Background:-
There has been a hue and cry as far as demonetization is concerned since the night of November 8. Meanwhile, while we were observant of the various developments, we took a decision to wait until the whole story unfolds.Since November 9 , probably each newspaper had published more than 20 articles on the issue. Every erudite in the country , had an opinion about it, moreover every citizen of the country has an opinion about it.
The single move gave a rather “hungry media” a “giant meatloaf” and they have been chewing on it since then. Every day, and in every form of media, the story of demonetization is unfolding. Some analysis are vary personal and emotional in nature, while some are very rational in nature, some are individualistic and some have broader perspective.
But if you look closely, those who wanted to blame the move, they went on to sight and find cases where due to demonetization “someone” had suffered. Even a Bengali director made a movie about it named- “Shoonyata“, and of course as anticipated the movie shows the problems that unfold when a bride is about to get married and demonetization is announced. The movie is simply individualistic in nature, that means it tries to show the plight of a single bride, and through this the director wants to paint it as everybody’s plight.
So, before we delve into details of demonetization, it is certain that different corners of the society have different opinions about it as they endured the demonetization. To sum up, who are impacted and who are not, here is a rather simplified list :-
- Super rich/Rich with legitimate business- No impact or very little impact
- Upper-middle class- Not much impact
- Middle class-Not much impact beyond the obvious
- Neo-middle class- Probably hardest hit, mostly blue-collar workers who lost their job or were unable to be paid by their employer
- BPL household- Marginally hit
However, this is a historic move, because, there are no other such decisions which might impact each nook and corner of India and every citizen. Money after all is a basic necessity apart from the usual rhetoric of – “Roti,Kapda aur Makan” (“Food,Cloth and Shelter”)
Being a giant of a decision, it was necessary for us to not give into temptation and publish every article of the newspapers. So, we waited, watched, we observed and now is the time to publish.
History of demonetization:-
In 1971, the Wanchoo Committee had submitted an interim report in which it had recommended, among other reforms, the demonetisation of high-value currency notes. Y B Chavan was then finance minister. Retired civil servant, Madhav Godbole, in his book Unfinished Innings: Recollections and Reflections of a Civil Servant tells us that after many deliberations over the matter, demonetisation was accepted along with other reforms suggested by the committee.
However, “in view of the sensitive nature of the subject and the need for maintaining utmost secrecy”, the prime minister’s approval was needed. So Chavan went to meet Indira. And this is what he told Godbole about his meeting with Indira on the issue.
When Y.B. Chavan told Indira Gandhi about the proposal for demonetization and his view that it should be accepted and implemented forthwith, she asked Chavan only one question: “Chavanji, are no more elections to be fought by the Congress Party?” Chavan got the message and the recommendation was shelved.
Here is the Analysis:-
So, what exactly happened on 8 November?
Prime Minister addressed the nation and announced that effective from 9 November, all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes of the current series (including pre-2005 ones) would cease to be legal tender. That means people could not use them to buy and sell goods and services. Technically, this was not demonetisation, but de-legalisation. The actual demonetisation happened with the proclamation, on 30 December, of the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of Liabilities) Ordinance, 2016, which reduced those notes to worthless bits of paper.
What does the ordinance do and why was it necessary?
Under Section 34 of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934, the central bank has a liability to honour every currency note – anyone presenting that note has to get the value printed on it, whether Re 1 or Rs 2,000. As long as a note does not come back to the RBI, it continues to be a liability.
The only way this liability can end is for the government to expressly state that the old notes cannot be redeemed any more, which is what the ordinance does.
How much of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were sloshing around before 8 November? How much has been returned or exchanged?
As of 9 November, the high denomination notes worth Rs 15.44 lakh crore was with the public.
There are various estimates of the money that has come in, based on data from the RBI, but it’s best to wait till the central bank puts out a figure. There could be double counting in the estimates that are going around right now.
Besides, though one will get a pretty accurate estimate in a few days or a week, an absolutely exact figure on notes returned will be known only after some months. Remember, that while the deadline for deposit of the old notes in banks ended on 30 December, resident Indians can still deposit these notes in the offices of the RBI till 31 March and non-resident Indians (NRIs) can do so till 30 June. These are the only two windows given by the ordinance. Resident Indians will have to give a declaration that they were outside the country between 9 November and 30 December.
In addition, people can declare their unaccounted wealth held in cash under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, the second income declaration scheme that was announced on 16 December. The window for this too is open till 31 March. (Some of this could be in new notes, if black money holders have managed to launder the cash they held.)
