By Reshma Valliappan:

Summer camps are often a thrilling time for kids. It’s those fun moments where a teenager gets to discover their wild side in the wilderness. Every camp specializes in certain outdoor activities based on where they are located. It could be trekking, climbing hills, kayaking, camping, singing songs around a fire, telling ghost stories, getting a crush, learning to cook without a stove. These are just a few.

[caption id="attachment_51078" align="aligncenter" width="547"] Image source: Reshma Valliappan[/caption]

However, there are camps that offer the complete opposite. These are basically for troubled teenagers who otherwise spend most of their regular school days doing all of the above while their friends are studying. The camps meant for these kids are devoid of animals and wildlife. There is no climbing, rafting, telling stories, listening to songs and music, or any emotional connections which would be allowed. They are called boot camps or correctional camps. Although they aren’t necessarily named so. Correctional camps are used for many purposes. Highly influenced by military training techniques – some even rely on “quick-fix” solutions. Children who are sent here are considered “lost cases” and parents feel that they have lost all control over these kids. In order to regain control of their children – these subtle named camps work with teenagers using behaviour modification. If you have studied psychology, in those wonderful stupid books of yours, thinking a little bit of Pavlov and Watson makes you an awesome two faced helper – think again.

As a teenager, [envoke_twitter_link]I had run away from home and begun cutting myself at a very young age[/envoke_twitter_link]. Added to this list was my self-destructive behaviour and recklessness. This topped up with the layer of being tomboyish, playing basketball and being a flirt at a very young age qualified me as a highly appropriate candidate for one such camp. The most important trigger here was when a psychiatrist told my parents I was a boy stuck in a girl’s body. This jolted the daylights out of my parents, putting them into a crisis every day when they saw their daughter showing all the traits the shrink had told them. No surprise that many other parents were in the same boat, as it must have been their collective helplessness that had them throw us in the same camp.

I saw kids walking in, being held tightly by their parents. Some had this fear on their faces which made them look as red as tomatoes, almost like they had been crying on their way here or had most probably been slapped to get here. Mom said, “We”ll see you on the last day” Mr.Crater Face made it very clear to us that there was no escape. While he was introducing himself, I clearly remember how he glanced at some of the boys in the room. He picked on them and told them their pretty faces weren’t going to get them anywhere in life. I was put in the first group and he called us the “difficult attention seeking, good for nothing trouble makers”. As he approached one kid after the other, we heard crying. Some kids had started howling even. Every night we were watched and, we watched. And every night one of us tried comforting the other but simply could not.

The next day he stood and stared at me. Then asked me to make a circle and asked, “Are you a girl or a boy?” “I am a girl” “Really?” “Yes” He asked me to circle again. This time I saw my roommate in tears. I couldn’t understand why though. He made me make another circle and said, “I don’t see anything on you that says you are girl.” He looked at the others and made me stand in different positions.

“Does she look like a girl to you?” He asked again, “Where does it show that she is a girl? Does she look like a girl from the back? If you saw her from the back (he made me stand with my back facing them) would you think she is a girl or boy?” They replied, “Boy”. My lips clamped together and I had no answer when he asked me, “Are you a girl or a boy?”

What really happened in between those days are better left forgotten. I don’t know where the rest of the kids are. I don’t know if they even survived after that. [envoke_twitter_link]We were turned into robots in just one week[/envoke_twitter_link]. (Taken from Fallen Standing; My Life As A Schizophrenist)

I don’t know if I should be happy to be alive or grateful to have forgotten other days of the camp or blessed to be able to tell my story after 20 years. My 15 year old self is still stuck somewhere and I’ve let them both (the girl and the boy) live through me because there can be no other way.

[envoke_twitter_link]I still do wonder what happened to those kids from my camp[/envoke_twitter_link]. I wonder if they’ve grown as I have. Or if they took their own lives. Or have they just remained robots without any memory. I know Mr.CraterFace is a big name now in my country. I did google him. He is on Facebook spreading the message of love on large platforms. I think I will be blessed if our paths never cross because my 15 year old self might do something I wouldn’t want.

There is nothing I can do to undo anything but only know my purpose and find my own meaning in life. I can only hope that every parent who feels they are losing control of their teenager reads this. Many people don’t even know such camps exist and many parents don’t know what happens in them. It always is too late by the time they do know. We only hear about stuff like this in movies – but movies are based on many true accounts. Every reckless, troubled, disturbed teenager is already living their lives as free spirits. We are called rebels because you expect us to fit into the framework as other children do. Don’t try to correct us because we will grow up hating ourselves or you. Change the social constructs around teenagers and children. Take out time to know the person inside.

For wannabe psychologists who think they know better, every ‘research’ out there on classical conditioning, is a child’s life. Every theory based on psychological experiments cost a child his or her emotional and sexual life. Every label you think you want to use on us, to enable us, to understand our conditions better gives someone else the power to continue such behaviour modifications. There is no monitoring system for the human mind and the abuse against it.

The field of psychology and psychiatry needs an entire course on developing a conscience before learning anything else.

I only wish for humans to develop a collective conscience and humanity.

This article was originally published here.

The post A Summer Camp Of Horrors: What Happens To ‘Troubled’ Teenagers Who ‘Need A Quick-fix’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Monica Islam:

“Even exposing a child to violence amounts to abuse,” asserted Kabukabu Ikwueme, a London-based freelance writer with a background in the legal sector. Yet, we see children not only being exposed to violence, but also being subjected to violence often. Maybe such crimes have become so commonplace that we are no longer affected unless they involve gory acts and graphic footage.

Modern-Day Slavery: From Open Fields to Secluded Homes from Monica Islam on Vimeo.

And [envoke_twitter_link]that is what happened in the week leading up to Eid-ul-Fitr[/envoke_twitter_link]. Social media was sent into a frenzy by a 28-minute video that captured the barbaric torture inflicted on a 13-year old boy named Sheikh Md. Samiul Alam Rajon (who eventually succumbed to his injuries). His body bore 64 marks of injury, according to an autopsy report. The video was recorded and released on Facebook by the perpetrators themselves so that “the world will see it”.

This incident has brought issues like extrajudicial killings and child rights to ethics in journalism to the forefront, when it comes to sharing graphic content. There are two issues which I want to focus on: our collective tendency to engage in mob justice and how we use technology to glorify our actions, including our vices.

My first contention relates to mob justice, or any form of extrajudicial justice, which is becoming an inseparable part of our social fabric. We take the law in our hands because the law enforcement agencies have failed us; because we know that getting justice through legal means in this land is near impossible. Hence, every time a vehicle accidentally bumps into another, the drivers leap out in fury to achieve, on their own, the ever-elusive justice of this land. Every time a minor is caught stealing, the employers feel it is their honor and responsibility to teach him/her a lesson through savagery.

Such an affinity for mob violence is deeply-rooted in our mindset as exemplified by the fact that many individuals from the educated classes are asking that justice be served by beating the perpetrators to death. It is one thing to demand the arrest of culprits, so that they can be jailed and reformed, and another to appeal for torture. The latter sends out a message that, only violence can tackle violence. It does not set us apart from the perpetrators who use similar claims to justify their actions (“The boy was caught stealing, so we beat him”). Yes, it is that easy to be “provocative” in this land. It leads us to a cycle of abuse which we are unable to escape because as we might know, human beings, especially children, do what they see, i.e. they pick up behaviors from their surroundings.

[envoke_twitter_link]This mob mentality can only be curbed[/envoke_twitter_link] by a fully-operational law enforcement system that is accessible to all, and is focused on reforming criminals, not just reprimanding them.

The second issue pertains to the misuse of technology. Technology falling into the wrong hands results in revenge porn and other sadistic content. ISIS records its acts of beheading captives and posts the videos online. A criminal rapes a minor girl, films the violation, and threatens to release the video online. A teenager bullies an overweight person, clicks a photo, and publishes the image online. All of these actions are modern-day equivalent of a hardened criminal walking with a severed head in his/her hand under broad daylight to terrify the public, or to publicly shame the victims and their supporters. Criminals are increasingly taking their violent ideologies into the tech world, without an iota of guilt. Is it because a few people are mistaking the freedom of cyberspace as a given digital lawlessness? Or is it because lawlessness from the physical reality is gradually creeping into the virtual sphere?

