Romeo Squad - a much needed step towards maintaining law and order in UP!

In the UP election campaigns, Amit Shah had promised safety and security to college going girls by
providing an anti-Romeo Squad outside every college. Yogi Adityanath fulfilled the promise soon after
being declared the CM of the state. The anti-Romeo squad is up and active. The motive behind the setup
is to prevent girls from eve teasing and sexual harassment.

However, the anti-Romeo squad doesnt just stand for that. They are being seen as the new treacherous
face of moral policing that has been practiced by the right wing. The left wing is calling it nonsensical
and treacherous while the right holds its stand on the squad being the symbol of protection to women.

Agree

1. Law and order

Law and order under the previous government was a failed machinery. Safety of women was a concern
that was being overlooked and hence cases of sexual harassment and eve teasing were getting more
and more common as vile men found them under no fear of police before taking filthy steps. The squad
is meant to change this shameful status in the state.

2. Roadside Romeos

The squad does not stand against the idea of epic love of Romeo for Juliet. The new era of derogatory
and objectified version of chasing a woman is what the squad is fighting against. Since long our movies,
especially the regional ones, have shown the shameless extents to which a roadside Romeo goes in
order to win the girl and the sad part is that the girl in those movie is actually shown to reciprocate soon
after. Lust and love needs to be differentiated.

3. Crime against women in UP

A report suggests that between March 15th to 18th August, in a span of just 5 months 1012
cases of rape and 4500 harassment cases were filed in UP alone.
National Crime Records shows that UP is the state with highest crimes but the per capita crime
rate reduces due to its large population which makes UP the 3rd safest state as per records.
The NCRB (National crimes record bureau) states that Uttar Pradesh is the most unsafe place for
women to be living in.
In 2014, around 38467 cases filed were crimes against women.
A CAG report on the rising crimes on women in UP revealed that in a comparative data analysis
between 2010 to 2015, the crime rate had risen to 61%
1619 minor girls aged between 11- 16 were raped in 2014-2015 increasing from a number of
1033 rapes in 2012-2014.
4. Shortage of women police

There is an extreme shortage of women police personnel in UP where crime has been on the rise and
there is lesser fear amongst goons of law and order. There is less respect for women and the request to
increase the number of women police personnel by 33% was ignored earlier. In such critical time, when
law and order has to be restored, a special squad for the protection of women is a much needed step.

Disagree
1. Why Romeo?

For a person of literary interest, it is very disturbing to see Shakespeares Romeo associated with sexual
harassment and eve teasing. Romeo stands for eternal love and not hooliganism. The fear of
westernisation is reflected from the name itself. The whole idea is being identical with curbing free
space for boys and girls. It is indeed a fancy name for moral policing attached with the false agenda of
protecting women.

2. Detaining lovers, friends, cousins

The anti Romeo squad which is supposed to be working towards proving free space to women have
proven their real intentions to be somewhat different. There have been numerous reports where the
squad came down heavy on lovers, friends and even cousins were detained.

It is no difficult task to differentiate between consenting couples and eve teasers harassing girls on
streets. The intentions behind the setup of the Romeo squad could be right but there should be
definitive terms set for differentiating and to ensure that innocent men are not unnecessarily troubled
in the name of protecting women.

Is it ethical for doctors to go on strike?

Around 4000 doctors from the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) were on strike with
a demand to ramp their security in order to protect them against rising cases of violent attacks on
doctors by relatives of patients all over the country. About 40,000 doctors from the private hospitals
joined in and thats when the government knew they had to do something about it. Soon after, doctors
of other states also extended support to the protest.

This incident did create chaos in the city as patients suffered from lack of treatment. Bombay High Court
ordered to call off the strike and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis requested the doctors to quit the
strike and resume work. Was it ethical on the part of these doctors to go on strike and ignore their call
of duty?

Yes

1. The rising cases of attack

The rising cases of attacks on doctors by disgruntled relative of patients clearly showed that there was
lack of security coverage for them even after all the reported incidents. The government has long
ignored their peaceful pleas. They were left with no other option than to call strike to draw the
attention of the state and centre government towards the issue.

2. Serious injuries

These were not simple cases of hit out of frustration. Some of these attacks were violent enough to
result in serious injuries to eyes and other body parts of doctors. They are meant to save lives, agreed,
but they do not carry the onus of giving their life at the expense of the relatives agony. People have to
understand and respect that doctors are not playing gods in there.

