Mm, okay, what kind?

A fun game ?

Oh wow, I love those. Tell me.

You will be a super hero, and I got to pretend that you are?

How boring will that be?

Fun for you maybe, whatabout me?

OK fine if it matters that much, fine

Oh now you want to change it?

OK whatever

Now you will pretend like you care about the world

And I gotta pretend that you do?

That’s easy

I’ve done that before. Its just that Mmmm

You are exasperated now and want to know what the fuss is about?

No fuss really, just a doubt

You are listening?

OK, Mmm basically how are you going to pretend to care about the world?

Are you going to write, and I read your book?
Or will you have a blog and I click on like?

Or will you write on a yahoo group, and I agree to what you say?

Or maybe, you will be my boss and when you tell it so to others

I gotta say ‘Yes, right, that’s right?”

Some clarity is what I want, ya?

You think I am being stupid?

That you can’t be bothered with details?
And neither are people who we are pretending for?

OK, I’ll get my make-up on

You want me to have a natural look?

Oh OK, Mmm, you want me to pretend to be natural?

No? sorry, just clarifying

Mmm, you want me to be natural about my pretending?

You’re irritated now and say I am playing with semantics

I’m sorry, but once the show unfolds, I might mess up

You say I can’t and I have no business to?

I don’t like this game anymore. Can I leave?

You say I can’t because the play needs me?

You know what you can do with your stupid play

You say you don’t like me anymore?

That’s fine.

I THINK I”LL SURVIVE without your like.

Surprised you huh?

The Minister of Women and Child Development watched pornography while yet another child died today of malnutrition related causes in the state.

Malnutrition is a convenient medical terminology. It masks and dehumanizes. It puts the onus of a starving child on the family and the child itself. It doggedly refuses to state that malnutrition is systemic – that it arises out of apathy, greed, corruption and serious systemic failures.

What are the systems in place to prevent malnutrition related deaths in our state?

For a state that is governed by power-hungry men and women, what, in reality does the death of child a mean? A child’s death, especially a poor and mentally challenged one, would rate as below insignificant when taken relative to pornographic orgies, mining scandals and ministerial in-fighting for plum posts.

Does it matter that a poor family went back to its village with one less member and a huge burden of debt for medical bills that didn’t make a difference anyway?

Obscene amounts of money are being spent and swindled by the land grabbers and those vested with the plum position of power and money. Do ministers really have no heart or no conscience? Do they not wake at night and say to themselves “I have the power today to make a change that goes beyond lining my own pocket. With this power, can I prevent the death of children like Imran?”

Does the middle class not see Imran’s death as a violation? Do they rather make statements like “Muslims have a lot of children anyway”,

Is India’s population so big that we can discard the majority who are poor and from minority communities? Is that what our religion and our value system teaches us? That the poor are worthless, that the tribals and schedule castes and the minority religions are of no consequence in the larger picture?

For Imran, today is the end of his one year in Chikbalapur district of Karnataka. For the activists, it is a clarion call for the amount of work undone, for the minister, it is another day as usual……………..

One family mourns and the state slumbers in stuporous disregard.

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER EXPRESSING CONCERN OVER THE EU TRADE NEGOTIATIONS AND ACCESSS TO LIFE SAVING & ESSENTIAL MEDICINES

Date 6^th February 2012

To,

Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India

South Block, Raisina Hill, New Delhi-110 011
Tel: 91-11-23012312 Fax: 91-11-23016857/91-11-23019545; email: pmo@pmindia.nic.in

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN) members express grave concern with regard to the round of negotiations on intellectual property that continues to be held between Indian and European Union (EU) negotiators as part of the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks. News reports in India quote the EU Ambassador as stating that discussions on Pharmaceuticals have progressed significantly.

It is reliably learnt from media reports that on the 10^th February 2012, at the India-EU Summit to be held in Delhi, the EU & India will agree on and finalize the political framework for the FTA.

 We express grave concern that these negotiations between the EU and India are progressing towards an agreement which includes provisions that will seriously hamper India’s ability to manufacture safe, effective and affordable generic medicines and export these to other developing countries.

