Prison (Reform) Tourism

A jail can be much more than a place to confine criminals. The State of Sikkim and a humble jailer show the way.

One of the many definitions of a prison is, ‘A correctional institution used to detain persons who are in the lawful custody of the government’. Unfortunately, the popular perception about jails has been of one among the most disreputable places. The first noticed effort to make jail a place of reform was of Tihar. While Tihar continues to raise the bar of what a jail should be; the one other jail to follow Tihar’s footprints comes from Sikkim.

Rongyek Jail in East Sikkim is emerging as a true home for its inmates to reform and re-invent themselves. And to watch these inmates’ world of hope, Sikkim has started a first-of-its-kind Prison Tourism. Under this scheme, beginning this month (October), Indian tourists have begun visiting Rongyep Jail on Sundays from 11 am to 2 pm. Tourists have to pay a nominal registration fee of Rs 10 at the Tourism Information Centre (TIC) of Sikkimn.

Every idea requires a force behind it. The force behind this innovative idea of Prison Tourism is none but the Jailer of Rongyek jail Yap Tshering Bhutia. In a telephonic conversation with iSikkim.com he said that the planning started in 2009. That was when he suggested introducing Prison Tourism to his senior officials. ‘The State Government has been quite co-operative all along’, says Bhuita. ‘The final yes came in the February this year. Till now around 20 people have already visited the jail’. ‘How came the idea?’ ‘Nobody wants to come and see a prison. People think that a prison is inhabited by criminals. But a prison is inhabited by human beings only. According to the decision of the Supreme Court (SC), a prison doesn’t have to be a punishment but a correction home. So we want people and tourists to come and see what Prison Dept. is doing to reform the inmates. This was the main motto. Additionally, once the jail is opened for public scrutiny, the Prison Dept. is bound to keep the complex neat and clean.’

Cleanliness apart, what also gets noticed are the initiatives taken by the jail authorities. ‘We are taking initiatives as per the guidelines of the SC and NHRC. We impart professional training to the prisoners for their resettlement. They are taught to make envelope. They can also go for screen painting, floriculture, organic farming, wood carving, bakery, learning how to make bamboo products and even animal husbandry’ and adds ‘Seeing is believing. How was Tihar turned around is know by the whole country’, he says beamingly.

The tourists are shown this creative world of the inmates. ‘We have tried to imbibe Gandhian philosophy of pollution free environment. We have a floriculture section called circuit house and a tea garden. We take the tourist to the sale counter of the products made by the inmates of the jail. We also show them the vocational training center and then the watch tower from where they can see the barracks of the inmates where the prisoners live.’ The tourist can’t talk to the prisoners. Why is so? ‘There are some restrictions. We can allow someone to talk to the prisoner only with the consent of the prisoner’, says Mr. Bhutia.

Rongyek jail is also the biggest jail of Sikkim and hosts around 200 prisoners from 18 to 63 years of age of which 5 are women. In his four years of association with the Jail, Mr. Bhutia has tried to project the jail as a place where humans like us all live. The jail also organises cultural programmes in which the inmates can perform songs composed by themselves. What are his future plans and the Jailer says, ‘I am trying to rope in NGOs from Mumbai and start a computer diploma course.’

How has been your experience handling the prisoners and criminals? ‘When I became a Police Officer I realised that the police tortures the criminals. Once someone comes to jail, they have already got punishment for the crime they committed due to whatever reason. So, I feel pity on them. I change my attitude of a Police Officer and then try to reform them. I believe that we must always keep a human touch in dealing with them. After we started all the good initiatives there has been no report of any inmates troubling any of the jail officials’ and quickly adds ‘we must feel that a prisoner is a person’.

The article was published on iSikkim.com

Is democracy in Myanmar a lost case?

