Plainspeak - Times they are a-changin'

After Irom Sharmila last year, Anna Hazare wins IIPM's 2011 Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize of Rs. 1cr. To be handed over on 9th May

Society is changing fast and so are sex norms, the effects will be telling and drastic

Satya Mitra Dubey
Senior sociologist and socio-political analyst

The relationship between a man and a woman is the foundation of the family and the society. Sex and love are the major binding factors behind human relationships. In different historical, social and cultural contexts, the human genius has tried to evolve codes and institutions to regulate sexual behaviour. Among the codes, the important methods are customs, traditions, mores, religious prescriptions and law. Among the institutions, the most significant are marriage, family, community and state.

In the light of academic discussion, according to classical Marxism, sex regulations through family and marriage are related to property relationship. In Freud's psychoanalysis, libido is the potent driving force behind human actions and creativity. The idea of sin associated with sex is the outcome of the growing ideological impact of organised religions. Most tribal communities across the world do not have a sense of guilt towards sex unless they have come in contact with the big religions. In traditional Indian society, there was equal emphasis on Dharma, Artha, Kama and Mokshha. The Indian sage, Vatsayan, wrote Kamasutra. In several Hindu temples, vivid sex scenes are depicted with reverence. But a clear distinction between healthy and unhealthy sex has to be kept in mind.

Sociologists, while considering issues about sex, do not only consider the biological aspect. In sociological perspective, there are four aspects of sex: biological sex related to love making, getting sexual gratification, pregnancy, birth, procreation; gender division related to the male and the female; gender ideals related to dress, make-up, behavioural patterns for the male and the female; and finally, sex roles such as raising children, cooking and housekeeping for women and working, earning and supporting the family for male in a male-dominated society.

There has been a tremendous change in all the four areas of sex relationship over the last two centuries. The process of industrialisation, urbanisation, large-scale migration, education, liberal political ideology and medical research, brought about a change in perceptions of sex and relationship in the western society. At that stage, the hold of traditions and religion was still strong. So, sexual freedom was still looked down upon, it was considered as permissiveness in spite of the fact that the ratio of women in factories and in the job market was gradually increasing. Political radicalism, growing education among women, large scale death of male soldiers, destructions of material and normative roots during the two World Wars, growing influence of films in the first part of the 20th century transformed the nature of men-women relationships all over the world. But its maximum impact was felt in the western world. The rural, peasant and agricultural societies of Asia continued to cling to customs and religious beliefs where talks about sex were a taboo. The second part of the 20th century brought about radical transformation in the nature and perception of sexual relationships. The feminist movement, emancipation of women, concept of sexual freedom, change in job market, large scale urbanisation, declining hold of customs and religion, open availability of different types of contraceptives, sex toys, market forces and globalisation have accelerated the process of sexual freedom. Sexual freedom is visible in the form of open sexuality, live-in relationships, one night stands, call girl rackets, increased pre-marital and post-marital permissiveness in sexual relationships, increasing rate of divorces and abortions. Even in the relatively conservative societies of Asia, particularly India and China, there are clear trends of relaxation of the sex norms. Several surveys indicate that 65 to 70 per cent teenagers in these two countries are found to be sexually active and have had experience of pre-marital sex. Live-in relationships are common in metros and now they are legally approved. The same is the case with homosexuality and lesbianism. There has been a manifold increase in cases of teenage pregnancies, abortions and divorce cases.

Society is changing fast and so are sex norms. They are affecting the structure and functioning of the society. Alarming cracks are visible in the institutions of marriage. As a result, a large number of educated, well-placed young men and women prefer to remain single. The romantic, idealistic concept of love is turning into mundane, unstable, mechanical sex relationship. The act of sex has become so open that it is leading to aversion and frigidity. Family bonds have weakened. Millions of poor rural migrants in the growing economies of India and China live a life of isolation from their wife, children and family in the slums of Delhi-Mumbai and Beijing-Shanghai. They are visiting red light areas and having promiscuous relations. This is leading to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS. Social planners and sociologists need to pick their brains as to how to create a healthy society with a healthy approach towards sexuality.

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Both the PM and the Congress chief have now decided to crack the whip

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With various ministries and agencies at odds with each other, many of UPA-2's flagship development schemes have run into rough weather

An inchoate sense of disquiet hangs over Raisina Hills, where both North and South Blocks are located. The Manmohan Singh government, which romped home last year for a second term in office amid great expectations, is falling shy of its intended targets. The ministries are working at cross-purposes and many of UPA-2's flagship schemes are hanging fire in the face of inter-ministerial dissonance.

Not that the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and the PM aren't aware of the widening gap between promise and performance. In a recent meeting of the monitoring committee set up to analyse the progress of the government's flagship programmes, Dr Singh asked the urban development ministry to furnish data regarding the availability of power in rural areas. The ministry told the monitoring committee that the requested data was available with the power ministry. The rural development ministry also pleaded ignorance about the status of the PM's road construction scheme. It was pretty clear that different ministries were not working in harmony. A peeved Dr Singh intervened and asked the monitoring committee and the Planning Commission to work as intermediaries for inter-ministerial affairs.

Things have come to such a pass that one Congress general secretary, who incidentally also takes care of development projects in Rae Bareli and Amethi, formally complained to Mrs Gandhi that ministries were working as independent units and consequently many development projects were floundering.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had to mediate to quell the differences between minister of state for coal Sriprakash Jaiswal and environment minister Jairam Ramesh on the issue of the allotment of coal mines. Similarly, Mr Ramesh's comment on India's China policy did not go down well with Home Minister P Chidambaram. The latter was so upset that he threatened to resign. He was pacified only when Mr Ramesh apologised.

