Courtesy WION

The Tamil Nadu government, which owns and operates the dam located upstream of Idukki Dam, has informed that it may release water into the Periyar river on the Kerala side from Mullaperiyar reservoir due to higher inflows, an official release said.

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https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/kerala-floods-as-water-level-rises-mullaperiyar-dam-in-kerala-to-be-opened-1900650

  

 

Ms. Manushri Chhilar won the international title of Ms World 2017 by answering the question “Which occupation do you think should be the highest paid?” She answered “A mother and a housewife at home should be the highest paid job.” Are we going to stop only at the theoretical level?  Are these nice-sounding words only for winning a contest?

Everyone in this world needs attention and appreciation. It is human nature and no one is an exception. Then why women working at home should not receive appreciation?

She no longer wants to be tagged as God. She wants respect, love and financial security.

She is tired of living double standards, one standard for him and a different one for her. Her tolerance is coming to an end – in the name of adjustments for children, home and marriage.

A housewife/mother is smart and intelligent. She uses all her energy for minute details for home and family. She is multi-tasking, efficient and perfectionist, yet she is not appreciated and valued.

We value any services when we pay in terms of money. It is not a fight between genders. It is about changing human nature. When we pay someone for cooking, house-help and childcare, we value them. And if we need to speak our mind with them, we do it carefully because we don’t want to lose them. Then why should a housewife and  mother be taken for granted?

One day, passing through a colony I heard someone calling out my name. It was Vandana. The last time I met her was 20 years back, when we were in school. What a coincidence and unexpected surprise to see her!

She invited me to her home. While she went to get me water, I looked around the sitting room. I looked at her family picture on the wall. It was clear she was married with kids and had a pretty good house. Everything looked perfect from outside but her face and health were telling a different story.  Dark circles around eyes, and stress on her face made her look older than her age.

I asked an obvious question. “What do you do?” She replied with her eyes down, in a soft and unconfident voice “housewife” as if she was ashamed of it.

Immediately to comfort her I said “That is the greatest job”, my eyes were down too.

She smiled with the eyes down again. What a fake conversation. After some time, I made an excuse and left the place. Her face haunted me for many days.

This is the story of almost every housewife in India. She is suffering from low self-esteem, financial dependency, suppressed anger and desires. Most of the time she also suffers from iron, vitamin B12 and calcium deficiencies, depression and various health issues.

There is a custom in some regions of India during Holi – the festival of colors, that all the wives of the village have total freedom to hit their husband with a stick, and all the husbands defend themselves with a shield. Sometimes while hitting, she cries aloud, sometimes she seems to enjoy. There are different emotions at play, but all is done in good spirit. It might look silly to an outsider but it is a healthy way to get rid of the accumulated anger and suppression.

In urban areas, an educated woman has to step out of her home and take up a job to live in dignity. Now she manages herself, home, children, and her job.  She has her own car, bank balance and manages shopping, business meetings, and outstation conferences. She is more confident and secure. She is appreciated for her creativity, spontaneity and ability. She too has less free time like a man.

I feel this is not the solution either. This is just taking the situation from one extreme to another, and that is the truth. This kind of situation often leads to a compromise with children and home. Many women lose interest in motherhood. She is afraid to make a commitment.

What is the solution then?

Silya is a smart girl with many talents. She easily got a job after her college and got promotion in a few months.

One day she met a boy and they fell in love. After two years they decided to get married.

Silya was clear what she wanted from life. She said “I have good experience of job and work, after marriage I want to dedicate myself to my family and children”.  The boy agreed and said “This is also what I want”.

Next day Silya penned down some important points on the paper and asked her boyfriend to sign it.

It was written:-

Whatever property, money, and bank balance I owe, I share 50% with Silya in case we separate in future for whatsoever reason. After our marriage, every month I will transfer 25% of my total income to Silya’s account.

He said “This is obvious, why to write and get it signed? Don’t you trust me?”

Silya said “I trust you, which is why I am leaving my, running- income and all other life-style benefits, just to take care of my family. It is like a government job, where we perform our best in a secure environment.”

He said “I wish my sister would have same clarity” and he signed the papers for her satisfaction.

It is now eight years of their marriage and they have two children. They argue almost every day, but no big fights. Silya loves to serve her family, and he loves and appreciates her work.

The solution lies in a little insecurity to men and little more security to women. A mother and housewife deserve payment for her job just like the man. And this agreement is the practical solution.

To identify the root cause of all our problems, we need to be more aware, and for that we need to have more inner silence. Silence enables us to resolve our problems with ease.

The daily practice of mediation helps us to build the inner silence gradually, and to bring back the balance in our daily life. Else we will continue living in extremes with never-ending problems.

About Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project

The Mahakali River basin, upstream from the proposed Pancheshwar High Dam site has drainage area of 12,100 Km2. PMP has been identified as a huge storage scheme to be developed so as to maximize peak power benefit in the order of 6,720 MW (Pancheshwar High Dam-6480 MW and Rupali Gad Re-regulating Dam-240 MW) with an annual average energy production of 12,333 GWh. The Poornagiri re-regulating dam is an alternative of Rupali Gad Re-regulating Dam from which additional 1000 MW power will be generated (PACO report, Additional Service, section 3, June 1992).
Location and Accessibility
The project area lies between 29° 07′ 30″ and 29° 48′ North latitude and 79° 55′ and 80° 35′ East longitude. It lies in the Mahakali zone of the Far Western Development Region of Nepal covering some parts of Darchula, Baitadi and Dadeldhura districts bordering India. At present, the Project site can be accessed by vehicle only through India. However, it can be accessed through Nepal by two days walking from Patan, Baitadi.
Pancheshwar High Dam
Pancheshwar High Dam project has been conceived as a huge storage scheme having a 315 m high rock fill dam with a central earthen core. With the “Normal Maximum Water Level” of 680 m elevation the reservoir area extends to 65 km upstream in Baitadi and Darchula districts. The crest length and the crest elevation would be 860 m and 695 m respectively. The “Normal Maximum Water Level” would provide live storage of 6.56 billion m3 of water and capable of generating 10,671 GWh of energy. Two identical underground powerhouses, one on each bank in Nepal and lndia of capacity of 324 MW have been proposed comprising 6 generating units of vertical Francis turbines having 540 MW capacity of each will be installed. Total installed capacity of the high dam project will be of 6480 MW.

A re-regulating dam at Rupaligad is conceived as integral component of PMP to minimise social and environmental Impacts due to high fluctuation of water level and flow in downstream when high dam power plants operate at peaking load. Poornagiri Re-regulating Dam has been identified as an alternative of the Rupaligad RRD.

Rupaligad Re-regulating Dam
An 83 m high concrete gravity dam on Mahakali River near Samniya settlement is proposed as Rupali Gad Re-regulating Dam which is about 25 km downstream from Pancheshwar High Dam. The dam site is located at about 1.75 km downstream from the confluence of Rupali Gad with Mahakali River in Dadeldhura District. At maximum water level of 420 masl, it stores 70 million m3 of water as live storage and produces 240 MW power with 1662 GWh of annual energy.

Poornagiri Re-Regulating Dam
This dam is located at 64 km downstream from High dam. DPR study of 1995 has proposed two options; (a) 117 m high rock fill dam, and (b) 124 m high concrete gravity dam. These are for re-regulating the water of the high dam. The power production of the dam is 1000 MW in both options.

Copyright © Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project.

Additional Information provided by Nepal Energy Forum

Pancheshwar project will have tallest dam in the world

Interview with Mahendra Gurung, CEO of Pancheshwar Development Authority

The proposal to build Pancheshwar Multi-purpose Project on the Mahakali River in far-western Nepal was floated by Nepal and India almost two decades ago. However, nothing happened for a long time. Things finally started moving forward when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Nepal in August 2014. Then in September 2014, the governing body of the Pancheshwar Development Authority, the project implementing body, met for the first time. This led to formal establishment of the PDA. Recently, WAPCOS Ltd, an Indian state-owned company hired to prepare the detailed project report, submitted the final draft of the DPR. Report says Pancheshwar, along with Rupaligad project, can generate around 12 billion units of electricity per year. Rupak D Sharma of The Himalayan Times caught up with PDA CEO Mahendra Gurung to know more about findings of study conducted by WAPCOS.

WAPCOS has just submitted the final draft of detailed project report (DPR) of Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project. How different is it than the previous ones?

Nepal had initially prepared the DPR of Pancheshwar in 1995. Then in 2003, India came up with its own
project report. India had largely prepared the report based on data used in DPR prepared by Nepal. The 1995 DPR had said the installed capacity of the project would be 6,480 megawatts. But the latest report says the installed capacity of the project would be 4,800 MW. In other words, there has been a downward revision in the project’s installed capacity. This is one of the differences.

Why was the figure revised?

Although the 1995 DPR was said to have been prepared on the basis of studies conducted from 1962 to 1992, not all data were collected from the Mahakali River where the project is being built. It is now known that the report had also used data collected from Karnali Chisapani. Also, research has shown that the country had started keeping records of Mahakali River from 1985 or 1986. So, the 1995 DPR was prepared based on data collected since 1985 or 1986. But when WAPCOS Ltd conducted its study in 2015, it used the previous data and data obtained after 1995 as well. So, this study is more in-depth. During the course of study, WAPCOS found that the level of precipitation, or rainfall, had fallen for five consecutive years from 1995 to 2000, indicating reduction in water level in the river. This is one of the reasons why the installed capacity had to be revised. Another reason for downward revision is the provision in the Mahakali Treaty signed by Nepal and India in 1996, which says five per cent of the water in the river should not be used for electricity generation. This means the latest figure on installed capacity was derived without factoring in power that could have been generated through five per cent of the water in the river. However, in reservoir projects, like Pancheshwar, megawatt alone does not reflect the true picture. This is because electricity generation through reservoir projects depends on when and how the water is used.

Could you please elaborate on what you just said?

What I’m trying to say is reservoir projects give us the option to use all the water at once or use a certain quantity of water multiple times to generate electricity. So, the quantum of energy that we generate per annum is more important than megawatts. And the latest report shows the project can generate almost similar quantum of electricity as estimated in 1995. However, this is just a draft report. Now, governments of both the countries will have to review the findings and lay their suggestions, following which the DPR would be finalised.

WAPCOS has also submitted a report on development of Rupaligad re-regulating dam, isn’t it? What does it say?

Pancheshwar project is expected to release huge quantity of water for certain hours every day when electricity is being generated. If all the water released by the project is allowed to flow downstream, it’ll create havoc in settlements located on river banks. This is why we are building a re-regulating dam. This dam will regulate the flow of water released by Pancheshwar project to support irrigation in Nepal and India. The dam will also control floods. The 1995 DPR prepared by Nepal and the Indian report of 2003 had recommended that Rupaligad dam be built 25 km away from Pancheshwar’s dam site. But the latest report has said this distance is insufficient and has proposed development of Rupaligad dam at a distance of 27.5 km from Pancheshwar dam site. However, the installed capacity of the Rupaligad project has remained unchanged at 240 MW. Another good news is that annual energy generation capacity of this project has been revised upwards to around 1,500 or 1,600 gigawatt-hours (1.5 or 1.6 billion units).

