By Tanvi Pal:

I am a budding director and a classical dancer, in short, an artist in the making. While working towards a new script based on the lives of artists, I randomly started typing “Being an artist…” and thanks to the auto complete feature of Google, it started predicting as to what I shall be typing next; ‘pointless’, ‘hard’, ‘part-time’ were some of the suggestions.

[caption id="attachment_48286" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Photo Credit[/caption]

These suggestions are a part of our thought structure i.e. what we believe in, we preach. And like a ripple effect, it starts permeating across all segments; despite being the land of diverse ethnicities, various cultures, we still fail to address and acknowledge many forms of performing arts.

Being an artist is hard because the time spent in gaining acceptance towards your chosen career path is more than the time spent in the rehearsal halls. It’s hard because the payment procedures are unstructured, there are several intermediaries, a lack of infrastructural facilities, high rentals etc. And there is no initial funding process for independent artists to showcase their work. The whole process seems unachievable and many end up finding being an artist as ‘pointless’ or maybe ‘part-time’.

While conceptualizing the 1st musical under Blank Delhi Productions, my partner Shobita and I had intended of doing it only once a year, because even we did not see ourselves accepting this field as a full-fledged profession. Pulling off our 1st production with no money in our hands seemed impossible, but the support extended by various organisations helped us introduce the concept.

The chain of challenges that followed, made us even more determined to explore our opportunities in order to pave the way for the many others like us. We chose to walk a different path, because we knew that our knowledge and skill set can help us reach deeper issues connected to this line of work.

Thankfully, the network of artists is growing strong, we can see many organizations coming up to help us achieve our dreams. While we might not have a swanky angel investors, we do have crowdfunders. The concept has given wings to the dreams of many budding artists. Here, it’s the crowd which comes together to fund a project and makes it go live. It is new for many to understand but with the advent of same, the performing arts industry is becoming more active. Crowdfunding has been doing very well abroad, but is yet to catch up in India.

But what’s in it for the funders? You are making somebody’s dream come true! You are a part of a success story! You are creating history!

“People should not look at crowdfunding with a narrow lens because it is not merely a transaction. But it is about empowering our talented young artists and encouraging them as they slowly bring about an artistic and cultural revolution”, says Rajat Das of popular crowd funding portal “thehotstart.com”.

Having done 2 successful musicals along with the 3rd one in the pipeline, we hope that each performance is a step towards bringing about a cultural revolution and another open door for aspiring artists.

The post I Am An Artist In The Making And This Is My Story appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Eleonora Fanari: 

Although the motto “Unity In Diversity” has been the driving message for unifying and integrating the multiplicity of India, exclusion and marginalization have continuously troubled the entire country. Thousands of people continue to be left in society based on caste discrimination; others continue to be treated as outsiders for the difference of their skin, their indigenous identity or religion.

To stand against this wave of discrimination and to celebrate unity and inclusion, a group of youth living in New Delhi, came together on Friday 15th May in a form of a joyful, multicultural and colourful dance. The dance came up to symbolize the coming together of different communities as one, to real celebrate equality and inclusion.

"iMove for InclUSion” started with an idea of The Task Force of Socially Excluded (SETF) to bring together young people from different backgrounds to promote the fight against discrimination and social inclusion through dance. This was part of the Action/2015 global campaign to encourage people to literally 'move' to raise awareness and demand action from our government on issues of inequality, poverty and injustice. The Flash Mob was aimed to spread awareness on the different kinds of discrimination and racial attitudes widespread and silently accepted in our society. To acknowledge that inequality goes far beyond the traditional caste and religion discrimination generally recognized in our society, and covers all mankind.

We decided to use dance as a way to communicate and promote greater social inclusion, as we believe in its power to positively influence the participants’ interaction as well as deliver a positive message. Dance has the power to enhance self-confidence, create a team, and consolidate a positive sense of identity for many groups at risks of exclusion such as disadvantages young people, minority ethnic groups, migrants, etc.

Students from Congo opened with the Vulindela song, a symbolic song of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, followed up by the famous Indian song 'Jai Ho', as a symbol of struggle and freedom.

“We came to India to study and to escape from a country overrun by conflicts and shortage. But in Delhi our life is not easy and everyday we face a lot of difficulties and racism that often drives us into depression and misery,” said the African students.

The young students from JNU coming from North East, Ladakh and Sikkim commented “Our features are different in this city and because of prejudices and ignorance we face discrimination every day. Many have faced violence, and many are scared to freely walk among our own citizens.”

The young Burmese refugees dancing in the Flash Mob were all between the age of 13 and 17 years. They live in very rough conditions, without any support from organizations or government. “We are struggling everyday to survive, but without papers and regulations we cannot be a part of this society; we face violence and abuse everyday.”

It was a joy to see all these communities coming together as one to celebrate through the movement of their bodies. The dance unified them, crossing all languages and cultural barriers. Our hope and aim is to bring these feelings back to the households of each of the 70 youngsters who became ambassadors for a new and inclusive society.

We dance because we are tired of living in an aggressive society where respect and equality is an everyday challenge.
We dance because this is our city and we want to live in Dignity, Freedom, Security and Peace.
We dance because our identity is our dignity and we don’t want to be afraid or scared to step out in the city and be ourselves.
We dance because we are the future of our nation and the world, and we believe real development cannot happen without inclusion and respect for equal dignity of all.

The post When Delhi’s Youth Got Its Groove On For A Cause appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Clare Collins:

Some like it hot, some like it iced, and some just don't like it at all. Until recently, coffee was on the list of habits to break if you really wanted to be healthy.

[caption id="attachment_48364" align="aligncenter" width="668"] Systematic reviews of the research judge the current evidence as mostly in favour of drinking coffee. momente/Shutterstock[/caption]

Not anymore. Systematic reviews of the research – the most powerful method to weigh up scientific evidence – judge the current evidence as mostly in favour of drinking coffee. Coffee drinking is linked to a decreased risk of premature death, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer.

However, some people will need to be cautious of the amount. Heavy coffee intake has been linked to an increased risk of lung cancer and can exacerbate heart problems.

Life expectancy

Coffee drinkers live longer. A review of 20 studies including more than 970,000 people found those who usually drank the most coffee had a 14% lower risk of dying prematurely from any cause, compared with those who drank the least.

Even drinking just one to two cups a day conferred an 8% lower risk.

Decaffeinated coffee drinkers who had two to four cups a day still had a 14% lower relative risk of premature death than those who didn't drink coffee at all.

Liver cancer

Coffee drinkers, particularly men, have a lower risk of liver cancer. This is important as liver disease is the sixth-most-common cancer in the world and is more common in men.

Results from six studies, based on the total number of cups of coffee drunk per day, found the relative risk of liver cancer was 14% lower for every extra cup.

Research shows that naturally occurring coffee components, including kahweol and cafestol, have direct cancer-protection and anti-inflammatory properties. Coffee appears able to up-regulate biochemical pathways in the liver that protect the body from toxins, including aflatoxin and other carcinogenic compounds.

Type 2 diabetes

Coffee drinkers have a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Across 28 studies of more than one million adults, those who drank three or more cups of coffee a day had a 21% lower relative risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those who never or rarely drank it.

For those drinking six or more cups a day, the risk was lowered by 33%.

Interestingly, the risk was lower for both regular and decaffeinated coffee drinkers. For each cup of regular caffeinated coffee there was an extra 9% lower relative risk of developing diabetes and a 6% lower risk for each cup of decaffeinated coffee.

The active components of coffee help reduce oxidative stress, the imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants. Coffee contains chlorogenic acid, which has been shown to improve glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity, and caffeic acid, which increases the rate muscles use up blood glucose, as well as having immune-stimulating and anti-inflammatory properties.

Prostate cancer

Coffee drinkers have a lower risk of prostate cancer. Across 13 studies that included more than 530,000 men, those who drank the most coffee had a 10% lower relative risk of developing prostate cancer than those who drank the least.

For every extra two cups of coffee drunk per day, cancer risk decreased by a small extra amount of 2.5%.

However, when prostate cancer grade was factored in, there was no protective effect for advanced or terminal types of prostate cancer.

Now, the reasons to watch your coffee intake.

Lung cancer

Watch you total coffee intake to lower your risk for lung cancer. Studies of more than 100,000 adults found those with the highest coffee intakes had a 27% higher relative risk of lung cancer.

Every extra two cups of coffee per day was associated with an 11% greater risk of developing lung cancer.

There were only two studies on decaffeinated coffee and they had the opposite finding: a 34% lower relative risk for high decaffeinated coffee intakes.

Pregnancy

Drinking more that one to two cups of coffee when pregnant may not as be risky as once thought, but it’s worth being cautious.

The relationship between coffee and risk of miscarriage and other adverse pregnancy outcomes in older research studies was more likely to be seen in poorly designed studies, especially for outcomes like low birth weight and congenital anomalies.

