Salary to Wife: Is Wife a Servant? Govt. thinks so!

Kumar Rahul Tiwary; Sep 2012

Politicians world over are famous to make illogical laws and pass laughable dictates. Perhaps latest in the list is an upcoming “law” in India where husbands will be legally bound by law to pay a “salary” to wives for performing household work. Initially when I heard about this proposed law and “salary”, I thought it would be just a means to empower women by making them legally own part of monthly household savings (if there were not enough laws already giving them part of husband’s property). But when I read the actual news which clearly mentioned that this salary would be for the “household work done by wives”, I was shocked. Even my wife laughed at this proposed “law”.

The Proposal:

The proposal is mooted by Ms. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development Let us read the minister in her own words:

“A majority of women in India are involved in household chores after getting married but they do not get any salary for it. The socially accepted behaviour becomes a tragedy when a woman gets divorced or is widowed when she is left with nothing for survival. The Government is mulling to bring a law under which a husband will have to legally pay a definite amount to his wife from his salary and the Ministry has started preparing a draft in this regard,” Tirath told Indian Express.

She also favoured for exempting this income from the tax net saying, “The income of the domestic help or cook is not taxed.” “When the housewife is performing all those chores and much more efficiently, why should her income be taxed?” [Ref]

Wives as domestic helps and cooks

Should we thank the minister for putting housewives ahead of “domestic help” or “cooks” by saying housewives performs “all those chores” and “much more efficiently”? I am not sure.

In my personal opinion, this proposed law is so demeaning and insulting to the women that it should never be passed and needs to be opposed strongly. Putting a price tag for the household work a wife does at “her” home brings her to the class of domestic servants and none better.

This proposed law in current shape not only looks foolish but also is provocative. It is not surprising that it has invited the ire of Men’s Rights Groups who have even asked PM’s intervention to stop this law. Save Family Foundation, representing around 40 men's rights organizations across India, has termed this proposal one-sided [Ref]. May be such proposals bring out some positive changes for the rights of men too?

Many individuals and organizations have rightly opposed this proposal. I liked what novelist Dr SL Bhyrappa said on this issue: [Ref: Salary to wife against Hindu Law]

“As there was no dharma and nyaya concept in the western countries, the economic system of such countries is collapsing. The proposed Bill which is suited for Europe and America, will affect the Indian family system,” he said.

“If the government brings in the Bill, the bondage between husband and wife will no longer hold,” he said.

Track Record of Ms. Krishna Tirath

Ms. Krishna Tirath is an MP from Delhi, and member of Congress Party. Her past looks marred by controversies generated by both silly mistakes and serious cases of corruption:

Ministry of Women and Child Development which is headed by Krishna Tirath published a full page advertisement on 2010 to mark the National Girl Child Day. To the embarrasement of whole nation, former Pakistan Air Force chief Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed's photograph appeared in the Ad along with our PM Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Ultimately, Prime Minister's Office apologized to the nation after Krishna Tirath refused to accept the blunder. You are read this news here [Ref]

In Sep 2012, Central Administrative Tribunal quashed the appoitment of Yashvi Tirath, daughter of Minister Krishna Tirath because of irregularities. You can read about the news here: [Ref: CAT quashes DD selection of minister's kin]

Yashvi Tirath was ranked 33th after a written exam and audition for the post of anchor-cum-correspondent in state run telecaster Doordarshan News. Only 30 candidates were to be called for interview; suddenly, the number was arbitrarily increased to 35. Just as abruptly, barely two days before the interview, its weightage was changed from 25% to 33%.

Yashvi scored an impressive 90 marks in the interview and landed the job. She also happens to be the daughter of minister for women and child welfare Krishna Tirath.

This is only one of 24 such instances of "arbitrary and irregular" appointments made last year that were quashed by the Central Administrative Tribunal on Monday. A shocked Tribunal, headed by chairman V K Bali, cancelled the selection of the journalists working with DD News, finding "misuse of marks in the interview" and "irregularities having vitiated the whole process."

My Conclusions:

1. The proposed law is in blatant disregard to the interests of women and their place in Indian society. It should be rejected and opposed by all.
2. Instead of making such controversial and foolish “laws” to empower women, which would result in more family disharmony as well as degraded status of women in society, the Ministry of Women and Child Development should do real ground work, to both enforce existing laws and to provide support and opportunities to women.
3. Ms. Krishna Tirath, the Minister of Women and Child Development has some tainted past record. All charges of corruption against her should be probed as soon as possible and if found true, she should be punished and the chair should go to someone more competent and sensible than her.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization associated with the author. There is no attempt to hurt the feelings of readers and any unintended ones are regretted. You are welcome to share your own personal opinion on this article in the comments section.

Impact of Corruption on GDP Growth

A PTI report tells that Government of India has lowered its estimate of GDP growth, from around 9% to 8% now. Pranab Mukherjee says this is due to high oil prices and higher rates of interest done to curb inflation. “If oil prices continue to rise, it would be difficult to achieve higher GDP. GDP may come down to 8 per cent from [the projected] 9 per cent,” Mr. Mukherjee said.

But what no one is bothered about is how large scale corruption in government impacts GDP growth of a nation. I had given a thought on this before and I was certain that as corruption increases, GDP growth of the nation should come down. Also, more corrupt people sending money in Swiss and other foreign banks makes the situation worse too. Reviewing the way our current govt was managing the affairs and the highest than ever corruption cases and scandals coming out in the open, I thought this was going to cost us dear. But I didn’t have empirical data to prove my point. Now, thanks to the US researchers, I have something to fall back on. 

