The government of India’s 2001 Census, according to this new report, considers housewives, or home-makers if you prefer, to be economically non-productive workers, and by this virtue categorises them with prostitutes, beggars and prisoners.

I will give you a moment to let that sink in.

The first time I read it, my hackles rose. I agreed with the Supreme Court’s observation that it was “callous” and “insensitive”. But when I calmed down I realized that the census report merely reflected the general perception of non-professional women.

The majority, men and women alike, believe those who choose to run a house hold have “wasted” their lives lounging around the house, watching telly and cooking the odd meal or two. The general impression is that such women have unlimited free time with nothing productive to do.

I have heard conversations where old girl friends and their life choices have been discussed. Those with hot-shot careers were objects of envy; those who chose to stay at home to look after the family were summarily dismissed with an “oh, she’s just a house wife” shrug.

Some folks say it out loud, others’ actions speak for them. The expression about a housewife “sitting at home” is most inaccurate, for she is definitely not leading an easy life without a care in the world.

My mother worked as a medical professional for 23 years till she decided to put her papers in to be involved in my life full time. She never regretted her decision despite having to deal with these common stereotypes. That she was leading a gala life as she likes to put it sarcastically! Far from it. She was never busier or more worried and remains so. The only saving grace in all this was that her husband never subscribed to that idea. Not so much her daughter, I confess. Last year, however, my respect for her shot up several notches.

I moved to London in the summer of 2009 to join my husband who works here. This meant quitting my job and starting afresh. I couldn’t have chosen a worse time to make the move but chose family life over my career. With this choice came the responsibility of running the home and being a housewife. I assure you, this is one of the toughest roles I have ever had to perform. There are no fixed hours of work. It starts when you wake up and let’s you take a break to sleep.

As if the sheer effort and time that goes into running a home was not exhausting enough, imagine dealing with condescending attitudes. If you felt unappreciated because your boss doesn’t recognize your worth, imagine being stuck in a position where the man you love and friends whose opinion matters to you, think you are enjoying the coziest job (or non-job) in the world.

I am lucky to have a husband who for the most part at least appreciates what I do. But I have my own demons to deal with. Growing up in middle class India, I have heard the term housewife used with utter disdain. One set of ideas doing the rounds was that housewives were those who were consigned to the duties of home and hearth because there was no better use for them. Others believed that this was the lot of women anyway, whether they were literate or not.

One year of “sitting” at home, I am still struggling to get a job and wriggle out of the “label” I have been endowed with. And I am ashamed to admit to my status, mostly because I feel that I need to do something “worthwhile” because, even today, I feel that running a well managed household is beneath me. So I how can I blame the government back home for thinking  housewives are non-productive?

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Is it just me or are Asian men just not that funny? Maybe it my age or the social circles I mix in. Or perhaps the fact I grew up watching genius stand up American comedians like Jackie Mason, Richard Pryor and home grown talents, such as Dave Allen, Mike Yarwood and Billy Connolly that I expect a guy to be funny. That my father loves to tell a joke or two probably added to my fascination for comedy early on.

But why is it that so many of my single female friends, like me, complain that we rarely meet Asian men who can make us laugh? Sure they can dish out the odd wise crack or juvenile joke, but sadly ‘blokey’ gags about dizzy blondes, masturbation, porn, Star Wars and Sardar-jis tend to be as far as their repertoire goes. I won’t even begin to list the number of times I’ve been subjected to racist Indo-Pak comedy that is rife amongst Hindu, Sikh and Muslim men.

If only they had the spontaneity of a Robin Williams, the dry wit of Billy Crystal, the satire skills of Bill Hicks or the intellectual mockery of Stephen Fry. Sigh. Why even the whimsical ramblings of Eddie Izzard would do. Anything but the annoying puns of Johnny Lever and lame Bollywood slapstick courtesy of Akshay Kumar.

