#MeToo strikes a chord despite limitations
There are certain parameters for news items like rape and harassments to be considered as newsworthy in the media. The incident should have happened in Delhi or some part of north India. Victims must be from upper middleclass and if they work in IT or BT it’d be even better. The news would get even more prominence if the survivors are working and belong to upper caste. That does not mean all other incidents are ignored. If media had paid equal or significant attention to all kinds of exploitations and harassments against women, things wouldn’t have come to this point. Media considers two kinds of news of exploitation of women, worthy of inside and cover pages. Because a certain group of people who are also journalists, believe women deserve bad treatment, the society has been viewing this social menace with dual standpoint.
If a Danamma has been raped and killed, police department would dismiss it as a result of ‘illicit relationship’. No hashtags appear in the social media. But if an upper middle class woman reveals the harassment she went through in her work place at the hands of a man, it becomes a cry of solidarity. And the result is there for all to see through MeToo movement. On one hand, while welcoming the success of MeToo, we also need to understand ways of extending it to be movement of all women in the country.
One thing we need to understand is, why has the media taken MeToo so seriously? It is because they are concerned about women and their rights or owing to the background of women who are part of this? If the women didn’t belong to upper middle class or rich people sharing details of the mental and physical harassment they underwent, MeToo wouldn’t have been this serious and such discussions wouldn’t have taken place on social media platforms.
In the world of celebrities and their occupations, discussions about casting couch has happened many a times. Many people have indicated if women want to progress in politics, or entertainment industry, they need to ‘cooperate’. It has also been part of social media discourse and discussion too. In the recent times, a senior politician had said this very candidly at a public event. Another politician had used this line of argument when Jayamala was made the lone minister in the current cabinet, asking what ‘favours’ she had offered to get this plum post. These ‘compromises’ are deemed pretty common in entertainment and political spaces. Even common people understand this well now. Hence when celebrities speak of the harassment they face, it is reported in the ‘entertainment’ section. Woman’s body is ‘entertainment’ (actor Silk Smita’s words) for the cinema industry and this cruely is so totally acceptable to us now.
A director will ask an actor such as Tanushree Dutta to strip and dance even if the script does not demand it. Thousands of people come together to watch it. How does one identify how she has been exploited even in the name of ‘performance’? The audience may not have touched her, but what about their animal instinct when they watch her dressed skimpily on the screen? Why is this not a basis for MeToo? Tanushree has spoken about the revolting touch she had to put up with Nana Patekar. The latter has denied all allegations. This does not absolve all the spectators from their guilt of having watched her on the screen though Tanushree has not complained against them. This problem exists on the very basis of cinema industry which thrives on a woman’s body. To restrict the argument very callously to Tanushree’s accusations would be doing injustice to a larger issue.
One thing has struck very clearly through MeToo. Woman’s suffering knows no bounds. Even if she exists in rich class, she remains a woman and has to perform all the duties as per the norms of that space. She has to face torture of being the woman. Since women of that space opened their voice, this issue has come to the mainstream. We have to appreciate all the celebrities who rendered their voice to MeToo. Through this, men who always took women for granted in media, police department, banks and courts have begun to fear the repercussions. This issue has turned into a middle class problem of working women. This is a good indication. Even if MeToo can give a small solace to working women, who face hell for being born women, this movement is successful. This movement started by Tarana Burke in 2008, should help empower women in working spaces and outside across all categories and classes in India beyond allegations and counter allegations.
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Maharashtra Dy CM Ajit Pawar, four others killed in plane crash
Baramati (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four other persons on board an aircraft were killed after it crashed near the Baramati airport in Maharashtra’s Pune district on Wednesday.
The 66-year-old leader’s death has not only left a vacuum in the BJP-led state coalition government, but also cast a shadow on the future of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he headed.
His uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar said the plane crash was an accident which shouldn't be politicised.
The "black box" (comprising the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder) from the aircraft, will be analysed after recovery to determine the cause of the accident, an official said.
Ajit Pawar had taken off from Mumbai in the morning to address four rallies in the day in Pune district for the February 5 zilla parishad elections.
The others killed in the tragedy were Captain Sumit Kapoor, who had a flying experience of 15,000 hours, co-pilot Capt. Shambhavi Pathak with 1,500 hours of flying, Personal Security Officer (PSO) Vidip Jadhav and flight attendant Pinky Mali.