Some of the risk of miscarriage was probably confounded by the fact that women with severe morning sickness, which is a sign of good implantation of the embryo, tend to cut down on coffee due to nausea.

It also appears that cigarette smoking, which tended to be associated with coffee consumption in older studies, was not always adjusted for, so some of the risk is likely to have been due to smoking.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends pregnant women drink less than 200 milligrams of caffeine per day. This is equivalent to one to two cups of coffee a day (instant coffee has 50-100 mg caffeine per cup; brewed coffee about 100-150 mg).

Blood pressure

The last caution relates to your heart. High intakes of caffeine can increase blood pressure in the short term and plasma homocysteine, another heart disease risk factor. Coffee is not associated, however, with the long-term risk of heart disease.

People with high blood pressure or heart conditions, older people, adolescents, children and those who don't usually drink coffee will be more sensitive to caffeine found in “energy” drinks, cola and coffee, and it can take longer to metabolise. Switching to decaffeinated coffee will help.

It’s important to note that most of the research on coffee comes from population-based observational studies that measure association and not causation. That is partly because it would be very hard to do a randomised controlled trial of drinking more coffee and measuring health outcomes over many years. But there’s a thought – anyone like to volunteer for that study?

Clare Collins is Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics at University of Newcastle.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The post Health Check: 4 Reasons To Have Another Cup Of Coffee appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Samyak Dutta: 

Having completed three internships so far during my undergrad years and having received a pre-placement offer from the most recent company I interned with, I have attempted to jot down some points which are a result of the documentation of my experiences.

1. Stay in the feedback loop: It is absolutely critical to take feedback from your manager/mentor on a regular basis. An ideal frequency would be once a week, but it's important that you do sit for this discussion. If your manager doesn't schedule 1-on-1 meetings for this purpose, be proactive and take the initiative yourself. You can discuss your progress so far, pitfalls that you encountered and how you decided to overcome them. You should specifically ask them about their expectations of you and whether they are satisfied with the overall pace of your work and the general direction that the project is headed. The discussion should be a trade-off between an in-depth analysis about your project and an abstract-level design overview of the same.

2. Don't remain stuck on any problem for too long: It is very easy to get sucked into a vortex of your ego in such situations, No doubt, you would be able to solve the issue on your own if you are given sufficient time and the feeling of accomplishment thereafter will give you mental orgasms. As part of a team during your internship, you would be working on technologies that your team-mates have been using for quite some time. It is probable that they would have faced the same or similar issues and must have figured out a way to deal with the same. At times, they may also guide you to the proper internal channels to get your query addressed in the most efficient manner.

3. Work well within the deadlines: This may not be true for all types of internships, but it certainly holds for software engineering roles. The tasks (the smaller, broken-down ones, not the entire project itself) that you are assigned are generally not very difficult or time-consuming. The deadlines that they set are also quite lenient. You should face no issues in completing the designated work in the stipulated time. In a utopian scenario, you should be able to put in extra work too! It is much safer to "Do more, report less" than the other way round.

4. Interact with people in your team: Know where they come from, understand their backgrounds. You would be spending a major chunk of your intern-time working with them. Technical astuteness aside, your social skills play an important role in leveraging your candidature for a pre-placement offer. After all, irrespective of the outcome, an internship is about making contacts in the industry or academia.

Having said all that, it is imperative that you don't get caught up in all the competitiveness surrounding pre-placement offers and lose out on the real motive of your internship - augmenting your knowledge and assimilating skills.

Hope this helps and all the best for your internship!

This article has also been published on Quora.

The post How To Increase Your Chances Of Getting A Job Offer After Your Internship appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Monica Islam: 

Razia (name changed) developed autism at the time of her birth due to medical negligence. At the rural clinic in Bangladesh where she was born, the nurses fed her at least two sleeping tablets to stop her from crying at night. While the doctors at the clinic claimed it was a congenital disorder, experts elsewhere in the country blamed the drugs for Razia’s condition.

When Razia was ten years old, bite marks and other signs of sexual abuse were found on her body. Her mother alleges it was a family member who abused her, but she took no further steps to identify and punish the perpetrator.

At present, Razia has to live with a malfunctioning nervous system and non-performing limbs, among many other complications. She is dependent on her mother for basic care. Razia’s education suffers in a country where schooling facilities for special-needs children are primitive. She does not express any disgust for her molesters. How would she if she is not taught the many facts of life, including those pertaining to sex?

Razia is a member of my extended family, and I have seen her distress very closely. It is for this reason that I am profiling a development practitioner who is passionate about inclusion.

Shamsin Ahmed initiated the project 'Identity Inclusion' to identify the needs of people with psycho-social disability and to break the barriers affecting their capacities to participate in society. She came up with the idea after working on a disability inclusion initiative as a young professional at BRAC’s Social Innovation Lab, where she realized that most institutions in Bangladesh are not inclusive of people with disabilities and don't even know how to be. She also took part in Leadership for Mental Health System Development organized by the James P Grant School of Public Health, where she learned of the dire situation of mental health in  Bangladesh.

When it comes to people with cognitive disabilities, the situation is worse as they are excluded not only from workplaces and educational institutions, but from entire communities. "Stuck at home without access to education, recreation, and employment, such people are excluded from the mainstream way of life. It is as if they don’t exist," notes Shamsin.

Consequently, Shamsin’s project aims to involve not only the affected individuals, but also other members of the society who might be contributing to the exclusion. The project team held its first support group meeting in April, which was attended by family and friends of people with cognitive ailments. Two critical findings emerged: (a) the family members did not know where to seek help without being stigmatized; and (b) they often resorted to prevalent stereotypical measures, such as pushing the affected person towards marriage, as a solution.

Identity Inclusion’s interventions are designed in collaboration with professionals from Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed, National Institute of Mental Health of Bangladesh, and Dhaka University’s Educational Counseling Psychology Department. In addition to support groups, the project team organizes psycho-social training for youths.

Most statistics suggest that [envoke_twitter_link]80% of the people suffering from mental health issues are located in developing countries[/envoke_twitter_link]. In Bangladesh, less than 0.5% of the national health budget is allocated for mental health. There is no comprehensive National Mental Health policy in the country. Amidst this backdrop, Shamsin Ahmed’s Identity Inclusion project is a refreshing step.

"Whatever we do, we should try to understand before expecting to be understood; we should at least try to help before judging and walking away," says Shamsin on a parting note.

The post “It’s As If They Don’t Exist”: Bangladeshi Woman Reveals A Shocking Negligence appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Jon Hersh:

In 2007 I spent a week with John Nash in Barcelona. Ostensibly I was assisting with a paper he was writing (The agencies method for coalition formation in experimental games) but in practice I was his bit of American familiarity in a sea of Barcelonan otherworldliness.

Here's John and me attending a conference during that week (I'm sporting the ridiculous sideburns and proto-mullet). The woman to his left is his wife, Alicia, and that's Reinhart Selten on the far right. Those who have had the pleasure of reading his book will note Andreu Mas-Colell to my right. For a candid shot that's not a bad group of micro-theorists.

Prior to meeting Mr. Nash I only knew him through his work and of course through lore. He has some stunningly brilliant work in mathematics which has been overshadowed by a book and movie which details some very eccentric behavior. I was expecting someone who behaved like the movie, and was prepared to lead around a ghost of a person, or at least someone very disturbed. Throughout the week I found him to be good natured, introverted and rather banal. More like your favorite math professor from college than a man who talks to himself as a hobby.

Every day that week I would go and meet John at his hotel in l'eixample and we would go to Starbucks or to the lobby of his hotel and work on the paper. After working in the morning we would have lunch, usually with his family, and then return to work on the paper a bit more. We would take breaks to do some sight-seeing--taking a bus tour around Barcelona or walking the streets--but our days were focused around the paper. In the evenings we would have dinner with his family usually and dine and discuss economics, mathematics, or whatever the topic was at hand.

I think the best way to organize my anecdotes is to use to them to describe the conclusions I came to over the week. To be clear, I can only speak about the brief time I spent with him, and can't speak about the other periods of his life. Really I'm only marginally qualified to speak about him at all, but here we go.

John Nash is normal math genius eccentric, but not crazy crazy.

John doesn't act like you or me. Then again, we don't possess the kind of brain-power he has and haven't spent a life creating abstract proofs alone in a library. Most really good mathematicians I know share this same trait: a limited, almost muted outward persona that masks mental fireworks happening somewhere inside. If you have not been accustomed this kind of person, it can be very jarring, and you might conclude that this person is "crazy" or at least severely disturbed. But I could sense little difference in affect between him and my Russian analysis professor, both of whom would shock anyone unaccustomed to such behavior, but neither of whom are really crazy.

