gSA dHkh u dHkh gesa vLirky esa HkrhZ vr% vki xk¡o&xk¡o pys tkb;s] >qdh gqbZ deku tSlh ihB okyh cqf<+;k
- 16 - - 17 - vkSj vk¡[k ls va/ks cw<+s vkidks ?kj&?kj esa fey tk,axs ftuds fy, flQZ lk/kuksa dk vHkko gSA mnkgj.k ds fy, ;fn fdlh efgyk dh izlwfr ds euhvkWMZj Hkstdj muds cPps viuh bfrJh eku ysrs gSaA muds fy, le; mls “kgjh vLirky ys tkuk gks vkSj dksbZ lk/ku u gks rks ,sls le; iapk;rksa ds ikl dksbZ LokLF;&dk;ZØe ugha gS] vkSj muds fy, ih-,p-lh- esa igys mlds ihgj lwfpr fd;k tkrk gS] fQj tc os :i;ksa dk cUnkscLr esa dksbZ dk;ZØe ugha gSA ljdkj us cw<+ksa ds fy, nknk&nknh okUV~l Ldhe djrs gSa rks xk¡o ds O;fDr ls mldk VsªDVj m/kkj fy;k tkrk gSA ,sls djrs rks pyk nh ijarq nknk&nknh cuus rd os ftank rks jgsaA cw<+ksa ds fy, Hkh gesa ik¡p&N% ?kaVs chr tkrs gSaa] fQj ;k rks og efgyk Hkxoku dks I;kjh gks dqN lkspuk gSA bruh cM+h gekjh vkcknh gS] ftruh rsth ls gekjh vkcknh tkrh gS ;k fQj ek¡ ;k cPps nksuksa esa ls dksbZ ,d gh cp ikrk gSA ;s tehuh toku gks jgh gS mruh gh rsth ls gekjh igyh ih<+h cw<+h Hkh gks jgh gSA lPpkbZ gSA ge ;g dgrs gSa fd geus lkjh lqfo/kkvksa ls ySl ,d vLirky cw<+ksa dh LokLF;&lqfo/kk ds fy, gekjs ikl dksbZ lksp ugha gSA t;iqj ;k mn;iqj esa cuk;k gS] ysfdu xk¡o& - 18 - - 19 - o “kkSp dh O;oLFkk ugha gksrh gS] bu bykdksa esa ekufld jksxksa ls xzLr ,dkdkj dj nks uwru] iqjkru dks fL=;ksa o iq:"kksa dh vf/kd rknkn~ gSA vf/kd u lgh rks FkksM+k gh foxfyr dj nkss vius vge~ dks ------fQj tks dqN rqe dgksxs og {kf.kd u gksxk vc loky gS Hkk"kk dkA gekjs ;gk¡ ftrus Hkh “kks/k dk;Z gks jgs gSa] buesa ls gksxk lR;] “kk”or~ fpjaru ------fuU;kuos izfr”kr vaxzsth Hkk"kk esa gks jgs gSa] tcfd ns”k ds lkr izfr”kr ls vf/kd yksx vaxzsth ugha le>rsA [kkldj tks yksx tehuh {ks= esa dk;Z flQZ dksjh yEch&pkSM+h ckrsa ;k gokbZ ckrksa ls ughaa] oju~ ijaijk o uohurk dj jgs gSa] muds fy, bl Hkk"kk dks le>uk vR;f/kd dfBu gSA ftl ds esy ls gh bl {ks= esa ,d u;k jkLrk fudy ldrk gSA FkksM+h esgur ls bykds dk MkVk gS] og ml bykds dh Hkk"kk esa D;ksa u miyC/k djk;k tk, gh gekjh jkg cusxh] ysfdu mldks cuk, fcuk gekjh dksbZ xfr ugha gSA ftlls yksxksa dh tkudkjh c<+sA vaxzsth Hkk"kk esa miyC/k MkVk ls ljdkj ij ncko ugha curk gS vkSj u gh yksxksa dh tkudkjh c<+rh gSA e`.kky ik.Ms 6 vizSy] 2004 igyh pht ;g gS fd gesa gj L=h ds ekuokf/kdkj dh ckr djuh pkfg, D;ksafd blh ls mldk fodkl tqM+k gSA lcls igyk gS mlds thus dk vf/kdkjA gesa bu vf/kdkjksa ds guu~ dks jksdus dk iz;kl djuk pkfg,A lekt esa fgalk c<+ jgh gS] ftlds QyLo:i fL=;ksa ds thus dk vf/kdkj Nhuk tk jgk gSA blls budh “kkjhfjd o ekufld {kerk,¡ de gqbZ gSaA vkfFkZd mnkjokn rHkh Qy&Qwy ldrk gS tc og ,d dY;k.kdkjh jkT; ls tqM+k gksA vxj ljdkj tudY;k.k ds LokLF;&f”k{kk tSls O;kid {ks=ksa ls gkFk [khaprh gS rks tks “kwU; mRiUu gksxk mls equkQs dh bPNk ls lapkfyr gksus okyk futh {ks= ugha Hkj ldrk gS] rc vehj yksx gh f”k{kk vkSj LokLF; ik ldsaxs] xjhc ugha vkSj blds nh/kZdkfyd vlj iwjs ns”k ds fy, ?kkrd gksaxsA vDlj ;g dgk tkrk gS fd LokLF; chek gksuk pkfg, vkSj eSaus ik;k fd gekjs ns”k dk flQZ ,d n“keyo ik¡p izfr”kr Hkkx gh chekk/kkjh gSA blesa Hkh vusd futh daifu;ksa us vius gkFk [khap fy, gSa D;ksafd mudk dguk gS fd Hkkjr esa bruh T;knk ckcw”kkgh gS fd izhfe;e nsus vkSj Hkqxrku djus ds brus isphnk rjhds cuk fn, x, gSa fd os Òqxrku ugÈ dj ldrsA chek lqfo/kk,¡ ,slh cukbZ tkuh pkfg, fd chek/kkfj;ksa dks ,d dop izkIr gks ldsA vafre eqn~nk gS ijaijkvksa dkA blesa “kd ugha fd ,d vjc dh vkcknh okys ns”k esa tgk¡ vKku] vf”k{kk tSlh lkekftd dqjhfr;k¡ o va/kfo”okl vkt Hkh dk;e gS ogk¡ ,slh lqfo/kk iznku djuk eqf”dy gSA eSa nhik th dh iafDr;ksa }kjk viuh ok.kh dks fojke nsuk pkgw¡xh & FkksM+h lh ijaijk] FkksM+h lh vkLFkk tks lgsth gS rqEgkjs iwoZtksa us vc rd mls nk; le>dj gh Lohdkj yks] Lohdkj yks - 20 - - 21 - Born on 1 July 1942, Shri Ved Vyas is a poet, acclaimed litterateur, an eminent journalist – all rolled into one. He was associated with Akashwani, Jaipur, from 1962 to 2002 and was Founder President of Akashwani Kalakar Sangh. Shri Ved Vyas is an active social worker dedicated to the cause of amelioration of hardships to the deprived section of society. He is the founder General Secretary of the Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh, an association of Progressive writers of Rajasthan. He is a prolific writer and has written 18 books on various topics of common interest. Some of his famous and prominent literary works are Paramveer Gatha, Parikarma, Halfnama, Jagte ko kaun jagay and Samay- Samay Per. He has written some popular books for children also viz. Ek Banege Nek Banege, Hanste Gate Bade Chalo and Ek Desh Mere Sapno Ka. lqxerk ls ft;k t¨ thou gh D;k\ fcu tw>s ik;h r¨ eaft+y gh D;k\ In the field of Rajasthani Literature, he has written books like Barah-khari, Dharti Helo Mare, Gandhi Prakash and Nimjhar. Some of the books and gesa r¨ laÄ’k¨Za us fn;k gS cy] poems composed by him are prescribed in the syllabus of the Board of rwQku¨a us fn;k lgkjk gSA Secondary Education Rajasthan. He has been the Coordinator of the Review ;kruk us ged¨ fu[kkjk gSAA Committee to review the syllabuses of National Council of Education for Research and Training. ;kruk us ged¨ fu[kkjk gS He has also been a Member of the Kendriya Sahityic Academy and Rajasthan M‚- nhik ekfVZUl Pustak Vikas Parishad. Shri Vyas is also active in the field of journalism. He has been writing a weekly permanent column named Dhyanakarshan for the last 40 years in the Hindi newspaper, Danik Navajyoti. Shri Vyas has been the Chairman of Rajasthan Sahitya Academy and Rajasthani Bhasha Sahitya and Sanskriti Academy. He is a recipient of Bihari Puruskar in 2000 and Vishishit Sahityakar Sammaan in 2002. He represented the Government of Rajasthan at the Sixth & Seventh World Hindi Conferences at London and Surinam respectively. Currently Shri Vyas is the Chairman of Bhaichara Foundation, Rajasthan and Rajasthan Pragatisheel Lekhak Sangh. - 22 - - 22 (i) - orZeku ifjos“k esa Òkjr dh fL=;¨a dh n“kk ,oa mudk lkEçnkf;d ln~Òko esa ;¨xnku esjs fy, ;g le;] ;g fnu] ;g LFkku ,d HkkoukRed ;k=k dk volj gS D;ksafd eSaus Hkh nhik ekfVZUl dks ns[kk gS] mudks lquk gS vkSj muds lkFk dk;Z fd;k gS] vkSj muds O;kid lkekftd ljksdkjksa vkSj ewY;ksa ds izfr izfrc)rk dks ysdj esjs eu esa cgqr vknj gSA ftl rjg os dkxt ij viuh dfork,¡ fy[krh Fkha] mlh rjg thou esa u,&u, la?k"kksZa dh ljapuk Hkh djrh FkhaA muds lkFk dke djrs gq, rFkk mlds igys Hkh esjs thou esa ,sls dqN loky Fks] ftuds mRrj eSa vkt rd ryk”k dj jgk gw¡A ;fn vki Shri Ved Vyas addresses the gathering ns[ksa rks ik,¡xs fd ge ftrus Hkh yksx lkekftd ljksdkjksa ls tqM+s gq, gSa] os ,d cspSu vkRek dh rjg iz”uksa ds mRrj ryk”krs gq, turk ds chp esa dke djrs jgrs gSaA esjs eu esa vkt Hkh ;g loky vkrk gS fd esjh ek¡ D;ksa lcls ckn esa [kkuk [kkrh Fkha vkSj D;ksa lcls ckn esa lksrh Fkha\ esjs eu esa ;g loky vkrk gS fd D;ksa Äj esa tc fdlh dk nsgkUr gksrk gS rks efgyk,a gh foyki D;¨a djrh gSa\ esjs eu esa vkt Hkh ;g loky gS fd tc vdky iM+rk gS rks /kwi esa] lM+d ij] jsr ds Vhcksa esa ,d vkSjr gh D;ksa etnwjh djrh gS\ esjs eu esa vkt Hkh ;g loky vkrk gS fd D;ksa vkSjr dks gh lrh cuk;k tkrk gS rFkk ngst&mRihM+u ds fy, mls gh ekSr ds ?kkV D;ksa lqyk;k tkrk gS\ esjs eu esa vkt Hkh ;g loky vkrk gS fd L=h dks gh >wBk D;ksa le>k tkrk gS\esjs eu esa vkt Hkh ;g loky vkrk gS fd Hk¡ojh nsoh ls cykRdkj djus okys lkjs vijk/kh vnkyr ls fujUrj cjh D;ksa gks tkrs gSa\ D;ksa :idaoj dks ftank tykus okys vnkyrksa ls cjh gks tkrs gSa Releasing Dr. Deepa Martins’ anthology, vkSj D;ksa ,d L=h dk geus gekjs ?kj esa gh nks;e vkSj rhljs ntsZ dk LFkku 'Jeene Do Mansi Hokar Mujhko' rhu gtkj o"kksZa ls cuk j[kk gS\ vusd loky gSa esjs eu esaA eSa vius laf{kIr fuosnu esa ;gh dguk pkgw¡xk fd d`i;k bu lokyksa ls dHkh :c: gksus dh dksf”k”k djsaA jktLFkku ds ofj"B izxfr”khy dfo x.ks”kyky O;kl mLrkn us viuh ,d dfork esa fy[kk gS] ^^vk/kk vax vpsru gksxk] vk/kk vax yM+sxk dSls\----A^^ lkS djksM+ dh vkcknh ls cM+k ns”k gS vkSj eSa L=h dh fpark dks ysdj ns”k rd gh lhfer ugha jguk pkgrkA iwjh nqfu;k dh vk/kh vkcknh va/ksjs esa jgrh gSA vk/kh vkcknh mis{kk esa jgrh gS] vk/kh vkcknh mRihM+u esa jgrh gS] vk/kh vkcknh fu.kZ; djus dk vf/kdkj ugha j[krhA bu ccZj ifjfLFkfr;ksa esa fe=ksa! nhik ekfVZUl xk¡o esa] dLcksa esa] lkfo=h egkfo|ky; Dr. U.V. Pant felicitating Shri Ved Vyas - 22 (ii) - - 23 - esa] ;k tgk¡ Hkh volj feyrk] os ;g loky mBkrh Fkha fd L=h us D;k pykus okyh efgyk dh gksxhA eSa esjs ?kj esa o iM+kSl esa ns[krk gw¡ fd ge vijk/k fd;k gS fd mls lc dqN lgus dh ltk nh tkrh gS dgus dks ge yM+ds o yM+fd;ksa esa varj djrs gSaA yM+ds ij U;kSNkoj gksrs gSa] mlds Hkys gh dgsa ^^;= uk;ZLrq iwT;Urs jeUrs r= nsorkA*^ blls cM+k tUe ij <+ksy ctokrs gSa] feBkb;k¡ c¡Vokrs gSa] vk;kstu&iz;kstu djrs gSa] ik[k.Mokn bl lekt esa dqN ugha gSA osn] iqjk.k] mifu"kn fy[kus okyk ijarq csVh ds tUe ij vk¡lw cgkrs gSaA vkt vko”;drk bl ckr dh gS fd ;g Hkkjrh; lekt ftldh nqqanqHkh lRrk/kh”k jktusrk ctk jgs gSa ge muls vkidh laosnuk yM+dh dks ysdj fdruh tkx:d gSA vki ns[k jgs gSa fd ;g iwNuk pkgrs gSa fd fL=;ksa ds izfr mudk D;k n`f"Vdks.k gS\ oks fL=;ksa ehfM;k efgykvksa dks miHkksDrk&lkexzh ds :i esa bLrseky dj jgk gSA dks lekurk dk vf/kdkj D;ksa ugha nsuk pkgrs\ os fL=;ksa dks U;k; D;ksa vkt fuU;kUos izfr”kr tuizfrfuf/k efgyk,¡ dHkh efgykvksa ds fo"k; esa ugha nsuk pkgrs rFkk os fL=;ksa dks leku fodkl ds volj D;ksa ugha nsuk laln esa iz”u ugha mBkrh gSaaA gesa bl [kq”kQgeh esa ugha jguk pkfg, fd pkgrs\ ;s loky dy Hkh gekjs eu esa Fks] vkt Hkh gSa vkSj rc rd jgsaxs tc fdlh jkT; dh igyh efgyk eq[;ea=h cu xbZa rks efgykvksa ds ikS&ckjg rd L=h va/ksjs esa jgsxhA fnDdr ;g gS fd ge tkurs rks gSa fdarq geus gks tk,axsA ,slk dqN ugha gSA tc rd lekt dh lksp o ekufldrk ugha vkt rd ;g ugha lkspk fd] nhid rys va/ksjk D;ksa gS\ geus vkt rd cnysxh rc rd tehu dh gdhdr ugha cnysxhA tc rd ge efgyk dks ugha lkspk fd] ^^?kj dk tksxh tksxuk vku xk¡o dk fl)*^ D;ksa gS\geus lekurk dk ntkZ ugha nsaxs rc rd mldh fLFkfr esa varj ugha vk,xkA vkt rd ;g ugha iwNk fd ;s esjh ek¡] esjh cgu] esjh csVh] ;s Hkh fL=;k¡ gSaA dgus dks rks lafo/kku esa efgyk dks lekurk dk ntkZ izkIr gS] fdarq D;k tks D;k eSa buds lkFk U;k; dj jgk gw¡\ lkS esa ls fuU;kuos yksx gksaxs tks U;k; lafo/kku esa fy[kk gS] og vkt gdhdr esa lekt esa gS\ v:.kkth Bhd dg ugha dj jgs gksaxsA geus L=h dks nsoh cuk fn;kA leL;k ls futkr ikus dk jgh gSa] lafo/kku dks yksxksa us i<+k gh ugha gSA lafo/kku dh izLrkouk esa lcls lgh rjhdk gS fd bUgsa nsoh cuk nks vkSj vki cjh gks tkvksA ysfdu fy[kk gS] ^^ge Hkkjr ds yksx*^] Hkkjr ds ukxfjd “kiFk rks ysrs gSa ysfdu lkekU; thou esa efgyk dks ysdj tks gekjh ekufldrk gS] mls cnyuk ;g ugha tkurs fd muds liuksa dk fu.kkZ;d dkSu gSA vkt jktLFkku esa gksxkA ge e/;eoxhZ; yksx gSaA ge viuh gh leL;kvksa ds ?ksjs esa jgrs gSaA uCcs gtkj ls T;knk tuizfrfuf/k gSa ftudk p;u vkj{k.k ds ek/;e ls vki ,d L=h ls iwfN, fd tc dHkh lkEiznkf;d naxk gksrk gS rks lcls xzke iapk;rksa ;k Lok;Rr”kklh laLFkkuksa esa gqvk gSA os Hkh tkx:d gks tk,¡ vf/kd vk¡lw L=h gh cgkrh gSA tc Hkh dHkh vdky iM+rk gS rks fu"dze.k vkSj xk¡o&xk¡o esa vy[k txk,¡A ukjh “kfDr dk mn; iq:"k “kfDr dk ds le; esa L=h o cPPkksa dks gh lcls vf/kd cks> mBkuk iM+rk gSA og L=h fo/oal djuk ugha gS fe=ksa! ;g Hkh ,d bDos”ku lekt esa le>k;h tkrh gh gS tks iwjh laLd`fr dks /kkj.k fd, gq, gSA ftl fgUnw laLd`fr dh ckrsa gS] fd efgyk,¡ vkxs vk tk,¡xh rks gekjk D;k gksxk\ ysfdu bl ccZj dh tk jgh gSa] mlesa lcls vf/kd fiNM+k oxZ dksbZ gS rks og L=h gSA ge iq:"k&lekt dks txkus ds fy, t:jh gS fd vki vius vf/kdkjksa ds fy,] bl fLFkfr dks cnyus ds fy, iz;kl ugha djrsA ;s lkjh ckrsa ge v[kckjksa vius balkuh gqdwdksa ds fy, t+n~nkstgn djsa vkSj ;s t+n~nkstgn nhik o pSuy ds ek/;e ls ns[krs gSa fdarq ik[kaM ds vUrfoZjks/k dks nwj djus dh ekfVZUl djrh FkhaA ;s eqgkojk vc bfrgkl ls ckgj gks tkuk pkfg, fd ps"Vk ugha djrs] D;ksafd gekjs ikl bruk le; ugha gSA gekjk lkjk le; vkSjr gh vkSjr dh nq”eu gSA bu eqgkojksa dk fuekZ.k rkRdkfyd Lo;a ds fy, lefiZr gS u fd lekt ds fy,] vkSj blfy, eSa nhik ekfVZUl lkekftd] vkfFkZd o lkaLd`frd ifjfLFkfr;ksa us fd;k] fdUrq vc dk vknj djrk gw¡] D;ksafd mudk iwjk le; lekt ds fy, lefiZr FkkA ifjfLFkfr;k¡ cny jgha gSaA jktLFkku tSls fiNM+s gq, izns”k esa] tgk¡ 1991 eSa v:.kk th dk iz”kald gw¡ vkSj dgrk gw¡ fd dk”k v:.kk jkW; o nhik esa chl izfr”kr efgyk,¡ lk{kj Fkha] vkSj 2001 esa pkyhl izfr”kr ls Åij ekfVZUl tSlh vkSj ik¡p&nl efgyk,¡ vkSj lkekftd thou esa lfØ;rk ls efgyk,¡ lk{kj gSaA vkxs vk,¡ rks bl okrkoj.k dks] bl ykpkjh dks] bl csclh dks cnyk tk ldrk gSA dqN Hkh vlaHko ugha gS fe=ksa! eq>s vpjt gksrk gS tc jkst losjs eSa ns[krk gw¡ djhc nks yk[k efgyk,¡ izfrfnu xksfoannso th ds eafnj esa n”kZuksa ds fy, vkrh gSaA os fdlh ftl futhdj.k] mnkjhdj.k] Hkwe.Myhdj.k dh vkt ckr gks jgh gS] iz/kkuea=h] jk"Vªifr dks ugha tkurhA eSa jkst losjs ns[krk gw¡ pkj&ik¡p bldk Hk;kog psgjk vkus okys iPphl o"kksZa esa vki ns[ksaxsA 2005 ds ckn efgyk,¡ o cfPp;k¡ Hkh[k ek¡xus ?kj ds njokts ij vkrh gSaA vkt Hkh lqcg tc MCY;w-Vh-vks- dk jSthe ykxw gksxk rc ;g ns”k ,d [kqyh e.Mh ds :i lQkbZ dk dke] lM+d cqgkjus dk dke] eSyk mBkus dk dke] “kgjksa] esa ifjofrZr gks tk,xkA ml e.Mh esa lcls T;knk nqxZfr ?kj&x`gLFkh dks - 24 - - 25 - egkuxjksa esa] efgyk,¡ gh djrh gSaA iq:"k dkSus esa cSBdj chM+h ihrk jgrk fodkl dk leku volj ugha nsaxss] ;s misf{kr jgsaxhA L=h dks nku&nf{k.kk gSA ;s lRrk ds fu.kkZ;d chM+h ihrs gSa] efgykvksa dh g¡lh mM+krs gSaA bl ugha nsuh gSA og viuk gd o gdwd ek¡x jgh gSA og vkHkw"k.k] egy ;k ifjfLFkfr dks] bl vUrfoZjks/k dks lekt }kjk nwj fd;k tkuk pkfg,A jktikV ugha pkgrh] oks lEeku pkgrh gS] cjkcjh pkgrh gS] oks fu.kZ; pquko vk jgs gSa & blesa efgyk,¡ ugha ?kj ds iq:"k fu.kZ; djsaxs vkSj os ogha djus dk vf/kdkj pkgrh gSA vius bUgha “kCnksa ds lkFk eSa vkidk vkHkkj oksV Mkysaxh tgk¡ iq:"k pkgsaxsA iq:"k bu folaxfr;ksa dks nwj ugha dj ik, O;Dr djrk gw¡A gSaA jktLFkku esa f”k{kk de gS] fQj Hkh cksMZ fjtYV esa esfjV esa izFke ik¡p nhik ekfVZUl dh Le`fr esa tks dqN Hkh ge dj ldsa oks de gksxk] D;ksafd ;s LFkkuksa ij yM+fd;k¡ gh gksrh gSaA yM+fd;k¡ f”k{kk esa yM+dksa ls vkxs gSa] fdUrq fdlh O;fDr dh Le`fr esa ugha gS] cfYd ,d fopkj dh Le`fr esa fd;k x;k ngst dh ek¡x ds dkj.k muds fy, yM+dk ugha feyrkA geus dkSulh vk;kstu gS] vkSj eq>s fo”okl gS] jktLFkku ds nwj vapyksa esa bl izdkj dh txg L=h ds fy, lEeku dh NksM+h gS fe=ksa\ bl iz”u ij dHkh fopkj efgyk&lkekftd dk;ZdRrkZvksa dks ysdj ,d meax] mRlkg vkSj efgyk dfj,A D;ksafd ge fdruk Hkh fodkl dj ysa] vxj lekt esa ;s vlarqyu tkx`fr dk] efgyk l”kfDrdj.k dk] ukjh psruk dk ,d iwjk ekgkSy cusxk cuk jgk] rks vkfFkZd o lkekftd {ks= esa fd;k x;k gekjk fodkl dksbZ vkSj oks fnu Hkh vk,xk & dke ugha vk,xkA tc Hkh nqfu;k esa egk;q) gq,] fL=;ksa us gh foyki fd;kA lkfgR; esa rks fL=;ksa dk :nu Hkjk iM+k gSA L=h esa d:.kk] eerk [kqnh dks dj cqyan bruk fd gj rn~chj ls igys o izd`fr dk ÅtkZ L=ksr ge - 26 - - 27 - A tireless campaigner for India's millions of villagers, Ms. Aruna Roy, has been fighting for over a quarter- century to improve living standards. Ms. Roy majored in English Literature from Indraprastra College in New Delhi and then took the Indian Administrative Services examinations in 1967. Of the one hundred people from all over India who qualified for the IAS that year, Ms. Roy was one of only ten women. She served as a civil servant in the Indian Administrative Services from 1968-1974, before resigning to become a social and political activist, working to empower villagers in Rajasthan. She joined the Social Work and Research Center in Tilonia, Rajasthan, and worked there until 1983. She then moved to Devdungri, a drought-prone, environmentally- degraded village in Rajasthan where along with Shanker Singh and Nikhil ;|fi lekt esa folaxfr;k¡ vÒh Òh fo|eku gSa] v©j Dey, she set up the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan in 1990. ckfydk dk “k¨’k.k gj rjg ls fd;k tk jgk gS] ij The MKSS is a grassroots movement, a