இது வீட்டு நூல், நாட்டு நூல், உலக நூல்

மு. பெரியசாமி

(இக்கட்டுரையின் தலைப்பு திருக்குறளின் பொதுமைத்தன்மைப் பற்றி திரு. வி. கலியாணசுந்தரனார் அவர்கள் கூறிய கருத்து ஆகும் )

திருக்குறள், தமிழின் மற்ற அனைத்து நூல்களையும் விட தனிப்பெருமையும் சிறப்பும் வாய்ந்த நூல் ஆகும். ஏனென்றால் சுமார் 60க்கும் மேற்பட்ட உலக மொழிகளில் மொழிபெயர்க்கப்பட்டுள்ள சிறப்புமிக்க நூல் திருக்குறள். முதன்முதலில் இலத்தீன் மொழியில் C.J. பெஸ்கி (வீரமாமுனிவர்) என்பவரால் 1730ல் திருக்குறள் மொழிபெயர்க்கப்பட்டது. அன்று முதல் இன்று வரை பலரால் பல மொழிகளில் இன்றும் மொழிபெயர்ப்பு செய்யப்பட்டு வருகின்றது.

 திருக்குறளின் பெருமையை பற்றி பேசாத தமிழறிஞர்கள் இல்லை என்றே கூறலாம். சங்க கால புலவர்களான கபிலர், நக்கீரர், ஔவையார், சீத்தலை சாத்தனார் என அப்பொழுதே இதன் சிறப்பை பலர் வியந்து பாராட்டியுள்ளனர்.

"திருக்குறள் ஒன்றே போதும் உனக்கு அறிவு உண்டாக்க; ஒழுக்கத்தை கற்பித்துக் கொடுக்க; உலக ஞானம் ஏற்பட" என்கிறார் பெரியார்.

நோபல் பரிசு பெற்ற ஆல்பர்ட் ஸ்வைட்சர் என்னும் அறிஞரோ, திருக்குறளை வாழ்வுக்குரிய அன்புநெறியை கூறும் உயர்ந்த நூல் என்றும், உயர்ந்த ஞானத்தை புகட்டும் உயர்மொழிகளின் தொகுப்பு இதுபோல் உலக இலக்கியத்தில்  இல்லை என்றும் கூறிப் போற்றியுள்ளார். இப்படி பலர் திருக்குறளைப்பற்றி கூறிய புகழுரைகளை ஒரு பெரும் நூலாகவே தொகுக்கலாம். இத்தகு புகழுக்கு மிக முக்கிய காரணம் திருக்குறளின் எளிமை மற்றும் செறிவு மிகுந்த கருத்துக்கள்தான். பழந்தமிழ் இலக்கியங்களில் தலைசிறந்த நீதி நூல் திருக்குறள் என்றால் அது மிகையாகது.

உலகப்பொதுமறை, பொய்யாமொழி, வாயுறை வாழ்த்து, முப்பால், தமிழ்மறை, என பல பெயர்களில் திருக்குறள் போற்றப்படுகிறது. இதில் விந்தை என்னவென்றால் திருக்குறள் என்பதும் அதனை புகழ்ந்து கூறப்படும் பெயர்களில் ஒன்று. அதன் இயற்பெயர் என்னவென்று இன்னும் அறியப்படவில்லை. இதை இயற்றியவரின் பெயரான திருவள்ளுவர் என்பதும் அவரது இயற்பெயர் கிடையாது. அவரைபற்றிய வரலாறும் இன்னும் அறியப்படவில்லை. ஆனால் அவரைபற்றிய புனைக்கதைகள் பல உண்டு. அவரைப்பற்றி இதுவரை அறிந்தவை என்னவென்றால் அவர் ஒரு தமிழ்ப்புலவர் என்பதும் தமிழகத்தில் வாழ்ந்தவர் என்பது மட்டும்தான். இன்று நாம் ஓவியங்களிலும், சிற்பங்களிலும் கானும் உருவமும் திருவள்ளுவரைப் பற்றிய கற்பனை உருவமே ஆகும். திருக்குறளின் காலமும் இன்னது என்று சரியாக வரையறுக்கப்பட முடியவில்லை. அது சங்க காலத்தைச் சேர்ந்த நூல் என்றும், கி.மு. 30ம் நூற்றாண்டில் இயற்றப்பட்டது என்றும் பலர் கூறுகின்றனர். இவற்றையெல்லாம் கடந்து நிற்கும் அதன் பெரும்புகழுக்கு அதனுடைய காலம் மாறாத உண்மை நெறி, ஆழமான கருத்துக்கள், கவிச்சுவை, எளிமை ஆகியன குறிப்பிடத்தக்க காரணங்களாகும். அதேபோல் எவ்வித சார்புமற்ற அதன் பொதுமைபண்பு (objectivity) மிக முக்கியமானதாகும். வள்ளுவர் எந்தவொரு மதத்தைபற்றியோ, இனத்தைபற்றியோ, நாட்டைபற்றியோ, மன்னனைப்பற்றியோ தனது திருக்குறளில் குறிப்பிடவே இல்லை. அந்த அளவிற்கு பரந்த மனப்பாங்கோடு குறளை இயற்றியுள்ளார். அதனால்தான் இன்றும் இந்துக்கள், இசுலாமியர்கள், சமணர்கள், பௌத்தர்கள், கிறித்துவர்கள் என பல சமயத்தாரும் திருக்குறளை சொந்தம் கொண்டாடுகின்றனர். 