Will these dams be quake resistant, as far-western region is also said to be earthquake prone area?

We had previously conducted geological study in the area where the projects are being developed. Recently, an in-depth seismic study was also conducted. Based on these studies, we have also reviewed the designs of the two dams. These dams will be able to withstand earthquakes of up to 8.5 magnitude.

How many families do you think need to be relocated from the project site?

The area where the project is being developed is mostly covered by hills and does not have many human
settlements. As per the latest data, 22,765 people will have to be relocated in Nepal. This is an indication that land acquisition will not pose a big problem for us. However, I don’t have exact data on Indian families that will be affected by Pancheshwar and Rupaligad projects. We will have to conduct a detailed study in this regard.

How big will the reservoir be?

The reservoir will stretch 65 km upstream from the Pancheshwar dam site. It can store six billion cubic metres of water.

And how tall will the dam be?

It would be around 315 metres tall. Once the construction of this dam is over, it would be the tallest in the world. However, some experts are against the idea of creation of tall dams. But had India not built Tehri Dam, which is one of the tallest dams in the world, Dhauliganga flood of 2013 would have swept away Haridwar and Rishikesh.

How much do you think would the entire project cost?

As per latest estimates, it would cost INR 300 billion (Rs 480 billion) to build the project. This cost includes construction of both Pancheshwar and Rupaligad projects. This means per MW construction cost of the project hovers around Rs 95 million. So, we can say this project is going to be one of the cheapest projects being developed in the country.

And how much do you think would it cost to generate each unit of electricity from the project?

The electricity production cost hovers around INR five-six (Rs eight to Rs 9.6) per unit. This price is
quite high considering the cost of electricity in India. So, we are scouting for options to reduce the production cost.

What if the energy produced by the project becomes surplus for Nepal. Against that backdrop, can Nepal sell electricity in India?

Mahakali Treaty says a portion of Nepal’s share of energy shall be sold to India. The treaty also says that the quantum of such energy and its price shall be mutually agreed upon by the two parties. So, we have the option of selling electricity to India. Currently, India has shown interest to purchase electricity from us. But it has said Nepal should explicitly say the quantum of energy that it intends to sell at the earliest. This is because India can create its energy policy based on the quantum of electricity that we plan to sell. Also, India has said electricity should be sold at a competitive price. We have delivered this message to the government.

How will Nepal and India share costs to develop the project?

Mahakali Treaty says the project cost will have to be borne by both the countries in proportion to the benefits they reap. However, as of now, we don’t know how much each country has to invest. We’ll discuss this matter in the coming days. What is currently known is that electricity generated by the project will be distributed equally. For this, power houses comprising six turbines with electricity generating capacity of 400 MW each will be built on two banks of the river. The power generated from one bank, which falls in the Nepali territory, will be used by Nepal and the power generated from the other bank, which falls in the Indian territory, will be consumed by India. However, we are yet to determine other benefits that the two countries are likely to reap from the project. Some other benefits of this project are irrigation and flood control. In terms of irrigation, India will benefit the most. This is because India has lots of agricultural land, whereas we don’t have much irrigable land in our territory. This means we will not be able to take maximum benefit from the irrigation project even though Nepal can exercise its prerogative over water use. Latest studies show that even if we supply water to all the agricultural land from Kanchanpur to Kailali through this project, we cannot irrigate more than 100,000 hectares of land. In contrast, India has already said the project will help it to irrigate 1.6 million hectares of land.

Mahakali Treaty had become a political hot potato some two decades ago and had even split one of the largest political parties? Do you think similar differences will surface this time?

Most of the political parties have now become mature. Also, most of the political leaders have been engaged in this project. For instance, the treaty was signed when Sher Bahadur Deuba of Nepali Congress was the prime minister. At that time, KP Sharma Oli of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist had backed the treaty. He is now the country’s prime minister. Lately, it’s the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and its splinter groups that create obstructions for hydro projects. But the concept of the Pancheshwar Development Authority (PDA) had taken a concrete shape during the time when Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda) was the prime minister. At that time, the management structure of PDA was also created. Then during the time when Madhav Kumar Nepal was prime minister, Terms of Reference of PDA was framed. So, major political leaders are aware of Pancheshwar project. However, if the project hits a major roadblock, locals, who are tired of waiting for implementation of the project, would protest.

So when will the commercial operation of the project begin?

If everything goes smoothly, we’d be able to complete all pre-construction works within three years. During the pre-construction phase, we will divert the flow of water from the river through tunnels. We will be building eight diversion tunnels for the purpose. We will also have to build access roads and suspension bridges to link both the dam sites. Also, hydro-metrological stations have to be renovated or set up. Once these works are complete, it will take another eight to 10 years to build the projects. Within this period, some units (turbines) will come into operation. But at least 10 to 12 years will be required to fully complete the project. During my three-year tenure as CEO, I intend to initiate the work of building the tunnels. It is my wish to see prime ministers of both the countries inaugurate the work.

Lastly, what do you intend to do in 2016?

We will set up our headquarters in Mahendranagar. We will also start building suspension bridges and access road to link project sites. We will also renovate or set up hydro-metrological stations. Besides, we will also finalise administrative and financial by-laws to ensure smooth operation of PDA.

Source :
The Himalayan Times.
www.nepalenergyforum.com

During the recent state assembly elections in Gujarat (December 2017) the Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi not only declared himself to be a ‘devotee of Shiva’ and a jane-u-dhaari (sacred-thread bearing, meaning staunch believer, orthodox) Hindu, he also picked up three disparate elements from the body politic of Gujarat – a so-called Dalit activist Jignesh Mevani, a so-called OBC activist Alpesh Thakur, and a self-styled Patidar leader Hardik Patel. All these three “young leaders” emerged on the scene of Gujarat politics by starting agitations to demand reservations in jobs and other amenities for their own castes. Apart from “impressing” the people of Gujarat with his new avatar as jane-u-dhaari Hindu, newly appointed Congress party president Rahul Gandhi’s politics in Gujarat revolved around ‘Caste’. While giving assurance of more favourable treatment to the so-called “Dalits” (a term used for former untouchable castes, literally meaning ‘the oppressed’) and “Other Backward Castes (OBCs)”, Rahul Gandhi offered the lollipop of ‘reservation in jobs’ to the most dominant caste of Gujarat – Patidars/Patels.

And, the strategy worked to a great extent. The party nearly won the elections. In the state legislative assembly, the party and its alliance partners now occupy 81 seats, quite close to the half-way mark of 91 seats. Realising the potential strength of the strategy adopted by the Congress party, PM Modi spent days campaigning in Gujarat in Gujarati (quite uncharacteristic of NaMo), had to raise the question of Gujarati pride (His being called ‘Neech’ meaning ‘low person’ by a Congress politician was an insult to all Indians who elected him as the PM, but Narendra Modi kept it associated with Gujaratis only – ‘Isn’t it an insult of Gujaratis?, he asked). In other words, Rahul Gandhi’s strategy to divide Gujaratis on caste-lines made nationally popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi jump through hoops to scrape through the state assembly elections in his own home state!

Had the Congress party won the Gujarat elections, where would the state be today! By this time the claims and counter-claims of backwardness and the degrees of backwardness of various Castes would have overwhelmed the Gujarat government.

And what implications the reservations for Patels in Gujarat would have for other states! Marathas in Maharashtra, Reddys and Kammas in AP, Lingayats in Karnataka, and Vanniyars in Tamil Nadu would have been up in arms demanding immediate OBC status for themselves.

Where would caste-based reservations take the country to! This formula of providing “social justice”, invented by Indian politicians, took the country to a near civil war between “Backwards” and “Forwards” in the early 1990s. More recently, in February 2016 during the agitation to get Jats included in the OBCs, the largescale violence against the public property and other communities paralysed the state of Haryana for 10 days. National highways and trains were blocked. Several incidents of inter-caste violence, particularly against the small Saini and Punjabi communities, took place across Haryana. There were reports of mass rapes of women travelling through the state. The agitation was estimated to have caused a loss of ₹340 billion (US$5.3 billion) in northern India. And, according to the Haryana Police 30 people got killed and over 200 people were injured in the agitation.

Caste is a divisive, dangerous and destructive force.
Yet, caste has been the curse of Indian society for a long time. The so-called upper castes inflicted indignities on the former “untouchables” under the Varna Vyavastha (CasteSystem) for many hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Some people still harbour caste prejudices. Nearly seven decades after caste untouchability was abolished by the Constitution of India, more than a fourth of Indians say they continue to practise it in some form in their homes. A survey conducted in over 42,000 households across India by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the US University of Maryland in 2011-12 found that 27 percent of Indians still practice caste untouchability.

And the incidents of caste repression and violence against the so-called lower caste people happen even today. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 47,064 cases of crimes against Dalits – ranging from rape, murder, beatings, and violence related to land matters – were registered in 2014.

However, the caste narrative is not linear. It is not just the people from the socalled upper castes who harbour caste prejudices; the “victims” have internalised and perpetuated caste system too. In northern India, Chamars have been the victims of caste discrimination and repression at the hands of the socalled upper castes. And, they in turn have considered themselves superior to Balmikis. According to the above quoted survey, not only the practice of caste untouchability was prevalent among the so-called upper castes, 15 per cent of Scheduled Caste (Dalits) and 22 per cent of Scheduled Tribe respondents admitted to the practice against whom they considered “even more lower castes”!
Also, while some people suffer caste repression, others from “the disadvantaged communities” reap political and economic benefits from it. The organisation of political parties on caste lines such as RJD, SP and BSP shows a big section of politicians thrives on the caste divisions in the society. One unfortunate incident of assault against Dalits in Una in Gir Somnath district made Jignesh Mewani become a new Dalit leader overnight. Mayawati became chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state of India, four times primarily through playing the Dalit card. As the most important Dalit leader in present times, Mayawati received presents from her followers worth hundreds of crores on her birthdays. A good number of well-off Dalits, sometimes three to four generations of the same family, who have never suffered a social impediment themselves, have benefitted from caste-based reservations in jobs and promotions. Senior civil service officers and university professors benefitting from castebased reservations, who claim their own children need reservations in jobs, display a clear vested interest in the perpetuation of Caste. In fact, this section of the socalled Dalits is deep down quite happy to see some caste atrocities taking place in remote areas so that that can be forwarded as justification for reservation in jobs for themselves. In South Africa too, there were some sections of the Black population who benefitted from the Apartheid.