working example of transparent organization, that triggered broad debate and a nationwide demand for the eaFku dh çfØ;k çkjaÒ g¨ pqdh gS v©j o¨ fnu nwj ugÈ public's right to scrutinize official records – a crucial check against arbitrary tc ;g dFku ,d ljdkjh çpkj ugÈ cfYd eu¨je governance. Leading the movement, Ms. Roy has worked for people's issues, lR; esa ifj.kr g¨ tk,xk& looking at ways in which equality and justice can be claimed by the people as csVh Nq,xh vkdk“k their right. The Sangathan was successful in building a broad-based demand cl ,d e©d¢ dh ryk“k for the Right to Information by linking it to survival and livelihood issues and defining a paradigm for transparency and openness in government functioning, specific to the Indian context. The fight for the right to *lekt d¢ fodkl esa ckfydk ,d lfØ; Òkxhnkj* information, which began in the early 1990s culminated with the passage of M‚- nhik ekfVZUl what is considered as one of the most robust transparency legislations in the world – the Right to Information Act 2005. Prior to its enactment, in 2004, Ms. Aruna Roy was inducted into the National Advisory Committee to formulate the Act itself. Ms Roy is an active member of a number of campaigns including the National Employment Guarantee Council, the National Campaign for People's Right to Information, and NAPM, PUCL. She has authored Education of Out-of- school Children: Case Studies of Selected Non-formal Learning Programmes in South Asia. The awards and honours received by Ms. Roy sufficiently illustrate the range of her grassroots-level developmental vision. She has received several awards for her group's commitment to social justice and rural workers' rights. Ms. Aruna Roy is a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership and International Understanding. In 2005, she was amongst the 1000 peace-women from 150 countries, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2009 Ms. Roy was honoured with the Nani Palkhivala Award for protection and preservation of civil liberties in India. - 28 - - 28 (i) - èkeZfujis{k lekt d¢ mRFkku esa efgykv¨a dh Òwfedk vkt esjs fy, cgqr eqf”dy fnu gSA cksyus esa dHkh “kCnksa dh fnDdr ugha gksrh gS] exj vkt nhik dh ;kn esa eu [kwc Hkj x;k gSA eq>s dgk x;k gS fd eSa lsD;wyfjT+e ij ckr d:¡] vkSj ;s dqN gn rd nhik dh ftanxh dk i;kZ;okph FkkA bl ckjs esa fcuk nhik dks ;kn fd, eSa bl 'kCn dk mPpkj.k Hkh ugha dj ldrh gw¡A oSls ftanxh rks ,d ukVd gS vkSj blesa fLØIV dqN rks fy[kk gqvk gksrk gS vkSj dqN ge fy[krs gSaA ftl ifjokj esa ge tUe ysrs gSa ml ifjokj ds Ms. Aruna Roy delivering the keynote address laLdkj] mldh vkfFkZd fLFkfr] mlds ifjisz{; esa ge vius thou dks fu/kkZfjr djrs gSaA exj dqN ckrsa gekjs gkFk esa Hkh gksrh gSa vkSj nhik ds thou us bu nksuksa gh ckrksa dks gekjs lkeus cgqr lqUnj rjhds ls izfrf"Br fd;k gSA vius thou esa nhik [kqn ,d fgUnw czkg~e.k ifjokj esa tUeh] ,d blkbZ ls 'kknh dh] exj bu lcls cgqr vkxs nhik ,d balku Fkha] vkSj bl balkfu;r] laosnu'khyrk] I;kj vkSj Lusg ds ukrs mlus dHkh laokn ugha NksM+kA eSa vkan¨yu esa dke djrh gw¡] blfy, vuqÒo d¢ vkèkkj ij dg ldrh gw¡ fd dà ckj fofÒUu eqn~n¨a ij ppkZ cgl dk :i ys ysrh gSA enÒsn g¨ tkrs gSa] v©j os erÒsn dÒh&dÒh dVq Òh g¨rs gSaA ,sls esa lgt gS fd gesa xqLlk vk,] ge y¨x laÄ"kZ djsa] okn&fookn djsaA nhik Òh vkan¨yu¨a ls tqM+h gqà Fkh v©j ,slh fLFkfr esa nhik gj le; ;g dgrh Fkh fd d¨Ã Hkh erHksn gksa laokn ugha VwVuk pkfg,] vkSj eq>s lcls cM+h f'k{kk nhik ls ;gh feyh gSA dbZ txg oks esjh xq: Hkh jgh gS vkSj eSaus mlls ;gh Lighting the lamp before the portrait of Dr. Deepa Martins lh[kk gS fd erHksn rks gksaxs gh] ;g LokHkkfod gS] ijarq laokn ugha VwVuk pkfg,A ftl xzke dh iapk;r esa eSa oksVj gw¡] gj 26 tuojh ds fnu eSa ogk¡ t:j tkrh gw¡ A bl 26 tuojh dks xzke lHkk esa eq>s dgk x;k Fkk fd eSa xzkeh.kksa ds lkFk ckr d:¡ vkSj eq>s Hkh ;gh yxrk gS fd xzkeh.kksa ds lkFk vkSipkfjd :i ls okrkZyki djuk o Hkk"k.k nsuk Hkh mruk gh vko”;d gS ftruk fd muds ?kjksa esa cSBdj ckrsa djuk] D;ksafd ge xjhc yksxksa ds lkFk dke djrs gSa] ml xk¡o ds izcq) yksx gels de feyrs gSaA os dbZ ckj gekjs ckjs esa ;g lksprs gSa fd ;s nfyrksa ls ckr djus okys gSa] efgykvksa ls ckr djus okys gSa rks gekjs lkFk dVrs Hkh gSa] ,sls esa t:jh gksrk gS fd ge mu izcq) yksxksa ds le{k viuh ckr j[ksaA 26 tuojh ds fnu Ms< gtkj yksxksa ds lkeus] ftuesa dqN vf”kf{kr rFkk dqN f”kf{kr oxZ ds yksx Fks] muls eSaus iwNk fd gekjs chp esa fdrus ,sls yksx gSa ftUgksaus bl ns”k ds Ms. Bharti Tolumbia felicitating Ms. Aruna Roy - 28 (ii) - - 29 - lafo/kku dks de ls de gkFk esa idM+k gSA vki rkTtqc djsaxs fd ek= ik¡p rFkk bl ns”k esa e©t+wn lkjs lEiznk;ksa dk “yksd tik tkrk FkkA xka/khth gkFk mBs vkSj dgus yxs fd geus bl ns'k ds lafo/kku dks idM+k gSA eSaus bu “yksdksa dks fgUnh esa tirs Fks rkfd lcdks le> esa vk ldsA O;fDr iwNk fd ge esa ls fdrus yksx gSa ftUgksaus lafo/kku ds iUus iyVdj ns[kk gS] Jksrk pkgs blkbZ gks] fgUnw gks] fl[k gks ;k tSu gks] lHkh bu “yksdksa dks rks dqy rhu gkFk mBs Fks] nks yksx Fks tks lafo/kku ds vuqPNsn dk FkksM+k lk fgUnh esa tirs FksA mUgksaus ;g Hkh dgk Fkk fd eSa vPNk fgUnw blfy, gw¡ Kku j[krs FksA bl ifjisz{; esa tc dksbZ ikVhZ ;k dksbZ lksp ;k dksbZ D;ksafd eSa vPNk blkbZ Hkh gw¡] eSa vPNk eqlyeku Hkh gw¡] eSa vPNk ckS) Hkh gw¡] jktuhfr gekjs lkeus vkdj ;g dgs fd bl ns”k dk lafo/kku Bhd ugha D;ksafd tks Hkh O;fDr vius Lo;a ds /keZ ds izfr izfrc) gksrs gSa os u fdlh cuk gS] blesa ifjorZu gksuk pkfg,] rks D;k xyr gS\ lafo/kku dks igyh /keZ dks NksVk le> ldrs gSa u fdlh Hkh /keZ ij vkØe.k dj ldrs gSaA ckj rks eSaus ,d cPps ds leku VSDLV cqd tSlk i<+k Fkk] rc dgk x;k Fkk lu~ 1947 dh fgUnqLrku&ikfdLrku dh yM+kbZ esa yksx ejsA yksxksa dh ;kn ^^Hkkjrh; lafo/kku dks i<+k tkuk pkfg,A*^ blfy, ,d Hkkjrh; ukxfjd esa nksLr&nksLr ls vyx gq,] ifjokj fHkUu gq,] cPPks ejs] ek¡ ejh] firk ejk] gksus ds ukrs geus bls i<+kA rc Hkh vPNk yxk Fkk] exj vkt ds ifjisz{; dgha fgUnw ejs rks dgha eqlyekuA mu yksxksa ds fy, Lusg] “kkafr] d:.kk] esa tc eSa mldh izLrkouk dks i<+rh gw¡] rks eq>s yxrk gS fd bl ns”k ds esjs ,d lkFk jguk ,d cgqr cM+k ewY; Fkk] blfy, vkt gesa mu yksxksa dks Hkh iwoZt ge yksxksa ds fy, ,d cgqr vPNh fojklr NksM+ dj x, gSaA mldks ;kn djuk gS] ml fojklr dks ;kn djuk gS ftls ge Hkwy tkrs gSa vkSj i<+rs gh esjs jksaxVs [kM+s gks tkrs gSa] D;ksafd vkt ds bl ifjisz{; esa mldh lksprs gSa fd dsoy cM+s&cM+s fdys gSa] cM+s&cM+s yksx gSa tks vkt orZeku esa gj pht dk mYyaÄu gks jgk gSA oSls rks ;g ,d vueksy fojklr gS] exj gekjh fojklr gSaA ;fn ge bl lksp dks ugha cnysaxs rks gekjk ;g ns”k ge esa ls fdrus yksx mls i<+rs gSa] mls le>rs gSa\ vkt vko”;drk gS fd ugha jgsxkA fcYdqy cqfu;knh ckrksa ls lsD;wyfjT+e dh ppkZ gks] blds fy, gesa lafo/kku ls gh “kq: djuk gksxk vkSj ;g tkuuk gksxk fd lafo/kku gekjs lkEiznkf;drk ls tksM+dj eSa vkidks NksVs&NksVs fdLls lqukuk pkgrh gw¡A fy, D;k dgrk gS\ nks fnu dh ,d dk;Z”kkyk esa ge chl&rhl tuksa us vkidks ;kn gksxk fd xqtjkr esa nks lky iwoZ tks gqvk] rks mls ge ujlagkj lafo/kku ds ckjs esa ppkZ dhA esjs ,d fe= guqeku flag ;g dgrs gSa fd eSaus ekurs gSa ijarq okLro esa oks Fkk tkfrlagkj] D;ksafd iwoZ esa lksp dj ;g rhl&iSarhl lky ls lafo/kku dks jkst izkFkZuk dh rjg D;ksa ugha i<+k\ eq>s nq"deZ fd;k x;k Fkk] dksbZ ,sls gh ;s yM+kbZ&>xM+s “kq: ugha gq,] exj oks yxrk gS fd gesa lafo/kku dks i<+uk gksxk vkSj le>uk gksxk fd tkfrlagkj gksrk jgkA ge xqtjkr esa my>rs jgsA lkbZaukFk dk dguk gS lsD;wyfjT+e vkSj /keZ vyx&vyx phtsa gSaA dksbZ ;g ugha dgrk fd vki fd mlh le; yksdlHkk esa dqN ,sls dkuwu cuk, x, ftlds }kjk gekjh vius lEiznk; esa ;k /keZ esa ;k iaFk esa fo”okl ugha j[k ldrs gSa] exj vkt t:jr dh oLrqvksa ij ls vk;kr izfrcU/k gVk, x, vkSj gesa ekywe Hkh u vki fo”ks"k lekpkj i=ksa dks i<+sa] pkgsa fgUnh esa ;k vaxzsth esa] rks os lsD;wyj iM+kA ge xqtjkr elys esa my>rs jgs] ge ml [kwu[kjkcs ds fo:) “kCn vkrs gh vkidks fgUnw viksyksftLV dgrs gSa] vkidks L;wMks& vkokt+ mBkrs jgs vkSj ihNs ds njokts ls dqN ,sls dkuwu ikfjr gq,A lsD;wyfjLV dgrs gSaA lsD;wyj rks ge lHkh gSa fdarq ;g ;fn ge xqtjkr dh rjQ ugha ns[krs] rks muds f[kykQ ge cqyan vkokt+ L;wMks&lsD;wyfjLV gksrk D;k gSa\ ge fdlh Hkh /keZ ls lEca/k j[ksa] efUnj] mBk ldrs Fks blfy, dgha u dgha lkEiznkf;drk] futhdj.k LokFkZ d¨ efLtn vkfn fdlh Hkh /keZ&LFky ij tk,a rFkk dksbZ Hkh /kkfeZd xzaFk i<+sa] ijs j[kdj equkQs dh vksj c<+us dk tks ,d u;k :Ik gekjs lkeus vk;k gS bl ckjs esa gels dksbZ Hkh dqN Hkh ugha iwNsxkA ml O;oLFkk dks dk;e mls gesa igpkuuk iM+sxkA j[kus ds fy, ge tks dke djsa ogh lsD;wyfjT+e dk lgh vFkZ gS vkSj mlh dqN fnu igys eqEcbZ esa oYMZ lksf”k;y Qksje esa y{eh lgxy tks djhc dks ge eu esa j[ksa] rks ;g ns”k cgqr lqUnj ns”k cusxkA ge eafnj Hkh tk,¡] uCcs lky dh gSa] rFkk tks usrkth ds lkFk bafM;u us”kuy vkehZ esa Fkha] ge efLtn Hkh tk,¡] ge fxjtk?kj Hkh tk,¡ vkSj vxj ge dgha u tkuk mUgksaus dgk fd ^^tc bZLV bf.M;k dEiuh Hkkjr esa vkbZ rks oks ,d njokts pkgsa rks u tk,¡ exj ge lc lsD;wyfjTe dks /;ku esa j[ksa] lafo/kku esa ls vkbZ vkSj ge mls igpku x, Fks] ijUrq vkt vusd bZLV bf.M;k fo”okl j[ksaA dEifu;k¡ rFkk muls Hkh cM+h ,slh dEifu;k¡ vk jgh gSa] ftUgsa ge ns[k ugha vkius dHkh xk¡/khth dks i<+k gS\ xk¡/khth ,d /kkfeZd O;fDr FksA muds fnu ldrs] fdUrq ckn esa gesa ;g le> esa vk,xk fd ge muds "kM;U= dk dk “kqHkkjEHk izkFkZuk lHkk ls gksrk Fkk vkSj ml izkFkZuk lHkk esa lkjs /keksZa dk f”kdkj gks x, gSaA^^ Hkk"kk esa lkEiznkf;drk dk bLrseky gesa vyx djus ds - 30 - - 31 - fy, fd;k tk jgk gS] vkSj ftl fnu ge muds fo:) vkokt mBk,axs] ge ge rqe u gksaxs rc Hkh mxsxk lw;Z ,d gks tk,axs] fQj dksbZ Hkh gekjs ns”k dk uqdlku ugha dj ldsxkA vkt fudysxk panz] pedsaxs u{k=] ge izcq) yksx tks ;gk¡ cSBs gSa] gesa ,d jguk iM+sxk] gesa viuh ,drk dks ygygk,axs o`{k eapksa ls fudkydj xk¡o esa] pkSiky esa] vke yksxksa rd ykuk gksxkA vk,xk gj o`{k ij clUr vkSj fonk ysxk ir>M+A lkekU;r% erHksn rks gksxk] ijarq gesa ml erHksn dks “kkUr djuk iM+sxkA ,slk djus ij ns”k dk fodkl gks ldsxk vU;Fkk ughaA ,d vkSj ckr lwpuk bl vuar izokg esa ge gSa cqycqys ek= dk vf/kdkj vius vki esa dqN ugha gSA ;g ,d laoS/kkfud vf/kdkj gSA vkvks lgt mUeqDr gks fuf[ky pdzorhZ tSls yksxksa us iwNk fd D;ksa ;g igys ugha cuk\ ;g cgrs tk,¡ lafo/kku dk vax gksuk pkfg, FkkA tgk¡&tgk¡ vaxzstksa us jkt fd;k cgrs tk,¡AA ogk¡&ogk¡ ;g FkkA os pkgrs Fks fd tgk¡ os jkt dj jgs gSa ogk¡ ds ckcw yksx lwpuk,¡ ckgj u ys tk,¡A jk"Vªh; vkUnksyu esa jr~ yksxksa dh enn u djsa cgrs&cgrs viuh nksLrh dks u rksM+saA cgl t:j djsa] erHksn j[ksa] fdarq blfy, 1925 esa mUgksaus ;g dkuwu cuk;kA gekjs ns”k esa ;g dkuwu vkt nksLrh dk;e j[ksaA vxj ,slk djsaxs rks lcls vPNh J`)katfy nhik ds Hkh gSA exj tc rd ;g dkuwu gj {ks= esa ykxw ugha gksxk rc rd bldk fy, ogh gksxhA laokn dk;e j[ksa] fe=rk o balkfu;r dk;e j[ksa] tks dksbZ egRo ugha gSA vaxzsth esa ge dgrs gSa] “It's an entitlement to enable bldk fojks/k djs] mlds fo:) tq>k: yM+kbZ tkjh j[ksaA all entitlements” vius vki esa rks dqN Hkh ugha gSA nks ekg iwoZ toktk iapk;r lfefr dh lh-,Q-lh- dh tc geus tk¡p dh rks ge vR;Ur v:.kk jk; vk”p;Zpfdr jg x, D;ksafd ogk¡ Vh-ch- fjdkMZl~ vki ns[k ugha ldrs] 5 vizSy] 2005 nokb;ksa ds fjd‚MZl~ vki ns[k ugha ldrs] ogk¡ tks xHkZorh efgyk gS mlds fy, dbZ lqfo/kk,¡ gSa fdUrq mls vius gdksa dk Kku ugha gSA og ,-,u-,e- ds ?kj cPps dks tUe nsrh gSA ,-,u-,e- mlls iSlk ysrh gS] vkus&tkus dk [kpkZ [kk tkrh gSA bruk gh ugha vfirq f”k”kq ds tUe ds le; ch-ih- ,y- ekrkvksa dks tks /ku dh izkfIr gksrh gS, og Hkh ,-,u-,e- ys ysrh gSA ,sls esa vko”;d gS fd ge blds fo:) viuh vkokt mBk,aA tc rd ge la?k"kZ ugha djsaxs rc rd gesa lQyrk izkIr ugha gksxhA gesa lkEiznkf;drk] pksjh rFkk v”kkafr ds f[kykQ loky [kM+k djuk iM+sxkA tc rd ge ;s loky [kM+s ugha djsaxs] gekjh tks yksdrkaf=d txg gS] og gesa ugha feysxhA vkt ge t;iqj esa ,d ckM+s esa can gSaA /kjuk dgha ugha ns ldrsA fnYyh esa ge jkeyhyk xzkmaM esa ugha cSB ldrs gSaA jkt?kkV ds ckgj ugha cSB ldrsA ge rks cksV Dyc ykWt esa Òh ugha cSB ldrsA tc ns”k ds yksxksa dks ckM+s esa can djrs gSa] fdlh dh vfHkO;fDr ij geyk gksrk gSA fdlh ds ?kj esa mu ij geyk gksrk gS rks gesa le>uk iM+sxk fd gesa ,slh lkaiznkf;drk ugha pkfg,A vxj ge viuh yksdra= dh txg dks lqjf{kr ugha j[ksaxs rks lkaiznkf;drk Hkh viuh txg vk tk;sxh vkSj yksdra= ds dne NksVs gksrs tk,axsA eSa var esa nhik dh dfork dh dqN iafDr;k¡ izLrqr dj jgh gw¡ & - 32 - - 33 - Dr. C.S. Lakshmi (Ambai) is a distinguished fiction writer in Tamil. She is an independent researcher in Women's Studies and has several publications to her credit. Dr. Lakshmi is the founder-trustee Director of Sound & Picture Archives for Research on Women (SPARROW) in Mumbai, a non-governmental organization for documenting and archiving the lives and work of women. She is a current member of the University of Michigan's Global Feminisms Project. Dr. Lakshmi was a visiting fellow in the University of Chicago's Institute for Culture and Consciousness. She was instrumental in the establishment of Roja Muthiah Research Library. She has been a research Officer in the Indian f“k{kk gh og jkeck.k gS ftld¢ ekè;e ls yM+fd;k¡ Council of Historical Research and a college lecturer in New Delhi. She has v©j v©jrsa ifjorZu dh çfØ;k “kq# dj ldrh gSA worked in two research projects - Illustrated Social History of Women in f“k{kk ,d ,sls eè;LFk dh Òwfedk fuÒk ldrh gS Tamil Nadu sponsored by the Ford Foundation and An Idiom of Silence: An t¨ fyax Òsn d¨ lekIr djs v©j yM+fd;¨a esa Oral History and Pictorial Study sponsored by the Homi J. Bhabha foosdiw.kZ lkekftd psruk txk,aA f“k{kk dh bl Fellowship. Òwfedk d¨ rÒh U;k;laxr ekuk tk ldrk gS vxj Dr. Lakshmi is a prolific writer whose work is characterized by her feminism, blls yM+fd;¨a d¨ fdlh f“kYi ;k gquj esa çf“k{k.k an eye for detail, and a sense of irony. Her books in English include: The Face fn;k tk, rFkk mUgsa vkRefuÒZjrk d¢ fy, Behind the Mask: Women in Tamil Literature; A Purple Sea; Body Blows: ç¨Rlkfgr fd;k tk, rkfd os vius fuEu Lrj ls Women, Violence, and Survival: Three Plays; Seven Seas & Seven Åij mB ld¢aA Mountains: Volume 1: The Singer and the Song – Conversations with Women Musicians; Seven Seas & Seven Mountains: Volume 2: Mirrors *vlekurk esa tUeh yM+dh* and Gestures – Conversations with Women Dancers; (ed.) The M‚- nhik ekfVZUl Unhurried City – Writings on Chennai ; and In A Forest, A Deer: Stories by Ambai. Her books in Tamil include: Nandimalai Charalilae, Andhi Malai, Sirakukal Muriyum, Veetin Mulaiyil Oru Camaiyalarai, Ambai : Kalacchuvadu Nerkanalgal, Kaatil Oru Maan, and Varrum Eriyin Meengal. Dr. C.S. Lakshmi is the only Tamil writer to have been included in the recently published Picador Book of Modern Indian Literature edited by Amit Chaudhuri. For her contributions to Tamil literature, Dr. C.S. Lakshmi received the 2008 Iyal Virudhu (Lifetime Achievement Award) awarded by the Canada-based Tamil Literary Garden. She is also the recipient of the Kalaimagal Narayanaswamy Aiyar Prize and the Vodafone Crossword Book Award. The Library of Congress holds five of her writings in its collection. - 34 - - 34 (i) - BEING A WOMAN, BEING A HUMAN I am honoured to be here with all of you to share my memories of my friendship with Dr. Deepa Martins, the founder of this school, and also tell you the kind of work we do in SPARROW, the organization I head, located in Mumbai. It is in the course of the work of my organization that I met Dr. Deepa Martins. She came to my organization to talk to me about the kind of work she was doing with underprivileged women in Rajasthan through Mahila Samooh, a women's self-help group. The next time I visited Ajmer, I interviewed two women of the group, one of whom was a Panchayat President. Dr. Deepa Martins and I got to know each other better when we continued to exchange notes on the work of Mahila Samooh and SPARROW which is an acronym for Sound & Picture Archives for Research on Women. Dr. C.S. Lakshmi Ms. Aruna Roy & Dr. C.S. Lakshmi