LETTERS

Issn 0012-9976
Ever since the first issue in 1966,
EPW has been India’s premier journal for Criminalising Talaq-e-Biddat and their rights in the last three decades
comment on current affairs
and research in the social sciences.
has been preceded by wide consultations
It succeeded Economic Weekly (1949–1965),
which was launched and shepherded
by Sachin Chaudhuri,
who was also the founder-editor of EPW.
T he government is proposing to intro-
duce a new bill in this winter session
of Parliament to make the practice of
with women’s and civil society organisa-
tions, and the same has happened in cas-
es of other laws, affecting other marginal-
As editor for 35 years (1969–2004)
Krishna Raj instant triple talaq a punishable offence. ised sections of society.
gave EPW the reputation it now enjoys. We the undersigned are activists, femi- Even the Ministry of Law and Justice of
EXECUTIVE Editor nists, individuals, as well as representatives the Government of India has published
Lina Mathias of various women’s organisations, includ- the “Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy”
Deputy Editor ing interveners in support of the petition on 5 February 2014, which lays down the
Bernard D’Mello
filed by Shayara Bano, before the Supreme procedure to be followed for pre-legislative
SENIOR Assistant editorS
Court, challenging the constitutional valid- consultation. There are a total of 12 guiding
lubna duggal
ABHISHEK SHAW ity of triple talaq, halala and polygamy. principles laid down in this policy, in-
copy editorS
We are aware that formulating any cluding that every department/ministry
jyoti shetty legal provision based on the foundation should proactively publish the proposed
Tejas Harad of the Indian Constitution is an arduous legislations and publish/place in public
Assistant editorS task. It requires tremendous effort and domain the draft legislation or at least the
P S Leela
SANGEETA GHOSH commitment to the basic tenets of the information that may among other things
ANISHA GEORGE secular, democratic and socialist frame- include brief justification for such legisla-
Ishan Mukherjee
work of the Constitution. On 29 August tion, for a minimum period of 30 days.
ASSISTANT Editor (DIGITAL) 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up a It was women and women’s groups who
SHIREEN AZAM
Drafting Committee under the chair- approached the Supreme Court seeking
production
u raghunathan manship of B R Ambedkar to prepare a justice and constitutional rights in the mat-
suneethi nair draft Constitution for India. The assembly ter of unilateral triple talaq and in other re-
Circulation MANAGER met in sessions open to the public, for 166 lated matters. Therefore, it is imperative
B S Sharma days—spread over a period of two years, that we, the affected stakeholders, be con-
Advertisement Manager 11 months and 18 days—before finally sulted before any legislation is brought
Kamal G Fanibanda adopting the Constitution. A similarly about on this matter. Therefore, we call
General Manager comprehensive process was followed for for a broader consultation with women’s
Gauraang Pradhan
the formulation of the Hindu Code Bill. groups before introducing any amendment
Publisher From 1930, women’s organisations had or bill, including the bill referred to above,
K Vijayakumar
put out the demand for a comprehensive which intends to criminalise the practice of
editorial: edit@epw.in
Circulation: circulation@epw.in code. In response to this demand, a com- instant triple talaq. Only a bill or amend-
Advertising: advertisement@epw.in mittee was formed under the chairman- ment based on the lived realities of women
Economic and Political Weekly ship of Ambedkar, who was law minister, can provide the required justice.
320–322, A to Z Industrial Estate
Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel
which further modified the first draft of At the outset we would also like to
Mumbai 400 013 Hindu Code Bill. After much debate with- state that we stand completely opposed to
Phone: (022) 4063 8282
in Parliament and civil society, between making the practice of instant triple talaq a
EPW Research Foundation 1952 and 1956, the Hindu Code Bill was
EPW Research Foundation, established in 1993, conducts
research on financial and macro-economic issues in India. passed in four separate segments. Christmas and
Director We state all this to emphasise that no New Year Greetings
J DENNIS RAJAKUMAR
far-reaching, effective, and just legal reform
C 212, Akurli Industrial Estate EPW wishes all its readers,
Kandivali (East), Mumbai 400 101 can be carried out without putting in simi-
Phones: (022) 2887 3038/41 contributors and well-wishers
epwrf@epwrf.in lar, sustained, and intense efforts. All the very best for 2018.
important legislation concerning women
Sameeksha TrusT
(Publishers of Economic & Political Weekly)

EPW at New Delhi World Book Fair

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D N Ghosh, Managing Trustee
André Béteille, Deepak Parekh, Economic and Political Weekly
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will be at the
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Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai-400 013.
Executive Editor: Lina Mathias. We look forward to seeing you there.

