FROM BEING an issue that was considered almost ridiculous just a decade ago, the campaign for land rights for women has gathered momentum in recent times, especially since the 2005 Amendment of the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. The Amendment establishes the rights of daughters and widows of sons to a share in ancestral agricultural land and includes daughters as co-partners in the Mitaksara joint family property. This means that they will have the same birthrights as sons — to share property, to claim partition and to become “managers” while also sharing liabilities.
Women’s Land Rights and Peace at Home
Modi, Taslima and the Dangers of Identity Politics
WHEN NARENDRA MODI invited Taslima to live safely in Gujarat last month, it raised many eyebrows. It does seem hilarious that a staunch Hindutva leader like Modi could talk about the safety of a Muslim Woman. After all the engineering of mass killings and rapes and daily terrorising of Muslim women in Gujarat, here was Modi inviting Taslima to live there! Suddenly her criticism of Islamic fundamentalism and the Sangh’s outright hatred for Muslims converged in a ludicrous moment. But are these not very different stances that emerge from two very disparate notions of identity? [Read More]
The Immorality of Saying ‘No’ to Sex Education
OVER THE YEARS, sex education has been debated either in the context of concerns about population control or AIDS prevention. Does education about sex and sexuality have to be perceived only within the confines of these two arenas? In the wake of the Central Government’s attempts to introduce sex education from Class VI onwards, the refusal of State Governments of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chattisgarh has thrown up other issues. It is no accident that these are states with significant Sangh Parivar presence in Government and their refusal stems largely from a perception that sex education will lead to corruption of Indian culture. [Read More]
Of Exports and Other Exits
GARMENT WORKERS dying in and around the premises of factories where they work reveal an extremely disturbing trend. Two days ago, 39 year old Padmavathi started vomiting at her workplace at 9.30 am. She requested her Production Manager at the Shalini Creations Factory for leave so she could go to a hospital. She was immediately shouted at and sent back to work. But a couple of hours later when the vomiting did not stop she was allowed to leave the factory. She left, only to collapse 50 meters away from its gates. Passersby carried her back to the factory and her colleagues then shifted her to hospital, where she died by 1.00 pm.
“A Working Woman is a Housewife First”
A WORKING WOMAN is a ‘housewife first’, said a recent judgement from the High Court (HC) of Karnataka. The HC was approached by a woman petitioner after her passport application was rejected by the Passport Office on the grounds that she had not disclosed her employment with SBI in the application form. The Court ruled that there is no instance of suppression of facts, as a woman is a housewife first, implying that she may or may not choose to disclose her other occupations.