Even in Rajon’s case, while technology expedited the mobilization of support for the boy, it also paved the way for many remarks which read like gossip and reeked of sensationalism (“Was the boy forced to drink urine?” asked a friend on WhatsApp. “Is knowing that important?”, I thought to myself.)

To redress this situation, Bangladesh needs a comprehensive ICT law urgently that reflects public will and that aims not to suppress voices, but to filter content. Taking photos of a person without his/her consent should never be “okay” unless it serves some clearly-outlined interests of the nation. At a community level, the next time we pamper others, especially children and the underprivileged, with a tech “gift”, we need to sit down with them and talk about the responsibilities associated with an increased use of smartphones. Social progress must complement economic prowess.

The post The Lynching Of A 13 Year Old Reveals Our Shameful Support For Mob Violence appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Shrilakshmi Tiru:

Article 53 of the Indian constitution talks about the President and the executive power of the union that “shall be exercised by him"; and this is just one of the innumerable passages which wipes out the possibility and the acknowledgement of anybody but a male to occupy the constitutional posts. And this continues even when women have held the post of President and Prime Minister of India and currently hold the post of Chief Minister, MPs, MLAs, and Speaker.

The more disquieting part is the nonchalance with which we lap it up every day. Vested interests of the conformists have been naturalised, ossified and gift wrapped given to us to an extent that we fail to notice it quite often. The Gramscian common sense is what seems to be at work.

It is but natural that [envoke_twitter_link]we learnt the name of the Father of our Nation in General Knowledge lessons[/envoke_twitter_link]. Weren’t there any deserving women to contend for a label of that high a stature? And if there were, would calling them ‘the Mother of the Nation’ be a tad too much? Even the phrase would probably sound preposterous to many; deviant almost!
Charles Babbage, Father of the Computer, we all are aware; but why is Ada Lovelace, the first programmer, the first to prepare an algorithm to run on Babbage’s machine absent from the larger picture? Why didn't we ever encounter Judith Estrin's name, one of the pioneers in developing IP specifications underlying internet technology, in our Computer Science books?

Our nomenclature classes in Biology were introduced to us with the name of the Father of Modern Taxonomy - Carl Linnaeus - but probably the ink ran out when it came to mentioning Maria Sibylla, world's pioneering ecologist, naturalist and entomologist, to whom even Linnaeus referred to for his works.

Pages and pages on Bhagat Singh, Azad, Sukhdev, Surya Sen exist in History but not many of us know about Aruna Asaf Ali or Sucheta Kriplani. Probably nobody would name Sumati Morarjee as a leading industrialist when she even though she became the president of Indian National Steamship Owner's Association, as early as 1956 and is also known to be the first woman in the world to head an organization of ship owners.

Some we might know of only because they were the 'first' to do something. We work with a double edged sword when we gender the achievements but it is also important to create a positive image in the popular imagination. No wonder then that Indira Gandhi was called a 'Lady Prime Minister' in innumerable speeches and interviews. The attempt to qualify the use of the office with ‘lady’, the inability to put aside the 'burden' of her gender, betrayed the political consciousness which saw offices only worthy of a male.

The allegation is not of somebody holding a personal grudge against achievers incidentally women, but of a prolonged, sustained blind eye towards these women, and not an innocuous one at that. People generally, work for and achieve what they see. So why do we generally turn to women only when our atavistic impulses knock from the within? Sure, we do know our Indra Nooyi, Christine Lagarde, Chanda Kochhar, etc., but is that all? Undoubtedly numbers are on the rise, but in a skewed fashion. Probably the fact that we know a significantly larger number of women in Bollywood/Hollywood is also an aspect of the Gramscian 'common sense'. Where are the other women? What are they doing? Why don't we know about them?

The questions can be spared a thought, a constructive action could grow towards acquainting the world with achievers of the female gender or they can be tossed aside as what Yeats called the "voice grew shrill".

The post Why Are Female Achievers Missing From ‘General Knowledge’? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Sana Rana:

After spending a month visting doctors and trying to figure out what was wrong with me, [envoke_twitter_link]we finally had a diagnosis on 27th December 2003 - Lupus or SLE[/envoke_twitter_link] (Systemic lupus erythematosus). You probably have a blank look on your face right now - that’s how we reacted or rather my parents reacted when they heard the name of the disease. Though it’s not that uncommon, people just aren’t aware of the disease and yes, that includes doctors. Usually patients are diagnosed wrong and treated for things like TB which screws up the patient beyond belief and it gets harder to save them. I, luckily went through the right channels and reached the right doctors who are still with me today, ten years down the line. I am a 24 year old graphic designer who loves photography, books, music, movie marathons and putting up occasional dance shows while cooking and this is my story or a part of it!

[caption id="attachment_51480" align="aligncenter" width="493"] The butterfly rash, a common symptom for Lupus. Image source: flickr.com[/caption]

Now, what exactly is lupus? Put in the simplest terms it’s basically your white blood cells malfunctioning. The purpose of the white blood cells is to protect the body but when this disease hits you- they start attacking the body instead of protecting it. So basically, it’s a multi organ disease and can affect the patient in many ways. Like me, for example, my kidneys are damaged, I also deal with symptoms of arthritis and also avascular necrosis (AVN) of the bones, which means that the blood supply to my bones are faulty, affecting both my legs (including hips, knees and feet). AVN wasn’t a part of the disease per say.

However, to fight the disease you are prescribed steroids at a very high dose and one of the side effects of the steroids besides the horrendous weight gain is that they damage the bones, which not many people know (so, all you people taking steroids to bulk up—I would suggest you stop because you are heading for the kind of damage you don’t want). The catch with this disease is that since the doctors don’t really know the reason for the disease, they don’t have a cure. All they can do is keep me, the patient, stable and thankfully I have been stable for the past few years.

When we found out about the diagnosis, I was twelve, too young to realize how it was going to impact my life. I was more worried about how I had to give up on dancing and how fat I looked having gained around 10-12 kgs overnight and how kids would make fun of me. That was a lot to deal with for a teenager. Kids can be cruel and so can adults. Rumours started spreading that I was faking it- that it was a plea for attention. I remember hearing that even one of my teachers thought I was exaggerating but they didn’t realize that those crutches weren't just for show. I was in pain when I got up, sat down, walked. I became this girl who would barely talk to anyone—who would always be found with a book in her hand during lunch. Now when I think about it, I feel sad but back then I was okay—I didn’t mind it. My parents were supportive and I did make a few friends who somewhat understood my problems- or atleast tried to. The principal of my school was very supportive. If it weren't for him I wouldn't be here today. He helped me through spots where most principals would have just let go. What the younger me failed to see was that there will be so many opportunities that I would miss out on because of the disease. That I won’t be able to take the career I wanted and instead settle for something else, which still bothers me.

Yes, I have gone through a lot in my short life. Probably more than most 24 year olds and yes, maybe I was a little brave, maybe I still am, because it does take a lot to go through constant pain plus deal with the society, doesn’t it? Not that I haven’t broken down. Oh, I have, so many times. But I guess me being here still counts as me fighting, right? No, I don’t hold grudges against anyone. We all were kids- I just had to grow up a little sooner than everyone else. Lupus changed my life as I knew it - it changed me, and on some level I am kind of thankful about it. It made me more sensitive to other people and their issues. It made me who I am today. So yes, the disease wasn’t the best thing that happened to me, but it wasn’t the worst thing either.

The post Living With Lupus: “I Was In Pain When I Got Up, Sat Down, Walked. I’d Barely Talk To Anyone” appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Kayonaaz Kalyanwala:

In Pundag village of Ranchi district, the absence of an Anganwadi Centre in the village means that pregnant women are forced to undergo check-ups and are vaccinated in an open field. “We aren’t comfortable undergoing check-ups in the open. We have to put up curtains to make ourselves comfortable or travel too far,” says a woman who delivered a baby recently.  She also says that she was unable to get nutrition facilities due the absence of an Anganwadi centre in her village.  Since 2010, villagers have appealed to the authorities to put in place an Anganwadi centre in the village. However, their repeated appeals have gone unheard.  Nirmala Ekka reports

The post Video Reveals How Pregnant Women Are Forcefully Vaccinated In An Open Field In Ranchi appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Sanjana Chowdhury:

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Every time we open a newspaper or switch on the TV, we encounter your smiling face asking us to join the #GiveItUp Movement, apparently to “Be a Proud Partner in Nation Building”. What you’re asking us to ‘give up’ is the measly LPG subsidy that we are entitled to. But here is why I won’t.