இதுபோல் அக்காலத்தின் இலக்கிய மரபுகளை மீறி புதுமை படைத்த நூல் திருக்குறள். 'பிறப்பால் அனைவரும் சமம்' என்னும் சமத்துவ கொள்கையை பறைசாற்றிய நூல் திருக்குறள். எந்த ஒரு கருத்தையும் ஆராய்ந்து அதன் உண்மையை உணர வேண்டும் என்னும் பகுத்தறிவை பேசிய நூல் திருக்குறள். அக்காலத்திலேயே 'மது அருந்துவது கூடாது' என்கிற சமூக பொறுப்புணர்வை வெளிப்படுத்திய நூல் திருக்குறள். இப்படி ஒரு மனிதன் எப்படி இருக்க வேண்டும், ஒரு மன்னன் எப்படி இருக்க வேண்டும், ஒரு சமுதாயம் எப்படி இருக்க வேண்டும் என பலதரப்பினரின் கடமைகளை உணர்த்தும் நூல் திருக்குறள். இவ்வாறு பல சமூக கருத்துக்களை உள்ளடக்கியது திருக்குறள்.

நாம் ஒரு விஷயத்தை கவனிக்க வேண்டும், இப்படிப்பட்ட ஆழமான கருத்துக்கள் முழுக்கவும் ஒரு தனிமனிதனின் உருவாக்கம் மட்டுமே அன்று, அது அந்த சமுதாயத்தில் பரவியிருந்த கருத்துக்களின் வெளிப்பாடு. அப்படிப்பட்ட  சமுதாயம் எவ்வளவு பண்பட்டதாக இருந்திருக்க வேண்டும் என்பதை நாம் சிந்தித்துப் பார்க்கவேண்டும். அதன் வழித்தோன்றிய சமுதாயமான நம் சமுதாயத்தை நாம் இன்று எப்படிப்பட்டதாக மாற்றிவைத்திருக்கின்றோம். இப்படி ஒரு நூலை இயற்றிய வள்ளுவருக்கு கோட்டமும் சிலையும் அமைத்ததோடு சரி (அவைகளின் நிலைமையும் என்னவென்பதை, அங்கு செல்பவர்கள் கண்கூடாக பார்க்கலாம்). இவ்வளவு அற்புதமான நூலையும் அதன் செறிவான கருத்துக்களையும்  நாம் நம்முடைய சமூகத்தில் எந்த இடத்தில் வைத்திருக்கின்றோம். நம்மில் எத்தனை பேருக்கு குறைந்தது 10 திருக்குறளை அதன் அர்த்தத்துடன் தெரியும்? தேசிய நூலாகவே அறிவிக்க தேவையான அனைத்து தகுதிகளையும் உடைய திருக்குறளுக்கு நாம் அளிக்கும் முக்கியத்துவம் என்ன? சாக்கிரட்டீஸ், பிளேட்டோ, அரிஸ்டாட்டில், கான்பூசியஸ், சேக்சுபியர் என பிற நாட்டு  அறிஞர்களை போற்றும் நாம், நம்  நாட்டு அறிஞர்களையும், தத்துவ ஞானிகளையும் என்று போற்ற போகிறோம். நாட்டுப்பற்று, மொழிப்பற்று என்று நாம் கூவுகிறோம், ஆனால் நம்முடைய நாட்டை சேர்ந்தவர் நம்முடைய மொழியை சேர்ந்தவர் என்றால் எப்பொழுதும் இளக்கார மனப்பான்மைதான். இதை எப்பொழுது மாற்றிக்கொள்ள போகின்றோம்.

