Vandalism in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has again proved that minorities are very unsafe and their civil and religious rights are repeatedly violated. On the Ashtami day of the Durga Puja, Islamic radicals destroyed Durga Puja pandals and set them on fire. They even immersed Durga and other deities' idols. Now, the entire leftist liberals' groups are silent because they do not want to hurt the secular fabric of the country. Had it been the other way around, the entire leftist's group along with politicians, cine stars would have cried their hearts out. Where are those who claim boldly that Bangladesh is a safe haven for Hindus, Christians and Sikhs? Over the last three years, Hindus have been targeted repeatedly over there. Minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are never safe there.
When the state government evicted illegal encroachers from government land with doubtful nationality from Dholpur in Sipajhar, to start a cooperative project that too for the welfare of the indigenous people, a large number of our indigenous brothers and sisters went overboard to protest against the government citing humanity and human rights as the reasons. Social media was set on fire by the sleeper cells of the pro-immigrant group. Bhupen Bora, Akhil Gogoi, Lurinjyoti Gogoi whose hearts always pains for immigrant Muslims are today silent seeing the plight of the Hindu community in Bangladesh.
In the 1990s we have seen what happened to Kashmiri pundits in erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir. In the near future scenario which we are witnessing in Bangladesh is going to happen in Kerela and West Bengal. Already just a few years back CM Banerjee stopped Vijayadashami to pave the way for the Moharram celebration in West Bengal. I pray to Almighty that Assam does not have to see that day.
Julie Bhuyan,
Gaurisagar.
Teacher insulted
In a bizarre incident in Philobari Senior Secondary School, Doomdooma, a lady teacher was insulted and humiliated by the agitating students with the support of local AASU and AJYCP units in the name of protest. The student bodies compelled the teacher to kneel down before the students in an open and tender apology. The students of the school protested over the hike in school fees but instead of sorting out the problem mutually, AASU and AJYCP activists hurled abusive language in full view of the students on the lady teacher. The video of the incident that went viral on the social media site disheartened many as teachers are our 'param guru' who is like our parents. It has set very bad precedence as it will give indulgence to rowdy and unruly students to do more such acts in future.
The so-called student bodies are in fact a curse for our academic atmosphere. Their contribution to uplifting the academic standards of the students is nil. They cover the years have shown only the wrong paths to the upcoming generations like agitation, dharna, forceful sanda collection, hartals. White shirt and black pant-wearing overage student leaders leading lavish life by the means of forceful donation. If one observes minutely the income source of the so-called student leaders one would be surprised to find that they have zero income by legal means but they are the owners of many buses, hotels, doing contracts of government projects, etc., now, where is Samujjal Bhattacharjee, Dipankar Nath and Shankar Barua? It is time to ban such parasite creeper organizations.
Purabi Miri,
Jakhalbandha.
Zubeen Garg
Zubeen Garg is a national-award-winning singer from Assam who has sung more than 20 thousand songs in over 30 Indian languages and has earned a name not only for himself but the entire country as well. But it is a surprise that his name has not yet been made to the recommendation list for any Padma award. With a career spanning almost 30 years, Zubeen has helped revive many languages by gifting his magical voice. Zubeen is also an active social worker and people throng his house in Guwahati every day looking for help and he never turns anyone down. Assam has many things to be proud of and Zubeen's voice is surely one of them. I think it is time the Indian government recognised his contributions to not only music but to society as a whole.
Noopur Baruah,
(barooahnoopur@gmail.com)
Epicentre
Bollywood, the tinsel world of the nation is in the news due to wrong reasons. After Sushant Singh Rajput's mysterious death which has a bearing on drugs, yet another drug-related incident took place in Mumbai where the son of Shahrukh Khan, popularly known as 'King Khan' by his fans was nabbed red-handed by the narcotic department from an illegal rave party from a luxurious cruise.
It is an open secret that Bollywood has become the epicentre of all anti-national and criminal activities. The three Khans, namely Shahrukh, Salman, Amir along with Nasiruddin Shah, Javed Akhtar, Sabana Azmi and others to name a few have shown their true colours as traitors after achieving all the love, adulation, money from the gullible public of the nation. Most surprisingly is that many of their colleagues instead of condemning the incident are coming forward to support Aryan Khan calling him a 'chottabaccha' forgetting that at the same age Neeraj Chopra brought GOLD MEDAL for India in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympic games.
It is time that we hang them high.
Dr Ashim Chowdhury,
Guwahati.
Rural women cultivating good food for all
We have seen the role of a woman in any family as they are the homemaker apart from all other works. The condition of rural and urban women is different and we can see more engagement of rural women in household activities. The global data says that rural women - a quarter of the world's population - work as farmers, wage earners, and entrepreneurs apart from being homemakers but the irony is that less than 20% of landholders worldwide are women. As women are concentrated in both unpaid care and household work and their role in subsistence farming is often unremunerated, their contribution to the rural economy is widely underestimated.
Achieving gender equality and empowering women is not only the accurate thing to do but is a vital ingredient in the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and malnutrition. On average, women make up more than 40 per cent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, ranging from 20 per cent in Latin America to 50 per cent or more in parts of Africa and Asia. But the challenge is women face significant discrimination when it comes to land and livestock ownership, equal pay, participation in decision-making entities, and access to resources, credit and market for their farms to flourish.
As most of our population lives in rural areas, it is necessary for us to improve the lives of rural women. Women in rural areas must get opportunities in different spheres and they must participate in the democratic process and get involved in the governance system. The crucial role that women and girls play in ensuring the sustainability of rural households and communities, improving rural livelihoods and overall wellbeing, has been increasingly recognized by all. Structural barriers and discriminatory social norms continue to constrain women's decision-making power and political participation in rural households and communities.
The UN Women supports the leadership and participation of rural women in shaping laws, strategies, policies, and programmes on all issues that affect their lives. The International Labour Organization (ILO)'s Decent Work Agenda offers an integrated framework for rural women's empowerment, underpinned by international labour standards, social dialogue and the recognition that rural women play a key role in climate action.
The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15th October 2008. This day, established by the General Assembly in its resolution 62/136 of 18 December 2007, recognizes "the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty." This year, the International Day of Rural Women puts a spotlight on "Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All."
Across the world, food systems depend on the daily work of rural women. They play a variety of essential roles, from raising crops and processing their harvest, to preparing food and distributing their products, ensuring that both their families and communities are nourished. Yet paradoxically those same women often have less access to food and a higher risk of hunger, malnutrition, undernutrition and food insecurity than their male counterparts. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, some 2.37 billion people did not have access to adequate food. This is an increase of almost 20 per cent in just one year, where those most affected were again rural women and girls.
Due to the pandemic, we have many challenges and we have seen that rural women and girl children are impacted negatively more than men. Girl children are less accessed to digital gadgets for which there is a digital divide. Rural women can grow more good food provided they are empowered and given scopes to explore. The day is an opportunity to address the rights of rural women around the world. Rural women are also a storehouse of traditional knowledge and if their knowledge and skill can be enhanced then this can bring a positive transformation in the society and also enable us towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Let us encourage and empower rural women for a sustainable future.
Ranjan K Baruah,
Ganeshguri, Guwahati