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Op-Ed AUGUST 06, 2021 | The Indian Eye 14

hockey bronze, male sterilization and hunger

Views and opinions from the top commentators in Indian media

oor performances had
gradually reduced India’s two tracks
Phockey fan base over the
years. The lowest point was the y attention was drawn
to this engineering
men’s team’s failure to quali- Mfeat by China because
fy for the 2008 Beijing Games. I was making enquiries about
London saw a lackluster cam- the completion of my favorite
paign. A revival began in 2016 railway line between Koder-
with India’s victory at the Ju-
nior World Cup. In fact, the ma and Ranchi via Hazaribagh
likes of Harmanpreet Singh and in Jharkhand. It is my favor-
Nilakanta Sharma, who were ite railway line because ever
since I started my political ca-
part of that junior squad, are reer in Hazaribagh, I was told
today members of the Olympic that anyone who fulfilled this
bronze-winning team. A simi- long- cherished dream of get-
lar comeback story played out
with the women’s hockey team ting Hazaribagh connected by
after Rio’s crushing disappoint- Indian Women's Hockey players celebrate during India vs Great Britain rail would be remembered by
ment. Tokyo marked the first match, at Tokyo Olympics 2020, in Tokyo on Friday. (ANI) the people of Hazaribagh for
a long time. So, I took up the
back-to-back Olympic qualifica- challenge. I soon realized that
tion. That women were ranked ity, the Bill is unlikely to have modities, problems of hunger this dream could be turned into
fourth from the bottom among
Tokyo’s teams, and that they are been drafted.) and food insecurity are grave reality in three ways: first, there
now in the top four, shows the However, India’s fami- in India because of widespread could be such a mass uprising
dramatic scale of improvement. ly-planning programme should economic distress, high unem- for this line that the Govern-
move away from trying to con- ployment and high levels of in- ment of India would be left
Indian hockey, hugely pop- trol men’s or women’s fertility equality. A large proportion of with no option but to give in
ular now, needs sustained long- and towards reproductive and the poor is dependent on the to the popular demand. The
term corporate investment.
The country owes a big thank gender justice – through gender informal economy in which in- people of Hazaribagh were not
you to the Odisha government – transformative policies that in- comes are too low and uncer- stirred. They wanted the rail-
led by an ex-hockey goalkeeper clude men. This shift is import- tain. Unemployment rates have way line but wanted someone
Naveen Patnaik – for sponsor- ant because it is unfair to thrust risen sharply over the last few else to carry the can.
I am mentioning the ex-
the onus of transforming gender years. High (and fluctuating)
ing both the men’s and wom- norms and uprooting patriar- food prices, shrinking public ample of the two railway lines,
en’s teams since 2018. But the chy on women alone, especially investment and the econom- one in India and the other in
sport needs more money, espe- since the men predominant- ic slowdown have compound- China, to underscore the vast
cially at the grassroots, if India
is to sustain and build on its To- ly uphold patriarchal values ed the distress among working difference in approach of the
kyo hockey performance.” and directly benefit from them. classes and the peasantry. With two countries as far as proj-
A significant call to involve low and uncertain incomes, fam- ect formulation and execution
editorial, men in family planning was ilies dependent on the informal are concerned. I am not going
The Times of India made 25 years ago at the fourth economy do not have assured into the reasons for the ram-
population bomb World Conference on Women, access to adequate and nutri- pant time and cost overruns
in Beijing, a UN event. Attend- tious food. These longstanding involved in the execution of
orceful male sterilization ees at the event highlighted the problems were aggravated last projects in India and, surpris-
as a policy in India oc- need to promote equal rela- year because of lack of prepara- ingly, even material over-runs
Fcurred during the Emer- tionship and shared responsi- tion to deal with the pandemic. in many projects. India cannot
gency in 1975-1977, with signif- bilities between men and wom- The sharp increase in food be a great country with such
icant electoral repercussions for en in matters of sexual and insecurity points to an urgent lethargy in project execution.”
the ruling dispensation. This is reproductive behavior.” need for the government to yashwant sinha,
a big reason why controlling saurabh rai and m. sivakami, establish systems for regular The Telegraph
men’s fertility – largely per- The Wire monitoring of the food security
ceived to be emasculatory – isn’t situation in the country and to Every week, we look at what
a popular policy measure. (In food crisis universalize access to the pub- the top commentators in the
fact, if UP’s population control lic distribution system, at least Indian media are talking about
policy had explicitly focused espite being self-suffi- during the pandemic.” and bring to you a slice of their
on men, and invoked coercive cient in the production vaishali Bansal, opinions and comments.
practices to control their fertil-Dof major food com- The Indian Express

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