RAPE & ARTHASHASTRA

RAPE & ARTHASHASTRA

American media has been blaming the patriarchal nature of Indian power structure for the crimes against women. It loses no opportunity to show India in a bad light consistent with the general psyche of a nation suffering from Indophobia. There is a certain amount of truth in it, yes. But … Is it a characteristic of Indian society alone? 

Take for example, in this world’s most advanced society a female intern succumbs to providing sexual favors to the world’s most powerful man. The man continues to enjoy public acclaim and even goes on to lead the campaign of a future incumbent. While the woman is relegated to a quiet corner – a butt of lewd jokes.

When Will They Be Without Fear?

Empowering women had been a very recent phenomenon in the societies that lay to the west of India. Here, the accent since the earliest times had always been on protection as a means to empowerment. The gruesome incident in the capital that stirred the nation’s conscience is not due to the lack of empowerment but the failure of institutions meant for protecting the citizens.

From the historian’s perspective, India had a clear punitive regime for the perpetrators of crimes against women and an adequate organization to ensure its administration. Let us look at the provisions in traditional jurisprudence that goes back to pre-Christian times.

Manu Dharma Shastra on Rape

The seminal law text of Indian antiquity prescribes corporeal and capital punishment to those having sex with an unmarried woman against her will. The text prohibits rape and gives no protection to the upper castes as in the case of other crimes. The punishment is mutilation of fingers even if it is committed against a slave or a bonded servant. You will see the recognition of the crime as the basest and the privileges of birth and station cease the moment one perpetrates the act.

Arthashastra on Rape

Arthashastra, a treatise on Indian polity and statecraft recognizes rape as a crime that requires very stringent action against its perpetrators. Different punishments are prescribed for the crime depending on the victim: Amputation of middle and index fingers for raping a girl who had attained puberty, amputation of a hand if the girl had not attained puberty and death if the girl dies as a result of the crime. In the case of Gang Rape, even if the victim happens to be a prostitute, the punishment is equally stringent to all those involved in the crime. If one reads between the lines, one can notice that the accent is on protecting the most susceptible.

Further, the treatise describes a large and elaborate police and judiciary system. Significantly it delves heavily on an efficient informant system to proactively protect civil life. Of course a large portion deals with issues like espionage and rebellion, an equally large part addresses protection of property and life of people. Most importantly, the treatise recognizes the common axiom – A Policeman is as good as his informant system.  

The popular literature and folk tradition always condemned the violators of woman’s ‘honour’ as villains and they were almost always depicted as demonic aliens and the act received the severest punishment. It was only since the middle-ages that rape is used as a political instrument in conquered territories and a license given to the rulers to subdue the subjects – a concept alien to India. But the civic life continued to be dictated by the traditional law. Of course there are a few examples of despotic lords wielding the power over the subject populations – of both sexes – with no regard for their life or propriety. 

However, during the Islamic rule, the traditional law was not applied to the ruling class. Unfortunately, the landed gentry of rural India still carry the legacy of those times. Current ‘democratic’ polity is to a great extent made up by them and almost entirely dependent on the numbers they mobilize. The cause is not the patriarchal nature of the society but a state of anomy that pervades it.

On the surface, the cause appears to be a consequence of the corrupt system with the police being a co-beneficiary. That puts the blame squarely on the law enforcers as willing partners in the perpetration of crimes against women. The media is shouting hoarse about the inaction or positive connivance of police with the perpetrators. But do the police have a choice?

The blame cannot be placed at the doorstep of the police station but the failure of successive governments in building a sufficiently large and responsive force. Today the same understaffed police institution is responsible for internal security, crisis response, bandobasts, VIP security, political intelligence etcetera. If you look at the schedule of a station house officer in your neighborhood, the demands on his time and that of his force – if you still want to call that so – leave him with absolutely no time for any proactive role in protecting the neighborhood in his charge. Nature of his roster, unreasonable demands on his time, lack of infrastructure and complete lack of transparency in performance evaluation and reward system have lead to dilution of pride and basic values on which the institution was built. There is no provision for developing a proper informant network except in regions affected by insurgency and when there is a need for political intelligence. And, the need for survival in the system has forced him to evolve an alternate normative structure that looks away from his most fundamental role in an organized society. No wonder, any demand for action in the right direction elicits a belligerent response and even violence against those who dared touch his dormant conscience.   

I am not stating something new. The Indian Police Commission – gathering dust for decades – agrees with the above assessment and its recommendations are very specific for the way forward.

And, they are consistent with the traditional wisdom that can be elicited from Arthashastra that had successfully guided the leaders for centuries.

What are they?

Stringent punishments aside,

Fundamentally, “there is an urgent need to increase the size of police force and a substantial investment in improving the informant system with a clear focus on neighborhood peace.”

Then, why weren’t they implemented?

The singular reason given by successive governments is the lack of fiscal resources.

But…

From the times immemorial the largest source of state revenue had been the tax on agriculture. In a country as large as ours, the largest contributor to GDP is not taxed. Here, I’m not talking about the marginal farmer who will never reach the lowest tax slab.

A reasonable demand on agricultural income is imperative to bring in a rational tax regime and improve federal investment in the basic services required in an organized society that is essential for the success of India’s democracy. But will they, the landlords with large holdings that influence the voting pattern and form the largest block of our legislating bodies, allow it?

