My personal tribute to Mahatma Gandhi!
I always say that Gandhi travelled and the Mahatma was born on a third class compartment of an Indian train!
(Indian Express October 8, 2000)
Category: Uncategorized
Tribute to all my Teachers on ‘Teachers Day’…taught me to face the drama of life with grace!
Once you act a Shakespearean drama on stage with grace and poise, you are empowered to face life like a King or Queen!
So was OTHELLO…at St. John’s College, Agra 1979!
I salute all my teachers who have taught me at St. Peter’s College, Agra; St. John’s College, Agra; Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK; Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs, Syracuse University, New York, USA!
They gave me the power to live life as I want; strive to bring reform and transformation in systems and processes; think positive in all circumstances; and to be creative every moment of life!
From my Archives…St. John’s College, Agra- Festival of One-Act Plays 1978
Maid of the Mist
…
Maid of the Mist by Sandeep Silas in Rainbows Don’t Last Forever (2012)
Book available on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.in/RAINBOWS-DONT-FOREVER-Sandeep-Silas-ebook/dp/B007VDJEX8
Tum
You
When breath rises and conversations go on
Why do silences still linger between lips?
With you before me, love, intoxication, I lived
Far you are today, and I am near, I am love
We go on moving like breath in unknown spaces
‘Deep’ will utter the name that lives in breath when he rests
Tum by Sandeep Silas ‘deep’ in Saada Khayal (2009)
Left Holding the Card
First-ever Commemorative & Currency Coin on ‘Railways in India’ in 163 years history so far- idea, design and contribution of Sandeep Silas
Bholu The Guard, Mascot of Indian Railways- idea, design & contribution of Sandeep Silas
Strategy: WHAT WOMEN WANT—STOP GANG-RAPES!
WHAT WOMEN WANT—STOP GANG-RAPES!
sandeep silas
The capital has become the scene of another gang-rape. This time it is a eight year old girl child. The girl was abducted while sleeping outside with her family. Why were they sleeping outside? Because there is no power in their colony!
Not one politician of any political party either visited the girl’s traumatized family or issued any statement. Such things have become kind of routine news and acceptable facts to Indian society. Unless a person from immediate family gets affected even public does not bother and consumes the news carried in newspapers or TV with tea.
The affected family is left to fend for themselves with an unfriendly police system and a very complicated judicial system, where justice is more denied by delay.
Who will give the healing touch?
Who will stop these gang-rapes which destroy childhood?
Who will stop the ever increasing gang-rapes on our highways, city roads, public transport and in residential colonies?
In our childhood we were taught the idiom “Who will bell the cat?” It is so true today in this respect as the nation asks this question from the people who are responsible for governance in any form anywhere.
On the last day of July the nation was shocked when news came that a mother and daughter were dragged out of car in UP the previous night and gang-raped by some criminals of a Ghumantu gang for three hours in Bulandshahr District (65 km away from Delhi) on National Highway 91, and barely 100m away from a Police Post. Mother of 35 years and daughter of 14 years raped together!
The country is being scarred again and again, call it Nirbhaya or by any other name, gang-rapes continue with criminals at large. It is a systems failure: the maintenance of law & order, the long drawn trials, the lack of evidence, and little or no punishment, more alarmingly the will to stop these crimes against women.
Our country is a land where womanhood has been worshipped in the form of a Goddess. We believe in Devi Shakti. We do pilgrimages of all Shakti Sthals. We celebrate festivals with aplomb and our greetings are Jai Maa, Jai Bhagwati, Jai Mata Di, Radhey-Radhey and so on.
We worship our Goddesses every day. We name our daughters in the name of our Goddesses. We see their forms from Ma Durga to Ma Kali depicting victory over evil forces and demons. Our Goddesses ride lions and bless their followers. Our Mantras are chants in praise of our Goddesses, where we pray and bow in supplication and seek blessings from them.
Still no Political Party has made women safety as their national programme.
Who will lead the growing concern for crime against women?
It has to be backed by the Government’s legal and administrative action to show the Government’s resolve to hold back such horrific crimes against women. The very fact that again such a crime took place again in the capital of the country, only reveals that the courage of criminals is at a questionable large.
The last five years data of rape cases and the rate of conviction is a cause for immediate concern!
Countrywide protests could begin when women realize they are not safe while sleeping, travelling, or working. Women do feel unsafe and my conversations with the ones I know have revealed deep set anger, frustration and disenchantment with the present scenario of safety of women in the cities and villages. The incidents continue to shock the conscience of the people to the core.