[caption id="attachment_51560" align="aligncenter" width="889"] Image source: youtube.com[/caption]

Currently, an Indian household is entitled to get twelve 14.2 Kg cylinders of domestic cooking gas per year. At the subsidised rate, each cylinder costs Rs. 417.82 while the market price stands at Rs. 608.50 (for Indane Gas in Delhi). So, [envoke_twitter_link]for each household the subsidy is Rs. 190.68 per cylinder [/envoke_twitter_link]and amounts to a measly sum of Rs.2,288.16 per year. As of now, each Member of Parliament gets a monthly salary of Rs. 50,000, constituency allowance of Rs. 45,000 and office expence allowance of Rs. 45,000, adding up to Rs.140,000. Surely, the government can spend Rs. 2288 for each household when it can pay each MP a whopping Rs. 1.4 lakh per month.

Each minute of a Parliament session costs us, the tax payers, Rs. 29,000. So while the politicians rage and create a ruckus, passing no legislations of value or even coming close to debating any, the money that’s wasted there is fine, while we must go on to give up the LPG subsidy. Why?

Our tax goes to feed the MPs

The Indian citizen is hard-put to pay his Income Tax, Service Tax, Property Tax, Value Added Tax and what-not, but the rich MPs have enjoyed an overwhelming subsidy of Rs 60 crores at the parliament canteens over the last 5 years alone. The Rangarajan committee has outrageously drawn the urban poverty line at Rs. 47 which, hilariously enough, can only be applicable if one is dining at the parliament canteen.

Evidently, the government believes it more worthwhile to spend Rs 200 crores to build a statue of Sardar Patel rather than provide Minimum Support Price MSP for farmers. While the nation clamours for One Rank One Pension for ex-servicemen, the government wastes money on celebrating Yoga Day, and trying to make a success out of the inefficient UID project.

And really, who are we “building the nation” for?

While the common man is constantly struggling to meet his bills, the government pays hundreds of crores on the Ministers and MPs. They receive amenities to travel in AC First Class by any railway in India on the strength of his ID card when every other Indian must pay Rs. 1203 for similar facilities for a 50 Km ride on the Rajdhani Express. They can travel by air, free of cost, and even get 34 free air journeys along with spouse or relatives but for the Indian citizen the lowest possible airfare is around Rs. 4000 (from Mumbai to Delhi).

The official website of Indian Lok Sabha states that, our MPs are entitled to license-free flats along with furniture worth Rs.60,000 throughout their terms of office. In addition to this, they receive free supply of 4000 Kl of water and 50,000 units of electricity per annum. Besides these facilities, they can have upto 3 telephones without paying installation or rental costs, and are entitled to 150,000 free calls from these telephones.

So all I want to ask is this, do we have to #GiveItUp so that our respected ministers can get free phone calls?

Respectfully, An Indian Citizen

The post Open Letter To PM: Why I Won’t #GiveItUp So Ministers Can Get ‘Free Phone Calls’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Priyanka Sinha:

‘‘Four women every five minutes are raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)’’, says Esperance Kavira Furaha. In 2009, on her way back home after appearing for her school exams, she was ambushed by members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and sexually assaulted. She was able to get help from SOFEPADI, a DRC-based NGO that promotes and defends women’s rights, and now works as an activist with them.

[caption id="attachment_51732" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Mother with child in sudan. Image source: Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

The situation in the DRC is not unique: sexual violence against women has been a feature of war for generations, across the world. The UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict report shows that in the context of armed conflict, the victims are far more likely to be civilians — mostly women and children — than soldiers.

Rape as a tool of war

Rape in armed conflict is used as a deliberate tool to destabilise and control civilian populations. Women and girls are particularly targeted because of their status in society: sexual violence is used to humiliate and control their families and the wider community.

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report shows that the extremist group Islamic State (ISIS) has carried out systematic sexual violence against captured Yezidi women and girls who have been given to the fighters as as ‘‘spoils of war’’.

In addition, through reproductive violations, systematic rape is used as part of ethnic cleansing. In the 90s, Bosnian Serbs were responsible for carrying out systematic gender-specific political torture against mostly Muslim women. It has been estimated that over 60,000 women were raped during the war.

Refugee crisis and sexual violence

With the world witnessing the worst displacement crisis since the Second World War, as conflicts in Syria, and recent developments in the Central African Republic and South Sudan have forced thousands of civilians to flee their homes, the situation for women and children caught in the conflict is likely to worsen.

The UN refugee agency’s (UNHCR) Global Trends report shows a marked increase in the number of refugees, with nearly 60 million people displaced at the end of 2014 compared to 51.2 million in 2013.

When forcibly displaced, women and girls are often separated from their families and are at particular risk of trafficking for the purposes of sexual slavery and exploitation.

According to a recent report by Amnesty International, women face sexualised violence along migration routes through Libya. While male refugees are subjected to torture and other forms of abuse, women are more vulnerable to sexual assault.

Global summit against use of rape in conflict

A summit on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, hosted by Angelina Jolie, actress and Special Envoy for the UNHCR and the former UK foreign secretary, William Hague, in June 2014, resulted in a protocol to end the use of rape and sexual violence in conflicts, signed by 151 countries.

The declaration, however, does not create a legal obligation for countries to follow through on their endorsement of the protocol.

The UK government has been criticised for organising this summit while at the same time ignoring the plight of female asylum seekers who have suffered sexual violence in their home countries.

Resolution 1325

The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, adopted in 2000 to counter the disproportionate impact of conflict on women and girls has had limited impact.

While UN intervention has led to increased prosecution in cases, where high levels of rape have been part of the conflict such as in the DRC, there has been an increase in mass abductions by extremist groups in countries such as Syria and Myanmar.

These women continue to suffer stigma and discrimination even after they return home and are unable to access adequate post-traumatic support. In certain cultures, rape is conflated with adultery. For example, in Sudan, women who report rape can be accused of committing adultery (zinna) under Article 149 of the Sudanese Criminal Code of 1991. The promises of Resolution 1325 must be supported to ensure that women’s rights are protected during conflict and perpetrators are held to account.

In recent times, social media campaigns have helped bring to focus, the abuse faced by women in conflict-affected areas. The #bringbackourgirls movement started on Twitter in 2014, endorsed by celebrities and activists from Michelle Obama to Malala Yousafzai, was the global response to the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram. Although such campaigns play an important role in spreading awareness, the effectiveness of ‘clicktivism’ — a term used to describe activists who use social media to organise protests and show support for causes — has been criticised. Of the 276 schoolgirls, 219 are still missing and the online campaign is not as active anymore.

The post The Disturbing Reality Of Gender Based Sexual Violence In Armed Conflict appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Neel Patel:

I still remember when I got my first job in an IT firm and everyone was giving unwanted (and unasked) advice about career planning. The most common was - “That firm is very good; never leave after joining; it’s time to settle now”. I fully agreed with the advisors that the firm was the best place to work, however how can you settle for a company, especially when you don’t know about the job role, challenges or work culture? I am not against stability and loyalty for one’s workplace, however I am against staying on when it is leading nowhere and threatens our own growth. The idea of “growth” is very intuitive; it is about personal development and the benefits that growth provides. However the main question is – “Why does growth matter?”

[caption id="attachment_51750" align="aligncenter" width="658"] Image source: Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

After joining that company I did nothing, except reading newspaper in library, making reports and chatting all day. That was my routine for almost a year. Now, if I want to settle down for the same organization, then I need to perform the same activities for rest of my life until I get a real project. During initial days of career everyone wants to learn, explore, and create something; however all I was creating were excel reports! Then I changed jobs and was assigned some real work which I was able to perform well. Again, after some time, the question of settling down hung over my neck.

Employers want loyal long-term employees however, in majority of companies, employers are not willing to offer benefits (vacation, preferred work location, insurance, and salary) that encourage such loyalty. Employers need to understand, if they want flexibility to hire & fire at will, and offer whatever benefits (or salary) they like, employees will treat themselves as "free agents", selling their services to the highest bidder, who offers them the best balance, of pay, environment and benefits. So simple!

