(Contd.. from p. 3) A study by the Centre for North East Study and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia, 2013, found that about 200,000 youths from the northeast reside in Delhi alone, while over 414,850 have migrated out of northeastern states into various metro cities during 2005-2010. In the city, they encounter unfriendly public transport to house owners. Another major issue is the misunderstanding, or rather misconceptions of life styles, culture and social ethics. Due to this perception and patriarchal mindset, deeply entrenched in the Indian mainstream society, young northeast men and women were even more vulnerable, as they work in shopping malls, bars and night shift duties. In a metro like Delhi, the majority population comprises mainly migrants. In such a situation of anonymity, where nobody knows who lives next door, it also provides fertile ground for anti-social activities. This outpouring from youth also comes from the apathy of the security agencies, the police to be specific. The police's unwillingness to file an FIR is the first and foremost grievance. For instance, a young girl form Manipur was found dead in her room in Chirag Dilli, south Delhi, in May 2013. The Malaviya Nagar police immediately registered a case of suicide. After two consecutive days of demonstrations and intervention of then Delhi minister Kiran Walia, the police registered a case under IPC section 302 and 304. Northeast support centre founder member Madhu Chandra once told this writer that unless the media takes up the story, there is no action by the police or political leaders. Another area is the long-drawn judicial process in India. None of the cases related to northast people have been disposed of, except in one gang rape case in 2005 where the charge-sheet was filed after six years. A feeling of victimization and a sense of being discriminated against also come from the historicalpolitical background of the northeastern states. Crossing the Brahmaputra and attempting to overcome the barriers, youth were moving out from the region today. And here, the northeast populations were caught between indifference and prejudice coupled with poor governance, administration and monitoring of state apparatus of the metro cities in India. This recent protest is an opportunity for review, reflections in the establishments and its implementations, along with proactive interventions out of the existing mechanisms and find new ways for a humane approach such as people-to-people (northeast populace with the locals); people-to-police interactions, and, most importantly, involvement of Resident Welfare Associations. Ninglun Hanghal, IANS
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Marriage Must Be Built On The Rock Of Love, Pope Francis Tells Couples
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arriage must be built on the rock of love not the shifting sands of emotions, Pope Francis told ten thousand engaged couples today. Greeting them for a special audience in St Peter’s Square today Pope Francis listened to questions from different engaged couples and answered them in turn. Pope Francis told the young people: “It is important to ask ourselves if it is possible to love one another ‘forever’. Today many people are afraid of making definitive decisions, that affect them for all their lives, because it seems impossible … and this mentality leads many who are preparing for marriage to say, ‘We will stay together for as long as our love lasts’.” Pope Francis continued: “But what do we mean by ‘love’? A mere emotion, a psycho-physical state? Certainly, if it is just this, it cannot provide the foundation for building something solid. But if instead love is a relationship, then it is a growing reality, and we can also say, by way of example, that it is built in the same way that we build a house. And we build a house together, not alone! … You would not wish to build it on the shifting sands of emotions, but on the rock of true love, the love that comes from God. “The family is born of this project of love that wishes to grow, as one builds a house that becomes the locus of affection, help, hope and support. Just as God’s love is stable and lasts forever, we want the love on which a family is based to be stable and to last forever. We must not allow ourselves to be conquered by a ‘throwaway culture’. This fear of ‘forever’ is cured by entrusting oneself day by day to the Lord Jesus in a life that becomes a daily spiritual path of common growth, step by step. Because ‘forever’ is not simply a question of duration! A marriage does not succeed just because it lasts; its quality is also important. To stay together and to know how to love each other for ever is the challenge Christian married couples face! … In the Our Father prayer we say, ‘Give us this day our daily bread’. Married couples may also learn to pray, ‘Give us this day our daily love’, teach us to love each other, to care for each other. The more you entrust yourselves to the Lord, the more your love will be ‘for ever’, able to renew itself and to overcome every difficulty”. Following a question from one of the young couples Pope Francis said that “living together was an art.” He said that couples hwo live together must remember three phrases: ‘thank you,’ ‘please’ and ‘sorry.’ The day was organised by the Pontifical Council for Marriage and Family Life with the theme “The Joy of Yes Forever.”
24 February 2014