Background:-

 Indian generic industry is rightly known as the “Pharmacy of the Developing Country” because:-

1. In 2001, India’s generics brought prices down from $15000 per person per year to $350 for first line AIDS medicines.
2. 80% of people living with HIV in developing countries are on Indian generic ARVs.
3. Over 90% of pediatric AIDS medicines are supplied by Indian generics.

 For millions of people in the developing world, access to essential medicines is often a question of life and death. Most of them rely on the affordable generic medicines being produced by countries like India. Backed by the big multinational pharmaceutical companies, US, European Union and European Free Trade Association are pushing for aggressive trade policies to restrict the supply and production of the generic medicines. The attack is taking various forms but with a single handed objective: Pushing for TRIPS plus provisions through Free Trade Agreements and other  international agreements. The impact of such actions could be devastating and result in loss of millions of lives in absence of affordable medicines.

BUT ALL THIS COULD CHANGE IF INDIA DOES NOT SAY NO TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) IN THE INDIA-EU FTA.

 AIDAN demands:-

REMOVE:

§ Investment Rules, which enable foreign companies to take the Indian government to private courts over domestic health policies like measures to reduce prices of medicines.

§ Border Measures, which will deny medicines to patients in other developing countries with custom officials seizing generic medicines in transit.

§ Injunctions, which undermine the independence of the Indian judiciary to protect right to health of patients over the profits of drug companies.

§ Other Intellectual Property Enforcement Measures, which put third parties like treatment providers at risk of police actions and court cases.

DON’T BRING BACK:

§ Data Exclusivity, as it delays the registration of generic medicines and will not permit the placing of affordable versions of pediatric doses and combinations of “off-patent” medicines on the market. IT’S NOT REQUIRED UNDER THE TRIPS AGREEMENT!

§ Patent Term Extension, as it will extend patent life beyond 20 years.

The EU states that these two provisions are off the table. It must keep its word!

We urge you to look into this important issue and save the Indian generic industry from the onslaught of the multinationals, which in turn will save millions of lives all over the world!

Yours truly

(Dr Mira Shiva) – 09810582028

(Mr Srinivasan S) – 08056292350

(Dr Anant Phadke) -09423531478

(Dr Gopal Dabade) – 09448862270

(Mr Naveen Thomas) – 09342858056

Dr Gopal Dabade,
57, Tejaswinagar,
Dharwad 580 002
Tel 0836-2461722
Cell (0)9448862270
www.jagruti.org
http://aidanindia.wordpress.com/
www.daf-k.cjb.net

Veena Rao IAS,
Officer for Nutrition Mission
Government of Karnataka

Subject: Calling for Transparency, Fairness and Openness in selecting NGOs for the Nutrition Mission AND request to be added in the correspondence list of Civil Society Organisations

Dear Madam,

Greetings from Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka!

This letter is written in the backdrop of malnutrition and related deaths in the state of Karnatka and Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka (JAAK)  looks forward to the efforts of the state to introduce the National Nutrition Mission on a priority basis.

JANA AROGYA ANDOLANA KARNATAKA (JAAK) is the Karnataka State circle of international People’s Health Movement (http://www.phmovement.org/en) and the India chapter Jan Swasthya Abhiyan advocating for the dignity and well-being of the oppressed and marginalised, and committed to the health rights of the most disadvantaged. JAAK is a coalition of more than 200 civil society organisations and independent representatives comprising public health professionals, researchers/academicians, social activists, lawyers, grass-root workers,writers and community leaders.

JAAK has already conducted significant work in the area of child malnutrition in Karnataka and has members in several sub-committees under the Department of Women and Child Development, Karnataka. The committee has recently submitted recommendations to the department on key strategies and interventions to address the acute malnutrition crisis and long term recommendations to prevent further occurrences. The documents enclosed for your reference are findings from the rapid survey of severely malnourished children in 11 districts of Karnataka, action points for prevention of malnutrition at the field level and recommendations of the health and nutrition sub-committee.

