Parental Alienation

Parental Alienation is not an extra terrestrial parent or an alien but a psychological syndrome where a child starts rejecting one of the parents. This primarily happens at the time of divorce / separation. The prime instigator of Parental Alienation is the parent who has custody of the young children. Constant programming and brainwashing of the child by the custodian parent, causes irretrievable damage to the child’s relationship with the other parent. As per Clawar & Rivlin, 1991[i], “In most divorce cases where there is animosity and conflict between the parents, there is some degree of brainwashing and programming {of children.}”

As per Clawar and Rivlin (1991):

• The programming may be willful (conscious) or unintentional (unconscious).
• The goal is to control the child’s thoughts and/or behavior.
• The program usually contains themes intended to “damage the child’s image of the target parent in terms of his or her moral, physical, intellectual, social, emotional, and educational qualities (as well as his or her parenting abilities).

National Crime Records Bureau – Suicide Stats – 2012 (Part 2)

This is the part 2 of the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB’s) suicide statistics. The part 1 of the statistics are here. In this part we will try to explore if any causal effects are there to a rise in the male suicides.

In discussion with a few male rights activists, false criminal cases and gender biased laws were cited as a probable reason for despair in men. In this article we will analyze if the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 commonly referred to as the Domestic Violence Act (DV Act) has a causal relationship in increasing in suicides among men.

The DV Act was brought in force by the government on October 26, 2006 and it provides for protection of women from domestic violence in a marital home. This act also provides certain rights to women such as right to matrimonial home, right to receive protection orders and right to maintenance to name a few.

Uttrakhand Floods – Strict implementation of environmental laws may have prevented the tragedy

The Ministry of Environment and Forests’ (MOEF) report for Uttrakhand on Biodiversity and effects of Hydro projects in the state and the CAG report on hydropower development through private sector participation pointed to risks due to the rampant hydropower projects in the state of Uttrakhand. The report by the CAG was for the year 2008-09 and the MOEF report (primarily on effects on biodiversity of the state) was for 2012 .

The salient points / extracts from the CAG report which discusses 42 operational hydro power projects and 203 under construction / clearance stage projects.

1. Negligence of environmental concerns was obvious as the muck generated from excavation and construction activities was being openly dumped into the rivers contributing to increase in the turbidity of water. The projects seemed oblivious of the fact that such gross negligence of environmental concerns lead to deterioration of water quality and adverse impact on the aquatic biota. (Page 25, Summary).

National Crime Records Bureau – Suicide Stats – 2012 (Part 1)

The 2012 data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) suicide statistics has been released, report titled: Accidental Death and Suicides in India – 2012. The data shows the plight of men in this country. Of the total 1,35,445 suicides around 88,453 were men and 46,992 were women. Suicides by men were 1.9 times more than suicides by women. Suicides by farmers are 11.4% of the total suicides[i] and 1.4% of the total suicides were due to poverty[ii].

National Crime Records Bureau – 2012 Crime in India Analysis

The latest report on Crime in India – 2012 has been released by National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB). On a quick analysis we see that around 74% of all violent crimes are against the male gender. Men are 2.7 times more likely to be murdered and 4.4 times more likely to be seriously harmed than women in India.

Crime[i]	Men	Women
Murder (#)	25665	9457
%	73%	27%
Harm Not amounting to murder  (IPC 304/308) (#)	3362	761
%	82%	18%

IPC has certain special provisions for crimes against women. These being Rape (376), Dowry Death (304B), Cruelty (498A), Outraging Modesty (354) and Insult (509). As a percentage of incidents that were reported in 2012, roughly 48% of the complaints could be said to be frivolous (as the accused was acquitted by the Court or the complaints were found to be false at the investigation stage). This is a staggering number as such high number of frivolous complaints being registered and going into trial speaks volumes on the roots of misandry in our society.