Many corrupt and dishonest people occupy high places in the body politic of India due to casteism. Convicted criminals get elected to state legislative assemblies and Indian parliament because of people’s caste allegiance towards them. Many dishonest Indian politicians believe that even if they are found out and convicted for corruption, they can get re-elected because their caste fellows would still vote for them. And there is no point in pretending otherwise. A large number of Indian electorate ignores the corruption indulged in by politicians coming from their castes. Lalu Prasad Yadav is a prime example of that. A many-times convicted criminal Lalu Prasad, whose whole family is now being probed for corrupt deals, is still ruling the roost in Bihar because his caste folk still vote for him. Lalu Prasad is not the only one. The country is full of people who are known to be corrupt, and yet a huge number of their caste fellows support them. Casteism is largely responsible for dishonesty and corruption in the government administration of the country.

Like racism, Caste severely damages people’s lives at individual level and badly weakens the society. As quoted by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Picket in their book, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, in 2004, World Bank economists Karla Hoff and Priyanka Pandey reported the results of a remarkable experiment. They took 321 high-caste and 321 low-caste 11 to 12 year old boys from scattered rural villages in India, and set them the task of solving mazes. First, the boys did the puzzles without being aware of each other’s caste. Under this condition the low-caste boys did just as well with the mazes as the high-caste boys, indeed slightly better. Then, the experiment was repeated, but this time each boy was asked to confirm an announcement of his name, village, father’s and grandfather’s names, and caste. After this public announcement of caste, the boys did more mazes, and this time there was a large caste gap in how well they did – the performance of the low-caste boys dropped significantly. The same phenomenon has been demonstrated in experiments with white and black high-school students in America, most convincingly by social psychologists Claude Steele at Stanford University, and Joshua Aronson at New York University. In one study they administered a standardized test used for college students’ admission to graduate programmes. In one condition, the students were told that the test was not a measure of ability; and in the second condition, the students were told that the test was a measure of ability. The white students performed equally under both conditions, but the black students performed much worse when they thought their ability was being judged. Steele and Aronson labelled this effect ‘stereotype threat’ and it has now been shown that it is a general effect, which applies to sex differences as well as racial and ethnic differences.
Commenting on the experiments, Richard Wilkinson and Kate Picket write, ‘This is striking evidence that performance and behaviour in an educational (and employment) situation can be profoundly affected by the way we feel we are seen and judged by others. When we expect to be viewed as inferior, our abilities seem to be diminished.’
The politicians supporting the recognition of caste in the public sphere do no good to the communities whose interests they claim to champion. People from those communities are subjected to a psychological onslaught by their own leaders and other do-gooders. People are told day and night that ‘because you’re born in this and this community, you can never be equal to people born in that and that community.’ The feeling of ‘inferiority’ is inculcated which leads to low selfesteem. And, lower expectation from a section of society becomes a universal belief. “Progressive and socialist” politicians give them a special treatment and television anchors handle them with kid gloves. Quite healthy, well-to-do and normal people are treated as ‘special needs cases’. People are forced to live in psychological complexes all their life.
The Indian society has become so conditioned that people are living the belief that they are born “inferior”. This is not healthy for the society or the state.

For a healthy society and for the survival of a State, a feeling of equality among its citizens is paramount – if any section of citizens feels it is being discriminated against at the social level or by the State, the system would break down one day or the other.

The system devised by Indian politicians to counter the maleficent effect of Caste and to achieve “social justice” is Caste-based Reservations in jobs and educational institutions. The Caste-based Reservations system superimposes itself on the caste discriminations in the society. Thus the discrimination operates at two levels now – reinforcing each other. As the Caste-system punished people on the basis of their birth in a particular family, over which no one has any control, so does the State operated Caste-based Reservations system. This system is basically an inverse image of the Caste-system, and is even more inimical to equality since it is operated by the State.

There was a justification for reservation on the basis of caste for former untouchables for a limited time, when this section of the society was almost universally socially segregated and faced Apartheid like conditions. Today the situation is very different, and caste is no longer the criterion with which people’s social status is determined. No one in the Indian society would now accord a higher social status to a so-called Brahman working as a peon in an office or a Rajput working as a porter at a railway station compared to a high ranking bureaucrat coming from a Dalit family. How could the State say that all Dalits face the same social impediment as they did in 1950, when the system of reservations was introduced, and all the people from the so-called upper castes are in advantageous positions!

And, what are OBCs? Who suppressed Jats, Yadavs and Gurjars? They are Kshatriyas. Lodh-Rajputs are supposed to be high caste Kshatriyas. Where is the social impediment that these communities have suffered! Anyone who is familiar with how the Caste-system operates in Indian villages would know that the village has a dominant land owning, agriculturist community supported by subsidiary communities/families such as badhi (carpenter), luhaar (ironsmith), kumhaar (potter), dhobi (washer man), julaaha (weaver), darji (tailor), naai (barber), baman/brahman (priest), bania (shopkeeper) and former untouchables, who were generally landless workers. Jats, Rajputs, Marathas, Yadavs, Patels and Gurjars are the dominant, land owning communities in North India. They all know it well. In the society they domineer by calling themselves Chaudhari and Thakur (meaning, lords of the villages) and before the government they claim to be “backward”! In fact these dominant communities are the main classes who have committed excesses against the former untouchables. Many reports have shown Yadavs (UP and Bihar) Jats (Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana) and Gurjars (Rajasthan) to be the main perpetrators in northern India in the past. Today they are demanding reservations for themselves! The perpetrators of injustice are claiming to be victims of injustice! To begin with, the leaders of the casteist Samajwadi Party played the biggest fraud on genuinely backward communities by getting their own dominant Yadav caste included in the category of OBCs. They were then joined in this deception by leaders of other powerful communities such as Lodh Rajputs. Lately the inclusion of Tyagis, who are a landed class among Brahmans, into the category of OBCs in the state of Haryana, a byproduct of the Jat agitation, finally shows that OBCs is the most bogus category of people being provided reservations in jobs. Are Tyagis poorer than non-Tyagi Brahmans! If anything it is the other way. Who are these “bodies” adjudging the eligibility of a community to be included in the OBCs! Or is it not simply whoever is able to bully the government by blocking roads and trains and by indulging in violence against public property gets the status of OBC!

India has been on the wrong path since VP Singh threw down the gauntlet of Mandal Commission recommendations to checkmate his deputy Devi Lal in 1990 (Political analysts believe, had Devi Lal not rebelled, VP Singh would have never come up with that idea), and as Sahir Ludhianvi said ‘Dard ka had sei badh jaana hai dawaa ho jaanaa (meaning, when the pain crosses its limits, it becomes a remedy), inclusion of Tyagis in the list of OBCs proves how ridiculous and unfair this approach is. The so-called OBCs represent the travesty of the system meant to deliver ‘social justice’! The caste consciousness that was on the decline for four and half decades in the Independent India has been successively increasingly since the introduction of OBCs into the system.

The system devised by the Indian State is basically an antithesis to equality.
If you ask a so-called upper caste person, ‘Why don’t you treat people from the so-called lower castes equally? And their answer is – ‘If they compete with me equally, I would accept them equal. If they don’t, how could they be considered equal?’

So, the proponents of Caste-based Reservations should know, as long as there is caste-based reservation system, achieving a caste-less society or caste equality is out of the question. Some of them argue, “Oh, equality does not mean you treat ‘unequals’ equally. ‘Unequals’ have to be treated unequally.” Well then within the castes also there are inequalities – there is a huge range of economic and social inequalities in the so-called Dalit communities as it is in the so-called upper castes. The children of Ram Vilas Paswan and those of a Dalit construction worker aren’t exactly ‘Equals’ either. The question is – ‘What Unequals’ are to be matched with ‘What Unequal’ treatment’ in ‘What Situations’? A huge number of matrices showing ‘different treatment’ to ‘different unequals’ in ‘different situations’ would be needed – dividing the whole of Indian society into three or four categories would not suffice. Following that argument, until all those matrices are prepared and executed, equality cannot be claimed to be achieved.
No matter what way we look at it, the system of caste-based reservations devised by Indian politicians has not delivered equality. The system has reached the stage where it is unjust to many born in the so-called upper castes who also suffer from economic and social impediments (this feeling lies at the base of Jat, Patel and Maratha agitations), and cheats those among the ‘reserved categories’ who are really weak and deserve help. Those who insist on continuing it are actually accepting that despite operating the Castebased Reservations for seven decades, social inequalities still remain. The socalled upper castes jumping into the fray demanding reservations for themselves only shows increasing caste conflicts and the old divisions in the society becoming worse.

Caste is a complex phenomenon and it has been made more and more complicated by short-sighted and selfish politicians, out to gain power no matter what the cost to the society. But one thing is definite – Caste is holding India back and no one particular section of the society can be entirely blamed for the malaise India is in.
The State of India needs to review its 70 year old policy to achieve social justice through caste-based reservations. Furthermore, every reservation system – whether based on race, caste, gender or income – does need to be balanced against the loss of efficiency it leads to. Therefore, India very seriously needs to look at how other countries have solved the problem of social and racial inequities in their societies. After all, the word “caste” comes from the Portuguese language! There has been “Serfdom” in Europe and “Slavery” in the US, and they have resolved those problems long ago. As this author mentioned in a previous article Racism in India, in Britain a great level of racial equality has been achieved in a span of 30 to 40 years without any reservations in jobs.

To develop as a modern society, India must tackle the issue of Caste RATIONALLY. People have no control over where they are born. They are citizens of India, and the Constitution of India at one time did guarantee the dignity of individual, without any discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and colour. Government and society both need to work to have equality at all levels of life.

Otherwise, as this author wrote before, no country has got a divine right to remain united and progress for ever. Religion divided India; Caste could destroy it.

Copyright © 2018 Krishan Tyagi. All Rights Reserved.

This article has also been published in India Link International, Apr–May 2018Caste
The Achilles Heel of India
By Krishan Tyagi

 

 

 

Background

 

Sanitation is a key issue for women, consistent with their need for privacy, dignity, safety and self respect. Lack of basic sanitation and safe water significantly impacts the health and safety of women and leads to low enrollment and high drop out particularly for adolescent girls at puberty in schools. Menstruation, pregnancy, and postnatal recovery also become problematic if there are not adequate sanitation facilities to properly manage them.

 

The issue of poor sanitation and hygiene impacting women becomes even more critical when we look at the alarming status of sanitation facilities in the world. It has been estimated that 2.6 Billion worldwide out of which 1 billion women have no access to sanitation facilities. With around 60% of all open defecation in the world being in India and manual scavenging still prevalent in about 8 lakh insanitary latrines out of which around 5 lakh are in rural areas and around 3 lakh in urban areas alone as per census 2011 the sanitation scenario in India is rather poor.