No employee would want to change jobs regularly. It is a very exhausting process. And it doesn't help build careers over the long run. However, many employees feel that the only way they can "get ahead" is to change. India is becoming a pool of talent where employers need to reward loyalty.

The down side of loyalty is when you no longer adding value to yourself and simply doing "a job". At the end of the day your job is just a job, not a marriage, not a lifetime commitment and you're free to leave and pursue your aspirations. In fact your employer may prefer you leave, if you're unhappy in your current role. You don't need to stay with a company forever (if you are unhappy), but you need to accomplish something measurable before you leave, otherwise, what do you have, to offer the next company?

The post When Is It Time To Quit Your Job And Move On appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

Video by Nirmala Ekka, Hesatu village, Ranchi district, Jharkhand:

[envoke_twitter_link]Pregnant women and children do not receive vaccinations and nutrition on a regular basis[/envoke_twitter_link] due to the absence of a designated anganwadi sevika (attendant) for the village. A sevika from the neighbouring village visits Hesatu, however, women say that she is not regular. Pregnant women in the village have also not received cash incentives promised under the Janani Suraksha Yojana since 2013.

Further no ambulance service is available here, which means that pregnant women are taken to the hospital by auto rickshaws in case of emergencies.

Call to Action: Please call Ranchi Civil Surgeon on +91 9431359400 and urge him to take action.

The post A Citizen Journalist Reveals The Harsh Conditions Of Jharkhand’s Pregnant Women On Camera appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Anupam Chakravartty:

Note: This article has been republished from DownToEarth.

The Federal Court of Australia has overturned the approval granted by the Tony Abbott government to the country’s largest proposed coal project, Adani’s Carmichael mine in north Queensland.

In a ruling on August 5, the court stated that the environment ministry headed by Greg Hunt, which granted the approval last year, did not pay heed to conservation advice for two Government of Australia-listed vulnerable species—the Yakka Skink and the Ornamental Snake—found in the area near the proposed project.

[caption id="attachment_51953" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Image source: downtoearth.org.in[/caption]

The approval, granted to the mine last year, was challenged by the Mackay Conservation Group, a Queensland-based non-profit. According to a release by EDO-NSW, the environmental legal firm representing Mackay, the conservation advice was approved by Hunt in April 2014, and describes the threats to the survival of these threatened species, which are found only in Queensland.

According to Sue Higginson, principal solicitor for EDO-NSW, the Department of Environment failed to produce the documents related to the conservation measures for these threatened species before the court.

According to Higginson, [envoke_twitter_link]the mine is now without legal authority to commence construction [/envoke_twitter_link]or operate. The final call on the approval of the mine, however, rests with the government.

“It will be up to the minister now to decide whether or not to approve the mine again, taking into account the conservation advice and any other information on the impacts of the project,” Higginson said.

According to her, the minister can approve the mine again by following proper legal procedures.

The Federal Department of Environment, on the other hand, has said that it was just a technical error on the part of the government which led to the Federal Court to set aside the approval. “This is a technical, administrative matter and to remove this doubt, the department has advised that the decision should be reconsidered,” stated the Department in a release. “Without pre-empting a final decision about the project, the department expects that it will take six to eight weeks to prepare its advice and the supporting documentation, and for the minister to reconsider his final decision,” it added.

Adani Group’s Australia office appeared confident that the technical difficulties would be rectified and the ministry would re-consider the mine. “It should be noted the approval did include appropriate conditions to manage the species protection of the Yakka Skink and Ornamental Snake. However, we have been advised that, because certain documents were not presented by the department in finalising the approval, it created a technical legal vulnerability that is better to address now. Adani is confident the conditions imposed on the existing approval are robust and appropriate once the technicality is addressed,” the group said in a statement after the decision.

The post Snakes & Ladders: How Adani’s Mining Project Might Still Make A Comeback In Australia appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Sinjini Sengupta:

Don’t buy them blue or pink.

The other day, my four year old asked, yet again:
- Mum, are you sure?
- Sure of what?
- That pink is not the colour for girls, and blue for boys?
- Yes, dear.

[caption id="attachment_51994" align="aligncenter" width="667"] Image source: Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

I took her to the balcony as we talked:
- Look at the sky. What colour do you see?
- Blue. Light blue.
- Now tell me, is the sky there only for boys? Does it shine or rain only for them and not us?
- No!
- Good! Now look down there. What colour?
- Green – she looks intently into the grass.
- What colour was the Sea, when we went to Goa?
- Grey.
- So, do you see?
- Yes – she nods at me thoughtfully. All these things in all kinds of colours, both girls and boys can see and touch them.
- Right. So what would you say when anyone…?
- I’ll show them the sky and the park.
- Bingo!

Cook up whatever story you like, but, I insist, don’t lure them into believing they are any more different than what they really are. Instead, why not buy them green, yellow, red, blue and pink – any colour, actually?

Give them everything to play with.

Barbie for the girl, or that kitchen set. And why cars and guns for boys?

So the little fairy grows up with her doll-house, playing a mother as she sees them to be, dressing up and plating hairs of her doll children, making them breakfast in her plastic kitchen and putting them off to sleep right next to herself. Cut to twenty-five years later: She is one of the two parents who, always worries more for her kids than the other one, and always knows what the child loves to eat. She calls home, in between her office meetings, to check if her baby has had its food and gone to sleep. She coos to them over the phone, lulling them, so that stop crying. She takes the day off when the baby is unwell, always. Her colleague snides! Her manager, eternally unhappy; worst, her mind guilty to its brim. She rushes back home after the clock strikes its time, never putting up her hand for that extra project, giving away her promotion to what you call, priority changes.

Maternal instincts, you say? Well, perhaps there is more to it.

So, for once, why not start right at the beginning?

Teach boys to nurture, teach girls to play with fast cars and tell other parents, the same, who lend an ear. Let them try everything irrespective of their gender. Dolls, kitchen sets, cars, beading sets, legos, jigsaw puzzles, doctor sets, cricket bats and balls.

Why not start with buying a doll when it’s a boy’s birthday and a car when it’s a girl’s. In all probability, s/he never had that before and s/he’d love it all the more.

And, next time the shopkeeper asks if it’s a girl or a boy, say - Just. A. Kid. Make a point to say it.

[envoke_twitter_link]Oh, and buy a gun for none. Never![/envoke_twitter_link]

Read them stories. But think, first.

…and then the prince came and took Cinderella away. Or, Snow-white. Or, Rapunzel. Or Belle.
And then? Of course!
…they live happily ever after!

Wait. Hold. We cannot be oblivious anymore, can we? Please open your eyes to the traps before it is late. Help your daughter - this once. Don’t read to them stories, of what they should not become.

Instead, why not help her believe that it is alright to find charming prince, but she doesn’t always need a prince to save her from danger, and that she can be brave and save herself too? Help her believe, to have a good life partner is indeed a pretty nice thing, but that is not the only way to be happy in life?

Tell her the right stories. Select and choose. Filter. Tell them stories but not these. I beg of you!
Parents might wonder, “But didn’t we read them as kids? Have we grown up any wrongly? Oh, nostalgia!! Ah, those days…”
I know. I share that feeling, too. But then, dare to stop and think for once, won’t you?

So what shall we read them? they might ask.

Ah, now we are talking!

On a personal note, my four year old doesn’t eat food or go to sleep without a story ever. And I haven’t repeated any of them till date. So, trust me when I say this I assure you. There are plenty gender neutral story books available.

If you look around you, there are more gender neutral stories than you may guess. What you can do is, pick up animal stories as you find them, or make them. I’ll name a few - The Ugly duckling, The Three pigs, The Country mouse and the Town Mouse! Billy Goats Gruff. And so on.

There are few fairytale stories too. Why, remember Goldilocks, the little girl who ate the baby-bear’s pudding and went off to sleep in its bed? Remember Gretel, that younger sister, who saved her brother Hansel from the witch and then they came back to the father? Alice in Wonderland, Little Red Riding Hood? I am sure you can think of some more, too.
And then there’s the whole bunch of Dr. Seuss, of course!

