Seasons in the sun... Flight liceThe alphabet - I

www.assamtribune.com GUWAHATI NOVEMBER 16, 2014

FICTIONMY SPACE

Among certain groups of the popu-lation in Assam, the process of ma-turity in teenage girls starts at anaccelerated pace, defying the nat- ural course of the human body.

Under the garb of human development in-dex and inflated promises, the lives of hun-dreds of innocent young girls continue to bejeopardised, making a mockery of the so-called welfare schemes which have failed tobenefit the tea garden community.

A case in point is the marriage of Kalya-ni Dhanowar, a Class-VI student of Ti-nikhuria Primary School, Dhekhiajuli block,Sonitpur district, which was solemnised infull public view around six months back atthe Orang tea estate, 12 kilometres awayfrom Sonitpur.

Kalyani is barely 14 years old and as perthe customary rules, the father of the teen-age girl had to compensate for his daugh-ter’s decision to elope by paying a ‘fine’ inthe form of cattle.

As my interactions with Kalyani’s familymembers progressed, Iliajor Dhanowar (18)and Lily Dhanowar (16), the older siblings ofKalyani divulged that she is now expecting ababy and that her husband works at the Orangtea garden.

Kalyani’s story does not surprise or worryanyone in the locality, including her familymembers. Attaining motherhood in theirteens is a common practice among girls inmost tea gardens of Assam, and there arehundreds of precedents set every year. Mul-tiple pregnancies in quick succession at avery young age, even before crossing theirteens, has had serious implications on thelives of young/adolescent girls over the yearsin the tea gardens of Assam.

Seeta Kisan is another such adolescent girlof Sangakata Dartuli Basti, who gave birthto an acutely malnourished child at the Rak-yasmari PHC, Dhekiajuli tea block. The stunt-ed and underweight child has developed mul-tiple complications, but there is hardly anyspecialised health care on offer. The youngmother says, “I have never gone to school. Ido not know my age.”

Some 35 kms from Dhekiajuli, Urmila Gow-ala (15) of Nahoroni tea estate is about toget married in the next few months. As San-jay, with whom she had eloped, is away,their marriage has been delayed. “As soonas he comes, I will get her married,” saysUrmila’s father. This is another case of childmarriage in the waiting.

The scenario is no different in Dibrugarhtown. As I entered the Greenwood tea es-tate, some 30-odd kms from the town,young women with children in their lapswere a common sight.

The ANM of the tea estate hospital therewas attending to a young pregnant woman onthe hospital bed, as I, assisted by Babul Saikia,a Childline staff, drew her attention. Saikia andthe ANM had known each other for a while.

“She is Anila Sahu,” the ANM said. In or-der to find out what was ailing Anila, I fol-lowed the medical staff to a different unit ofthe hospital.

“Her’s is a complicated case. Anila, aClass-X student, first confided to her motherabout her preganancy only at an advancedstage. By then she had missed most of herante-natal doses of medicine.” The medicalstaff informs.

Luckily for her, she escaped social disgrace,as the father of the baby accepted their rela-tionship and they got married.

But that has not solved the problem of herhigh-risk pregnancy; she has swollen legs andis severly anaemic.

Unlike Anila Sahu, fate, however, had differ-ent plans for Meena (name changed), who isalso from the same tea estate in Dibrugarh.After becoming pregnant at the early age of 14years, she was neither accepted by her partner(already married and a father of two) nor didher parents allow her to stay with them.

With no one to look up to, Childline, Di-brugarh, took up her case and a few monthslater, she gave birth to a child in a govern-ment-run shelter home. The man she claimsto be the biological father of her child, how-ever, refuses to own responsibility and thecase is now being examined by the ChildWelfare Committee of the district.

As I was trying to grasp the disturbing sce-nario in the tea gardens of Assam, anothershocker of a story was waiting to be told bythe Childline team.

A 14-year-old girl had given birth to a babyon October 13, 2014, in the Borbarua tea

estate of Dibrugarh. The father of the baby isaround 17 years and although the boy initial-ly admitted to being the biological father, hehas now fled his house.

While giving an overview, a senior doctorof the health department says, “The trend ofunderage pregnancy – be it unwanted or oth-erwise – is rampant in tea gardens. There isvirtually zero awareness about safe sex or oth-er issues in this closed group, making themvulnerable to HIV. Nobody cares about it.”

The Assam State AIDS Control Societyadmits that there has been no survey or studyconducted on the tea garden population sofar, which should come as a shock to many.

Moreover, there are stories of fathers gettingtheir daughters married off just to clear theirdebts, which they are otherwise unable to pay.

