Articles by Gautam Navlakha



The recent Amnesty International report examines the phenomenon of disappearances in Jammu and Kashmir. While some of the 'missing' may have crossed the border, by far the larger number have fallen victim to state terrorism - arrest, detention, torture and death at the hands of the security forces. Courts cannot provide much relief as court orders are ignored by bureaucrats and armed forces.

India spends large and increasing amounts on defence. Secrecy shrouds the issue of security. Threat perceptions, defence policy, efficiency of weapons and other such matters cannot be examined by the public. This article argues that parliamentary scrutiny and public accountability are a must. [This is the first part of a two-part article. The second part, to be published next week, will examine internal security matters.]

Amrita Chhachhi, Farida Khan, Gautam Navlakha, Kumkum Sangari, Neeraj Malik, Ritu Menon, Tanika Sarkar, Uma Chakravarti, Urvashi Butalia, Zoya Hasan THE Anveshi article (Anveshi Law Committee, is Gender Justice Only a Legal Issue? Political Stakes in the UCC Debate', 8, 1997) criticises tendencies within the 'Indian women's movement' that, in its opinion, have focused very narrowly and exclusively upon legal reform. The main thrust of such reforms, moreover, is described as a monolithicising intention that would like to erase all plurality of caste and community, custom and practice in the name of abstract, universal gender justice, thus denying women as well as a range of marginalised communities the right to autonomy. The universalising tendency of this version of gender justice betrays a biological essentialism that fails to take on board other aspects of women's social existence. Such tendencies are most evident among feminists who, according to Anveshi, are termed as 'upper caste, Hindu and urban' in other words, they share some social characteristics of the hindutva politics that they otherwise criticise. However, presumably because of shared social space, they 'unwittingly' lapse into some of the language and agendas of their political adversaries: the demand for a uniform or gender just civil code would be one such instance, the campaign against obscenity would be another. As examples of such immature and politically naive feminist thinking, Anveshi has singled out Forum against Oppression of Women from Bombay and Working Group on Women's Rights from Delhi.

Gautam Navlakha The abdication by the legislature of its role of being a watchdog of people's interest, and corresponding increase in coercive powers of the executive, has resulted in disenfranchisement of people and weakening of democratic governance.