Put them into Co-Ed schools. Please!

Let them grow up knowing that men are not from Mars and women from Venus; that both belong to our good old earth. And, that they are equal, and that they always will be.

At least, let us try our best so that they become so!

And finally –

Let the boys cry.

Enough said, I believe?

The post For Parents And Parents To Be: 5 Ways To Raise Your Kid Gender Neutral And More appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Archisman Misra:

It has been almost 18 years since I moved to Chittaranjan Park and quite frankly the place still intrigues me. I’ve met many a person who told me its tale, about their personal experiences while living here. I’ve celebrated Durga Puja here with as much zest as I have in Kolkata, I’ve even enjoyed the gastronomical delights with as much fervour. Not many know of the history of this place, quite often when I tell someone that I live in Chittranjan Park, the same vacuous comment comes my way, “Don’t you get really good fish there?”. Hence I must write this article, to make people see, to make them understand that C.R. Park is about so much more.

[caption id="attachment_52011" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image Source: Archisman Misra[/caption]

How Chittaranjan Park came to be

After the partition of India, the intelligentsia and civil servants of erstwhile Bengal found themselves divided into East Bengal and West Bengal. While West Bengal stayed a part of the Union of India, East Bengal went to Pakistan.

The intelligentsia and civil servants migrated to the Union of India and began demanding a colony for themselves in the capital city, Delhi. In 1954, a handful of these individuals got together and formed the East Pakistan Displaced Persons Association and started lobbying to the Government for a residential neighbourhood.

In the 1960s, land was assigned to these individuals, in the then far flung southern areas of the capital, uninhabited and forested. The Members of E.P.D.P. were required to provide some documentation of their residential status, and were required to be "already residing and gainfully employed in the capital”. Based on this, around 2000 people were given plots of land, which then became the blocks A through K, along with space for Markets and Cultural Centres. During this process many Bengalis from the surrounding are as, who had not been displaced during the partition, migrated to New Delhi.

The late Mr.Chakrabarti, one of the first 100 residents, often told me tales of the nascent days, “The entire area of Chittaranjan Park was surrounded by the Jahanpanah Forest and we could often hear wolves howling in the night.” He had to walk many a kilometre to even buy the most basic necessities. In the centre of the locality lay a small hillock, atop which a few residents had placed an idol of Shiva, lit by a single bulb.

This soon became a temple to the goddess Kali and by the late 1970s the residents started celebrating the annual Bengali festival of Durga Puja around this temple. By the late 1980s, there were three temples on the same ground, dedicated to Kali, Shiva and Radha Krishna and, it soon became the religious hub of all Bengalis in Delhi.

In 1980 the E.P.D.P. association petitioned for the colony to be named after Chittaranjan Das, a prominent figure in the Indian Independence movement, which led to the renaming of E.P.D.P as the famous Chittaranjan Park or C.R. Park. A decade later, 8 more blocks came into being, housing a further 700 families.The 4 markets and cultural centers quickly blossomed into hubs of Bengali culture and cuisine, and the area became home to one of the city’s main markets for freshwater fish, an important part of Bengali Cuisine.

Mini Kolkata or a world unto itself?

In essence Chittranjan Park is a small haven for the Bangali Bhodrolok (prosperous, well-educated and well-mannered Bengali) who want their Aajkal, a Bengali daily, flown in from Kolkata. Bhodrolok, like to have their evening tea in front of the market, along with cutlets in the company of friends, and discuss the political affairs of lands unknown, sprinkled with a little bit of football. You can quietly go and sit in the courtyards of the Kali Mandir and contemplate about life, or go watch a play in the Bangiya Samaj.

From banana leaves to Cookme Masala, you can easily find every bit of Bengal here, but the people are different, for it is not Kolkata.

While CR Park becomes mini Bengali Culture Hub during Durga Puja, I wouldn’t call it mini Kolkata. It’s an unfair comparison to make. Chittaranjan Park is in Delhi and no matter how hard you try, you cannot take Delhi out of it. There is a certain alien feeling that no matter how hard you try, you can’t put a finger on.

If you’re thinking about Bongs, It’s hard not to think of Durga Puja

There is a saying, that if a group of Bengalis are living near each other, a Durga Puja will happen, be it in New Delhi or New York. Quite essentially, a Bengali cannot exist without Durga Puja.

The moment you enter C.R. Park during Durga Puja, everything changes. The sun coyly shines, spreading just the correct amount of sunlight and warmth. The smell of Shiuli flowers (night-flowering Jasmine) is in the air and there is a sense of gaiety and splendor everywhere.

You enter a pandal and Delhi stops existing for a while, all you hear is Bengali being spoken constantly, Bengali music playing all around and the unmistakable smell of incense that goes with the rituals. The Kali Mandir is a solace for the vegetarian among us, as it is full of small makeshift stalls selling rolls, chaats, bhelpuri, ghughni (dried yellow peas cooked in gravy) etc.

As you walk towards the bigger pandals like B-Block, Co-Operative and Mela Ground, you’ll find that things suddenly become a bit commercial with IFB Fisheries, Karim’s and Mother’s Dairy and this is where Delhi somewhat manages to peek through.

The moment you step out from C.R. Park, you’re back in Delhi with the mindless traffic and obnoxious drivers where life goes on as normal. In Kolkata, however, it is relentless, there is no going away from the Puja, and the city is full of madness and celebration.

[caption id="attachment_52014" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image source: Archisman Misra[/caption]

C.R. Park gives you a cursory glance at what the world of Durga Puja is, a sampler of what you’d get in Kolkata at the same time of the year. It gives you a chance to gauge your preparedness in case you ever wanted to go see Durga Puja in Kolkata.

Looking to the future

The Colony has often received unfair flak about being cultural posers, sometimes from writers, which may or may not have been an attempt at humour.

The locality has been home, at different points of time, to Phoolan Devi, Swapan Dasgupta, Santanu Moitra and others.

The cultural diaspora of the area has diversified quite significantly over time, due to aging residents and further immigration to various countries for study or work. Decades from now, we might get to see a Chittaranjan Park devoid of Bengalis, where veg cutlets might make better sales than the fish fry. Surprisingly, however there has also been an influx of Bengalis who shift here, from Kolkata to pursue a life in the capital, and the fish here does not disappoint.

The younger generations have been slowly moving away from Bengali cultural. They speak a version of Bangla that is a broken-mix of Hindi, English and Bengali. Averse to the typical Bengali home food; the youth prefers butter chicken over shorshe eelish (Hilsa Fish cooked in Mustard). But when Durga Puja begins, you’ll find the same youngsters obsessing over khichudi and payesh and performing the rituals of the Puja with equal fervour.

Located in a city obsessed with modernisation, fault lines have started to appear in the [envoke_twitter_link]hub of Bengali Culture i.e. Chittaranjan Park[/envoke_twitter_link], but whether it becomes just another locality in Delhi still remains to be seen. For now, Dadu’s Cutlet Shop is still frying the cutlets deep brown, Annapurna Sweets still sells roshogollas by the bucketful and Tabu still fillets the bhetki to perfection. The grandfathers still sit on the park benches and discuss politics while the grandmothers fuss over their grandchildren. The temple bells still ring every evening in the Kali Mandir and the luchi and soojir payesh has never tasted better.

For a person having seen the best and worst of both worlds, I’m quite content with my belly full of grub and, gelusil always in my pocket.

The post Delhi’s Bong Paradise: How The ‘Bengali Bhadralok’ Came To Be In C R Park appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Monica Islam:

On 6th of February last year, a young interfaith leader said “Muslim extremists have shut down the country today”, pointing out the nationwide blockade, which was observed that day, by a religious group called Hefazat-e-Islam. The group pressed the government to accept their 13-point list of demands, which included punishing atheists and bloggers, and preventing the erection of sculptures at various places across the country. This is the same group which opposed the National Women Development Policy (NWDP), once in 2008 and again in 2011.

[caption id="attachment_52155" align="aligncenter" width="315"] Image source: youtube.com[/caption]

I was offended by his statement. While I agreed that the threat of militancy loomed over Bangladesh, I could not come to terms with the idea that the country was under the grip of extremists. Do we see suicide bombs blowing up on the streets of Bangladesh? Do we hear of majority of women in Bangladesh being forced to wear tent-like attires? Even during the aforementioned blockade, there was no overwhelming public support for the group or its ideology, and that day life proceeded normally with no reports of violence.

