Dr Ambedkar was India's 'first male feminist', says Shashi Tharoor
Panaji(PTI): Dr B R Ambedkar was India's first male feminist, who propagated such ideas decades back that could be considered as progressive even for the current generation of politicians, Congress leader and writer Shashi Tharoor said here on Saturday.
He was speaking during an interaction programme at the ongoing Goa Heritage Festival.
"He (Ambedkar) was probably India's first male feminist. Way back in 1920, 30s, 40s he made speeches, including in front of a female audience, which today would be considered as progressive for a male politician," the Congress MP said while speaking about his latest book "Ambedkar: A Life".
"He (Ambedkar) urged women not to allow themselves to be forced into marriage. He urged women to delay marriage, delay childbirth. He urged them to stand up to their husbands as equals," The Thiruvanathapuram MP said.
Ambedkar as a legislator fought for women workers and labourers, he said, adding, "It was a remarkable feminist thinking of this man 80-90 years ago."
"There is a tendency to see Ambedkar as a Dalit leader. He was the principal Dalit leader of the country. From his early 20s, he was an influential voice and became more and more influential," he said.
Ambedkar was an extraordinary constitutionalist, being the chairman of the drafting committee. It was he who presented and defended every single one of the provisions of the Constitution, Tharoor said.
Responding to a question on India's image globally, Tharoor said that in 1975, the country's image in America was awful.
"It was considered a poor country and people's idea about India was about fakirs sleeping on nail-bed or snake-charmers doing road tricks. From there, the transformation has been astonishing. By the turn of the millennium, you have Indian software revolution and suddenly started imagining Indians as computer gigs," he said.
Tharoor said that the 'Y2K' phenomenon was a turning point for the Indian computer professionals.
"There was a fear that all the computers would crash...Suddenly we had a demand for Indians doing codes to overcome that problem and that's when India's software revolution really took off," he said.
According to him, the other thing that happened in the western world was about the consciousness of Indian expatriates as not just computer people, but engineers and doctors.
"Indians, from being beggars and snake-charmers, were now software engineers," he said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
MP: 40 years after Bhopal gas disaster, toxic waste leaves Union Carbide factory for disposal
Bhopal, Jan 1: Forty years after the Bhopal gas tragedy, the shifting of some 377 tons of hazardous waste began from the defunct Union Carbide factory on Wednesday night for its disposal, an official said.
The toxic waste is being shifted in 12 sealed container trucks to the Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district, 250 km away from Bhopal.
"12 container trucks carrying the waste set off on a non-stop journey around 9 pm. A green corridor has been created for the vehicles which are expected to reach Pithampur industrial area in Dhar district in seven hours," said Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department Director Swatantra Kumar Singh.
He said around 100 people worked in 30-minute shifts since Sunday to pack and load the waste in trucks.
"They underwent health check-ups and were given rest every 30 minutes," he added.
Highly toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide factory on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killing at least 5,479 people and leaving thousands with serious and long-lasting health issues. It is considered to be among the worst industrial disasters in the world.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court on December 3 rebuked authorities for not clearing the Union Carbide site in Bhopal despite directions from even the Supreme Court and set a four-week deadline to shift the waste, observing that even 40 years after the gas tragedy, authorities were in a "state of inertia".
The high court bench had warned the government of contempt proceedings if its directive was not followed.
"If everything is found to be fine, the waste will be incinerated within three months. Otherwise, it might take up to nine months," Singh told PTI on Wednesday morning.
Initially, some of the waste will be burnt at the waste disposal unit in Pithampur and the residue (ash) will be examined to find whether any harmful elements are left, Singh said.
The smoke from the incinerator will pass through special four-layer filters so that the surrounding air is not polluted, he added.
Once it is confirmed that no traces of toxic elements are left, the ash will be covered by a two-layer membrane and buried to ensure it does not come in contact with soil and water in any way.
A team of experts under the supervision of officials of the Central Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Board will carry out the process, Singh said.
Some local activists have claimed that 10 tons of Union Carbide waste was incinerated on a trial basis in Pithampur in 2015, after which the soil, underground water and water sources in surrounding villages became polluted.
But Singh rejected the claim, stating that the decision to dispose of the waste at Pithampur was taken only after the report of the 2015 test and all the objections were examined.
There would be no reason to worry, he said.
A large number of people had on Sunday taken out a protest march in Pithampur to oppose the disposal of Union Carbide waste in the city which has a population of about 1.75 lakh.
12 trucks carrying 337 tonnes of toxic waste from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, stored for 40 years, left at 9:05 p.m. for Pithampur near Indore. The waste is expected to arrive early on January 2nd, following a 250-km green corridor with heavy security.
— The Hindu (@the_hindu) January 1, 2025
📹@MehulMalpani pic.twitter.com/zU78cVRE85
