Nirmukta » Sumitra Padmanavan

Rationalists Rescue 12 Year Old Girl From Forced Marriage In Bankura, India

Sumitra Padmanavan — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:34:01 +0000

12 March 2010:

Right after the Annual Conference held in Kolkata, our Bankura branch has jumped into action. A tribal girl, Putul Tudu aged 12, was to be given away in marriage against her will. This is not only illegal in India, but unethical and inhumane as well. On the 9^th of March this year our secretary from Bankura, Biplab Das, and another member, Tarun Rakshit, visited the remote Housibad village amidst the jungles of Taldangra and managed to stop the wedding.

Famous Bankura Art

Biplab Das informed the police and had the girl rescued. It is not common among tribals to marry so young. Also, tribal youths normally choose their own partners with each other’s consent. This was an exceptional case, probably urged by extreme poverty.

Within two days Biplab Das and his friends got the girl admitted to the local Taldangra Girls’ School and also managed to get her hostel accommodation. The hostel, Kasturba Gandhi, offers residence to local girl students at a nominal cost.

This incident will act as a precedent and deter other such stray incidents in the poor tribal zone. The village panchyat will also be able to take similar steps whenever necessary. Congratulations to Biplab and his assistants Tarun and Prasanto!

Sumitra Padmanabhan
General Secretary, Humanist’s Association of India

Annual Conference: The Science & Rationalists Association Of India- Celebrating 25 Years On March 6-7, 2010

Sumitra Padmanavan — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:15:28 +0000

Dates: 6-7 March, 2010

Location: Mulali Juba Kendra Hall near Moulali crossing close to Sealdah station, Kolkata.

The Science & Rationalists Association of India ( Bharatiya Bigyan O Yuktibadi Samity) has completed 25 fruitful years. There will be a celebration of the silver jubilee on 6-7 March 2010. The annual conference will also be held during the two days with delegates attending seminar, workshop and interactive session during the day. The program on the evening of March 7, 2010 will be open to all. For more details about our activities you may visit our website, www.srai.org.

The program on the 7th will start from 5 pm with songs and discussion by the veteran Bengali folk song maestro Sri Swapan Basu, followed by our anti-superstition demonstrative show “Aloukik noy, Loukik”.

You are invited to attend the function and make it a grand success!

Prabir Ghosh
[G.S. Juktibadi Samiti]

Sumitra Padmanabhan
[President, Juktibadi Samiti]

One Year After 26/11

Sumitra Padmanavan — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 22:18:37 +0000

People sang, prayed, marched with candles and protested against terrorism. It all sounds so common, a little silly and rather childish. On 26 November 2009, throughout the day all the TV channels showed thousands of people - young, smart, educated, upper or at least middle class Bombayites (now called Mumbaikars) thronging to the gateway or Taj hotel.

The channels interviewed some hundreds of them. All we heard were - ‘oh no, not again!’ ‘It should not happen again’, ‘We want peace’, ‘We will not tolerate terrorism’, ’We salute the army and police for their bravery and sacrifice’, and such comments. We waited for some more serious and pointed questions, but were disappointed. Nobody asked these questions -

Why are we repeating the words ‘the only living terrorist, Kasab’? It was known one year back that some 20 odd armed boys landed on the shores of Mumbai on that fateful day. We can imagine many were among the crowd with their cell phones while the Taj was burning. They were definitely guiding Kasab and others who were active inside. It’s easy to guess that they mixed with the crowd of onlookers and vanished later. While Kasab was being interrogated, didn’t we get any clue? What have we done so far to find them? India has spent millions of rupees (31 crores, or 310 millions to be specific) on Kasab’s upkeep. What is the outcome other than knowing his life history?
FBI was handling the case and submitted their report this year. As reported in most newspapers, a number of Indians were found connected with the incident. Who are they? We want the names and wish to know what steps have been taken to book them. If they were arrested for interrogation, it would have been news, because many of them were ‘important persons’. So there is reason to believe that no steps have been taken against those mentioned in FBI report. Why is it so?

It is a pity that we Indians still get emotional and make sentimental exclamations. We behave as if these terrorist attacks are some natural calamities like Tsunami. We can only pray and sing for peace. Shame!