But the amount returned by NRIs between 31 March and 30 June is not likely to be huge, so it is best to wait till mid-April to get a sense of how much of the demonetised currency has been returned.
Can the window given to NRIs be used to launder large sums of money?
Unlikely. A notification under the ordinance stipulates that the amount of demonetised currency returned by an NRI cannot exceed what is specified under the Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Currency) Regulations, 2015, issued under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. That limit is Rs 25,000. That’s why the amount returned by NRIs is not likely to be huge.
What is this fuss about my not being able to even keep old notes with me?
The ordinance gives a grace period (31 March and 30 June) for the return of the demonetised currency. So it is not as if you will be penalised for holding old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes between 30 December and 31 March. Beyond this grace period, a person can hold only a total of 10 notes of both denominations (five Rs 500 and five Rs 1,000 or two Rs 1,000 and eight Rs 500, or all 10 of the same value etc) or only 25 notes for study, research or numismatics.
Anyone holding more than this (other than the RBI or anyone ordered to do so by a court in connection with a case) will have to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 or five times the amount of the value of currency found with him, whichever is higher.
Since these notes will be just worthless pieces of paper, what is wrong if I, say, decide to make a collage of 100 pieces and put it up in my drawing room? Or just keep it in my locker and periodically rue the day I decided to evade taxes or make money through crooked means?
Good question, this provision does defy logic. But, no answer. It’s also not clear how the authorities will come to know about people holding more than the specified number of notes beyond the grace period.
Fifty days on, has the inconvenience ended?
The short answer to this is, no, though the situation has improved since the first two weeks post 8 November. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and RBI governor Urjit Patel have assured that there is enough supply of cash. But all of this is not making its way to banks. The curbs on cash withdrawal have not been rolled back entirely; though the limits for ATM withdrawals have been increased from Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,500 but the weekly withdrawal limit remains at Rs 24,000. There are still ATMs and bank branches with no cash, even in metros. For every story of no inconvenience, there is another of inconvenience and harassment.
Has demonetisation met the objectives it was supposed to achieve?
The jury is still out on this.
In his 8 November address, PM said the move was meant to “break the grip of corruption and black money”.
But black money is a consequence and not a cause of corruption. Merely demonetising high value notes will not eliminate corruption; discretionary power in the hands of the politicians and bureaucrats has to end. This needs a complete recast of governance systems.
The fact that through the past 50 days, there have been seizures of large volumes and value of new currency notes shows that the money-laundering industry has not been hit at all by the demonetisation move. All that happened was that the commission dropped from 40 per cent before the announcement of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to 25 per cent.
Funding of political parties also needs a complete revamp. Political parties are a major conduit for unaccounted money and large cash donations are quite common. Cash donations up to Rs 20,000 need not be reported to the Election Commission and this is a major loophole that all political parties exploit. Nothing has happened to change this.
In his address, the PM also spoke about how fake notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 have been used in terror financing. The new notes have extra security features and were supposed to deal a body blow to the counterfeiting industry. But the seizure of some counterfeiting machines in the past week has raised some doubts about this as well.
UPSCTREE’s understanding of the issue:-
Was it a “bold” move, is there any ethics involved ?
A simple example can clear whether it was a bold move or not. Following India’s demonetization , another country followed suit, i.e. Venezuela and it resulted in civil war and govt of that country had to roll back the decision.So, in sum, it was a a bold move, and given the size of the country and 87% transaction being carried out via cash, it was not only a bold but probably an audacious move.It could have been a political disaster and the PM would have no more been the PM- it was that big a risk to take on this “gamble”.The example of Venezuela is testament to it.
So, the next question is why there was no civil war, and this is purely a question of ethics, more specifically virtue ethics.
As per virtue ethics, an act seems ethical because it is carried out by an ethical person.In this case, people don’t judge the act but they judge the actor and form opinions according to it.Given the PM’s persona, people of India, took a leap of faith in the PM, majority were judging the PM than the act of PM.
This is because, there can not be a “Yes and No ” or “black and white” answer to this decision.Some benefits are visible and some benefits will never be visible and same goes for the “bad impacts” as well.It is a indeed a matter of “grey”, however most opinions emanating from different corners of society is either Yes or No.Economists themselves don’t have enough statistics of black economy, so it is worthwhile to ponder how general populace form their opinion and this is precisely the reason why we looked at it from an ethical angel and that gives us some clue of the popular psyche and the way they form the decisions.
Is there any benefit of this decision ?