In SPARROW we collect oral history and visual material on women's addressing the gathering releasing Dr. Deepa Martins' history and life. The history of women has not always been a history second anthology, 'Kurja Ke Ter' known to everybody. Only some famous women like Vijayalakshmi Pandit or Sarojini Naidu or Kasturba Gandhi figure in History books. The role women have played in the politics of the nation has been something that has been hidden in the crevices of history. SPARROW's role has been to bring out this hidden history and give women visibility. So we have interviewed freedom fighters, some members of Subash Chandra Bose's Jhansi Rani wing of the INA, women from the Left and other progressive movements, women in the environment movement, women educationists, women writers and so on. We strongly believe that unless this history is understood and women are written into history, history will remain incomplete. You are all very young. So you will not know what a struggle it has been for women to get educated in the regular school and college system in modern India. It is not that women were ignorant or illiterate in earlier days. There have been women scholars, women poets and many famous women rulers also. They were all well-trained in the traditional system of education. Despite the fact that there were exceptional women in history, there was a general feeling that women's major role in life was to be a good daughter, good wife and a good mother and be a homemaker. Women were supposed to be kind Ms. Aruna Roy presenting a memento to Dr. C.S. Lakshmi and gentle and obedient. Women were not supposed to voice their - 34 (ii) - - 35 - opinions publicly. Although they were homemakers, the decisions There are many boys here and men too. You may wonder if so much of were taken by the men of the family and very often their life revolved importance given to women will deny man anything. Not at all; on around the kitchen. Marriage was considered the most important goal the contrary, when women and men have equal rights, a better society of a woman's life. When a girl child misbehaved she was always told, based on justice and equality will be built. Many women like Dr. “How will you get a good name in your sasural?” or “How will you get Deepa Martins are involved in this process of giving women self- married?” Since everything revolved around marriage, a girl was respect and dignity. We are all working for it in different ways. We are supposed to be fair and beautiful and later when educated boys came not constantly in touch with one another. Even when we don't into the picture, in order to get an educated son-in-law, people began communicate with each other, I feel that we are constantly in dialogue to give a heavy dowry. In such a marital framework, books and with one another. We are connected through our work. And it gives different forms of expression were denied to women. Women gained me great pleasure to come and talk to all of you in this school founded knowledge often stealthily. There were girls who stood hidden behind by my friend Dr. Deepa Martins and her husband and being run by doors and walls and heard their fathers teach their students and learnt their son Anupam Martins and so many efficient teachers. I wish you what was taught. There were women who read the paper in which all well and thank you once again for inviting me. provisions from shop came packed. There were women who learnt music listening to sounds of music emanating from a nearby music C.S. Lakshmi hall and there were women who wrote on bits of paper and kept them April 5, 2005 hidden. I know women who kept diaries and whose diaries were burnt along with them when they died. In this kind of a situation, for a woman to get the right to education was not easy. There was a fear that educated girls would be disobedient and rude and too independent. That they would misuse their independence. Many social reformers fought to get women the right to education. If many of you are sitting here today as happy students, it is because many women struggled to get women what they deserved as individuals. Many mothers helped their daughters to get educated. But even now, if you go to the rural areas or small towns, a girl child is denied so many things, one of them being education, due to poverty. I visited a village in Himachal Pradesh where a little girl kept telling me her house had no door, when I asked her why she was not going to school. I thought, she had not understood my question. Later, when I went to her small hut without a door, I understood what she meant. In the hilly regions, animals like dogs and even foxes can enter your house and take away food kept on the floor, when the huts don't have doors and you need someone to protect the hut all the time when the parents went to work in the potato farm or elsewhere. This little girl was protecting her hut and hence could not go to school. So we still have a long way to go. The work SPARROW is doing is to record and document the process in which women's history is being made in many ways. - 36 - - 37 - Ms. Indira Jaising, a practicing lawyer and Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India, is the second woman to be designated as a Senior Advocate by the High Court of Bombay and the first woman to reach the post of Additional Solicitor General of India (2009). Ms. Indira Jaising has been a member of The Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Committee since January 2009. Ms. Jaising went to school in Mumbai and graduated in Bangalore, before getting her degree in law in 1962. Throughout her legal career, Ms. Jaising has focused on the protection of human rights and the rights of women. She successfully defended several landmark cases on discrimination against vkÒkl dqN ,slk g¨rk gS rqEgsa women in India. She played an instrumental role in the drafting of the fd dy rqEgkjs tkus ij Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005). She has also fn“kk,a lwuh g¨ tk,axh represented the victims of the Bhopal tragedy in the Supreme Court of India in lw;Z&pUæ tM+or~ g¨ mBsaxs their claim for compensation against the multinational Union Carbide u{k= èkwed¢rw cu VwV iM+saxs Corporation and argued cases of homeless pavement dwellers of Mumbai who v©j çÑfr xr;©ouk g¨ mBsxhA were facing eviction. A keen environmentalist, Ms. Jaising has argued major environmental cases in the Supreme Court. She has been associated with ;g rqEgkjk Òze gS cUèkq several People's Commissions on Violence in Punjab to investigate the extra le; dh xfr vckèk gS judicial killings, disappearances and mass cremations that took place during mldk çgjh cuus dk naÒ er iky¨A the period 1979 to 1990. Ms. Indira Jaising has attended several national and international rqEgkjk Òze conferences on women and represented her country at these conferences. She M‚- nhik ekfVZUl had a fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies London and has been a visiting Scholar at Columbia University. Ms. Jaising is also the Founder Secretary of the Lawyers Collective, a group of lawyers, law students and social activists in India committed to the use of law as an instrument of social change to further the constitutional and human rights of marginalized groups. She founded a monthly magazine called The Lawyers, in 1986, which focuses on social justice and women's issues in the context of Indian law. She is currently Project Director of the Women's Rights Initiative of the Lawyers Collective. For her relentless and outstanding service to the cause of public affairs, Ms. Indira Jaising was awarded the Padma Shree in 2005. She was also conferred with the Rotary Manav Seva Award in recognition of her services to the nation in fighting corruption and as a champion of the weaker sections of society. - 38 - - 38 (i) - CONSTITUTIONAL ENTITLEMENTS OF WOMEN Today I feel that I am here before you because of the call of that bond which goes beyond words. I was telling Mr. Anupam Martins that I am not accustomed to speaking to a group of school children, but it is this group, and it is this school that brought me here today to speak a few words in honour of Dr. Deepa Martins and I can only think that it is that bond of a common commitment that I share with her. It is Dr. N.K. Jain Mr. Anupam Martins amazing how these bonds can come into existence even though you presenting a bouquet with have never met the person in real life. Yet because the commitment is to Ms. Indira Jaising Ms. Indira Jaising common, you can call it a bond. I am glad that I chose the topic, "Constitutional Entitlements of Women", considering that all her life Dr. Deepa Martins stood for the rights of women in addition to issues of secularism. When I was coming here, I spoke to a friend who knew Dr. Deepa Martins and she said to me, "Something is missing from the city of Ajmer after Dr. Deepa Martins has departed." That says it all – a person's absence is felt when you look at the issues the person dealt with and the contribution to those issues. So, in that spirit of commitment, I would like to just say a few words before you today about the Constitution of India and about promises that it holds for Ms. Indira Jaising women. Then I would like you to reflect for yourself whether these delivering the keynote address promises that are made in the Constitution of India have been redeemed by our generation. When I say our generation, I mean my generation and perhaps a generation that comes after me. If we come to the conclusion that these promises have not been redeemed, then I think there is a very, very heavy burden on the shoulders of your generation – those of you who are in school now – as you go through your life, to redeem the promises that the Constitution of India makes, not only to women, but to all the weaker sections of society as I will presently point out to you. The Constitution of India is a founding document of this country and basically a constitution is meant to tell you all about how our country is governed: what are the power centres in this country, what is the relationship of the states to the centre, what are our rights as citizens. You know that every person born in this country is considered a citizen of this country. Therefore almost all of us sitting here today are citizens of this country by birth and as citizens we have rights, and as The Gathering citizens, we have duties. All these rights and all these duties are - 38 (ii) - - 39 - articulately spelt out in the Constitution of India. guaranteed as well. You will find this beautifully reflected in the When it was first drafted, the Constitution did not have a chapter on Constitution of India. The main guarantee that you find in the duties, it only had a chapter on fundamental rights. Much later, a Constitution of India is what we call the Right to Equality and in a chapter on fundamental duties was also put into the Constitution of very simple article of the Constitution - Article 14 - we will find very India, when the realization dawned on our parliamentarians that clearly mentioned that there will be equality before law and equal duties and rights have to go together. Now, in the Constitution, you protection of the laws to all persons. do have a listing of duties and a listing of rights. It is something that all Now you can see how simply the idea of equality is expressed, because school children need to internalize, it is something that all school equality is indeed a very simple idea. Of course we have our own ways children need to know before they leave school, enter college and take of complicating the idea but we do not need to go very far to get a up their vocation in the world, because these duties and these definition of equality. We find it right up-front in the Constitution of obligations are not meant to be confined to the pages of the India in Article 14 which says equality before law and equal protection Constitution – they are meant to be lived in different ways and some of the law is available to every person. of the ways in which they are meant to be lived have been illustrated by Then you must know that Article 15 is a guarantee against the life of Dr. Deepa Martins. In our commitment to women, in our discrimination and it says very clearly that there shall be no commitment to the issues of the dalits, in our commitment to the discrimination based on sex, religion, caste, place of birth or any ideal of secularism, we are meant to live and internalize the rights combination of these factors. So there you have the guarantee of which are conferred on us and the duties by which we are obliged in equality based on sex, which means that you cannot be discriminated the constitution. against in any sphere of life simply because you happen to be a woman The end of conflict is a precondition to a dignified life and for the end or a girl child. of conflict in this country, we need secularism. People like me have You have the guarantee of Article 16 which guarantees to all persons been pained by the fact that in recent years, particularly in Gujarat in equality in public employment. Obviously a very, very important 2002, the fabric of secularism in this country looked like it was torn guarantee is that you know everybody goes to school, goes to college because there have been major attacks on minorities. But I can only and then goes out into the world and makes their living and looks for say that time and again, my faith in secularism gets restored because of employment. The state and the government is a very important the existence of active civil society groups who are working to end provider of employment in our country and it is necessary to have the communalism. The atrocities in Gujarat did not go unaddressed. guarantee of equality. India is of course not alone in having this There was nation-wide protest against what happened in Gujarat and provision of guarantee of equality. Countries all over the world, a lot of these cases were taken to the Supreme Court of India. certainly all democracies, have guaranteed this right to equality. I will return to the theme of the rights of women. The rights of women I would just briefly point out to you another definition of equality cannot be guaranteed without peace. We cannot look at women in contained in the Constitution of South Africa: Everyone is equal isolation. Women's rights have to be linked with the rights of all other before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefits of the sections of society. Whenever the rights of any section of society are law. Notice how simple this definition is, and then as you go out into threatened, the rights of each one of us are threatened. Let us not live the world, you need to apply this definition to what you see around in the belief that we are secure in our middle-class and upper middle- you and to see whether this guarantee is actually made real. Equality class homes and that we do not have to worry about those who are less includes the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms. To fortunate than us. Nothing can be further from the truth because the promise the achievement of equality, the legislative and other destruction of peace for any one section of society means the measures designed to protect persons or categories of persons destruction of peace for all of the society. None of us can remain disadvantaged by unfair discrimination, may be taken. untouched by problems which occur in any part of society. So if the Now you have a very important pointer to the definition of equality rights of women have to be guaranteed, the rights of all have to be - 40 - - 41 - over here, "Persons disadvantaged by