Sumitra Padmanavan is the General Secretary of the Humanists’ Association of India

Euthanasia or Swechhamrityu : Let’s Be Practical Yaar!

Sumitra Padmanavan — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:26:34 +0000

We want to strengthen our campaign for legalizing Euthanasia in India. Seriously. Before that, I request all readers to go through the entire essay “Euthanasia or death-wish” available here.

Those who agree with the idea are free to offer new points, ask questions based on the article mentioned above and design a short draft for starting signature campaign -in print and via internet. All are welcome to join and help.

The need is more now than ever. With the government’s apathy towards the needs of poorer classes, with no easy insurance scheme in sight, with no chance of free healthcare in the near future, it is reasonable that people would like to have an option. I mean, why spend all our hard-earned money on doctors, pathologists and nursing homes? We even need to bribe the government hospital staff for common assistance. We still suffer and die in the end, don’t we?

We can eat well, read and travel more with that kind of money and have a better life in general even if a little shorter; I mean minus those months in the hospital, in Intensive Care Unit or under ventilation. Isn’t money meant for buying better stuff?

I see thousands of people turning paranoid as they approach old age. They save money for treatment, they suffer from constant fear and some become patients of depression. No, not in fear of death, but in fear of suffering alone in ill-equipped and expensive hospitals. For example, morphine is in acute shortage. So, a cancer patient is often forced to suffer acute pain. What right do hospitals have to keep you in exchange of good money when they cannot offer relief? The patients’ suffering does not end there. They lose all their life’s savings, their family suffers physically and mentally. Finally death comes to all when the bereaved are financially drained too. It is a sort of catch 22 situation and people after a healthy, happy, active life surely do not deserve this in the end.

Legalizing euthanasia does not mean that people will rush for it. It will only assure us that in irreversible cases or intolerably painful situations, there is some solace. We need not be blackmailed into spending and suffering simultaneously. And it will be entirely as per our own will. No ‘benevolent’ family member need to take the decision of hospitalizing on our behalf.

Only this knowledge would improve the quality of life. People in the age-group of 60-90 can then really enjoy life. Having control over our own life –and death is a wonderful idea. In fact it’s beautiful.

***

[So, we request the government to give a thought, go through the pros and cons, and make 'Swechhamrityu' legal in India.

In fact, clearing the hospital bill of anything from 25000 to 25, 00,000 while taking delivery of the lifeless body of your near ones is a common experience many of us are faced with in our life. And we are lucky, if you consider the 78% of Indians who cannot spend more than 20 rupees per day. As long as the government can spend crores for keeping military and police force, there is no logic behind not providing medical help free of cost. So, logically speaking, the provision for euthanasia in exceptional situations, or after a certain age is a must.

What I mean to highlight is that death should be at a person's own will always and everywhere. In India it is all the more essential and urgent because of the social system.]

Sumitra Padmanabhan is the General Secretary of the Humanists’ Association, Kolkata

[Website: www.srai.org ; E mail : sumitra_humanist@hotmail.com]

Euthanasia: A Death Wish

Ostracized for Keeping Pet Ghosts!

Sumitra Padmanavan — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:05:41 +0000

: The Ostracized Family

Report by Sumitra Padmanabhan and Anindyasundar

Consider the situation in the 21st century in Medinipur, a district in the communist-ruled state of West Bengal.

For the past 6 months an innocent family have been ostracized and kept practically under house-arrest by the remaining 46 families inhabiting the village of Bhimshole. The poor tribal farmer Manik Mahato and his family of 7 have been boycotted for their alleged liaison with ‘ghosts’.

Suspicions arose about a year ago when some people and a few cattle died in the village. The deaths were deemed ‘unnatural’. This belief together with the booming prosperity of the Mahato family led the villagers to believe that the Mahatos were resorting to supernatural powers to help them. Manik and his son Ramesh provide for their family by farming their land of about 3.5 acres. This year the crops were unusually good. But their happiness led to the envy of the other villagers, who took their concerns to a sorcerer from the bordering Orissa. The sorcerer or ‘tantrik’ diagnosed the reason as the presence of some ‘evil-spirits’ being kept at the home of the Mahatos. These supposedly supernatural creatures, he said, were indeed responsible for the unnatural prosperity of the family. The tantrik promised to exorcise the ‘pet ghosts’ of the Mahatos at a fee of ten hundred thousand rupees.