The PM has a record of being an incremental reformer, but this is a “disruptive” move.The benefit , both short term and long-term are listed below :-
Economy
- Cost of real estate will come down- making housing affordable.It is indeed a recession like condition for real-estate mafias, and if accompanied by amendment to Benami Trasaction Act , it will have some real impact in this sector.
- Inflation is low
- Push for digital-economy
- Helps in curbing terror-financing and other threats to state such as Naxalism
- A fat deposit in banks may lead to cut in lending rates. It helped in debt-recovery and reduced NPA to some extent
Goveranance
In terms of governance, it helped establish the trust between people and state. For long, the many had the notion that they can get away with illegal means (tax evasion) etc, but this decision established the fact that govt. is willing to go any length to reward good-ones and punish the bad-ones. For long it was other way around, the bad-ones used to garner ill-gotten wealth and managed to get away with it (Just a recall of almost all movies of the last few decades may give the idea, where the good-ones are punished by the wicked , although the good-ones win at the end but that part of the movie was more of a fantasy than reality)
Consider this statistics – 24 lakh people have a declared income of more than 10lakh per annum (24 lakh in a country of more than 120 crore population- is this not tax-evasion?)-this statistics proves that many had such notion of getting away with their ill-gotten wealth. And the decision tries to bridge the gulf of trust deficit between the ruler and the ruled.
Socio-behavioral Impact
This is probably the hardest one to judge. Nevertheless, data shows that online transactions are on a up-swing and rise of more than 200% is evident of it. So this might be the trigger point for Indian economy to go cash-less or less-cash.
Other impacts and harsities are well-known and requires no elaboration.
Was this good decision badly implemented ?
This is indeed the next line of argument put forth by different sections and it has some merit in it. But given the nature of decision and the level of secrecy it required, those who implemented it were probably well aware of it. After all decision of this nature looses steam when it looses secrecy.
However, it could have been better implemented and there should have been an ad-hoc grievance call center set up across the country, where if an organization denies accepting the old notes or a medical denies the treatment to the public deliberately then a complaint should have been registered immediately and action should be taken immediately. This is a giant task , but the Panchayats and block-development-offices should have been ideal nodal point to deal with this kind of matter and some form of authority should have been delegated to them with standards of protocol.
The essence is – the state should have to pull all its strings , so that the basic facilities and services are not denied to the general public which requires adequate planning, co-ordination and data-dissemination in real-time. In short, it could have been better implemented.
The next question is whether the black money will be eradicated ?
There can not be any conclusive evidence of it, simply because it is “black” – that means no one can certainly say how much of it is “black”. However, this decision, although will curb black-money in short term, what it aims essentially is to raise the cost of money-laundering. That acts as a deterrence. When the cost and pain of money laundering outweighs the benefit of it then money-laundering as an act looses relevance.
Moreover, this years budget and tax decision will have impact on this. If the tax is lowered and tax base in increased then govt. will have all the money it wants to run the state and citizens will be least bothered about paying a marginal tax. In short, the govt. has to make tax percentage attractive enough so that money-laundering looses its relevance.So, that is one of the reason why the decision of this nature can not be judged in short-term as many other decision are interlinked with it.
There was demonetization before, so why this one is historic ?
It is all about timing. Gandhi would not have been Gandhi if he entered India after 1940 or in 1900. Gandhi is Gandhi because of his timing. Same logic can be applied to this decision. The decision before it had no ecosystem of digital payment to support, that means people had not much of alternative. Hence the past decisions had less impact. But this one is perfectly timed. It is the era of digital economy and there is the ecosystem of digital payment and alternative methods to go cash-less , hence important and historic. This will have impact.
So to sum it up, it was good decision, but could have been better implemented. The benefits and demerits are has both short term and long term connotations. Hence, it is wise to wait a little longer and look at the data to see and judge the impact. And there is the budget announcements to be made as well. So , jumping to a conclusion is neither called for nor wise at this juncture.
We all understand certain parts of it, we all don’t understand certain parts of it and nobody knows the exact statistics. And that’s demonetization in a nut-shell thus far.
And yes, there is a last question that went through everyone’s mind though .
Why 2000 rupees notes ?
