" Whatever happens now,I will not be silent.I will run away with kids if I've to "

Representative image ( Credit : Umang Arora)

By: Umang Arora
“My husband wouldn’t use protection, Didi. I’ve to buy contraceptive pills every now and then. I now have started to feel pain in various parts of my body. He would drink daily. I don’t know what to do. I cannot even leave him. My children will suffer,” says Kusum*, a woman in her mid-forties who hails from Uttar Pradesh and works as a home maid at several houses in Jalandhar city.

This is not just the story of Kusum. Many women, living in the villages of rural North India, virtually go through similar experiences. Dominated by the husband, tortured by the in-laws, they often don’t speak to anyone about the misery they put up with.  Domestic violence related to dowry and sex determination is a matter of regular occurrence for them, even today.

“He even said that if I get pregnant somehow, he’ll dump me and marry someone else,” says Kusum with fear in her eyes. Kusum’s story about how she manages to go home at the end of the day to face her husband is a shaking one.

Kusum has three boys but her husband won’t let any of them go to school.  He wants them to pick up errands available in the residential complexes in the city, like washing people’s cars, which will pay up small sums. She has tried several times to enroll them in the school but he wouldn’t let them go.

The misery does not condone the hard work needed to earn the daily bread.  Her daily shift starts from 8 in the morning till 9 in the night. She would find extra part time work as well to make the ends meet. “Whatever I earn at the end of the month, he manages to snatch away. Even if I try to hide it from him, he would make me swear by my children. I cannot lie then.” Kusum’s husband usually takes away all the money and spends it on booze.

“Fortunately”, her mother-in-law has died but it is her husband now, who is making life a hell for her. “It’s good if this person also dies, I’ll sail my kids somehow,” she murmurs.  “My mother gave bed, utensils, jewelry and what not; still my in-laws used to beat me up and would ask me to get cash from my mother. My mother has brought up us three sisters on her own” recalls Kusum.

Her father would beat up her mother when they used to live in their gaon. As a little girl, she would see her sisters getting beaten up by her father and in-laws. “Every night my father used to beat my mother for not giving birth to a boy,” recalls Kusum. When it became unbearable, her mother ran away from there. She was carrying her fourth child in the womb at that time.  “Hamaari taraf aisa he hota hai! (This is what happens at our side!),”shrugs Kusum.

There’s a long, long battle for Kusum to fight through. For herself and her children. “The bastard doesn’t even die! Whatever happens now, I will not be silent. I will run away with kids if I’ve to,” says Kusum.

*Name changed for the privacy

Time for Indian politics to regain civility in debate

Parliament being disrupted by MP's 

By: Umang Arora

Indian politics appears to be at a very alarming stage. The kind of behavior shown by our representatives in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha is very embarrassing. There’re no sign of healthy discussions from which anything good can be concluded.

Lately, the sessions have deteriorated to bedlam whenever a controversial issue comes up for deliberation. Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 2 pm on Tuesday due to Congress protest seeking Home Ministers’ resignation on the NRC issue. Samajwadi Party members later started protesting against the 13-point Roster system disrupting the later session. Speaking outside Parliament House, Speaker said “unruly behavior” would not be accepted from any Member of Parliament. “I had warned them three times not to make noise or throw papers but despite my warning, they created a ruckus and behaved in an unruly manner. The scene was similar to a college classroom where kids throw papers at each other. If these members act and behave like them no sooner we will have to suspend all every time or take action.” The productivity of Rajya Sabha, in this budget session, clocked at a mere 5%, according to PRS Legislative Research estimates.

There’s no country in the world where conflicts don’t take place. Debates and discussions are a sign of healthy democracy. However, minimum civility should be maintained even at the face of extreme disagreements. Most often, the speaker is seen pleading the members to “maintain the decorum” in the assembly. Whether there’s hooting, hugging or screaming, they all interrupt the activities of the Parliament ultimately wasting the public money involved in holding a session of representatives in the biggest democracy in the world.

Unruly behavior in the Sabhas is nothing new in the Indian context. The President’s address to a joint session was disrupted on 18th Feb 1963 by some of the MPs for the speech being in English instead of Hindi. Then Prime Minister Nehru condemned the act and described it as “the first of its kind” and “most regrettable” one.