SOME ALTERNATIVES BEFORE THE GOVERNMENT:
- Bill to be brought in Parliament for Capital Punishment / Chemical Castration of convicted rapists
- Emergency Decree like Italy announced in February 2009 for mandatory Life Sentence to be given to rapists
- Fast Track Rape Trial Courts
- Recruitment of Delhi Police Constabulary to be broad based from all States of India, and not have predominance from neighbouring State of Haryana as this move shall instill confidence and break the criminal-police nexus (majority of constabulary in Delhi Police and sexual crime offenders have roots in Haryana)
- Video recording to be a must in all Police Stations
- All cabs to be installed with Cab Cameras and GPS indicators
- Delhi Police to be brought under the control of Delhi Government and not be under the Home Ministry through Lieutenant Governor, Delhi
- Licensing of all Cab/Public Road Transport Drivers in the capital and the other cities to include Psychiatric Tests and be not as easy as it is today
- Creation of a Department of Crime Against Women under the Ministry of Women & Child Welfare
Now, is the time we have to be seen to be taking tough and long lasting measures to protect our daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. It is the cry of the ‘Daughters of India’. In this Year 2016, let it be noticed and talked about in the homes of India that the Government means business and such type of violence is to take place no more.
Punishment for Rape in Different Countries
I am placing before the people a comparative appreciation of the punishment awarded for rape in some countries:
USA: Under federal law the punishment for rape can range from a fine to Life imprisonment. The severity of the punishment is based on the use of violence, the age of the victim and whether drugs or intoxicants were used to override consent. If the perpetrator is a repeat offender the law prescribes automatically doubling the maximum sentence.
English Law: The offence is created by section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003:
| “ | 1-(1) A person (A) commits an offence—
(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section is liable, on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for life. |
China: China retained the death penalty in the 1980s for certain serious crimes. The 1980 law required that death sentences be approved by the Supreme People’s Court. This requirement was temporarily modified in 1981 to allow the higher people’s courts of provinces, autonomous regions, and special municipalities to approve death sentences for murder, robbery, rape, bomb-throwing, arson, and sabotage. In 1983 this modification was made permanent. In 2006, the Chinese government reversed the previous modified death penalty requirement that was made permanent in 1983. The law was enacted on January 1, 2007, and required all death sentences be approved by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC), effectively depriving the provincial people’s courts of exercising the final say on the death sentence, allowing death penalties handed out by provincial courts to be reviewed and ratified by the SPC.
Italy: In February 2009 Italy passed an Emergency Decree-Mandatory life sentences–The Italian decree, which goes into effect immediately but still has to be approved by both houses of parliament within 60 days, introduces mandatory life sentences for people convicted of gang-rape, sexual assault resulting in murder and violent sexual abuse of children.
India: Section 376 in The Indian Penal Code, 1860
- Punishment for rape.–
(1) Whoever, except in the cases provided for by sub- section (2), commits rape shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may be for life or for a term which may extend to ten years and shall also be liable to fine unless the woman raped is his own wife and is not under twelve years of age, in which case, he shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both.
The women of India need a healing touch. An administrative-legal direction to the whole issue is warranted. How soon we act is what shall matter and assuage the hurt conscience of the nation. Perhaps, something like the Italian response is the need of the hour!
“SAVE INNOCENCE” CAMPAIGN could be started in the country by those who are sensitive enough to realize the immensity of the problem and want to protect and respect womanhood!
© Sandeep Silas, Delhi, India
www.garlandofpeace.com
www.sandeepsilas.com
JAI HIND
STRATEGY: to create a NATIONAL PARKS MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
NATIONAL PARKS MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
NEW ORIGINAL IDEA & CONCEPT NOTE © SANDEEP SILAS
Date: August 20, 2016
BACKGROUNDER & JUSTIFICATION
It is the August of 2016 today!
On Sunday 9th August 2009, the Times of India had carried a full page Special Report titled:
TAKE A GOOD LOOK
THIS MAY BE THE LAST TIME YOU SEE A TIGER
END OF THE TALE?
- 1,300 AND GOING DOWN
- 7 Reserves on alert
- 0 tigers in Panna
- 35 tigers disappeared from Sariska
Not much has happened since then to save the tiger except setting up of an expert group, which deliberated and recommended, but tigers keep on disappearing.
What we need is a practical approach to the issue, a workable proposition and an institutional framework that works!
Project Tiger was started by late Smt. Indira Gandhi, then Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, as her vision to save the tiger and also to promote Wildlife Tourism.
Tigers totally disappeared again in Panna after Sariska, which was a most alarming fact. Last time the news filtered in about Sariska, the then Hon’ble Prime Minister had publicly expressed concern over the vanishing tigers from National Parks. The Government reacted by constituting a Task Force. The Task Force came up with certain recommendations but, tigers still keep vanishing.
The exact number of tigers as per the last tiger census was 3,500 but this is done by the ‘pug mark method’ and the real number probably would be anybody’s guess. The letter of the then Chief Minister of Rajasthan to the then Hon’ble Prime Minister in case of Sariska was indicative of the lack of will at the State level to save the magnificent Indian tiger from the menace of poachers and manage the National Parks to promote Wildlife Tourism. Similar is the case in other States.