At first instance one might think this is a moronic move by the govt., but we urge you to think harder. If you look at the data, most of the high value day-to-day transactions lie between 500 to 1000 rupees and by releasing 2000 notes instead of 1000, govt. is deliberately pushing people to do cashless transactions. It is little harder to do retail shopping with 2000 rupees notes and this is precisely govt. is trying to achieve – to give you the note but make it little inconvenient for us to transact. This is much to do with human psychology and less to do with economy. A slight inconvenience leads us to look for alternatives and govt. is trying to tap into this socio-economic-behavior. We wonder, whether the govt. has hired any behavioral scientist to do this. After all there is a whole new world of behavioral economics as well.
Of course, the above one is our interpretation, but if this is what the govt., is trying to do then it is indeed a well-though out move which looks moronic on the face of it.
Conclusion:-
There are some merit in the decision, however this decision is not aimed at black money only. For the simple reason that the stock of black wealth held in currency form has been generally estimated at around 5 to 6 per cent of the total black economy.
The stock of black economy does not get affected much and only a small portion of black money is held in currency. Most of it is stashed abroad or held in real estate, gold or foreign currency. Moreover, black money generation is a continuing process that involves evading taxes, regulations and engaging in corrupt and criminal activities. These cannot be tackled with a one-time measure.
The claim that the demonetisation was aimed at immobilising counterfeit currency also lacks some credibility, because such currency is estimated to value no more than Rs 400 crore, a very small proportion of the value of the high-denomination notes that were in circulation.
There is bound to be arrested growth in economy for short term.
- The informal sector is largely cash-dependent and alone accounts for 40 per cent of the GDP and employs 80 per cent of the workforce.
- The NBFC are unable to provide loan to small farmers and MSME sectors.
- Rupee exchange rates have increased and there is a downward swirl of stock market.
- The state of the economy matters significantly here because that will primarily determine response capacities of each segment, sub-segment and interactions within to influence aggregate outcome.
Some economists put the above arguments to justify that the move was nothing but disastrous. so why did the government go for this move causing much hardship to the common man,the very safety and security of whom the government wants to protect? Did the government take a very myopic step?
A deeper analysis gives a big NO as the answer. Because the sole and underlying motive of the government was TO MOVE TOWARDS A DIGITAL ECONOMY. The subsequent actions of the government bring testimony to this fact:-
a. Discount in digital transactions.
b. Facilitating several methods of digital transaction
c. Circulation of 2000 rupees.
This paradigm shift in the economy will increase the transparency in transactions making the illegal activities difficult and riskier.It will lead to increase in tax base thus reducing tax rate and enhancing the revenue generation.
Note :- This analysis is exclusive to UPSCTREE, and if you have any other alternatives, please do let us know and we can debate and deliberate on this. It took us a while to write this , however we have a strong belief that it will help you enrich your understanding of this issue. And if you think it is enriching, please don’t hesitate to share.
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- India’s telecom market has seen monopoly as well as hyper-competition.
- Twenty-five years ago, the government alone could provide services.
- Ten years later, there were nearly a dozen competing operators.
- Most service areas now have four players.
- The erstwhile monopolies, BSNL and MTNL, are now bit players and often ignored.
- India is ranked second globally—after China—in the number of people connected to the internet. However, it is also first in the number of people unconnected.
- Over 50% of Indians are not connected to the internet, despite giant strides in network reach and capacity.
- India’s per capita or device data usage is low. It has an impressive 4G mobile network. However, its fixed network—wireline or optical fibre—is sparse and often poor.
- 5G deployment has yet to start and will be expensive.
Context
Sunil Mittal, the chairman of Bharti Airtel, said recently that it would be “tragic” if India’s telecom-access market was to be reduced to only two competing operators. He was probably referring to the possible exit of the financially-stressed Vodafone Idea and the increasing irrelevance of government-owned operators, BSNL and MTNL. This would essentially leave the market to Reliance Jio and Airtel. A looming duopoly, or the exit of a global telecommunications major, are both worrying. They deserve a careful and creative response.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Thus Far
The reduced competition is worrying. Competition has delivered relatively low prices, advanced technologies, and an acceptable quality of services. These gains are now at risk. There is a long way to go in expanding access as well as network capacity.
The Indian Telecom Irony
Vodafone Tragedy
Filling the gaps in infrastructure and access will require large investments and competition. The exit of Vodafone Idea will hurt both objectives. The company faces an existential crisis since it was hit hardest by the Supreme Court judgment on the AGR issue in 2019, with an estimated liability of Rs 58,000 crore.
The closure of Vodafone Idea is an arguably greater concern than the fading role of BSNL and MTNL. The government companies are yet to deploy 4G and have become progressively less competitive. Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, still accounts for about a quarter of subscriptions and revenues and can boast of a quality network.