Anindyasunder, the zonal secretary of the Rationalists’ Association, heard the news and met with the family during the 1st week of September. He was told that Ramesh Mahato was educated up to the tenth class. It is the knowledge he gathered from his school books that was responsible for the better yield this year. Ramesh told Anindyasunder that he had reported the harassment by his neighbors to the local police, but to no avail. In fact most people, including the police believed in the existence of ghosts or evil spirits. They also feared the special powers of the tantrik.

The Rationalists’ Association organized an anti-supernatural campaign known as ‘Aloukik noy, Loukik’ in this tribal village, in the vicinity of the Mahato house. Hundreds of people gathered from nearby villages to see the program. Rationalist members Suman and Santosh from Kolkata, along with Anindyasundar, showed some common supernatural tricks used by the sorcerers, explaining the science behind each of them.

The presence of reporters and the local commissioner had a positive effect. Finally the police took the complaint against the tantrik ( known and revered as ‘Janguru ‘) and reprimanded the villagers. The news was covered by a number of newspapers- ‘Dainik Statesman’ 03.09.08 and Anandabazar Patrika’ and ‘Bartaman’ dtd 05.09.08

Photos by Anindyasunder

Terrorism & Religion

Sumitra Padmanavan — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 03:21:23 +0000

(The following is an exerpt adapted from the ebook ‘Terrorism….‘, by Prabir Ghosh & Sumitra Padmanabhan.)

TERRORISM & RELIGION

By Prabir Ghosh & Sumitra Padmanabhan

The old enmity between the Christian and the Islamic worlds has erupted afresh as the Christian countries have gradually developed into superpowers, leaving the Islamic nations lagging behind in many respects.

America had aroused the hatred of the oil-rich Arab Countries by trying to impose its ultimate control over these rich but often socially-backward nations. The governments of these smaller and less-powerful nations have accepted this highhanded attitude of the bullying big brother, but many individuals, however, wanted to retaliate. But how? Direct warfare with America is not feasible. They decided that the only way to retaliate was to carry out sporadic guerrilla war and occasional terrorist attacks, killing thousands of innocent people.

The differences in culture and values among nations create alienation and hatred. The values of the American people and that of those who live in some of the Islamic countries are incompatible. This increases mutual hatred. Some Islamic nations - like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Jordan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan, tactically support the US government, while a majority of the people in these same countries hold a hatred for anything American or ‘Western’. Such is the influence of religion.

In a similar argument, the present problems in India — namely, unrest in Kashmir, regular terrorist attacks in Indian cities and the more recent anti-Christian violence in Orissa and Karnataka-all have their roots in religion.

(Exerpt adapted from the ebook ‘Terrorism….‘, by Prabir Ghosh & Sumitra Padmanabhan. Adapted for Nirmukta by Ajita Kamal)

Euthanasia: A Death Wish

Sumitra Padmanavan — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:13:35 +0000

Euthanasia Street Art

Death has been mystified through ages. In fact fear of death has given birth to fear of god, worship of nature and religion in its basic rudimentary sense.That is one reason why there are numerous rituals connected to death and the dead by followers of all religions . We choose our life but we cannot choose our death. There is an unhealthy promotion of suffering of all kinds recommended by religions in general.

Whenever I chose to speak in favour of Euthanasia or “Shwchhamrityu” I found a general aversion for the subject which instinctively avoided logic or common sense. I had a hunch this attitude has a religious background to it. I made it a part of our campaign on behalf of the Humanists’ Association.

Euthanasia is a Greek word that means ‘good-death’ (eu = good, thanatos = death). In other words - a death that is preferable to life.

When life becomes unbearable for whatever be the reason, a person or his/her near ones may wish for his or her death. It may be a conscious wish by the person’s relatives or guardians. In the latter case it may so happen that the person concerned suffers prolonged irrecoverable illness or is in an unconscious state. When we talk about ‘euthanasia’, we mean injecting lethal drug to bring about death of an ailing person, or withdrawal of life-saving drugs or implements, allowing the person to die. By ‘death-wish’ I mean the instances where the person concerned takes the decision to discontinue life. He or she asks for death in countries where active or passive euthanasia is permitted by law. In other countries such people commit suicide or wait for death in painful condition unable to move or carry out their wish without assistance.

