All that glitters

Sir — When Richard Gere was jeered off the podium at the AIDS conference in Bangkok recently, all because a woman in the audience interrupted him to say that she wanted to ask a question to the entire panel, it made big news in India (“Superstar cut short by questioning Indian”, July 14). Naturally newspapers in our country, which almost daily feature pictures of “celebrities” like June Maliah and Rituparna Sengupta with underprivileged children and women, were shocked at the irreverence shown to Gere. Perhaps, readers are supposed to be overwhelmed that these so-called social activists take time out of their busy schedules to engage in social work. But if anyone is goggle-eyed at this display of a social consciousness, then it is only the media. Readers are not taken in by the media-hype. No one is fooled into thinking that these people do much more than add a touch of glamour to the “charitable functions”. Why, even schoolchildren do more constructive social work, such as organizing blood donation camps, charity functions and donation fairs.

Yours faithfully,
Dipa Ghosh, Calcutta

Body of protest

Sir — The report, “Naked anger at army” (July 16), by Khelen Thokchom left me breathless for a while. I could sense the desperation and the hurt of the helpless women. The Telegraph’s editors, who decided to splash it on the front page, must be commended. Their decision has made it difficult for the authorities to hush up the incident. Ramani Devi staked her life to organize the protest and, going by her refusal to disclose the names of the other participants, she needs the support of all Indians. It is our duty to see that no harm comes to her. We live in a city where rallies and bandhs have become commonplace. But it has taken a few Manipuri women to remind us of how powerful and passionate political protest can be. At one stroke, they have disrobed Indian democracy and civilization, and laid it naked.

Yours faithfully,
Sekhar Basu Mallik, Calcutta

Sir — Nothing is more precious to a woman than her modesty. If a woman is driven to coming out naked in broad daylight, holding banners reading “Indian army rape us” and “Indian army take our flesh”, then the scale of her anguish can only be imagined. The Manipuri women’s unconventional method of venting their anger is a measure of the heinousness of the crimes the Indian army has committed against them. Perhaps all the allegations made by NGOs in Manipur with regard to extra-judicial killings, humiliation and torture are true, if the molestation and killing of Thanglam Manorama is anything to go by. Not merely in Manipur, but wherever the army has the charge of containing insurgency, allegations of violating human rights have become common. This is because there is no provision of a public trial of armymen if they are accused of any misdemeanours; a civilian cannot file a case against them. The army has misused the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act 1958 . The Central government should rethink this legislation, since India is a democratic country. The picture of nude Manipuri women puts a negative light on our democracy.

Yours faithfully,
Jang Bahadur Singh, Jamshedpur

Sir — In most societies, protest by women in the nude would be considered an aberration. Yet the national media, barring a few exceptions, chose to play down the incident in Imphal. There are two reasons for this apathy. One, the liberal values of the elite are often no more glib expressions; they rarely have any inherent value system. Two, Manipuri women definitely fall outside the scope of the “we” defined by Nivedita Menon in “The others in the state” (July 18). A “we” that is arbitrarily determined by the dominant mainstream. Journalists will therefore write with erudition on the plight of leopards in the surburbs of Mumbai while remaining indifferent to the human tragedy in Imphal. They seem to lack the awareness that even such small incidents can undermine the “great Indian dream”.

Yours faithfully,
P.N. Sinha, Calcutta

Sir — The naked protest by Manipuri women, brings to mind a recent report, “Naked thirst churns a parched land” (July 18). Women turned up naked in both instances, but how different were the contexts. The women in Bundelkhand, who don’t even show their faces out of a veil during the day, ploughed the fields naked to appease the rain gods. However, they came out in the dark and men were forbidden from going into the fields. Thus there was no transgression of the strict norms of a conservative society. The Manipuri women’s protest, on the other hand, may have been unprecedented but it was done in desperation, in a bid to preserve the women of the state from the depredations of the Indian army.

Yours faithfully,
Diptimoy Ghosh, Calcutta

Sir — I wonder what the top brass of the armed forces, who are so enthusiastically eloquent about their achievements in Kargil and in counter-insurgency operations, have to say about the protest by Manipuri women. All the government’s pious pronouncements will not convince the people of the North-east about its good intentions. Unless the army is reined in, we run the danger of further alienating the youth in the region.

Yours faithfully,
T.P. Devasiachan, Kannur, Kerala

Scan the results

Sir — The results of this year’s Madhyamik Examinations were not available on the West Bengal government website, www.wbgov.com. This is quite inexplicable given that the trend to publish results of board examinations, along with details like the break-up of marks, on official websites is taking root in many states. Worse, on the day of the results, one could not even log on to the state government’s website. Other sites like that of Calcutta Telephones and the National Informatics Centre displayed the results promptly. The website, tathyabangla.org, went further and showed the results of each school, which benefited the students immensely.

Yours faithfully,
Manish K. Singh, Calcutta

Sir — After the declaration of the Madhyamik results, I desperately tried to know the marks on the West Bengal government website. However, every time I tried to log in from a cyber café, I got the response, “This site cannot be displayed.” Will the government look into this problem and ensure that it is not repeated?

Yours faithfully,
Sudipto Saha, Calcutta