It’s a well known fact that a funny man can laugh a woman into bed. By laugh I don’t mean a little giggle, cackle, snigger, chuckle or titter. I mean laugh out loud, hysterical, knicker wettingly funny. Could it be that Asian mothers have beaten the sense of humour out of their sons in order to safe guard their easily corrupted natures?

So imagine my delight when browsing through a copy of this year’s brochure for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that I noticed not one, or two, but a small handful of brown faces pop up in the comedy section. You mean there actually are some funny Asian men out there who do funny for a living? Where can I get myself one of those?

OK, so a handful of desi comedians aren’t that big a deal when you consider the fact that the Edinburgh Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival with over 32,000 performances and more than 2,000 shows across the city, of which 859 are comedy acts. But it’s a start!

Taking Sanjeev Bhaskar and Hardeep Singh Kohli out of the equation (simply because their Hounslow and Glasgow based gags have died a slow death), let’s see who dares tickle our funny bone.

First up there’s Paul Sinha, a 40 years old GP turned comedian described as a ‘lovelorn gay bachelor’ whose act this year centres on how a racist called him racist. Hmm…sounds like he has potential. Then there’s loud mouth Paul Chowdhry, whose crass routine usually involves shouting down the phone line in a heavy Indian accent and doing badly dubbed Kung Fu movie impressions. This year he promises to delight Edinburgh audiences by sharing his ‘acute observations on weighty subjects about how the word ‘irony’ has replaced the word ‘offensive’ and become the new ‘PC’ way of behaving distastefully, all in an ‘ironic’ way!’ OK then. Let’s take a look.

Stand-up chameleon Anil Desai returns for his second solo show ‘Hey, Impressions Guy!’ Described by various media as “A tour de force of impressions…side-splittingly funny…ridiculously talented..”, this mimic certainly offers a barrel of laughs. Worth checking out.

Finally there’s top Indian comic Vir Das. Billed as ‘’The funniest kid in India’, his amusingly titled show, ‘Bloody Dastard – The Angry Indian Cometh’, the radical promises to have us rolling in the aisles. Can’t wait! No really I can’t. It’s actually this Asian comedian who is the most interesting of the bunch at Edinburgh this year.

A new breed of comic who represents the confident, globalized Indian, Das is the future of Asian comedy. Getting away from the lazy stereotypes that British Asian comics often over rely on, Das is one of many young Indian writer/actor/comedians whose act tenders commentary on one of the world’s most powerful nations, economies and cultural forces. His source material far outstrips that of his NRI brothers.

Having said that, I recently came across a bunch of Indo-American comedians who have something interesting to say about themselves and their adopted mother land. Top of that list is Delhi born and New York based Vidur Kapur, an out and proud gay stand up comic whose razor sharp bitchy put downs and socio-political observations are enormously fun. Add to that list IT geeky Rajiv Satyal and alpha male Mark Saldana, and of course everyone’s favourite Canadian Russell Peters, and you have the tip of a North Amercian-East Indian comedy iceberg.

With all this rising comedy talent my gal pals and I may need to reconsider our views. Maybe some Asian men can be funny when they put their Eddie Murphy and Benny Hill impression aside. We just can’t just expect all of them to be.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year between 6 and 30 August 2010. For more info visit www.edfringe.com

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At a laser show in the city of Hyderabad, 1000 or so men, women and children stand in their seats and cheer wildly with raised hands as an illumination of the Union Jack dissipates into nothingness, giving way to the Tirangā, which rises from beneath, whilst the narrator announces the dawn of a new beginning and the end of a two hundred year old dominance by a foreign power. I slump slightly in my seat, trying to look inconspicuous, hoping that the crowd’s energies aren’t directed towards myself.

Amongst scenes of appalling poverty it is difficult, nay, it is impossible to espouse the virtues of colonialism and the benefits that it can bring to a country. During Britain’s rule, sheer incompetence has been blamed for the many epidemics and famines that occurred. Worse are the atrocities carried out in the name of British rule in India; the use of violent force to quash dissent and the countless innocents who were slaughtered. Whilst I was in Amritsar in I visited the site of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. The well, into which many had jumped in a bid to escape, was a particularly harrowing sight.

