Prisoners for life, or prisoners of life?

What did the word “prison” in the title bring to your mind? Going by what our movies have you believe, is it images of moustachioed, testosterone-charged men acting on a virtual carte blanche against cowering, stripped prisoners, who may be engaged in arduous labour? A bottomless abyss which scars you for life, from which there is no coming back, or a hope for a second shot at a dignified life? (I got my impressions more from Nelson Mandela’s descriptions in A Long Walk To Freedom, but the import is the same!)

Well, it’s not as bad as it looks, it’s worse. India had 3,26,519 prisoners in 1,140 prisons, as of 2011 (that’s 39.8% over capacity) and some of the conditions could make Mandela’s Robben Island cell look like a palace! What was surprising though was, only around 3.5% are females (even in largely misogynist settings, this big a skew is a surprise!). With society’s attitudes to prison and victims, a jail sentence is a death sentence. Many lose valuable years in the prime of their earning capacity thereby perpetuating further hardship on the rest of their family and little children, not to mention the attitudes towards them after release (if at all!). The less said about female prisoners and their post-release reintegration into society the better.

As part of the social club Make A Difference Foundation of my college IMT, Ghaziabad we realised we could attempt a significant change in the lives of these women prisoners. Our obvious port of call was Dasna Jail, Ghaziabad, the second largest in Northern India. Keeping with our intent of sustainability, we decided to follow up last year’s project on candles with solar lanterns this year. This was made possible due to help from the NGO, All India Womens Conference and Urja Unlimited who will provide the training to 18 selected inmates.

Selecting the inmates for the training was one of the many significant and revealing experiences. Trawling through list after list of inmates threw up many a sidelight. Brainwashed as we are on media/movie reinforced stereotypes of the impoverished school dropout youngster who goes astray and takes to crime, this was an eye opener. Tucked away among the many names was that of Sarita, a bank manager. She was one of the rare women who did the hard yards and was able to come up, braving a patriarchal system to achieve enough progress in her life to come up to the level of a bank manager, and here she was, cooling her heels in jail for a needless indiscretion driven by greed. There were also countless others whose background was eye-popping. What was surprising was the number of white collar crimes – forgery, cheating, multi-million rupee stamp-paper underwriting and so on. This pointed to relatively high levels of education and advancement that was frittered away so needlessly. Among them, were a few older women who were doing time for dowry related assault and murder, again showing that their own educational advancement even as women was wasted!

Taking in all this while looking to select relatively younger women with about a year to go for release, as a management student I couldn’t help notice the huge human resource and economic potential being wasted! The typical Indian bureaucratic sentiment is to treat them as less than worthy of human dignity, which is why there is very little by way of structured government initiatives towards reintegration with only notable exceptions like Kiran Bedi’s at Tihar, for which she is even reported to have been victimised by higher-ups. What on earth is the purpose of a jail, if not corrective action aimed at giving a new life?! The kind of degrading manual labour including scavenging that prisoners in India are largely subjected to, points to an societal acceptance of their branding as less than deserving of basic human dignity. This does nothing towards their rehabilitation, and only reinforces those very feelings of hatred that made them criminals in the first place. Well-meaning external initiatives by NGOs concerned die a slow death because of the cynicism, disinterest and ulterior motives of officers involved. The constant mental degradation prisoners face also reinforces their cynicism in the system which means they have a deep distrust of any such initiative.

The women, as would be expected, form the neglected section of the jail system, owing both to their lower numbers and to societal attitudes. The surest way to ward off their cynicism is to give them the confidence that they can stand on their own feet, should they need it, once they are out. Most of the women we were introduced to by a senior inmate, were either wary of the “strangers” or just plain disinterested. If they used their education to acquire a skill they could use while in jail, either in practice as income generating activity, or by training fellow inmates, their life would acquire greater meaning. Initiatives like the term-rebate-for-book-reviews scheme in Brazil that concentrate on using prison life constructively show prisons for what it should be – corrective rather than restraining centres. This is where our initiative aims at not only training them to manufacture the solar lanterns, but also to put in place a mechanism for them training other inmates so that the scheme continues in perpetuity.

