Can there be a positive discrimination on the basis of religion- "No" says AP High Court

Dear Friends,

This is the third time that the AP High Court has successfully upheld the Constitution of India, which our political class want to derail just to please their votebank. Such a move could have disastrous repercussions if such policy of pleasing the vote banks based on religion is allowed in a secular country like India. 

The imagination itself is so disastrous to the secular fabric of the country. Tomorrow, it will be turn of other minorities to claim their share of reservation based on the percentage of number of citizen following a certain religion. This might lead to a a total failure of the family planning programmes in India because if that be so, each religion would try to outgrow the other religion to get their larger share!!

And what would happen to the "Right to Equality" that is the hallmark of our Consititution? Positive discriminations was permitted on the socio-economic status of certain categories of citizens to provide a level playing field to them to realise substantial equality, however only for a certain number of years. But the political class has continued this formula to please their constituencies, in fact even to the extent of promoting enmity and struggles in the citizenry to be included in the backward classes to avail reservation status (recent Gurjar agitation is a point). In 2009 we saw another amendment to Constitution of India by Indian Parliament to further extend the reservation for SC/ST by 10 years and I think the very basis of such continued reservations indicate two things:

1. That the benefit of reservations have not reached the real needy due to lack of proper implementation, thus the divide between the poor and the rich continues to grow.
2. And that this has outlived its utility and is becoming a tool of social divide and unrest hence should be stopped herewith.

Then what do we adopt to realise the constitutional dream of social equality & to reduce the economic disparties amongst its citizens? India is a strange country which has 5 richest people of the world and still the percentage of population living below poverty line is mind-boggling! Such an uneven distribution of resources is a challenge to the move from a socialist economy to a mixed economy while maintaining the Socialist character.

I think the answer doesn't lie in reservation any more. The crutches of reservation will not allow the real empowerment of people. Also the policy has failed to achieve its desired goals despite being continued for more than 60 years now (while originally it was meant only for 10-20 years!), is the testimony to the strength in the argument being proposed. 

It is the equal opportunity to  right to food and nutrition,  free & high quality education, health infrastructure and avenues of employment across the nation without any discrimination on basis of region, religion, gender or any other diversity is going to empower citizenry. Enabling environment is the answer, empowerment is the answer!

Here is the coverage on the Full Bench High Court Decision on the subject.

Subhash



Andhra High Court quashes quota for Muslims


The court ruled that reservation cannot be provided on the basis of religion
 
Published on 02/08/2010 - 12:29:33 PM


Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday quashed a legislation providing four per cent reservation to Muslims in education and jobs, terming it unconstitutional. The state government has decided to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.

Delivering the much-awaited judgment, the seven-member constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice AR Dave ruled that reservation cannot be provided on the basis of religion, reports IANS.

It was a majority judgment. Five judges, including Dave, opposed the reservation while two differed with their opinion.

The court verdict has come as a big blow to the Congress government, which had brought the legislation in 2007 providing four per cent reservation to certain backward groups among Muslims.

Some individuals and organisations had challenged the Act, contending that the reservations were unconstitutional. This is the third time since 2004 that the High Court has quashed quota for Muslims.

Ramakrishna Reddy, Counsel of one of the petitioners, told reporters that the court upheld their argument that the survey conducted by the state backward classes commission to identify backward groups among Muslims was not scientific.

The bench observed that the survey on the socio-economic conditions of Muslims was conducted only in six districts and that the backward classes commission relied only on the report of the Krishnan Commission appointed by the government.

Immediately after the High Court verdict, the government decided to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. Chief Minister K Rosaiah directed the state Advocate General to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court.

In 2004, then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy had provided five per cent reservation to Muslims but the High Court had quashed the order.

On the court's advice, the government reconstituted the backward classes commission. Based on its recommendations, the government issued an ordinance in 2005 and subsequently the Assembly passed the legislation for five per cent reservation.

But the High Court set aside the legislation saying that its would exceed the 50 per cent total reservation limit set by the Supreme Court.

In an attempt to keep the reservations within the 50 per cent limit, the government issued an order in 2007 providing four per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutions for 15 socially and educationally backward classes among Muslims.

The government brought an ordinance, which was later replaced by a legislation passed by the Assembly.

The four per cent quota was also challenged in the High Court. The petitioners argued that the government identified backward classes without gathering scientific data.

The High Court, in its interim order, permitted admissions made under the quota. This was challenged in the Supreme Court. The apex court stayed the implementation of the order but left it to the High Court to dispose off the batch of writ petitions.

Deaths at Asha Kiran- isn't this a criminal negligence on part of State?

Dear Friends,

Please refer to my earlier post on the subject.

"Poor maintenance or lack of basic amenities could be contributing factors, however prima facie all the deaths seems to be natural" ! The statement doesn't inspire confidence.