unfair discrimination." What is right to pursue their own religion but this does not mean that any this telling us? This sentence is telling us that we are born into a society particular religion can be privileged by the state over any other where all are not equal. There can be with us the birthmarks of religion. This brings me straight to the question of women. discrimination inherited from a previous generation. Don't forget, It is being argued that this guarantee of freedom of religion allows us this constitution came into existence only in the year 1950. One of the to have laws relating to women based on our different religions and so major forms of historical discrimination is the existence of different in India we have Muslim law relating to Muslim women, Hindu law castes. We fought against the abolition of untouchability. In fact the relating to Hindu women, Christian law relating to Christian women, Indian Constitution does have an article, Article 17, which says that Parsi law relating to Parsi women and so on. This is a very controversial untouchability in this country should be abolished. This is the legacy issue because many, many of these laws discriminate against women. of historically- faced discrimination. Many of these laws do not guarantee equality in the matter of So what does the guarantee of equality mean? The guarantee of inheritance rights, in the matter of marriage, in the matter of property, equality means that you have to end the historical disadvantage. You in the matter of child custody and in the matter of maintenance to end historical disadvantage by compensating the disadvantaged with women during marriage. The field of family laws is highly advantage and it is from this that India has historically evolved the discriminatory against women and the women's movements in this whole policy of reservations in jobs for scheduled castes and for country have articulated a demand that there should be a common law scheduled tribes. There is also a demand for reservation of women in dealing with the rights of women in the field of family law, entity of Parliament and in our legislatures. It is based on the fact of historical minorities. For that reason the government of India has laid off and we disadvantage. If you look at the statistics of the percentage of women do not still have a common civil law. But I believe it is one of the in Indian Parliament today, they constitute less than seven percent of unfinished agendas of the Indian Constitution and perhaps in time the total number of elected parliamentarians. So these statistics tell some of you sitting here today will be working for these issues and who you the story of the status of women in this country. knows during your lifetime you might see a common civil law for I want you to understand the concept of unfair discrimination, unfair women in the right of marriage which is not discriminatory. disadvantage and then understand that equality means setting right Since I have come to the issue of women, I must direct your attention this unfair disadvantage so that the state may not unfairly discriminate to Article 51 A of the Constitution which says that we all need to directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds promote a spirit of harmony and common brotherhood among all including race, gender, pregnancy, martial status, ethnic or social people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, diversity and practices derogatory of the dignity of women. You will belief, culture, language and birth. So what this is telling you is that have to ask yourself the question: What are the practices which are governments cannot discriminate against people because they belong derogatory of the dignity of women that we need to renounce? As to a particular race, because they belong to a particular ethnic group, many of our commissions have noted, there are lip services paid to the because they belong to a particular religion, because they belong to a doctrine of gender equality while the fact remains that generally particular caste, because they have a particular sexual orientation or women are still regarded as inferior to men both at home and in the because may be a particular age. Equality is the removal of workplace. discrimination based on these factors. No person may be unfairly I have pointed out to you the kinds of discrimination women face at discriminated against, directly or indirectly, on any one of these home. As far as the workplace is concerned, one of the most major grounds. Legislation must be directed towards the removal of these issues that has surfaced in recent times is the issue of sexual grounds. Every human being is entitled to inherent dignity and the harassment. The Supreme Court of India delivered a judgment which right to have dignity respected and protected. is commonly known as the Vishaka judgment. It arose after the case of Then you have Article 25 of the Constitution of India which Bhavri Devi, an aanganwadi worker who was raped while she was on guarantees Freedom of Conscience. Every person is guaranteed the duty propagating the idea that child marriage was to be abolished. - 42 - - 43 - People who had vested interest in child marriage organized her rape. abuse, in particular the sexual abuse of children, remains under the Thereafter the matter had to be taken to the court with great difficulty carpet. and it is a matter of shame that the court acquitted the rapist. The My object is to point out to you that these are all issues which are matter is now in appeal before the High Court. But this case was taken mentioned in the Constitution of India. It is like a Bible which each to the Supreme Court and the argument was that Bhavri Devi was one of you should have a copy of. I can say that when in doubt, open performing her duty and she was at work when the act of rape took the Constitution of India look at it and decide how you should place and therefore we need a law to stop sexual harassment at the proceed forward in a particular situation – you will find the answer workplace. The Supreme Court delivered a judgment known as the there. Vishaka Judgment which said that sexual harassment at the workplace violated the right of equality of women and the right of women to I would just give you one definition of gender justice which Justice work. Here you have a beautiful example of how equality is to be Anand had put down in one of his essays. I quote, “It is the process of understood, how equality is to be actualized, and how equality is to be confirmative rights of women and their empowerment that has come put into practice. to be recognized as gender justice. Attaining social justice and peace through empowerment of women is basically another description of So it is not enough to say that you have the right to equality. What is the same process. This process has many dimensions ranging from the the meaning of the right to equality and the right to equality of work if private sphere at home to the public sphere outside the home. The when women go to work they are sexually harassed by their co- process of gender justice broadly speaking covers the rights of women workers or by their boss ? I myself get shocked to see, as a practising against exploitation and victimization.” lawyer, the number of cases that come to me of employed women whose lives are being made miserable because their male colleagues or Now I will move on to a few of the cases that I have argued, just to give their male seniors harass them. This harassment can take different an example of how it can and does make a difference to people's forms. It can be nasty comments about the way they dress, it can be everyday lives. Gita Hariharan, an author, wanted to make a small personal remarks about their family, it can be asking for favours, it can deposit in the name of her son with the RBI. When she went to make be asking for sexual favours. The net result is that their labour is not the deposit she was told, "Madam we are very sorry, we can't accept respected for what it is and this is only because they are women. Sexual this deposit from you because the father has to come and sign the favours are demanded and if sexual favours are not given, they are form." That is when she decided to come to me and she said, "I refuse disadvantaged. Their annual confidential reports are spoilt or their to get the signature of my husband on this form. I have earned this promotions are not given. It is very common and I think its very, very money, I want to make a deposit in the name of my son and I should important at this age, at the school going level, that the children be have every right to make it without my husband's signature." We took aware of the whole issue of sexual abuse and sexual harassment. this matter up to the Supreme Court and the argument of course was There is also a lot of sexual abuse at home of children within families that under the Hindu Law, the father is the natural guardian of the and it is important for children that institutions like schools be able to child and we said, this is what discrimination is about and it has to raise these issues and discuss them because there is no other protection change. Although the Supreme Court did not strike down that section against this form of abuse except awareness – protection through which it should have done, it did say that the mother is also the awareness, knowledge and preparedness. I cannot expect the state to guardian along with the father, and the concept of joint guardianship police the whole society by sending policemen to every workplace or was introduced. It is after that case that the government of India has by providing security at every doorstep. The best protection against changed a lot of its forms. It allows women to make applications for sexual abuse is awareness and the ability to speak out to talk about it passports for their children; it allows women to put their children in without feeling embarrassed. What normally happens is that the school without necessarily having the consent of the father. The person who is sexually abused is the person who ends up feeling guilty significance of this is that when there is no dispute between husband and does not want to talk about it. Therefore the whole issue of sexual and wife, it is not a problem, but where there is, the husband uses this authority in order to victimize the wife and refuses to give his signature - 44 - - 45 - and so it is important to have these kinds of guarantees. published each year, you will find that India is ranked pretty low in The next is the case of Rupan Deol Bajaj, a case of sexual harassment at the family of nations on what is known as human development index. the workplace. She was severely criticized by the media over the fact At one stage, development was measured in terms of Gross National that she took a “trivial” issue to court. It was a tremendously uphill Product. It is no longer measured in terms of Gross National Product. battle trying to convince people that it is not a trivial issue. What you Now when we assess human development, we look at literacy rates, we have to understand is that sexual abuse begins in trivial ways, and then look at housing, we see education, we see female mortality and we see goes on to assume more severe forms, because it is the mindset of a enrollment of girl children in school to decide whether or not the person. The mindset of a person, who is in a position of power, and country is making progress – and there the statistics of the women of who publicly harasses a woman, is that, I don't respect you for being an India are poor. IAS officer. I don't respect you for the work that you have done. That is the Gender is considered one of the strongest markers of disadvantage. same mindset of a person who would rape a woman and that is why Link this with the earlier discussion on equality. In order to the case was very important. That is why it was carried forward. understand inequality, we have to understand disadvantage. This is Another reason why it was very important is because the person who especially the case in South Africa where the large numbers of missing did it was, after all, the person who is supposed to respect law and women in the region bear testimony to the scale of the problem. order – a Director General of Police. So think what message it gives to Disadvantage starts at birth. In India, the death rate for children in the the forces below him, If our Director General can do this and get away age group 1 to 5 is 50% higher of girls than of boys. Expressed with it, so can we. That is why I would say it is very important to check differently, 1,35,000 young lives are lost each year because of the this, for us to protest, for us to organize, for us to carry our battles to disadvantage associated with being born with two X chromosomes. court wherever we see injustice. This is of course one of the stories that This holds true across the spectrum when it comes to women. In succeeded. terms of literacy, women fare poorly – 67% as compared to men are illiterate. In terms of enrollment in primary school also they fair The third and the last case I will just briefly mention is the case of poorly – its 85% . But as you go to secondary schools, the presence of Mary Roy, an extraordinary woman who has founded a very successful the girl declines from 85% to about 67%. So there is a huge gap of school, the Corpus Christi School in Kalathipady. It happened to be economic activity. No more than 42% of the economic activity that she is a Christian woman and the law in her state was that a generated by men goes in the direction of women. In terms of daughter could inherit only Rs. 5000/- from her father and the rest of employment also it is no better. the estate would go entirely to the son. She said that she would not tolerate this law on the grounds that it was discriminatory against I would like to end by saying that it is not enough to have a beautiful women. constitution as we do have. A constitution cannot come alive on its own. A constitution needs people like you and me to bring it alive and So these are you know stories of people who fought their way through the extent to which we will enjoy these rights is the extent to which we life and who came out as winners. I can only hold them up for you as believe in it and we make it a part of our life - namely that we walk the role models as you go further in life. Just as Dr. Deepa Martins is a role talk. I thank you for giving me this opportunity to say a few words model, these women that I have talked to you about, are also role before you, and I have no doubt that you are all going to go out into models. the world being the most wonderful citizens of India. Now I am going to conclude on a bit of a pessimistic note because Thank you. although these are the guarantees of the Constitution of India, when we look at the reality around, we find a very, very different picture. Statistics tell a different story when it comes to women. That is where Indira Jaising the challenges lie, because if you read all the reports, particularly July 1, 2006 when you read the human development reports that have been - 46 - - 47 - Madhu Kishwar is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and Director of the Indic Studies Project. She is the Founder Editor and publisher of Manushi – A Journal about Women and Society published since 1979. Ms. Kishwar is also the Founder President of Manushi Sangathan – a forum for research- based activist interventions. It works for democratic reforms that will promote greater social justice and strengthen human rights. The Sangathan