It has been adjudged the fastest, for three consecutive quarters, by Ookla, a web-service that monitors internet metrics. India can ill-afford to waste such network capacity. The company’s liabilities will deter any potential buyer.
Vodafone+MTNL+BSNL ?
A possible way out could be to combine the resources of the MTNL and BSNL and Vodafone Idea through a strategic partnership. Creative government action can save Vodafone Idea as well as improve the competitiveness of BSNL and MTNL.
It could help secure government dues, investment, and jobs. It is worth recalling here that, about 30 years ago, the Australian government’s conditions for the entry of its first private operator, Optus, required the latter to take over the loss-making government satellite company, Aussat. Similar out-of-the-box thinking may well be key to escape the looming collateral damage.
It is not trivial to expand competition in India’s telecom market. Especially since there are no major regulatory barriers to entry anymore. Any new private player will be driven largely by commercial considerations. Global experience suggests that well-entrenched incumbents have massive advantages. New players are daunted by the large investments—and much patience!—needed to set up networks, lure existing customers and sign new ones.
However, regulators and policymakers have other options to expand choice for telecom consumers. Their counterparts in mature regulatory regimes—e.g., in the European Union—have helped develop extensive markets for resale. Recognising the limited influence of smaller players, regulators mandate that the incumbent offer wholesale prices to resellers who then expand choice for end-users.
This has been virtually impossible in India. There is a near absence of noteworthy virtual network operators (VNOs) and other resellers. A key barrier to resale is India’s licence fee regime which requires licence-holders to share a proportion of their revenues with the government. Thus, resale could hurt exchequer revenues unless resellers are subject to identical levies. Understandably, the levies—and consequently additional reporting and compliance—is a disincentive for smaller players. The disincentive flows from levies based on revenues which comes with considerable costs of compliance. It would almost vanish if the levies were replaced by say, a flat fee computed objectively.
The ball is in the court of the regulator and the government. They have options. But will they take decisive action to exercise them? It will be ‘tragic’ if they can’t.
INTRODUCTION
Since most of the early scholars, researchers and historians were men, many aspects of society did not find a place in history books. For example, child-birth, menstruation, women’s work, transgenders, households etc. did not find much mention.
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Rather than building a holistic picture of the past, some select aspects such as polity and the different roles of men became the central focus of history writing. Women were confined to one corner of the chapter where a paragraph or two was devoted to the ‘status and position of women’.
Even the details of these paragraphs were hardly different from each other. This made it look like as if history (and thereby society, polity, economy and all culture) belonged to men while women were only a small static unit to be mentioned separately. Of course, there were some exceptions, but these were however rare. This practice is being corrected now and the roles and presence of women are being read into all parts of historical questions.
SOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING GENDER HISTORY
Sources are the bases of history writing. From simple pre-historic tools to abstruse texts, everything can be utilized to understand life and roles of women in history. The presence as well as the absence of women from sources needs to be duly noticed, deliberated and argued upon and only then to be theorised upon.
Certain objects being directly related to the lives of women or depicting the ideas of the female principle are of central importance. These include but are not limited to female figurines, art objects, texts attributed to or authored or compiled by women, monuments created by or for women, various objects relating to their lifestyle, objects associated with women on account of their cultural roles and so on.
It has been rightly pointed out by Uma Chakravarti that much of the gender history written in early phase was a ‘partial view from above’. This referred to the utilization of select textual sources and focused only on relational identity of women. There were, however, a few exceptions.
GENDER HISTORIOGRAPHY
Amongst the many narratives propagated to denigrate Indian civilization and culture by the British colonial rulers, the condition of Indian women became a point of central reference. Various social evils that made the life of women miserable were pointed out and efforts were also made to introduce ‘reforms.’ Sati, child-marriages, imposed widowhood, polygamy, dowry, educational and economic inequality, purdah (ghoonghat) and many other practices prevailed during the colonial period that made the life of women difficult and pitiable.
Some practices affected women of higher social and economic households while others led to misery for poorer women. Many social reform movements were started in the 19th century to address these issues and contributions were made by Indian reformers as well as British officials and other Europeans.
Women in India came to be treated as a homogeneous category and over generalisation became the norm. While many communities in India practised widow remarriage and did not practise (much less forced) sati and while some practised divorces or separation, the image of the Indian woman who had been subjugated as woman, wife and widow became a dominant theme in history writing.