The Dilemma

“It was hard not to be moved both by the demeanour of Aung San Suu Kyi when she was freed from house arrest in Yangon on November 13th, and by the popular reaction to her freedom. Her grace, courage and good humour seem undiminished…” wrote The Economist recently. But, it further wrote, “The foundations for the optimism she herself professes seem flimsy.”

There is a sense of hopelessness about what might happen in Myanmar. She is now 65 years old; the best part of her political life been spent under guard. Her party got divided over the issue of participating in the recently held elections. The rising powers of today, China and even India, seem to be far busy signing trade agreements with the junta. The worst, neither she nor Myanmar has been able to force the junta repeal her long periods of detention and house arrest.

An analogy

If we compare Suu Kyi’s resistance with that of Mahatma Gandhi, the contexts are very different. The rulers or the oppressors of Gandhi’s India were foreigners. The world was different. The leading world powers of the world sympathised with India’s freedom struggle. Gandhi was not the single important leader, though he was the most important one. The leadership was entrenched to the smallest level of the society. Also, thanks to the British who at least held trial when they arrested a political leader. The mood back home in England was also against British oppression.

In Suu Kyi’s Myanmar, most of the political prisoners remain jailed. She has been freed just in time to miss Myanmar’s general election but how long she will be free is deeply doubtful. The breakaway faction of NLD seems to be getting back in the fold but most of the political prisoners remain locked. The modern world presents the junta with much advanced means at its disposal to monitor, control and suppress any anti-establishment activities. On geopolitical level, the opposition to the junta has become customary and lacks any real teeth. And the countries that matter to Myanmar, namely India and China, want business to prosper at any cost. The military junta shifted its capital to Naypyidaw in 2008. From the multi-tiered, flower-covered traffic circles of the new capital, the junta is happy signing gas and port deals with Myanmar’s energy hungry neighbours.

Living in world’s largest democracy, it is difficult to even write, “Is democracy in Myanmar a lost case?” Suu Kyi has been by far an Indian in more than one ways. Her early life, her best moments and of course education and inspiration, all belong to India. She is, by all parameters, the daughter of India. To even think of democracy being a lost case in Myanmar, until Suu Kyi has not stopped, would be our greatest failure. The defeat of the thought of belief and hope of democracy is the real source of energy and inspiration that Myanmar can’t afford without.

After her release on November 13, Ms Suu Kyi, in a traditional lilac dress, took a flower from someone in the crowd and said, “I have to give you the first political lesson since my release….” She further told, “There is a time to be quiet and a time to talk. People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal.”

Fortunately, hope is not the only hope of Burma’s democratic struggle. Burma has resisted the junta from time to time. The August-September 2007 protests by thousands of monks for over one month when they marched from the golden hilltop Shwedagon Pagoda, a religious center and historical focal point for social and political protests, into the capital city’s downtown district is something that has not gone unnoticed. And it was not an “Only monks’ affair”. Along the way, they were joined by thousands of supporters. The protests were quelled only after the military was brought in and many people were killed and beaten. The demonstrations in December 1996 were also suppressed in a similar manner.

Myanmar is sitting on a landmine of unrest from the junta rule. Myanmareses just need to remember what Suu Kyi said on her release. One united effort and it would shake the junta forever.

The article was published on iSikkim.com

China, India and the Asian Games

When the Far East Games were renamed Asian Games after World War II, it was New Delhi that hosted the first Asian Games in March 1951, with 11 countries and 489 participants. India finished second in the medals tally after Japan, winning 51 medals including 15 gold. China was not one of the 11 nations which played in the first Asian Games. China first participated in the Asian Games at Manila in 1954.

In the 1954 Asian Games held at Manila, Japan again topped the chart but India finished 5th behind even Pakistan, winning a total of just 13 medals including 4 gold. China won just 12 medals which included 2 gold. Another four years to Tokyo Asian Games in 1958, India finished 6th behind Pakistan 5th and China 4th.