JAAK is also involved in several research studies with the Karnataka State Health Systems Resource Centre (KSHSRC – the technical support institution with National Rural Health Mission, Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Karnataka).

The project “Rapid response to the food price crisis and malnutrition in Karnataka’ through the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) is going to be piloted in Karnataka to address the ‘different levels of the causal chain affecting nutritional outcomes’ by the Government of Karnataka from 2012 to 2015 with pilots (for a year) in three blocks in collaboration with a local NGO partner. In view of  the active role that Jana Arogya Andolana Karnataka has played in the field of nutrition and other key public health issues, JAAK requests to be made part of all correspondence that is done with the civil society organisations and also of the selections done for any project especially in the current proposed Nutrition Mission.

JAAK is aware that some organisations pose themselves as civil society representatives and monopolise government funds and no transparent policy is followed in allocation of funds to these. JAAK is the biggest CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK in the field of health in Karnataka. We request that all civil society communication be shared with JAAK to avoid monopoly by any one individual or organization. Since JAAK is composed of a coalition of over 200 state and district NGOs in Karnataka, selection of NGO partner will be more democratic and transparent. JAAK would like to know what procedures are you following in selecting NGOs for any kind of project under this mission planned to be implemented through NGOs.

We would also like to express our interest in getting involved in the process of selecting civil society organisations and also call for democratic process, transparency, openness and fairness in the said process.

We Looking forward to hearing from you or meeting with you at the earliest.

With kind regards

Dr. Gopal Dabade – Chairperson JAAK

Advocate E. Premdas – State Working Group Member, JAAK

On Behalf of State Working Group of JAAK

Last Updated on Wednesday, 25 January 2012 11:36
http://www.republicofhunger.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18:transparency&catid=9:press-releases&Itemid=36

But, ha, what interested me enormously was the crowd !!. The age group varied widely and men equaled women in number.

But the class distribution!!!!

Boom, suddenly you have almighty ‘skewed’ on your hands – a roomful of people who seem to have come out for more than an evening of nodding to and enjoying good music. If the same crowd had to (under duress) watch some of our dark-skinned tribal folks come on stage and perform, would they smile so readily at their inane statements, would they clap in awe when a round of performance was done?

With due apologies to the genuine art lovers in the group, it seemed to me, on first thought, that many in the crowd would run if they had to watch a ‘non upper class’ Indian perform in a ‘non Alliance Francaise’ location. Whereas some in this group would also patronize Tirukkodikaval Krishna Iyer, Tiruchi Govindasami Pillai and Saraba Sastri, there seem to be others who would only associate with French, British and other ‘superior race’ performers.Patronizing these shows is also about the association – with the West, with a quasi cultured, snobbish, “I hobnob only with whites’ attitude.

Music in India is such a caste and class niche. Most of the group would prefer to drop dead rather than admit that they aren’t able to pronounce the names of half the performers from the West, why even Alliance Francaise itself. Does one say ‘Ally – ahnce’, or Alley – ahnce? Does one say Fran – case, or Fran-sase, or Frans –wah, or Fran-chez? French is not anywhere similar to any of our Indian languages – still it’s a statement of association and pseudo snobbery, to throw French words around, however ill-pronounced.

For years, Indian media has showcased internationally renowned and acclaimed musicians, as well as a series of Indian ‘maestros’ – the Subbalakshmis, Mangeshkars, Subramaniams, Ramakrishans, Varmas and Prasads. Music by this group itself is no problem, but on a sociological perspective, there is an extreme degree of monopoly BY one caste group of performers FOR the same caste group of audience. This is unfair monopoly and dangerous if music has to also be equitable, accessible and available to all Indians.

I read in another blog about a Venezuelan composer and  economist who tried to break the ‘traditional elitism of western classical music and using it for sociological purposes leading to El Sistema (The System) which takes thousands of deprived, disaffected youngsters from the dangerously impoverished barrios and gives them a chance to play classical music.  The author of the blog pointedly asks “Could Carnatic music step out of its stultifying katcheris and perform a similar role for the cheri pasangal?”