Secondly, a western vision was placed over the non-western societies and hence interpretations were far removed from the context. For example, notion of stridhan was equated with dowry and little regard was paid to the provisions regarding its use and ownership by women.
The huge social stigma that came along with the selling of jewellery of the household (one of the main components of stridhan) was paid no attention to. Similarly, penal provisions listed by ancient texts for misappropriation of women’s property were not even looked into.
During the Paleolithic age, hunting and gathering was norm. However much importance was given to Hunting than gathering in all literature of history. Studies, however, show that hunted prey formed only 35% of the diet while gathering fruits and other edible material supplied the major portion. Gathering of food resources was ordinarily done by women. Since gathering was an important activity, more than hunting for game, it could point to significant role playing by women.
The gendered understanding of Harappan civilization is being built upon and various archaeological remains have been studied in this respect. The female figurines, idols of pregnant women, the statue of the ‘dancing girl’, various pieces of jewellery and personal belongings that have been discovered at various sites and offer useful insights on the public and private lives of women and men.
The statue of a girl obtained from Mohanjodaro has been called a ‘dancing girl’ on grounds of familiarity with the institution of devadasis in the later times. Such backward looking explanations are problematic.
There is a wide variety of terracotta female figurines that have been found at different sites right from the pre-Harappan times. Women figures are found suckling a baby, holding utensils, kneading dough, nursing infants, carrying objects like drums, seated figures for board games, with steatopygia (fat deposition on the hips and elsewhere), with floral head-dresses and in many other forms.
Even figurines of pregnant women are quite common. However, most of these have been uncritically associated with fertility, religiosity and reproductive ideas, and have been passed off as representations of the Mother Goddesses. While some of them were votive objects, others are held to be toys or other utilities. The focus on female form has been so stereotypical that women have been seen as associated only with home, hearth, fertility, sexuality and divinity. So much so that sometimes even male figurines in assumed womanly roles were classified as female figurines.
POSITION OF WOMEN IN EARLY INDIA
The first literary tradition in the Indian subcontinent (and the oldest in the world) is that of the Vedic corpus. From the four Samhitas to the Upanishads, we find many interesting references to women in various roles. Some of these women have left their mark on the cultural heritage to this day and are remembered in various ritual and social contexts. Their names, stories, some highly revered hymns, and other interesting facets are mentioned in the Vedic corpus.
The Vedic literature has been classified as Early Vedic and Later Vedic. The Rigvedic society and polity seems to be teeming with life and agro-pastoral economy was enmeshed in close kinship ties. Women as well as men participated in society, economy and polity. Some of the most revered hymns including the gayatri mantra are ascribed to women.
Various natural phenomena are depicted as Goddesses and they are offered prayers. While quantitative analysis highlights the predominance of Indra, Agni, Varuna and other male gods, the power and stature of the goddesses is equally well established.
Women participated in all three Vedic socio-political assemblies viz. Sabha, Samiti and Vidhata. They had access to education and were even engaged in knowledge creation. They could choose to be brahmavadinis with or without matrimony.
Hence, there is no reason to believe that they were only confined to home and hearth. T. S. Rukmani attempts to understand if women had agency in early India. Her work has highlighted many interesting details. The author acknowledges the fact that though the patriarchal set up put women at a loss, there were instances where women found space to exercise their agency.
She points out that though the texts like the Kalpasutras (Srautasutras, Dharmasutras and Grhasutras) revolved around the ideology of Dharma and there was not much space to express alternative ideas, still these works also find some leeway to express ideas reflecting changed conditions.
For example, there is a statement in the Apastamba Dharmasutra that one should follow what women say in the funeral samskaras. Stephanie Jamison believes that in hospitality and exchange relations, women played an important role. She says that the approval of the wife was important in the successful completion of the soma sacrifice. In another study it has been shown that women enjoyed agency in deciding what was given in a sacrifice, bhiksha to a sanyasin. The men had no authority in telling her what to do in these circumstances.
Vedic society was the one which valued marriage immensely. In such contexts, Gender Perspectives if a woman chose not to marry, then it would point to her exercising choice in her decision to go against the grain and remain unmarried.
Mention may be made of Gargi. She was a composer of hymns and has been called a brahmavadini. This term applies to a woman who was a composer of hymns and chose to remain unmarried, devoting herself to the pursuit of learning.
Similarly, in the case of Maitreyi, she consciously opts to be educated in the Upanishadic lore and Yajnavalkya does not dissuade her from exercising her choice.