endeavours to go beyond offering critique to testing strategies that provide viable and worthwhile solutions to the problems confronting India today – denial of inheritance rights to women, religious and ethnic conflicts, and livelihood rights of the self employed poor. tc L=h v©j iq#’k d¨ lekt d¨ feydj pykuk A scholar and a prolific writer, Ms. Kishwar has authored and edited a number of books: Zealous Reformers, Deadly Laws; Deepening gS r¨ iq#’k d¨ Òh vc lkearh n`f’Vd¨.k R;kx dj Democracy: Challenges of Governance and Globalization in India; Off L=h d¨ vuqxkfeuh ugÈ] lg;k=h d¢ :i esa ns[kuk the Beaten Track: Rethinking Gender Justice for Indian Women; pkfg,A Religion at the Service of Nationalism and Other Essays; The Dilemma ukjh “kfDr tc tkxrh gS rc fuekZ.k g¨rk gS v©j and Other Stories; Gandhi and Women; In Search of Answers: Indian l`f’V jpukRedrk dh iqyd l Òj mBrh gSA Women's Voices from Manushi; Women Bhakta Poets, Lives and Poetry of Women Mystics in India from 6th to 17th Century and Rashtriyata Ki Chakri Mein Dharm. Ms. Kishwar has also contributed chapters to over vr% vkt vko“;drk gS fd ukjh viuh “kfDr d¨ twenty books and has published numerous articles and research papers. She igpkusA ml ij fo“okl djs] Lo;a tkxs v©j fQj also makes documentary films on a variety of themes in order to mobilize lkjs fo“o d¨ txk,A opinion on social issues. Ms. Kishwar is a member of Task Force, Criminal Justice, National Security vfLrRo ladV ls tw>rh rhljh nqfu;k dh ukjh and Centre-State Cooperation, Inter-State Council Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India; a member of Steering Group for a series M‚- nhik ekfVZUl of seminars on 'Public Representation of Religion called Hinduism', set up by School of Arts, Histories and Cultures University of Manchester; a member of Governing Council, Common Cause; on the Board of Governors, Janaagraha, Centre for Citizenship and Democracy; a member of the Advisory Board, National Commission on Enterprises in the Unorganized and Informal Sector, Govt. of India; on the Executive Committee, Editors Guild of India; on the Board of Trustees, Indian Social Studies Trust; and a member of the Advisory Board, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Society. For her outstanding achievements and contribution, Ms. Kishwar has received a number of prestigious awards: Order of Human Rights: All India Sikh Conference; Chameli Devi Jain Award, Best Woman Journalist of the Year, Media Foundation; Haldi Ghati Award, Outstanding Journalist of the Year, Rana Mewar Foundation; Prabha Puruskar, for 'distinguished service to the cause of women' Keshav Smarak Sansthan; Deshasnehi Award, India Development Foundation; Vidula Samman, instituted by Vikas; and the Annual Award for Community Service by Indians for Collective Action. - 48 - - 48 (i) - THE AVATAR OF MANUSHI SWACHH NARAYANI – THE GODDESS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE AND ECONOMIC FREEDOM I am really delighted to be here with you to share this occasion to remember Dr. Deepa Martins, one of the outstanding daughters of Mother India. We met through the People's Union for Civil Liberties in Jaipur, and when I read what she wrote, when I read about her engagements, I realized that it is not just a birthday that I share with her – Dr. Deepa Martins and I, we are truly kindred spirits. Ms. Madhu Kishwar with Mr. Anupam Martins, Dr. Martins talked not only about rights related to women alone. Ms.Teresa John Mathew, Ms. Shefali Martins & Ms. Bharti Tolumbia Being women, we must talk about rights related to women, but we should avoid following what I call, "the ladies' compartment approach" to women issues which is to say, "We hurt only when women hurt" or that "When it's about dowry or rape laws, let women talk. Or if it's about foeticide or sex selection, women may speak. But rest of the issues are the responsibility of men. What is farm policy? Let men decide." Why can't women talk on farm policy? Or why can't they talk on defence policy? Why should we leave these issues just to men? Women should also be aware of the structure of our economy. In fact women should know which sector holds what share in the national budget. It should not be that men discuss the issues of health and education and women only discuss dowry acts and laws against rape. Dr. Deepa Martins, moving ahead of the ladies' compartment Ms.Teresa John Mathew approach, worked for communal harmony. She was a very active welcoming Ms. Madhu Kishwar with a bouquet member of the PUCL of which I am a life member. She was active on socio-cultural issues; she was active as an educationist and took an interest in a variety of issues especially those that have a deep bearing on the well-being of society. We do share that kind of approach. We are kindred spirits in another sense also. Dr. Deepa Martins started her career teaching English and so did I. Like her, after doing my MA in English and becoming a lecturer, I moved away from the discipline because I realized that knowledge only of English and English Literature cuts us off from our own social reality. If we do not have knowledge about the culture and languages of our own country, if we know what Milton and Coleridge have written but not what Tagore and Premchand have said; if we have read Chaucer but lack Ms. Madhu Kishwar delivering the keynote address information about Shakuntalam; if we are without a live connection - 48 (ii) - - 49 - to the culture, to the language, to the history and the civilization of more jobs than there are people to fill them, especially qualified our own people, we cannot be useful members of our society. So I people, and you will be among those. Of course it is important to work moved to study History and wrote bilingually. Most of my work is in hard. I am not trying to discourage you from doing that, and I am sure Hindi. Many of us who learn English, tend to get stuck in it, like the that your teachers remind you of that every day. But what is equally frog in the well, because it has too many rewards. I want to tell you important, is to fulfill your duties towards the society you live in. In young students that you are studying in one of the best schools in your own family, if you are bright, but some of your relatives are not, Rajasthan, and it is an English medium school. But I do hope that you or if your brother is lagging behind, then it hurts you, because you take inspiration from the founder of this school, Dr. Deepa Martins, would like to see the whole family move forward together. Similarly, it and you do not cut yourselves off from your own people, your own is also very important that the whole society moves up together. languages, your own culture. Stay connected. Yes we must learn to Today, the other nations are talking about our corporate sector converse with the whole world, but we must not forget to converse building up and setting the foundation for the multi-nationals which with our own people. We should know how to talk to people in are succeeding. The IT sector is booming and gaining popularity and England when we go there, but we should also know how to talk to our our scientists, technologists and graduates from IIM are gaining own people at home. Dr. Deepa Martins did this during her lifetime. recognition throughout the world. But at the same time we cannot You are truly fortunate to be in a school where I see every brick breathe afford to forget that India as a whole is not shining. The lives of more her spirit. than 65% of people in our country are not shining. In fact their lives I unconsciously have a habit of creating a measurement scale in my are getting darker – particularly the lives of people who are self- mind about the moral health of the institutions where I am called. I employed – rickshaw pullers, fishermen, bus drivers, hawkers and first go and look into the washroom. If that is clean and spotless, it weavers. shows that the institution is in good health. And very unconsciously, I This nation has been witnessing the aftermath of poverty for 20 ' “ ” didn t plan it, but as I entered I asked, May I use the washroom? decades or so, but the difference between the rich and poor, the divide And it was spotless. Then, as I came here, I saw you all, so many between the privileged and unprivileged is increasing day-by-day. It is students, sitting here together in complete silence, in complete our duty to bridge this gap between the two sections of our society. discipline. It was very inspiring because these are values that will stand you in good stead. Discipline – when to talk, when not to talk – these We always think that it is the duty of the government to fulfill the values will come even more handy to you than the marks you get in demands of the society, to sketch out the plan and work upon it in your examinations. such a way that it bridges this gap between these two extreme zones within the society. We believe if we are electing our representatives, You are very fortunate to be studying in a school which has been then they ought to work for the welfare and betterment of the society. founded not as a business exercise, but to serve society, to give you the Why do we forget that we are part of this society? We also need to work best education, to give you the best values. Your parents and your for the betterment of the society and its people, because unless we join families will expect that you build good careers – and you will, because hands together and help and work for the upliftment of the in this country very few have the golden opportunity of getting an downtrodden, our society cannot develop. We all have to be the part education as good as this. You know, many children are not even able of that common resolve. to reach schools. And those who do reach, reach those schools where teaching does not take place or the level of teaching is so low that even The greatest achievement of the freedom movement led by Mahatma after studying for eight and twelve years, students are not able to read Gandhi in this country was that Gandhiji was able to bring the rich or write four lines of a letter. So their education is of little use. You have and the poor, the mill owner and the labourer, people from different among the best teachers; you are getting the best education that the regions of India, from different caste backgrounds, and different country has to offer. So you do not need to worry about your careers – religions together to fight for the common cause of freedom. you will, without doubt, have many doors open to you. There are However, Gandhiji did not just want freedom in the sense of being - 50 - - 51 - free from foreign rule and letting society be the way it was – his vision society? If you want to live in a society which operates with dignity for was 'Swaraj'. And yet if we look into the depth of reality, we find that all, with dignified rights for all, then you must start with your own the history of the post-independence India has been such that with the family. So I would appeal to all the young men to make a promise to widening gap between the income of the rich and the poor, the gap yourself to see that your sisters get an equal share in the property. I between the heart and the mind i.e. the emotions and intellect, has must say to the girls that if you wish to be treated as equal members of also increased. the family, then you have to be ready to take equal responsibility with your brothers towards your parents. Your parents must never think I have often heard the middle-class and the upper-middle class people, that their security in old age lies only in the hands of their sons. It is the my friends, relatives and my neighbours, talking about the poor as, responsibility of all the girls to prove themselves as daughters and as 'they', 'these people' as if the poor are somewhat different, as if they are good supports as their brothers prove to be. That is the pledge you not like us. This in itself tells us that we have stopped identifying with must take. Your parents must never treat you as 'paraya dhan', as if you our own people and the moment we do this, our success comes to a cannot support them and only need protection yourself. Each one of halt. Those of us who think we can build little islands of privileged you can be a Durga, a Rani Laxmi Bai without picking up the sword. people with massive gates and a watchman, thinking that we are safe ' and secure, are mistaken. It will not work, because if we are Today s Durgas should not shed blood. On the contrary, they must surrounded by miserable people, angry people, desperate people who bring peace in today's violent world. Once you build up that are not able to make a good living, then they will take their revenge, atmosphere of equality, of fair play, in your own families, you can then and we will witness more crime. So our own well-being lies in the well- act as responsible citizens who become instruments of social justice in being of everybody in society. our society. However, if we want to build a just society, then we should make a People tend to think that if we want to give justice to all sectors of beginning from our own homes. It is not only the duty of the NGOs society then we have to act like Gandhiji and live an ascetic life. That is to work for the development of society. In fact it is the responsibility of not necessary. This is required only when the common man of the one and all; otherwise we have no right to call ourselves citizens, society has forgotten his/her responsibility. But if we all become little because citizenship means duties, responsibilities and rights. It must Gandhis then it will make a vast difference. Raja Rao's novel start from our own families. I see lots of young boys and girls here 'Kanthapura' tells you that if Gandhiji was able to take his message studying together. I believe in this school two-thirds of the students across the length and breadth of the country, it was because Gandhiji are boys and one-third are girls. All you young people have brothers was able to get the support of many little Gandhis all over India. In and sisters at home. I would say that your first act of responsibility every village and city, little Gandhis came forward and this made a vast must begin with ensuring that the rights of all the members of the difference. family are respected. Whichever environment you are living in, you only need to become A trend in Indian society is to take the view that girls are 'paraya dhan', active citizens who ensure that injustice is not being done. If a woman and have to leave their family and go and serve their in-laws, while the is being beaten by her husband and by her in-laws, you, as the boys will stay back to take care of the ancestral property. Girls are given neighbours, have a responsibility to stop the violence. For this you do only a dowry – a dinner set, a sofa set, jewelry. The boys get income- not need the police. All you have to do is to go and raise your voice generating forms of property like a house, a shop, a piece of land, a against the injustice done to the woman. factory, a business – whereas girls only get basic domestic essentials. It is not enough to think only of our family and of people like Lots of people talk about abolishing dowry, but I must say that the act ourselves. That is one part of being good citizens. But an equally of dowry or the system of giving dowry will not come to a halt until the important aspect that we tend to miss out, is to see that in our own daughters get a share in the parental property. Think – if there is no city, in our own neighbourbhood, the poor people who come to work unanimity in our own homes, then