Cancer: Looking beyond

Dhiyanesh Ravichandran.


Today is World Cancer Day. Cancer is not just a health problem, but has far-reaching repercussions - Social, economic, development and human rights.

During one of my visit to my home few years back, my grandfather was present there for a medical check-up and had serious complaints about his stomach. Then we were told that he is suspected with a possible stomach cancer by doctors and latter confirmed almost. Doctors told us that we were too late and pointed the healthy-walking man may collapse in few weeks. We did not lose hope and went for further treatments. I left home for hostel and came back after a month or so, I was shocked to see him. Then my next trip to home was for his funeral. It was exactly three months and I have no one now who would take me out in his scooter for a spin.

I thought that cancer was nothing but a death sentence, only to be dispelled as a myth latter. But the statistics may seem so, it accounts for 7.6 million deaths (13%) globally in 2008. Lung, stomach, liver, colon, breast and cervical cancer are the most occurring. It is important to recognise that cancer is not just a health issue. It has far-reaching social, economic, development and human rights repercussions. This is primarily because of the fact that about 47% of cancer cases and 55% of cancer deaths take place in less developed nations. It is also predicted that by 2030, 60-70% of the speculated 21.4 million new cancer cases annually will transpire in developing countries. 

As of now, around 85% of the 275,000 women who die every year from cervical cancer hail from developing countries. The survival rate of breast cancer is also poor in such countries. The report from The Lancet Oncology states that worldwide breast cancer incidence and mortality are expected to increase by 50 percent from 2002 and 2020 -- and those rates will be highest developing nations. Women often do not seek out screening, because they don't know that breast cancer treatments actually exist. Neither the diagnosing facilities are spread equitably. 

Cancer is also a cause and an effect of poverty. It negatively impacts families' propensity to bring in an income and save. Treatment costs are so exorbitant and with inequitable access to public health facilities, families are trapped in abject poverty. Lack of education and healthcare awareness increases the risk of late detection and dying from it. 

Throughout the developing world, most health systems are designed to cope with episodes of infectious disease. Most developing countries do not have the financial resources, facilities, equipment, technology, infrastructure, staff, or training to cope with chronic care for cancers. If left unaddressed, deaths from cancer in the developing world are forecast to grow to 6.7 million in 2015 and 8.9 million in 2030. In contrast, cancer deaths in wealthy countries are expected to remain fairly stable over the next twenty years.

With right strategies and facilities, it is said that one-third of cancer deaths can be prevented. Making the treatment affordable and available to everyone can be a significant step towards cancer. Private investments on researches on cancer cures must be encouraged. Whole humanity must take up the responsibility. 

Will we ever really be free?

Hello, I'm glad to be the latest addition to the blogging team. I shall do my best to contribute cartoons as regularly as possible. Here's hoping for an increased readership :)
Cheers
Sidharth Ravi
P.S : Feel free to comment

(LIFE) LINE DISCONNECTED

Raghunath Nageswaran (Guest Author)

2nd BA Economics,

Loyola College.

Connectivity and life have become so interwoven that we are bound to associate ourselves closely with people, in reality and in virtual terms too. We get annoyed if the line gets disconnected when we talk over the phone, when we chat on face-book and when we do other ‘important’ activities of that ilk. Here it goes. A leading journal reported that there are in this country, 51 million subscribers to Facebook, 31.3 million to YouTube and 16 million to Twitter. Very recently, IMRB and Internet and Mobile Association of India pegs India’s internet user base to 150 million by the end of this year. Many teenagers consider it embarrassing not to have a Facebook or Twitter account. The virtual elements seem to define connectivity and socializing in better terms. But the matter of the fact is that we are utterly disconnected from the reality, affected by privacy syndrome and over-confidentiality crisis. The ‘disconnection’ assumes serious proportions when it is deeply ingrained in the lives of those who are subject to penury. The celebratory stories of progress and prosperity in the country are bogus, I’d say. Because, that is something which is not compatible with the lives of the marginalised. But, we frantically talk of the ‘majority ’principle, which is highly vulnerable to malleability .The

welfare projects spanning decades that have been undertaken have culminated in serious displacements and disconnections. In the period 1950- 90, nearly 26 million Indians got displaced due to the dams and canal projects, thermal power projects, mining and sanctuary projects, and such displacements are development- driven. In the name of development projects these people are evicted from their places, after their lands are acquired. The displacement we are talking about includes just the land – related ones. They are deprived of compensation, and even if they are compensated, they get nothing more than peanuts. There are resource – related, calamity – driven and conflict - driven displacements too. Forced eviction is a serious human rights violation as per the UN protocols. But, as I mentioned earlier these projects wear the garb of patriotism, the policy makers claiming that these measures are of immense national interest. I’ll throw some numbers at you in this regard.

