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Six Films by Madhu Kishwar, 1997 (Hindi)

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Dowry: Compulsion vs Need? (30 min.)

In India, the common perception is that dowry is a social evil. For women in particular, it is considered to be a curse. On one hand, it has been demanded repeatedly that the government should pass stricter laws to abolish the custom of dowry. But those very people who make such demands are unable to answer why the anti-dowry law that was enacted in 1961, and made even more stringent in 1984 and 1986, has remained unsuccessful. Why is it that even after so many decades of pronouncing dowry illegal, the culture of dowry has become stronger and more widespread? Why is it that even those who condemn it are not able to withstand the growing power of this custom in their own families? Is it a disease that has gripped people against their wish? Or does the problem lie elsewhere? These are some of the questions answered in this programme.

The Disinheritance of Women (30 min.)

In most parts of our country and among most communities, the belief that the rightful heirs to the family property are sons, is getting stronger. Parents might spend lakhs in buying consumer goods for their daughters as dowry, but very few are willing to give a share of the parental property to daughters. This documentary explores the implications of the growing culture of disinheritance of women in our country.

Liquor and State Policy (30 min.)

This film challenges some of the popular myths about anti-liquor movements in India, for example the belief that these are primarily led by women against men. The film reviews the dynamics of anti-liquor movements in four different states: Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and examines the key role played by men in initiating protests and struggles to rid their villages of the liquor menace. It also tries to explain why most anti-liquor movements start off by targeting drunkards but soon turn anti-government. The film examines the role and response of the state machinery with regard to spreading liquor consumption.

License Permit Raj: A View from Below (30 min.)

The consequences of the "liberalisation" of our economy are clearly evident in every city and even some villages. New models of TV, refrigerators, music systems, household gadgets and even clothes and shoes of international brands are invading the market every day. Cars of foreign models based on latest technology are running on our roads. But, on the other hand, vegetable-carts and cycle-rickshaws, which are a means of livelihood for millions and a cheap form of transport for common people, have not seen any technical improvement. On the contrary, their technology seems to have deteriorated further.

This film explores how the working of the License-Permit-Raid-Raj thwarts the earning ability and efforts of the poor city migrants to move out of the poverty trap. It provides moving glimpses as to how the poorest of the poor are fleeced of their earning by our babudom and the urgent need to evolve a bottoms-up approach to economic reforms.

Agriculture and Sarkari Controls (30 min.)

One of the major characteristics of developed countries is that only 2 to 10 per cent of the population is involved in agriculture. They not only feed their own people but are also in a position to export their agricultural surplus to the rest of the world. However in India, 70 per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture even today, and most of them are so poor that they are unable to provide adequately even for their own families.

Even after 50 years of independence, planned economy and various other kinds of government controls have remained unsuccessful in removing India's poverty. On the other hand the hiatus between rural and urban standards of living and income has widened further. In 1951, if a villager was earning Rs. I, his city-dweller counterpart was earning Rs. 1.40. Today, a city-dweller's income is on an average about 10 times more than the villager's income. Why is this gap increasing between rural and urban areas? This film provides an insight into the crippling restrictions imposed by the state on agriculture and how these have kept farmers mired in poverty.

India's Traditional Technologists (30 min.)

Today India is considered a poor agricultural country. But until about 200 years back, our country was regarded as the world's leading manufacturing society. Europeans took hazardous voyages to India, attracted by its wealth and exquisite luxury goods. One of the major characteristics of our traditional technological excellence was that it did not merely cater to the aristocratic urban elite. High quality, aesthetically designed consumer goods and architectural wonders were found in virtually each part of the country. This is the reason why old jewellery of our ordinary village women, old brass and copper pots commonly used in rural homes, their carved doors, windows and household furniture are today sold as exorbitantly priced antique items in the international market.

This technological legacy was the inheritance of a group of jatis known as 'Vishwakarma', who are found in every Indian city and village.

Tragically enough, the jatis who elevated our country's technological, craft and industrial skills to such astonishing levels over centuries have today been declared as "Backward" and "Most Backward Castes". Why and how have their skills and art become obsolete? What impact has their devaluation had on the rest of society? These are some of the questions explored in this documentary.