In this backdrop, the song ‘Kolaveri di’ from South India comes as a blasé, lazy exposition that is at once amusical and extremely musical. It draws from nowhere and seems to lead nowhere. It wasn’t meant to be a statement, but has become one. I don’t think it’s so much about the South as about a dark-skinned, non brahmin man coming out and making fun of the English language and the snobbish white skinned person for duplicity and ability to wound. This is in stark contrast to the common and the usual exposition of fairness and all things western.

Change is in the air – NICE…………..

What would be nice is if socially motivated ‘international performers’ played at the ghettos and slums of Indian cities and villages. This would make sure that they perform for the real face of India and not the smiling masks .

http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/can-carnatic-music-ever-reach-the-cheri-pasangal/

He or she also wears the blinkers.

Why the blinkers, one may ask?

The answer is simple really -if not for the blinkers, he or she may begin to see, and one certainly doesn’t want that, does one?

There is a closely guarded secret among the medical fraternity. The secret is unfortunately out now – luckily not known by everyone, but just by a few intelligent people. It is still well guarded.

‘What’s the big secret?” one might ask.

Well the secret is that there are strict criteria for selection of doctors – the first is that he or she SHOULD be a megalomaniac. He or she should feel and be innately convinced that the world started on the day he or she was born, and will (it’s the logic, stupid) end the day he or she dies, the possibility of which they think is rather low.

The other criteria are not relevant to this discussion, so let’s leave them aside for the time being.

Once the basic requirement of a megalomaniac has been established, the training goes on to further nurture the megalomania. Therefore, at the end of the five years, you have a megalomaniac trained in only one thing and that is – that he or she knows best.

Then they go on to infiltrate different arenas – hospitals, medical councils, NGOs, tribal areas, governments, international bodies, and they mouth the most utter nonsense. Now this is nonsense based on total conviction. They really do believe everything they say and do.

It is these bunch of megalomaniacs that decide that they are experts because of their ****ing five years of education, most of which is spent on drugs, booze, partying and hip-hopping anyway.

The majority of them have never conducted deliveries, treated any condition of any worth in the country, are brainwashed in their preparations for travel to Australia, Europe and America, and have no clue about anything related to health.

All they know about is illness and that too, western illness. They decide that experience counts for peanuts and anyone who is worthy of listening to, has to be a Dr. Megalomaniac who was rich or at least is attempting to be.

Who the **** put these guys in charge? That’s the reason the health system is so messed up. That’s the reason deaths are so high. Stop putting these megalomaniacs in charge of health. See how the system improves in leaps and bounds.

Bring on the nurses and midwives I say……………

What was particularly interesting about the release was that the speakers, organizers and majority of the attendees were from the sexual minority groups. “This’ I thought ‘is a stable way forward for real empowerment, rather than having a representative speak for them.’

The speakers shared their experiences. They spoke about how they were expected to completely stop being sexual beings if they were found to be HIV positive. Counselors from the government and NGOs were just not skilled or equipped to deal with sensitive issues related to transgender sexuality. The only approach was preachy and moralistic. This attitude was further aggravated by the total lack of secrecy and confidentiality about HIV testing, many of which were done forcibly and without recourse to even a pretension of informed consent.

Several years back I interacted with a group of transsexual people and they had many stories to share. The nature of these stories have not changed even after 10 years – they were exposed to physical and verbal abuse, especially by the police, public servants and general public; they were not allowed easy access to an identity, whether it was a ration card or a PAN card or a passport; their information was made public with total disregard for sensitivity and confidentiality; their families were informed about their HIV status inspite of them not consenting; they were also ostracized by other human rights and minority rights groups because they are a ‘kind of minority that others don’t want to speak about or be associated with’. Apparently the group invited at least 30 people to come and release the book, but they were either ignored or outright refused.

The suicide rates are high and seem to be peripherally linked to a positive HIV status that was disclosed to family without their consent. One of the speakers described how families could not handle the double social whammy of a son turning transsexual and also being found HIV positive. The result was further deterioration in family relations and sometimes suicide by the family member or the person affected.