The statement in the Rigveda that learned daughters should marry learned bridegrooms indicates that women had a say in marriage. Though male offspring is desired, there is a mantra in the Rigveda, recitation of which ensures the birth of a learned daughter.
Altekar refers to the yajnas like seethayagna, rudrayajna etc. that were to be performed exclusively by women. Some of the women were known for their exceptional calibre, for example, from the Rigveda Samhita we find mention of women like Apala, Ghosha, Lopamudra, Gargi, Maitreyi, Shachi, Vishwavara Atri, Sulabha and others.
Women have not only been praised as independent individuals but also with reference to their contributions towards their natal or marital families.
The Later Vedic literature shows the progression towards a State society with a change in the organization of the society and polity. The chief comes to be referred to as bhupati instead of gopati. However, within the twelve important positions (ratnis) mentioned, the chief queen retains a special position under the title mahisi.
The importance of the chief queen continued as gleaned from several references to them in the Epics, Arthashastra and even in coins and epigraphs from early historical times.
The other Samhitas also refer to women sages such as Rishikas. The wife is referred to as sahadharmini. Brahmanas or the texts dealing with the performance of the yajna (Vedic ritual), requires a man to be accompanied by his wife to be able to carry out rituals.
For example, Aitareya Brahmana looks upon the wife as essential to spiritual wholesomeness of the husband. However, there is a mention of some problematic institutions as well.
Uma Chakravarti has pointed towards the condition of Vedic Dasis (female servant/slave) who are referred to in numerous instances. They were the objects of dana (donation/gift) and dakshina (fee).
It is generally believed that from the post Vedic period the condition of the women steadily deteriorated. However, Panini’s Ashtadhyayi and subsequent grammatical literature speak highly of women acharyas and Upadhyayas.
Thus, the memory and practice of a brahmavadini continued even after the Vedic period. The Ramayana, Mahabharata and even the Puranas keep the memory of brhamavadini alive.
Mention may be made of Anasuya, Kunti, Damyanti, Draupadi, Gandhari, Rukmini who continued to fire the imagination of the poets. Texts show that the daughter of Kuni-garga refused marriage because she did not find anyone worthy of her.
The Epics also mention women whose opinions were sought in major events. For example, after the thirteen years of exile, while debating upon the future course of action regarding the restoration of their share, the Pandavas along with Krshna asks Draupadi for her views. Similarly, when Krishna goes to the Kaurava’s court to plead the case of Pandavas, Gandhari is called upon to persuade her sons to listen to reason.
Since a woman taking sanyasa was an act of transgression, one can explore women’s agency through such instances. In the Ramayana, Sabari, who was the disciple of Sage Matanga, and whose hermitage was on the banks of river Pampa was one such sanyasin.
Such women find mention in Smriti literature and Arthashashtra. Kautilya’s prohibition against initiating women into Sanyasa can make sense only if women were being initiated into sanyasa. He advises the king to employ female parivrajakas as spies.
Megasthenes mentions women who accompanied their husbands to the forest, probably referring to the Vanaprastha stage. Another category of literature called Shastras that comprises of sutras (aphorisms) and the smriti texts (‘that which is remembered’) becomes important in the postVedic period.
These textual traditions cover many subjects relating to the four kinds of pursuits of life referred to as purusharthas (namely dharma, karma, kama and moksha). In all these texts we find very liberal values and freedom for both women and men.
The setting up of a household is seen as an ideal for men as well as women (though asceticism for learning is equally praised for both). For example, Apastambha Sutra opines that rituals carried out by an unmarried man do not please the devatas (divinities). Similarly, Manusmriti provides that ‘for three years shall a girl wait after the onset of her puberty; after that time, she may find for herself a husband of equal status. If a woman who has not been given in marriage finds a husband on her own, she does not incur any sin, and neither does the man she finds’
Thus, we see that women enjoyed choice in matters of matrimony. It is interesting to note that unmarried daughters were to be provided for by the father. In fact, daughter is stated to be the object of utmost affection. Should a girl lose her parents, her economic interests were well looked after. It was provided that from their shares, ‘the brothers shall give individually to the unmarried girls, one-quarter from the share of each. Those unwilling to give will become outcastes’
With regards to defining contemporary attitude towards women, Apastambha Sutra prescribed that ‘All must make a way for a woman when she is treading a path.’ Later Dharmashastra also makes similar statements.
Yagnavalkyasmriti mentions that ‘women are the embodiment of all divine virtues on earth.’ However, there are several provisions that look problematic.