1) On a state-by-state basis, we found thatWest Bengal has 7 millions of the total number of 60 million (Fernandes, et al. 2006) and Assam has 1.9 million (Fernandes and Bharali 2006). The ongoing study carried out in Gujarat by the Centre for Culture and Development points to some 7 million people in that State (Lobo and Kumar 2007).

2) The tribals represented 8.08 per cent of India’s total population in 1991, but are estimated to represent much more. Some 40 per cent of the DPs/PAPs (Fernandes 2007). At least 20 percent are Dalits (Mahapatra 1994) and a big proportion of the rest are other assetless rural poor like marginal farmers, poor fishermen, and quarry workers.

Between 1990 and 2000 alone, nearly 10 million across the world people were caught in the trap of displacement. The irony is that multitude of projects initiated at the cost of the innocent and the desperate still remain unfinished. And majority of the displaced have not been rehabilitated, their lives speaks volumes about the state of misery in India. These people are completely disconnected from their lands, resources and even their homes. Today, many leave their places since agriculture has failed and seek refuge in urban areas, the result of which is reflected in the 2011 Census – Growth in Urban population outnumbers rural population growth for the first time in several decades. The MGNRGES was launched with a vision of curtailing this trend, but has shown progress only in patches. The farmer suicides in massive numbers have resulted in one of the greatest displacements in Indian history. The displacement issue in Jammu and Kashmir, in the neglected parts of North-east and even the ones sprung from Partition still remained unsettled. We are not able to offer minimum life security to millions in our country, how can we be exceedingly proud of our growth?

These issues are often sandwiched between figures, which fail to capture the seriousness of the issue completely. The Narmada Bachao Andolan, spearheaded by Medha Patkar caught the attention of the people. Such meaningful movements can demand legitimate actions from the part of the incumbency for the restoration of lives of such people who are pushed to the fringes. The cruelty of factionalism took its supreme form in Assam in July this year, causing a colossal displacement and disconnection. We consider the north-easterners aliens to the county at best, and consider them Chinese at worst. That is why our heart fails to bleed when people of that region, separated from the ‘mainland India’ suffer. The 4 lakh refugees, driven by the fear of mass killings left their homes, scurried to the refugee camps. Now they are disconnected from their land and resources. There was not a single OB van ferrying in that region to provide real-time coverage. The growing disconnect between the mass reality and the mass-media, as P.Sainath say, is evident from such painful happenings. The cruel face of ‘disconnection’ amongst the destitute matters more than our connectivity over social networking sites. Well, that too has become a matter of great attention as the images posted in those sites triggered an unprecedented exodus of the north-eastern people from the southern states. The effects of either forms of connectivity cannot be offset very easily. The solution lies in striking an ideal balance between the two, through the concerted efforts of the state and the masses.

Jai Hind!

Every rape does not count

Dhiyanesh Ravichandran

A majority of sexual crimes in India are not reported owing to the discrepancies in the reporting mechanism and the profit-driven media bothers less.

She did her level best to get her LIFE back after a ruthless attack I wish no one should ever undergo and succumbed to injuries eleven days latter with a glut of pain and agony. It is quite easy for everyone like me to think about and express the horror that she faced that night in a moving bus, but it is very uncertain to say whether any of us can bear that sort of cruelty and lead a normal life as before from next day. The fact that most of our women lead that kind of life is quite discomforting. The way we as individuals and as a whole society treat those known victims of sexual violence makes me feel that she had no best option than departing her life. Nor we have any option for people like her. Getting her LIFE back is complicated with us. Let her soul rest in peace with dignity at least.

For sheer convenience in understanding some of the facets of reality, let us keep aside all those issues and debating matters surrounding that incident especially the argument for capital punishments to perpetrators. If it is just to hang every offender, then many of our own fathers, brothers, kins and neighbours would be sent to gallows and maybe at that time we may loosen our stand in this regard. And a major proportion of people will still be left unpunished, as either their crimes are not reported or not proven guilty. You would have wondered ever since that terrible gang rape incident at the national capital territory and the students protest that followed was focused in the national media for the past 15 days, many new cases of sexual assaults and gang rapes are reported everyday. This makes an impression that many such cases of sexual violence are not reported and there exist some discrepancies in the reporting mechanism. Reporting a case here refers both filing a complaint and an FIR with the police and media's coverage on such incidents.