how we can talk of unity in the for us and our neighbours, are not being mistreated. Do we help them - 52 - - 53 - when the slum areas where they live are wiped away in order to Now, the government keeps talking about poverty alleviation and 'beautify' the city? The reality is that we often do not even think about employment guarantee schemes. We only make one request to the them. So, at least in your city, in your neighbourhood, be aware of government: "Kindly do not create problems for such people. Enable what is happening in the lives of the people who are less privileged. As them to earn their livelihood." When I was young, the cycle rickshaws students, the least each one of you can do is to share your privileges were beautiful but today they are not so. If you go to Korea and with the poor children around you. Each one of you, for example, Thailand, you find the street hawkers with efficient vehicles on which could start with adopting one child from a poor family and try to share they conduct their business successfully. But in India these cycle some of the education that you are getting with this child. If you learn rickshaws are either broken or they are not in good condition. The to share your time and knowledge with others, you will be able to reason behind this is that they are taken in custody and heavy taxes are expand your own knowledge and develop your own capacity to do levied on them. So no one is ready to use modern technology in their better. Remember, good work is to be done everyday. I learnt this from rickshaws. Our municipal law regarding street vendors comes from an old woman with whom I stayed in America. She expected her British law according to which, without a license from the grandchildren to keep aside 10% to 20% of their pocket-money government, it is illegal for a person to have a cart. But the everyday to help the needy. When I asked her why she made the municipality does not give them the license and so it is not fair. These children save their money everyday and not on a monthly basis, she hawkers sell us things at cheaper rates. They are vital for farm economy replied that good deeds must be practised everyday. If you want to as well as small-scale industries because they have a business turnover become a good human being, you need to practise being good of four hundred thousand crore rupees per year. It means that they are everyday. And you will see your own life becoming so much richer a vital part of the urban economy. Yet we consider them illegal. They once you do that. If you start your day with giving, even if you give provide services to us and yet we allow them to be frequently beaten. little things, that makes your personal life rich. Then you, in your own Vendors have fought long battles over this. environment, can be a citizen who can change the fate of India. It is So, when we started our campaign, I shot a film and telecast it on very easy to give a little donation if you have a lot of money, but you Doordarshan, and subsequently we started showing it to policy- will find that far more important is to give of your time, give of makers, to the ministers and even to the bureaucrats showing them the yourself. consequence of considering the vendors illegal. The vendors, seeing When I was in Delhi about 15 years ago, I used to buy fruits and the policemen taking bribes and beating innocent people, had vegetables from a nearby market. The hawkers there were stopped respecting the law. This in turn led to the spread of crime. unnecessarily troubled because the municipality officers used to come One feels, if I am a pick -pocket at least the police will give me protection and destroy the hawker markets. When I asked them why they were but if I am a vendor I will be beaten black and blue. A very a dangerous doing so, they replied saying, that the hawkers had illegally occupied message was being given that hard work does not pay. So we began the area and that the municipality was clearing the area for the campaigning for reform. We organized public hearings, jan sunwaies, convenience of people like myself. Now, it sounds very reasonable, but and we petitioned the municipalities saying that we would show that the story that came out was one of horror. After sometime these world class discipline and order could be built, if people were given hawkers came back and setup their markets. I asked them how they dignity and security of livelihood. We asked to be given a dirty market had managed to come back after the clearance operation. I discovered and said that we would try to build a world class, well-disciplined that these hawkers who were earlier paying a bribe of Rs. 500 to the hawker market there. After taking the permission of the Supreme policeman and to the municipality officers, had now promised to pay Court, we began organizing the street vendors systematically. We told Rs. 600 to 700 after the clearance operation. We also estimated that them that we had to show that this hawker market was one of the best the policemen and the municipality officers, by exercising their hawker markets in the town. We made each one sign a legal document control over the lives of vendors, were taking bribes to the tune of 500 to show that they were not a public nuisance, but it was the system crores per month. which forced them to stay in such a manner. - 54 - - 55 - There are still some who consider the fourth class society Dr. Shantha Sinha is a Professor in the Department of 'untouchable' and it is just because they do our cleaning for us. I Political Science in Hyderabad Central University and believe cleanliness is a sacred activity. So, to instill this respect for an anti-child labour activist of international repute. She cleanliness, and to instill the respect that cleaning is a sacred duty, we is the founder Secretary Trustee of the Mamidipudi began worshipping the broom. This broom is not only the symbol of Venkatarangaiya (MV) Foundation. The foundation's cleanliness but also a symbol of sweeping out the corruption prevalent work in setting up residential bridge courses for rescued in society. It is also the symbol of universal brotherhood, because if child labourers and preparing them for formal schooling you tie sticks together to make a broom, it is difficult to break them. into an age-appropriate class, has been widely So this commitment towards making the environment clean gave acknowledged and has informed education policies in India and other birth to a 'goddess' and we gave her the name Manushi Swachh developing countries. The foundation has withdrawn over four lakh children Narayani. This goddess holds a broom in one hand and a camera in from work and mainstreamed them into schools. another, because all the work of a campaign needs to be documented. As head of an extension programme at the University of Hyderabad in 1987, In her other hands she holds a clock to remind us that in order to Dr. Sinha organized a three-month-long camp to prepare children rescued uphold the laws, the system of governance must change with time to from bonded labour to attend school. Later, in 1991, she guided her family's fulfill the requirements of the citizens and country; a calculator which MV Foundation – established to honour her grandfather – to take up this idea says that we should ask for accounts; a lamp which is a symbol of hope; as part of its overriding mission in Andhra Pradesh. This was to link the total a clarion to invite happiness in one's life; a jow-ki-barley to say that abolition of child labour to the absolute right of every child to go to school. th Working locally in each school district, her foundation mobilizes parents, the message must spread. Finally, the 10 hand of the devi is in abhay teachers, and elected officials to insist upon better schools and to support the mudra, blessing everyone. cost of schoolhouse improvements and extra teachers. I wish good luck to one and all. In the poverty-stricken villages of Ranga Reddy district, Dr. Sinha and her Thank you. foundation team encouraged local people to identify out-of-school and bonded children and urged their parents and employers to release them. They then Madhu Kishwar organized transition camps to prepare the children to attend school. Today, the April 5, 2007 MV Foundation's bridge schools and programmes extend to 4,300 villages. Dr. Sinha's formal organization is relatively small, but nearly thirty thousand volunteers and countless youth clubs, village education committees, teachers' groups, and other affiliated organizations are carrying its spirit and work even farther afield. Through this ripple effect, the foundation is creating a social climate hostile not only to child labour but also to child marriage and other practices that deny children the right to a normal childhood. A rights activist, Dr. Sinha's contribution to a phenomenal reduction in child labour is perhaps unparalleled. Recognizing her work, the Government of India appointed her as the first chairperson of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) which was set up in March 2007 under the Commission for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005. In recognition of her untiring efforts and deep commitment to the welfare of children, Dr. Shantha Sinha has been awarded the Albert Shanker International Award from Education International in 1998, the Padma Shree in 1999, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 2003. - 56 - - 56 (i) - BATTLE FOR SCHOOLS: STRUGGLE OF THE FIRST GENERATION LEARNERS Dr Shantha Sinha with Mr. Anupam Martins I must say that I am indeed honoured that I have been asked to speak & Ms. Bharti Tolumbia today, and deliver the Dr. Deepa Martins Memorial Lecture. I have been listening with a lot of interest to the great contribution that Dr. Deepa Martins has made, the person that she was, the inspirational role that she played, in a manner that was strong and silent, the varieties of issues that she was closely involved with, her values of secularism, communal harmony, civil liberty, dignity of women, and most importantly, the value of education – these are very significant issues, which the entire country is grappling with, and Dr. Deepa Ms. Aruna Roy Martins has contributed hugely in enhancing these values which we & Dr. Shantha Sinha need to imbibe, need to celebrate, need to remember, need to foster light the lamp before and to take forward. the portrait of Dr. Deepa Martins Today I thought I will talk to you about the battle for schools and what I mean by this. Most of you here today are children. Not corrupted by the world of adults, you have a clean heart, you are, each one of you, a spiritual entity, you are willing to see the truth. So it is nice to be talking to you and sharing some truths with you. I want to tell you two things that are happening in our country today regarding children. One thing that is of significance but which is not fair, is that children are being drawn into joining the labour force. Large numbers of Dr. Shantha Sinha delivering the children, millions of children are not in a position of advantage as we keynote address are. Just as many children are sitting here today, the same numbers of children are not sitting in a school and are outside the schools today. What are these children doing there? These children are in fact producing almost all that is necessary for us to sit here on these chairs today. If we have roti, kapada, makan, then, somewhere, in some way, children have contributed to all the three. Let me tell you that no agriculture in this country is happening without children working. Young girls of nine, ten, and eleven, are working on farms under the Mr. Anupam Martins sun day in day out. Deprived of their right to education, they work presenting a bouquet to Dr. Shantha Sinha relentlessly, they work very hard. They work hard to see that our country's food is produced, that we all live well with food security. In fact our country owes it to the generations of young girls and boys who worked in producing food in our country. - 56 (ii) - - 57 - Let us look at the watch we wear. If I give you a call now: Let us boycott time is there is a doubt that they will not be there. But this is not true products made by child labour – then you will find that none of us for most children. For many children coming up to class X is like would be wearing what we are wearing today. Every yard of cotton has winning a lottery ticket. There is no guarantee. They do not know the blood and sweat of a child in the making of it. No cotton in this whether they will finish class X or not. Like, when you buy a lottery country is produced without children working and, in fact, I have ticket, you do not know if you are going to win the lottery or lose the been following the plight of children who work for production of lottery. So for many, many children in this country, completion of hybrid cotton seeds. There are estimates that somewhere between fifty school is like winning a lottery. And this is not a condition that should thousand and one lakh fifty thousand children go from Rajasthan to prevail. Gujarat to produce hybrid cotton seeds. Huge numbers of children, What are the things that come in the way of their continuing school? I like butterflies, are doing cross pollination. They take the pollen of a will give you an example of what happens. Many of us think that the flower and then pollinate it to produce cotton buds, which will be parents of these children want them to work. But I think that it is used for seeds to grow more cotton. So in a way, the cloth we wear, also because the parents, as they are illiterate, do not know how to send a has child labour in it. child to school. When we go to school in the morning, we have to be In every building built, brick by brick, you will find that there are punctual. If the school starts at 9:00 we must be in school by 9:00. I children who have been deprived of their right to education, deprived am sure even in St. Stephen's the teachers and the school of their right to health and nutrition. Children are at the moment administration say that you must be disciplined, you must be here by working at brick kilns and construction sites – children between the 9:00 in the morning. So you will find between 8:00 and 8:30 in our ages of fourteen and eighteen, which seems to be the most productive houses, the entire family is trying to prepare you for school, so that you age for construction work at the moment. You find that for all the roti, don't miss out. Before 9:00 in morning, your school bags get ready, kapada and makan that is being produced in the country, there are your home-work books get ready, your lunch box gets ready – children working for these products. So we are duty bound to see that sometimes you don't know where you put your tie and then you have they do not work there. They are working there not because they are your brothers, sisters, mother, father everybody searching for the tie, poor – they are working because they can work for long hours; they are and then putting the last knot on your tie and you are packed to school working because they can work without questioning; they are by 9:00. There is a whole culture of packing a child to school, and as working there because those who employ them need cheap labour. literate parents, we know how to do it. The illiterate parents, they While this is happening, on the other hand there is an explosive know how to pack their children for work, because they have been demand for education today – poor or rich, everybody today sees the doing this for generations, but they do not know what it means to value of education. Parents