These atrocities and policy disasters will stain the history of Britain in India forever, but that is not to say that they have a cast a shadow over the entirety of Britain’s enterprise in India.Take for instance the rail network and the 13 million passengers that use it every day; a marvel of organised chaos. There are also the architectural treasures that were left behind; the Victoria Terminus in Mumbai, for example, or Kolkata’s striking Victoria Memorial.

However, it is what was created by the departing of the British that is most striking. It is the confidence that India has in itself as a nation. I didn’t have to spend too long in India to notice it. It is thrust upon you by young Indian men with great wide smiles. ‘India is the greatest country in the world, no?’ if you disagree then you are probed for reasons why, and even if you do agree you are pushed to follow-up with an explanation. I found debates to be a vivid part of train journeys and they helped to pass the time in the cramped conditions of third-class. I remember a particularly entertaining few hours where I did my best to interpret and answer the question ‘Britain or India, which country has the best administration?’

From Amritsar I drove the couple of hours west, to the India-Pakistan border. In Wagah I witnessed the ‘retreat ceremony’, a near-to-surreal tradition carried out every evening. It was a tremendous sight; the Indian troops putting every last ounce of effort into outdoing the Pakistani troops, each trying to produce the most elaborate, most energetic body movements in order to outdo the other.

The number of people attending the ceremony on the Indian side far surpassed the capacity of the stadium-like seating (I lost my seat eight times). I stood on my tiptoes to peek at the Pakistan side of border; the stalls were decidedly empty except for the scattering of a few motionless spectators. The crowds repeated the howling sounds of a man with a microphone who worked them into a frenzied mania. Patriotic music is blasted out of speakers, and teenagers are selected from the crowd to run backwards and forwards, waving the Flag of India. Some teenagers standing behind me began to preach about the beauties of India and how it was the greatest nation in the world.

These teenagers were excited about modern India – after all, it is still a young country (not to mention the world’s largest democracy). The younger generations – amongst whom I was surrounded during a visit to The University of Mumbai – made no mistake about hiding their excitement for India’s future prospects. They are energetic and full of confidence, and this is exactly what India needs to drive itself forward, to progress and to emerge as the international power that it is certainly to become in the next few decades.

But, there is the risk of complacency. This energy and confidence seemed to have blinded many of the Indians that I met from a few home truths. That is the absolute poverty, and the degradation of the natural environment. Since the 1950s the Indian government and non-governmental organizations have initiated several programs to alleviate this poverty, including subsidizing food, increased access to loans, and promoting education and family planning. These measures have helped eliminate famine, cut absolute poverty levels by more than half, and reduced illiteracy and malnutrition. However, a short walk down any street in Mumbai tells you that there is so much more to be done.

The natural environment is an important factor in the development of any country; it is from whence the state and its people draw their resources and upon which livelihoods are based. However, throughout India there is an overwhelming neglect of the natural environment. I was shocked at finding myself encouraged to push litter out of the window of a moving train. The ‘outside environment’ is treated as one huge rubbish dump. This is such a terrible shame, for rural India really is beautiful. The British Prime Minister’s recent visit with his delegation of Cabinet ministers and business leaders, as well as the announcement of a £700m deal between BAE systems, Rolls-Royce and Hindustan Aeronautics, has once again highlighted India as an immensely attractive place of international investment. But, as India continues to make economic and social gains, its negligence of the environment may well come back to haunt it.

Dear NRI readers why not connect with us on LinkedIn, the premier professional and business networking site. Our new Group page is a community where NRIs, resident Indians and anyone with an interest in Indian culture can share views and experiences, to connect and interact.

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We look forward to seeing you there.

November 2009: There was (still is) a major concern that the Chinese Army had destroyed a Buddhist statue near the Chinese border in Arunachal Pradesh in order to remove a landmark so that it gets easier to encroach upon Indian territory. It was around the same time the Chinese ambassador to India proclaimed on Indian soil that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of China. A little knowledge of history is enough to suggest that this was how China occupied Tibet and they are doing precisely the same with Arunachal Pradesh!

