'If there were no khaps [...] everything will go haywire [...] young boys and girls will start marrying into the same gotra' Understanding khap-Directed 'Honour Killings' in Northern India
Since the early 2000s, the rural landscape of Northern India has been dominated by a parallel system of governance — the khap2 (caste) panchayats.3 These caste panchayats sanction acts of gendered violence and override any notion of equality or gender empowerment, which the Indian constitution endeavoured to provide to women at the grassroots level. Khap panchayat imposes its writ through social boycotts and fines, but also in murdering victims or forcing them to commit suicide (Sangwan, 2010; Gupta and Seth, 2007). The state of Haryana has seen the most extreme cases of these ‘honour’ killings, though other states such as Uttar Pradesh have witnessed similar incidents.4 Most of the caste panchayat diktats are against young girls or against young couples accused of having transgressed customary norms through disapproved marriage. In most cases these young couples have been brutally murdered in full view of the village communities. Though khap panchayats were believed to be multi-caste (sarv jatiya) bodies (Singh, 2010), in a few districts such as Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh they have come to be dominated by Jats,5 who have used constitutional protections and provisions to expand their political and economic influence (Gupta, 2000). This upwardly mobile ‘backward’ caste has come to exercise considerable influence (Bharadwaj, 2012; Thapar-Bjorkert, 2006) demographically (on the basis of its population), economically (through extensive farm holdings) and politically (through dominance in local administration and politics).
Haryana : Caste and Patriarchy in Panchayats
The caste system and patriarchy still exercise a stranglehold on Haryana's panchayat institutions making a mockery of decentralised governance. The women elected representatives need adequate support systems as well as education to make them effective leaders.
Cultural constraints on the delivery of HIV/AIDS prevention in Ireland.
HIV appeared in Ireland following an opiate epidemic in the early 1980s. Initially, however, the gay community mounted the only response to the spread of the virus while the implementation of early actions by the government was hampered by the constructions of the disease within Irish society. This paper considers the influence of the religious hierarchy in both the development of AIDS policy and in the shaping of public perceptions of the disease and those affected. A qualitative methodology is used to examine the role of such cultural constraints in an evaluation of the social context within which the prevention of HIV infection occurs. Three key issues pertinent to the policy context in Ireland are explored in depth. These are the role of the Catholic Church, the influences on health education programmes, particularly information giving, and the development of services and other interventions. These findings are discussed within the social and political contexts in which health policy is formulated.