The original Greek word reminds us that the idea of mercy-killing existed centuries ago when our society was less complex and human corruption was less widespread and therefore legal aspects less stringent. We have heard of stories where a compassionate soldier shot his fatally wounded dearest friend to quicken his painful end. We put our disabled old pet dog or a favorite injured horse to sleep without any qualms. The act in these cases is simple and humane. The decision is taken by the owner of the animal and the doctor implements the act. Why then, this ‘humane’ act so difficult to carry out in case of human beings?

We know active euthanasia is legal in a few parts of the world. In these places a person who is terminally ill can wish to end life with their doctors’ assistance. To prevent legal complications over inheritance, lawyer’s help is also sought. A person, after complying with all the formalities can meet all friends and relatives before saying a final good-bye to life. Even then, the numbers of people who wish for death do not finally take the decision. Psychological and medical counseling make them change or postpone the decision. Such is the beauty of life. In many other states of USA passive euthanasia is common. That is, when a patient has no chance of recovery and is nominally living with medical assistance, he or she is allowed to die by discontinuing the medical care needed to keep the patient alive. In this case the will of the patient may not be taken into account, as in most cases such a patient is unconscious or in a vegetable state. If the patient is conscious and asks for a ‘physician-assisted suicide’, it becomes an illegal proposition in most countries including a majority of states in the USA.

Legal Status of Euthanasia Around the World

We are reminded of the Italian poet Pierre-Georgio Welby who suffered from muscular dystrophy for a decade until on his repeated requests his anesthetist friend ‘killed’ him with an overdose of sedative. The friend Mario Ricci is now facing trial for murder as euthanasia is illegal in Rome.

The number of people who support Mario’s ‘act of kindness’ is on the rise. Most people would agree that to live just for the sake of living with elaborate and expensive life-support system is worse than death. A person who still has a will to voice his opinion and has the ability to realize the futility of his existence suffers even more. Therefore, it is all the more logical that his wish be fulfilled. Why then is human society still hesitant about legalizing physician-assisted suicide?

If we go through the reasons for not encouraging euthanasia, we will find four basic arguments against legalizing mercy-killing. There are four common arguments.

One: “We cannot create life; can we willfully take away life?” This statement though sounds logical, is the silliest of the lot. It makes a pathetic attempt at sentimentalizing the issue, usually in the name of religion, by equating it with murder. If taking life was so very objectionable, those who hold this view should first stop warfare. Do we not train healthy, young human beings in the art or science of killing when we send them to the battlefield equipped to kill equally innocent and healthy youngsters of another country? So, this argument does not stand. Let us first stop manufacturing weapons before we pay heed to such foolish arguments.

Two: Religious restrictions.Killing oneself is prohibited in most religions.Let me remind you - in Jain religion, committing suicide by willfully discontinuing the intake of food and water is allowed. In 2006 Kolkata witnessed the ‘public farewell’ of three elderly Jain women who embraced death in this method approved by ‘Jainism’. In Hindu religious texts and mythologies we find a number of instances of ‘Shwechha-mitryu’ (self-willed death). Roman Catholics opposed abortion for centuries equating it with homicide, but abortion is now legal in most countries.

So, even if some religions consider suicide as sin, it does not affect people who wish to say good-bye to life. After all, there is no compulsion, legal or otherwise, to strictly adhere to all religious practices and beliefs.

Three: There is always a question of doubt before deciding on euthanasia for terminally ill persons. What if there is still a minuscule possibility of recovery? What if within a few days or months new drugs are discovered to treat the particular ailment? Since the decision is ultimate and irreversible, any possibility of regret at a later stage would be disastrous. It is true. In case of passive euthanasia or active mercy killing where the person concerned is not in a position to give his opinion, utmost efforts should be made to justify the decision. All legal and ethical aspects should be exhaustively explored and the opinions of the nearest members of the family who are the patient’s custodians should be taken into account. But waiting for the possibility of new drugs being invented has no logic. It does not justify prolonging a painful and futile life.

