Jai HO

Today is the Pabitra Bahuda Yatra, today Lord Jagannath accompanied by brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra return back home to Puri Jagannath Temple. Today is truly an auspicious day and will also be remembered for another historic landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court on Thursday legalised consensual sex among gays. The court has struck down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

A bench comprising of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice S Muralidhar said that if not amended, Section 377 of the IPC would violate Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which states that every citizen has equal opportunity of life and is equal before law.

"We declare Section 377 of IPC in so far as it criminalises consensual sexual acts of adults in private violates Articles 14, 21 and 15 of the Constitution," the Bench comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar said. However, Section 377 of the IPC which criminalises homosexuality will continue for non-consensual, non-vaginal sex.

JAI HO

Statement on Mandatory Testing by Loknath Mishra

I am not sure where this came from and who gave the credit to me and Mr. Sanjit Patnaik for making this statement. But we have not made any statement on mandatory testing neither do we have any intention of promoting mandatory testing in Orissa. I am not shocked or surprised that this statement has brought on such strong reaction. I am angry that such a damaging statement on mandatory testing is going to ruin all these years of struggle undertaken by all. Mr. Sanjit Patnaik and I have been struggling at the community level against forced testing of married young women by family members. The sad part is that in Orissa media is yet to learn how damaging these kinds of statement is for Orissa as a state where we are yet to go beyond prevention programmes and where districts with high prevalence are neglected by the state.

BY -- Loknath Mishra,
ARUNA.

Gay community in Orissa(India): social discrimination and their fight for their Rights and Dignity in the society

Ratikanta Pradhan
(This is a letter from Ratikanta Pradhan to Satya Sundar Mishra the founder member of SAKHA a CBO established to fight for the rights and dignity of LGBTs in Orissa.

Gay community in Orissa(India): social discriminiation and their fight for their Rights and Dignity in the society

Yes, i am very proud to be a gay. I think that God has a good and noble reason behind creating me like this, so i am happy being a gay. And moreover, we gays play a very important role and contribute a good amount of development initiatives to the society in particualr and as a whole in the world. I dont think we should regreet about being gay and our identity and sexual orientation is natural. We behave and are feminine in our movements except that we do not posses physcial attributes of a women.

But, at the same time, we face a lot of problems regarding our identity and respect and place in the society. There is widespread problem of ragging from physcial to mental as well as economic being a gay in the society. In Orissa(India) society as they are yet to understand us, Society still thinks same sex relation is unnatural and against the order of nature. Gays still face social stigma and other forms of exploitation in each and every field.

Gays in India do feel happy when people accept us, understand our emotions and sentiments. But that itself is not enough we would feel even better and proud if our uniqueness was accepted as normal. Many educated people encourage us and support us in our fight for your dignity and Rights and rightful place in the society.

Now, we have started a association called "SAKHA"(friend) in Bhubaneswar, which primarily works for the development and welfare of the sexual minorities We have been celebrating and coming together on different occasions; The World AIDS Day and organising different workshops regarding the sexual reproductive health, HIV&AIDS, formation of self-help groups and organising other recrational events.

I would take this opportunity to thank Mr. Satya Sundar Mishra
(Subhi/subham)) for his contribution and hard work and for establishing this platform I hope and appeal to all gay people who re living in and around Bhubaneswar please come foreward and fight for our Rights with altogether
I Wish all of us success

MIXED MESSAGES

My seven year old daughter is obsessed with reading out loud every poster, hoarding, shop names and every bit of words and statements that she can see from the car window. She also asks the adults sitting in the car to explain what these terms and statements mean. Yesterday she saw a poster somewhere where it was written, ‘save a girl child’. She kept asking me what it meant. Usually I and my husband are a bit wary about explaining to her, because her questions do not end there as she asks us in the most unusual places and inappropriate places (Once during a serious meeting she wanted me to clarify about menstruation and Sex). But this was one statement which I had to clarify to her. When I explained why it is important to save a girl child especially in India and how precious they are, she still did not understand.

So I had to take the story of Balika Badhu ( a television serial which I utterly detest, which is regressive and actually promotes certain key traditional practices like child marriage, widow repression and no education for a girl child and which should be abolished/banned). What is great about the serial is that it is currently the most popular serial, and even in workplaces colleagues of mine discuss about the serial and react positively to the story line.

Did my daughter understand after my explanation? Not really, as previously I had told her that Balika Badhu is just a story and not something to be believed in.

Shiny Ahuja the brilliant actor involved in raping his own 18 year old maid. There will probably be two kinds of opinion, if it is rape then he should be jailed, if it is consensual then probably he is not at fault. EXCUSE ME which ever way it goes it is rape. A young susceptible 17/18 year old girl from a poor marginalized background who is uneducated works in your house as a domestic maid for a paltry sum, who is lead/seduced by a married man in his thirties, who is a film actor ( Mr. Shiney Ahuja who proudly claims to be a thinking actor) to indulge in sex, when his wife and child are away. Do you still feel that this is right if it was consensual?

I think the media(print, audio, video) throws a lot of questions which need to be looked into and pondered before community becomes the judge and jury and pronounces a verdict.

Are we well protected???