Mushfiq Swaleheen of Florida Gulf Coast University has done a research on exactly this topic of how corruption impacts GDP growth. His study is titled “Economic growth with endogenous corruption: an empirical study”. As such his major discovery was that “In deeply corrupt countries such as Congo, incidences of corrupt practices actually enhance economic growth, perhaps by helping companies sidestep onerous rules.” But that is only at the extreme. I understand India doesn’t fit into that set. But going one step ahead, his finding was really hitting for countries like India: 

“For a country with average endemic corruption, a one-standard-deviation increase in corrupt incidences depresses per-capita GDP growth by 0.12 percentage points.”

Now this is exactly what I used to say, and what logically followed too! And now we have the statistics too! No wonder when our GDP figures would come out next year, and if we see a major debacle, our government and economist ministers will blame it on inflation, higher rates, oil prices, etc, and no one will speak about corruption. But we the public, should understand and think it over. After all, this country doesn’t belong to a Sonia Gandhi or a Pranab Mukherjee alone – this country belongs to all of us! And all of us can make a difference by democratic means too! Awareness is the foundation of any democracy.

- Rahul

 

Impact of Corruption on GDP Growth

A PTI report tells that Government of India has lowered its estimate of GDP growth, from around 9% to 8% now. Pranab Mukherjee says this is due to high oil prices and higher rates of interest done to curb inflation. “If oil prices continue to rise, it would be difficult to achieve higher GDP. GDP may come down to 8 per cent from [the projected] 9 per cent,” Mr. Mukherjee said.

But what no one is bothered about is how large scale corruption in government impacts GDP growth of a nation. I had given a thought on this before and I was certain that as corruption increases, GDP growth of the nation should come down. Also, more corrupt people sending money in Swiss and other foreign banks makes the situation worse too. Reviewing the way our current govt was managing the affairs and the highest than ever corruption cases and scandals coming out in the open, I thought this was going to cost us dear. But I didn’t have empirical data to prove my point. Now, thanks to the US researchers, I have something to fall back on. 

Mushfiq Swaleheen of Florida Gulf Coast University has done a research on exactly this topic of how corruption impacts GDP growth. His study is titled “Economic growth with endogenous corruption: an empirical study”. As such his major discovery was that “In deeply corrupt countries such as Congo, incidences of corrupt practices actually enhance economic growth, perhaps by helping companies sidestep onerous rules.” But that is only at the extreme. I understand India doesn’t fit into that set. But going one step ahead, his finding was really hitting for countries like India: 

“For a country with average endemic corruption, a one-standard-deviation increase in corrupt incidences depresses per-capita GDP growth by 0.12 percentage points.”

Now this is exactly what I used to say, and what logically followed too! And now we have the statistics too! No wonder when our GDP figures would come out next year, and if we see a major debacle, our government and economist ministers will blame it on inflation, higher rates, oil prices, etc, and no one will speak about corruption. But we the public, should understand and think it over. After all, this country doesn’t belong to a Sonia Gandhi or a Pranab Mukherjee alone – this country belongs to all of us! And all of us can make a difference by democratic means too! Awareness is the foundation of any democracy.

- Rahul

A Collateral Loss

Our company had to roll out a plan. It had decided to implement it in South Zone first, because of its favorable past experiences. Hyderabad was to be the hub. But by the time the roll out date came nearby, Telangana issue had blown up the political space and Hyderabad and AP was burning in anger and anticipation. The company decided to deter the plan and chose West Region instead. The same story is being repeated for many other companies in all sectors and businesses.

The loss to Andhra Pradesh due to the political crisis has been immense. The losses would amount in thousands of crores, I guess. And the agitation in AP has even cost the other Southern Indian states in general as tourists, companies and investments would choose other safer destinations like West or North.

I think it would be naïve to blame TRS or any particular separatist group for the Andhra crisis. The main culprit in the case is the irresponsible handling of the issue by the central leadership of UPA/Congress. It’s also amusing to note that the members of Nehru dynasty – Rahul and Sonia Gandhi have hardly taken any clear stand on this issue; thereby saving themselves from any possible challenges or issues of ideology. It’s a situation like Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned.

Whether Telangana becomes a separate state or not, Andhra Pradesh has already lost out heavily. Until the political crisis is resolved, the investor confidence in the state would remain negative. Given the manner in which the central leadership has handled this case, and given the attitude of the political powers in the Center, the future of Andhra Pradesh is muted.

- Rahul

China Calling

We have already heard enough about what Chinese are up to courtesy Barack Hussain Obama in his regular addresses to motivate American students. Often, he clubs China with India and labels them as threat to the US and Europe in areas related to science and mathematics. The whole world, to some extent, shares the same views. But there is more to the world if we start looking without an American Eye.

For years, China has been developing ports in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. China is also planning to build a rail network in Nepal, apart from already built roads and bridges to connect Chinese occupied Tibet via Nepal route. Now I read China is developing a small fishing town in Srilanka into a new port, investing millions!

It would be naïve to think that all these projects are to help these small and poor South Asian countries. There is going to be a huge impact on long term political climate of the region if China continues in this way and at this speed. No doubt, the threat to India is now both on security and economy front.

These projects show a resolute attempt by China and Chinese companies to invade these smaller markets and make long-lasting relationships. This would serve many purposes. One, it would help China gain political might in the South Asian region, including coming in nearer to India and counterbalancing the Indian might. It would also help remove dependence of Chinese companies on European or American markets to some extent and in the same time help develop new market for same or outdated (may be outdated at other places; as we know quality constraints in Chinese products) or even for newer products and services. In the short term this is a win-win situation for both China and the other small South Asian countries. But in the long term it is the Chinese who would eat the cake.

Despite all this, I don’t see much effort from government of India to do something proactively. Last time I heard the Maoists in Nepal had stopped Indian firms (most recently GMR Energy) from work at a hydroelectric power project. The future of the whole South Asian region popularly called Indian subcontinent is at the brink of a change in course.

- Rahul