 

Clearly we must pay greater heed to women’s voices in our development thinking, planning and action and give sanitation higher priority. There are many examples of the key role which women have played in bringing about better environmental awareness and health in different parts of the world. This issue is not of resources alone but of purposeful and genuine community participation and management in which the central role of women is recognized.

 

The importance of involving both women and men in the management of water and sanitation has been recognized at the global level, starting from the 1977 United Nations Water Conference at Mardel Plata, the International Drinking Water and Sanitation Decade (1981-90) and the International Conference on Water and the Environment in Dublin (January 1992), which explicitly recognizes the central role of women in the provision, management and safeguarding of water and sanitation. The close interlinkages between gender equality and women’s empowerment (goal 3), and target 10 on access to water and sanitation are illustrated in the table below:

MDG relevant targets	Ensure environmental sustainability (Goal 7 ) Halve by 215 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (target 10)
	Contribution of domestic water supply and sanitation	Contribution of sound water resources management and development
Promote gender equality and empower  women ( Goal 3)	Reduced time, health and care –giving burdens from improved water services give women more time for productive endeavors, adult education, empowerment activities, leisure Convenient access to water and sanitation facilities increase privacy and reduce risk to women and girls of sexual harassment/assault while gathering water. Higher rates of child survival are a precursor to other demographic transition to lower fertility rates; having fewer children reduces women’s households responsibilities and increases their opportunities for personal development.	Community based organizations for water and sanitation management can improve social capital of women by giving them leadership and networking opportunities and building solidarity among them.

1. Source: Millennium Project Task Force on Water and Sanitation, Health, Dignity and Development: What will it take? Stockholm, Stockholm International Water Institute, 2005.

The sanitation challenge that rural India, with its large population size & different hydro-geological regions faces and traditional cultural practices in the area of sanitation is unique and unparalleled in the world. To address this challenge, for over a decade, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India has been running a Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). TSC seeks to provide access to individual toilets to all rural households, toilet units in all Schools and Day care Centres “Anganwadis” and waste management to ensure clean environment in the villages. To give a fillip to the TSC, Government of India also launched the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) that sought to recognise the achievements and efforts made by Gram Panchayats in ensuring full sanitation coverage.

 

The TSC has been recently revamped as the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan(NBA), “Clean India Campaign”.    The NBA has key objectives as the acronym suggests- First it aims at making Gram Panchayats (GPs) “Nirmal” which means each and every individual in the village has a good quality toilet which is usable and sustainable, all people have access to water and each village has a self sustainable solid and liquid waste management system so as to ensure clean and healthy living environment. The second is that it sets time bound targets to ensure that “Bharat” becomes Nirmal which means that NBA entails creation of awareness and provision of sanitary facilities to entire communities in a phased, saturation mode with creation of ‘Nirmal Grams’ as outcomes. Under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan women have been given a central role in planning and implementing of the sanitation programme.

 

Role of women in Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan

 

The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) gives a special focus to address the sanitation needs of women who play a key role in planning, implementation, monitoring of the programme. Women as change agents in the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) have had a tremendous impact in many Panchayats. They have been involved not only in mobilizing communities to create a demand for sanitation facilities but also actual construction of toilets and managing production centers and rural sanitary marts for provision of affordable sanitary ware.

 

Women as change agents for promoting sanitation

 

Women play a crucial role in taking up community mobilization and awareness generation in rural sanitation programme. The major themes have been women’s dignity, comfort, status, operation and maintenance, cost effectiveness, technological options etc. which are being used. Women as mothers can influence the practice of using sanitation facility among young girls and boys. The awareness building covers the entire community but is targeted more specifically at women since the absence of water and sanitation affects them more dramatically and more immediately. Sustained discussions compel women to examine the hardships in their lives and lead them to understand that most can be directly linked to the lack of access to convenient safe water sources, sanitation systems and hygiene. Once women become powerful stakeholders they are powerful advocates within the family to push for implementation of Water and sanitation (WATSAN) projects in the village.   IEC strategies need to be more gender sensitive keeping in view that women are less mobile and literate than men and use different communication strategies.

 

Recently a national communication strategy framework under NBA has been developed by Government of India in coordination with UNICEF giving emphasis on Inter Personal Communication (IPC) at the grassroots level. Women are envisaged to play a key role in rolling out this communication strategy at the grassroots.  In order to strengthen communication machinery at the village level with participatory social mobilization, guidelines for engagement of village level motivators (Swachchhata Doot / Sanitation Messengers) have been issued separately. As part of this strategy, in addition to Swachchhata Doots, field functionaries like Bharat Nirman Volunteers, ASHA, Anganwadi workers, School Teachers, majority of whom are women are being engaged at the village level for demand creation and taking up behaviour change communication. The motivator can be given suitable incentive from the funds earmarked for IEC.  The incentive will be performance based i.e. in terms of motivating the number of households and Schools/ Anganwadis to construct latrines and use them. Even in a patriarchal State like Haryana, an innovative IEC tool of taunting the male chauvinism that if they do not provide for a toilet how can their women be safe and healthy. Women also have formed Vigilance Committees to monitor sanitation promotion. Slogans like “No toilet No bride” has become the launching pad for the IEC campaign there.

 

Women sanitary complexes

To address the sanitation needs of women NBA has the provision of setting up Women’s Sanitary complexes comprising an appropriate number of toilet seats, bathing cubicals, washing platforms, wash basins in a place in the village acceptable to women and accessible to them. These Complexes apart from providing easy access to sanitation and bathing facilities but also provide spaces for women to discuss their problems and organize themselves to undertake several of their common issues.  The operation and maintenance of these facilities may be undertaken by Women’s Self Help groups/Village Panchayats. User families may be asked to contribute a reasonable monthly user charge for cleaning & maintenance. Maximum unit cost prescribed for a community sanitary complex under NBA is up to Rs.2 lakh. Tamil Nadu has pioneered in setting up Women’s Sanitary Complexes. However issues of operation and maintenance of these facilities has limited its expansion in other States where women’s SHG are not playing a key role

School sanitation and hygiene education (SSHE)

Considering the debilitating impacts of poor water and sanitation facilities on children’s health and learning ability, particularly for girls, SSHE component is an integral component of the NB A. The programme provides incentive of Rs. 35,000/- (Rs. 38,500 in case of hilly and difficult areas) for provision of child friendly toilets, urinals, handwashing facilities and health hygiene Education in all Government and Government aided schools. In this component separate toilet units for girls and boys are to be provided in all Co-educational schools, which are to be treated as two separate units. Under NBA 12,48,771 school toilets have been constructed out of which

The challenge now is to make SSHE component a gender sensitive programme, the key features of the which  are given below:

Gender Sensitive School Sanitation Programme

• A minimum package of water and sanitation facilities with appropriate , child friendly and gender – sensitive designs are available in all schools.
• Provision of separate toilet and urinal facilities for girls: Safe location and lock
• Appropriate location of toilets for girls to ensure security and access
• Adequate ratio of toilets and urinals with more facilities for girls to reduce waiting time
• Privacy and security: Every cubical with doors and latches, walls at least 6 feet high
• Education on use and maintenance of facilities in schools : students clubs /committees. All children , all ages , all groups , are actively involved in school sanitation and hygiene education and both boys and girls share the responsibility of maintenance
• Urinals with foot rests to support squatting
• Sanitary napkin vending machines
• Safe disposal of sanitary napkins by setting up incinerators
• Menstrual hygiene and health education programmes.

Role of Women’s Self Help Groups (SHG) – Sanitation for Education, Health and Economic Empowerment

Women Self Help Groups are at the fore front of NBA. They are not only involved in  construction of toilets as masons but also utilize group savings / bank linked finance as revolving fund for toilet construction. They act as a channel of communication at village level by becoming  behavior change leaders through education and motivation to other women and by living within community, generating demand for sanitation facilities through communication and peer pressure, organizing  discussions on sanitation related issues within their groups. SHGs operate Production Centres and Rural Sanitary Marts and provide both an alternative delivery mechanism for low cost, sustainable and easily available sanitary ware facilities in rural areas and create a sense of economic and social empowerment for the women. The sanitary napkin production units set up in some of the States of Tamil Nadu and Haryana not only address the special sanitation and health needs of women but also are providing employment. Recently NBA is being converged with the social development scheme of National Rural Livelihood Mission,  implemented by Ministry of Rural Development wherein SHGs are being involved in undertaking sanitation promotion activities.

The making of a Nirmal village by Womens SHG

A unique public- private- community partnership between the SSHE programme of the NBA undertaken by the Panchayati Raj Members and the State Government, Tamil Nadu, TVS Motors a local Corporate company and the dynamic youth, children, girls, women SHGs and village community of Thiruvidandai Panchayat and Nemmeli Village Panchayat of Kancheepuram District of Tamil Nadu. The Tiruvidenthai Sanitary Napkin Unit was set up as a joint venture Unit with tripartite investments from Shri Cheema Foundation the Corporate Social Responsibility of a local company- TVS Electronics with the Government of India and women SHG .  The unit was started with a twin objective of providing low cost high quality napkins to the rural women and adolescent girls in their vicinity itself and providing livelihood and income generation opportunities for women.  The basic training for the unit was provided by Ms. Nagalakshmi of the Mother Teresa Group while the support for setting up unit, managerial and production facilitation is by TVS electronics. The unit has also innovated in producing a variety of models ranging from beltless, belt model, maternity special wings model, baby diapers, adult diapers all made from simple locally available materials like cotton, cloth etc.

To make these napkins easily available in schools and enhance their usage an innovative concept of vending machines was developed and these were set up in secondary and higher secondary schools wherein girls can purchase napkins by dropping a two rupee coin in an automatic vending machine as easily as they purchase a toffee or a snack!  For safe disposal of the napkin a cost effective user friendly, simple manually operated technology of incinerators was developed and installed for composite waste disposal of sanitary waste in schools and women’s sanitary complexes. A comprehensive Menstrual Health Hygiene Education programme is also being undertaken in not only the schools of this village but several other villages of Tamil Nadu.

In just a year this innovative and successful women’s enterprise for addressing women’s sanitation needs and integrated menstrual health hygiene Education programme has not only transformed this small temple village of Tiruvidenthai into a women led Total sanitation Village “Nirmal Gram” but also become a role model for many other villages across several states in India to upscale SSHE programme for addressing the  women’s sanitation needs during menstruation  through public private partnership.  As Amrita, a young college girl who has been at the forefront of the programme since her school days sums up “ My dream is to become  doctor and to take care of the health of my village women . These simple sanitary napkins made by the self help group women has made me feel confident and helped many girls in my village to continue with their studies without being shy.   I wish that all girls in India are able to use these napkins and feel confident both socially and economically.”

