A rare honor. A rare privilege. An evening with Dr. Binayak Sen.
Dr Binayak Sen was
with us at Centre for Public Health and Equity (CPHE) and later at the
Community Health Cell, yesterday (17th
January 2012) evening. The evening was one filled with discussions that moved
from the personal story of a continuing struggle to fight for justice, when one
comes in direct opposition with the sate and state machinery to the larger
issues of the political economy of health and oneness of people coming together
towards conviviality (Ivan Illich).
I thought I’d share just a few aspects of the discussions we
had with Dr Sen, and provide for the group a few readings to help us understand
what we are engaging in through the work that is driven to health, wellbeing,
equity and justice. (The links that I provide here are clearly some of the
reading I have myself carried on, post the evening, and thought I’d share it
with you as well).
Dr Sen in his quiet, reflective and acutely perceptive
manner spoke to each one of us in the meeting, attentively listening to the
work that some of our fellow friends do – this brought out a discussion of the
conditions, the lives the pauracarmikas lead, and the
prevailing oppression and injustice the community feels. The discussion
highlighted the reality that manual scavenging is seen even in urban places and
cities where deaths are a regular occurrence that often goes unnoticed.
Dr. Sen spoke of his personal struggles in jail and outside.
One thing that has bound the movement together (and one that take it to other
areas of issues) is the sense of fellowship that continued to build through the
Free Binayak Sen campaign and now
beyond. Through all of this, it brought
one thing to centre stage for sure – a realization that the growing phenomenon
of the opposition to/with the state affects all of us. This has given us the
mechanism to come together – where human rights, equity and justice are a
collective struggle.
The Voices of Dissent
Disappear
Dr . Sen mentioned one important concern that is plaguing
the world around us – the disappearance of people who voice their dissent
against the state are “vaporised” (I
make use of this Orwellian expression here).
He brought out the example of Jaswant Singh Khalra who
disappeared one day , when he was last seen washing his car. Jaswant Singh
Khalra discovered cremation records that proved Indian security forces
illegally killed thousands of Sikhs in the 1980s and 1990s. Khalra connected
the police to the disappearances of over 2,000 Sikhs in Amritsar district,
located in the north-western Indian state of Punjab. On the morning of September 6, 1995,
witnesses saw uniformed and armed Indian police personnel abduct Khalra from
outside his home, who had previously been warned by the police to discontinue
his efforts or he too would be disappeared. Police tortured Khalra for weeks
before killing him.
The Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) had conducted the
National Consultation on Human Rights Defenders conference where the widow of
Jaswant Singh Khalra spoke her inaugural
address highlighting the human rights abuses that took place in Punjab
have not been addressed by the state.
Today there is a similar pattern of disappearance everywhere. Formally
it was believed that these instances were rampant in places like Kashmir and
the North East.
Read more :
Living in the time of
Famines
Dr. Sen highlighted the fact that we live in a time where
“famine” is a constant. The image that we have of famine is often a wrong
imagery – that it happens due to natural calamities or occurrences. The fact
that India is battling Undernutrition shows this phenomenon. The body mass index (below 18.5) is regarded as chronic nutrition. 37% of our adult population have a body mass
index below 18.5. This is severe in
scheduled tribes, with 50% of the people having a body mass index below 18.5. Among scheduled castes, the figures are more
than 60% . He drew attention to the World Health Organization technical report
that mentions that if in any community has more than 40% of the people with a
BMI of below 18.5, that the community can justifiably be regarded as being in a
state of famine.
The Age of Barbarism
An important reading that one should carry out is: When state makes war on its own people.
This is a report on violations of people's rights during the Salwa Judum
campaign in Dantewada, Chhitsgarh, April 2006. You can read the full report
from the link provided here.
Dr Sen spoke of the barbarism that exists in the world
today, where every 3 seconds there is a death of a child due to poverty and in
the 3 seconds over 250$ is spent in "arming" the world.
Public Health reduced
to Techniques
One notices that “Public Health” is becoming a popular
stream, and we see that it has now been reduced to techniques. It is rare to
find discussions about the social dimensions toe health.
We at SOCHARA can feel worthy ( and feel proud) that we do not allow the social dimensions to
be lost, when sometimes a reductionist mode of understanding health and
equity is often a trap that most can
easily slip into. Through all our discussion, reflection, engagements and
research we draw out the community, social paradigms of change. We bring the
community to the fore.
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