I have been getting malicious, obscene and abusive calls and messages from three anonymous phone numbers since the past two/three months. Initially I ignored it but then I realized that it was slowly getting out of hand and could be dangerous for me and my family and so I along with my husband went to the local Police Station to hand over our detailed application so that a FIR could be lodged for the police to take necessary action. The Police Inspector in Charge was very kind and considerate and said he would look into the matters immediately. Seven days went by still when there was no sign of the messages stopping or any response from the police station, my husband went to the police station again, there for the first time he realized that the complaint was not yet registered, and the Inspector in Charge was reluctant to even formally record it in the station diary.
He went to the Commissionerate of Police office to discuss with the higher police officials. He met a higher official; surprisingly the higher official was very reluctant and asked my husband as to why we were getting these calls when he or his family never got any calls making my husband feel as if we were the perpetrators. My husband was surprised and shocked and angry with the response.
Now I realize why there is so much of fear amongst the marginalized and vulnerable groups and communities that I work with when I suggest that they should go to police with their complaints on violation, abuse of their rights. I realized then and there how difficult it must be for an ordinary citizen to first approach a police station to lodge a complaint as an FIR (a station diary is not a FIR I knew the difference only after this experience).
SO what is the difference between a FIR and a station diary? In brief FIR or First Information Reports have to immediately be registered by Officers who are in-charge of a police station based on a complaint or information given by a victim regarding any cognizable offence. By cognizable offence the law says that any offence in which a police officer may in accordance with the first schedule or CR P.C (1973) or under any other law for the time being without any force arrest without warrant. The Station General Diary is used just to record every major incident (e.g. theft, murder, traffic accidents) happening within the jurisdiction of the police station on a daily basis. The General Diary is likely to be maintained by a veteran Head Constable, and is just a record of events which does not necessarily culminate into action taken by the police station. If the complaint has not been lodged as an FIR then the police are under obligation to investigate the matter and file an investigation report, however in case of a Station General Diary they are not under any obligation to file any written report or investigate.

This is just a drop of information on how one can take the help of police. I am surely going to learn more about this system and I will keep you all posted.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY-Part II

A complaint/petition has been filed by Shri. Banamali Naik, to Orissa State AIDS Control Society, last month on second April 2009. As detailed out in the petition Mr. Naik had applied for the post of Community Care Coordinator in the ART Centre, Berhampur. Mr. Banamali Naik is a PLHIV and a graduate, and is desperately searching for a job. However the man selected for the post is a matriculate and a person neither infected nor affected with the virus, but had one plus point, he was a candidate related to the Principal of MKCG Medical College, Berhampur, who vociferously promoted him. The Principal of MKCG Medical College was a part of the selection board.

The petition/grievance letter instead of coming to the GIPA Coordinator for addressal went to the State Mainstreaming Unit, who after sitting over the petition for over a month sent it to the CARE, SUPPORT TREATMENT Consultant, Dr. U. K. Tripathy, who incidentally was a member of the selection board of the same interview for his views. Dr. U. K. Tripathy in his noting has detailed out the reason for not selecting Shri. Banamali Naik citing that as Mr. Naik was above 40 years of age, he was not selected. Dr. U. K. Tripathy himself is a retired gentleman above 60 and is very efficiently and effectively serving as CST Consultant in Orissa State AIDS CONTROL SOCIETY.

One needs to ask Orissa State Control Society the following questions:

- What is the job description of the GIPA COORDINATOR and why was he not a part of the selection process?
- What does equal employment opportunity mean to Orissa State AIDS Control Society and how have they been adhering to it?
- Why does NACO stress upon equal employment opportunity in all the State AIDS Control Societies when the State of Orissa does not believe in it, and how does NACO ensure that the State Control Societies adhere to the norms and operational guidelines developed by NACO?

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

The term Equal Employment Opportunity was created by President Lyndon B. Johnson when he signed Executive Order 11246 on September 24, 1965, created to prohibit federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, sex, creed, religion, color, or national origin (wikipaedia).

In India in the NGO sector with donor pressure equal employment opportunity has been added to increase the participation of minorities, vulnerable groups, sexual minorities and women in the workplace. Every advertisement in the paper placed by civil society organizations, voluntary organizations carries in very small fonts, and specifies, that they are equal opportunity employer and would like women, PLHIV, sexual minorities to apply.

But do these workplaces encourage and promote equal employment opportunity?
Do these workplace sensitize its workers on appropriate behaviour and appropriate attitude free from discrimination on the basis of race, sex, creed, religion, sexual behaviour, PLHIV status?

No not really, employers/employees still carry their baggage and discriminatory behaviour, attitude and this is reflected in the way they behave with those who they think are beneath them.

A PLHIV friend of mine who is working as GIPA Coordinator in one of the State Control Societies was moaning about the attitude of his colleagues in the office, who have sidelined him and isolated him within the office. He is never invited to meetings and forces himself on everybody to at least notice him. He is scared of complaining as he fears that he might lose his job and somebody else who is close to the Project Director might get this job.

In a national level organization with international donors lining up their door, which works on Malaria, tuberculosis, HIV&AIDS etc, the Regional Director proudly said in one of the meetings with us that it was an equal employment opportunity organization and the receptionist was a female and its Community Organizers were women. We were sitting in a room full of men in this particular organization in which I and my colleagues were the only females.

Have we really created a workplace which is friendly to all and which can be accessed and is discrimination free?
Have we trained all within our organizations on stigma and discrimination and established a professional atmosphere which promotes and provides dignity to all and is free from biases and prejudices against women, PLHIV/AIDS, sexual minorities, caste, skin colour etc.

Next time when you see an advertisement equal employment opportunity or the next time when your organization proudly claims that it is an equal employment opportunity agency think hard and assess whether these claims are true; if yes then great but if
it is not what can you do to change this?

SARITA