[sacw] SACW (6 August 01)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire
6 August 2001
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

[INTERRUPTION NOTICE: Please note that the SACW posts would be=20
interrupted from period 6th August 2001 and are expected to resume=20
on the 21st of August 2001. ]

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[1.] India: Govt. likely to amend FCRA
[2.] India: Press Release re Sex Selection
[3.] India: Academics attack 'Vedic Astrology' in curriculum
[4.] India: The crisis of physics

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#1.

ALL INDIA CHRISTIAN COUNCIL
79/B I&II Floors, Street 8, West Marredpally, Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh
President: Dr Joseph D' Souza Secretary General: Dr. John Dayal

Please correspond with Secretary General at:
505 Media Apartments, Link Society
18 I.P. Extension, Delhi 110092 India
Phone (91 11) 2722262 Fax 2726582 Mobile 09811021072
Email: johndayal@v...

FROM JOHN DAYAL, NEW DELHI, FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Centre likely to amend FCRA

(Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, Sunday, August 5, 2001)

New Delhi, Aug 4: The Indian government is likely to amend a foreign=20
contribution law to check the flow of foreign funds for "insurgent=20
activities". The Law Ministry has already distributed a note on the=20
draft amendment bill among Cabinet ministers.

Sources said the bill to amend the Foreign Contribution Regulation=20
Act of 1976 would be presented during the ongoing monsoon session of=20
Parliament.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government's move to make drastic=20
changes in the FCRA to check the flow of foreign money to religious=20
organisations has already come in for criticism. It was viewed as a=20
bid to curb the activities of missionaries and control the flow of=20
money from the Gulf countries for Muslim organisations.

Sources in the Law Ministry said the new Bill would specially target=20
three categories: the foreign funds received by "madrasas" (Muslim=20
seminaries), funds for Christian missionaries working among tribal=20
people and funds for Buddhist organisations.

The Home Ministry says some funds received by madrasas from abroad=20
have been used for "insurgent activities" and to help terrorism.=20
According to Home Ministry sources, some madrasas and Islamic=20
organisations in India received Rs. 400 crore in 1999 alone - Rs.=20
31.6 lakh from the US, Rs. 61.4 lakh from Canada, Rs. 1.6 crore from=20
Britain and more than Rs. 200 crore from Gulf countries like Kuwait=20
and Saudi Arabia.

Most of these funds have gone to organisations based in the country's=20
southern region. The government feels that Christian missionaries,=20
especially in the tribal areas and the northeast, survive on foreign=20
assistance. The hardliners in the government say as long as=20
missionaries have money, it would be difficult for the "Sangh=20
Parivar," to make inroads into the region.

"The government feels that there should be control over any kind of=20
funds for religious affairs," said a Law Ministry official.

Under the amendments proposed to the FCRA, the process of=20
registration of religious organisations receiving foreign funds would=20
be made stricter. The organisations would be required to register=20
with the home ministry and submit their annual financial reports to=20
it.

When they apply for registration, there would be strict scrutiny of=20
their activities. If found to be indulging in any financial=20
irregularities, the organisations would be liable to severe=20
punishment under the amended act.

____________

2.

Date: Sun, 05 Aug 2001 13:59:39 +0500
To: aiindex@m...