Although considered an under-recorded sta-tistic by many, it is now estimated by govern-ment agencies that of every 100 pregnancycases reported in the tea gardens of Assam,20 per cent of them are teenagers.

According to the Annual Health Survey,2012-13, the mean age of marriage is 22 yearsfor Assam. However, eight per cent of mar-riages still take place before 18 years of age.

Director of the North-East Society for the

Promotion of Youth and Masses (NESPYM)Dr. Chiranjeeb Kakoty, who has been close-ly monitoring the social perspective of thetea gardens for nearly a decade, says, “Therehas been no change in the vicious cycle asfar as childhood pregnancy in tea gardens isconcerned and it is just the tip of the icebergof the greater social problem gripping thecommunity.

“Hardly any girl is in possession of her birthcertificate, which is her first civil right. Under

a scenario where there is no provision of sexeducation, neither from the parents nor fromthe school, the vicious cycle will continue.”

Linking the trend to low literacy rate amongtea garden girls and women, the All AdivasiStudents’ Association of Assam (AASAA) pres-ident Raphael Kujur believes, “The governmenthas virtually turned a blind eye to issues likechild marriage and teenage pregnancies. Noquality education means zero awareness amongthe young girls and boys about safe sex andissues related to pregnancy.”

Doctors and on-field health workers be-lieve that because of their immaturity in han-dling responsibility, they do not even recalltheir last menstruation period, which makesit that more difficult to figure out the ex-pected date of delivery.

Dr. H.K. Dutta of Maijan tea estate, Di-brugarh, says, “We are spreading awarenessat different levels and also setting up a moth-ers’ club. In fact, Maijan tea estate is thefirst tea estate in Assam to have set up amothers’ club.”

Manisha Choudhury, a State Reproductiveand Adolescent Health Consultant, NationalHealth Mission (NHM), who has been work-ing in this field for the last many years, mak-ing field visits and gathering first-hand infor-mation, says, “The problem of teenage preg-nancy is certainly there and keeping that inview, the NHM is giving special impetus tocreating awareness on health issues amongadolescents at different levels. The introduc-tion of both in-school and out-of-the schoolpeer educators is one such step in sensitisingthe vulnerable population.”

The community-based programme, involv-ing Line Leaders, tea estate managementand other stakeholders will be crucial. Ac-cording to Choudhury, the newly-launchedRashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, oncereplicated across the State, will certainlyleave an impact.

Barnabas Kindo of PAJHRA, a Tezpur-based NGO working for the empowermentof tea garden population, says, “The issue ofteenage pregnancy is compounded by variousfactors. While in its apparent manifestation,the issue can be linked to ignorance and illit-eracy among the working tea garden popula-tion, on a deeper reflection, the issues arealso linked to lack of any government servic-es or facilities available in tea garden areas,be it education, health facilities or any otherform of economic opportunity.”

Of course, a lot needs to be done. But thefirst step could be an infusion of the viabilityand value of their basic rights, like educationand health. If they are made aware of theirbasic personal rights, the problem of teenagepregnancy can be nipped in the bud.

This November, Garam Hawa, a classic Indian film,will be re-released in the PVR cinemas in Pune,New Delhi, Mumbai, and a few other cities. Di-rected by M.S. Sathyu, it is the poignant tale ofa Muslim family which decides to stay back in

India post-Partition.While cinema-goers are delighted by this opportunity to

see a film that was first released in 1974, the importance ofthis re-release goes much beyond. It is also an indication thatIndia is not only gradually realising the need to preserve thecountry’s audio-visual heritage, but that private players arealso taking an interest in the preservation effort.

Under the aegis of Indikino Edutainment, Garam Hawahas been digitally restored through a three-year-long projectand at a cost of more than Rs. one crore. A little over ayear ago, another popular film, Chashme Buddoor (firstreleased in 1981), directed by Sai Parãnjpye, was similarlyrestored by Reliance MediaWorks and re-released.

Cut back to 1992, the year the Academy of MotionPictures Arts and Sciences decided to honour veteran Indi-an filmmaker Satyajit Ray with the Lifetime AchievementAward (the Oscar). Filmmaker and critic Richard Schickelwas asked to put together a montage of Ray’s films.

A search revealed that hardly any copy of Ray’s filmswere available in the US and those that were availablewere in extremely poor condition. Later, in October 1992,at the behest of the Academy, when Professor Dilip Basuof the University of California, and David Shepard, Direc-tor of Film Preservation Associates and a member of theAcademy, began an assessment of Ray’s films, they werein for a rude shock; the original negatives of 18 of Ray'sfilms were in critical condition.