The government released a statement detailing the sequence of events that led to the crash and Pawar's death.
The aircraft, a Learjet, was cleared for landing in Baramati on Wednesday morning after a go-around due to poor visibility, but having finally received a clearance it did not give any read-back' to the ATC, and moments later burst into flames on the edge of the runway.
In aviation parlance, a go-around is a standard procedure where a pilot discontinues a landing attempt and initiates a climb to fly another approach. It is used when a landing cannot be completed safely due to factors like poor weather, an unstable approach, or traffic on the runway. It is a proactive safety measure rather than an emergency.
A readback is a crucial safety procedure where a pilot repeats back the essential parts of a message or instruction received from Air Traffic Control (ATC). It acts as a "closed-loop" communication system, ensuring that the controller's instructions were heard and understood correctly by the flight crew.
The 16-year-old chartered aircraft, operated by VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, crashed while attempting a second landing approach at Baramati airport which is an uncontrolled airfield where traffic information is typically provided by instructors and pilots from local flying training organisations.
V K Singh, owner of VSR Ventures, said the pilot apparently could not see the runway and carried out a "missed approach", a standardised procedure in such cases.
Terrifying eyewitness accounts have emerged from the site of the aircraft crash as residents near the Baramati airport described a scene of chaos as the plane appeared to lose control before erupting into a series of big explosions.
An eyewitness described watching the aircraft circle the airport, noting it appeared 'a bit unstable' before its final approach. According to her, the plane 'hit the ground hard and exploded' upon impact, with the blast being heard in homes throughout the area.
Later, the Civil Aviation Ministry, quoting the person manning the Air Traffic Control at Baramati, issued a statement about the sequence of events indicating that the flight encountered visibility issues during its landing attempt despite reports of calm weather.
The statement said that at 8.18 am, the aircraft first established contact with Baramati air traffic control after being released by the Pune approach at 30 nautical miles (around 55 km) inbound to Baramati.
The crew was advised to descend at their discretion under Visual Meteorological conditions and were also informed that winds were calm and visibility was approximately 3,000 metres.
Upon reaching the final approach for the runway, the crew reported that the runway was not in sight and initiated a go-around to reposition for a second attempt on the runway.
After initially stating the runway was still not visible, the crew reported "runway in sight" just seconds later and the ATC cleared the aircraft to land at 8.43 am.
However, the crew did not provide the mandatory readback of this final clearance and at 8.44 am, exactly one minute after the last communication, ATC personnel observed flames erupting near the threshold of the runway.
Emergency services reached the scene immediately following the explosion and the wreckage was located on the left side of the runway.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is currently analysing why the crew struggled to maintain visual contact with the runway despite the reported 3,000-metre visibility.
According to eyewitnesses, the force of the explosion was so great that parts of the aircraft were hurled through the air, landing near residential structures. "The plane tilted before coming down. We saw the explosion and it was frightening," an eyewitness said.
Another eyewitness reported that the aircraft appeared to be losing control from an altitude of approximately 100 feet above the runway.
"The way the plane was coming down, we felt it was going to crash... As we rushed towards it, we saw flames, followed by four to five consecutive blasts, which prevented us from going anywhere near the aircraft".
Pramod Madurikar, a witness at the scene, said the victims were identified shortly after the crash and were shifted to ambulances. Fire brigade personnel reached the spot shortly.
The aircraft was trying to land amid poor visibility, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu told reporters in Pune.
VSR Ventures’ fleet includes seven Learjet 45 aircraft (including the one involved in the crash), five Embraer 135BJ aircraft, four King Air B200 aircraft and one Pilatus PC-12 aircraft, the statement said.
Superintendent of Police, Sandip Singh Gill, said that after the crash, there was a fire. "People onboard were immediately taken to the hospital," he said.
Ajit Pawar is survived by wife Sunetra, a member of the Rajya Sabha and two sons, Parth and Jay.
His Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had contested the recent municipal corporation elections in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP).
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several other leaders expressed grief over Pawar's demise.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who reached Baramati and met Ajit Pawar’s family members, described the NCP leader’s tragic death as unbelievable, and said he had lost a good friend.
Maharashtra government declared a three-day state mourning till January 30, during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast on all buildings.
Ajit Pawar’s last rites will be held with full state honours on Thursday in Baramati.
Modi and Shah are expected to attend the funeral, which will be held at Vidya Pratishthan ground at 11 am, the Nationalist Congress Party said.
