PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2001 ID-41878
.
.
.
2mJ / !_N_o-~ .
GSCASH -The Challenges Ahead 1rJ/11/2000 .
Friends, .
The elections for the JNUSU are round the corner. Because of its unique features of which we are .
all well aware the event gets the attention of the entire nation. The simultaneous elections for the .
GSCASH makes it all the more vibrant and arouses the interest of even the apolitical watchers. At this .
juncture 1 introduce myself, Aahul Sharma, M.Phil, CSSS/SSS as a candidate for GSCASH. As a part of .
my election campaign. I shall endeavour to raise certain pertinent issues regarding the working of the .
GSCASH. .
A tribute to the progressive and gender-sensitive outlook of the JNU Community, the GSCASH was .
constituted, in compliance with the Supreme Court judgement, by a reluctant administration after a long .
and arduous struggle by the teachers and students last year. The working of the GSCASH over the last .
year has basically revolved around the twin issues of gender sensitisation and crisis management. .
Though, to start with, the committee comprising of only seven members and minimal infrastructure support, has done a commendable job, a lot remains to be done. In a recently held seminar, Dr. Anuradha Mitra Chenoy, the Chairperson of GSCASH, has pointed out the following types of cases coming before GSCASH. Most of them relate to the problems between acquaintances and friends, and are very less of the eve-teasing type. The first refer to those where boys, especially freshers, are unable to see the fact that girls can be friends also, and not just girlfriends. This myopic understanding, basically due to their faulty socialisation (in which media has a major role to play), creates several misunderstandings in their dealings with girls of mostly their centres and hostels. .
The second and the more pervasive type refers to cases where there is occurrence of physical .
violence in an intimate relation between a boy and a girt, when the girl tries to assert her autonomy. The .
situation is very tricky since in most of the cases the girl complains only after the relation breaks up. .
And finally there are the teacher-student cases where girl student complains against the harassing gestures of their male teachers. Because of the sheer complexity of these cases, the GSCASH, still in its nascent form, has to evolve a clear set of conventions and rules to deal with them, especially with the cases of the first two types. .
The support system of the GSCASH also is very weak due to lack of adequate logistical back-up .
by the administration. The victim, who is traumatised and mentally wounded needs to be given proper .
counselling which is not just adhoc but consistent over a period of time. Moreover, the GSCASH can only .
intervene after a written complaint Is lodged by the victim. There is total lack of informal authentic .
channels of information which could enable GSCASH to intervene right at the time of any such happening. .
It is seen that there is lot of informal contrasting pressure on the victim by her peer group. If the person .
who advises her to approach GSCASH happens to be a branded member of any political party, others .
within her own friend circle ask her to be cautious of the politicisation of the issue and refrain from going to .
the GSCASH. In all this the genuineness of the cause gets lost somewhere. In some cases, it works the .
other ways round, where GSCASH was tried to be used to settle personal-political scores. .
The accused, too, is left at times at the mercy of the mob or at times tried to be covered-up by the administration. Whether the punishment for the first two types of cases should be more in the nature of imposing penalty or reformative in character, needs to be debated. The attitude of the administration has been quite ambivalent. On one hand, it wants to claim credit for the formation of GSCASH, on the other hand, it refuses to provide GSCASH with more teeth and infrastructure. .
I have tried to present the entire gamut of Issue before you so that a healthy debate which can lead to a consensus can be generated. The GSCASH cannot and also should not be expected to grapple with them alone. I will present my agenda during my personal campaign with you. And I request particularly the female students of this campus to ask me queries on this issue. Just meeting you and .
asking a vote is such a superficial exercise! .
I also request the other candidates to bring out their views on these issues. Mere rhetoric won't do! There Is this candidate who is campaigning for a "Progressive and unproblematic" GSCASH. The formation of GSCASH is a progressive act in itself. How he Intends to make it more progressive and at the same time 'unproblematic' (but, it has to deal with a problem only!), needs to be explained to the JNU .
students. Then there is this candidate who is taking great pains in professing political neutrality in the sense of equidistant from all political parties but, appealing to vote 'politically', in the Aristotelian sense of term. Of course there is a six-seven point readymade agenda also (the way each party has!), as If that takes care of all the problems! Friends, I too have friends in all the parties. As such I can legitimately lay claim to multi .party support since on this issue the cleavage is more on gender lines ............ what an .
excellent logical juggleryl .
The point of GSCASH elections is essentially to evolve consensus generative debate than being just a power show. Kindly afford me five minutes of your valuable time whenever I approach you! .
FOR A JUST AND APOLITICAL GSCASH ! .
Sdl· .
RAHULSHARMA .
~---..
. . .. ~~;~-.--. ~-.
.
.
