Editorial 1 : A Crime Against Women
Witchcraft accusations: A global problem
- In July 2021, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on the elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks (HPAWR).
- There were 20,000 documented cases during 2009-19 in 60 countries. Many cases go unreported and undocumented.
- The intensity of such cases is higher in Africa. But HPAWR also exists in USA and Europe, and even in India.
- National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has a category on “motives for murder” and mentions witchcraft.
- In 2022 there were 85 such murders, concentrated in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha. There were instances from Assam, Bihar and Telangana also.
Who is a witch?
- The word “witch” is gender-neutral, etymologically, although there is a popular perception that the male of the species is wizard (wicca), while the female is a witch.
- In principle, witchcraft can be benevolent. But in perception and practice, it is dubbed malevolent. This leads to crime against women.
Reasons for such accusations
- There is a lack of education and ignorance, with mental health patients dubbed as witches, especially when there is disease in the neighbourhood.
- Widowed and single women, with their property being a target.
Overcoming the practice
- Jharkhand has “Project Garima”, to restore the dignity of women branded as witches. Assam has “Project Prahari”, a community-policing initiative.
- Several states have enacted specific legislation which are relatively recent, reflecting the belief that a modern country should have specific legislation to address the issue.
- There is no union legislation on this but parts of the Constitution, IPC (Indian Penal Code) and Protection of Human Rights legislation can be invoked.
Shortcomings of the laws
- Usual problems with criminal laws — low rates of prosecution, low rates of conviction when prosecuted, hardly punitive penalties.
- The intent of the legislation is not always clear. Example – Odisha’s law penalises both witch-hunting and practice of witch-craft.
Way forward
- NCRB reporting should be refined, with a separate category for both crimes, not simply murders with witchcraft as a motive.
- Legislation doesn’t work if it gets stuck in lack of police reform and tardiness of the criminal justice system. Reforming them is the key.
Conclusion: A young man, with dreams of a developed India and hailing from metro India, may not be aware of this problem that has plagued parts of Indian rural society for ages. It isn’t a matter of pride that in the UN documentation, India alone figures in the South Asian list, along with Nepal.
Editorial 2 : Lesson from Wayanad
Context: Recent landslide in Wayanad and after analysis.
Introduction: In early morning of July 30, the serene hills of Meppadi in Kerala’s Wayanad district were violently transformed by a series of catastrophic landslides. At least 300 lives have been lost, and countless more remain missing. Rescuers face blocked roads, unstable ground, and ongoing threats from the fragile terrain.
Understanding the cause
- The river of mud (landslide) left no trace of the eucalyptus plantations in its ruthless march, but one tree stood proud and erect on its route, Ficus beddomei, characteristic of the original vegetation.
- This clearly reflects the fact that the replacement of the original natural tree cover by exotics like eucalyptus had contributed to this disaster.
The colonial footprint
- Shifting cultivation was a major bone of contention. The British tea- and coffee-estate owners opposed the continuation of shifting cultivation because unless it was forcibly stopped, they would never get any labour for their estates.
- Overall, the economic interests of the British lay in rendering people resourceless, and dedicating forest tracts to tea and coffee plantations owned by their compatriots and growing timber for their military and construction needs.
Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP)
- Theme of the report was that any nation, including India, harbour four capital stocks, namely, natural (water, vegetation, biodiversity, agricultural, animal husbandry, fish production), social (cooperative behaviour, sense of security), human (education, health, employability) and man-made capital.
- India is exclusively focused on building up highly subsidised man-made capital at serious costs to natural, human and social capitals, worsening economic, social, educational and health disparities and thereby depressing overall social welfare and the ability of industrial enterprises to compete internationally.
- This is leading to increasing frequency and intensity of human interventions such as mines and quarries, roads, and buildings on hill slopes everywhere, including in ecologically highly sensitive regions.
WGEEP guidelines
- The only way to bring the unfortunate trends under check would be to follow the WGEEP’s carefully drafted guidelines for regulation as well as the promotion of developmental activities graded with respect to zones with three different levels of ecological sensitivity — low, moderate and high.
- The WGEEP guidelines are not presented as final, rigid prescriptions but are meant to initiate a bottom-up process of democratic decision-making, beginning with the gram sabhas and mohalla sabhas.
The Situation and Way Forward
- The 13-year delay in acting on the WGEEP’s suggestions is impacting the region more and more adversely, resulting in an increasing frequency of floods and landslides.
- In Maharashtra Western Ghats, the frequency of landslides has gone up 100-fold between 2011 and 2020 along with increasing levels of human interventions.
- It is high time we begin to take stringent actions to protect nature and empower institutions of decentralised democracy to turn the tide.
- People’s Planning Campaign of 1995-96 in Kerala highlight the outcome of empowering people. The same spirit needs to be revived for protecting the Western ghats.