We Love Ripped Jeans! Mr CM, Focus on Real Issues in Uttarakhand

Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam
Cameraperson: Shiv Kumar Maurya

Yeh Jo India Hai Na… Uttarakhand ke CM kuch bhi kahein… yahaan par everybody loves ripped jeans.

Delhi NCR ke Noida area ka famous Atta Market – every small pavement stall sells ripped jeans of every kind here: kum ripped, zyaada ripped, totally ripped! Rs 400-600 ke rate par – not too expensive. Meaning lakhs of girls can afford them. Shopkeepers told me they sell around 15-20 a day and I saw at least 30-40 shops there. So, just Atta Market easily makes Rs 120 crore a year by selling ripped jeans. So, straight message for Tirath Singh Rawat – ripped jeans are here to stay.

Now, we heard the Uttarakhand CM clarifying that his problem was not with girls wearing jeans, but only ripped jeans.

Here Are Other Types of ‘Problematic’ Jeans

But I tell you, in a world where jeans marries moral policing, there is more to worry about. I would urge the CM to check out these other ‘problematic’ types of jeans – we cannot be OK with:

• Skinny jeans – so dangerously figure-hugging?
• low-rise jeans.
• even high-rise jeans with crop-tops – so much skin-show!
• side-slit jeans.
• button-up jeans – showing so much leg!
• even these crochet jeans – more delicate than ripped jeans, but just as revealing.

I would suggest an ordinance against these several doubtful categories of jeans and to ensure that no ripped jeans escaped scrutiny. The ordinance must cover every kind of ripped jeans –

• destroyed jeans
• distressed jeans
• torn jeans
• shredded jeans
• scratched jeans
• frayed jeans
• ripped fit jeans
• ripped patch jeans
• repaired ripped jeans
• baggy ripped jeans
• knee-ripped jeans

The soon to be constituted ‘Ripped Jeans Niyantran Aayog’ should be mindful of every kind offending jeans and make sure Uttarakhand is completely ripped-jeans free.  

Mr CM, Focus on Real Issues

But apart from ripped jeans, there are other things the Uttarakhand CM needs to worry about. First of course, he has tested positive for COVID-19, so while we wish him a full recovery, we hope he will now not insist on removing COVID dos and don’ts for Kumbh Mela devotees and follow the Central government’s advice.

But more importantly, he needs to focus the real issues facing Uttarakhand’s women:

• The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) shows that while 91% and 90% women in Tamil Nadu and Kerala respectively had access to proper menstrual hygiene, but in Uttarakhand, it was only 55%.
• Also, in Uttarakhand 45% of women aged between 15 and 49, are anaemic, deficiency of red blood cells in the blood, making them vulnerable to a range of illnesses. Do you know what the national average is – just 2.2%.

And, what is Uttarakhand’s overall healthcare ranking? In a list of 21 states released by NITI Aayog in 2019, Uttarakhand’s ranking was 17. Here’s another shocking statistic – Uttarakhand’s government hospitals have less than 400 specialist doctors, against a sanctioned number of over 1,200! Yes, over 66% vacancy! And that is what the CM should be worrying about, instead of ripped jeans.     

Yes, these are not Rawat’s problem alone. He’s inherited them. But CM saab, why add to your list of things to set right?

Mr Rawat is Not Alone.... Sexism is Everywhere!

Mr Rawat is not alone in his sexism. And this is not about a BJP-ruled state either. Sexism has been expressed by politicians across India. And not just politicians, this attitude exists in the bureaucracy, in the police, in the judiciary. Just some days ago, India’s Supreme Court asked a man whether he would marry the woman who had accused him of raping her when she was a minor.

One thought about about Mithali Raj – India’s top woman cricketer! Just recently, she scored her 10,000th international run and we cheered. Rightly so. But look closer. Mithali Raj played just 10 test matches in her career, making 663 test cricket runs. Yes, she has played over 200 ODIs in 22 years but almost no tests.

Now, imagine taking Sachin Tendulkar’s test career out of his life story! Delete those 200 tests, those 51 centuries, those 16,000 runs! Wouldn’t we all feel cheated? And yet, isn’t that what has happened to Mithali Raj?

Shouldn’t the cash-rich BCCI be spending a lot more on women’s cricket? It should, but it doesn’t because of that gender bias that exists across every walk of life in our country. In each or our homes.  

Yeh Jo India Hai Nah… we need to embrace ripped jeans, we need to embrace every choice made by every woman of this country...