It is evident that the deaths occurred due to lack of facilities which is equally criminal negligence of duty when compared to inflicting a fatal blow on some hapless person entirely in your custody with no chance to escape! Are you really serious about the human rights of those whom you put in institutions and forget?

Can the Government of Delhi own up the negligence on its part and fix the responsibilities of lapse and and provide for appropriate systems at the earliest?

The human rights record is so poor when it comes to disabled people here. And the Govt. is answerable to the nation and international community soon with the State Progress report on actions taken by Govt. in light of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilites" falling due in May 2010.

DCPCR must act and ensure that those at fault are booked in terms of law and immediate preventive action are taken to restore dignity of life and basic services in the state run home by Delhi Govt.

Read from Source: Deaths in juvenile home natural: Delhi govt

Around 75 inmates died between 2004 and 2008 at the complex

Published on 01/14/2010 - 10:17:24 AM

New Delhi: The deaths of 12 inmates of a state-run juvenile home in one month were natural, the Delhi government said Wednesday in its reply to a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) notice. According to investigating officials, poor maintenance or lack of basic amenities could be contributing factors.

According to investigating officials, poor maintenance or lack of basic amenities could be contributing factors.

The NHRC Tuesday issued a notice to Delhi Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta asking for a detailed report into the cause of deaths of members of Asha Kiran Home and the state of affairs at the juvenile home, in north west Delhi's Rohini area.

"The Delhi government has filed a reply to NHRC. Of the 12 inmates who died, one was under 18 years. Prima facie the cause of death appears to be natural. However, based on that we won't close investigations. In previous reports, the home was found to lack basic requirement and had poor sanitation levels. We are going to see if the deaths had anything to do with that," a senior official of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) told IANS.

The NHRC was acting on a complaint filed by human rights activist Prabir Kumar Das who alleged that 12 mentally challenged inmates of the home had died in one month.

Media reports suggested that three of the 12 had died within 24 hours due to lack of basic facilities such as warm clothes.

An earlier report by the child right's panel in June last year had found that although sanctioned for 250 inmates, the only state-run complex for mentally challenged people in the national capital houses 750 mentally retarded men, women and children.

The children were found to be suffering from tuberculosis, seizures and skin diseases. The home lacked hygiene and proper sanitary conditions. Around 75 inmates died between 2004 and 2008 at the complex.

In many of these cases, the cause of death was epileptic seizures, which the DCPCR probe committee said could be owing to neglect of medical authorities.

The detailed report from the chief secretary sought by NHRC is due within four weeks time.

Asha Kiran- a state run hope for disabled reports 12 deaths in December alone!

Dear Friends,

Nothing is well at Asha Kiran. With the capacity of 350, you stuff 730 inmates, isn't this a violation of basic human rights of those who can't take care of themselves due to their disabling conditions that they live with?

Also are we providing sufficient support to the numbers housed there with one carer looking after 40 persons? Is it humanely possible for one person to care 40 inmates with varying degree of disability and associated medical condition like epilepsy, tuberculosis- forget about fever, cold, smaller injuries! This is gross violation and you can't expect the carers to work at Rs 3934/- per month and look after 40 people every day.

Perhaps it is the fear of catching infections that even the doctors do not examine them closely and properly! This is just not acceptable. The facilities need to be created /provided strictly as per norms as it is the responsibility of the Govt. Each life is precious !

Hope each one you are perturbed at the conditions that prevail at Asha Kiran in Delhi and several other institutions across length and breadth of India in similar state which never make headlines! If we tolerate it as an accepted norm, perhaps we don't deserve to be called a socialist democratic republic!

Source: For inmates, few rays of hope at Asha Kiran; Express Newsline 11 January 2010

In December, 12 people died at this home for mentally retarded; few caregivers, little care, reveals report by Social Welfare Department

As the green ambulance rolls through the 7-ft gates of Asha Kiran complex, in Awantika, near Rohini, a middle-aged man looks out of the window, trying to capture one last glimpse of the outside world. Within seconds, the gates shut.

In December, 12 deaths were reported here — three of them within 24 hours.

The inquiry report by the Social Welfare Department (a copy of which is with Newsline) under which the centre works, concludes that death is not new for Asha Kiran.  Over the last four years, 128 inmates have died in the home. The complex, built for 350 people, now houses 730.

“The mentally retarded inmates suffer from multiple deficiencies as far as physical health is concerned. Because of this, particularly in respect of severely retarded inmates, life expectancy is relatively low,” reads the report filed by Director, Social Welfare, S A Awardi. According to the report, 60 per cent of inmates are in the “category of severely or profoundly mentally retarded persons.” Many inmates do not even survive a year. There is no segregation of people who have infectious diseases like tuberculosis.