What left the biggest impression on me was interacting with some of them. Many of them in their orange kurta-pyjamas were milling about as attenders, cleaners, cooks and general oddhands. Casual conversation with them seemed hardly different from those with the blue-collar employees of my own college, which was unnerving considering their dark pasts as murderers, robbers, and what not. While the casual work within the prison, (mainly for the senior prisoners with longer sentences) helps to beat daily drudgery and mental stagnation while also helping them learn new skills, it also negates the need for externally sourced employment for all this. A common criminal from underprivileged circumstances who takes up the carpentry, electric or cooking work in jail has some form of dignified employment to look forward to either upon release or as daily occupation within premises while in jail, while those with sufficient education, and who are in for white collar crimes do not comparatively lack in job-related skills.

All in all this experience was a lesson in humanly possibility. Tanya, one of the “sure-fits” for the training was a soft-spoken, pleasant lady who I found endearingly shy. She seemed pretty amiable, and looking forward to the training. It was astounding to learn that hid a sordid past for this former BPO employee who is serving time for a double murder. Manish has an entire line of paintings on various mythological themes on display there, that make you wonder at the truly meticulous effort that has gone into it, in addition to the skill. And when one learns that the same hands that served such jaw-droppingly awesome ginger chai, have strangled two women, one only has one pained question left at all the disused skills, “why, oh why?”!

But the biggest takeaway from it all? Till now, I was the most vocal supporter you could ever find, of the death-penalty in principle. Sashakt made me rethink. That experience, of meeting people there, hearing of their stories, and looking at the simply unbelievable potential for dignified rehabilitation, is a learning that no classroom lecture by any distinguished professor can ever give.

(Names have been changed to protect certain identities)

Food Security or Feud Security?

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of which India has been a founding signatory, talks of “inherent dignity” and “a freedom from fear and want”. However as of today, that remains but a worthless piece of paper in a world where one in five human beings has to see the day off on USD 1.25.

Against this backdrop, India, home to the highest numbers of such people passed the Food Security Bill last year. The Food Security Bill should be viewed as a moral imperative in a country where 47% of Indian children are malnourished, greater than 50% Indian women are anaemic and 836 million live on less than ₹20 per day. All the more because fiscal constraints or maximising government revenue were not the priority when distributing the 2G spectrum, nor even when the Commonwealth Games was hosted, or when around ₹4 lakh crores (USD 74.5b) are budgeted for direct corporate tax written off annually. If some of that is addressed, fiscal constraints will not come in the way of the second fastest growing economy in the world which is struggling with malnutrition and hunger while contemplating on the bill. There are enough states in India with excellent PDS facilities like Kerala and TN. Their model which has been acknowledged even by UNO can be used to improve the flagging PDS.

The stipulation that agricultural production has to increase to meet the expected production levels is a welcome thing since the investment leads to higher agricultural output and per acre yield, thus acting as a compulsory checklist solving many related problems for the policy makers. Moreover considering the fiscal constraints, the Centre is not to bear the costs alone, but the states will also pitch in.

The state of Maharashtra and indeed pockets of a few others afflicted by farmers’ suicides has been home to a very inhuman and degrading practice of “rotating hunger” borne out of circumstances. Since the meagre earnings of a day can in no way provide for enough nourishment to meet the requirements of heavy labour, it is the practice among families to allow one member of a family to eat well and work for that day while the others starve the day off and cannot work. This is passed on to another member the next day, meaning many people get to eat just once a week! This could be solved because instead of one of the family members eating a decent meal and then going to work leaving the rest starving or malnourished, the new system would ensure everyone eats enough everyday to increase capacity to work efficiently in physical labour, which again would have a cascading effect on output simply because there would then be more people engaged in labour.