Fast forward to 9th Asian Games in 1982; India again hosted Asia’s biggest sporting event. New Delhi joined Bangkok (four times) as the only city to host multiple editions of Asian Games. 3411 athletes from 33 countries competed in this Asiad.

These Asian Games saw the beginning of Chinese dominance in the medals tally. While China topped the medals tally, India continued its dismal performance finishing 5th with 57 medals including 13 gold. China won 61 gold medals and a total of 153 medals. Japan had won the maximum number of medals in previous editions of the Games but from now on, China would be the top medal winner in all succeeding Asiads.

In 1990 China hosted Asian Games for the first time. It was the first large-scale international sports event to be held in the People’s Republic of China. China won a record 341 medals in the first Asian Games it hosted, more than double of those it won just eight years ago in 1982. India finished 11th winning 23 medals which included just 1 gold.

After 1990 China has won more than 300 medals in every Asian Games except in 1994 (266) and 1998 (274). In the ongoing Games at Guangzhou it has already won 365 medals till the time this story was being filed. It includes 177 gold, more than two and half times gold medals than the no. 2 on medals tally, Korea (72). India’s free fall in the medals tally from fifth for a couple of days continue. As of now, India is at the 11th position with 7 gold medals.

The very scale of the Guangzhou Asian Games compared to the Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010, according to those who have witnessed both the games, is simply unbelievable. It is awe and wonder that one feels being in Guangzhou. There is no mismanagement, no leaking roofs, no scandals and blame game and absolutely no confusion and doubt on the part of the Chinese.
Almost 60 years from the first Asian Games and 28 years from 1982, the games continue to be an event where India has struggled to get noticed. India, home for every third Asian, has put up a better show compared to its own earlier performance in the ongoing Asian Games but that’s a pale shadow when compared to smaller countries like South Korea and Japan. Today China has become a superpower in all forms of games at all level. And if former Pakistan skipper and China’s ‘Ambassador of Cricket’ – Javed Miandad is to be believed, China will soon makes its presence felt in cricket as well.

The article was published on iSikkim.com

Red Signal for Green Climate!

Not much news or noise seems to be coming from the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun. Three days of the COP 16 (Conference of Parties) meeting is over but there is hardly any visible sense of urgency. The countries seem to have accepted climate change a fait accompli.

The tone and temperament of submission was visible on the opening day press briefing. Christiana Figueres, the Executiv

e Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) said, ‘Cancun will not solve everything and the outcome needs to be pragmatic, but Cancun also needs to keep ambition very much alive. The truth is – even if all the national targets and actions now on the table are honoured in full – and the world does expect them to be honoured – they will not meet the goal of avoiding a rise of over two degrees in global temperatures.”Though Figueres did express hope, ‘Cancun can deliver’ and that ‘It is in no one’s interest to delay further action.’

From Copenhagen (2009, COP-15) to Cancun (2010, COP-16) and then to Durban (2011, COP-17) and finally Rio de Janeiro in Brazil; it’s one after another set of meetings which remain but being literally just a meeting.

Have we lost the momentum of thought about greening our environment? It appears that the major polluters of the world have decided to unlearn and reassert their reluctance to actually do something when the need is to learn from the rapid decline of environment and reassure the world of binding action.

Writing about environment, we feel tad disappointed if it was one incident of misreporting on the part of IPCC Chair Rajendra K. Pachauri that has caused all the change in attitude.
The world seems caught in between the decline of the major economies, especially the USA and the rise of China. Recent developments in the Korean Peninsula, Wikileaks and heating up of the Sino-US-India controversies have pushed climate concerns on the back foot. It has brought the onus to green earth on individuals more than ever.

While none of the incidents above is insignificant, the fact remains that we can’t wait for global consensus to come first. Mexican hurricane, floods in Pakistan and fires in Russia are examples of increasing incidences of natural disasters brought about by climate change. Such incidents are on the rise world over.