The incidence of rapes, sexual assaults and other sex related crimes are very high and ever present in India. They happen at almost all places - homes, schools, colleges, workplaces, public spaces, buses, trains, etc. There can be no causation nor any correlation to the Delhi gang rape incident and the rape and assault cases that were reported by media in the following days. One can expect that the mass protests for justice triggered by that incident would have created a caution among susceptible wrong doers at least to a minimum extent, which could have brought down the crime rate. There is no scope for a sudden rise in such crimes when such protests and police actions against them are narrated in news media. This brings us to an idea that only now some of those ever happening crimes are publicly reported and they pop up at the news streams aftermath the horrific incident that shook the whole nation.

There are several factors that often leads to unreporting. Firstly, a majority of victims themselves do not reveal such traumas to their own family members, friends, teachers, or guardian. In many cases, when those people remain to be perpetrators, we can hardly expect them to open up. Fear of ostracism and retaliation is innate to victims. Secondly, even if they dare to make a notice to their family members, in most cases they neither acknowledge nor make any first-effort. Let us always remember such crimes are inflicted not by aliens, they are known to victims in most of the cases and belong to the same or near-by locality. Family ties with the offender, or his social and political status, caste of both victim and the offender, all determine the family's reaction to the issue. In most of the cases, the social stigma relating to a police complaint identifying their women as victims is a distressing experience to the families. The fear of  disgracing reactions from their kins, friends, colleagues, neighbours, etc haunts them. They fear of possible disruptions in marital future of the victim and her societal recognition. This is much more relevant in our society, and not confined only to rural societies. So, families either kill the issue or rob the victim's or their own life in the name of dignity.

Thirdly, the law enforcement mechanisms to record a complaint and investigating it is in many instances messy. Sometimes the police are lethargic in filing an FIR or to initiate appropriate actions and investigations. Corrupted police officials manipulate the process which prolongs the judicial process for justice. There is excessive red tapism in such legal battles against the offences and are often a horrific experience to the victims. Life is very harsh is the victim is a dalit and the perpetrators are from so-called upper caste. A recent news of a minor dalit gang-rape victim's suicide note naming police officials for evading justice in Punjab is an example. It took 14 days for the local police to register a FIR and the officials haunted her often by asking to narrate what happened during that rape episode. In almost all the cases, the victims and their family face threats from the offenders and people in power. Yet another important factor in this regard is the medical examination of the victim. Shame and disgrace to victim and her family is inherent to it.

Sexual harassment in educational campuses often go unreported since they do not have proper systems in place to monitor students behaviour, counsel students, record complaints and initiate proceedings. The university system in India does not provide any explicit understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment. In some of the enlightened western universities, victims are specifically encouraged to file complaints even if they had themselves consumed alcohol or drugs at the time. Given the tendency here in our country to blame the victim for making herself vulnerable, this is of much scope. 

Fourthly, as renowned rural expert P. Sainath puts, our Indian media is politically free but is driven for and by profits. Media's role in catalysing the police action and speeding up judicial action by reporting sexual crimes is very significant. Specifically, visual media reaches people to kindle their sentiments and raises awareness in a short span of time. The nations fury on the Delhi gang rape case is an example. But our media is highly biased and there is a clear class differentiation in terms of the content they choose to report. Visual media is the worst hit. Commercialization has crept in and there is an apparent neglect of rural problems and happenings. News stories on entertainments such as cinema and political coverage is what earns them the aspired TRB rating for to grab advertisers. They choose up contents primarily based on their viewers ratings and likings. It is uncertain that our visual media will take up this rape issue more often after investigations are over, the matter has already faded away since the victim is no more. As a result, the news channels will find no interest in digging up the rape of a tribal woman of a remote village in Odisha, while Kingfisher's calender girl drive featuring the our country women in bikinis would be the priority.

Fifthly, there is less awareness among many of our women especially in rural areas to assert their rights and fight for justice. It is worth to analyse why the crime rates are higher in the state of Kerala with hundred percent literary comparing to other backward states. It may appear that the educational levels have nothing to do with the occurrence of crimes. But it is said that the due to their educational awareness and empowerment, people in Kerala report every crimes to the law enforcement agencies unlike other states. As a result, most of the cases of petty thefts to heinous crimes reach police stations and are documented.