In 1993, the original negatives of six classic films – the

Apu trilogy, Jalsaghar, Teen Kanya and Devi were de-stroyed when the London-based lab storing them caughtfire. Subsequently, several efforts have been made to re-store and preserve Ray’s films and other film-related mem-orabilia, but already much had been lost. Reportedly, thereis no surviving copy of India’s first talkie, Alam Ara (direct-ed by Ardeshir Irani, 1913), and only two reels exist ofthe country’s first feature film, Raja Harishchandra (Da-dasaheb Phalke, 1913).

Interestingly, it was in 1992 that the UNESCO estab-lished the Memory of the World Programme ‘to protect

and promote the world’s documentary herit-age through improved strategies for pres-ervation and access.’ With much of thedocumentary heritage (print and au-dio-visual) at risk from natural ca-lamities, war and other social up-heavals, paucity of funds for pres-ervation in ambient conditions,etc., the project aims to sensi-tise governments, internationalorganisations and foundationsand to foster partnerships to im-plement projects.

With audio-video material nowan integral part of our daily lives,its archival importance often escapesus. In the ’70s, possessing a tape re-corder was a style statement. Not onlydid we play taped cassettes, but many of usalso recorded family members’ voices; the intro-duction of pocket recorders was a boon for the roving re-porters. But as technology evolved, tape recorders fadedaway and many junked the tape cassettes.

In 2005, the UNESCO concluded that “much of theworld’s audio-visual heritage has already been irrevocablylost through neglect, destruction, decay and the lack of

resources, skills, and structures, thus impoverishing thememory of mankind. Much more will be lost if strongerand concerted international action is not taken.”

It was decided that the UNESCO, together with theCo-ordinating Council of Audio-visual Archives Associa-tions (CCAAA) and other institutions, will “focus globalattention on the fragility of this heritage.”

Delhi-based musician Moloy Ghosh is a foot soldier ofsuch preservation efforts. He says he receives quizzical looksfrom acquaintances when they realise that he has taken updigital restoration of old audio material as a profession.

“Even though compact discs (CDs) of oldrecordings are slowly becoming available

in the market, music companies are onlyinterested in releasing CDs of old re-

cordings that cater to the masses;hence, quite naturally, classical musicis the worst sufferer. This is whyextra initiative needs to be takento preserve our old classical re-cordings,” says Ghosh.

At the institutional level, vari-ous bodies are trying to restore,digitise and preserve archival ma-terial. The National Film Devel-opment Corporation (NFDC) has

undertaken a project to restore a largenumber of classic Indian films produced

by it. It has already launched a few ofthe classic films in DVD format, including a

six-DVD pack of Tagore Stories on Film.On the private front, Reliance MediaWorks and Pixion,

both Mumbai-based, have set up globally acclaimed studi-os for restoration and digitisation of old films.

The All India Radio (AIR) launched a special project, in2001, to digitise the archival recording preserved in itsCentral Archives; by 2005, approximately 15,900 hours

of programme was transferred into digital medium. “AIRKolkata has started the work of digitisation of its richarchival material from 2008 onwards by transferring theaudio material from analogue to digital format,” informsSoumyendra Kumar Basu, Assistant Director, Programmes.

The material is being stored in a secure server and thereare plans to link up the servers of various AIR stations sothat the archived material can be drawn upon from anycorner of the country.

According to K. A. Dhiwar, film preservation officer at thePune-based National Film Archive of India (NFAI), “We arealways in search of archival material. But it is not alwayseasy to come across them.” The institute has digitised filmsby Guru Dutt, Bimal Roy, Mrinal Sen and others.

The School of Cultural Texts and Records, established in2003, works primarily (almost exclusively) with audio ma-terial. “Our music archive specialises in recordings in NorthIndian classical music, though we also have significant holdingsin other genres as well,” informs Professor Das Gupta.

“Ours is a digital archive, and we have digitised around6,500 hours of music. These are sourced from music col-lectors all over the country – and abroad. We currentlyhave some 50 collections, all of which are available foronsite access. They are stored under the name of thecontributing collector. We have recorded from analoguematerial dating from the 1900s – shellac records, reel tape(from the 1940s), vinyl (from the 1950s), and most im-portantly, cassette tape.”

The Kolkata-based Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts,in 2013, presented ‘Voices of India’, the first ever audioexhibition in Kolkata, at the ICCR – in collaboration withAIM (Bengaluru) – where visitors could hear rare recordingsand voices of great leaders, classical music, and music fromthe world of films and theatre between 1900 and 1950.

Trans World Features (TWF)

Hidden truthSanjoy Ray reports on the rampant teenage

pregnancy and maternal mortality casesamong the tea community of Assam.

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

Forposterity

Uttara Gangulyexplores how India iswaking up to the needfor preserving itsaudio-visual heritage.

Moloy Ghosh