John Nash has a complicated family life

John was traveling with his wife, Alicia and his son, John Jr. Alicia was always pleasant, quick to smile but was relatively passive in conversation. His son, John Jr., would spend entire meals entering numbers into a cheap calculator, then jotting down simple arithmetic equations line by line into a worn notebook.

One day Prof. Nash's son didn't eat lunch at the restaurant with the rest of us, instead opting for McDonald's down the street. After lunch, and trying to be social, I asked John Jr. how his lunch was. He responded, "I had a breakthrough. I was contemplating my illusions and think I understand them now." "Oh," I said. "That's...good." Then he took out his calculator and went back to adding numbers. I'm not an expert, but it struck me as if he was playing someone crazy.

John Nash seemed to have a slight internet addiction

Maybe he was bored with our discourse, but whenever there was a break he would ask to see my laptop so he could check his email. I noticed that kind of twitching restlessness you see so often with people these days. But this was before the ubiquity of internet enabled cell phones, so John would just reach for my laptop, and load up Quora (just kidding! He was reading math papers or news usually.)

John Nash isn't anti-semitic

I mentioned to a friend I was going to meet John Nash. My friend said, half-jokingly "Better not tell him you're Jewish!" I laughed, but this was before I met John and so I was legitimately worried about revealing this information. During dinner one night he asked me "Jon, tell me where is your family from?" I decided to hedge my answer. "Well, you know, Russia and Romania mostly." But then I thought of all the holocaust films my parents made me watch as a child so I quickly blurted out: "We're Jewish." He nodded and we went to the next topic of conversation. The idea that he's anti-semitic is pretty ridiculous. I can't speak for the past, but he seems to have no problem interacting with Reinhart Selten, who is himself Jewish, and about 13% of Princeton which is Jewish as well.

John Nash is a world class troll.

This is entirely subjective, but I think it it's illustrative. John would sometimes do or say strange things that he could get away with saying because people thought he was crazy. For example, at one point during the conference a student asked to have his picture taken with John. He agreed and the student handed me the camera, and when I pointed the camera at the two, John turned to the left, obscuring himself in the frame so that only his profile would be showing in the photo. I looked at him when he turned around and John seemed to wink at me, or acknowledge that he had played a joke. Perhaps this was his way of diffusing the attention, or some personal game he was playing because he could.

Another anecdote, when we were working on the paper we had to do some quick calculations and add three numbers: 30, 40 and 50. Obviously the answer is 120, but for some reason John said it was 100. Why did he make such an obvious arithmetic mistake? Was it just to see if we were paying attention? Or maybe he was only half paying attention.

The best parts were spending time with John and just shooting the shit with him. I asked about what it was like to go from West Virginia to Princeton, since I had made a similar move from Kansas to Chicago. He said they made fun of him for saying "ya'll" so he quickly dropped that from his pattern of speech.

The one regret I had from the week was that I had to back out of a hike to Mont Juic with John and Prof. Selten. I had an exam the following week (in micro no less) and needed to spend the weekend studying. In fact, whenever we had a spare moment I would break out MWG and look over pages of proofs, some of which John himself had proven decades ago. I remember looking over one such proof in the lobby of his hotel, where we sat waiting to go to dinner. There was a particularly thorny part I couldn't understand, and it was in game theory no less, so I lean over to John and ask him if he could explain it to me.

His response was most telling: "No. I have no idea how that's solved."

Originally published on Quora by Jon Hersh.

The post “John Nash Was A World Class Troll” – Student Recalls His Week With The Math Genius appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Ali Abbas: 

While majority of the media may project it as a glorious one year for Modi government, as a layman belonging to minority community and working with an NGO, I fear we are heading towards authoritarian regime.

A year back, Modiji sold the dream of development, for which his government secured an absolute majority in the parliament. But if we separate facts from fantasies, his development dream is turning out to be a business plan for certain corporate houses.

Comparing with what was promised and what is delivered, it seems like, "Make the lie big, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it."

Saffronization

Extremist right wing forces are on the rise, targeting minorities has only increased in one year. And by minorities I mean not just Muslims, but also Christians, Dalits and other non-Hindu communities.

Polarisation of votes before every state election seems to be the underlining strategy of BJP’s "Chanakya" Amit Shah. With every poll, a fresh attack is launched on minorities by introducing terms like "Love Jihad" and "Bahu Lao, Beti Bachao".

Seems like "Ghar Wapsi" is now a full-fledged programme. It has endorsement, not just from RSS the ideological mentor of BJP, but also from some BJP Parliamentarians. Sadhvi Saraswati predicts that through proper implementation of Ghar Wapsi, the population of Hindus will soon reach to 125 crore by "reconverting" Muslims and Christians. We have also noticed numerous attacks on churches in the past year.

Be it "Hindu women must have at least 4 children" or describing Nathuram Godse as patriot by M.P. Sakshi Maharaj, M.P. Aditiyanath accusing Muslims for frequent communal riots in UP, or the latest from MoS for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, "Those who cannot live without eating beef should go to Pakistan".  Such irresponsible comments either caused fear and mistrust among minorities other irrational comments became laughing stock on social networking sites.

Muzzling Dissent In Democracy

Civil society has a long history of representing people’s voices. Their opinion plays the crucial role in framing laws and further implementation on ground. Activist fights for the issues which are otherwise ignored by authorities and main stream media. NGOs reach out and support to millions of downtrodden people in the country. They take up societal building activities and employ nearly 20 million people.

But the Modi government thinks otherwise. In the past one year there has been a crackdown on civil societies, NGOs and other social organizations. The most targeted one is Greenpeace India, a leading environmental organization in 42 countries is on the verge of shutting down its office in India. It was alleged that the foundation is "interfering in the internal affairs" and "abetting communal disharmony" through social activist Teesta Setalvad’s Sabrang trust. Home ministry further cancelled the registration of 8975 NGOs.

The most common reasons cited for such actions by Home Ministry is, these organizations and activists are obstacles in the "development" of the country. The most common way is to "leak a report" in the media and before the organization or activist responds, chock their funding.

In one statement PM Modi expressed, "The judiciary is not as fearless today as it used to be ten years back. Are five-star activists not driving the judiciary?" He not just ridiculed activism but also undermined the judiciary.

Rules Are Meant To Be Broken

The past year has noticed major amendments and dilution in laws, the most infamous being the Land Acquisition Bill. Social activist Anna Hazara asked for an open debate with Prime Minister on the Bill and said, "The government is tweaking the law to benefit the corporates and bring 'achhe din' for them."

Opposition parties and some of government’s own allies have strongly objected the bill terming it as pro-corporate and anti-farmer. Unable to pass it in the parliament with no numbers in Rajya Sabha, the Bill was finally sent to a 30 member joint committee.

Also in the list is the dilution of the power of National Green Tribunal as an advisory body. Whistle-blower protection act has been diluted on the pretext of "National Security". In its attempts to influence industrial driven development, the government is shrinking the rights of farmers and tribal communities while environmental degradation is at its peak.

[envoke_twitter_link]This year’s performance leaves enough to predict the next four years, and it looks worrisome. [/envoke_twitter_link]

The post Ek Saal Modi Sarkar: Separating Fact From Fantasy appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Sunayana Chatrapathy: 

It was the library period for class 5. The children were all lined up as the librarian distributed books from a pile. I happened to notice Santosh who kept sending others ahead and falling back in the line. When he got his book, he jumped up and cheered! Aah! He was waiting for the only colourful book in the pile of books and he got it! That’s when I realized the importance of attractive, colourful books for children - be it children from the cities or children from tribal hinterlands with whom I currently work. "Where are all the tinkle digests or Amar chitra katha books we read as children?" I thought.

Let me rewind a bit about how I got here.

It was just another evening. I was on the bus back home, dozing off, much like the other corporate job holders on my bus. It was the same grind every day. Wake up. Put on formals. Commute two hours. Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint, e-mails. Commute again. Dinner. Sleep. Repeat.

My phone buzzed. It was my husband, Anand, talking about a fellowship programme he had just heard about. I had been looking for alternate options for a while. I was unhappy with this daily grind that gave me close to no satisfaction. After all, what difference was I making to anyone? With or without me, my company, a global MNC, would go on. I was just a brick in the wall. I wanted to do something that I liked doing. This option seemed interesting. More genuine than most other options I'd seen.

SBI Youth for India fellowship – a chance to work in a village, on a project of your choice for one year. It seemed exciting and I jumped right into it after a slight tug of war with my parents and in laws.

I now live in a village in Odisha, far away from the hustle and bustle of Bangalore, my home town. I work with tribal children at a residential school run by an NGO called Gram Vikas. The school has about 500 children who made me fall in love with them right from day one, always eager and quick to learn and in the process, unconsciously teaching the world how to love unconditionally.

Initially, I sang with them, danced and played games, simply to bond with them. Now, we continue to do the same - learn songs, watch videos, dance, play games, read stories, tell stories and in the process, learn English. Earlier, like many others, I was of the opinion that no language should be forced upon students. However, as I spent more time here, [envoke_twitter_link]I realised the importance of being able to read, write and comprehend English comfortably[/envoke_twitter_link]. Most students know how to read and write in English, but they don’t understand a word of what they’re writing.