The security of our nation; the very face of our map is being threatened and one would expect a thorough coverage of the series of incidents by the media. But unfortunately for Arunachal Pradesh, Shilpa Shetty was getting married that week and her sister Shamita Shetty just dropped out of Bigg Boss (an Indian version of Big Brother) to attend the wedding. So the media showed the metaphorical middle finger and said, “Screw you Arunachal Pradesh, we have a wedding to attend!”

April 2010: The BJP has organized a rally where thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the double digit inflation and the ever increasing prices. The media covered the incident with great gusto. Hundreds of news correspondents representing dozens of news channels were yelling into their mikes on the latest developments – the breaking news being, “BJP protest against price rise causes traffic jam!” Later that evening, expert panels were formed in the well-lit studios of New Delhi; professional opinion makers were earmarked in advance and invited. Some made it to the studios, those who couldn’t were live on the phone and all of them had an opinion – not on inflation… but on Delhi’s traffic!

Something is clearly wrong with the fourth pillar of the largest democracy when Sania Mirza getting married to a Pakistani man is hailed as a National Loss! Trust me, people in the country didn’t give a rat’s ass about Sania but the media just went on and on and on for about two weeks pissing off so many people in the process that the facebook page “Thank you Pakistan for taking Sania Mirza, Now Please take Rakhi Sawant also!” alone has almost two hundred thousand fans!

When I was in school, we had news readers on TV who used to read the news in a calm composed manner. Now that profession is obsolete. By obsolete, I mean that it exists only in Doordarshan. Instead, we have “news correspondents” shrieking or bellowing (depending on their gender) into their microphones 24×7. And yes, I forgot to mention. It’s not news anymore – it’s Breaking News!

So, why did our media evolve into such a myopic mess in just a matter of few years? Greed, TRPs, partisanship, competition between channels, the insatiable quest for breaking news… let’s not dwell on all those things. There has to be a simpler way to end this nonsense! As long as assassination is not an option, I think the solution lies in comedy and sarcasm.

Yes, you don’t have to read the previous sentence again, I said comedy and I was not being sarcastic! Standup comics have an advantage over everyone else in this increasingly politically correct and easily offended world we live in. The interaction between a standup comic and the audience is a unique stage where topics like class, race, religion, sexuality, gender bias etc. can be discussed without taboo by temporarily suspending the rules of political correctness.

While the news media is all about the cover stories and finer details, comedians are the ones who give a sense of perspective, debunk the status quo, challenge hypocrisy; compare social ideas with reality and point out the fluidity of social life. No wonder the most trusted newsman in the US is Jon Stewart, a comedian!

What India needs is a Richard Pryor to reflect on our prejudices, a Jon Stewart to engage the younger generation in political commentary, a George Carlin to tell us the truth as it is in the face, a Bill Maher to lay down some new rules, and a Lenny Bruce to start it all. We can also have a Jerry Seinfeld in the mix to make us laugh at ourselves and a Sarah Silverman so that this article won’t be labeled sexist :p.

What India needs is comedians who have the courage to get over Bollywood mimicry, Sardars and Laloos and go behind the Babus because that is what comedians ought to be doing. Until then, all we can do is keep our fingers crossed and hope that Shilpa Shetty doesn’t get married again because this time, it might cost us a lot more because of the double digit inflation .

I generally don’t approve of a lot of the fictional television content that comes over from India, littering cable channels with melodrama, caked foundation and plenty of unnecessary special effects. However I do understand the need for an NRI audience to find out what’s happening back at home. As such, I’ve noticed a growth in the amount of non-fictional broadcasting we receive, which is usually of a far superior quality than its fictional counterpart. I’ve become a fan of certain travel shows, cookery programmes and factual shows that actually showcase ‘real’ people, ‘real’ places and incidents – as opposed to the hyper-real Disney-esque characters. With this in mind, I thought the News, which is actually about real people – with its own dedicated channels, would surely be the epitome of quality broadcasting: smooth, efficient, objective. But as I’ve been finding out, even the News can step into the grey area as it becomes befuddled with its own sense of melodrama.