The bill can improve the supply system thereby lowering prices, and also helps in the proper usage of otherwise rotting wheat as that is the only way out to meet the quantitative requirements. This helps combat food price inflation and fulfills many of the bill obligations without additional expenses by dipping into the quantity of rotting wheat every year and making a channel to distribute that.

As for the economic fallout, India is already reeling under a spate of bad news on the economic and capital markets fronts. The country’s economic growth is expected to slow down to 6.5% or lower for the year, thanks to a combination of several interest rate increases and a lack of reforms by the government as well as some blowback from the European financial crisis.

India’s fiscal deficit is around 5.5% of gross domestic product, higher than most other Asian countries and above the government’s official target of 4.6%.It is obvious that India cannot sustain such a high fiscal deficit for long. New spending as proposed by the food security bill will just make the fiscal side bleed even more. To meet the requirements of the Food Security Bill, India will annually need 60 million to 61 million tons of grains to feed people who will be eligible for assistance under the program, up from around 55 million tons it needs now for state-run welfare programs.

This will cause food subsidies to balloon to an estimated 94,973 crore rupees ($18.05 billion) in the first year of implementing the food security program, up from around 67,300 crore rupees now. The government will also need an investment of 110,000 crore rupees to boost farm output over next few years. It might be difficult for the government to buy or import enough grain to sustain the program, thereby necessitating a fresh Green Revolution of self-reliance in food production. Bluntly put, the spiralling deficit bill is no excuse. If that is the case the State must propel self-reliance in food production, that brings down a possible agriculture import bill.

A fundamental question about the bill remains: Would it actually alleviate hunger in India? India’s child malnutrition rates are worse than sub-Saharan Africa’s, and nearly half the country’s children are underweight, according to the World Bank.

Several parts of the Food Security Bill make it hard to predict its impact on hunger. Though under the recent recommendation the current categorization of “general” and “priority” may be done away with,the experience of many drought and suicide-prone states like Maharashtra in delivery of benefits to Below-Poverty-Line families does nothing to counter the cynical argument that this is another scheme for brazen pilfering in the name of facilities for the poor.

The bill does attempt to address the biggest shortcoming of the current system, which is that many of the poor do not get the subsidized food they are entitled to. For every rupee that reaches the common man, the government spends almost three because of such leakages. It works around this by proposing that poor Indians get a food security allowance, or cash, along with a complaint mechanism if they were not provided the food they should receive.

The bill has made an effort to empower women by recognizing them as heads of households, but without addressing how this would be enforced. This is especially significant considering the social setup of a country like India where women are viewed mostly (even by official machinery) as subservient/dependent on the men-folk of the house, irrespective of the actual workings in those homes. The hard to miss conclusion is that though good on intent, this bill does nothing to address the inherent weakness of access to official machinery of a woman in India’s deeply patriarchal system.

It is also unclear on the independence of compliance mechanisms. Regulatory agencies would be under the direct control of those very Central and State officials also responsible for providing subsidized food in the first place. State governments would also be required to set up vigilance committees, but those agencies’ powers would be limited to bringing violations to the attention of district officers and reviewing the implementation of the act. They do not carry any enforcement authority, resulting in little by way of penal action.

Lastly, food would continue to be provided through the chaotic existing government food distribution system, which the proposal only says the government should “endeavour to” overhaul. The absence of any time frame or penalties for not accomplishing that makes this aspect of the proposal merely a directive rather than enforceable. Here though one cannot form a blanket opinion. Though the Public Distribution System in India is admittedly terrible on the whole, there are pockets of efficiency that can be emulated, like the system in the States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu that have an outstanding system of universal PDS, one that has even elicited praise from the United Nations as a role model for state welfare delivery in similar underdeveloped economies.

On the whole, it is obvious that such an idea cannot succeed with a guiding mantra of “let’s do it if it’s economically viable else shelve it”. It has to be “Come hell or high water we need to get this going, let’s just see how this can be made economically viable”. It is an extremely well-intentioned proposal, with immense potential to provide a stable dignified livelihood to millions, but its efficacy depends on making mandatory the “advisory” or “suggestive” proposals on the delivery mechanism. Here’s hoping the mandarins in the Planning Commission get the good sense and intent to get this proposal going!