The different kinds of transsexual people make one wonder – is male and female an artificial distinction? Is there a spectrum of gender? Are X and Y chromosomes really such specific genes, or is there a sequence or a range of gender possibilities? A lot of our maleness or femaleness is determined by our society and culture. If we give a space to individuals to develop their own unique sexuality, is it such a bad thing? How should religion deal with this issue?

Interesting………

These are excerpts from some of the people interviewed.

‘Our children used to drop out of the school and take care of animals. Children of other castes were getting educated. Our survey showed that almost 350 dalit children were not receiving education. People of the upper castes call the panchayat for a meeting and demand that our children should be refused entry into schools. Even if they did attend, they had to sit at the back or outside the classroom’  Dalit mother from a self help group, Karnataka

 ‘When I was studying in the government school,, we used to be punished for going late. Teachers used to treat us badly. If there was no place in the classroom, we had to sit outside. They used to hit us on our knuckles. We go late because the girls have to take care of the younger children and the boys have to take care of the cattle.’ 13 year old dalit girl, Raichur, Karnataka

 “Doctors never used to touch us. They treat rich and poor differently. They used to take bribes’  dalit activist, Karnataka

“When the mid-day meal program was launched, a directive was passed that the cooks should be from the SC community. Aa dalit convert to Christianity, applied for the post of cook. This was followed by opposition from the forward castes in the village, In other parts of Karnataka,   there were 25 social boycotts , following application for the post by Madiga women. When social boycotts happen, the dalits are not given access to groceries, water, pounding mills, local transport or work. Social boycotts are a systemic and structural attempt to suppress any efforts by the dalit group to reassert and redefine their identities in an oppressive social structure. Any reason is enough to trigger a social boycott’  Lawyer, Karnataka

‘The ANM (auxiliary nurse midwife) doesn’t  visit our area to check mothers or children and  the anganwadis are located in the main village. We do not have access to them.’ Mother, SC colony Karnataka

Crain Souidien has published an article about education in India and how it is influenced by caste. He says “Educability – essentially a notion describing learning potential – is the most important means at the disposal of ‘Indian’ teachers to manage their relationships with children and their parents. In the discourse of educability in India, lower-caste children are habitually described as ‘ineducable’. Features of their home background and their caste status are naturalised as attributes that belong – sometimes congenitally – to lower-caste groups. This discourse is used to justify the discriminatory treatment teachers mete out to their SC learners”

Education and health outcomes in India are much poorer if one is from the SC/ST community.  While it is easy to blame ‘them’ for these outcomes, one also need to take an objective look at all aspects of this phenomenon.

Crain Souidien talks about how describing SC/ST children as ‘ineducable’ helps to perpetuate the dominance and mobilization of hegemonic values which the dalits and adivasi students need to adapt to and to adopt.

In the health arena, there is ample research evidence to show that poor health outcomes – malnutrition, maternal deaths, morbidity and mortality due to acute infectious diseases are much higher in this same SC/ST group.

In the health arena, policy makers and NGOs talk about ‘these people’ who have benefits and facilities which they don’t use. In a way the onus of not being healthy is put on the SC/ST groups. Common statements by public health professionals include ‘they don’t care about hygiene’,’ they prefer monetary benefits rather than social, education or health benefits’, ‘what can we do if they don’t care about their own education and health’

Sometimes, we (AND THAT MEANS YOU AND I) have mindsets – we grow up for the most part of our lives believing something. Maybe we were taught that the schedule castes and tribes are inferior, maybe its because we are told that we are superior and others are inferior – in education, in looks, in wealth, in talent, in smartness, in IQ..

Many of us may feel that a lack of opportunity means a lack of smartness. Maybe that feeling is ingrained in us. As long as we feel that way, there will be inequality in the world and those of us who ‘give’ education or health to others, will ALWAYS in inadequate and incomplete if our attitudes don’t change.

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~waltonj/404_rr/class,%20caste%20and%20race.pdf

S. Balagopalan, ‘“Neither Suited for the Home nor for the Fields”: Inclusion, Formal Schooling and the Adivasi Child’, IDS Bulletin, 34, 1 (2003), 55–62.