But I was clearly missing the bigger picture.

Bombs may not be blowing up, but bloggers and writers are being hacked to death—sometimes under broad daylight, since 2013, and that’s the same thing: extremism, but in a different package. Machete wielding youths leap on their prey and inflict gashes indiscriminately, one after another, as if they not only want to ensure death to the victims, but they also want to vent their hatred on this person they consider an “enemy of Allah”, a term frequently used by militants to refer to atheists and free-thinking bloggers.

The latest blogger—fourth in this year—to fall prey to religious extremism is Niloy Chatterjee. According to a local TV channel report, he was also a meritorious student preparing for civil service examinations, and a researcher at a local NGO. This time, the cold-blooded murderers posed as potential tenants and stormed into Niloy’s house, wounding him with a cleaver, while shouting “Allahu Akbar”. 14 gashes have been found on his upper torso.

The attacks followed a pattern. The targets had a similar profile: they were active in scientific and rationalist circles; they promoted humanism; and they expressed their views, naively trusting that they were under the protection of law.

At a programme organized yesterday by the Women and Children Affairs ministry to mark the 85th birth anniversary of Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib, wife of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, our Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned that she will not allow anyone to exploit religion for political gains and that she will check the incidents of religious extremism “with an iron hand”.

With these statements, she is not only making empty promises, but is also insinuating that the opposition (which has a religious alliance) is somehow to be blamed for the present government’s (and our collective) failure in protecting people’s rights to freedom of expression.

This incident confirms not only the general lawlessness prevailing in the country, but also the reluctance and insensitivity of the law enforcement agencies as they fail to take death threats and citizen complaints seriously. Months before this gruesome murder, when Niloy and his friends complained to the police about receiving death threats, their complaints were not recorded and they were instead advised to leave the country. Only yesterday, the eminent sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini and her son received death threats over the phone. The police needs to take these threats seriously as these are occurring too frequently now and these can be valuable leads to extremist hideouts and plans.

Whenever cartoonists made satirical images of the present government or whenever an ordinary citizen made a scathing remark about the Prime Minister on social networking sites, the “wrongdoers” were identified, arrested, and imprisoned within a span of days and weeks.

Why the delay now? Why are the Twitter accounts used by Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), the extremist outfit openly claiming responsibility for the murders, still active? [envoke_twitter_link]Why do we know so little about ABT[/envoke_twitter_link] and why are its members roaming scot-free? Why do fundamentalist groups, such as Hefazat-e-Islam, have the power and the platform to organize nationwide blockades and block policies without any repercussions? Why do extremists have the right and the freedom to express their opinions violently, while writers and painters become the “enemy of Allah” for doing the same peacefully?

Right now, only the human rights activists, bloggers, humanists, and foreign development organizations, such as Amnesty International, are condemning the murders. Advertisers, artists, musicians, cultural activists, and professionals of any field, where creativity is even minutely used, need to protest these murders and to own this fight against religious extremism.

Broadly speaking, it is not just free thinking (or “secular blogging”) that is under the threat of religious extremism today in Bangladesh; creativity is also on the line, and that should disturb many of us.

The post Another Free Thinker Killed in Bangladesh, While Religious Extremists Go Free appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Perry Maddox:

The UN’s latest global population statistics were dumped online this week in the form of a huge, impenetrable spreadsheet. What the complex figures obscure is a landmark that has huge consequences for the way we all live: we are about to pass the point where more people on the planet will be above 30 years of age than younger. We have reached ‘peak youth’.

[caption id="attachment_52265" align="aligncenter" width="933"] Image source: Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

The total number of young people in the world is starting to plateau. Today, we have the largest global youth population in history, and this mass will remain for several decades before beginning to shrink later this century.

This will happen within the lifetimes of many alive today. Asia’s vast youth population, on which much of the past century’s economic progress has depended, is already beginning to shrink. By 2050 one in three young people in the world will be African.

With world leaders having set themselves a deadline of agreeing historic goals on poverty, inequality and climate change by the end of this year, this simple fact has huge ramifications.

Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening has already posed an important question on the world stage: what happens when 600 million young people, mostly in Africa and Asia, enter a job market with little work available for them to do?

For decades, both richer and poorer nations have relied on ever-growing young populations to fill their workforces and to expand their tax bases, but this has led to complacency over the waste of their potential - young people still make up 41% of the world’s unemployed.

Our notion of youth, too, is changing. Even [envoke_twitter_link]these statistics are based on youth as 15 to 24 years old[/envoke_twitter_link], but this definition is changing. The transition to adulthood is being stretched in both developing and more developed countries, as any young person in the UK (or their parents) well knows.

The power of youth is that they are neither dependent children nor fully independent adults. Young people are a vital group facing huge personal challenges, challenges on which society collectively succeeds or fails. Youth is not an age bracket, it is the passing from dependency to independence. It is a transition full of potential.

Much like a mid-life crisis for the world, this coming peak only needs to be depressing if we judge it by how we have used (or wasted) our youth so far. If we mistake young people for a “demographic dividend to cash in on”, then we will crash when that commodity runs out.

If there’s one thing the pessimists have right, it is that we don’t have all century to figure this out. We probably have two more generations before the peak begins to subside: the millennials, who have now left childhood, and the generation behind them who are, thankfully, yet to be branded. These children and young people, the start of Peak Youth and the last to make up the majority of the world population, will be the most affected by persistent extreme poverty, rising inequality and catastrophic climate change.

[envoke_twitter_link]This generation will be the one to tackle these problems[/envoke_twitter_link] or to live through the consequences, and if approaching peak youth is the wake up call to the world to let them lead the way, it could not have come at a better time.

Author Bio: Perry Maddox is the COO of Restless Development based in London

This post was originally published on The Independent.

The post This International Youth Day Here’s What Lies Ahead For The Global Youth appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Navneet Arora:

I was scrolling aimlessly through my Facebook a few days ago and I saw that a lot of my juniors got into their respective colleges and were ‘feeling excited’.

There are loads of expectations in your mind from the much anticipated college life. Since you come with a clean slate, nobody knows you and vice versa, there is uncertainty in your mind and cautiousness in your demeanour. It is the fresher’s party that provides a chance to remove these uncertainties and welcomes the newest and nervous members to life in college. Characterised with themes, dress code, performances, talent hunts, beauty pageants and lots of dancing, they help the fucchas to shed their inhibitions and get to know each other. Well, one does expect all of this when it comes to Delhi University at least.

[caption id="attachment_52335" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image source: flickr.com[/caption]

Some colleges are famous for their fresher’s party, like Shri Ram College of Commerce and Sri Venkateswara College. In 2014, SRCC held two official fresher parties in the college campus itself, ethnic and rain dance. “It includes a cultural program in the college auditorium, a Talent Hunt for Mr. and Ms. Fresher, followed by DJ. On the day of the rain dance as well, there is a separate talent hunt,” says Kashish Anand, 2nd year student from SRCC.

However, the entire point of holding a Fresher’s party is to allow the juniors to create a rapport with each other and their seniors. But is that even happening? Some believe the idea of rain dance and holding two fresher parties as an utter wastage of resources.

The fresher’s party is closely followed by the University elections so student unions use this as an opportunity to consolidate their vote banks. They give away movie tickets, tickets to adventure parks and also organize many unofficial freshers’ parties at popular lounges to win favour of the students. These parties turn out to be typical lounge parties with dim lights, loud music, sometimes alcohol and snacks. In this context, [envoke_twitter_link]one is reminded of a raid on a freshers’ party[/envoke_twitter_link] in a pub in Gurgaon in 2013, where a lot of students, some of them underage, were caught drinking. There was a general fear after that and students became aversive to attend the unofficial event.

There are also other reasons why many prefer to skip these lounge parties. Ravneet Kaur, a graduate from Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce 2014 batch, says, “The lounge is cramped because there are so many people. Everyone hardly gets the snacks that are served. So it turns out to be a waste of money.”