The Union and state governments are in the process of drafting new policies and bills to enhance women safety and security. Several existing laws are to be amended too. It is high time for them to act on the law enforcement mechanisms that are in place. Effective systems for hassle-free reporting and complaints of sexual crimes are the need of the hour, which would require a total overhaul of the present reporting system.

The Delhi gang rape case has created mass effects which offers endless opportunities for policy makers and officials to rethink what's gone wrong. It is important to view security not solely as the prevention of high-profile attacks, but as a continuum that protects against various forms of sexual harassment and exploitation. She has given our women the courage to speak out such issues that each and everyone of them endure. Let us not lose this momentum, this commitment, this chance to retrospect what's the reality. Silence is no more a bliss.

Society and Public Health

Dhiyanesh Ravichandran

Society has an ethical obligation to ensure equitable access to quality  health services by making that care a basic social right.

Is health care a right or a privilege? This has become an enduring debate among the scholars and policy makers ever since the time when state became the sole allocator of resources on behalf of society. The capitalistic business approach has crept into field of healthcare since since industrial revolution in western nations and very recently in India too. Privatization of healthcare in India led to the rule of big corporations playing a major share of health services for huge profits, sometimes by inappropriate and unethical means as well. The stake on government on health services is too low as does its budget allocation every year. Neither the services are up to the average standards. Healthcare companies see no profits in investing in rural health infrastructure, combined with inadequate public healthcare network led to the total neglect of rural areas.

Is one's health status an outcome of his behaviour and lifestyle? Does he have absolute control in determining his well-being? Even though people have the ability to influence their health status by their individual decisions on or choice of lifestyle. But many health problems are beyond their control. They can also be affected by genetics, living of work environments, or even by chance. Even though there are several preventive measures for many such ailments, the awareness among them is definitely less and it is impossible for each and every one to know about all such health issues.

A society's commitment to healthcare reflects some of its most basic values about what it is to be a member of the human community. Society, therefore, has an ethical obligation to ensure equitable access to quality  health services by making that care a basic social right. The present day governments are the appropriate agencies to facilitate such a valued obligation, by ensuring that the health services are universal, less privatized, free of cost to all of its citizens, and are easily accessible. The National health insurance coverage in several countries is an example to universal healthcare.

In India, the status of public health is less comforting. More that three fourth of the health infrastructure is concentrated in urban areas where only 27% of total population lives. There are no private takers for the rural healthcare primarily due to profit factors, which led to the total neglect of rural India. Rural areas depend fully on government health infrastructure, which proves to be ineffective. The public health expenditure of India in 1990 was 1.3% of the GDP and dropped to 0.9% of GDP in 2009. The increase in GDP growth in this time period has not increased the health care expenditure, considering the increase in population. The Union budgetary allocation is just 1.3% and that is state budget is just 5.5% on an average.

Health Insurance is a nonentity in Indian scenario. Only 10% of our citizens have some form of health insurance, inadequate to meet their healthcare bills in most of the cases. Hospitalised Indians on an average spend about 58% of their total annual expenditure for healthcare. About 25% of them fall below poverty line because of their hospital expenses. 

Health economists say that healthy labour force increases participation ratio in the economic activities. When individuals are viewed as a stock of human capital, health status impacts the values of stock. In a family, medical expenses of adult members deplete the savings and investments meant for the nutritional and educational needs of children. Reduced earning potential of individuals ultimately affects national income. In this perspective, health economists assert individuals as assets and resources for economic excellence and healthcare as a means to extract maximum productivity. Healthcare should be considered as a basic social right irrespective of his economic productivity and what humanity wants is a more sustainable approach towards healthcare, which is universal and accessible to all.

Lack of community ownership of public health programmes has impacted so adversely in India. Various health indicators in India show unfavorable trends in health status even though the country shows positive economic growth in recent decades. A comprehensive healthcare policy is necessary, which involves increased participation of the state in infrastructural development and service delivery. In a globalised era, curbing private players would prove fatal. They need to be utilised by the state in right and just manner through public private partnerships or joint ventures. Implementation requires community patronage.

ON THE NEED FOR EMANCIPATION FROM THE GENDER STRAITJACKET

Stuti Das

1st B.A. Sociology,

Stella Maris College.