On one hand, we have reverence assigned to the feminine (divine and worldly) and important roles being played by them, on the other hand we have questionable provisions and descriptions like right to chastise them through beating or discarding.
The post-Vedic phase from 6th century BCE onwards is also rich in literary traditions with ample depictions of women. Interestingly, we have an entire body of literature that is ascribed totally to women who became Buddhist nuns. These are referred to as Therigathas i.e. the Songs of the Elder Bhikkhunis (Buddhist Women who joined the Sangha).
The Arthashastra Gender Perspectives gives us information on women who were engaged in economic activities of various kinds. They formed a part of both the skilled and the unskilled workforce. They were into professional as well as non-professional employment.
Some of their vocations were related to their gender, while the others were not. There were female state employees as well as independent working women. Similarly, some of them were engaged in activities which though not dependent on their biological constitution are nonetheless categorized as women’s domain, e.g. domestic services etc. Some of them were actual state employees, while some others were in contractual relations with the State. For example, we have female bodyguards and spies in the State employment.
Jaiswal suggests that these women perhaps came from Bhila or Kirata tribe. Female spies were not only to gather information and relay it to proper source, but also to carry out assassinations. However, a closer look at the text shows that there were different classes of female spies engaged for different purposes. Amongst others ‘women skilled in arts were to be employed as spies living inside their houses’. Others were required to work as assassins. Some were to the play the roles of young and beautiful widows to tempt the lust of greedy enemy.
We also have various Buddhist and Jaina traditions giving us some glimpses of the ideas and institutions of the times. Apart from the orthodox (Vedic and Brahmanic) and heterodox normative tradition we have many popular texts like the Epics in Sanskrit and Jatakas in Pali.
Even Prakrit language has many interesting narratives and poetic texts. The Therigatha by the Buddhist nuns are an interesting literary source that provides us with a glimpse of various women who attained arhantship or similar other stages of Realisation.
The deliberation on the age and deterioration of the body by Ambapali, the non-importance of sensual or bodily pleasures by Nanda, Vimla and Shubha etc points towards the intellectual and spiritual engagements and attainments of women.
It is interesting to note that an absolutely contrary picture is presented by the Jatakas wherein more often than not, women are depicted as evil. It is important to note that women were given an evil aura mostly in their roles as wives or beloveds.
Both the texts and the archaeological remains have been studied by various scholars and opposing interpretations are not rare. For example, on one side Sita (from Ramayana) and Draupadi (from Mahabharata) have been seen as victims of the patriarchal order; on the other hand, they are also represented as selfwilled women.
Draupadi after the game of dice presents herself as a forceful and articulate woman. It’s her wit that saves her husbands from becoming slaves of the Kauravas. Her incensed outrage at the attack on her modesty, her bitter lamentations to Krishna, her furious tirade against Yudhishthira for his seeming inability to defend her honour and many more such instances show her to be an aggressive woman. This persona is juxtaposed to her representations as an ideal wife elsewhere. However, Draupadi is never idealised as a perfect wife who endures the most severe trials without complaint. This honour is reserved for Sita in the Ramayana. She is also presented as a victim like Draupadi and voices her concern at her fate openly. However, her aggression is directed inwards as indicated by her action against the self which culminate in her union with the mother Earth.
Are the limited number of hymns ascribed to the Vedic women a signifier of their general status? Are the goddesses merely representational with no connection to the ideas and behaviour towards women? Did only princesses choose their spouses? Are the warrior women an exception? Such searching questions need to be addressed with due diligence.
While women studies are a good development there is a need to expand the horizons to include other varieties of human existence. We have narratives of fluid sexuality in various texts. The one year of Arjuna’s life spent as Brihallana and rebirth of Amba as Shikhandi are some interesting instances. The artefacts found at the site of Sheri Khan Tarakai include visibly hermaphroditic figurines. There is a need to understand the notions of the feminine, masculine, neuter, and other forms of gender and sexual identities. These will have ramifications for understanding the ideas of conjugality, family, community, society and even polity and spirituality.
CONCLUSION
Human civilisations were built by men as well as women, however, history writing has a huge male-bias. Women were confined to questions of status and position that were largely evaluated in terms of their roles in the domestic sphere.
Their treatment as wives and widows became a central focus of most research alongside their place in ritual or religious context. This made them peripheral to mainstream history. This was questioned by various scholars from time to time and led to the development of gendered understanding of history. Focusing attention on women’s history helps to rectify the method which sees women as a monolithic homogeneous category. Writing gender history has helped in building an image of the past that is wholesome and nuanced.