want their children to go to school, they pack a child for school, to pack a school bag, what home-work is; they are willing to make enormous sacrifices to send their children to don't even have lights in their homes. So, in a way, you see this is the school, but for the poor, it is not easy. That is what is the battle is great divide – that illiterate parents just do not know how to send a about. It is very difficult to go to school and even more difficult to poor child to school, whereas parents who are literate, know how to finish higher secondary. In fact, there is no guarantee that all children send their child to school. will even finish the fifth class examination. The system has to be prepared to understand these hurdles – prepared Out of every 100 children who join schools in our country today, only to understand the background from which these children come. They 22 pass the class ten level, and only seven reach higher secondary. So need some sympathy and even before disciplining them, they need to the students in this school are indeed privileged that they know that be told: This is the manner in which you should get your child ready for when they join in class I, they will continue till they finish class XII. I school, otherwise it will be difficult for us to run the institution or for the am sure there are no school drop-outs in this school. There is a child to continue in school. There has to be a kind of negotiation, a guarantee that once they come to school, they will be there, and at no dialogue, a discussion with the parents. This is so necessary because - 58 - - 59 - they do not understand why we are telling them that their children do. In fact, if the school prepared the transfer-certificates without have to come to school by 9:00. waiting for the parents to ask for it, many of the issues would be In many tribal areas, you will find, they just go away for a wedding, resolved. But again what is important is that we must be sensitive to absenting themselves for two weeks or so. Then, when they come first generation learners. We have to stand by them and tell them: We back, they don't know to get back to school. When they are absent are with you, we will support you. We have to give them confidence and from work for three weeks, they know how to get back to work, how to then send them to school. If we do not give them confidence and keep talk to an employer. But when the children are absent for three weeks on saying: Your parents are illiterate, you are silly, you know nothing – the parents do not know how to get them back to a school. And that then it shows that we do not know how to keep a child in school. also requires some training along with telling them that education can Children are discontinuing education because the system is still not not happen if there are such long absences. These are the things one ready to absorb, to embrace the poor child. I can give you two will have to notice about the first generation learners. examples. We have just looked at issues of corporal punishment. We In a survey we did, we found that many schools have a lot of did a public hearing in Tamil Nadu. We heard about 19 cases of requirements. They tell the students to come with a long note-book corporal punishment of children where children were forced to or a checkered one or a double-ruled one. Now the parents of the first commit suicide because they could not take that punishment. One of generation learner, who are illiterate, do not know the long note book the cases was about a child who had only one set of school uniform. It from short note book. There are no stationery shops in the village. got wet in the rain and he went to the school without the uniform and They go once in a fortnight to the market. Many a times it has was punished – not physically, but insulted so much that the child happened in the schools that we were working with that, the parents went into depression, preferred not to live, and by night, committed would bring say a short notebook and not a long book and then the suicide. child would be punished for getting the wrong book. The child now We have to know that children are delicate. They have a mind of their cannot tell the parents: My teacher wants this and not this, because even own, a heart of their own. They are to be treated with respect, and yes – that wrong book was brought with such a great difficulty. Gradually, they have to be disciplined, but if it comes with a respect for the child, the child gets discouraged. The child gets the message: You don't know then the child is willing to accept the discipline. Children cannot be how to come to a school. So the child stops coming to school, starts insulted, they cannot be humiliated just because they are poor, just playing marbles, climbing trees, going out and slowly, without the because their parents have not been educated. These are the battles, parent knowing, the child just drops out of school, because he has not and if we win these battles in the schools, I am sure these children will brought the long notebook which he should have brought. This kind not join the ranks of child labour. Schools must prepare students. of problem we have with first generation learners – over such small Schools must not push out children to join the labour force and be things, a child loses the opportunity of education. available for the market. We have also found that children, who finish class V and have to go to Before I close, I want to give you examples of how brave children are. class VI, must get their transfer-certificate done. Many poor parents One is a case of a girl whom I met at Jharkand two months ago. She is a do not know how to get a transfer-certificate done and the schools girl from a tribal society. She is now about ten years old. When she was keep postponing this work. In some cases we found they were not seven years old, she was living in the forest in a tribal area and a middle issuing certificates because of a lack of stationery. They had just three man, a contractor, came and took her away to send her to Delhi to to four sheets of paper, there were over 50 children who needed work as a domestic servant with the false promises of money and certificates, so they kept dodging and only those parents who had the schooling. She cried and said that she did not want to be separated grit to continue got the transfer-certificate, the others did not. These from her forest, from her home, from her neighborhood, from her are minor issues and can be rectified if the schools are sensitive to the family; she didn't want to be separated from her parents. But they just problems of illiterate parents and tell them what it is that they have to carried her and put her in the truck and said that she had to go. From - 60 - - 61 - the time she got on to the truck, she began to plan her escape. From stand by them and see that they win their battle for schools. If there are the truck, she was put into a train. She had to stand all night, then no teachers, we have to find out why are there no teachers and get finally, she went to the employer. She was not treated well. She was them there. If there is problem of attendance, then we have to look given a place under the stairway to sleep. She was very courageous and into the genuine reason for the absence and then put the child back everyday she made plans how to escape. She did try twice, but each into school. There must be zero tolerance for a child being out of time she was brought back to the house to work. school. We have to see that the child is actually in school and studying. The third time when she tried to escape, she was eight-and-a-half years Our society must feel shocked, must feel outraged that children are old. The police handed her over to a missionary organization. The not at school. We must look at the children's yearning for school, their organization arranged for her to be enrolled in school, and when I met aspiration for school, and get them to be in school because without her, she was in the sixth standard. Within a year she had an accelerated education, there is no democracy. Unless there is education, there is no learning bridge course. She wore a pretty a pink dress with a checked mobility. Unless there is education, choices cannot be made. Only blouse with nice red ribbon, and when she narrated the story, she education can break the cycle of inequality, and democracy is about looked like the greatest heroines I have ever met in my life. She told me equality. Democracy means bridging the gap between rich and poor. how she planned her escape from drudgery, how she planned her Democracy means social justice. It is not just voting rights. And if we escape from exploitation single-handedly, without any support. She support the education of children, if we stand by the poor in their said, "I will not tolerate this injustice on me. I want to be a free battle for schools, we are actually building a great nation and a great person," and that is how she got out of it and I saw her narrating the democracy. story with such pride. Her mother was next to her and she stood up Let me finally tell you that I am, as all of you are, a very proud Indian – and said, "She is my child. Now she is in sixth class." You know that proud of our achievements, proud about our democracy. But if we pride in that mother – when a child becomes a child the parent also work hard and nurture it, I think we will become a greater democracy becomes parent. And she said, "I will never do this again to my and much prouder Indian citizens. daughter. I am very sorry. I should have never done this. Nobody told I must thank St. Stephen's School for giving me this opportunity to me that I too can send my child to school." Today that mother is an talk to you, and I urge all the students here to stand by the poor, and to agent to help send all the children in the tribal village to school. see that they win their battle for schools. Young girls and young boys are sending out the message that they do Thank you very much. not want to work, they are planning to get out of work. I can give you stories of how young boys, who are working as farm servants, wear one set of clothes over the other, scheming to escape at night, taking trains Shantha Sinha and buses, coming to Delhi to see if they can find a way to study. April 5, 2008 Unfortunately when they come to Delhi, they get into a racket of drug addiction and they get into another kind of mafia over which they have no control. This should not happen. Children must win their battles. In fact, children should not be fighting at all. As adults we have to stand by children. We have to see that they are not exploited. We have to see that there is no drudgery of work, we have to see that they go to school regularly. It should not be a lottery ticket. It has to be a certainty, an institutional responsibility, that they finish school. And if there is some barrier that comes in the way, then, as adults, we have to - 62 - - 63 - Dr. Syeda Hameed is a Member of the Planning Commission, Govt. of India. Her responsibilities include Women and Children, Health, Voluntary Action Cell, and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. She was responsible for writing these chapters for the Eleventh Five Year Plan. The states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and the UTs of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli are also under her charge. Dr. Hameed is the Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. She is a Founder Member of The Muslim Women's Forum; Founder Trustee: Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia; Founder Member: South Asians for Human Rights; Founder Trustee: Centre for Dialogue and Reconciliation; Vice-Chairperson, National Board for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; Member, Island NaVrs gSa tc grk“kk d¢ dkys ckny] Development Authority, and co-chairs the Sub-group of Experts eu lj¨oj esa f[kyrs gSa “kqÒz “krnyA on the Jarawa. fQj ls deZBrk esa g¨rh gS jfr] Dr. Hameed's major publications include: They Hang:12 Women in My thou d¢ lqanj Lo:i esa txrh gS vuqjfDrA Portrait Gallery; My Voice Shall be Heard: Status of Muslim Women 2003, and Mussaddas-e-Hali, verse translation of Maulana Altaf Husain ok.kh d¨ feyus yxrs gSa ojnku u;s] Hali's Magnum Opus comprising 394 cantos. Dr. Hameed has also authored O;fDrRo d¢ fQj egdrs gSa vk;ke u;s- Shanti Parasmoni: Women's Bus of Peace from Kolkata to Dhaka, and gesa ;gh “kk“or lR; lnk caèkkrk gS èkhjt] Journey For Peace: Women's Bus of Peace from Delhi to Lahore; fd gj dkys ckny d¢ ihNs ls vo“; >kadrk gS lwjtA Dr. Zakir Husain: Teacher Who Became President; Voice of the Voiceless: Status of Muslim Women in India; Islamic Seal on India's Independence: *dkys ckny ls >kadrk lwjt* Maulana Abul Kalam Azad; The Contemporary Relevance of Sufism; M‚- nhik ekfVZUl Rubaiyat-e-Sarmad; India's Maulana: Abul Kalam Azad; and A Dream Turns Seventy-Five; Under publication is Gard and Gardish: Dust and Movement. The honorary posts that Dr. Hameed holds include: Advisory Board Member, South Asia Foundation-India; Board Member: Indo-Global Social Service Society, ActionAid Association, Indian Social Institute and Olakh; Chairperson, Hali Panipati Trust; Member Haryana Urdu Academy; Trustee: Dalit Foundation, Janvikas, Navsarjan, Sahr Waru and Sangat Trusts. She has previously been the Chairperson, Governing Body: Lady Irwin College; Member Women's Empowerment Committee, Govt. of NCT of Delhi; Member Delhi Urdu Academy and Trustee National Foundation of India. Dr. Hameed has taught extensively as a Sessional Lecturer at the University of Alberta and at Lady Shri Ram College. She has held the posts of Executive Assistant to Minister of Advanced Education & Manpower and Director of Colleges & Universities, Govt. of Alberta, Canada. For her outstanding and monumental contribution, Dr. Hameed is the recipient of the Padma Shree, 2007, and the Al-Ameen All India Community Leadership Award, 2006. - 64 - - 64 (i) - FAITH AND TOLERANCE The very first thing I want to say is that when I was asked to come here by Dr. Aruna Roy, I did not realize what a unique experience this was going to be coming to your school and to your city. I already feel the spirit of Deepa Martins. Though I never had the privilege of meeting her, I am imbibed with her spirit. I tried to understand her from reading her poetry. I also realize that what she stood for are the most compelling issues of our times and today as we remember her certainly for the memory that she has left behind we also remember Dr. Syeda Hameed with Mr. Anupam Martins her because the issues that she spoke of, she stood for, are the need in the times that we are going through. eSa 'kq: djuk pkgrh gw¡] mudh dfork dh rhu&pkj iafDr;ksa ls] tks cgqr ls fnyksa dks Nwrh gSa vkSj os cgqr lknxh ls viuh ckr djrh gSa] tks esjs [;ky ls cgqr t:jh Hkh gSA os fy[krh gS & ^ge rqe u gksaxs] rc Hkh mxsxk lw;Z] fudysxk pUnz] pedsaxs u{k=] ygygk;saxs o`{k] vk;sxk gj o"kZ clUr] vkSj fonk ysxk ir>M+A bl vuar izokg esa] ge gSa cqycqys ek=] vkvks lgt mUeqDr gks] Dr. Syeda Hameed & Ms. Aruna Roy lighting the lamp cgrs tk;sa] cgrs tk;saA* before the portrait of Dr. Deepa Martins vkSj tc eSaus mudh ;g iafDr;k¡ i<+h] rks eq>s MkWDVj bdcky dh nks iafDr;k¡ ;kn vkbZA ;s nksuksa Hkkouk,¡ fdruh feyrh gSaA MkWDVj bdcky dgrs gSa & ^ftUnxh balku dh ne ds flok dqN Hkh ugha ne gok dh ekSt gSa] je ds flok dqN Hkh ugha xqy rcLlqe dg jgk Fkk ftUnxkuh dks exj 'kek cksyh fxfjvk;s] xe ds flok dqN Hkh ughaA* rks vkt ge dqN J)k ls] dqN xe ls] vkSj dqN mEehn ls mudh ;kn dks mtkxj djrs gSaA I draw certain parallels with Deepa