This is a problem, because it is rather unfortunate that almost all educational options post Class X, have English as the medium of instruction. Since the students don’t easily comprehend the language, they eventually fall through and give up studying further altogether. I was recently speaking to Siba, a boy who fared well in class X and he said ‘Didi, I want to do a diploma in engineering but would not be able to do so because my English is not good!’ I could not believe that a language could be barrier to their dreams!

To try and change that trend, I am currently helping students learn English. I’m also helping teachers teach English more effectively. It’s nice to see that they now enjoy learning the language they were once afraid of! The students have also shown me that this need not be a one-way route. They teach me Odia and I teach them English. They learn English and I show them a video in return!

Thanks to some generous donors, I was able to get some good story books for the school. I had left the box outside the office before I took it to the library. Before I knew it, half the school was crowded around the books. It was so good to see little kids pick up Panchatantra and Jataka tales by themselves and try to read them.

Apart from English, I am also helping students learn Maths better; with the use of Math manipulatives that help students learn elementary mathematical concepts better and discourages rote learning.

While working with these children, who are mostly first generation learners, my biggest realisation has been that children everywhere have the same potential; only the opportunities and platforms available to them are different. If these children can be given the right opportunity, they are pretty much invincible. [envoke_twitter_link]This experience has given me a whole new perspective about many things in life[/envoke_twitter_link] and is also helping me shape what I want to do in future – I aspire to work in the field of education by helping strengthen government schools.

Sunayana is currently a fellow with the SBI Youth for India fellowship. She has completed her MBA (HR) from SIBM, Pune and BE from NIT Suratkal and has worked with the IT industry for about 5 years. You can read more about her journey here.

The post Why I Quit My Corporate Job To Teach English In An Odisha Village appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Divyaroop Ananda:

Today I was going to American school of Bombay for choir practice (yes, I’m a part of India’s first gay choir group, Rainbow voices). On my way, while I was in an auto rickshaw, another one was driving just next to us. Busy on my phone, I didn’t notice what was happening. When all of a sudden my driver shouted, “Marad hai. Mud mud k dekhne ki zaroorat nahi. Agey badh.” (He’s a man. No need to turn your heads. Go ahead.)

That caught my attention. I asked him what happened. The driver replied they were thinking there’s a woman sitting and all of them (the other driver and three passengers) were trying to catch up the pace to stare at you. I felt safe because that man defended me, when other men were ogling at me.

Hence, I’m gonna write this post to all the men and women (yes women too), who always turn around their heads to see and gossip about me wearing makeup.

Look at me, laugh at me, gossip about how I look and get disgusted by my presence. I don’t care. For I exist, and just like you have your choice of wearing burkha, salwar, gown, or top and jeans, just like you have choice of wearing shirt and trousers, dhoti or lungi, suit and tie, T-shirt and jeans, vest and shorts, etc.;I have my choice of wearing what I want too.

Giggle behind my back or look at me with the surprise, because there’s nothing more that you can do.

Vacate all the seats when I sit somewhere, go away from me like I’ll spread my “disease to you”. I don’t care as long as I have my seat and you don’t bother me.

Be confused. Call me he or call me she. For that matter, call me ze if you want to, for I am the best of all worlds, or shall I say genders. I just don’t go by any defined gender.

Call me whore, call me slut, call me hijra, call me eunuch, I don’t care. For every word that you think will be derogatory to me, it only gives me strength to live and makes me stronger than ever.

Your hate towards me only reflects your personality and not how weird I am. For everything that exists in this world today, was once something weird for others.

For every hate you sent my way, for every names you called me for who I am, I wish I could rip your heart out and crush it under my six inches heels as you have always tried to make my life hell. But I am much better in taking revenge. I will let you live and let you rot in your skin while you see me live a victorious life.

And to all of you out there who can dare to walk beside me or choose your own path that no one ventured before, and as long as it makes you happy and it doesn’t harm someone else, be assured that you have my support and so of many others who dared to be different. Let not this world tell you that you are not beautiful.

Note: This article was originally published on the author's personal blog. 

The post “Call Me Whore, Call Me Slut, Call Me Hijra, Call Me Eunuch, I Don’t Care” appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Aditi Saraswat: 

Piku celebrates a woman. It celebrates her sense of independence: sexual, emotional or financial, in that order. Piku’s father Bhaskor opines, "marriage without purpose is a low I.Q decision" as women often sacrifice their dreams for furthering those of their husbands’ and children. He is more than alright with premarital sex; in fact, at one point he advises Piku that she should keep her relation with a man 'just casual'.

One wonders how many fathers come equipped with this sense of celebration of their daughter’s sexual independence. After all, many of us have to sit with our parents and patiently explain our many choices – from that off shoulder dress to our 'live- in status'. Not for Piku though. At first one is gripped with a tingling euphoria for mainstream Hindi Cinema’s coming-of-age with films like these. But as Bhaksor keeps reminding her that she does not need a married life and actively prevents her from venturing in that direction, one wonders, is her agency being celebrated or subverted?

At the heart of the film is not constipation, but a father who would not let go of a caregiver daughter. Be it dismissing the aunt’s foreboding that Piku should get married or his using her 'sexually independent status' to dissuade potential suitors. Piku is free in all senses of the term, except of course if she wants to marry. The question here is not of the desirability of marriage in Piku’s or any other woman’s life, it is a matter of agency, of choice. By hovering over her horizon at all times, and drowning out her voice by ridiculing her craving for a commitment, he makes his championing the cause for female sexual liberation hollow. Why does one need to marry if they can have all the sex in the world with a resounding permission from their parents? As if marriage was just about sex.

Piku’s father is a worried old man, though mostly worried about his non-existing ailments and yes, that is okay. He wants to be showered with attention and care and yes, that is okay too. There is no denying that Piku wants to take care of Bhaskor and knowingly puts her love life on a backburner for him. In that respect, the film has depicted the sentimental insecurities which our parents face with great beauty and finesse. But should the film be considered a feminist film, as it is being labelled? In my opinion, Bhaskor preaches – almost vehemently- women’s independence in all forms, and that marriage is nothing but shackles. But he practices different stuff, which is noted when we learn that Piku’s mother gave up her job to let Bhaskor’s career soar, or when he never entertains the thought of her marriage. In fact, in his death is a realization which hits the audience hard and square - no longer does Piku look back over her shoulder.

The film’s treatment of the childlike idiosyncrasies of an old parent is a fresh one, and the earnestness with which Piku understands and takes on her father’s hypochondria is heart warming. If it manages to drag premarital sex out of the taboo list into our drawing room discussions, it is a task well begun. If it can start a dialogue on what feminism means in our varied contexts, it is a job well done, and we can congratulate the makers. But as a text, it fails to persuade me as a feminist one.

Also read: What Piku Taught Me About Feminism

The post Why I Don’t Believe In Piku’s Feminism appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Monica Islam:

If news reports are to be believed, there is currently an influx of refugee immigrants, especially of Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist origins, into the state of India under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Reportedly, more than 4,000 Hindus and Sikhs from neighbouring countries, such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, have been granted Indian citizenship within a year. While Firstpost’s editor-in-chief very patriotically touts this step as India’s generosity, there are many concerns which need to be addressed by the government.

Firstly, this immigration plan appears to be a replica of the model pioneered by Israel which advocated for a safe abode for persecuted Jews. The model is based on strong nationalism and communalism. In case of Israel, what started out as an innocent escape route for oppressed Jews in Europe has now turned into a battleground for settlement rights and identity issues. Arab Israelis, both Christians and Muslims, routinely complain of marginalization in the country. The world is expectant that such will not be the case in India where the rights of Indian Muslims will be threatened.

Secondly, the inclusion of refugees must not be based on their religious beliefs (unless they are facing religious persecution). Instead, it must meet the need of the hour. Right now, there are many apolitical, religion neutral cases of citizenship in India which are pending for as long as nine to sixteen years! Additionally, there is the Rohingya community, which is the most persecuted one in the world, perishing at sea. There is also the question of secularism in India. How can a religiously-neutral land proclaim unwavering allegiance to the Hindu community?

Thirdly and most importantly, is India, with the second largest population in the world, ready for a politically-motivated addition of more citizens? Already it is alleged that the Rohingya Muslim refugee population is receiving little support in India. Furthermore, one of the biggest slums of the world, Dharavi, happens to be located in the country. Apart from poverty, there is also the issue of integration and social cohesion of the immigrants. Does being Hindu automatically translate into being Indian? (If yes, then not only is secularism, as pointed out earlier, under threat, but so is religious minority rights as members of other religious groups will have to constantly prove their loyalty to India.)