Moreover in third world countries like India where health services for the poor is inadequate, euthanasia (with written request by near and dear ones and/or request by the patient) will have many positive effects. Firstly, when a patient occupies a bed for months without any chance of recovery, the patient’s relatives gradually become disinterested. They lose patience and become reluctant to spend further. Active euthanasia would –

a) Make a bed available to one of the numerous patients who are returned from hospital gates due to lack of vacancy. Many such accident or snake-bite victims die on the way traveling from hospital to hospital looking for admission.
b) The patient’s relatives are saved from excessive and futile expenses and from the depressing duties of daily visits to the hospital; in cases of villagers it can mean a positive health hazard, waste of time and energy.
c) The body of the ailing person can be utilized for other patients. In India, a brain-dead person’s body is legally used for transplantation of usable organs. In case of active euthanasia, arrangements can be made for transplantation, while in the hospital. The patient’s near ones only would have the pleasure of curing other patients from sure death by allowing the hospital to utilize organs of the terminally ill after consenting to mercy killing. So there are these three positive benefits if euthanasia is made legal possibly, all over the world.

Painless, At Last

We remember Venkatesh, a boy of twenty from Hyderabad who died in 2004. He knew he was terminally ill and his last wish was to donate his entire body after euthanasia by withdrawing life-support system. His mother wanted to honor his last wish and spent the last few days in hectic attempt knocking at all possible doors of the state asking for permission to put Venkatesh to sleep. He was in acute pain-breathing with difficulty. But to no avail. ‘Mercy-killing was illegal’, was the only answer she got. What was the result?

1. Venkatesh died anyway.
2. His last wish was not honored, causing deeper agony to his mother.
3. His body could not be fully utilized because of the delay.
With prior arrangement, if transplantation is carried out properly as done in cases of the brain-dead, four or five patients can be revived from sure-death situation and at least 10-12 body parts can be used to treat various ailments or injuries from the donated body of a single patient.

Then for whom is this law after all? Is it for the benefit of man? Or is it just a kind of rigid superstition that forces you to suffer against your will? Whose life is it anyway? Once upon a time foeticide was illegal. It was also considered to be killing of a human life. Now abortion is legal and necessary in some cases in the interest of a healthy human society.

It is shocking news that twenty cotton-farmers of Vidarbha in Maharashtra sought permission from the Prime Minister to commit suicide. They were totally immersed in debt. For them there was no way to repay the loans with the high interest accrued. The only other way was to starve to death. It is a known fact that during the last 3 years more that 9000 cotton farmers committed suicide in India by consuming pesticides. Could any one stop them? Could the government say - ‘No, suicide is illegal, we will somehow save you.’ No. The state was a silent spectator. People of Somalia, people of Amlashol or Kalahandi die of starvation in thousands. What have the respective states got to say? - ‘Yes, you live. You crawl and you creep your way to death watching your children die in front of you, helpless, ailing and starving.’ So, a state or law can have nothing justifiable to say regarding an individual’s wish to live or to die. [Ironically, India has recently changed the law - ‘attempt to suicide' is not punishable any more. It was a clever decision. Poor survivors of attempted suicides would otherwise fill the jail hospitals. At least they would have got two meals there!]

In fact state becomes instigators to suicide in the above-cited instances. We know in India bride burning is a common incident. The law is strict about it. Even if a young wife commits suicide, the husband and his parents are booked for instigating the suicide. So, in case of deaths in Amlashol and Bidarbha - should the state or its representatives not be punished for abetting suicide?

Finally we must agree that a life should be worth-living. A painful life with prolonged old-age and illness cannot be better than a shorter healthy life. Medical science has made remarkable advancement. But man sometimes forgets that science and medicine should be utilized to make life healthy and happy. Just to make life longer by keeping the heart beating with the help of medical aids cannot be the answer.

Four : The most terrible argument is that if euthanasia is made legal, it is bound to be misused. Even many legal professionals, when confronted with the topic express their apprehensions about abuse of law. Our question is - ‘Is there any law which has not been misused?’ We constantly hear about false charges being framed to get leaders of idealistic militant groups arrested. Wicked women to get divorce along with the husband’s money are framing false charges of torture.

