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December 29 The ambiguous legal status of prostitution in India is set to become muddier as a new law threatens the existence of the world’s oldest profession.Another proposal in the law in Section 3 states that,  “Any person who keeps or manages, or acts or assists in the keeping or management of, a brothel shall be punishable on first conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than two years and which may extend to three years and also with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years and which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to two lakh rupees”. What this basically means is that the landlord of a brothel and any relative of a prostitute above 18 years of age and financially dependent on her, can be imprisoned. How stupid is that? If you want to declare prostitution illegal then do it, so we can at least contest that in the courts; it’s nothing but a roundabout way to make prostitution unviable.Through our work at G.B. Road, we’ve been able to cut down on child trafficking prevalent in this area; this evil has been rooted out only because of our consistent efforts. We would have to deal with the same problem again if this business was made unviable. As it is, these women exist at the fringes of the society; if this law comes into effect they would be forced out on the roads, deprived of their support structure and their access to NGOs. Many would then resort to begging, or even have unprotected sex, leading to increase in AIDS cases, and years of work of various NGOs in combating the disease will be wasted.....Continue December 03 After five years in the political wilderness, Congress is once again dreaming of staging a comeback in Chhattisgarh.One one hand, there are allegations of nepotism against you. On the other, rebels are dogging BJP's prospects. This is not true. These are allegations by people who have been denied tickets. The Central Election Committee has selected only those who they are sure would win. We have fielded old as well as fresh faces for the polls, and this will yield rich dividends. As far as rebels are concerned, we shall take care of all of them. People must realise that the party is above all.  You had challenged Ram Singh to a contest from any constituency in the state, but now you have stuck to your own bastion Marwahi. Why this tactical shift?Indeed, I had challenged him to do so, but the High Command felt that I am needed for campaigning throughout the state, because our target is not to defeat one single person, but to uproot an entire regime. And that is what I am doing. You are fighting your own elections and fighting for your candidates. Do you think you will successfully manage both, with 51 of your own candidates (out of a total of 90 seats) looking up to you? At the time of ticket distribution, some senior party colleagues had suggested that either I contest or help others contest. This issue had been raised in the High Command as well. But I had made it clear that they should have enough faith that I will manage both. The sole consideration behind this was the benefit of the party. I have full faith that the Marwahi voters will elect me with a huge margin. The main basis of the Congress party stands on the feet of women and minorities, but that is not reflected in the distribution of tickets. Both have been ignored… I do not agree. We have given tickets to those candidates who we felt would win from specific constituencies. It was Congress that advocated reservation for women, and keeping that in mind, adequate number of ladies have been given tickets. Some leaders are trying to upstage you in media coverage. I am not sure how much of this is true, but there are many who are politically over-ambitious. So it is possible that such games are on. But my focus is the benefit of the party and all the top leaders are unitedly doing this. There are allegations of Naxalism flourishing during the Raman Singh regime and doubts have been raised over the ethics of the Salwa Judum movement against Naxalites. Where do you stand? If we come to power we shall ban Salwa Judum because this is damaging for the tribal communities. Sixty-five thousand tribal people have come practically under house arrest. Their lives, lifestyle and culture are all under threat. In three Assembly constituencies, at least two persons have been murdered every day over the past one year. And the BJP government is solely responsible for ruining law and order in the state. ....Continue |
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