Narendra Modi continues to defend his stance by speaking of national goodwill and protecting minority rights, but fails to explain how he plans to tackle the aforementioned concerns. Immigration is a burning issue in many developed countries, such as France and United Kingdom. There are fierce national debates relating to immigration in each of those countries. We would expect the same to occur in India. But not if there is any discrepancy in the reported statistics (allegedly, 600 as opposed to 4,000 Hindus have been granted Indian citizenship) in an attempt to boost the public image of Narendra Modi’s leadership.

The post Is India Ready For A Surge In Hindu Immigrants From Other Countries? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Shivani Nag: 

Bill Haywood, leader of the industrial workers in the U.S. once said, "The worst thief is he who steals the playtime of children." Unfortunately, in case of India today, it is the government that has turned into a thief of children’s playtime and ironically, it has found support in a man who was recently awarded a Nobel Prize for his contribution to the 'Save The Children Movement' that aimed to protect the rights of children across countries.

[caption id="attachment_48555" align="alignleft" width="450"] Kailash Satyarthi[/caption]

In the context of the Union Cabinet’s approval to the changes in the existing child labour laws to allow children below the age of 14 to work after school or during vacations to help their "family or family enterprises", Kailash Satyarthi, the Nobel Laureate referred to above, shared that he is- "not opposed to the contentious amendment, which allows kids under the age of 14 to work in family-run enterprises, as long as the government restricts the definition of 'family' to parents or legal guardians and the work does not affect the child's health, education and leisure time."

First and foremost, this 'haloed' and 'sacrosanct' understanding of the family structures needs to be challenged and this continual citing of family to legitimize policing of consenting adults, marital rape, and now child labour must stop. To allow children to work in family set ups only means that now we have at hand a labour force that is completely dependent on the employer and uninformed of their own rights, so much so that they can hardly be expected to complain against inhumane work hours, non-payment of wages, or ill-treatment at work place.

Satyarthi goes on to add- "Children help their family and they also learn skills from their parents. Our condition is simple and clear that this 'help', and not an earning, must not be at the cost of the child's education, health and free time." To begin with, yes our contexts of learning are socio-culturally constituted as evidenced in case of learning of languages, early life skills, and even local knowledge systems. However, when it comes to vocational skills, the expectation that a child must be trained by the parents into the same by way of 'help' is quite a casteist articulation.

This articulation has at its base a premise that one’s birth must decide what one’s vocation should be. Therefore, as the children of the 'privileged' can gladly spend their holidays and post school hours travelling, reading fiction, watching theatre, playing and honing several other self-chosen skills, it is the children of the 'unprivileged' who must resign to a lifetime of all work (chosen by the fact of their birth) without a moment for themselves doing things of their own choice. Regarding the concern that this must not be at the cost of the child’s education, health and free time, one really wonders, how if not at the cost of these, would the time for engaging in these 'vocational skill training' opportunities be found?

Anyone who has worked or researched in the area of primary education in government school set-ups, and more importantly anyone who has experienced it themselves, will know that one reason for figures of enrollment failing to be reflected in classrooms is the familial responsibilities that so many children anyway have to share.

For the 6 years that I visited the field, the absence of enrolled girls in classrooms could majorly be accounted by the fact that they were required to stay back and babysit their siblings. Children across sexes would absent themselves on days when their parents were required to take their fares/produce to weekly markets in nearby towns. The most frequently shared reason for bad performance in a class test, assignment, or failure to complete an assignment was- "After going home, I had to help my parents with cleaning/taking care of infant siblings/helping in fields, etc. and hence did not get time to study/finish the assignment."

It wasn't just about the absences during school hours that interfered with their academic achievements, but also their prolonged engagements with family chores after school hours. It should not be forgotten that the schools that are being referred to, are already ill staffed, dependent on poorly trained para-teachers, infra-structurally lacking, and the concerned families hardly have any socio-economic or cultural capital to compensate. So far, at least the parents carried an expression of remorse anytime they ran into a teacher, but now you have a state provided legitimization of putting young children in non-school and non-play activities without a thought about their future.

As per his interview in Economic Times, Satyarthi was careful in pointing out that –"he was actively engaged with people at the "top level" to lobby for the above riders in addition to his demand that the government should not tamper with the list of 18 hazardous professions in which children between 15 and 18 years cannot be employed."

It cannot be overemphasized that the fact that children cannot still be employed in occupations termed 'hazardous' offers no compensation, as the term hazardous remains extremely narrowly defined. Are we indeed happy to see little children working on handlooms, family owned tea stalls, and as assistant helpers to working class parents, as long as their bodies remain ridden of external marks of injuries or burns? What of the hazard this change poses to their own future, their dreams of mobility and their desire to carve out a destiny for themselves different from that of their families? It is one thing for the children of multimillionaire industrialist to inherit all of their parents’ wealth including the reins of their family run empires, but why must a cobbler, or a blacksmith, or a handloom worker, or a carpenter, or a plumber’s child be forced to acquire the skills practiced by their parents and in the process be denied the right to choose their vocations for themselves?

Additionally given that the RTE guarantees free education only from 6-14 years, and that so far, lawfully, children could not be employed till 14, the parents and children still got some time to see a promise in what education has to offer. If the law allows children to be employed below the age of 14, the very fact that children may have gained some skills by the age of 14 after which education is no longer free, the cost of education (in addition to the perceived 'opportunity cost of education'- i.e.-the wages a child might have earned if he/she was not to go to school and be employed elsewhere, but now has to forego because he/she chooses to be in school at that time) is more likely to encourage parents to force their children to discontinue schooling after the age of 14.

While the pleas of several child rights’, human rights’ and educational rights’ activists to ensure free school education from birth till class XII continues to fall on deaf ears, it is extremely shameful that those who cannot guarantee children free quality education have no qualms in forcing them out of school system and that those who have gained accolades by claiming to stand for child rights, have no qualms in legitimizing child labour in carefully guarded words.

Shivani Nag is Asst. Prof. Psychology, Ravenshaw University.

The post OK If Child Labour Done For ‘Family’ Says Nobel Laureate, But Isn’t That The Problem? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Sumrit Shahi: 

So there I was clubbing sober, last Saturday night, sipping on my Red Bull even as the world around me got wasted, one shot at a time. Bored out of my wits, I ended up doing what I end up doing anyway at any social gathering—I took out my voyeur lens( figuratively, before I get arrested!) and started to observe the people around.

You know, the regular grind—drunk couples, teenagers trying to look and act old, married couples trying to look young—but then my eyes focused on this particular group of 'friends'. They weren't really talking to each other, everyone was engrossed in their phones, doing their own thing. But suddenly one of them would shout out, 'Hey guys, let's take a selfie,' and they'd all huddle together like they'd been having the time of their lives, pout and pose and get back to not talking to each other. Wow, some friendship there!

That really set me thinking. Today, in our oh-so-contemporary world, [envoke_twitter_link]do we really honour friendship like we did, when we were kids?[/envoke_twitter_link] Is it still real and honest?

Shared tiffin. Borrowed pencils. An accidental desk partner—the first friendships we made early on in life just happened. No planning, no thinking. They just happened. And then we grew up and our hearts shrank. We started selecting friends not from the heart but from the brain, for whatever reason. Social standing. Convenience. Or plain lack of options.

Today, life's one hectic deal after you finish college. So many people on your Facebook list from school and college, how many do you wish, not just because you can see their birthday featuring on your homepage? How many do you call, despite having their numbers in the contact list of your phone?

Well yeah, everyone's busy. Words like career and ambition sound oh -so-important in your early twenties, but life is supposed to be like that. But you don't want your life to be the sequel to A Christmas Carol, right? You don't want a wedding where you don't have even five embarrassing real friends?

There's a difference in being liked and having friends. And if you don't want to drown yourself in cheap port wine, I suggest you opt for the latter. Also, once you start working, you realise, you need some genuine faces to load shed your worries, fears, and overdrives of abusing the boss! [envoke_twitter_link]You need your buddies, bro[/envoke_twitter_link]. Trust me on that.

So now, the choice is yours. Or rather, there isn't a choice, you better pick up your phone. Call your friends. And keep it that way.

Sumrit Shahi is a twenty-two-year-old bestselling author and scriptwriter for youth TV shows such as 'Sadda Haq' and 'Million Dollar Girl' on Channel V, India. He has recently released his third book, 'Never Kiss Your Best Friend' with Rupa Publications.

The post Dil Dosti Selfie: Friendship In Today’s World Needs A Reboot appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Latha Jishnu:

Note: This article has been republished from Down To Earth.

Among the amazing things that Narendra Modi has said and done in the past year as the Prime Minister of India must rank his visit to Dantewada in early May. In this district of Chhattisgarh, the hotbed of the Maoist or Naxalite insurgency, went Modi, apparently the first prime minister to visit the blood-splattered district in three decades. That was laudable, knowing how busy the man is with a foreign itinerary that leaves him little time to attend to matters of import.