4 DECEMBER 23, 2017 vol liI no 51 EPW Economic & Political Weekly

criminal offence. Using penal action lead-
ing to imprisonment, in order to discour-
age the practice of instant triple talaq will
not help in getting justice for women.
When a woman reports a complaint of
triple talaq, she wants to continue stay-
ing in her matrimonial home, and needs
to draw financial support from her hus-
band. Imprisoning the husband will, in
fact, deprive her of both these recourses.
Furthermore, since marriage is a civil
contract between two adult persons, the
procedure to be followed on violation of
this contract needs to be civil in nature,
and one which strengthens the woman,
instead of making her more vulnerable.
We once again appeal for broader con-
sultation with women’s groups, to un-
derstand our lived realities, which will
help in formulation of legislation.
Hasina Khan, Bebaak Collective,
Mumbai
‘Non-academic’ Genius
I found the column “The Pottery of
Physics” by Kamala Mukunda and Ven-
katesh Onkar (EPW, 2 December 2017) to
be an extremely interesting observation
about the neglect of ways of learning other
than the so-called “academic” learning.
My younger brother showed a precocity
towards “non-verbal” creativity from a
young age. Despite being born into a Brah-
min family that valued only the scholarship
of books, he used to invent many contrap-
tions. He created a working transmission
with just two wires, invented a machine
to convert waste polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
into auto cables, and converted waste plas-
tic into a garden hose with another ma-
chine he invented. He even invented a cof-
fee roaster with a simple assemblage of a
cylinder mounted onto an electric stove.
Yet, he found no marketing agencies to
pick up these innovative ideas. He could
repair any machine, be it a scooter, auto, or
mixer. My brother possessed what is called
“kinesthetic” intelligence, and would intui-
tively understand the principle behind any
contraption. He could do the job of a ma-
son, an electrician, or a plumber, and even
pursued carpentry on his own. When he
built his house, he performed all these
roles himself. Yet the family always belit-
tled him for being “non-academic.” He
Economic & Political Weekly EPW DECEMBER 23, 2017
learnt a lot on his own—to this day he can
explain any scientific principle very clearly.
He is fluent in many languages and can
speak them like a local. Today, he watches
science channels on TV and can explain
to us what he has learnt, so lucidly.
While to some extent there is a recog-
nition and space for such people in the
West, in our country such geniuses are
never given awards. IQ tests are totally
verbal. My brother was not affiliated with
any institution, and hence did not get
what is due his genius, although he could
do more than any student of engineering.
It is a pity that we do not recognise that
there are many types of intelligence.
M K Gandhi’s idea that all of us should do
“bread labour” or manual labour, espouses
the ideas of kinesthetic intelligence.
It is not enough to have “co-curricu-
lar” activities, but rather, to give impor-
tance to non-academic learning. A new
scheme to promote skills fails to value
those skills that already exist. Why do
we not pay individuals who possess such
skills well? Or help them improve further,
beyond what is disparagingly called
“screwdriver technology?” I worked for
some time in the occupational therapy
centre at KEM Hospital in Mumbai, and
my time spent there was indeed an eye-
opener for me in this regard.
Maithreyi Krishnaraj
Bengaluru
Open Letter to Finance Minister
W e, the undersigned, are writing to
draw your attention to two urgent
priorities for the forthcoming budget.
(1) Social security pensions: The central
government’s contribution to old-age pen-
sions under the National Old Age Pension
Scheme (NOAPS) has remained at a measly
`200 per month since 2006. This is extra-
ordinarily stingy. It is also a missed oppor-
tunity. NOAPS is a good scheme (with low
leakages and administrative costs) that
EPW Engage
The following articles have been published in the past week in the EPW Engage section (www.epw.in/engage).
(1) What Happened to Our Dreams? The Spectre of October Revolution—Christopher J Helali
(2) After Gujarat 2017: Can BJP’s Communalism Make Up for Its Agrarian Neglect?—Radhika Ramaseshan
(3) Delhi’s Air: Why Does No One Care About Unmanaged Waste?—Pratibha Sharma
(4) Political Interests and Private Healthcare Lobby Collude to Stifle Patients’ Rights in Karnataka—
Akhila Vasan, E Premdas Pinto, Vinay Sreenivasa, Vijayakumar S
vol liI no 51
LETTERS
reaches some of the poorest members of
society. The central government’s contri-
bution should be immediately raised to
`500 (preferably more) at the very least.
This requires an additional allocation
of `8,640 crore or so, based on the current
NOAPS coverage (2.4 crore pensioners).
Similarly, widow pensions should be
raised from `300 per month to `500 at
the very least. This would cost just another
`1,680 crore.
(2) Maternity entitlements: Maternity
benefits of `6,000 per child are a legal
entitlement of all Indian women (except
those already covered in the formal sector)
under the National Food Security Act
(NFSA), 2013. For more than three years,
the central government did virtually
nothing about this. On 31 December 2016,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally an-
nounced that maternity benefits would be
provided very soon. One year later, how-
ever, (i) the new scheme framed for this
purpose (Pradhan Mantri Matritva Van-
dana Yojana [PMMVY]) is yet to be opera-
tionalised; (ii) the provision made for it in
the Union Budget 2017–18 (`2,700 crore) is
barely one-third of what is required based
on NFSA norms; and (iii) in flagrant viola-
tion of the act, PMMVY restricts the benefits
to `5,000 for just one child per woman.
The Union Budget 2018–19 should provide
for full-fledged implementation of mater-
nity entitlements as per NFSA norms. This
requires at least `8,000 crore, based on a
60:40 ratio for centre–state contributions.
Along with this, it is very important to
streamline payment systems so that pen-
sions and maternity benefits reach the
recipients on time every month, for exam-
ple, by the seventh day of the month as
directed by the Supreme Court in its order
of 28 November 2001.
We hope that these recommendations
are useful.
Abhijeet Singh, Abhijit Banerjee, Aditya
Bhattacharjea, Ajit Ranade, Ashok Kotwal,
Ashwini Deshpande and 54 others.
5
LETTERS
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6 DECEMBER 23, 2017 vol liI no 51 EPW Economic & Political Weekly