Some colleges conduct ‘fashion shows’ or ‘beauty pageants’ which some believe can be a ‘fun activity’, but quite a few people are simply against this idea. Ganita Dahiya, a 2nd year student from Lady Shri Ram College says, “Rather than serving the purpose of breaking the ice among students, it might create unnecessary insecurities and sometimes not-so-healthy competition which might lead to misunderstandings about other people. And being judgmental might deprive us from the chance of knowing them.”

In a lot of cases students find these parties far from fulfilling their purpose. This has even made them come back to the idea of a freshers’ party in the college itself. However, everyone maintains that it needs to be an innovative and creative activity where students get a chance to bond with their new classmates and seniors.

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You can also subscribe to the Campus Watch Newsletter, here.

The post Police Raids, Alcohol And College Politics: Why Fresher Parties Need To Be Refreshed appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Chitranshu Tewari:

Though the public outcry over the telecom operator’s plans to charge extra for Over The Top Services (Whatsapp, Flipkart, Skype) led to an online buzz in support for Net Neutrality - forcing the Telecom Ministry to assure everyone that the government stands for Neutrality, the fight for a free, fair and equal internet is far from over. Both telecom operators and internet giants like Facebook and Flipkart are now trying to skew the definition of Net Neutrality to their own advantage.

After mobilizing people online to flood the TRAI inbox with more than 1 lakh emails on the TRAI consultation paper, the ‘Save the Internet’ campaign has once again sprung to life owing to a new video with the popular comedy sketch group AIB in it. The Department of Telecommunications wants to start licensing VoIP apps (Whatsapp, Skype, Viber, Hike etc.), making them pay for the free calls they provide to everyday users like you and me.

Watch this video to understand how you can put pressure on the government to get rid of these archaic licenses. The deadline has been extended to 20th, so hurry up, do some good on Internet today.​

The post No Laughing Matter: Just 2 Days To Save The Internet, AIB Has An Important Message For You appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Sanjana Chowdhury:

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

Every time we open a newspaper or switch on the TV, we encounter your smiling face asking us to join the #GiveItUp Movement, apparently to “Be a Proud Partner in Nation Building”. What you’re asking us to ‘give up’ is the measly LPG subsidy that we are entitled to. But here is why I won’t.

[caption id="attachment_51560" align="aligncenter" width="889"] Image source: youtube.com[/caption]

Currently, an Indian household is entitled to get twelve 14.2 Kg cylinders of domestic cooking gas per year. At the subsidised rate, each cylinder costs Rs. 417.82 while the market price stands at Rs. 608.50 (for Indane Gas in Delhi). So, [envoke_twitter_link]for each household the subsidy is Rs. 190.68 per cylinder [/envoke_twitter_link]and amounts to a measly sum of Rs.2,288.16 per year. As of now, each Member of Parliament gets a monthly salary of Rs. 50,000, constituency allowance of Rs. 45,000 and office expence allowance of Rs. 45,000, adding up to Rs.140,000. Surely, the government can spend Rs. 2288 for each household when it can pay each MP a whopping Rs. 1.4 lakh per month.

Each minute of a Parliament session costs us, the tax payers, Rs. 29,000. So while the politicians rage and create a ruckus, passing no legislations of value or even coming close to debating any, the money that’s wasted there is fine, while we must go on to give up the LPG subsidy. Why?

Our tax goes to feed the MPs

The Indian citizen is hard-put to pay his Income Tax, Service Tax, Property Tax, Value Added Tax and what-not, but the rich MPs have enjoyed an overwhelming subsidy of Rs 60 crores at the parliament canteens over the last 5 years alone. The Rangarajan committee has outrageously drawn the urban poverty line at Rs. 47 which, hilariously enough, can only be applicable if one is dining at the parliament canteen.

Evidently, the government believes it more worthwhile to spend Rs 200 crores to build a statue of Sardar Patel rather than provide Minimum Support Price MSP for farmers. While the nation clamours for One Rank One Pension for ex-servicemen, the government wastes money on celebrating Yoga Day, and trying to make a success out of the inefficient UID project.

And really, who are we “building the nation” for?

While the common man is constantly struggling to meet his bills, the government pays hundreds of crores on the Ministers and MPs. They receive amenities to travel in AC First Class by any railway in India on the strength of his ID card when every other Indian must pay Rs. 1203 for similar facilities for a 50 Km ride on the Rajdhani Express. They can travel by air, free of cost, and even get 34 free air journeys along with spouse or relatives but for the Indian citizen the lowest possible airfare is around Rs. 4000 (from Mumbai to Delhi).

The official website of Indian Lok Sabha states that, our MPs are entitled to license-free flats along with furniture worth Rs.60,000 throughout their terms of office. In addition to this, they receive free supply of 4000 Kl of water and 50,000 units of electricity per annum. Besides these facilities, they can have upto 3 telephones without paying installation or rental costs, and are entitled to 150,000 free calls from these telephones.

So all I want to ask is this, do we have to #GiveItUp so that our respected ministers can get free phone calls?

Respectfully, An Indian Citizen

The post Open Letter To PM: Why I Won’t #GiveItUp So Ministers Can Get ‘Free Phone Calls’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Ravi Karkara:

We must harness the potential of young people to promote, fulfill, and realize the fundamental rights of humanity. They need to be recognized as right holders in today’s world.

The world is celebrating the World Program for Action on Youth, a critical moment where the world agreed on 15 goals of youth development. I want to draw your attention to the Braga youth action plan, which very clearly called for human rights mechanisms to have an active youth focus and called upon the international community to adopt a global declaration on the human rights of youth.

It is important to make a distinction between youth rights and child rights. While the Convention on the Rights of the Child clearly articulates the rights of human populations below the age of 18, it is still unclear how the human rights framework applies to the 1.8 billion youth. The IBERO American Youth Charter and the African Youth Charter are the two regional frameworks that clearly adopt and apply human rights for the young.

It important to remind us this important of the creation of the Global Declaration on rights of youth as well as clearly agree on defining the age group of youth. As long as we treat them as Ad-hoc and youth-hood as a transition time for becoming an adult, we will continue to marginalize the conversation on human rights of youth. There are clear areas that emerge out of lessons learnt so far:

1. Strengthening youth participation in creating a human rights based society.
2. Holding duty-bearers accountable so that they recognize fundamental human rights of all young people across the world and agree on a global declaration on youth rights.
3. Creating permanent mechanisms that promote participation of the most marginalized young women and men representing youth from communities such as LGBTQ, youth with disabilities, indigenous youth, etc.

I would like comment that a society that respects human rights can be achieved if we strengthen youth participation, ensure inclusion and non-discrimination, and create a culture that promotes accountability and social justice.

The recently adopted sustainable development goals create a very conducive environment for promoting global action to end inequality and attain human rights for all. The[envoke_twitter_link] next fifteen years are critical for advancing human rights[/envoke_twitter_link] of the most marginalized populations including women, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and minority groups. Youth can be a driving force in advancing humanity in the creation of a world that ends poverty, attains equality, achieves sustainable development, and peace.

About the Author: Ravi Karkara is a trained Social Worker with commitment to advancing human rights, gender equality, inclusion and social justice. Ravi serves as the Global Advisor on Youth + Partnership with UN-HABITAT, based in New York. He is the lead author of the groundbreaking report “Youth 21: Building the Architecture of Youth Engagement in the UN System,” by UN-Habitat, which contributed to the creation of United Nations Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth. As Global Strategic Advisor to United Nations Millennium Campaign he was instrumental in getting over 5 million youth vote in the SG’s My World 2015 survey. Currently, he is the Strategic Adviser Partnership Beijing+20 to the Deputy Executive Director, UN Women.

The post A UN Strategic Advisor On How The 1.8 Billion Youth Can Change This World appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Diya Shah:

You don’t always have to fit the stereotype of the young girl from a small town going to the big city to reach out for your dreams. When I was 17, I wanted to work with rural people who had limited exposure and help them gain confidence, after my board exams.

[caption id="attachment_53171" align="aligncenter" width="671"] Image source: Diya Shah[/caption]

For this, I touched base with the NGO- Swades, led by Mrs. Zarina Screvwala, who gave me a life changing opportunity to go out and touch the lives of people in rural India. The organisation had been working on five verticals for the district of Raighad, Maharashtra which included a vast number of villages. They looked into Education, Water and Sanitation, Health Care and Nutrition, Agriculture and Livelihood and Community Mobilization. Out of these many avenues, I believed that education deserved the most importance because it would bridge the communication gap. It would help them be more confident and self –reliant by developing better English speaking skills.