(The author acknowledges valuable inputs from classmate Pramit Das in the drafting of this post)

Speak Local but Think Global

“யாதும் ஊரே!! யாவரும் கேளிர்!”

(Every town is our hometown, everyone is our relative)

Poongundran, in the Purananuru, circa 1000 BCE

That was from an ancient literary work, first translated by a British missionary priest, being read in an American platform developed by Indian programmers, on a Japanese device manufactured in China, quoted here by a native Tamilian who has lived in Kerala all his life, as part of the placement process of a Delhi-based college, for a British company now based in the United States, with regional offices in practically every country in the world.

Thus, the modern-day importance of a global outlook cannot be overstated. It is undeniable that every living being in the 21st century has their life impacted by events and occurrences of consequence far away from their land of origin. Indeed, this write-up was made against the backdrop of media reports of slowing demand in the USA that is certain to impact recruitment in certain job-roles, far away in India.

World Trade Organisation frameworks and regional Free Trade Agreements have ensured that there is a free flow, of good, services and people across borders. This means that organisations and employees have to balance the opportunities that foreign markets provide, with the challenges that foreign entry into their own domestic markets may bring.

However, we also live in a world with deep-rooted beliefs borne out of upbringing and circumstance. These range from the religious to the political or the downright fanatic. Managers in foreign lands can ignore local sensibilities at their own peril. A McDonalds’ regional head cannot apply a one-size-fits-all model in India without understanding local attitudes towards beef consumption, nor can they in the Middle East without factoring in attitudes to pork or the restrictions during Ramadan. The regional manager who deemed it fit to bring the Starbucks brand to Saudi Arabia still had to follow local sensibilities by replacing the mermaid logo with that of a crown. It can also take seemingly insane proportions, creating undue problems for the workforce, as the boycott of Pepsi in Egypt over its rumoured references to Paying Every Penny to Save Israel suggest! That said, the political baggage associated with the home country of the product is hard to shake off. Many American companies have resorted to masking their products through “uncontroversial” manufacturing centres in order to win over decidedly anti-American consumer markets.

It is irrefutable that in modern day business only a product or service that is able to resonate in the minds of its consumers can survive. Therefore it cannot be achieved without having a trained workforce that is aware of local consumer needs, and also employee skills specifically essential for success in that market. However this is not necessarily the expense of a global brand identity. The apt example would be the proposed entry of Starbucks into India. An upcoming market like India’s, with a huge nouveau riche middle class base given to conspicuous consumption, was natural for a global brand like Starbucks to cash in on. For all the aspirational value that reclining in a Starbucks lounge with an espresso or a latte in hand holds, the McDonalds experience suggests that to ensure the sustainability of a global presence, they have to cater to local sentiments, for example, possibly doing a “McAloo Tikki” by bringing in a variant of the beloved Filter Kaapi in the South. Such an idea is best representative of how a brand can speak to the consumer in the way he understands best, at the same time enhancing the global presence of the brand and business.

Margazhi Musings

For aficionados of traditional music and culture, can it really get any better than this? To wake up to the lilting voices of some of the best practitioners of the trade, to absorb the rare deftness of touch, and the fine timbre of the various artistes, is a surreal experience. Indeed, music does to the soul what yoga does for the body, and mathematics does to the mind. If one ever needs a dose of authentic Dakshin Bharat, December is the time for it. Come mid-December, South India reverberates, to the rhythm and beat of the annual Margazhi Music Festival, a 30-day celebration in the Tamil month of Margazhi.