Crime Against women[ii]	Incidences (#)	False Charges		Acquitted		Charged
		(#)	%[iii]	(#)	%[iv]	(#)	%[v]
Rapes	24,923	1,833	7.4%	11,154	48.3%	3,563	15.4%
Dowry Deaths	8,233	545	6.6%	3,532	45.9%	1,684	21.9%
Sec. 498A	1,06,527	10,235	9.6%	39,138	40.6%	6,916	7.2%
Sec. 354 (Outraging Modesty)	45,351	2,618	5.8%	19,237	45.0%	6,082	14.2%
Sec. 509 (insult)	9,173	339	3.7%	4,390	49.7%	2,566	29.0%

If one analyzes the data above a whooping 55.7% of rape charges were frivolous. This is a very serious concern as the identity of the above 55.7% rape victims were protected who filed frivolous complaints and the accused identity was made public. One accusation from a woman makes the man a criminal, one accusation destroys his career and one accusation drains out his savings on legal recourses for defending himself. The woman gets a public prosecutor (ie. an attorney appointed by the state to fight the case on her behalf). There is no accountability whatsoever for filing a frivolous complaint by the woman primarily because of –

• Her identity being protected, therefore filing a frivolous complaint has no public backlash. Whereas the accused’s life is destroyed due to her frivolous complaint.
• As a public prosecutor is provided to the woman, there is no financial drain on her resources.
• There are hardly any consequences in Indian law for filing a false rape case. (though a perjury case may be filed)

In all the other cases like Dowry Death, 498A, 354, 509, more than 50% of the cases were found to be frivolous. In 498A complaints, which is a non-bailable offence, the family of the husband is arrested once the complaint is registered. If a staggering 50% of such cases are seen to be frivolous, then the need of the hour is to scrap the provision based on Blackstone’s formulation, which states that “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer”. In the above case more than 50% of the accused are innocent which causes undue hardship to them.

These frivolous cases are also a drain on the precious public resources and goes into the taxpayer’s account. The invaluable time of the Courts is wasted in disposing off these frivolous complaints. In the recent past, there has been a lot of hue and cry in the media stating that the cities of India are unsafe for women. An analysis of the rape cases show that in 98.2% cases[vi], the accused was known to the victim. Based on this data it is incorrect to state that Indian Streets are unsafe for women. This is yet another feminist and media hokum created to instill fear in the masses for reasons best known to them. Further, as compared to the developed countries like US, UK and Sweeden which have about 29, 29, and 64 rapes per 100,000 population, India is at about 2 (ie. atleast 15 times safer than developed nations).

The NCRB data is an eye opener and certain actions are a need of the hour such as strong provisions for filing frivolous complaints, detailed investigation of offences and scrapping 498A. Further, there is a need to save the precious court resources which are now used in disposing off these frivolous complaints.

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[i] Table 3.3 and 3.4 of Crimes in India 2012, NCRB.

[ii] Table 5.2, 4.1 and 4.9 of Crimes in India 2012, NCRB.

[iii] As a percentage of incidences in 2012

[iv] As a percentage of (incidences in 2012 less false charges)

[v] As a percentage of (incidences in 2012 less false charges)

[vi] Table 5.2 and 5.4 of Crimes in India 2012, NCRB.

‘Frivolous’ implies either false charges found during investigation or acquittal of the accused by the Court.

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NCW’s Proposed Changes to CRPC 125 (Maintenance Clause)

Recently I was going through the Annual Report of NCW for 2011. The Annual Report proposed many draconian changes in CRPC 125 (Maintenance Clause). Now this clause is primarily used by an errant wife for filing maintenance. Even well educated (Doctors, CAs, MBAs etc… ) and able bodied ladies file for maintenance. This section has more or less become a tool for extracting money from the husband.

Now in the past there were a couple of defenses available to the husband which were only applicable in very special cases. NCW’s recent proposed amendments targets at removing those defenses and promote ‘Parasitism‘ for women. The list of amendments being –

1. Step child needs to be maintained:[i]

Response time of emergency services – Fire Department

Today I saw a fire in a building at Kalina. This Building which had the fire had Bharat Bank at the ground floor and the the “Fire Training Academy’ next to it.