[caption id="attachment_48685" align="aligncenter" width="505"] Illustration: Tarique Aziz[/caption]

Intrepid Modi then went and made a terrible speech, a tearjerker that showed how much more foreign and more inscrutable Dantewada is to Delhi than even Ulan Bator. At a public rally organised with armour-plated security, the PM appealed to the Maoists to do the following: “Wear tribal clothes and visit a child who has lost his parents. Spend five days with him. Talk to him, don’t reveal who you are. I can tell you with certainty that the boy… will force you to reconsider. You will be shattered by the grave sin you had committed… intoxicated by violence.”

Really now? Seemingly swept away by his own rhetoric, Modi asked the battle-hardened Maoists to “embrace humanity once, and meet the aggrieved families”. That apparently would be a life-changing experience because thereafter “you will be transformed by a boy who suffered by your bullets”. Incredible as it sounds, it is not likely that the newspapers were misquoting Modi. Almost all the reports of his day-long tour of the disturbed area carried the same speech.

If a Maoist were to turn around and tell the PM that the reason why he or she had taken up the gun was on account of the harsh and unjust ways of the state would Modi have been moved? If the Maoist explained that he was the same Adivasi boy who had been orphaned and made homeless by the security forces or by an exploitative system would the PM have seen the truth of it? Modi only needs to dust off a pile of reports and studies that have delineated the causes of alienation in the areas of Naxalite influence. He would gain excellent insights from spending an hour or two on a 2008 report prepared by an expert group set up by the Planning Commission titled Development Challenges in Extremist-Affected Areas. It would tell him clearly where the state is going wrong.

The Maoists don’t believe in mawkish appeals to the state. Their ideology and the means they adopt to achieve their goals is out there in the open—whether the rest of us agree with these or not. And they have no time for the games that politicians play; their existence and those of the Adivasis and Dalits, the stock they come from, is always on the line. Although it swears by development, the state has always relied on brute force to crush the tribals/Maoists, particularly in the past seven-eight years when the entire weight of the security apparatus from police to paramilitary and commandos has been deployed to clear the jungles of the red menace.

Modi has promised that “this drama of death” will stop and that “development is the only way to solve your problems”. He has asked the Maoists to “sit together” with the government. Should they trust his government any more than they have the previous ones? Ground reports from the state say that Modi’s policies have only deepened the rural crisis by slashing funding for two critical schemes that provide a net for the poor: jobs under MGNREGA and subsidised food under the food security Act. Does he understand the linkages between such Acts and the continuing hold of the Maoists?

The post Mindless On The Maoists – Lessons From Modi’s ‘Terrible Speech’ In Dantewada appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

[envoke_twitter_link]Is giving birth to a daughter in India really a curse?[/envoke_twitter_link] Ask Sumitra (name changed) from Jaipur, 22, who gave birth to a daughter when she was 19 and was deemed "impure" by her husband and in-laws. Subject to physical violence, snatched of her right to a roof, Sumitra had to go back to her parents’ house – treated like a liability, passed around as a burden.

"During my pregnancy, my household responsibilities did not reduce as they were supposed to. They (in-laws) picked fights with me and refused me food - I don’t know how they knew it was going to be a daughter. Though everyone was around at the time of her birth, no one seemed too happy. They told me they had wanted a son." Sumitra tells us.

Wanting a son is not unheard of in a country that has abysmal rates of child sex ratio. The preference for a male 'heir' is one of the causes of gender-biased sex selection. To make matters worse, [envoke_twitter_link]this patriarchal idea of son preference renders women and their daughters helpless[/envoke_twitter_link], subject to violence, and denied of their right to property and a safety net. Shockingly, inheritance laws in India are not overarching – what rules apply to you depend on the religion you belong to. If you are among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, preference is given to men over women.

The lack of autonomy of a woman also renders her helpless in preventing similar treatment meted out with her "useless" daughter.

For Sumitra, like thousands of other women in similar situations in India, the battle started immediately after she gave birth to a girl child. "I was expected to resume household work after a mere 10 days post-delivery, whereas when my sister-in-law had a son, she was taken care of for 2 months! My husband's family deemed me "impure", and stopped eating the food I cooked. Small issues turned into big fights. If my little daughter dared to go out to play, they beat me for allowing her to step out. When she or I fell sick, they never took her to a doctor or took care of me; unlike how my sister-in-law’s son was attended to. All of them ill-treated me for the sole reason that I had borne a daughter. In fact, my husband went on to say that she was mad, and that they will not keep her in the family."

"I had to come back to my parents’ house. My parents tried to talk to them a number of times, but they didn’t change their mind. And then we received a notice - my husband had filed for divorce. The reason he had cited? That I am mentally disturbed. Members of my family have been running around since then, trying to sort the matter out, but to no avail," she adds.

Had Sumitra had her right to housing, it would not have taken away her ability to self-determine her present, and her future. If she had had something to her name and control, would she and her daughter be shunted from basic care, love and dignity?

"I want to go back. They haven’t been able to give any proof of my "sickness". While proceedings are on to finalise the alimony amount, I don’t know what happened at the counselling centre. Right now, I’m taking sewing classes. My husband has come by a number of times, but never meets me. Or our daughter." Sumitra adds, hoping for a better and safer tomorrow for herself and her daughter.

Inputs given by Sanskriti Pandey.

The post “My Husband’s Family Deemed Me Impure”: The ‘Curse’ Of Giving Birth To A Daughter In India appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Monica Islam:

Imagine going for tuitions and landing up in a hospital bed instead because dozens of pellets have hit the areas around your eyes, and nearly hundred pellets have pierced your skull, jaws, brain, lips, and nose. That is exactly what happened to a 16-year old boy named Hamid Nazir Bhat last Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir.

[caption id="attachment_48697" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Picture credit: HT[/caption]

Hamid, a tenth-grade school student, went out on the streets to see if his tuition centre was open but got caught up in the middle of a protest observing the 25th death anniversary of Mirwaiz Molvi Farooq. According to family members, Hamid’s face was disfigured beyond recognition as it appeared to be a “mass of flesh and blood”. Doctors explained that the pellets around his eyes caused a blood clot in those areas, making his face swell. While Hamid’s life is out of danger, he is unlikely to gain vision in his right eye.

This incident has prompted rights organizations, such as Amnesty International India, to condemn the use of pellet guns in controlling crowds in Jammu and Kashmir. Amnesty International India’s Programmes Director, Shemeer Babu asserts that the use of pellet guns is not in line with international standards on the use of force. In contrast, the silence of Jammu and Kashmir’s current Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on this issue is the most troubling, and here’s why.

Pellet guns are known for being inaccurate and indiscriminate because of natural properties, such as air resistance and sound barrier. The grades of the pellet guns determine speed and range (the lower the grade, the greater its speed and range). A senior police officer alleges that although written instructions have been given to law enforcers to use grade 9 for crowd control, grades 6 and 7 are routinely used in villages. Other sources add that the most sensitive police stations in Jammu and Kashmir receive grades 5, 6, and 7.

Despite such risky characteristics, the regular use of pellet guns in Jammu and Kashmir paints a grim picture. Doctors at the Bemina Hospital and Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital say that more than 700 people in the last five years have been disabled by pellet guns. A senior ophthalmologist of Srinagar was quoted by The Hindu to have said, “70 per cent of them face eye injuries.” Several victims were shot at from a range of two feet with the gun aimed at their faces.

In the face of all these occurrences, the state government’s actions are even more alarming. In spite of government orders to use pellet guns sparingly, law enforcers act as if they have little to fear, making us wonder if they have some sort of invisible impunity given to them by higher authorities. A hospital administrator has already alleged that police spies note down the details of patients, arrest them, and extort money, resulting in many patients leaving the treatment halfway with pellets and pus in their eyes! Yet, the government seems to be downplaying these incidents by describing pellet guns as “non-lethal.” To me, that statement sounds like: if you are not dead, you are not suffering!

Honorable Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the world is waiting for tangible actions from you to curb the use of pellet guns in Jammu and Kashmir. Those impoverished families who had to sell off their meager possessions to treat their children are waiting.

The post Pellet Guns Are ‘Inaccurate And Indiscriminate’, Why Are They Still Being Used Then? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Sohail Muhammad Ali: 

I am nothing but a corpse now, a wounded body in a bus which is present near Al- Azhar Garden. I drew my last breath five minutes ago as my heart stopped beating, my face, my forehead and cheeks crushed, and my mouth filled with blood. [envoke_twitter_link]I know that I have unclothed my soul from my body and left the material world forever[/envoke_twitter_link].

[caption id="attachment_48974" align="aligncenter" width="800"] For representational purposes only[/caption]

I know what happened with the passengers of the bus, but I don’t want to envelop my pain in words, because words cannot bear the burden of the pain of a dying person. I do not want anyone to express my pain on my behalf. It is the tragedy of the materialistic world that those who experience cannot express and those who express do not know the reality.