This is a tradition pioneered by the Music Academy of Chennai, being held since 1927. This is just an attempt to organize in a professional manner, what has been going on unofficially for centuries. Margazhi (mid-December to mid-January) being one of the cooler months, taking to music early in the morning not only enlivened the atmosphere, but was also a way of overcoming the early-morning chill and energising oneself. Ever since it first began in 1927, this festival has been the centre of attention for people the world over to catch a glimpse of their favourite singer or dancer. Indeed one can hear frenzied tea-time debates over the relative merits of the compositions of Dikshitar and Thyagraja, or the lyrical quality in the compositions of Maharaja Swati Tirunal, over those of Purandaradasa. Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan’s dexterity on the violin, over Lalgudi Jeyaraman’s imagination? Ramani’s fluency on the flute or Mahalingam’s genius? Bombay Jayashri’s soothing voice or Sudha Raghunathan’s innate flair? The linguistic command of Maharaja Swati Tirunal, or the touching emotions of Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wodeyar’s works? The arguments can reach a feverish pitch!

The city comes alive, and there is music in the air. This is the time the well-entrenched and the newcomers alike get a golden chance to parade their brand of music. Many are the sabhas, which vie to put up a grand spectacle, to showcase the best of music and dance, with the single objective of enthralling the rasikas. With each sabha having on their agenda the very best in music, surely, the connoisseurs never have it better. Improvements in rendering a raga or performance of a well-known composition are well received. The newcomers, capable of holding their own among the great pantheon, are also well appreciated. Many stars of the present day, will testify to performing at the Music Academy being their gateway to greatness. Every performer who has been a regular at Margazhi concerts will testify to there being that little extra something, an inexplicable vibration they feel, when they perform at Margazhi concerts, more than on any other occasion. Every household steeped in traditional values ushers in a new day, with a delectable morning melody. The varied repertoire of Carnatic Music ensues that there is an appropriate raga, to capture just about any emotion that one may encounter in the course of the day. If it’s Bilahari (Raag Alahiya Bilawal) for joy, it’s Shivaranjani for melancholy, Neelambari (Raag Kedara) to put a baby to sleep, or Sindhu Bhairavi (Raag Bhairav) for the ditty of the dawn, or Abheri (Raag Bhimpalasi) for reviving a tired mind. The colourful roster of ragas can convey just about anything. It’s almost as if, for this one whole month, all communication by prose ceases, and people resort to a raga, to convey their emotions!! At the end of Margazhi, the action continues, only that, the venue, hitherto confined to Chennai, shifts to Thiruvaiyaru, Tanjavur. The anniversary of the Samadhi of Thyagaraja (Pushya Bahula Panchami – the fifth day of the dark half in the month of Pushya) is observed with great devotion. Rendering of the pancharatna kritis here is the ultimate dream for any musician.

What is most heartening to note is also the fact that this is not limited to territories in South India alone. The South Indian diaspora across the world has shown great interest in propagating and replicating the Festival in their adopted lands. Most notably in the USA, Indians in the Far East also take great interest in these festivities. The Thyagaraja Mahotsavam is also replicated in these lands. Radio stations dedicated to these, have sprung up quite rapidly in foreign countries too. Conversely, what riles many people, is that, whether out of pure ignorance, or commercial considerations, the definition of “cultural programme”, is narrowed down to just film-based programmes. The most glaring example of this is the Commonwealth Games 2006 closing ceremony in Melbourne. India being the next host, they were allotted a 45-minute slot to showcase their culture. And guess what? Every single second of the time, was used in a film-based dance sequence, totally ignoring traditional arts, whereas no other country would do this to their own culture. The hard work of those artistes is not being trifled here, but isn’t a “cultural programme” supposed to include all popular Indian art forms? The opening ceremony of Delhi 2010 thankfully steered clear of this trap, and it was one rare occasion when the definition of a “cultural” show was brought out right!

But on the whole, it cannot be said that interest in the Margazhi festival is waning, as the response only seems to get better each year. Many youngsters are finding their calling here, and make efforts to embellish the path laid by their predecessors. This is a festival that has every claim to being anointed, the fourth Indian World Heritage Practice, the others being Vedic Chanting, Koodiyattom and Ram Lila.

(For more on this sorta thing, and anything else in the world, pop in here)