There are some good signs as well. Deforestation in the Amazon reached lowest levels ever recorded in 2009. Among the developing countries India has been quick in releasing environmental assessment report. It has also agreed for carbon intensity cut up to 20-25 percent in the next decade. According to a recent release by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, there has been a net increase in mangrove forest cover on the east coast of India. The newly elected government in Bihar reaffirmed its election promise to enhance state’s renewable energy generation capacity in a major way. The environment ministry under Jairam Ramesh has cancelled many hydro electric projects due to violation of environmental protection norms, something that almost never happened earlier in India. Chinese companies are coming in a big way in manufacturing solar panels, wind turbines and efficient coal power plants. The Chinese government committed US $45 billion in upgrading the electricity grid in 2009 alone.

The fact of the matter is that we might doubt how severe and widespread the impact of the climate is going to be but there is no doubt about it being humanity’s biggest long-term challenge. The question we need to ponder upon is: Can we let it be sever and painful? Can’t we make it our greatest opportunity?

We might fail or succeed in saving our coastal cities and priceless environment despite all our efforts but at least we will not have the regret that we didn’t try to save what we had. Let’s make sure we give our best to give a clean and green planet to all our future generations and species of life, something they all deserve.

The article was published on iSikkim.com

Gorkhaland: Hyphenating identity from basic needs

There is a thin divide between Gorkhaland supporters, Maoists in Nepal and West Bengal and insurgency in northeast both geographically and ideologically. The line will remain thin but we can ensure that it remains there for the good of all.

A few days ago I was in a lecture on the crisis of Manipur by Pradip Phanjoubam, the editor of Imphal Free Press. In his wonderful lecture, one anecdote he quoted was that the people in Manipur blame that when Indian paramilitary forces come for searching homes, they steal their chickens. Pradip said that similar was the blame on Manipuri paramilitary forces who went to Chhatisgarh.

The hunger for chicken is same in the military, wherever they are from. Human nature has a wonderful stubbornness to stick to small, fickle habits. Let’s not blame anyone. We all have our own fickleness. Big demands often come out of basic necessities of life. Interestingly they sustain and build upon the basic necessities as well. But the solutions of identity and nationalism lie in talk, discussion and developing a mutual understanding with an open mind.

Give a man all the luxuries and freedom and most, if not all, of the ideological demands would be solved. But block your neighbour’s water supply and ask for a discussion on identity and you would be thrashed. It’s in the nature of human being. We can’t live without water so we start blaming that we are denied our identity. And if ten such families gather, you can do anything in India.

Most often than not, the demand for identity in case of Gorkha or a Naga or even a Chhatisgarhi or Purvanchali (parts of eastern UP and Bihar) originates from the basic needs of life. There has been a demand for separate state in all of these zones which have also been the most backward places of India. The demands for a right to self determination are not new to northeast, nor are the methods adopted to achieve or solve it.

The Naga insurgency which is the mother of all separatist movements in the northeast India has also witnessed the same kind of development. But India has been a multi-religious and multi-ethnic society since times immemorial without such sustained armed conflicts. Why it happened to the India post 1947?

Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindra Nath Tagore, the two great personalities who form the pillars of the Indian thought defined the idea of India in a very inclusive and “anti-national” way. Tagore is known for his abhorrence of nationalism. For the Mahatma, patriotism was same as humanity. He said, “Through the freedom of India I hope to realise and carry the mission of brotherhood of man.” Both talked of the Samaj (society) “which is self-administered and self-reliant”. Many people blame Tagore of not including any northeast state in the national anthem. For that matter Tagore didn’t include most of the present day states in India by name. We need to understand his consciousness of inclusiveness. Tagore included Punjab and Bengal but they went through phases of turmoil as well.

Coming back to the question of Gorkhaland, let’s not say that “India has failed to invent its unity in diversity”. Albeit, there is no denying that in the case of northeast, it could have what it should, without most of the animosity, bloodshed and violence.