Press Release
Date: 5-8-2001

It is shocking that even in 2001 when there is a law banning sex selective
abortion of the female foetus, a recent order by the Consumer Disputes
Redressal Commission's seems to indicate that the sex selective abortion
ofthe female foetus is moral, legal and therefore also puts it on record.
This judgment serves to legitimise the inhuman, anti-women attitudes of
society in general.
In a judgment dated 10th July 2001, the Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission, Ahmedabad (Complaint No. 271/1993) has delivered an order of
compensation of Rs. 25,000 for medical negligence in a case that involved
sex determination and subsequent abortion of a foetus, which was earlier
detected as female foetus but after the abortion it was found out to be a
male foetus. In the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission=EDs view, "in ou=
r
society the male child is always a precious child for a mother having three
daughters. To her it is of a more value. Because of illiteracy and social
customs the status of a mother would change after having a male child." In
addition, the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission further observes, "The
loss of motherhood of only male child can not be compensated by any
amount." The Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission court concludes that
it is a case of negligence per se.
It is shocking that even in 2001 when there is a law banning sex
selective abortion of the female foetus, a recent order by the Consumer
Disputes Redressal Commission=EDs seems to indicate that the sex selective
abortion ofthe female foetus is moral, legal and therefore also puts it on
record. This judgment serves to legitimise the inhuman, anti-women
attitudes of society in general.
The manner in which the judgement is worded raises questions about the
understanding of Consumer Disputes Redreesal Commission, Ahmedabad about
the girl child. It is shocking and unfortunate that the judgment has
ignored completely an existing law, namely, "The Pre-natal Diagnostic
Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994", which aims to
prevent misuse of technology to eliminate the girl child.
Though the case was filed in 1993, the judgment was announced in 2001.
Therefore we believe that the judgment should have taken cognisance of the
existing law. The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and
Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 and should have strongly censured the
couple who went in for the sex determination test as well as the doctor who
performed the test.
Such a judgment on record will be invariably used by people, which will
only deepen entrenched discriminatory, anti-women attitudes in society. It
is necessary therefore to take up the judgement for scrutiny and to review
in the context of "The Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and
Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994", as well as various judgements of the
Supreme Court of India.
We believe that while discriminatory and anti-women attitudes=20
prevalent in
society, state, and Government will take time to change, it is very
important that such illegal and unconstitutional statements and
articulation should not be placed on record.
It is ironical and deplorable that such a judgment has been passed at a
time when the recent Census reveals that the sex ratio in Gujarat State is
919 and the sex ratio of the population in the age group 0-6 as 878. It is
now accepted by large number of people including the Census commissioner
that such an imbalance is created as the result of the indiscriminate and
inhuman use of the sex determination techniques for the sex selective
abortions of the female foetuses.
Even as the consumer court has taken note of the unethical nature of
medical practices such as sex determination, it has excused the act of
seeking such sex determination tests on ground of illiteracy and social
custom. We believe that such orders and attitudes only endorse social and
medical practices that are by their very natures unethical, discriminatory
and constitute a gross violation of the girl child's fundamental right to
live. In the context of the vociferous resistance to the imposition of the
two-child norm by coercion, this judgment is alarming as it justifies the
recourse to measures such as sex determination tests because 'the male
child is precious' and has 'more value'.
We condemn the medical practice of eliminating the female=20
foetus. We also
condemn the social, economic, and cultural compulsions that drive couples
to undergo such tests at considerable financial and health-related costs to
women. That thousands of such women are forced into these tests to limit
the number of girl children they bear does not legitimise such acts.
Courts, medical doctors, women and men will do well to remember that what
is at stake here is the very survival of the girl child, the future of all
child-bearing women and the very status of women in society.
It is regrettable that the Court has been so short sighted as to ignore
the fundamental, democratic rights issues that confront us today. Indeed,
we believe that it is a challenge for each one of us to ensure that the
number of girl children in the state does not plummet any more. The first
step in this direction would be to ensure that women are not put through
social and cultural humiliation if they fail to produce a male child. Court
orders that compensate women for the loss of a male child after they have
made the calculated decision to undergo sex determination tests go against
the very fundamentals of gender equality and justice. It goes without
saying that the Court would not have found it objectionable if an abortion
had been advised and conducted had the sex determination test had revealed
a female foetus instead of a male one. So, in a back-handed manner the
Court has actually legitimised the abortion of female foetuses.
Sex determination and subsequent abortion of the female foetus is an
illegal activity and in no uncertain terms, it should be condemned and
stopped. All responsible for such acts are liable for punishment. We
believe that Court orders like these are a threat to all attempts to
rectify the imbalance in society today and to build a society that
considers girl children full citizens of this country. We also believe that
such practices are entrenched in society and are violation of all
principles of social and gender justice. Such attitudes pressurise women
to produce male children and to go through repeated pregnancies and
abortions till such time as they are able to produce a male child.
In a context where basic health care is denied to tens of thousands of
women across the length and breadth of the country, where safe birth
control is inaccessible women, and where women are being subjected to
severe forms of violence within the society and the family, it is
deplorable that no expense is being spared to determination the sex of a
foetus or abortions that may follow. Equally reprehensible is the fact that
by and large the medical establishment continues to ignore the violent and
discriminatory nature of such tests and has done very little to spread
awareness or create an opinion against such tests. Medical institutions and
private practitioners can in fact play a significant role in changing
societal attitudes that militate against the right of the female child to
survive. Similarly, courts can play an equally important role in bringing
about social change in favour of the girl child.
However, if such compensation continues to be awarded the=20
future for girl
children are indeed grim.