Woman Panchayat leader leads sanitation movement

 

Women Panchayat leaders have played a significant role in giving impetus to the NBA primarily because they are the ones who are primarily  responsible for addressing the water and sanitation needs of their family specially the young children and understand both the problems and the practical solutions to providing safe sanitation in their home and village community.  Smt. Varalakshmi Vijayakumar the President of the Thirukalukundram Panchayat Union is one such dynamic woman leader of Tamil Nadu and who has made a lifelong commitment to make her village and Panchayat Union a role model of best sanitation technology and practices in the country.

The sanitation journey for this young 35 year old woman, a mother of 10 year old daughter started when she left the comforts of a larger town at the age of 22 to get married and come and settle down in this small and remote village of Periakattupakkam. The village had almost nonexistent sanitation facilities and most people were defecating in the open. Women specially pregnant and older people faced special difficulties when they had to go far away to the field in the darkness of the night or early morning to defecate.

 

Realizing that many of the funds for development of her village lie with the Panchayat she decided to stand for elections for the post of President and got elected for her commendable work with the community and specially women.

 

When the incentive scheme of Nirmal Gram Puruskar (Clean Village Award) was announced she took up the challenge of motivating and mobilizing all the women’s groups, village community members, elders, Principal, teachers, youth, Health workers, anganwadi workers and other Panchayat members to  take up the construction of toilets every individual households and Schools and Anganwadis. With door-to-door meetings and intensive and sustained awareness programmes on importance of toilet construction and use, within a short period of two years not only were all the households, Schools and Anganwadis were provided toilet but other environment friendly measures alike rain water harvesting, segregation of garbage, were also provided in the village. Another significant aspect was the huge amount of community contribution a total of Rs. 49,400 through individual contribution and Panchayat and SHG funds that was generated in construction of toilets Viz. Rs. 26400/ for household construction, Rs. 2000/ for schools and Rs. 1000 for anganwdis, Rs. 20,000 for Mini Power Pump.  Her Panchayat also initiated 10 Solid and liquid waste management initiatives and 3 liquid waste management projects. The village also has a Womens Sanitary Complex built with a Government grant of Rs. 2,40,000 the operation and maintenance of which is done by the Women’s Self Help group. Proudly displaying the Momento she received from the President of India last year in the awards function held in Delhi she says she has announced that apart from this rain water harvesting systems have been provided in houses and the village also segregates its waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable.

 

Woman presidents like Varalakshmi have proved that as long when Panchayats specially led by aware and empowered women work with commitment and passion they can transform the NBA into a mass movement and lead India far ahead on its march toward a Open defecation and disease free country.

Women in solid and liquid waste management projects 

Women’s Self Help Groups have been actively involved in setting up Solid Liquid Waste Management initiatives in the village.  Under NBA upto 10% of the project cost can be utilized for meeting capital costs incurred under this component. The activities include construction of common compost pits, low cost drainage, soakage channels/pits , reuse of waste water system for collection , segregation and disposal of household garbage, Biogas generation  etc

Conclusion

 

I Building a gender sensitive sanitation policy and environment

 

• Any change in the appalling statistics of access to sanitation in India, particularly by the poor will depend on brining women in the Centre of planning and decision making. Women as managers of family health are the most important influence for change. Yet their voice is often suppressed and their role in planning and implementing sanitation programmes is thus by-passed. Efforts may be made to evolve policies that focus on women’s equal access to and full participation in decision-making at all levels. The Women leaders for Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) are championing the role of women in decision-making, capacity building, educating children on sanitation and hygiene, and mobilizing political will around other priorities such as the linkages between water, sanitation, hygiene and HIV/AIDS. These leaders constitute the critical mass needed to get gender integrated into water and sanitation policies and programmes.

 

• It is crucial, first, to involve both women and men in water resource management and sanitation policies and to ensure that the specific needs and concerns of women and men from all social groups are taken into account. Second, it is vitally important to determine what people (consumers of water and sanitation) want, what they can and will contribute and how they will participate in making decisions on the types and levels of service, location of facilities and operation and maintenance. For reaching this second goal, it is indispensable to analyse a given target group from a gender perspective. Only then can efforts be truly effective and sustainable.

 

• As highlighted above some of the key components under NBA have specific and focused components for involvement of women and in the planning, and implementation of the sanitation programme. However the policy and implementation framework currently does not have a specific and detailed guidelines for including the gender perspective. A focus on gender differences is of particular importance with regard to sanitation initiatives, and gender-balanced approaches should be encouraged in plans and structures for implementation. Some of the simple measures that may be included are detailed guidelines on providing schools with water and gender sensitive latrines, and promoting hygiene education particularly menstrual hygiene in the classroom, design and the location of latrines to be decided by women close to home may reduce violence against women. Desegregated data on gender with respect to sanitation facilities also needs to be developed.

 

II Capacity development

 

• Building capacity means bringing together more resources, more people (both women and men) and more skills. Yet, when looking closely at capacity building in water supply and sanitation in developing countries, it becomes clear that most of the training is aimed at water resources and water supply specialists. Very few programmes and projects are aimed at expertise in social development, sanitation, or hygiene education that emphasizes a gradual scaling down to those responsible for operation and maintenance of water supply and sanitation, who are primarily women. Targeting women for training and capacity building is critical to the sustainability of water and sanitation initiatives, particularly in technical and managerial roles to ensure their presence in the decision-making process.

 

• NBA has revamped the communication and human resource development strategy. Several new institutions like Key Resource Centres, State Resource Centres, Block Resource Centres are being engaged to provide training of Village Water Sanitation Committee (VWSC) and Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs) members, block and district functionaries and grass root workers.

 

• The crucial aspect now is to build in a gender perspective in these institutions both in terms of number and level of participation of women in decision making positions of these institutions and developing a gender focused training programmes for specific targets groups.

 

• Capacity building may be undertaken at the level of policy makers, among institutions, local communities and women. These would include development of gender sensitive tools for the national sanitation programmes, generate gender disaggregated data, gender analysis, gender sensitive indicators, gender budget initiatives and training. Capacity building programmes may be designed for Women Panchayat leaders, SHG members, Women’s groups, NGOs, and other stakeholders in the areas of policy making, sustainable sanitation technologies, management and financial skills, monitoring and evaluation.

 

III Participation and equity in decision-making

 

Women are under-represented in the ‘water and sanitation world’, with careers and training in water and sanitation management dominated by men. Many women are leading efforts in their communities to gain access to adequate sanitation. The recent increase in the number of women appointed as water and environment ministers is an exciting trend which may provide an impetus to gender and water programmes. In late-2005, there were 40 women ministers of water or environment, representing every region and level of development in the world.  As women get involved in the technical operations and management of water and sanitation services, they are increasingly seen as skilled workers capable of achieving high levels of training and expertise. Along with increased status, many women find themselves in a position to generate income as either a direct or indirect effect of improved sanitation. The International Water and Sanitation Centre studied 88 water and sanitation projects in 15 countries and found that

projects designed to run with the full participation of women are more effective and sustainable than those that are not. (2)

 

The service delivery institutions implementing various component of NBA must have equal if not more representation of women. The State Water and Sanitation Mission(SWSM),  State Water and Sanitation Committees(SWSC), District Water and Sanitation committees, (DWSC) and importantly the cutting edge at the grassroots level the Village Health  Water and Sanitation and Nutrition Committees. (VHWSNC) must have reservation for women who can play a very active role in giving focus on the gender perspective of the policy.

 

In many cases, showing that water  and sanitation projects work better when women are involved has a greater impact on mobilizing finance for gender-biased projects than showing that access to water has an impact on gender equality. A study by the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) of community water and sanitation projects in 88 communities in 15 countries found that projects designed and run with the full participation of women are more sustainable and effective than those that do not. This supports an earlier World Bank study that found that women’s participation was strongly associated with water and sanitation project effectiveness.

 

1. Resource mobilization

 

• Considering the limited external financial assistance for sanitation Governments will have to continue to be primarily responsible for raising and using public funds for sanitation infrastructure needs. Formal and informal women’s organizations and networks can play important and stimulating roles in mobilizing resources for sustainable and equitable sanitation projects. The Women’s Self Help Groups in Tamil Nadu and Kudumbshree in the southern State of Kerela, in India are vibrant and self sufficient women’s institutions which are mobilizing financial, and technical resources for not only sanitation promotion but al so linking this with women’s empowerment.  While their potential contributions are considerable, women in developing countries often lack access to tools such as computers and Internet to disseminate their ideas and apply for funds. Instructing women in project management and fund raising may empower them to launch new projects and to contribute to poverty alleviation independently. Ensuring that women are heard and are able to lead a sanitation movement will require institutionalizing women’s’ role and authority by identifying agents of change within communities. The experience on the ground (such as the Self Groups now operating in Tamil Nadu that offer experience that can be taken to scale, provided the capacity – building supports are made available to women leaders.

 

• Prioritizing women’s need will also mean changing the top-down models rather than a range of models that can respond to a variety of demands, requirement and financial capacities. Dignity , privacy and the importance of spaces for bathing and washing are all demand elements that need to be utilized . Technology and financial backups for a menu of options are therefore essential. Women’s knowledge and perspective must be central while drawing on local knowledge in choosing technologies that are suitable from both an environmental and cultural perspective. It is also important to training women in the new technologies like Ecosantiation, Solid Liquid Waste Management use of Non Conventional Energy sources in sanitation.

 

• Entrepreneurship opportunities to women’s Groups – Engagement and training of women and their federations to provide sanitation products and services are growing not just in numbers but is system of management and accountability. There are many business opportunities coming up in sanitation programmes like vermin composting and solid waste management, construction of public and school latrines, management of public latrines, production of sanitary napkins, managing Rural Sanitary Marts and production units.

 

 

1. Convergence of programmes that work through women.

 

Most of the development programmes work through institutions and organizations and trained women volunteers. If these are converged at appropriate manner and level resources would not be wasted and impact would be greater. The coordinated approach from such functional units would help avoid duplication, greater value for investments. Public Private Partnership and Networking with Resource institutions and external support agencies like UNICEF, World Bank NABARD is crucial in the context. Recently NBA is being converged with the social development scheme of National Rural Livelihood Mission, implemented by Ministry of Rural Development wherein SHGs are being involved in undertaking sanitation promotion activities. Under NBA funds and technical support is being leveraged through convergence initiatives with the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and ‘Kishori Shakti Yojana’ (Women’s Empowerment Scheme) implemented by  Ministry of Women and Child Development, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, (Education for All),

 

Way Forward -Building a gender sensitive Policy Framework

 

To ensure that the gender perspective is successfully incorporated into the global and national sanitation agenda, it is essential to advocate for the direct involvement of both women and men at all levels: national governments; regional/local governments; communities and civil society organizations; donors; and international organizations.