The [envoke_twitter_link]time I spent in the village of Khamgoan[/envoke_twitter_link] allowed me to develop as an individual. It made me ponder upon the life we live in the city as compared to the self-made life of the inhabitants in villages. My journey was not an easy one. I had to break the ice with them, make them relate to me and this was only possible if they considered me as one of them. That was when I decided to stay with a village family itself, take part in their day-to-day activity and form a familial bond with them. As I reflect on the days back, Nitin Bhau and Naitri Tai became second parents to me. We shared daily chores like making chapattis, getting water from the well and even cleaning, and it was amidst these chores that I realized how their happiness came from simplicity. My conversation with them made me respect and value them as individuals, and helped me grow as a person. Naitri Tai made me realize that to be happy one doesn’t need to have monetary wealth. It was a state of mind and no thing or person could bring one happiness.

Every evening, before dinner, all the children from my hamlet came home and urged me to teach them more. Be it revising alphabets, reading, understanding grammar rules, they simply wanted to learn more. Initially getting people to understand the importance of English was quite a task, but everyone wanted to see ‘the new girl,’ which made it a lot easier for me to engage into a conversation with them and explain my purpose. I would prepare interactive modules, power-point presentations which made the classes interactive and fun. I made worksheets so that I could test if they had understood. I covered basic English such as verbs, adverbs, nouns, adjectives, articles so that they would be able to form basic English sentences easily.

Swades had a sewing class for women in the afternoon at the Centre wherein I made it a point to interact with them. After a week, more than 30 women attended my class, I felt a sense of satisfaction with my progress. With word of mouth promotion, within one week 3 batches were formed. A students’ batch in the morning, which had 3rd to 9th standard children, an afternoon batch of only women, and an evening batch of college students. Swades had invested in learning toys for the children at the Anganwadi’s in 30 villages of Raighad District. I was able to interact with families and also teach the teachers the mechanism of these toys. It was not just a student-teacher relationship; day-by-day it grew into something much stronger. Their progress from the two-word broken sentence in English, to a 10-word correct sentence, made me jump with joy.

During my stay I was delighted to see how both Hindus and the Muslims co-existed in happiness and harmony. This cohesive existence, made me question, why is it not like this in the urban pockets of our country? Also, I shared a beautiful relation with a Muslim family, from the Mohalla in Khamgoan. They even invited me for the ritual of Iftaar and cooked only vegetarian food, just for me.

On the last day of my stay, they organized a farewell for me where the entire village including the seven hamlets gathered. Their speeches in broken English expressing how I had impacted their life, both personally and holistically, put me to tears. And they weren’t the only ones who learned holistic living. As part of the farewell I was made to plant two trees right outside the NGO Centre.

They taught me to value love, family bonding, and made me realize that there is no better profession than being humane. Their simplicity brought me closer to them and acceptance and care I received left me in awe of them. The seven weeks I spent there were meant to make them believe in themselves. I don’t know whether I made an impact or whether I brought a change, but they surely impacted me. While we might speak fluent English, they speak fluent Marathi. Their simplicity and honesty was the only thing that marked a fundamental difference. Just as we thrive on modern-day technology for our work, they thrive on nature for a living. Today I look at rural India not with a view of pity, but with hope, change and empowerment.

‘A place is only as good as the people in it.’
‘Sw se bana des-
Mera Des; Aapka Des; Hum sab ka Des.’

The post My 7 Weeks In Rural India: ‘Not Sure If I Changed Their Lives, They Surely Changed Mine’ appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Dhrubo Jyoti:

I remember I was about eight when I first embarrassed my parents by wearing a full-length nightie of my mother’s, in front of the help – “He’s a big boy, what will people say,” was said in hushed tones as I was shuffled out of the room. This was the first in a string of gender ‘mistakes’ I would make in the years to come, which made it difficult to reconcile to the sex I had been assigned at birth, but also facilitated my search for an alternative expression beyond male and female boxes.

[caption id="attachment_53469" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Image source: flickr.com[/caption]

I was brought up by two strong and courageous women – my mother and grandmother – who taught me many things but questions about the absent father were always followed by shuffling feet and uncomfortable answers. The absence also meant, for me, an absence of lessons in masculine performance that my peers thought commonplace – shaving, walking in a certain way, even the kind of underwear one wears – all key pieces of performing one’s gender role and taught by people more adept in the game – brothers, fathers.

[envoke_twitter_link]I think I always knew maleness was an act for me[/envoke_twitter_link], I just went along with what I thought was popular – quite like my taste in films. I still pepper my language with expletives when I think I need to act more manly, a throwback to the school years when a friend had told me I would need to be brought upto speed in the gaali department as a part of being a mard. I thought it was quite reasonable and was possibly an extension of the changes that were happening to my body. I simply attributed my lack of interest in tailing women or making sexist jokes to the absence of a functional father or brother.

Sex and sexuality hit my friends and I pretty late, by 21st century standards. In addition to not knowing about my own body, I also didn’t know why I was not interested in ogling at women or sneaking up on them, or why the boys bathroom became strangely sexual. This lack of interest was separating me from my male peers – and I knew I was a man – so I tried my best to cover it up and play along. All information we had about sex was advise from brothers and seniors – who were relying on hand-me-down suggestions themselves – and pornography, which was great entertainment at best but a poor educator.

I remember cycling home after meeting friends, where I had spent hours enjoying myself but also constantly trying to align myself with gender roles expected of me. I had no information, neither did my peers, and we were all hurtling down the gender role tunnel with only scraps of biased and prejudiced advice handed down to us by an older generation.

It became doubly difficult to reconcile my sexuality in the closing stages of school, so much so that I withdrew from a very vibrant and welcoming homosexual society around me, when I moved to Kolkata for my undergraduate studies. Sure, I liked watching men in porn, even in real life sometimes, but that didn’t make me gay, right? What is gay? Are they the same as the hijras I saw on the roads? There was no one you could talk to or ask. It was suffocating at times. Even the few men I chanced to sleep with seemed to be struggling more than I was, or were in complete denial about their sexuality.

In the small town I grew up, whispers is all that you got by way of sexuality related talk and the whispers were stifling, telling you to conform, be a certain kind of body, toe a certain kind of gender role. These included instructions to sit with your legs apart, walk straight, don’t move your hands, undo a few of your shirt buttons, do your hair a certain way, don’t listen to your mother, get a bike, talk about women but don’t talk to them.

It was years before I stumbled upon information that told me identifying as a man was a choice that you could opt out of. That gender needn’t be a binary. That you could choose your own gender. Painstaking exploration of my gender and sexual needs over almost a decade made me realize I was not straight or a man. I was introduced to the wonderfully ambiguous term queer, which saved me and which I now use to define my gender, sex and sexuality.

I just wish my friends and I had access to information related to sexuality education that would have saved all of us years of misinformation and prejudices packaged as helpful advice. It would have likely helped me avoid the emotional trauma, bullying and abuse that is still so vivid, that I’d rather fill this page with small town details than talk about how identifying as a non-man and queer could cost one their family and career. Ask me, I have been stalked and attacked on the streets, I know.

Sexuality education is about creating an environment where that bullying and abuse do not thrive because the misinformation and bias that nurtures violence is dispelled. People, when they talk openly about sex and sexuality in a comprehensive manner, that takes into account their diverse backgrounds, shun handed-down gender roles and sexuality mores. This information comes in a way that is scientifically accurate and from trusted sources and affirms people’s inherent right to determine their own gender, sex and sexuality.

Such a conversation is urgently needed in schools and colleges today, if we are to create an environment that is rights-positive and violence-free for young people to explore their bodies, choices, desires and lives. If I had access to comprehensive sexuality education 10 years ago, I know it would have changed my life.

Author bio: Studied Physics till 23 only to abandon it and become a journalist. Too many identities to wear on sleeve, disoriented, unfocused and queer. Deliciously queer. Talk caste, gender, sexuality, politics for orgasm cue.

The post Identifying As Queer: What Could Have Saved Me From Bullying And Abuse 10 Years Ago appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.