(This entry secured 1std place in the Article Writing contest held as a part of SocioFest LIBERATE'12 of Department of Sociology, Loyola College. A slightly modified version of this article has been published in the July 2013 edition of the Reading Hour magazine.)

“My vision is utopian, but I believe in its possibility.”

 – Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sexing the Body

A video clip uploaded on the video-sharing site, YouTube, opens with the host – a news anchor with Toronto’s CityNews – walking into a cocktail lounge with a fashion model who has of late garnered much attention after appearing on the catwalk in Paris in a haute couture bridal gown for the French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. They settle down for an interview.

“When I look at you,“ the beaming host tells the model, “ I see an absolutely beautiful, tall, lean, gorgeous, woman.”

“Well, thank you!” the model smiles with a tilt of the head.

The appearance of the model, a svelte blonde with cascading platinum hair, icy blue eyes, dewy skin, arched eyebrows and chiselled cheekbones, seem not untypical of those seen regularly strutting the catwalk for womenswear labels. But there is a difference: this model, Andrej Pejic, is not a woman. He is a man.

Scouted at the age of 17, one of the first jobs for this androgynous model from Broadmeadows, Australia was to open a runway show for a womenswear brand at Sydney fashion week. He then went on to become a part of the Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring 2011 campaign in which he was seen as the shorts-and-sneakers-wearing boy. That same year he was signed up to model a wedding dress for the Jean-Paul Gaultier Haute Couture Spring 2011 Fashion Show at Paris Fashion Week. Seeing Pejic’s versatility, Gaultier hired him for his Fall 2011 menswear show. In no time, Andrej emerged as one of the most sought-after figures in the world of high fashion.

“Gender doesn’t make me who I am,” Pejic tells his interviewer. He does not have a strong gender identity, he says, and prefers identifying as what he is. He leaves his gender open to interpretation and feels that we often make too big of a deal of defining people by their gender.

As the only top-tier fashion model who can walk down the runway as either a man or a woman, Pejic, who is reticent about restricting his sense of self within the confines of any one gender in particular, symbolises a revolutionary trend: emancipation from the rigidities of gender norms.

Meanwhile, in Canada Kathy Witterick and her husband, David Stocker, are raising their child, Storm, without revealing Storm’s sex. They wish to bring Storm up, not as their daughter or son, not as a girl or a boy, but as just their child. They want Storm to be “gender creative” - their way, they say, of paying “a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation.” They have allowed their two older sons to “make their own choices” with respect to clothing and hairstyle. So Storm’s older brothers are never deterred from wearing pink feather boas, dresses and braids. Witterick and Stocker do not feel the need to force their children into a particular gender mould; rather they want their children to develop their interests and inclinations unrestrained by specific gender norms.

In another instance, in the month of May this year, Argentina granted its citizens the freedom to determine the gender they want to be identified with without having to undergo any medical, psychiatric, or judicial procedures, thereby recognising that one’s gender ought to depend on little else except one’s own rational choice.

Are we then entitled to think that gender today is a dying concept; that we as a society are already on our way to emancipating ourselves from the straitjacket of gender norms?

The answer sadly is a no, for if we look beyond the headlines and focus on things that regulate the day-to-day lives of the great majority of human beings treading the planet, gender is alive, well and kicking.

Gender, according to the definition provided by Merriam-Webster, is ‘the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex’. An individual’s sex, on the other hand, is solely a matter of biology: women have two X sex chromosomes, while men have XY. In addition, there are individuals with other combinations, such as XXY or XO.

What determines an individual’s gender identity – one’s private sense of one’s own gender – remains till date an inconclusive debate. But studies show that one’s biological status as a male or female has very little role to play in it, for it has often been observed that individuals who can physiologically be categorised into distinct biological groups of male and female, admit to being unable to identify with the social characteristics commonly attributed to their sex. A book by the name, The Lives of Transgender People which is based upon a survey and interviews with several thousand trans-masculine, trans-feminine, and gender- nonconforming people in the United States, demonstrates the tremendous gender fluidity that exists in the U.S. today. For instance, when asked about their gender identities, the participants provided more than 100 different responses. A number of them said that there was no easy way by which they could identify their gender. Some of the respondents resorted to percentages to describe their identities (such as one third male, one third female, and one third transgender) while others said simply, “I am me.”

However, despite innumerable evidences such as these, the society we live in views gender as tied to one’s biological sex. One’s gender identity is expected to parallel one’s physiological sex and any discrepancy in this regard is treated as an aberration.