The inmates are taken care of by ‘house aunties’. The staff reveals that each of them sometimes take care of over 40 people. They are paid Rs 3,934 per month for 8-hour daily job — which probably explains why a majority of the caregivers quit within days of joining.

“The inmates feed each other and give each other a bath,” said a sweeper working in the male ward. “There’s too much noise and it is not easy to work.”

The report states: “Many gave up their jobs after serving for a very short period. It is mentioned that providing every care like a mother to mentally retarded persons is really difficult.”

Constant medical care is available. But the staff say the doctors merely prescribe medicines without even closely examining the inmates.

Despite the fact that the walls of the complex are nearly 10-feet tall and the high gates are guarded 24-hours, the officials have even reported cases of children going missing. On December 24, the Social Welfare Department advertised in newspapers about two inmates. One of them, Raju, was 16 years old and 4.8 ft tall. He was admitted on 21 May and has been missing since 16 September. More bizarre was the case of the 7-year-old boy admitted in December 2006. The child was merely 3.6 ft tall.

December deaths

Dec 2: Krishna (16), living here since 2007. Post mortem report awaited

Dec 9: Anu (20), had been staying since 2006. Cause of death tuberculosis and epileptic fit

Dec 12: Ranveer Kumar (48), was admitted at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Mangolpuri, since 16 November following dehydration and swelling in legs

Dec 14: Manjeet (55) was admitted at the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, suffered from swelling of body

Dec 15: Raj Kumar (42) admitted in Sanjay Gandhi Hospital since 12 December. Had swelling of body, difficulty in breathing

Dec 18: Seeta Gauri (19), living here since 1989. Cause of death cardio-pulmonary arrest

Dec 19: Sandeep, was under treatment since Nov 29 at Sanjay Gandhi Hospital, was referred to LNJP. Cause of death Meningoencephalitis with refractory shock

Dec 25: Soni, living here since in 2007, died due to seizure disorder

Dec 27: Meena Payal (38), living here since 1999, postmortem report awaited

Dec 29: Angoori (19), living here since August 200, was suffering from asthma and TB

Dec 29: Sangeeta (21), had been living here since 1996. Body discovered several hours after death, was a victim of bone tuberculosis

Dec 30: Deepti (12) had been here since March 2009, cause of death epilepsy

Nari Niketan Rape Victim gives birth to a baby girl on 03 Dec 09- World Disability Day!

Dear Friends,

We continue to learn from the life of the Chandigarh Nari Niketan Rape Victim - a mentally retarded girl. The God chose the day of birth -03rd December -World Disability Day. For media, its a great story, for me it is a great lesson for humanity and to understand abilities of those experiencing disabilities.

The mother has many hopes from the newborn as covered in the article below. The little child seem to be healthy and what amazes every one is that how the mentally retarded girl has adopted to motherhood! Nature continues to amaze all of us with the human instincts that it gives to the living species including men and women whom some experts may label as "incapable to taking care of themselves"!

I had covered this issue at great length in my earlier posts on my other blog "Disability  Rights through Courts" the links of which are as below:
http://disabilityrightsthroughcourts.blogspot.com/2009/07/detailed-facts-of-chandigarh-case-of.html

http://disabilityrightsthroughcourts.blogspot.com/2009/07/raped-mentally-challenged-firl-can.html
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=8131563375136204790&postID=3457818963549407026

Hope we all continue to learn from the developments as they continue to unfold.

regards

Subhash Chandra Vashishth
Human Rights Worker

To read from source Click here:

‘Want daughter to be a doctor, to take care of me’

Like any young mother, she dotes on her newborn daughter and hopes that the baby will grow up to become a doctor. But her journey to motherhood has been far from normal.

When she gave birth on December 3 —World Disability Day — Sheila (name changed), who is in her late teens and mentally challenged, had crossed hurdles she could barely understand. Not only had she been raped and impregnated at the Nari Niketan here, the Chandigarh administration had convinced the Punjab and Haryana High Court barely a month ago that Sheila was not capable of looking after an infant and that the child would be a “toy” to her. That Sheila had been firm in her resolve to keep her baby was barely taken into consideration when it was ordered that her baby be aborted in the seventh month of pregnancy. A Supreme Court order, however, overturned this verdict.

Today, doctors at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) are pleasantly surprised at the ease with which Sheila has adapted to motherhood.

“I am her mother. I will make sure that she grows up to be a doctor. Doctors are good human beings who alleviate the pain of others. No one has ever taken care of me. She will grow up and take care of me,” she says as she burps her baby, whom she has named Pari, before putting her to sleep. When asked who taught her how to do these tasks, she replies, “I took take care of an inmate’s baby at Nari Niketan. She was my best friend.”