National Governments

• Mobilize resources to improve access to safe water and sanitation
• Strengthen legislation
• Promote access to sanitation
• Develop capacity and encourage participation

Regional/Local Governments

• Encourage gender mainstreaming in local Government and community levels including indicating gender sensitive budgets;
• Promote hygiene education messages through women’s groups, schools and health clinics;
• Design and implement capacity building to consider the needs of women and men in the design of
• Sanitation and hygiene education programmes;

 Communities and Civil Society

• Lobby for better services targeted towards women and children;
• Assist in collecting information on men and women’s roles, access, needs, priorities and perspective on sanitation issues;
• Support equality for women in decision-making process at a local level;
• Enable women and girls to acquire access to information, training and resources related to sanitation initiatives.

Donors and International Organizations

• Engage women leaders, to serve as role models in the effort to mainstream gender into sanitation management at all levels;
• Promote gender mainstreaming in water and sanitation through linking with MDG 3: ‘Promote gender and empower women’.
• Compile and disseminate examples of good practices and develop norms and guidelines for gender mainstreaming;
• Invest in the capacity building of the sanitation sector, with emphasis on empowering disadvantaged women and men;

 

Urvashi Prasad,   is a former Consultant, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation

 

A HOMAGE  TO  KIMATRAI BAHARMAL KHUSHALANI

 Bringing to you the Late Shri Kimatrai Baharmal  Khushalani’s  essay UTILITY OF HONESTY IN TRADE. Priced two annas, published in 1936, this essay was awarded a Gold Medal  based on an All India competition held in 1934. Readers will find that the essay is as relevant today as it was then. We begin with a foreword which was published along with the essay – Editor

A  Foreword  by
S. G.  Sastry Esq.,  B. A.t  M. Sc.  (Lond),  F. C. S.,
Director of Industries  and  Commerce  in  Mysore.
THE DHARMA  SAMAJA
BANGALORE   CITY., 1936.
Price: Annas 2
[All Rights  Reserved.]

FOREWORD

I welcome the opportunity afforded to me by. the Secretary of the Dharma Samaja, Chickpet, Bangalore City, to write a foreword to the Prize Essay on the subject of “Utility of Honesty in Trade”  by Mr. K. B. Khushalani. BE

The Dharma Samaja is being conducted by an enthusiastic group of young men who feel that there is an ever growing need for conducting trade and commerce of the country in the true and ancient spirit of the “Vanik Dharma.” This harkening back to the old traditions and ideals is a good sign amongst the youth of the country and should be welcomed and encouraged in all ways

Owing to changes in the political and economic conditions of the people, traditional and time-honoured ways of carrying on trade and commerce of the country  have   undergone many changes, alas, for the worse.

Now-a-days the spirit of fair-play in commercial transactions is lacking. The mutual trust that ought to exist between the buyer and seller is absent. As of old, the buyer and seller make offers and counter-offers but in many instances bargaining degenerates into cheating. Either the buyer or the seller always tries to take a mean advantage over the other. Once upon a time, the motto of commercial transactions used to be ‘ Good value for money – This is no longer the rule.

One often finds in transactions between two countries especially if one of them is more advanced than the other the former country exploits the ignorance and helplessness of the latter country to the utmost and charges unconscionably high rates for goods supplied. Importers of machinery and other equipment in India know this too well.

One of the most regrettable forms that this cheating has assumed is the adulteration of goods offered for sale. I do not state that this is peculiar to India only but so long as it does exist in this country, it must be taken note of and attempts made to eradicate the evil. Once upon a time this evil was rampant in all our staple exports to foreign countries but it is gradually on the decline owing to legislation in some cases, owing to the realisation on the part of the exporters that it does not pay to adulterate commodities, and also owing to inferior position allotted to such commodities in International markets along side with similar commodities from other countries. There is also an increasing moral pressure being exercised by those who believe in a fair deal.

But nearer home, in all our markets – small or great – the evil of adulteration of foodstuffs is on the increase. This is nothing short of a criminal practice and ought to be put down ruthlessly by legal and other methods. Whereas the mixing of cotton with woollen goods or cotton with silk goods or mixing silk and Rayon and pass off the articles as real 100 per cent woollen, real 100 per cent silk, etc. may not have such consequences, the adulteration of foodstuffs  strikes  at

the  health  of the community itself.  Whatever may  have been the genesis of this situation, so long as it exists it is high time that the Government took early steps to put down the evil-   It  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate  cases  of  such adulteration as every householder will  be able  to prepare a long list.

One special field in which adulteration becomes a positive sin should be mentioned. This relates to drugs and medicines. Anybody who is inclined to go through the Drug Enquiry Committee Report will find ample recorded evidence of so called medicines sold in the markets not being medicines at all. It is regrettable that scientists have abused their knowledge in some instances and are committing the unforgivable sin of tampering with and adulterating medicines which are meant to alleviate human distress and save human lives. Such deceit could be, to some extent, controlled by drastic legislation but that cannot be expected to prevent fraud in trade for ever as man-made laws cannot be fool proof. But even here, unfortunately, India is lagging behind the other countries which have enacted stringent legislative measures to punish such people by award of deterrent sentences. Unscrupulous foreign merchants knowing full well that their crime goes undetected in India for lack of laboratories and further goes unpunished for lack of legislation in the matter have been running “amock” as it were, in Indian markets and label all sorts of fraudulent preparations as potent medicines which not only do not cure the disease but impoverish the poor and ignorant public.

The best security against such practices is a high sense of morality among the manufacturers and traders themselves. If “Honesty as a faith” does not appeal to one and all, at least “Honesty as a policy” ought to be the guiding factor in all our economic transactions. The Trade Guilds of our country and the Graff and Merchant Guilds of mediaeval Europe exercised a powerful influence on their members dealings and one would wish for the revival of this “Guild’ Spirit” through the modern trade organisations. Enlightened public opinion based on a high sense of morality is the best guarantee for the protection of the public against commercial frauds. The members of the Dharma Samaja have in this direction a rich field for effective and enduring social service.

I do not want the foreword to be longer than the text itself and I should draw a line at this point. I wish the Dharma Samaja and all the enthusiastic workers connected with it every luck and success in their endeavours. Their work is not easy but they must carry on with a missionary spirit and try their level best to see that the trade and commerce of the country are carried on in the true spirit of ancient “Vanik Dharma“.

S. G. SASTRY,
Director Of Industries And Commerce In Mysore.
Bangalore, (21st September 1956)          

UTILITY OF HONESTY IN TRADE
HONESTY THE BEDROCK OF SUCCESS
An award winning essay by K.B. Khushalani

1. Honesty, more natural than dishonesty

The fundamental principles of Human Existence are Truth and Honesty, for, everybody is more honest than dishonest; the   greatest liar utters more truths than lies. This is part of the general fact that there is more goodness in the World than badness or Evil, though occasionally we find appalling crimes, which are rather aberrations or freaks and do not proceed from the intrinsic nature of the World. In fact, a perfect liar is really a ‘ truthful man”, for, we can then always. say that truth must be other than what he speaks. By a liar we mean an occasional liar, and he is really a dangerous man. So is it in the case of Honesty- By a dishonest man we al­ways understand one who is occasionally dishonest. Thus honesty is more natural than dishonesty, and that is why it betrays its nature from beneath the darkest cloaks, and we can’t once suspect that the man is dishonest. It is exactly because of the same reason that crimes are detected, for, every hap­pening leaves its traces, and, try as we may, we will not be able to hide them. Again that which is natural is beneficial, for it works in a graceful manner; and honesty, when allowed its free play, works wonders, specially in the long run. In trade; one has to depend on the good-will of many, and honesty is the best means to the end. Honesty should be practised in all walks of life; it is a strength and a support in all matters of routine; it has all advantages and only one apparent dis­advantage, that sometimes one feels that there is loss, but really that  is temporary and   in   many cases only apparent.

There are often trials and, when one successfully stands them, he comes out nobler and brighter. Every trouble means a fur­ther rise, and the greater the opposition it offers in surmounting, the better are its results. The fruit is simply delayed, but never denied, and if and when withheld longer, it is paid with in­terest. One has only to be patient and watching; he should muster up courage and should never be disheartened. All obstacles are meant for training; they are cleverly designed and intentionally set, each for its purpose, and each variant in design, and different in colour to suit the particular case. All this is for Honesty generally; in trade, its results are direct, cheap and comparatively earlier than elsewhere.

2. Trade differentiated from other occupations as regards honesty.

Trade is different from other occupations, in that its, adherent is independent. It is his merit alone that counts; he is the master of the situation, controlled only by market rates. It is a profession peculiar in it­self. In spite of the trader’s dealings with many people of different temperaments, for whose pleasure and custom he has to strive constantly which he can do better by honesty rather than by dishonesty, he can remain independent and can main­tain his self-respect fully well. Of course, there are some people always and everywhere, who can never be pleased by any means, honest or dishonest. As they are few and far between, they should never be bothered about, and it is always preferable to ignore their custom rather than hanker after them.

 

3. Businessman   should fulfill   his part of   duty

The relationship of the customer and the merchant is one in which are involved  the interests of   both.   The  former wants   supply of good articles  at a reasonable price,   while the latter is after the custom  of the former; and the maintenance of the tie depends upon both   the reasonableness of the one and the honesty   of the   other.    The   businessman, who   wants to establish himself well, should fulfil his   duty and the customer will automatically do his.    Granting that men are   unreasona­ble,  yet it in no  way   pays   the   dealer to   be   dishonest with them, though  we   should   consider the   average   buyer who is seldom unreasonable in his demands.    In case a purchaser ex­pects too much concession,   it should be explained to him for an amicable deal, as few would grudge the fair profits of a dealer. It is only when a dealer   sets   his   prices unreasonably   high that he does not like to explain his   position.    Explaining the position is not disposing   trade   secrets, which   are as dear to  any  one else, and principles of honesty  do not their  revelition.    The   position of the buyer is slightly superiot to that of the   seller in the respect   that the choice of choosing his suppliers is in his hands; and this is a further rea­son for the seller to   adapt his behaviour in accordance with the likes and dislikes of the buyer.    None will or can say that any purchaser ever wants his supplier to be dishonest to him. From the time he enters the   shop or   negotiates by   corres­pondence, his pleasure   is to be considered   supreme, and it is the duty of the dealer to see that   he gives no   cause for any suspicion.    But, as the face is the index to the mind, he can­not successfully do it unless he practises honesty.   Customers are free birds, they cannot be tied down to one shop unless-there is something to attract them, and the best that the-owner of the shop can offer is his sincerity.

4. Dishonest tricks practised by the Seller and their detrimental effects.

The kind of honesty  expected  from   the trader is :—

                     (i) Honesty in talk

(a) While recommending his articles to his customer he should neither exaggerate their qualities, nor assign to them any­more qualities than they possess, and

(b)    He should   not at   the   same time,   speak low of others’ articles,  but   should restrict  himself only to praising his own.