The State Government’s reply, as the Press had then reported, was routine and non-committal. The situation in other National Parks of the country is also disturbing. Often the tourists, especially foreign visitors, go back disappointed after having heard so much of the famous Indian Tiger, spent so much money in planning logistic arrangements, hotel arrangements and fee to visit the park. Most of the times, the forest guards who accompany the group in an open jeep inside the park show visitors only the pugmarks of the tiger. Such disappointments are having their toll on visitors and thereby resulting in loss of tourism earnings and that expenditure which is done locally by the tourists and goes to small hotels/ restaurants/operators/shops/guides etc.
LEGAL POSITION
Forests are on the Concurrent List (Item 17. Prevention to Cruelty to Animals. 17A. Forests & 17B. Protection of Wild Animals and Birds), which makes it easier to handle the problem.
PROPOSED STRATEGY
To create a body titled, NATIONAL PARKS MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY at the national level with the under-mentioned terms of reference and responsibility areas it will help not only the Indian tiger but also promote India as a Wildlife Tourism destination.
To create a brand- WILDLIFE INDIA
A detailed Bill to be prepared and later an Act passed by the Parliament to create this unique body. It shall be a feather in the cap of the Government for nowhere in the world has anybody thought of such an idea to integrate the National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Biosphere Reserves in a dual bid to preserve wildlife, flora and fauna and also to promote wildlife tourism.
We must intervene now before it is too late. Task Forces’ will not be able to give a solution as they think in a straight line and nobody indulges in ‘out of the box’ thinking. One has to think at the national level and propose a workable practical solution. It is time for a systemic change and laying down a workable process.
We apply dressing to a wound when it is raw. What I am proposing is like invasive surgery, but at the moment it is in the best interest of the country.
My idea and concept can be made subject of a national debate if required and if it stands its test, it may then be accepted and implemented by the Government of India.
FORMATION OF NATIONAL PARKS MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
- Create a NATIONAL PARKS MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY.
- The NPMA shall be provided budget allocation from the Central Budget.
- All National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries and Biosphere Reserves in different States of India be brought under umbrella of the Authority for management and policing.
- Raise a special police force under the name of ‘Wildlife Protection Force’, which will police all the National Parks on the pattern on CISF, and be responsible for safeguarding the flora and fauna.
- The officers and staff of the NPMA shall be trained in environment conservation and recognition of flora and fauna apart from policing training.
- the Wildlife Protection Force shall have powers to prosecute for offences committed within their jurisdiction.
- A Wildlife Protection Force Act will require to be drafted to provide the legal framework for this special force.
- The earnings from the National Parks shall be utilized for the upkeep of the parks.
- The Force will also regulate the entry and exit of visitors to the parks and be responsible for patrolling inside the parks.
- Proper coordination at the Central Authority level for publicity purposes, booking arrangements and publishing of relevant brochures, books, other literature etc. would help in branding and marketing of ‘Wildlife India’.
- The Authority shall become a central body for co-ordination with all relevant Central Ministries and State Governments.
ADVANTAGES
The advantages from setting up of such an Authority will be tremendous in the following respects: –
- The management and protection of wildlife, which is at present as per the present level of commitment of a State Government will be standardized and be uniform.
- Wildlife shall actually be saved.
- Job opportunities shall be created.
- A discipline will be enforced throughout the country in the National Parks.
- A uniform ticketing system will be in the interest of visitors and the Authority. This will save visitors from being cheated by touts and harassed by locals who do not following any standard pricing system for organizing jeep / elephant rides inside the parks.
- Information to visitors on the available flora and fauna inside the particular park shall be available in a systematic manner apart from books and other literature.
- Branding of tourism product ‘WILDLIFE INDIA’ shall become possible.
- Consumer satisfaction index shall go up.
- Concern for protection of wildlife shall be felt at the national level and by people individually.
- The communication within the park and in between the parks will become possible for the benefit of Management Authority and visitors both.
- Information on other parks and its peculiar flora and fauna shall also be available to visitors in each park thereby prompting their visit to other parks.
- Vested interest of one set of officials and their linkages with poachers will not be able to develop, as it now exists, as the officers/officials will move to another park on transfer.
- Government will be seen to be keen to protect wildlife and the magnificent tiger.
- Railway and Airline tickets, plus reservation in Park Hotels all over the country, when available inside each Park will have a direct bearing on increase of time period a tourist stays in India thereby increasing tourism receipts.
IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY
- Cabinet Note for approval to be prepared by Ministry of Environment & Forests
- Bill for enactment of the National Parks Management Authority to be drafted by MOEF.
© Sandeep Silas
JAI HIND!