For those within and outside the Congress's support base, the performance of the government has been disappointing particularly because when UPA-2 came to power, it did not have the Left snapping at its heels and slowing down things. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, too, had been left by the wayside, bolstering the government's chances of pushing through its inclusive social and political agenda.

Enthused by the elbow room that opened up, UPA-2 announced several flagship schemes. Both Dr Singh and Mrs Gandhi instructed every ministry to release a monthly report card. But only Mr Chidambaram took the directive seriously. The home ministry releases a monthly report card that contains details about discussions with chief ministers and expenses on the modernisation of the police force.

But for BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, that isn't enough. He says the home ministry must also mention details like how many police and CRPF personnel are killed in Naxal violence every month. It should, he adds, also explain why the situation in Dantewada is deteriorating steadily. Mr Prasad insists that the present government's problems stem from its arrogance, which pushes it into taking wrong decisions. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta echoes a similar view. He asserts that the government takes decisions unilaterally, and that is the reason why its flagship programmes have run into trouble. Mr Dasgupta says the monitoring committee itself is unhappy with the progress of programmes like NREGA, mid-day meal, Bharat Nirman and Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Plan, among others. Prasad's point that UPA-2 does not have a Common Minimum Programme is also valid. The government has set clear targets for the completion of flagship schemes, but these plans have been facing roadblocks at several levels. For example, last week, in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, the agendas of seven ministries were kept in abeyance because they had complaints about the lack of funds for existing schemes.

The finance ministry arranges funds for the schemes administered by the Planning Commission. The finance ministry, on its part, insists that the government must go in for Public-Private Partnership (PPP). However, private firms are wary of bureaucratic red tape and are therefore reluctant to get into any arrangement with the government. Consequently, ministries have no option but to look towards the national exchequer for funding. Road transport minister Kamal Nath, for instance, has made it clear that it would unrealistic to expect his ministry to build 20 km of roads daily if funds are unavailable.

Communication minister A Raja too has fired his own salvo. He said that funds were made available to his ministry under the budgetary allocation in the non-planned category to facilitate the 3G programme. It was decided that the money recovered from the 3G bid would be used for the expansion of the service. The bid process is over but the finance ministry is tight-lipped over the money.

The finance minister told Raja the Communication ministry had enough funds to sustain MTNL and BSNL. He also insisted that Raja must keep his ministry out of the spell of private companies and take steps to stop migration of customers from BSNL and MTNL to private operators.

Raja faced a royal snub when the PMO decided to keep him away from the 3G spectrum bid and facilitated the entire process through a monitoring committee of the PMO itself. Consequently, the government was able to raise almost thrice the sum that was earlier envisaged by Raja.

The railway ministry, which has its own funds, is unable to explain why there is no development on the western corridor project. Apparently, railway minister Mamata Banerjee doesn't want to be too aggressive over land acquisition. Similarly, as far as the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission is concerned, CAG is pretty clear that while the Centre has released funds, municipal corporations are hamstrung as the state government's share is yet to materialise.

But CPM leader Sitaram Yechury insists that the ministry has thus far only managed to draw the map of the areas from where the slums had to be replaced by pucca houses. He added that urban development minister S. Jaipal Reddy is singularly responsible for this. Reddy, on his part, insists that the target set for the scheme is perfectly achievable and the ministry is happy with the progress. He also insisted that results would be visible in a few months.

Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad dismisses every allegation against his ministry, most of which were levelled by JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav. Azad says that the guidelines for the National Rural Health Scheme have been set and made public, and that the Opposition should avoid making baseless allegations. He also adds that the fear factor in terms of MCI has been taken care of. He says he wants health services in other states to be as good as those in Delhi so that there is less pressure on AIIMS. He said the promise to open six more AIIMS campuses would be fulfilled in the present tenure itself.

In another incident, last month in a meeting in Kolkata, Pranab Mukhejee said that India needs another Green Revolution. What he meant was that if attempts are made, there would be no scarcity of food in the country. And that surplus grain would mean that inflation can be brought under check. But the question is: why did he need to say these words? In fact, people say that Mukherjee speaks his mind only when he is in Kolkata. So, the comment might as well be a barb aimed at agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. In an earlier Cabinet meeting on economic issues, Pawar was absent. It was later learnt that he was busy with the Internationa Cricket Council elections. Several issues related to storage, distribution and changing patterns of agriculture were discussed in the meeting. Some Cabinet minister also wanted to know what had happened to the recommendations of the National Farmers Commission set up by UPA-1 under the chairmanship of Dr MS Swaminathan. The Commission had suggested several steps to tackle the agrarian crisis but there has been no follow-up. A seasoned agriculture ministry bureaucrat said the commission was disbanded merely three weeks after it presented its report after three extensions. This was the reason behind Mukherjee's barbs in Kolkata. The finance minister wanted to convey the message that while the government was interested in another Green Revolution, Pawar thought that the matter was too trivial to consider. He also wanted Pawar to clarify why he was giving undue priority to cricket over his ministry.

In this entire episode, there are people who believe that the inept handling of inflation has offset UPA-2's many achievements. On the other hand, the unrest in Kashmir and the string of Maoist attacks on security forces in Chhattisgarh give an impression that Dr Singh's is losing his hold on the government. Also, people have started questioning his economic policies. The government's exchequer is empty. The IT revolution has run its course. As the problems multiply on various crucial fronts, the government seems to be fast running out of ideas. Not too many people seem to believe that Manmohan Singh can pull a rabbit out of the hat and decisively stem the decline .

Some Congressmen have even started indicating that the time has come for Dr Singh to quietly pass the baton to Rahul Gandhi as the Nehru-Gandhi scion has gained enough experience and popularity and is now ready to formally lead the nation. But, if party insiders are to be believed, Sonia Gandhi is still averse to catapulting Rahul into the hot seat.

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