                     (ii) Honesty in rate

He should keep his rates fixed   once and for all.    The tendency to snatch   as much from the other party as possible is counterproductive and creates suspicion in the mind of the customer

A prudent businessman should avoid flexible rates, he should  see that the rates are in fair  level with the market price. Of course no two traders can keep the rates of all articles the same; it is just like saying, that no two watches tally exactly, and if they do at all, they cannot continue to do so for long; yet as much of standardization as can possibly be attained should be aimed at.

                       (iii) Honesty in samples.

Dishonesty- in this   can   be of   two kinds. Some dealers show samples from the best lot, they want to sell but quote prices   for   the    inferior  articles;   others choose as their sample  the best of the  lot they want to  sell,

but the sample does not represent the average of the stock. Both practices are decidedly not good and should be discouraged; it is only a question of  degree as between them, the former being worse, and the latter bad.

                       (iv) Honesty in Supply

(a)     It is a practice   with   many   dealers   to   show one article as a sample and supply   another an inferior one. Some of them maintain great differences in the qualities and some keep less. The former are ruled out at the first stroke by the purchaser in his choice and they seldom continue as traders for long, whereas the latter carry on, but cut no good figure. Thus, the latter class of people exist for exigencies only.

{ b ) Some of the dealers again put in a few bad things in the lot; they either take undue advantage of the purchaser’s weakness, or think that he would not take the trouble of returning the articles. If at all he does try to return, they reserve to themselves the choice of accepting them, and, in almost all cases, refuse to take back. This audacious abuse of confidence is very bad and detrimental to the interests of the dealer.

 

The kind of honesty  expected  from   the trader is :—

5. Honesty in maintaining books

 

It is a habit with many merchants to maintain duplicate books, vouchers, bills etc. Duplicate books vouchers are maintained to cheat either the Income Tax Authorities or debtors and creditors, the debtors when they are illiterate and the creditors at the time of insolvency; whereas duplicate bills are shown to customers as a proof of quoted cost prices. These’ bills are prepared either by the merchant or his supplier who-is requested to show higher prices than actual. Another trick is sometimes played, the supplier being asked to show true prices but not the commission on the bill. This is justified by some people on the ground that commission is meant solely and entirely for the trader, and the purchaser has no-business with it. But in the true sense of the word it can be justified only when the trader plainly tells his customer that he receives a certain commission, the extent of which he cannot disclose. -The act of cheating the Income Tax Department puts Government to heavy loss, which is usually counteracted by revision of rates by Government, and the burden is. borne ultimately by these who do not, or by both. Besides, if once caught, they are heavily penalised.

The fact of anybody declaring himself insolvent, after setting aside certain properties for himself and having prepared false books for submission to Court, never remains a secret. and is often proved in the Courts of Law. In those cases, however, where sufficient evidence is not available to pin the dishonesty, there is a definite judgment against him in the business world, where each individual weighs his action the balance and finds himself wanting. Such a man  loses the confidence of the mercantile class, and everybody tries to keep him at a distance and hesitates to deal with him.

6. Honesty in general not covered by the above five cases

All these practices are bad; they are enumerated in the order of increasing importance and should be avoided by every businessman who .wants to expand his business. The traders who practise them are shortsighted, for they look to the immediate and not to the

 permanent gain. They do not understand that it is not a day’s business. If the public are  prejudiced against any dealer, the prejudice lasts for years, and may stand as a permanent  and indelible stain against his firm even though he be dead, and his posterity have to drudge heavily to wipe it off.

Remember: Dishonesty is detected always

All malpractices, deceitful tricks and other acts of dishonesty are bound to come to light some time; some are known on the very day and others later on. If one has praised his article too much and given it fictitious qualities, the truth will be known after use, when it will not stand the test. Dishonesty in the quality of materials, in samples, and in quantity is known the very moment the goods are received by the purchaser. One can

Befool one at all times

Or all at one time

But not all at all times.

Now-a-days the World has advanced considerably. Scientists are after speed; and are  providing all kinds of facilities with the result that the entire world is connected by Telegraph, Telephone and Wireless systems. Telepathy, and Television are abstract subjects no more. Every merchant worth the name keeps a Telephone instrument in his office, and market prices are being communicated to him every moment; therefore the chances of a big dealer’s cheating and being cheated in rates are remote. Besides, the present age is the age of specialization, and everybody knows the ins and outs of his field. He keeps up a thorough acquaintance with the rates and other information connected with  the commodities he deals in, and seldom allows himself to be cheated, if at all, and much  less by the same man twice. People do not hesitate to form opinions from a single instance, and that is what is being done. They do not want even to wait and defer judgment until a repetition occurs. If even from a distance they smell dishonesty, they would cut off their connection at once.

6. Efficacy of Low Profits

Every dealer should believe in low charges, ie. less profit and more custom (small profits and quick returns) and never in high profit which is bound to result in the long run in less custom – But whatever be his rates, they should be uniform, and then only can he be said to be honest.

7. Dealer should not play in quality

No dealer should play with quality; neither in toto nor in part, as the opposite party, failing to understand the dishonest intentions of the sender, forms an opinion, wrong though, that the general quality of his entire stock is bad.  This is detrimental to the reputation also of the manufacturer, who should see that no bad stuff leaves his factory. All the inferior output- should be forthwith sorted out and sold definitely at a low rate, not to the big merchants, but to the retail sellers. Better still would it be if each factory should create one or more shops, according to need, for the  purpose of selling such stuff under its direct guidance, so as to reduce the chances of  marring-its reputation-

8. In regard to the purchaser, the following are the acts
           of dishonesty performed by him.

(i)       If he sends for goods from two people dealing in the    same commodity, and perchance gets bad stuff from one who refuses to take it back, he tries to dump it on the other. This is a mean practice and is simply taking advantage of somebody’s goodness and reliance. In case the fact becomes known to him through the concerned supplier, as it generally happens, he is pained  at the trick of his customer, which naturally deters him from affording such facilities thereafter.

  (ii)      In the process of bargaining with a dealer he may falsely state that he is getting the same stuff cheaper, or better stuff at the same price from some other dealer, in order to compel him to reduce his rates. It is evident that the same trick cannot be repeated, and that it breaks the faith of his supplier.

(iii)    When the sample shown to him is really good, he generally disapproves of it or approves of it after higgle haggle, this is unfair. If he does not want to praise the article lest he should hear a high bid from him, he should keep silent. Such lies, like many other ones, can be avoided without any disadvantage, and, when one does not do so, he simply burdens his conscience for no gain.

9. Do as you wish to be done by.

Every trader is a purchaser and a seller at the same time, and should observe honesty in both the capacities. Unless he is an honest seller, he cannot be an honest buyer and vice versa. He should always keep in mind the maxim ‘Do as you wish to be done by ‘. This will guide him in both the lines, and when he feels that he has satisfied himself accord­ing to this test in both the ways, then only can he be called a successfully honest trader.

10. Quick rectification of bonafide mistakes increase confidence.

The trader should be honest in his accounts; if he has perchance committed a mistake in dispatching goods or preparing a bill,he should ,immediately he comes to know of it, correct it without waiting for its being   pointed out by   the other party.    Similarly, if   he   receives   any article   extra   or discovers a mistake in   account to   his   advantage,   he should forthwith point it out to his supplier.   Again, if perchance and through mistake, i.e. he has unintentionally charged some one higher rates, he should communicate the fact to that customer and credit the balance to his account or be prepared   to remit in   cash.       All    these    acts,    and    specially   the     last,   in­crease the   confidence   of his    supplier and   purchaser,   who-repay his goodness by advertising him among others.    This-evidently   brings him greater profit than he   would   otherwise have realized, for, in many cases, if he does not himself point it out , the other party does it, and claims the balance as a right..

11. The manufacturer and the consumer

There are two more classes of people who have dealings in trade, but are not traders. A trader necessarily is one who purchases certain goods and sells them at a profit. He is the middle man between the manufacturer and the con­sumer, the two classes of people under consideration. Both these have one sided dealings, the one sells and the other only purchases, and, because of their restricted dealings, they are not so tactful as the trader

The manufacturing class includes the artisan who prepares articles with his own hands on a small scale.  He is generally poor, and his business, like that of the manufacturer, depends upon the quality of the manu­factured articles.   He can retain his customers only if he continues using good raw materials and producing good stuff.

12. Psychology of the consumer

The consumer is a purchaser on a very small scale, but because of his existence in large numbers, he is the most important member of the trading circle, and, because every article has ultimately to go to him, his pleasure, and, choice is considered supreme. Both the manufacturer and the trader try to adopt their policy according to his taste. He purchases articles for his or his friends’ and relatives’ use. He wants good stuff and at a reasonable price; he frequents only those places where both these conditions are satisfied; and thus he always prefers an honest shopkeeper. He is reliant and will continue attending the same as long as nothing happens to break his faith which, if once broken, requires a very great effort to restore.  To make new customers, they say, is difficult, but to retain them is still more difficult.

Thus perpetual honesty is required to attract new customers and to retain old ones. Carelessness in this matter never pays the dealer, but will rather harm him. One may give away anything of one’s own accord or on demand, but never when he knows he is being cheated; he then feels much pain and many are actuated to revenge, when they know that they have been cheated. Further the consumer likes to make purchases from such shops as maintain fixed rates, for he is not a trader and naturally not so well versed in the line. Therefore be may not know the current prices of articles, especially of those that he occa­sionally requires. In a fixed-rate-shop he may have to pay a slightly higher price, but he feels sure that lie will not be cheated for a big sum, which is generally the case in shops where no uniform rates are charged, and where the shop-keeper tries to snatch as much as he can from the customer, the more so when he gets the clue that he has no definite knowledge of prices of the article.

The shopkeepers are usually clever enough to understand this at once from the manner of his enquiring. From what has been said above, it is absolutely clear that the shopkeeper can cheat the same man only once. A dishonest dealer can make successful business, when he gets every day new faces to deceive, and has to deal daily with different men not known to one another and not expected to meet one Another; or, if at all they meet’ they should not speak about the purchases made by them on that day or any of the previous days, so that everybody else remains in the dark and never knows about the dishonesty of the man unless he gets a chance to be cheated himself. This however, is an utterly impossible condition to realize. Or dishonesty may pay, where people are suppressed due to pres­sure of one’s superiority or where heads are corrupt; but such conditions do not exist in the business world, and where they exist, they never last long.

13. Honesty the best of all Qualities of a trader

As in other fields it is hard work and intelligence that establish a recruit, so in trade it is Honesty that can establish him. Cheerful temperament, a tendency to accommodate the customer in his choice and demand, agreeable manners, respect for the customer, self-respect and, last but not least. honesty in dealing are some of the qualities required for successful business, and, among them all, honesty stands Supreme, and makes up for all the deficiencies and defects of the trader. One needs to realize how difficult it would be if all people were dishonest; one could not then move an inch. One cannot then trust anyone with anything even for a  moment, nor can he pay him anything in advance.