Furthermore, the assignment of gender is done according to a binary model – a social dichotomy based on the flawed premise that biologically there exists only two sexes, which in turn necessitates that all individuals be assigned only one of the two gender identities – male and female – and consequently be permitted only one of the two gender expressions – masculine and feminine. An individual therefore is expected to be on either end of a linear spectrum. According to this model, one can neither see oneself on both ends at the same time nor anywhere in between, the principal determinant of one’s position being one’s physiological characteristics.

Gender in most societies – with the exception of a few such as the Navajo of the Southwestern United States - is a rigid binary concept that allows little room for fluidity. It demands compulsory conformity and any transgression from the norm is not without consequences.

In 2001, 16-year-old Fred Martinez, a Navajo boy who identified himself as a girl, was brutally murdered near his hometown of Cortez, Colorado. Among his own people however, he was accepted as nádleehí or a two-spirit person but mainstream America’s narrow views on gender proved fatal to him. More recently, statistics on anti-trans hate crimes published by the International Trans Murder Monitoring Project reveal that more than 220 individuals around the world were killed in the year 2010 for identifying with a gender that contrasted with the one assigned to them by society. Even in their day-to-day lives, as a result of society’s failure to recognise the multiplicity of gender possibilities, gender-nonconforming people face stigma and discrimination and become targets of verbal and physical assault.

The drawbacks of such strict gender essentialism are, in fact, numerous. For one, gender as it is known and practiced today has a pretty arbitrary basis: that one’s biological characteristics should determine how one should act, feel, think and behave, though studies so far have failed to establish any definitive relation between one’s biological sex and gender identity. Furthermore, the gender binary model is, for all purposes, a gross oversimplification, for it certainly fails to capture the entire spectrum of anatomical variations that exists. Even if gender was something restricted solely to biology – though it isn’t – this social dichotomy would not have been able to encompass the entire continuum of the many different varieties of gender identities and expressions that would then be possible.

Gender comes with an extensive list of do’s and don’ts. It is immensely restrictive as a result of which people are often compelled to act not according to their personal interests and inclinations but in keeping with the existing norms. Gender thus submerges the human and contrary to the common claim made in its favour that it facilitates self expression, gender actually restricts an individual’s capacity for self actualisation.

The greatest demerit of gender, of course, is its compulsive nature. A gender label once assigned to an individual is seen as something immutable, although research shows that gender identity isn’t static. One’s identification with one’s gender may change over time, for the way individuals identify with a particular gender is not stable, as is evident from the existence and prominence of late-transitioning trans people.

It therefore goes without saying that we are all in a gender straitjacket. But gender roles and expectations form such an intrinsic part of our culture that most people, especially those who have managed to fit neatly into the system, find it hard to imagine things differently. But the fact remains that gender is a powerful tool of structural oppression encompassing every aspect of an individual’s life, so much so that, as Judith Butler writes, “the body becomes its gender through a series of acts which are renewed, revised, and consolidated through time.”

Bruce Peter Reimer was born a male. After a botched circumcision at the age of 6 months, he was reassigned to be raised as a female and rechristened as Brenda. Living as anything other than as a man or a woman was out of question. But despite female hormones and frilly dresses, not to mention the tremendous pressure from parents, teachers and doctors to behave “like a girl”, Brenda demonstrated interests that were “typically male”. For all purposes, it was a bizarre spectacle. Deviation from gender norms isn’t something that society has ever taken a kind view of. Brenda wasn’t spared either and very soon she was the object of ruthless ridicule for her “masculinity”. Attempting to fall in line with the expectations mounting on her, she tried “acting like a girl”. This continued for a while. Unable any more to suppress her inner inclinations, Brenda went into depression and attempted suicide. It was then decided that she would switch back to being a male. She did and David Reimer was born. But “behaving like a man” after having so long “tried to act like a girl” did not come as easily as David thought it would. But he kept up his efforts. Memories of his blighted childhood continued to haunt him and at age38, he began suffering from an identity crisis. On 5 May, 2004, he finally committed suicide.

The life of disgraced, unsexed David Reimer, as much a victim of the gender straitjacket as we all are, demonstrates, without any room for doubt, that creating a fairer world by emancipating ourselves from the gender straitjacket through recognition of the existence of non-binary gender diversity and multiplicity of gender expressions and the elimination of sex-based gender assignments along with the idea that gender is a static immutable concept is something that is not just desirable but also extremely necessary.

Sounds like a brave new world? Perhaps, but definitely worth striving for.