I didn’t want to make this argument based on one solid viewing, so I’ve waited awhile (several years in fact) before saying something. Since we’ve had Sky television, a certain number of Indian News channels, such as Star News (part of the Star TV Network) has very successfully managed to deliver international News, from an Indian perspective to NRI audiences. However, I do think this is the ball-part. There are occasionally features which are certainly questionable. The Network has been owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation since 1993 – but Murdoch issues aside there has been a lot of contentious programming.

For me, this first began during a casual dinner incident. The News flared in the background. There was a terrible flood. Horrendous News which you’d expect to be delivered in an objective stance, but to my surprise, the incident was being covered with the background score from Hans Zimmer’s Gladiator. Hardly appropriate you may think, since this wasn’t fiction, or ancient Rome. The producers had consciously attempted to heighten the tension by adding, what at the time was fairly evocative music. It got me thinking; perhaps we’re living in such a post-modern age where such cross-referencing of media is allowed – but I had thought the News would remain one exception – a sanctuary from the tumultuous riots of the soap opera.

Sadly this wasn’t an isolated incident. At repeated intervals I have seen incidents of Hollywood film scores, Bollywood theme tunes and various special effects used all over the News. This leads one to question just what message the News is trying to convey. Is it that the footage itself simply isn’t powerful enough? Which I would seriously contest. Or is it that audiences have become so accustomed to fictionally sensationalist methods of presentation? Perhaps everyone is now hot-wired to see a reaction shot (preferably repeated on loop for a few seconds) every time something terrible happens.

To be fair, this network isn’t alone in doing this, as competition from other networks has recently emerged. Naturally, not all hours of every day are filled with film scores, but the use of them even once is enough to make an informed viewer question to authenticity of the content. You can’t help but feel that Star News is becoming bolder, brasher, glossier – a little like its distant relative Fox. I also wonder, as we’re dealing with large international powers, whether Ofcom standards no longer apply?

Ultimately however, this leads me to think about the eventual audience and its vulnerability as a result of such an imposing broadcast strategy. Naturally, I give a lot of people credit for not succumbing to the beliefs in all the stories they’re presented with. But for every conscientious viewer, there are plenty of gullible ones. To get a second opinion, I put this notion to my parents. My mum gave a rough nod of understanding, but still insisted I set her favourite soap on record; my father remained glued to the News, almost in a hypnotic trance. I insisted that the headlines were over and weren’t going to change for about an hour or so, but still he was transfixed.

Later my mum returned to the discussion. She said that perhaps we also need to consider the plethora of channels available to view. With India’s population being incredibly vast, there are millions of viewers out there, not to mention internationally. Each broadcasting network is competing for their attention.  Perhaps the gimmicks help them achieve this? People no longer need to go to the News, so the News is trying to impose itself upon the people. This sounded like a logical argument – but doesn’t forgive the increasing lack of objectivity, or constant graphic swishes across the screen.

She concluded by saying if only things were simpler, like when there was only the Doordarshan network. Yes it’s less flash, bang, wallop and government controlled, but it’s generally comprehensive. She got all nostalgic about a time when children would all flock to one house where a solitary television lay idolised like a shrine in the corner. An aerial would tune into a fuzzy black and white screen. A cool, calm, collected Newsreader would softly read the News – simple, but effective.

‘Till death do us part’ was a phrase which referred to the level of commitment involved in a marriage, that a man and his wife could only be parted by death. Now too, they are parted by death – the death of the marriage itself.

It is believed that Indians lead a more stable and contented married life. Compared to developed countries like UK, US, most of the European Union etc, the divorce rate in India is quite low. The US has an astounding 50% while India has a divorce rate of 11%. Britain’s divorce rate soared six-fold between 1961 and 1991. But from 1991 to 2001, India has seen a rise in divorce rate, especially in the urban areas. The rate has gone up from 7.4% to 11%. This gradual but steady increase in divorces makes one wonder, are we truly a contentedly married nation?