Martins' life and mine and one very basic parallel is - we both are students of Literature. We studied Literature and then from English Literature we switched completely to another idiom. She switched to Hindi and her books of poems and Dr. Syeda Hameed delivering the keynote address her other writings are a testimony to that. I switched to Urdu. I think - 64 (ii) - - 65 - in both the languages but the work I do is from Urdu to English which grew and both have to do with tolerance. They are lines from the is a very interesting leap of mind. The other parallel I found was the Koran. One says, – yk bdjk fQn~nhu and the other is ydqe fnukdqe] type of background we hailed from. I also come from a family of oys;nhu. These were the two pillars – yk bdjk fQn~nhu means there is Educationists. I come from a small place in Haryana, Panipat a city no compulsion in religion and ydqe fnukdqe] oys;nhu means to your known to all of you. Everyone is familiar with the Battles of Panipat religion and to me, mine. We co-exist. So with this underpinning and but what people don't know is that Panipat is a place for Sufis. It is the these teachings, I simply assumed that faith and tolerance were the garh of Sufis. This is where my ancestors came eight hundred years ago tenets of Islam. In my growing years though I grew up at a time, when from the Arabian Peninsula through Afghanistan during the time of the tensions were very high between the communities post partition - Ghiasuddin Balban. They came and settled down at Panipat - they our doors were open to all faiths. We did not just consider the people lived in Panipat. They were teachers, Sufis and philosophers because of all faiths but the whole of humanity - the global human family. We they were educationists essentially, Balban gave them land and said believed in all. By the time Marshall McLuhan was writing The they could live off the land and engage in teaching the people. And so, Medium is the Message, we had already imbibed it. Having studied in a against that family background, we lived in Panipat, till 1947, when Convent school, we would go to the Church before exams, we would by mutual agreement of the two Governments, my entire family was say our Namaz and we would observe all the Hindu festivals with our put into trucks and herded across the border and very few of us rks esjk oru tks ikuhir gS] tks gS Hkh vkSj ugha Hkh gSA friends. It was just a way of life. It was not a conscious process and the remained here. only thing which mattered while we were going to school was That is another commonality of the background of education. “excellence” - the achievements in academics, in sports, in extra- The other thing which I want to share with you is that my great great curricular activities. There was no consciousness that somebody was grandfather was an important poet of the Urdu language and hundred very rich or that somebody came from a modest family, who was a years ago he was writing about women's rights, rights of widows, Muslim, a Hindu, a Christian. Food was shared; it was also a co- harmony among various communities — how the Hindus, the educational school. Muslims, the Christians can live together. His name was Altaf Hussain So that was the kind of atmosphere in which I grew up. Perhaps, now Hali. He is a household name in Urdu literature. Unfortunately today things have changed considerably and children today are facing new we don't have enough aadan- pradan - which is another mission that challenges. What are these challenges? The cauldrons of animosity, we have to engage with, because this is the literature of our country. I'll distress, hatred have halted the deliberation of diversity. What it just quote four lines from his poem which lines that I feel are simply means is that instead of celebrating diversity, we have halted appropriate for this occasion as we are talking about faith and the celebration of diversity. We have broken down on so many tolerance. Writing about the various communities, hundred years ago, different lines. I want you children to understand that we are a part of he wrote— South Asia - Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, India the rqe vxj pkgrs gks eqYd dh [kSj] u fdlh georu dks le>ks xSjA lcdks strongest region in the world and yet we are completely fragmented ehBh fuxkg ls ns[kks] le>ks vk¡[kksa dh iqrfy;k¡ lcdksA lj lS;~n vgen inside and outside. Our bonds of community are dissipating and [kku dgrs gSa & esjh vk¡[k dh ,d iqryh fgUnw gS vkSj esjh vk¡[k dh nwljh people to people problems are under great strain. iqryh eqlyeku] eSa mu nksuksa esa dSls varj dj ldrk gw¡A lj lS;~;n eq>s ;kn gS] tc lu~ nks gtkj esa dkjfxy dh yM+kbZ gks jgh Fkh] ml le; gkyh dgrs gSa & lcdks ehBh fuxkg ls ns[kks] le>ks vk¡[kksa dh iqrfy;k¡ ge pkyhl efgyk,¡ fnYyh ls fudyha] gekjs ikl dqN [kkl iSlk ugha Fkk] lcdksA dksbZ lk/ku ugha Fks] vkil esa iSls tksM+dj] geus ,d cl dh vkSj efgykvksa dh ,d cl ysdj ge ykgkSj x,] veu dk iSxke ysdj] mlds I grew up in a family which was Muslim in the most liberal sense of tokc esa efgykvksa dh nks clsa ykgkSj ls fnYyh vkbZa ogha veu dk iSxke being Muslim. We thought Islam just meant being liberal. We had no other interpretation of Islam. There are two tenets of Islam on which I ysdjA ml oDr yxrk Fkk] ,d cgqr cM+k dne FkkA cfYd ml le; - 66 - - 67 - lcls T;knk uQjrsa FkhaA fnYyh ls ve`rlj ds jkLrs esa yksx cSulZ ysdj ewy gS] og ,d gh gS] ysfdu mlds rjhds vyx&vyx gSaA tks mldk ge yksxksa ds f[kykQ [kM+s FksA ge yksx fcYdqy ekewyh efgyk,¡ Fkha] gekjs vfLrRo gS og ,d gS vkSj mldks tc jktuhfrdj.k djds] yksxksa esa ikl dksbZ ljdkj dk lsaD'ku ugha Fkk] ij tc ge efgyk,¡ ogk¡ xbZa vkSj os uQ+jr dh vkx tykdj nqfu;k esa vkard QSyk;k tkrk gS rks ml le; efgyk,¡ ;gk¡ vkbZa] rks ml le; tks ljdkj Fkh oks c<+dj vkbZ vkSj dgk gesa vius foosd vkSj bUlkfu;r ls dke ysuk pkfg,A ;fn ge vius eu esa fd gedks crkvks vkidk fe'ku D;k gS\ >k¡d dj 'kkfUr ls ugha lkspsaxs rks ge nqfu;k dk ;g :[k cny ugha ldrsA That is the strength of the peace movement that ordinary people can start. But our children are growing up, as spectators to the dividing What have our children seen? Episodes of Maharashtrians being society, where terrorism has been accorded a religious identity. driven out of Maharashtra, attacks on Christians in Khandhmal, on Yesterday, in the morning, I was thinking about what I would say to Muslims in Godhara - children have been witnesses atrocities upon you. I was reading an Urdu paper in which there were two columns atrocities. What are we doing to the plurality of the country? When I that gave the number of terrorist attacks in Pakistan and India in a was growing up, Urdu was not just the language of Muslims like it has span of one year. I read the details and computed that in one year India become today. lost 567 people to terrorist attacks and Pakistan lost 428 people. India mnwZ ,d izkUr dh tqcku Fkh] mnwZ dh 'kk;jh gj etgc ds yksx djrs Fks] is a country of over billion people and per lakh India lost .05 people lcls csgrjhu 'kk;j mnwZ ds FksA fgUnw yksx mnwZ dh 'kk;jh djrs Fks vkSj and per lakh Pakistan lost 3 people. The enormity of it strikes us - the eqfLye fgUnh dh 'kk;jh djrs FksA vc rks bl ifj/kkj.kk dks lhfer dj fact that it is such a shame to humanity. What is happening today in fn;k x;k gSA eq>s Iykfuax&deh'ku esa ik¡p lky iwjs gks x, gSa] eSa the name of religion? I can firmly say that is not the meaning of my Iykfuax&deh'ku dh esEcj jgh gw¡ vkSj eSaus ;gk¡ ns[kk gS] iwjs ns'k esa tkdj religion. It is a view which is propagated by certain subversive cPpksa esa] vkidh mez ds tks cPps gSa] muesa D;k Hkkouk,¡ gSa\eSaus rLohj ds elements across the border and all over the world in the name of my religion. That is not my religion because my religion means peace. nksuksa fgLls ns[ks gSaA eSaus vki tSlh cgqr lh ;qok yM+fd;ksa dks ns[kk gSA Islam means peace. Where a Muslim greets another Muslim with As- ckjg ls pkSng lky dh yM+fd;k¡ cqudjkssa ds ikl cSBh] dksbZ mudh rkyhe Salamu Alaikum which simply means may peace be on you and the dk tfj;k ugha gS] NksVh yM+fd;k¡ vkSj cPps nwj&nwj ls ikuh dh [kkst esa response Wa Alaikum As-Salam means may peace also be on you. The ;gk¡ vkrs gSaA NksVh&NksVh yM+fd;k¡ vius ls NksVs HkkbZ&cfguksa dks story of Jesus is in the Koran, the story of Moses is in the Koran, the laHkkyrh gS] /kq,¡ ls Hkjs pwYgs ds lkeus [kM+s gksdj [kkuk cukrh gSA d'ehj story of Ibrahim is in the Koran - so how can we not respect every esa cgqr ls cPps [kks jgs gSa] muds vfHkHkkodksa dks ;g irk gh ugha gS fd religion? The absolute number of messengers that were sent down is muds cPps dgk¡ gSa\ os ftUnk Hkh gSa ;k ugha\ one lakh and twenty-four thousand - that is the plurality, the eclecticism of Islam. Then, I've also seen the other side of the picture the picture of hope - and what I remember the most are children like you. I've seen a small I was looking at the pictures of Afghanistan where the Bamiyan school in Kargil in Jammu & Kashmir where children faced bullets Buddhas used to stand and what a tragedy it is that all of that is gone - and bombs during the Kargil war and yet when I met them after one history is gone - because of madness. There was a time when pluralism and a half years of the war, they were absolutely determined to and eclecticism were practised in Islam, when Islam really grew. continue their education. In the far distance of Kargil, they were Started in the Arabian Peninsula, it spread all over the world but today dreaming of being engineers and teachers, to ensure a better future for that whole eclecticism is gone, giving way to narrowness, and the themselves. I remember in the very cold climate of Ladakh, girls result is before our own eyes. So I think that it becomes incumbent on sitting under the trees, attending lectures for their important Class 12 the younger people to restore that pluralism and eclecticism. vki toku yksx gSa] vkids eu esa ;g Hkkouk tkxuh pkfg, fd /keZ dk vlyh Board Examinations. I can think of a young girl in Malar Kotala named Parveen. I still remember her with a red dupatta, a Muslim girl eryc fo'okl vkSj mnkjrk gSA ftrus /keZ gSa nqfu;k esa] mu lHkh dk t¨ reciting a Punjabi poem. It was such a beautiful blend. I remember, - 68 - - 69 - Saddam, a young boy in Malegaon - who was about twelve years old at older brother Dara Shikoh, who was himself a Sufi. Dara translated that time. He operated power looms in the day and studied by night. I Upanishads from Sanskrit to Persian. The title of that Upanishad was remember a young girl in Jalpaigiri, her name, Hema Chaitri. Living Sirr-i-Akbar, The Great Mystery. on a remote tea estate she had to walk kilometers to her school I want to end with four lines from Sarmad. Although they are in everyday. She was bright. She wanted a future for herself. What I am Persian, I'll translate them in English. I think that this verse basically trying to tell you is, that as students of this very prestigious school with epitomizes what I'm saying about faith, about tolerance and about the best of teachers, with the best examples of Mr. Gilroy and Dr. true understanding. Sarmad wrote “A true lover of God is misled, both Deepa Martins with people who are interested in furthering your by religion and lack there of.” The moth burns herself, it does not education - there is a lot more responsibility that rests on your choose between a burning candle, whether it is in the Mosque or the shoulders because for every child going to school, there is a girl who is Temple. not getting good education and there are children who despite many difficulties are still pursuing an education. What is your So I leave with you the idea of true religion which means not responsibility? The poet, Dylan Thomas wrote two lines that I will distinguishing between a Mosque, a Temple, a Church, a Gurdwara. If always remember and I would like you all to remember. He wrote you are a moth, then your end is fanna and if this is the understanding, then Faith and Tolerance, easily becomes our creed. “Do not go gentle into the goodnight Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” God bless you all, God bless the memory of Deepa Martins. So, I want to advise you if I may, as a mother, as a person who deeply Thank you. respects the sanctity of this engagement of this institution - that do not take the hatred lying down. Every time you hear someone Syeda Hameed spreading hatred against any community Hindus, Muslims, April 11, 2009 Christians engage, talk, think, try to cool down the temperatures. Try to change the minds and nothing can be done unless your own mind is clear, unless your own conceptual clarity is there. vxj vki eu esa lkspsaxs fd dksbZ eqfLye gS rks oks vkradhoknh gh gksxk D;ksafd vkius ehfM;k esa mudh Nfo ns[kh gSA vxj vki mldh xgjkbZ esa ugha tk,xsa] lkspsaxs ugha] vlfy;r esa D;k gS rks vki fdlh dks le>k ugha ldsaxsA You must open the windows of your mind, get conceptual clarity yourself and only when you get that, can you fulfil the responsibility and do not go gentle in into the goodnight- rage, rage against the dying light. Today, we are facing a global recession but if this violence continues, then that melt down will be something of the most horrendous proportions. We are in the city blessed by Khwaja Garib Nawaz. The Dargah is here, the understanding is here, the Sufi tradition is in Ajmer and that is why Ajmer is so special. I have written a small little book about another Sufi Saint poet, Zahid Saeed. He is buried in Delhi and he is one of the most important Sufis. He was a mentor of Aurangzeb's - 70 - - 71 - vfèkdkj rqeus viuh >¨yh esa Òj fy;s v©j eq>s idM+k nh drZO;¨a dh yEch lwph ij fd;k O;aX; fu;fr us ;g fd rqEgkjh Òjh >¨yh jhrrh pyh xà v©j eq>s çfrfnu VwVrs jgus dh çfØ;k esa fey x;k thou lR;A rqe foftr g¨dj Òh ijkftr gq, v©j eSa t; ijkt; dh lhek ls cgqr nwj fudy vkà gw¡ cgqr nwj fudy vkà gw¡A *ukjh iq:"k&ç'u çfrç“u* M‚- nhik ekfVZUl - 72 - Ms. Indira Jaising Ms. Madhu Kishwar 2006 2007 Dr. Shantha Sinha Dr. Syeda Hameed 2008 2009 Dr. Deepa Martins 1951 - 2003 r. Deepa Martins, a teacher, grassroots social activist and litterateur Dwas the first Secretary of the Governing Body of St. Stephen's Senior Secondary School, Ajmer. She was a gifted teacher, nurturer, institution builder and a passionate social activist. In addition to giving unflinching support to her husband, Shri Gilroy Martins, in the educational pursuit of providing Ajmer a much-needed English medium school, she also dedicated much of her time to social issues in Rajasthan at the grassroots-level through the 'Mahila Samooh' — a women's self- help group she co-founded, and the Inter-Faith Fraternal Association — a group that promotes inter-religious harmony in Ajmer. Dr. Deepa Martins was also involved in several other voluntary and NGO efforts in Rajasthan while being a model friend, parent and wife. Her life reflected the values of youth working hard, improving knowledge with a career goal, serving family, society, the nation and humanity as a whole — all being complimentary, and starting with education. To celebrate these dimensions of Dr. Deepa Martins' life, and to carry forward her unique legacy, each year the School invites stalwarts from various fields to address, inspire and motivate the students and the faculty to foster the values of secularism, communal harmony, civil liberty and gender equality. Ms. Mrinal Pande, Shri Ved Vyas, Ms. Aruna Roy, Dr. C.S. Lakshmi, Ms. Indira Jaising, Ms. Madhu Kishwar, Dr. Shantha Sinha and Dr. Syeda Hameed are the distinguished Keynote Speakers that the School has hosted. This volume is a compilation of the thoughts and values that they shared with the St. Stephen's School Family.