PaRCha - JNU - All Organisations - 2001 ID-41878
.
.
.
2mJ / !_N_o-~ .
GSCASH -The Challenges Ahead 1rJ/11/2000 .
Friends, .
The elections for the JNUSU are round the corner. Because of its unique features of which we are .
all well aware the event gets the attention of the entire nation. The simultaneous elections for the .
GSCASH makes it all the more vibrant and arouses the interest of even the apolitical watchers. At this .
juncture 1 introduce myself, Aahul Sharma, M.Phil, CSSS/SSS as a candidate for GSCASH. As a part of .
my election campaign. I shall endeavour to raise certain pertinent issues regarding the working of the .
GSCASH. .
A tribute to the progressive and gender-sensitive outlook of the JNU Community, the GSCASH was .
constituted, in compliance with the Supreme Court judgement, by a reluctant administration after a long .
and arduous struggle by the teachers and students last year. The working of the GSCASH over the last .
year has basically revolved around the twin issues of gender sensitisation and crisis management. .
Though, to start with, the committee comprising of only seven members and minimal infrastructure support, has done a commendable job, a lot remains to be done. In a recently held seminar, Dr. Anuradha Mitra Chenoy, the Chairperson of GSCASH, has pointed out the following types of cases coming before GSCASH. Most of them relate to the problems between acquaintances and friends, and are very less of the eve-teasing type. The first refer to those where boys, especially freshers, are unable to see the fact that girls can be friends also, and not just girlfriends. This myopic understanding, basically due to their faulty socialisation (in which media has a major role to play), creates several misunderstandings in their dealings with girls of mostly their centres and hostels. .
The second and the more pervasive type refers to cases where there is occurrence of physical .
violence in an intimate relation between a boy and a girt, when the girl tries to assert her autonomy. The .
situation is very tricky since in most of the cases the girl complains only after the relation breaks up. .
And finally there are the teacher-student cases where girl student complains against the harassing gestures of their male teachers. Because of the sheer complexity of these cases, the GSCASH, still in its nascent form, has to evolve a clear set of conventions and rules to deal with them, especially with the cases of the first two types. .
The support system of the GSCASH also is very weak due to lack of adequate logistical back-up .
by the administration. The victim, who is traumatised and mentally wounded needs to be given proper .
counselling which is not just adhoc but consistent over a period of time. Moreover, the GSCASH can only .
intervene after a written complaint Is lodged by the victim. There is total lack of informal authentic .
channels of information which could enable GSCASH to intervene right at the time of any such happening. .
It is seen that there is lot of informal contrasting pressure on the victim by her peer group. If the person .
who advises her to approach GSCASH happens to be a branded member of any political party, others .
within her own friend circle ask her to be cautious of the politicisation of the issue and refrain from going to .
the GSCASH. In all this the genuineness of the cause gets lost somewhere. In some cases, it works the .
other ways round, where GSCASH was tried to be used to settle personal-political scores. .
The accused, too, is left at times at the mercy of the mob or at times tried to be covered-up by the administration. Whether the punishment for the first two types of cases should be more in the nature of imposing penalty or reformative in character, needs to be debated. The attitude of the administration has been quite ambivalent. On one hand, it wants to claim credit for the formation of GSCASH, on the other hand, it refuses to provide GSCASH with more teeth and infrastructure. .
I have tried to present the entire gamut of Issue before you so that a healthy debate which can lead to a consensus can be generated. The GSCASH cannot and also should not be expected to grapple with them alone. I will present my agenda during my personal campaign with you. And I request particularly the female students of this campus to ask me queries on this issue. Just meeting you and .
asking a vote is such a superficial exercise! .
I also request the other candidates to bring out their views on these issues. Mere rhetoric won't do! There Is this candidate who is campaigning for a "Progressive and unproblematic" GSCASH. The formation of GSCASH is a progressive act in itself. How he Intends to make it more progressive and at the same time 'unproblematic' (but, it has to deal with a problem only!), needs to be explained to the JNU .
students. Then there is this candidate who is taking great pains in professing political neutrality in the sense of equidistant from all political parties but, appealing to vote 'politically', in the Aristotelian sense of term. Of course there is a six-seven point readymade agenda also (the way each party has!), as If that takes care of all the problems! Friends, I too have friends in all the parties. As such I can legitimately lay claim to multi .party support since on this issue the cleavage is more on gender lines ............ what an .
excellent logical juggleryl .
The point of GSCASH elections is essentially to evolve consensus generative debate than being just a power show. Kindly afford me five minutes of your valuable time whenever I approach you! .
FOR A JUST AND APOLITICAL GSCASH ! .
Sdl· .
RAHULSHARMA .
~---..
. . .. ~~;~-.--. ~-.
.
.