Editorial

Bizarre are the ways of democracy. Popular rule has begun to be interpreted as complete impunity from prosecution for crimes as heinous as pogroms. Gujarat is a classic case. The state would soon have elections and nobody seems to be really interested in bringing chief minister Narendra Modi to book. Criminals have not merely admitted their complicity but have even the audacity to brag about it. But despite visual proof shown to millions over the TV screen, the Opposition in Gujarat is acting squeamish and willing to go easy on the political rival. Fear of losing the support of the imaginary majority votebank is keeping the Congress from raising anti-minority crimes.


People who killed chinkaras in Rajasthan are being hauled up in the courts and justifiably so. Those who kept guns illegally too are cooling heels behind the bars of Yerawada prison. Fine! Those who plotted the blasts in Mumbai too have been meted out punishment. Wonderful! At one level, the wheels of justice move with such marvelous efficiency. But why is it that Justice B. N. Srikrishna Commission report gathers dust. Mere mention of initiating action provokes a Mumbai politician to declare his intention to set the city alight. The Maharashtra Government baulks down, cowers and withdraws the hint of proceedings. Congress Party, which set the precedent of igniting the anti Sikh riots, has no face to face the charge now. Liberhan Commission which is going into the events on December 6 in Ayodhya, has just been granted the 43rd extension in its 15th year. It is turning out to be joke as several of the accused in the case, came to occupy high chairs in the Government during the intervening years.


An MP was caught with ammunition, and he was let off. Case against him was dropped. But a Kerala politician remained incarcerated for nearly nine years without a case being filed against him. No one knows his crime.


One wonders if there is a cogent thinking behind selective penalization of criminals going by the nature of their affiliation to community. If indeed it is so, we need to introspect. The Constitution to which we owe allegiance, places equal emphasis on democracy and secularism as twin pillars of the our Republican system. One need not be sacrificed at the altar of the other. Just application of justice is all that is need of the hour.

Foreign lobbies are exerting pressure on the NCERT to introduce sex education in schools. India should not succumb to any such pressure, for, sex education neither gels with the Indian ethos nor would be healthy from the standpoint of reproductive health.


Sex education is a cliché spat out by the sick West which has reduced a healthy socio-biological phenomenon to fun and pastime. Sex is spontaneous, instinctive. One need not be trained for it to be practiced. It comes by itself as the fish take to water. Subtle clues are passed on to daughters even as they grow into families. Hints of what adult life is all about are available aplenty. With TV serials advancing the onset of consciousness, one wonders if anything is being left to imagination. Teaching of reproductive biology also provides sufficient clues.


Sex within marriage needs minimal awareness. Hospitals and family welfare centres too play a role in modern society. Sex education is clearly being propagated as a necessity for practitioners of free sex. Few among the hedonists would acknowledge this. And there is still less realization that free sex victimizes women more than men. Burden of unwanted pregnancies and deliveries—social, biological and economic—invariably falls on women. 98 per cent of the kids born out of wedlock are brought to the child adoption centres only by mothers, not fathers. Dr. Joe Mcllhaney of the US Medical Institute of Sexual Health is on record that the philosophy that directs teens ‘to be careful with condoms’ or ‘to play safe with sex’ has not helped them. It has enticed them into the quagmire of sexual warts, venereal diseases, genital cancer, infertility and the AIDS.


A consumerist lobby is also pushing the agenda of sex education. It eyes a huge market from societal ravages of free sex such as single parent homes, and an ambience where desirability is constantly provoked.


Indians, regardless of religious affiliations, are a modest people. They are loathe to the sanctity of family homes getting spoilt or lineages getting derailed due to missing fathers. n