It’s the conscious of a Gorkha or a Naga that talk separation. The subconscious and the unconscious, across the northeast, are as Indian as in any person from any other state of India. It’s the denial of basic necessities of amenities and the right to self identity and self-determination that has brought them to a point where many term them secessionist; which they are not. The lack of inclusiveness, dialogue and underdevelopment has ensured that the basic necessities of life have begun to determine the stubbornness with which Gorkhas seek identity.

Gorkhas after all are demanding Gorkhaland within the framework of the constitution. It’s time to hyphenate basic need from ideology in Gorkhaland, northeast and the rest of India and give them their identity harmoniously. That will realise the great potential that the young men and women from this zone have and bring the much needed thaw in talks.

The article has been published on isikkim.com

SARAS Mela: Enjoy and Splurge for a Cause

In the ongoing SARAS Mela inaugurated at Dilli Haat, Near INA Market in New Delhi north east is the flavour of the season. Take a stroll around and almost half of the stalls and eateries are from the northeastern states. The SARAS Mela remains abuzz with activity and hundreds of people are visiting the Mela every day for handicraft products from Assam and Andhra to Karnataka and Bihar.

SARAS fair has been organized by the Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) in collaboration with Ministry of Rural Development. It is being projected as a platform for the sale of products made by rural artisans.

At a nominal entry fee of Rs. 15 for adults and Rs. 10 for children, the ongoing SARAS Mela is a place worth visiting. Draped in yellow, saffron, green and red colour robes tugged along bamboo poles, the Mela wears a colourful attire among people coming from across India. Many foreigners can be spotted negotiating a bamboo handbag from Assam or an Andhra leather craft.

Enter the Mela and you are greeted by handmade daris (carpets) and Pashmina shawls from Kashmir. Move a little and stalls on both sides sell daily use products like pen case, chairs, bags, shoes, clothes and decorative stuffs like paintings, beads and flowers. Even jewelry and caps made of natural stuff can be found in many stalls. Interestingly most of these products are made from bio-degradable products and almost all of them by rural artisans.

One more thing that draws your attention amid the many hues and colours is the music, not of any Bollywood movie or classical maestro but of the ektara. Ektara is a one stringed instrument that produces mellifluous melody when played properly. And this is what the ektara sellers keep doing here for the whole day.

The SARAS Mela at Dilli Haat has a good collection of foods from various states of India. The stalls from northeast dominate this scene. Hot momos, chilli chowmein, thupka and yes the cola, coffee and hotdogs, the stalls here are doing brisk business.

If all of this seems less you have cultural programs from different states being organized every evening. And trust me; the cultural programs are not only about Thumri and Kuchipudi. You will witness a good deal of beauties dancing on the tunes of Jazzy music like in any Bollywood number.

So, try it out. You will have a world of fun here and good reason to splurge: Supporting rural artisans.

The article has been published on iSikkim.com

TOURISM IN SIKKIM (INDIA): IMAPCT ON ECONOMY, SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT

Just In Bieber-mania

Success doesn’t have to come at an age, not for someone who has an endowment of the art he wants to succeed in.

What does it take to be gifted a Range Rover on your 16th birthday? What makes almost 4.5 million fans follow your tweets and nearly 9.5 million others, like your profile on Facebook? And what excites millions of young teenage girls chase a middle-class background guy? I presume, you are thinking: May be phenomenal success on cricket field in India or election in world’s most powerful country or even being a soccer master cum style icon like Beckham can get one there. I bet you are mistaken: This guy is getting three times as many searches as David Beckham in the UK, despite being relatively unheard of there. And there is at least one more number that will leave you without an answer! And that is: 253 million views of his music video on YouTube and counting, highest ever by anyone in any aspect of human endeavour! Tune in with Justin Bieber, the 16 year old whiz musician from Ontario, Canada, who is out to rock the world with his teen-pop songs.
  