So we immediately did the following –

1. Called up 101, but as always in India no emergency numbers are ever responded. There was no response on 101 for over 5 minutes
2. Then to get the number of the local fire station we called up a leading phone directory search engine. The lady responding the call was more interested in my mobile number as opposed to providing the emergency number.
3. We got the fire station number and called the Santacruz East fire station on their number 022-26829197. To my horror they were least bothered if there was a fire at Kalina.
   • First a person came on the phone to understand where was the fire. They did not know where their training academy was. It took me 2-3 minuted explaining them the detailed location. Then he handed over the call to another person.
   • The second one again wanted to know the exact location. Post which he concluded that ‘THIS WAS NOT HIS JURISDICTION’. To which I inquired atleast give me the number of the fire station under whose jurisdiction this area comes. He was least bothered to help. On pressurizing, he told me to chill out and ‘RELAX’. Anyways after a few minutes he gave me the Marol fire station’s number.
   • I called up Marol at 022-29200940, here the operator was genuinely concerned and informed me that the fire trucks are on its way from BKC. (This fire was not under the Marol jurisdiction).

After a wait of 7-8 minutes the first fire truck arrived (do remember that this fire was just next to the fire academy).  For the next 10 minutes they were deciding what to do. It seemed as if a group of untrained men were sent to do the job. A few more fire trucks arrived after 15 minutes of the call. The actual fire fighting work started after roughly 18 minutes of arrival of the first truck. 18 minutes after arrival ……… such a response time is completely not acceptable for an emergency such as a fire in a building.

In essence, once I called, it took over 30 minutes for the fire trucks to start the fire fighting work. A response time of over 30 minutes in a critical situation of a fire is a new level of low for India for its emergency services.

I will post the videos of the fire trucks at work today evening where you can see for yourself how untrained they seemed at the job.

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Bonus marks given to Women Candidates in competitive exams

I read this news article today. The news article talked about IIM-C giving bonus marks to women aspirants. Now these bonus marks were given not because they had more work experience, degrees or extra curriculars, but because they were ‘Women’.

The CAT entrance exam for the IIMs is a professional exam and giving bonus marks in an entrance exam to a few candidates based on gender is against all norms of equality and is unconstitutional. Further, quality of student is a question.

The media is terming this as a landmark decision, I donot think so, this is a ‘Regressive’ decision. This decision is biased against other deserving candidates who did not get a seat due to favoritism. Worse, this favoritism is by an educational institute which needs to instill the ethical and moral standards in students.

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Incorrect Analysis: CBSE Class XII results out, girls again outshine boys

I just read this news article and something did not seem right, so I thought about digging further and found the CBSE detailed analysis here.

If you go through the analysis, Yes, more girls have cleared than boys BUT the correct ‘apples to apples’ comparison will be subject wise results.

Reason why the analysis is incorrect –

Say there are only 2 subjects Chemistry and Home Science. 100 students write the exam (ie 50 boys and 50 girls).

Now lets say 40 boys opt for Chemistry and 10 boys opt for home science. Similarly 10 girls opt for chemistry and 40 girls opt for Home science.

Let the pass % in Chemistry is 85% for boys and 80% for girls and similarly the pass % is 97% for boys and 96% for girls in Home science.

Subject	Males			Females
	No. of students	Pass %	Total students Passed	No. of students	Pass %	Total students Passed
Chemistry	40	85%	34	10	80%	8
Home Science	10	97%	9	40	96%	38
Total			43			46

In aggregate (chemistry + home science) 43 boys have passed and 46 girls have passed. But subject wise, the pass % of girls is lower. Is it correct to state that the girls have outperformed boys, when in both the subjects boys have performed better?

Therefore, Apples to Apples comparison is required.

Let’s see the data of the highest pass % subjects in the exam –

• Home Science
• Political Science
• Sanskrit
• Sociology
• Urdu
• Geography
• Hindi
• History

Now do let me know which subjects are taken up by majority of the girls?

CBSE needs to provide subject wise pass percentage of boys and girls for the analysis to be meaningful.

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Women’s Health and Safety in India

There is a lot of hue and cry on the health and safety of Women in the World and in India. Millions of dollars are spent annually on Women’s health issues leaving ‘Male Health’ and male specific issues at bay. The populace that should be worried about health and safety should be the men folk. The data suggests that the women in India are well cared for, have least crime rates against them, as compared to their male counterparts and as compared to other developed nations.

The life expectancy of females is more than the male counterparts. The major reason for this is that they are well cared for. Please understand, that it is very difficult for me to comprehend that how a successful society can be created and sustained for long durations of time if it treats it’s women folk poorly. Throughout history, women have been cared for, kept secured and in my understanding treated well (till date women are secured from dangerous jobs like mining etc…)