But Sheila’s experience at Nari Niketan — a centre for destitute women — was nothing short of a nightmare. “I don’t ever want to go back,” she says. It was there, as investigations and subsequent high court judgments have shown, that she was repeatedly raped by three of the staff members of the institution in connivance with two female staff members who would beat her into submission. The child’s paternity will be known only after DNA tests.

“I want to go back to Ashreya. That is where they take care of me,” she says, referring to another government-run institute for the mentally challenged. It is Dr Raj Bahadur — Director, GMCH, and in-charge of Ashreya — who along with his staff has been credited for the marked improvement Sheila has shown after her ordeal.

“To be honest, even I am surprised at the tremendous maternal instincts she is showing. In fact, even her mental state has improved considerably after the child’s birth. Contrary to fears that she would be violent and may harm the baby, she is protective and caring and doesn’t even like staff members handling her,” he says.

Even as offers of help from various NGOs, social institutions and philanthropists pour in, the UT administration has decided to take full responsibility of the child and the mother. “All the expenditure of the child, mother, education, upkeep would be borne by the administration until the child completes her education and reaches adulthood,” says Anupam Gupta, senior standing counsel for the UT administration in this case.

This decision follows the Supreme Court’s overturning of the High Court’s verdict to abort the child in the seventh month of pregnancy. The apex court’s intervention had come as a result of an appeal made by amicus curiae R S Cheema. “The plea that the girl is of unsound mind and a minor and hence her consent is not valid was fallacious. There is no guardian, and the government said that since we are the custodians, our decision is valid. This again was again dangerous. If the child was aborted, it would have absolved the authorities. Remember, the rape took place under their custody and any decision to abort would have set a precedent that if a rape of a minor took place in government’s custody, they were free to go for termination of pregnancy,” says Cheema.

Next week, the mother and child will move back to Ashreya. “She is looking forward to that. She is very particular about the needs of baby and doesn’t like it if we hold her for long periods,” says Sonu, an attendant. As one leaves her room, Sheila says goodbye but not without a reminder to “bring sweets for Pari next time”.

Whose interest does the RWAs serve.. of only men or of women, children & disabled too?

Dear Friends,

I appreciate that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is promoting the citizen's participation in maintaing their surroundings, community parks etc under Bhagidari Scheme of Delhi Government. The money being given away to RWAs is also welcome which could be spent on maintenance of parks. It is a well known fact that unless the communities feel the ownership for public property, it may be difficult to maintain the same and implement various related schemes.

However, be cautious that in absence of control, RWAs are becoming platforms to exert individual egos and working in the self interest of certain few holding offices. There have been incidences of sex biases, class biases and baises on the basis of disability.

The rights of children to play in the park are marred by increasing incidences of ornamental parks being made keeping only the older male walkers in mind. Also during the day whole park is filled with water with no space for women and children to relax or play. These parks maintained at public costs are most of the time inaccessible to children and adults with disabilities, especially for those having mobility impairments, wheelchair users etc.

Are these parks meant only for those few men who sit in RWAs as office bearers?  How many women or children are part of RWAs? Under UN Convention on Rights of children, the Children of the colony should be consulted in matters affecting their rights especially right to play in the neighbourhood park.

The MCD could suggest some ground rules for formation of registered RWAs which could be given such funding. These ground rules could include: Compulsory inclusion of women to 30% (10% housewifes, 10% working and 10% elderly) and compulsory inclusion of Children to another 30% (of both sexes in 15% each) and remaining 40% with men (both elderly those below 60). The functioning of these RWAs needs to be more transparent and democratic.

Also the ground rules should include that these parks should be kept accessible and barrier free for use by physically disabled residents, children and the elderly.

Then only the interest of all could be served otherwise few men would continue to rule the parks in their interest without bothering about children, women and those with disabilities.

regards,


S.C. Vashishth
Human Rights Advocate
subhashvashishth@gmail.com

To read from source click here: Civic agency ropes in residents to maintain parks

Government alone cannot provide effective civic services without residents' participation

Published on 01/13/2010 - 07:44:32 AM New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Tuesday launched a scheme to encourage residents to maintain public parks in their areas.

As part of this public-private partnership, cheques totalling Rs 4,72,817 were distributed to 17 resident welfare associations (RWAs) and two NGOs for the maintenance of 132 public parks under the MCD's purview.

Under the scheme -- aimed at promoting greenery and the involvement of RWAs and NGOs in taking care of parks -- the RWAs will be given Rs 6,000 per acre per month for employing maintenance staff and gardeners.

A MCD official said to IANS the government alone cannot provide effective civic services without residents' participation.

"The MCD may organise a competition of RWAs and award one which displays outstanding performance," the official said.