The magic of the simple lyrics, when sung in to the childlike reverberation of the prodigy’s vocals have been casting a spell on audiences across seas and cultures. Bieber’s first single ‘One Time’ about one of his favorite topics, puppy love has been watched 157 million times on YouTube alone.
‘One Time’
….
Me plus you, I'ma tell you one time
One time, one time
….
….
Your world is my world
And my fight is your fight
My breath is your breath
And your heart
…
…

Bieber was just 13 when Chris "Tricky" Stewart produced "One Time" reached the top 30 in more than 10 countries. "One Time" was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album. The song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009 and later peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was certified Platinum in Canada and the U.S. and Gold in Australia and New Zealand. Bieber's first album My World, was released on November 17, 2009. Thereafter three consecutive singles, "One Less Lonely Girl", "Love Me", and "Favorite Girl", were released exclusively on the iTunes store and all of them charted within the top forty of the Billboard Hot 100. But the song that became Bieber's biggest hit till date was ‘Baby’. An up-tempo R&B, blending together doo-wop and hip-hop elements, it was available for digital download on January 18, 2010. And within seven months of that in July 2010, ‘Baby’ became the most viewed video in YouTube history.

‘Baby’
…
Oh woah oh

You know you love me
I know you care
Just shout whenever
and I'll be there

You want my love
You want my heart
And we will never ever ever be apart
….
….
Baby baby baby oh
Like baby baby baby no
Like baby baby baby oh
I thought you'd always been mine (mine)
….
….
‘Baby’ peaked at number one in France, and charted in the top ten of the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, Norway, Japan, Ireland, Hungary, Belgium, Ireland, Slovakia, and New Zealand. 
The Struggles:
The initial years of this baby-faced teen sensation were not what even most of his fans are having. Born on March 1, 1994, in Stratford, Ontario, until recently, this Jewish kid was a regular boy who played hockey and soccer and lived in low-income housing with his mother Pattie Mallette. Mallette, was just 18 years old when she became pregnant. She raised Bieber as a single mother working a series of low-paying office jobs to make ends meet. As a teenager herself, she dreamed of becoming an actress. And though her plans got thwarted when she became pregnant at 18, she tried to get Justin all he needed with her little resources. Bieber taught himself piano, drums, guitar and trumpet, took drum lessons and yowled pop tunes while doing his daily stuff. Initially, Justin kept his musical passions to himself. At 12, he entered a local talent contest Stratford Idol, and without any singing lessons and vocal coaches, came second. Justin began opening up and that summer started busking in front of a Stratford theater earning nearly $3,000. Recalling those days of 2007 Ms. Mallette said in an interview, “He took us on our first vacation ever,”. “We went to Disneyland.”
Ms. Mallette started posting homemade videos on YouTube, where this multi-talented scrappy athlete and chess player put his impeccable spin on songs from artists like Usher, Ne-Yo and Stevie Wonder. This soul singing phenomenon racked up over 10,000,000 views on You Tube purely from word of mouth. That was when Atlanta-based hip-hop manager Scooter Braun accidentally found Justin on You Tube. Braun convinced Ms. Mallette to let Bieber, then 13, fly to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes. A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher. Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher.
NOW Justin and his mother live in Atlanta. He is tutored privately and takes vocal lessons, the costs subventioned by Island Def Jam records and the R & B superstar Usher. Now that Justin covers the length and breadth of the world singing for his millions of fans, the child in him still likes to skateboard through airports and play video games moments before he goes on stage. The New York Times wrote, ‘Justin has become ridiculously successful at an age so tender that his preferred mode of greeting is a hug.’ Probably Justin knows that well. So he tweeted earlier this month, “Im still the small town kid you all found on youtube and im hyped to see the world." So, how does a 16-year-old define success? “I grew up with not a lot of money,” Justin replied. “We never owned a house. I want to buy my mom a house.”
Justin has his work ethics and eyes set on future, “The harder you work, the more successful you can be. This is just the beginning for me”.

Photo Credit: eonline.com