3. Mid protest attacks

A lady doctor in Sion and another doctor in Dhule were seriously injured in such violent attacks even
when the protest and strike were going on. This shows the lack of peoples consideration and respect for
the medical professionals. What other options did the doctors had than to sit strike? The ones that kept
serving amid the lack of doctors in the city were treated with such insult and injury that it left ethics
unquestioned.

No

1. Duty should come first

Doctors pledge to keep their duty of saving lives of people above everything else. These doctors on
strike are breaking their pledge and like common factory workers sitting on strike at the expense of the
healthcare of common people who would suffer unnecessarily.

2. Shortage of doctors

Doctors in large number from both private and public sector sitting on strike has taken a big toll on the
healthcare of people in the city. 60 percent of the doctors in a city are on strike, majority of who are
from government hospitals where poor people line up for treatment. These are the people who cannot
afford private hospitals. Letting them suffer is unethical on the part of doctors.

3. Emergency units are suffering

Doctors on strike are well aware that their absence could mean serious shortage of treatment at
emergency health services, including taking care of accident patients, surgeries and providing post-
operative care to those admitted in various hospitals and OPDs. They continued to be on strike even as
the matter was being looked into by the court.

4. Viral

The strike went viral. It caught up doctors in other states too. Resident doctors from around 40
government hospitals, including Ram Manohar Lohia, Lady Hardinge Medical College, Safdarjung
Hospital did not attend work. Doctors at AIIMS extended support by wearing helmets at work. Delhi
witnessed strike of doctors even from Private hospitals. Sir Ganga Ram hospital close
Advantages & Disadvantages of Pre-poll predictions
Far ahead of the elections, there are various entities in India that start predicting the results of the polls.
There are astrologers and tarot card readers whose predictions are largely believed in and trusted upon
by a great number of people who swear by them. No wonders they have been having a prosperous
career in it to the extent that their opinion changes or manipulates the course of elections.

There are surveys conducted by news agencies and private entities that claim to show true public
opinion on the upcoming elections. There have always been controversies surrounding pre-poll
predictions on grounds that they manipulate voters and lead them to believe that others will be voting
for a particular party. The other group believes that they are necessary in a democracy to show people
what everyone else thinks.

Advantages

1. Sensing the mood

In a country of billions, it is extremely difficult to predict the mood of an election if pre-poll predictions
are non-existent. They help people in deciphering that their votes go to someone who might actually
need it or use it rather than wasting it over a candidate that has no chance standing against the
dominant parties. It prevents dividing of votes to a great extent.

2. Bringing the underdog to the front

New party who have never been a player in an area is the underdog whose work and efforts will go
unnoticed if the pre-polls did not show chances of their getting some votes and having chances of
securing seats. AAP would have never been what it is today without the conformity of the pre-poll
predictions that showed that an underdog could go on to rule Delhi.

3. Fierce competition

The losing party gets a reality check, and a chance to fight harder and prove the predictions wrong. No
wonder promises get bigger as pre-polls are out.

Disadvantages

1. Inaccurate

They have been inaccurate more number of times that being right on rare situations. They either show
one party to be dominating so much that people are made to believe that they ought to bring someone
else into power to prove the predictions wrong or make them over-confident that their party will win no
matter what. Both the situations are a disadvantage in a democracy.

2. Confined to the Twitter opinion

Not everyone has access to social media where they could vent against one party and show open
support to the other. The defect with this kind of predicting platforms is that they are confined to the
opinions of those with a Smartphone and an internet connection which sadly does not consist of the
majority of the Indian voting population.
3. Affecting other constituencies

The other constituencies that are up for elections are immediately intimidated by the results of the
opinion-polls of a constituency. They are made to believe that since is what will happen in one state,
they could be expecting the same too which manipulates their opinion on the poll and who they are
going to vote for. This is how most Indians form their opinion on political parties.

4. Biased media

Media could be mean and manipulative in the worst possible way. They are usually claimed to be
inclined or sold to the ideals of one party and hence use all their tools to create hindrances for the
others. Media is a dangerous tool in this context. Faked reports can do more harm than expected.

Pre-poll predictions have it disadvantages dominating over the few advantages but it is difficult to ban
them in a democracy where people have the rights to know what everyone else thinks of the political
scenario of the nation.