In recent times, women of India have gone through a major cultural shift. In response to the spurt in the economy, women are now more educated, out going and self reliant. It is also during this period that the divorce rate has risen. So, is the divorce rate directly related to women’s ‘awareness’ ratio?

About 15 years ago, most middle class women were brought up and moulded by society not to work but just take care of the home, the husband and the children. She was taught to have unquestioning faith in her spouse, trusting his every word. Hence, she never learned of the life her spouse led outside the realms of the home, so the concept of infidelity did not exist for her. She had witnessed other women of the family silently bearing abuse. If a man came home drunk, it was his right as he worked hard for the bread that the family ate. It was a part of life, nothing to complain about.

But this is the class in which the divorce ratio has increased the most.

At the time, if a woman came across her husband’s ‘mistake’, she would forgive him, or in most cases, continue the relationship ‘for the sake of the children’, tolerating a marriage that has lost its trust and meaning. Financial dependence on her husband, the social stigma associated with divorced women being considered of loose character or keeping her husband happy, added to her predicament. Hence, though a woman may have wanted to break off a relationship, she was not able to. Consequentl for decades we Indians believed we were a happily married nation.

Now shift to the present day. The rise in female literacy and employment has provided the financial independence that women were deprived of for long. Women have left the more traditional fields of employment such as teaching and clerical work to take on a more executive profile. Even women from lower middle class have started seeking employment in call centers and other jobs that do not require formal qualifications.

Moving out of the confines of the four walls of their homes, women are exposed to the work environment in which men spend the major part of their day. Their eyes have been opened to office relationships, platonic and otherwise. Women who were ignorant began to question their husbands, and those who knew and were silent, began to raise their voices. They had moved to a society where infidelity was a known phenomenon and broken marriages were better received. Financial independence also ensured that women did not have to worry about being a ‘burden’ on their parents in the post-divorce scenario.

In short, women now have a CHOICE.

Now women are divided into two sections. Firstly there are those who are willing to forgo trust, forgive their husband’s infidelities and to tolerate domestic abuse. To them the institution of marriage is worth sacrificing their happiness for a lifetime. It is their ‘dharam’. And then there are the women who refuse to be tied down in an unhappy alliance and are willing to take on the challenges that will arise after a divorce. It is not that they have not tried to make their marriage work. They have also taken their share of abuses, forgiven betrayals and made compromises. But once all attempts at reconciliation have failed, they are the ones who taken the necessary step towards the termination of the union. Some women who have had enough but cannot end the marriage for whatever reason, chose separation. None of these women are necessarily wrong, in fact, it is their right.

However, while a woman who stays married does not face criticism, a divorcee is often made to go through unnecessary and unjustified social stigma, treated almost as an outcast. They have trouble blending back into the community and are considered somewhat substandard. Sometimes their children are also treated the same way, which is honestly pathetic. A responsible society would not be judgmental about them.

There are many segments of society who lay the blame of broken marriages on ‘western influence’. Do they consider the system of being tied down in a marriage that has lost its happiness, trust and mutual respect that are the building blocks to it, fair to the woman who is being asked to compromise her integrity for the sake of everyone but her self? Why is this level of self-sacrifice expected only of a woman? Would a man forgive his wife and treat her with respect and love if he found her having an affair with another man?

Every woman has the right to live happily in a manner that she can look at herself with dignity. Every woman has the right to make her decisions and be allowed to move on with what is left of her life.

There was a study carried out last year (by Tesco) which interviewed British Asian graduates and apparently, a quarter said their families have a significant influence on the career they chose – compared to less than one in ten white British students.

And when Tesco asked British Asian parents and grandparents what careers they would like their children to pursue, the answers were straight out of a Goodness Gracious Me sketch – medicine (24%), law (19%) and accountancy (14%). Yes, that glowing holy trinity of doctor, lawyer and accountant.