Only a tax-payer will have interest in ensuring that his money is well spent.

Corporate Social Responsibility – Through Ages

Corporate Social Responsibility – Through Ages

- Sai Papineni                       

The Great Depression had brought into focus a few lacunae in the system and forced the intelligentsia to look closely at the capitalist ideal; and the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility had its genesis; a concept made popular by the management thinkers like Drucker in mid 20th Century. In India the word began to make rounds very recently – of course, true capitalism here is a new, post-liberalization phenomenon – but is it really new to us?  

If one explores various phases of India’s long and illustrious history, there are many phases during which welfare activities were undertaken by the the mercantile and industrial enterprises. But the social processes and particularly the parlance differed significantly from what we understand it as today. 

Let us simplify the term CSR into easily comprehensible words…

“Voluntary alienation of one’s wealth for the general good of many”

This may not explain the concept in its entirety, but it should suffice for now. The contexts, the motivations and the priorities differed from time to time. However, in this simplified form, it is not new to India from the earliest times known.

Dāna is a term well known from the earliest literary tradition available to us – Rig Veda. The number of instances, of a wealthy patron – a warlord or a landlord –, giving away cattle or gold or some such movable tokens of wealth to the officiating priests at the sacrifices, abound in the Vedic tradition. The size of these donations preempts their enjoyment by a single individual or a family; they were essentially meant for the community benefit and differ from the mandatory taxes such as Bali and Bhāga.

The concept of taxing the business as a means to state led welfare schemes is part and parcel of civilized societies from the times immemorial. When a strong welfare state exists, the focus on CSR becomes irrelevant. The focus on the direct contribution of non-government institutions, therefore, is inversely proportional to the people’s confidence in state-led welfare processes. In the occident, the church became the agent of welfare and the tithes a means for the welfare of the parish. Its prominence increased with the weakening state authority during the dark ages. Its Indian parallel is the rise of temples as nuclei of rural communities.  

Therefore, religious sanction to the endowments made by commercial institutions and wealthy individuals has been a fact that persisted through ages in different social and religious milieu. The individual motivation remains the same, “Donor acquires merit (Puṇya) and also material wealth (Artha) in one’s lifetime”. Is it in reality different from the motivations of a modern corporation? To me they are essentially the same – a long-term image building for the corporate brand and improved economic conditions leading to a stronger customer base.

Now, if you look back at the historical times, one may argue that the purpose of donations had nothing to do with the welfare of people, even though they might have had indirectly contributed to the community benefit. However, there is no denying the fact that some literary and epigraphic records do establish that the donors were conscious of the purpose for which the donatives were made.  

A later codicil of the Mahabharata story, the Anusāsanika Parva, differentiates dānas into two distinct types – Işṭa & Pūrta. While the Işṭa dāna is a honorarium for officiating a ritual, the Pūrta dāna was specifically towards such activities like digging wells, repairing irrigation tanks and building of temples. While Işṭa dāna is mandatory, the Pūrta dāna is voluntarily made by the Landlord / Merchant. 

 Arthashāstra is a manual on statecraft representing a strong unitary state – probably 2000 years old – and primarily deals with the welfare initiatives that are state led. A modest provision in its tax collection and administration code gives discretion to the collectors to waive the duties if the articles of trade are meant for community benefit, indirectly pointing to the fact that such practices had taken place even though at a low key.

Vinaya piṭaka, from the Buddhist canon mentions such terms as Shréni, Puga, Nigama etc. which denote corporate organizations or guilds that are engaged in industry and trade. There were references of such guilds providing regular supplies of food and clothing not only to the monks, but also to the destitute and the disabled.

There are several inscriptions of early historic period referring to wealthy persons investing in guilds towards some pious endowments, the interest from the investments to be utilized for the needy and towards improving public amenities. For example, an inscription from Junnar refers to an investment with one Konachika guild for the purpose of planting karanja and banyan trees on the highways. 

 
Dharmāta, the practice of setting aside a part of the profit margin towards some pious activity is followed even today by the most traditional Jain and Marwadi business houses  in India; a practice that had its origins in the earliest Jain literature dating back to the pre-Christian times.

 
Sharia, the Islamic law book institutionalized the process, by making it mandatory for every pious businessman to set aside a portion of his income towards alms for the poor and the destitute.

Medieval texts list Sapta Santānas, seven kinds of progeny – the legacies one may leave to improve one's merit afterlife – and these are namely, Rest house, Irrigation tank, Book, House, Temple, Orchard and New Village Settlement. A large number of inscriptions spread across the country, belonging to this period, evidence contributions made by the wealthy merchants and manufacturing groups towards such activities like building, maintenance and repair of community infrastructure. 

This brings us to the fact that the Oriental affinity to contribute a part of the wealth towards the general welfare of the community is very much alive even today. During the years of colonial high tide, the institutional endowments dwindled as the economy suffered. But the instinct was internalized at an individual level, which is evident from the number of alms-seekers at every traffic junction in India. At the institutional level there certainly is a discontinuity. With the rise of modern enterprise and businesses, and the growing disenchantment with state apparatus, a need exists to channelize this proclivity into effective strategies to address the current social needs and priorities.

But … how true is our current crop of NGOs to this purpose?