Hospitals get away even after ‘killing’ a patient with wrong treatment, female feticides in India is so rampant that it has resulted in gender imbalance in some states, but only a single doctor has so far been booked. Are these not examples of misuse, abuse and loopholes of law? So, the possibility of being misused cannot be a reason for not passing a law otherwise logical and ethical. Where there is corruption, misuse of law is a natural corollary. If the corruption is at an upper level among state officials and educated professionals, misuse of law becomes a practice. And, this logic becomes totally irrational when seen against the free will of a sane human being regarding his or her life and death.

Man does everything for his own pleasure, for the happiness of his near and dear ones and for the well being of the society around him. Life is meaningful only when we enjoy life. So, when living is constant pain, life is futile and man ceases to be of any use to others, the only natural and rational answer is to accept and embrace death. So ‘euthanasia’, active or passive, if and when needed is the only logical and the most beautiful end we can think of. It has to be accepted sooner or later and be passed as a universal law. The sooner we realize it, the better it would be for millions of people around the world. At the end of an active and useful life - death is natural and beautiful. Man makes it ugly by trying to prolong it unnecessarily and with unnatural means.

Many children are born with deformities and congenital incurable diseases. Their parents, knowing well that they cannot even survive their infancy, are forced to witness the agony. They and the siblings of the child suffer unspeakable pain. In such cases too the parents could take the ultimate decision and the doctor could only implement their wish and save all from further pain.

In India, as probably everywhere else, old-age is a curse. Be it village or city, be it the upper class or the poverty-stricken - the infirm old women and the superannuated, old and disabled men face utter neglect in most cases. Their final years of life are spent in utmost loneliness. The younger family members hardly understand their mental state. There may be exceptions, but to ignore or disregard this fact would be utter hypocrisy. In the third world countries, we do not so far find any attempts - social or state-sponsored - to improve the quality of life of its debilitated senior citizens. They have neither anything to occupy or entertain themselves, nor do they have any place to complain to. It is a shame that an active and well-utilised life faces such a humiliating end in most cases.

The ancient Indian had divided his life into four parts - Brahmacharya, Garhasthya, Vanaprastha and Sannyas. The last one ‘Sannyas’ was when the aged was ready to face the end. He would leave the house for a long walk to some pilgrimage in the woods or the mountains and spend the last few days in secluded meditation. The end would come naturally without much subsistance and without any artificial intervention. It was easier in the ancient, idyllic life-style and social set up. We can easily apply this basic concept to the modern world. During ‘Vanaprastha’, an elderly couple would leave the property and household duties to the younger generation who are earning members by then. They lived separately. After that came the time of choosing the final days of life. A time comes when an old person loses all interest in the pleasures of life and prefers to be left alone. The best way to treat them would be to allow then to have their own way, (which is hardly allowed by the modern, ‘know-all’ younger generation) and not to harass them with unwanted medical support.

Once upon a time childbirth was uncontrolled and child mortality rate was high. Even during the end of the nineteenth century an average Indian woman used to bear 8 to 12 children of which on an average 3 or 4 would not survive beyond the age of five years. Other than congenital infections and accidents, diseases like typhoid, malaria, tuberculosis and cholera would take the annual toll. So, along with the advancement of medical science, control over the birth of children has positively improved the quality of life.

Similarly, along with proper physical and psychological care of the elderly the disabled and the sick, if we learn to exercise control over death, we would definitely gain. We would have a better, healthier and happier society. Surely we do not wish to see a world filled with sick, old, prematurely old or disabled and unhappy men and women waiting for the end!

Since legalization of Euthanasia would bestow utmost importance to the wish of the individual, misuse would be minimal. Making a will would be mandatory and that would further reduce the possibility of misuse of law.

Life is beautiful. We would all love to enjoy it to the last bit. So ‘right to die’ would never become a ‘duty to die’ - whereby compelling a person or making a person feel unwanted. All such decisions would be taken in exceptional cases by committees made of near relatives, doctors and lawyers.

Religious instructions and law go hand in hand. Once upon a time abortion was illegal, immoral and unethical following the religious order. Time has changed the concept. It is time that we realize the need to have control over death as well as over birth. In the interest of a better, happier society laws are beings changed. Hundreds of new laws are being made every year. The concept of ‘right to die’ would necessitate new laws being made all over the world. The idea that a peaceful, painless death awaits in the end would make life happier and the world healthier and a better place to live in.