Published on 23rd November, 2009 in The Sentinel Arunachal (www.sentinelassam.com/arunachal/)
The Sentinel carried the profile of the newly elected and re-elected 59 legislators in public interest. However, this daily could not carry the profile of only one legislator, Gojen Gadi. It is informed that Gadi could not find time to share the details due to his busy schedule, despite a month long follow-up by the reporters. However, in the statistic presented below, his family details have been included as informed by various sources. The marital statistic presented about the law-makers gain importance in the light of census 2001 report, which stated the sex ratio of Arunachal to be 893 per 1000 males. And the polygamous status of law-makers is much more significant in the light of a report on 'Educational Development in the NE region of India' by Arun C Mehta. According to this report, sex ratio is projected to further drop down to 859 per 1000 males during census 2011.
For the record, customary practices need protection and promotion but least of all - polygamy. Polygamy practice in the days of yore cannot be relevant in the context of current environment and lifestyle. But if statistics on marital status of law-makers are indicative of anything, then polygamy still is very much in vogue. This undoubtedly is a misplaced practice, wrongly promoted by the right people!
Statistically, 42 INC legislators lead the pack with 56 wives, which translate to 75% across parties, against party's legislator's share of 70%. It is obvious that INC has the highest number of monogamous and polygamous legislators with 32 and 9 respectively. In between 5 senior cabinet ministers [i.e. Dorjee Khandu (4), Jarbom Gamlin (2), Atum Welly (3), Tanga Byaling (3) and Takar Marde (3)], have 15 wives. Another 7 legislators, cutting across party lines, have 15 wives too! In other words, 20% (12) legislators have 40% (30) wives to themselves. From a larger perspective, ten legislators of western parliamentary segment have 26 wives. Whereas, eastern parliamentary segment can boast of a clean slate with no polygamous legislator, if not for one legislator each from East Siang and Upper Siang district respectively. From political party perspective, All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) is the only exception with no polygamous representative.
In a society with skewed sex ratio, polygamous practices of law makers are not a healthy sign, perhaps it is a sin from the perspective that that they are leaders and role models for many in the State. It is high time, the society woke up to the reality that wherever sex ratio is skewed, the crime rate has shoots up, especially against the vulnerable groups in society like the young boys and girls as well as women. If negative trend of sex ratio continues and deteriorates further as projected, then rape, molestation; as well as 'not-so-natural' acts of same sex and unnatural act of paedophiles etc., are bound to take place.
It may not to be too wrong or too extreme to state that in a society with skewed sex ratio, polygamous status of law makers could be interpreted as a tacit endorsement of crime against vulnerable sections of society. That the State government has constituted eight juvenile justice boards (JJB) as mandated by an Act of Parliament, (significantly enough, all in the western segment of parliamentary constituency), does not absolve the legislators of the tremendous dis-service they have been doing to society by promoting polygamy. But nonetheless it proves the point that polygamy do give rise to crime and criminality, verging on anti-social activities among the young men and women.
Nevertheless, it is felt that government must review functioning of the existing commissions and boards particularly, the one that deals with born and unborn children and other vulnerable sections of society like juveniles and girls/women. Reportedly, most of these bodies are defunct in real terms except for utilization of perks and benefits from the State exchequer. It is high time the Government ensured that delivery mechanism is in place, not just left on its own after constitution of boards and commissions. But more than anything else, it is the civil society and the Government, which must together launch a sustained campaign against the unhealthy practice of polygamy so that this is rooted out of the society within a definite time frame before it is left too late
Party-Wise: Numbers & Percentages of Spouses | ||||||||||
In Absolute Numbers | In Percentage | |||||||||
Parties | Total MLAs | Total Number of Wives | Number of monogamous legislatures ( with 1 wife) | Number of Polygamous Legislatures (with < 1 wife) | % Distribution across Party | % of Monogamous Legislatures ( with 1 wife) | % of Polygamous Legislatures (with < 1 wife) | |||
AITC | 5 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 7% | 100% | 0% | |||
BJP | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 5% | 67% | 33% | |||
INC+ | 42 | 56 | 32 | 9 | 75% | 76% | 21% | |||
NCP* | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7% | 60% | 20% | |||
PPA | 4 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7% | 75% | 25% | |||
Overall | 59 | 75 | 45 | 12 | 100% | 76% | 20% | |||
+Pasang Dorjee Sona is single/ *Bamang Felix is single/ NB: Lone Independent MLA, Nang Sati Mein, is the spouse of INC legislature therefore she has not been counted in this report. | ||||||||||
Was this really published in the Sentinel? i do not believe so...Interesting...Courageous, in the sense that our leaders particularly do not enjoy people discussing about it their marital status/mess.
ReplyDeleteTruly spoken...but there are a few things that you need to clear. why have you targeted only the politicians? Please check your statistics and you will find that people with means will tend to have more than one legal spouse. Why don't you do a research on Successful businessmen, affluent contractors and even government officials? I am pretty sure that you will find a comparable or even a higher ratio for the aforementioned profiles in terms of promoting polygamy.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that with skewed sex ratio sexual abuse of unimaginable proportions tend to exist. But it is not a healthy practice to place the buck always on the politicians only. In different walks of life different people are considered as torch bearers viz. the affluent businessmen, the affluent contractor or the successful government official but you seem to have missed them all.