I was a young boy 17 years of age. I was energetic and very optimistic about my future but I did not know that I had to sacrifice my life like the students of Army Public School. I asked myself only one question, "What could be the cause of my death?"

Now I am a soul which left the wounded body behind, therefore I can express myself freely and fearlessly. I think, the core cause of my death was my identity. I heard that nobody can live without an identity but I learned from my experience that in the present world, identity is a crime. It is a fact that I and those who were in a bus had to pay the price of their identity.

Everyone has the right to live with his or her own identity but we were killed because our thoughts, ideas and beliefs  were different from those who killed us. [envoke_twitter_link]I wished I had no identity[/envoke_twitter_link]. I pray for those who are still alive and at risk because they have identities.

The writer is a university professor and regularly writes on social issues.

The post “We Were Killed Because Of Our Ideas And Beliefs”: On Karachi Terror Attacks That Killed 47 appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Chaitanya Mallapur:

When Narendra Modi makes a trip to Israel sometime later this year, he will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit, formalising a relationship often conducted behind closed doors, clandestine meetings and secret agreements.

The announcement is already generating heat, with some criticising it, others urging caution–with one commentator suggesting a counter-balancing visit to Israeli arch-enemy Iran–and some seeing it as an inevitable corollary to the convergence of the ideologies of Hindutva and Likud, a political movement (rooted in the free market and Jewish culture) that coalesced into a political party.

[caption id="attachment_49007" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Image credit: PIB[/caption]

While India recognised Israel on September 17, 1950–a year after it voted against United Nations’ membership for the Jewish state–full diplomatic ties were established only in 1992, the reticence flowing from India’s traditional backing for the Palestinian cause.

Since then, in the public eye, relationships have been defined by defence deals and the 38,000 mostly young Israelis who visit India each year to de-stress after their compulsory two-three years of military service. The traffic isn’t all one-way though, more than 40,000 Indians visited Israel in 2013, the largest number of tourists from an Asian country.

Business and technological ties are also growing, and India and Israel recently agreed to set up a $40 million India-Israel cooperation fund to promote joint scientific and technological collaborations.

Here are five things that define the India-Israel relationship today:

1. Defence

There is no getting away from the defence relationship. Israel is India’s fifth-largest source of arms, with imports worth $0.21 billion in 2013-14 and $10 billion (Rs 59,670 crore) over the past decade.

Source: Lok Sabha; Figures in US $ billion.

The earliest signs of collaboration came during the 1962 Sino-Indian war, when Israel gave India military aid. Israel also aided India during the two wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, according to this article in the Stanford Journal of International Relations.

India reciprocated during the Six-Day War in 1967 by providing Israel with spare parts for Mystere and Ouragan aircraft, as well as AX-13 tanks, the Stanford report said.

The highlight of the partnership was Israel’s supply of artillery shells during the Kargil war, when India faced a shortage.

In the late 1990s, a crucial defence deal was the Indian purchase of Barak 1, an air-defence missile, bought specifically for its capability to intercept US-made Harpoon missiles deployed by Pakistan.

India’s imports of unarmed vehicles (UAVs) have almost all been from Israel. Of 176 UAVs purchased from Israel, 108 are Searcher UAVs and 68 are Heron UAVs, as IndiaSpend has reported.

Israel has also pledged support to the ‘Make in India’ mission in the defence sector.

Other major deals include the jointly-developed Barak 8 anti-ship-missile missile, which the Indian Navy will be testing soon, and the SPYDER missile system, which the Indian Air Force is procuring to counter aerial threats at low altitude. India and Israel also closely cooperate on anti-terror activities and have signed agreements, among other matters, on homeland and public security and protection of classified materials and information.

2. Diplomacy

Several ministerial and high-level official visits to Israel precede Modi’s forthcoming tour. These include visits by L.K Advani, former Home Minister, in 2000 and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in November 2014.

Both countries have signed several bilateral agreements since 1992, which include cooperation in agriculture, research and development, economy and industry and security.

Source: Embassy of India in Israel /Embassy of Israel in India

3. Agriculture

This has been an important facet in the Indo-Israel relationship. India has benefited from Israel’s expertise in the sector, evident from the number of bilateral agreements signed between the two nations.

While Indian agriculture is largely dependent on rain and an erratic monsoon, Israel, a global leader in drip irrigation, has pioneered desert agriculture with sparse supplies of water.

India has benefited from Israeli technologies in horticulture mechanisation, protected cultivation, orchard and canopy management, nursery management, micro- irrigation and post-harvest management, particularly in Haryana and Maharashtra.

An Indo-Israel agriculture action plan unfolded between 2008 and 2010, extended until 2015, providing “centres of excellence” in eight states, to showcase the latest technologies to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers.

Source: Lok Sabha Figures in Rs crore

Nearly ten India-Israel centres of excellence for cooperation in agriculture have been set-up so far,of the 30 expected by 2015.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently visited Israel, seeking agro-technology to address the farming crisis in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

4. Water Management

Technologically adept Israel has developed water-management technologies, located as it is in a semi-arid region with limited sources of fresh drinking water.

Israel’s expertise includes recycling waste water and desalination. Indian companies and official delegations regularly visit the biannual Water Technology & Environment Control Exhibition & Conference, which showcases Israel’s water and energy technologies.

IDE, an Israeli company, has built several desalination plants in India, including a 100-million-litre per day desalination plant at Nemelli in Tamil Nadu, commissioned in 2013, the second such plant in Chennai.

5. Trade

India’s total trade with Israel is $6.06 billion (Rs 36,160 crore) in 2013-14, up 57% over 2009-10. The trade balance stood in India’s favour at $ 1.44 billion (Rs 8,592 crore)in 2013-14.

Source: Ministry of Commerce; Figures in $ billion; NA-Not Available

Mineral fuels and oils are India’s leading export to Israel worth $1.45 billion in 2013-14.

India’s major imports from Israel in 2013-14 included natural or cultured pearls and precious stones, worth $1.20 billion. Stones and pearls are the second-largest commodity, in terms of value, exported to Israel from India after mineral fuels.

Indo-Israel trade in diamonds increased 98% from $1.25 billion in 2009 to $2.48 billion in 2013.

Source: Embassy of India in Israel; Figures in $ billion

Nearly 40 diamond dealers from India have opened offices at the Israeli diamond exchange in Ramat-Gan. Some of these dealers have been active in Israel for nearly 30-40 years.

Since 2010, the two countries have been negotiating a free-trade agreement for goods and services, which should boost investments and trade ties.

Israel ranks 44th in terms of foreign direct investment in India, investing $82 million between April 2000 and February 2015.

This article was originally published by IndiaSpend.

The post Why Israel Matters To India (And Modi) appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Varun Sharma: 

"Are you insane? Who takes a gap year during their Masters? Don’t waste your degree like this!"

These were some of the responses last year, when I decided to take a break from my college education and take up something quite offbeat and little heard of - the chance to work with a tribal community. But let me tell you, the decision to do this wasn’t a random one.

Years of toiling in the academic field, I was just sick of only writing, talking, debating, and discussing about the issues concerning the education system and development sector at large. In the academic world, we are used to writing term papers, text book and essay reviews, doing class analysis and other kinds of things that sound fancy but do not yield immediate ground results. I was searching for alternatives. Since I was extremely interested in working with a tribal community and intensively exploring tribal languages and culture, immediately after finishing my third semester I joined the SBI Youth for India fellowship. The university too was supportive of my endeavour.

Once in, as a part of the fellowship, I was working in Suaba village in Odisha. During my long walks by the countryside, one thing that always intrigued me was a particular mountain that was up ahead of the village. Out of curiosity, one day, while out for my usual cup of morning chai, I asked Basanti Didi, what there was on the mountain up ahead. She told me that there’s a village where no one goes. She warned me not to go there, and in case I do, then not to eat or drink anything there, for I would fall sick. Even more curious now, I couldn’t resist the temptation to do exactly the opposite - a childhood habit of doing what I was told not to! That minute itself I decided to go and explore, and a local 17 year old boy decided to accompany me on this walk, more out of concern than anything else!

It was an 8 km hike up the hill, nestled in the Eastern Ghats - one that shredded all my delusions about how fit I was! Once at the village, I was stunned to find that here there was neither road nor electricity. In spite of the Right to Education Act, the only school in the village was literally falling apart and had not been functioning for 4 years!

As we headed back, a couple of community members met us on the way and giggled and said something in Saura, the tribal language. I looked at my friend for an explanation and he said that they were laughing at how I ran away from the village and was not able to stay for even an hour.

This laughter still echoes in my head. I gradually understood the extent of hopelessness that has grown in the tribal communities, which only elicits laughter at the desperate nature of their situation.