“The Rules of Conduct and Parliamentary Etiquette” of the Rajya Sabha in fact draws out the rules of the game very clearly. As per the document, “the House has the right to punish its members for their misconduct whether in the House or outside it. In cases of misconduct or contempt committed by its members, the House can impose a punishment in the form of admonition, reprimand, and withdrawal from the House, suspension from the service of the House, imprisonment and expulsion from the House." It is the duty of Chairman/Deputy Chairman of the Parliament to apply the existing rules strictly.

The way politicians presented themselves in the Sabha was not something which can be shown to the young in the country as a civilized example of a debate. In fact, the culture of debate is coming down day by day. For instance, out of the 14 bills passed in the winter session, 9 were deliberated upon for less than an hour and a half only. Even when someone’s speaking, the other side would keep hooting, keep interrupting the whole assembly.

Most of the politicians don’t even bother to show up. Only 5% of MPs have 100% attendance. While the average attendance of MPs is 73% against the required 80%, there are MPs like Hema Malini(BJP), Mausam Noor(INC), Anoop Mishra(BJP) or Muzaffar Hussain Baig(PDP) who’ve attendance of 39%, 47%, 46% and 11% respectively during their tenure as per the data of PRS Legislative Research. Almost 25 MPs have never participated in any discussion or asked any questions ever.

We talk of becoming a superpower nation but it is only possible if the citizens, most importantly our politicians, acknowledge the importance of debate in a democracy and follow the ways of expressing disagreement in civility. Though democracy is also about agreeing to disagree, it shall not be by shouting the other down.

Dharamshala's Zonal Hospital lacks basic facilities

by: Umang Arora


Pallavi, a student of Central University of Himachal Pradesh, had suddenly fallen ill in the middle of the night. Her friends called every number possible, from emergency number provided by the Dharamshala Zonal hospital to 108, the Emergency Response Number. But there was no response on the other side of the phone. At last, they called Dharamshala Police Station and asked them to help their friend.

“Pallavi had an epilepsy attack at midnight. She was with us, at our room. We had to take her to the hospital”, said Kuldip*, her friend. They were facing such a situation for the first time and that too at the middle of the night. They frantically kept trying emergency numbers but found no response except from police.

Getting reliable and emergency medical help at Dharamshala is not easy, especially at odd hours. The Zonal Hospital, despite being the only major medical facility available for more than a dozen villages around Dharamshala is not in a good shape. Even basic services are lacking. Patients visiting here have to go through various challenges to get proper treatment.

"We're here since 8am and the doctor hasn't arrived yet." said the member of a family that came from Bandi, a small village in Kangra. Their son was suffering from high fever and even after waiting for 5 hours, there was no doctor to examine him at the Emergency ward. Members of another family from Gharoh, a village near Dharamshala, said they also faced the same situation.

The winter has arrived in the city and there's a hike in the number of patients. However, the doctors wouldn't arrive in the Emergency section till noon and there's no one to guide the patients. The help desk is there, but no one has ever been seen sitting there. The washrooms aren't properly maintained. At some, there're no lights and at others, there's not even partition among men's and women's washrooms.

It is not that the medical staff here does not want to take care of the patients. They also face issues. “The call on 108 goes to the Solan first, and then the ambulance is provided to the patient. Often, this causes delay, especially during odd hours”, said a hospital staff. “We’re trying our best to satisfy the patients with whatever resources available,” she said.

The Zonal Hospital is the only secondary care multispecialty hospital in the Dharmshala sub division in Kangra district. It is equipped with a 300 bedded In-patient ward and a total of 90 staff. According to sources, there’s a shortage of doctors in the Zonal hospital as of now. Most of the patients are being referred to Tanda Medical College due to this.

Randeep Singh Rana, a labourer, hailing from Dari, had fallen sick in the middle of the day. His family took him to the hospital. "The doctor didn’t even touch him. Such was his carelessness. We were not satisfied by the services of the hospital and had to take him to a private doctor." said his uncle.

People are just not satisfied by the hospital's services. Many complained that the hospital staff was very rude towards the patients and their families. Patients are forced to resort to continuously coax the emergency staff to get the essential medical help here.

For Pallavi’s friends, even getting police help to take her to hospital was not easy. The police tried to put their request off by asking them to wait till morning. “We even had to warn them that if something happens to Pallavi, they’ll be responsible”, said Kuldip. “Then only they came with a vehicle to help us”, said he.


*Name changed on request for privacy reason.