14. False fears due to lack of self-confidence & experience

There is a general cry that the time for honesty is over, and that it is not valued now-a-days. There may be a grain of truth in the .statement, which amounts but to an acknowledgement of the struggle between honesty and dishonesty, or between truth and untruth which appears eternal, though. victory in the long run is never in doubt for honesty and truth. Under no case can dishonesty over-power honesty. Our fears against honesty are often merely theoretical, un- grounded, baseless and false. Our troubles are either; imaginary, self-created or self-invited. None of them that grumble against honesty has ever practised it, and never has he tasted the sweetness arising from it. His opinion is the opinion of others, who in turn cannot claim it as their own. Thus an idea, emanating from a few unworthy individuals, is passed on by several lips to several ears and obtains a strong grip over a large majority. A votary of dishonesty, when asked to state if he has put in serious efforts to follow up his trade by honesty or given a fair trial to it would certainly answer in the negative. People adopt the easiest course, they would like to go by the shortest route, they want to be rich in a day, and that is why they adopt dishonest means. The path of the honest dealer is weary in the beginning but joyful in the end, troublesome at the outset but easy in the long run, and tedious at the start but sure in due course. It is, of course, certain that he who starts his business on the lines of honest dealing will meet with opposition, but he should stand it bravely and every difficulty will melt away in due course leaving the way-clear for him. Generally every one who starts a new business meets with certain difficulties and obstacles: the success in the enterprise depends on the grit and tact of the actor. It is said that an honest man is offered more difficulties, but we should not at the same time forget that he has behind him, as an outcome of his honesty, a greater force to support him. This force is sure to succeed. The honest dealer may take long to establish, but when once established none can dislodge him. His success is lasting; the customers secured by him are permanent, and his profits regular, sure and more definite.

15. Honesty promotes, dishonesty impedes all business

Never can anyone lose in business because of his honesty, and when such a report is received, one can take it for certain that there must be some other defect or defects in the organization, and that were it not for honesty, the concerned party would have incurred greater loss and at a much -earlier date than otherwise, for, as said above, that which takes long to establish takes long to dwindle. Honesty in fact makes up for many defects in staff, in management, in organization and individual abilities; it protects from grave fears. Weak administration, careless management, deficient organization, expenditure disproportionate to income incurred for unnecessary show, squandering of money by responsible persons connected with the concern, improper investment, defective accounts and dishonesty on the part of some one or other are the salient causes of failures of business, heavy losses and bankruptcy. A majority of failures occuring in petty concerns are due to defective accounts, but a still higher proportion of failures in both petty and big concerns can be attributed to dishonesty. Dishonesty is a termite, a canker, a pest that can eat up the very tissue of any undertaking, retard its growth and finally destroy it in toto. It needs to be guarded against from the beginning to the end

 

16. Dishonesty – its effects on the employees

Dishonesty of the master induces the servant to be dishonest: it becomes a vicious circle ever widening itself by absorbing freshmen every day, and like an infectious disease catching hold of every one coming in contact- Every act of cheating by the employer produces a reflex effect on the employee, who, by his intimate contact with the former, is enamoured of the alluring gains easily got by the cut-short methods, and is tempted to adopt them for his personal benefit. He has none else to rob except his master; and he starts with double vengeance to make up for the time ‘uselessly passed in honesty’, he feels least for his master whose profession is cheating; and he knows that he has his share in the earnings of his master, which he wants to have over and above his pay as a reward; for sharing his sins and consequent smothering of his own conscience. The poor employer is doubly affected: his tricks-being sufficiently known by this time, his customers have started leaving him, and he finds his business on the wane on one hand, and on the other he is being robbed at home. He realizes his folly too late, or he may not realize it at all throughout his life. The vice invented by him has caught and entangled him. Similarly many partnerships have been ruined by dishonesty, If the same trader had put in all his efforts to prosper by honest means, he would surely have done better.

17. Causes of Occasional Thriving of Dishonest Men and Losing of Honest Men

 We have often seen a dishonest man thriving and honest man   losing.    We then   get   perplexed.  But let it be clear, that under such circumstances the dishonest man flourishes for his ability and skill and never for his dishonesty, while the honest man loses not for his professing honesty but for his incapacity, inefficiency and general weakness. If the former were to adopt honesty, in addition to his other qualities, he would thrive still more, and if the latter takes to dishonesty he would fall further. For fair comparison, either the same man or two equally competent men, or say nearly equal in qualities, should be made to start similar business under similar circumstances, but by different means, honest and dishonest, and it needs no prophet to say that honesty will bring betterprofits. Unfortunately the capable men are not. guided and trained in the honest methods with the result that they adopt the unnatural ones – which by its usage has become natural and easy or so-called easy course while weaklings who are really unfit to adopt any method, adhere to honesty for fear of being exposed, caught, or sent to gaol.

18. Honesty in Trade compared with Honesty outside

There is a vast difference in professing honesty in trade and elsewhere.  In trade it is easy. without complications, never harmful but always beneficial, whereas when followed outside trade, it invites opposition, entails trouble and requires greater nerve on the part of its adherent to stick to it. Though, even in the latter case, it is bound to lead to pros­perity, it may be a little later than expected. In trade it is in the interests of all those who have dealings with one another that everybody should be honest. Those who practise dishonesty do it for their sole personal gain which they wrongly think results from dishonesty. But, outside trade, there are certain spheres in which those having dealings with each other want one or the other party to be dishonest for their own personal and selfish benefit, and because of their pressure, some people are led into dishonesty. In trade it is entirely different, for, all the customers without a single exception will undoubtedly be pleased by their supplier’s honesty.

19. Extent of probable saving to the business world from wholesale honesty

To realize the utility of honesty it will be worth while to consider, what an amount of misery would be saved to the World, if dishonest men were removed from it. Of course, it is an Utopian idea, but is taken up here simply for argument’s sake. All auditing would then be unnecessary; accountants may remain, but auditors as a class would cease to exist. All watch and pro­tection against theft would be unnecessary. The World is spending millions merely and solely on watchmen and guards. Every individual has to adopt means to protect his property, and this too would be unnecessary. Dishonest men are a drag on the world, they are a drag on individuals and a drag on the merchant class as a whole.

20. Honesty the best policy

It is said that honesty is the best policy, and no­where is the significance of the saying so fully realized as in trade The Proverb is very expressive and important in the respect that it treats with the material side of honesty and lays no stress on its moral aspect. The enunciator of the proverb has made honesty stand on the merits of its use­fulness, and states it as a profitable policy, and all that has hitherto been stated is simply in expounding this maxim. Besides, all great men have emphasised its usefulness and they cannot all be wrong.

21.Scope of Honesty in moulding the future

Viewing things broadly we cannot help coming to the conclusion that our World is connected-with other lokas or worlds and that lives do not terminate here.  Each individual leads an eternal life of which the present one is but one out of many phases; its length or duration is but a tiny part of the Infinite whole. This is the scientific view of life and is not only accepted but propagated by great Scientists like Sir Oliver Lodge, the late President of the Royal Society of Science. That being so, it is but a logical conclusion that our actions will not only bear fruit here, but will mould our career in future births and effect our economic life there, as is the present moulded by the past Thus, even with a view to improve our future business career, we are required to be honest.

 

22. Honesty enhances social status and expands business

A dishonest man is held very low in the esteem of the society, and intimately connected as human beings are, we cannot for a moment disregard its opinion. Society can set aside any individual, it can non-co-operate with or do away with any undesirable fellow, but an individual cannot do so even though he may not like a particular society. Has not everybody seen the effect of social pressure in bringing round and moulding the worst type of people? Individuals have to submit to the social will, even though it be wrong; much more so, when it is right.  An honest man, who has established himself in the opinion of the public by his honest methods, finds himself safe in the hands of society, and his customers increase day by day. Every man attending his shop will bring a few more. Every trader has to depend upon the goodwill of his class and the general public, for the very word ‘trade’ means free transaction in commodities for mutual benefit. Thus honesty raises social status, which in turn expands one’s circle of acquaintance and increases his business.

23. National reputation affected by dishonesty

As individuals have to care for public opinion, for gaining which they put forth the most strenuous enorts that sometimes cost them their lives, so do nations have to care for and establish international reputation. Observance of honesty in international trade dealings is one of the most efficacious methods for maintaining such a reputation. A few fraudulent merchants are a blot on the nation ; they not only spoil their own case but prejudice all those who have dealings with them against the entire trading community of the nation they belong to. Besides, they create wrong impressions and false notions about their people, which, apart from affecting the international reputation of the country, gives a definite set-back to its trade with the consequent loss of revenue to Government and income to the people.  It is beyond the scope of this essay to suggest the methods necessary to be devised to guard against such dangerous people, but it will be sufficient to state here that all possible means should beadopted to prevent successfully any kind of dishonest tricks with outside merchants, and specially the habit of cheating in quantity or quality.

24. We should extend our vision to other classes of trading circles

The merchant or the shop-keeper spoken of so far is but typical of the business world. From wholesale dealers to the hawkers and pedlars, there are all grades and sorts included in this class. We have to think not only of him but extend our vision so as to include all business men from frequenters of stock exchanges to agents, brokers, touts, contractors and canvassers of every description, and from big hawkers on to the village ryot^[1] who is also seller and buyer.

 

25. Divine punishment^[1]

Folk stories about honesty and its benefits are told in every language. Poets and prose writers have eulogized on the one hand its charming effects and, on the other, censured dishonesty. The average man believes in them, but forgets them when the time for action comes. Nature adopts its usual methods and reminds him by some punishment; she has no power of speech, but has greater power to act, and so she teaches man by action and never by words. Every one of us must have heard of several cases of sudden fires, thefts, earthquakes and such other heavy calamities to individuals or classes or locali­ties. Sometimes one fails to unearth the cause, but often it is so apparent, manifest and definite that none can ever mistake it, and it is from such instances alone that men understand. Dishonesty, like all other bad qualities, brings its results and the punishment is as sure as Death. Man may for the time being rob others, and amass many treasures by thousands of tricks and dishonest methods, but nature snatches them with one stroke in a moment, exposing him and his acts mercilessly. The reason that honest dealers are also sometimes subject to such calamities deprives in no way honesty of its beneficial blessings, for it may be that they may have been penalized for some other crime of theirs, belonging to the past. It may also be that the punishment has been lightened, because of his professing honesty. lt should then be taken as. an admonition.

26. Religious injunction

Besides, there are commandments in every religion prohibiting cheating of others. Honesty talked of by all. religious books is really speaking honesty in trade, for all dealings in money and goods come under trade and we will not be far wrong in saying that general honesty means honesty in trade.

Summary

In a few words, honesty establishes business, helps in maintaining and expanding it; it leads to prosperity and peace of mind, enhances social status, international reputation and is sure in its effects though seemingly slow

THE END