To state just a few of the problems that plagued the village - the nearest Public Health Centre from Suaba was 8 km downhill - in Koinpur; the nearest hospital was in Rayagada block, around 45 km away! What would happen to a pregnant woman in case of complications during delivery? Will a woman trek 8 km downhill in that condition? I came to know that there had been cases where people had lost their lives because of lack of such menial infrastructure that we always take for granted in well-connected places.

Troubled by all this, on our walk back, I began to vigorously preach to my young friend about doing something to change this situation. This was when it struck me - why wasn’t I myself doing something about it? It took me 10 whole days to get things sorted out and overcome my fear of a daily 16 km walk to commit to changing things. Today I’m glad that I made that commitment.

I began by teaching the children at the village every alternate day and this went on for two months. Then, to figure out a more sustainable model, we collectively tried to navigate through the bureaucratic hurdles:

1. To get the school started again with a fixed teacher: The school is up and running now in a community hall. We are currently fighting to fix the school’s infrastructure.
2. To electrify the village: For this, we have already raised more than Rs 3 lakhs. We are looking for more support. The project should showcase the power of collective efforts.
3. To get an all-weather road sanctioned: This will help decrease the drudgery of walking. The District Collector has given written guidelines to the BDO for road planning. We are regularly following up on this.

Today, it brings me immense satisfaction to think that a little effort from my side along with the hard work of everyone collectively, has put Suaba village on the path towards holistic development.

[caption id="attachment_49024" align="alignright" width="400"] Suaba village[/caption]

All this while, I have observed several fundamental problems in the approaches that have been used for bringing about development in tribal communities. These have shattered their dignity and made these self-sustained communities handicapped in the long run. Also, our inaction and proneness to preach (like mine in my initial days) are major hurdles. People from non-tribal communities usually have a lot of biases regarding tribal communities, especially when the question of "mainstreaming" them comes up. But truly, the indigenous knowledge I have confronted by working with them is enormous and something I sincerely believe should be brought to the forefront.

Personally, this whole experience also taught me to be humble and critique one’s own work. I followed my heart by taking 2 gap semesters from the University to join the SBI Youth for India fellowship, which gives one an opportunity to work at the grassroots level while following one’s dreams and provides support for the same. Such a prospect is hard to come by - and I am glad that it came my way.

You can contact Varun at varun.sharma13@apu.edu.in and support his electricity campaign here.

The post They Warned Him From Entering This Village, He Went Ahead To Revive It appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Dr. Lavanya Seshasayee: 

I present a narrative of my journey through schizophrenia towards recovery. Primarily, this revisits the traditional roles of psychiatrists and patients, via an empowerment framework for mental-health intervention. I call this 'Feminist Self-Advocacy' (FSA). It evolved, over a period of five years, from my experiences as a consumer cum professional, when I was also taking medication. I was a bright child but underwent socio-cultural pressures at puberty, due to a troublesome aunt who was also a neighbour. This resulted in depression, I think, because my parents didn’t allow me to protect myself. However, I managed bravely and determinedly to pull myself out of my depression and finish high school with high academic credentials.

It was later that I again succumbed to mental illness (schizophrenia). This was precipitated by a series of very bitter experiences with the troublesome aunt. She had a tremendous influence over my parents and I suffered from patriarchal oppression which rendered me helpless. Due to this my academic work also suffered.

I was taken to a psychologist who had a private practice but who only seemed interested in controlling his clients and making money. Then I was taken to another psychologist who claimed to be practising transactional analysis. In my view, both psychologists advocated a rest cure. So, very much against my wishes, I was made to stay at home and kept from attending college for a year. This only made me brood, and I deteriorated and completely lost confidence. Then I was taken to a third psychologist. The medicines thoroughly slowed me down and destroyed my spontaneity and high level of creativity, and I lost touch with the subject I had been studying. My attempts to get hold of the basics and to understand everything again were not encouraged by the college. Consequently, I found I just couldn’t manage. I returned to the paramedical college after this year of being made to stay at home.

During that critical year when I was forcibly kept at home, relatives kept coming by the house and taunting me since they thought I had dropped out of college. And when I tried to explain what had happened to the therapist she called me paranoid. Then, since I hadn’t graduated, I couldn’t get a job either.

I became so thoroughly dysfunctional that I couldn’t hold a book and study for more than five minutes. I also developed severe writer’s cramp which rendered me incapable of taking notes in class. When I consulted the psychiatrist again, instead of offering me viable alternatives to overcome my problem, I was dubbed 'a medical failure'. I felt terribly betrayed during that year. When I attributed my illness and problems to socio-cultural causes the psychiatrist said that the illness had nothing to do with my problems, but rather the problem was my "inability to take stress", and "a genetic propensity for mental illness". Later on she even refused to listen to the details of how my parents were ill-treating me.

Since the diagnosis of mental illness is based on a judgement of a person’s behaviour as 'maladaptive', there is always the risk of altogether invalidating them as a person.

When I returned to college, I took an entirely different academic course. I desperately desired to study but found it impossible. With neither a decent job nor a graduate degree nor a husband to support me, what would become of me after the death of my parents? Would I not be on the streets?

The crisis that I was going through awakened my social conscience and made me evolve Feminist Self-Advocacy (FSA). This is a user-support model that trains users to support themselves and be self-reliant. Today I have a PhD in Women’s Mental Health and a good job. I am very happily married and we are financially secure. I attribute my full recuperation to FSA.

What Is FSA?

It is a derivative of feminist therapy. The essential ingredients are:

1. Recognition of patriarchal oppression.
2. Empowerment. The essence of this is to encourage the user to see herself as having the personal resources and bargaining power to change her pathological environment (Finfgeld, 2001).
3. Self-reflection
4. An egalitarian relationship between the therapist and the user.

As part of FSA, I abandoned traditional controls and constraints placed on my sexuality, and told the professionals to stop assessing me purely on the basis of criteria like 'cognitive distortions', 'delusions of grandeur', etc. Many professionals think users suffer from such cognitive distortions. However, research indicates that it is actually non-depressed persons who show the most cognitive distortions: they tend to have greater illusions of personal control, they show unrealistic expectations of future success, and they maintain and overestimate the amount of positive feedback that they receive (Alloy & Abramson, 1988).

So who are the real "distorters of reality"? If there really are cognitive distortions, cognitive techniques need to be implemented without the use of pathologising labels and user-blaming attributions.

In this manner, I told my psychiatrist and caregiver not to say or do anything that could hurt my self-esteem; not to judge me as 'loose' or 'crazy', nor jump to conclusions regarding my moral proclivities whenever I reported misbehaviour on the part of a member of the opposite sex. Neither should they indulge in gender stereotyping during therapy. They should help me take decisions for myself, instead of letting my relatives decide for me. As far as possible, they should refrain from over-sedating me when I talk about my problems, and instead they should offer me viable alternatives.

More than anything else, I empowered myself by means of an academic education that went a long way towards my rehabilitation. My psychiatrist had rudely suggested that if I recovered, then that, in itself, would be a big thing. Another psychiatrist tried treating me without my informed consent – but failed because I was too smart for him.
The question of why those diagnosed as 'schizophrenic' are so eager to 'deny their illness' is very threatening to psychiatrists: it undermines their medical authority and reflects the flaws in their profession.
The professionals also asked me why I had allowed myself to be so affected by what my mother had done to me.

We question whether such an approach really serves the long-term interests of patients. To date, it has certainly not encouraged therapeutic alternatives which are acceptable to service users. 'Nothing about us, without us!'

It was in the context of user/survivor experiences with mental health systems that the UN Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) evolved. FSA is a rights-based, user-support model.

In short, when I was in the first year of my Bachelors course, after the medical professional and the psychologist had declared me a medical failure, I stopped going to see them. This was because they simply indulged in exercises of professional negativity. But I did take the prescribed medication, in combination with FSA.

When I recovered and studied for a PhD in mental health, they asked me to share my FSA treatment approach with them. I told them it was I and not they who were eligible to use it since I was trained professionally and was an experiential expert, whilst they lacked first-hand experience.

What had begun as a psychiatric power-play ended up being a role-reversal designed to shock the medical community at large and to make them stop being so arrogant.

And that was the grit and determination with which FSA was evolved so as to facilitate true recovery. I spoke truth to power and can legitimately say with Robert Frost:

"Two roads diverged in a wood,
and I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference."

Finally, as always, I thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for having rescued me and shown me the way out of the morbid reality which at one time engulfed my life. I also thank my mother, Mrs. Lalitha, whose extraordinary sacrifices, infused with love, and enabled me to reach where I am currently in my life. And, yes, my exceptionally brilliant husband, as well.

Dr. Lavanya Seshasayee formerly held a fellowship at the BAPU Trust (Pune, India) and is currently Director of the Indian Women’s Recovery Movement Trust.

The post I Was Dubbed A ‘Medical Failure': My Journey Through Schizophrenia appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.