Surveys aren’t always spot-on, and as this one was carried out by the Tesco Asian Network, a group inside Tesco which helps company’s British Asian employees develop their careers and attract more people of British Asian ethnicity to join the business, it has its own purpose. But even so, the findings take me back some 17 years. I remember in secondary school that many of my fellow Asian students chose maths, sciences and economics for A-Level study while I was one of the few studying Chaucer, the Italian subjunctive and the workings of our electoral system.

Another stat which arose in the survey is that less than a third of British Asian graduates said their family had no influence at all, compared to almost half of the white British student group. More interestingly, a significant 18% would let their family’s views strongly affect their decision (and 3& even said they would put their family’s wishes ahead of their own).

So why are British Asians more influenced by their families in their choice of career than their white counterparts? British Asian business success stories, the Asian rich list and the idea of wealth equalling success are common emblems in our culture and ones many aspire to be part of and believe in. Of course, there are millions for whom medicine, law and accountancy are the right career paths, but I know I speak for some of my acquaintances who, at the tender age of 35, already feel sick at the thought of another 30 years in these very same careers, ones they embarked on under a significant dose of family pressure.

It’s certainly not a case of saying, ‘Don’t listen to your family.’ In the UK, students take potentially life-shaping decisions at a young age and parents can be pivotal in ensuring these decisions are the right ones. But like doctors, parents aren’t always right. For those lucky enough to have a vocation which does not fall neatly into their family’s idea of success, following their heart is not the worst thing they could do. But then I would say that – I’m a freelance writer and have to make myself feel better about the fact that I’ll never appear on that rich list…

Shocking scenes of destruction and sorrow dominated headlines for the past few days in India as 150 innocent people lost their lives in the train allegedly derailed by Maoist rebels in the eastern state of West Bengal. It is a usual tactic and there have been several instances in the past where trains have been attacked and innocent lives lost. But even as such violence plays out intermittently there has been much debate in India on how to deal with the Maoist menace. Human rights activists have sprung to the defence of the Maoists saying the government should stop any armed offensive against them and address the root cause which is years of socio-economic subjugation.

Similar opinions have also been voiced by human rights groups when Ajmal Amir Kasab, the key accused in the 26/11 terror attacks was pronounced guilty and given the death sentence. Many believed the 20 year old was just a pawn; a henchman who did what he did out of desperate poverty and hopelessness, that killing him was hardly going to be a solution to the larger problem of international terrorism. There were several voices in the mainstream media, on social networking sites and blogs opposing capital punishment altogether saying it was a medieval practice banned in most developed nations and that India should do the same.

While I tend to agree that violence of any sort ought to be abjured by the state and only used in the rarest of rare circumstances, a lot of what is being propagated by these so – called human rights groups is easy armchair philosophy and pseudo intellectual hogwash. Why for instance should a man like Kasab who has killed 166 people be allowed to live on tax payers money when the crores spent on his security could be put to better use? Moreover is being self-righteous about his death really justified when he has himself violated the fundamental right to life of 166 people? Agreed, he might have chosen to become a Taliban recruit out of economic desperation and brainwashing, but doesn’t every human being have a basic morality that they need to uphold to prevent social anarchy from setting in?

With the Maoists, as with the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the issue has been that of years of suppression and discrimination leading to an uprising of sorts. As with all the other revolts in history this one too has turned bloody, fraudulent, power hungry and deflecting from its real intent and thus needs to be brought under control in order to bring some sort of closure. If, like human rights groups propose we wait for development to reach these people (which is when they believe the violence will stop), we will probably end up with many more years of bloodshed where innocent civilians will needlessly suffer.

I don’t propose a China or US like policy where capital punishment is meted out indiscriminately and people are held guilty without trial. But the problem with many of these self-proclaimed human rights groups is that their elitist views are very often hopelessly out of sync with an angered public that has been at the suffering end of these atrocities for years. For them too, we need to spare a thought!