Nandini Manjrekar Prof. Amitaben Verma
Bina Srinivasan
Gujarat Forum for Women=EDs Studies and Action

Trupti Shah Shital Ghelani Ritaben Choksi
Sahiyar (Stree Sangathan)

Kiritbhai Bhatt
People=EDs Union for Civil Liberties

Dr. Maya Valecha Dineshbhai Jadav
Inquilabi Communist Sangathan

Thakorbhai Shah Sudhir Biniwale
Vadodara Kamdar Union

Swati Desai Rohit Prajapati
PARYAVARAN SURAKSHA SAMITI

M. S. Mansuri
Rajya General Kamdar Union

Ghansyam Patel
Co-operative Bank Workers union

_________

3.

The Hindu
Monday, August 06, 2001

Academics attack 'Vedic Astrology' in curriculum

NEW DELHI, AUG. 5. Academics continued their attack for the second=20
day against the saffronisation of education system by the BJP-led NDA=20
Government at a convention organised by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial=20
Trust (Sahmat) here and said introduction of `Vedic Astrology' as a=20
subject in universities was a part of such a move.

Criticising the Government for introducing the study of `Vedic=20
Astrology', the former University Grants Commission Chairman, Mr.=20
Sathis Chandra, said, ``the move is an attack on the liberal, human=20
and rational values on which the university system of learning has=20
been founded.''

Coming down heavily on the Human Resource Development Ministry for=20
its move to introduce the `Vedic Astrology' as a subject at the=20
university level, Chennai-based Mathematical Institute scientist, Mr.=20
T. Jayaraman, said it was aimed at ``thwarting scientific=20
investigation.''

The former Vice-Chancellor of Manonmaniyam Sundaranar University, Ms.=20
Vasanthi Devi, accused the Sangh Parivar of attempting to distort the=20
history and exhorted academics to organise themselves against any=20
such move.

- PTI

_________

4.

Hindustan Times
6 August 2001
Editoriaal

The crisis of physics

It's not the 'faith' which makes frenzied demolitions against the=20
backdrop of medieval war cries or a bachelor's degree in jyotish=20
vigyan or karmakand an acceptable ideological agenda.

It's a different kind of faith, the faith in the discoveries of=20
science and critical rationality. When Nehru referred to the sky as=20
the limit, he meant precisely this: the synthesis of science and=20
technology for egalitarian progress. Knowledge as liberation, not as=20
a retrograde movement into an atavistic schizophrenia which vitiates=20
minds, reduces social consciousness to a "we versus them" divide.

It was the Nehruvian 'scientific temper' to which the prime minister=20
was referring last Thursday. "Our faith in the power of science and=20
technology to drive productivity must remain unshaken," said Mr=20
Vajpayee. It is significant that he acknowledged the=20
post-Independence Nehruvian spirit which tried to lay the foundation=20
of a new India where progress and equality would move hand in hand.=20
This was a secular and modern spirit. It believed in the pluralism of=20
a nation in quest of a new society where knowledge is of supreme=20
importance. It also believed that for long, India, especially its=20
poor, have been trapped in the mumbo jumbo of artificial paradigms,=20
used by the dominant castes to legitimise the illogic of the 'divine=20
right' of the king and the priest.

What is ironical is that the prime minister's vision seems to be=20
facing a dead-end within his own government. Witness the unscientific=20
manner in which controversial proposals are being peddled by the HRD=20
ministry despite the misgivings expressed by eminent scientists like=20
Jayant Narlikar and Yash Pal about the courses on astrology and Vedic=20
rituals in institutions. Obviously, Mr Vajpayee's colleague in the=20
HRD ministry neither believes in academic consensus nor in democratic=20
discussion. He is focused on his warped agenda: rewriting history and=20
social science books, placing handpicked RSS men in key institutions=20
and sacking moderates. Surely, the least the prime minister can=20
expect from a former professor of physics is a little bit of=20
scientific temper.

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