By Amy Conley Wright:

The other day, my toddler son came home from childcare saying “piss poo”. He is one of the younger children in his classroom and clearly he heard this phrase from an older child he admired. I couldn’t help laughing at this unexpected outburst, which reinforced this behaviour – thus cementing the phrase in his emerging vocabulary. Now he goes around muttering “piss poo piss poo pissy poo” under his breath as he goes about his business.

Is this a bad thing? Should I scold him for using words he doesn’t know the meaning of? Should I discourage him from using swear words and refrain from swearing in front of him?

[caption id="attachment_53554" align="aligncenter" width="834"] Image source: Theconversation.com[/caption]

How do children pick up swear words?

Socialisation is the process whereby people learn the types of behaviours, values and other attributes that are necessary to participate in the groups to which they belong. Childhood is of course the most intensive period for socialisation, as children learn what they need to know to be adults.

Children are learning all the time, and not all socialisation is intentional. Indeed, when adults have their guards down these may be the very moments they are making the biggest impressions on their children.

Several methods are associated with the process of socialisation but perhaps the most powerful is the observational method – imitating the behaviour of a role model. The highly successful public service announcement “Children see, children do” from the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect reminds adults that their behaviours speak louder than words and to model positive behaviours.

Children are most likely to learn to swear when people with whom they feel a connection – like peers, parents or figures in the media – use swear words. While children may not immediately begin to mimic bad words, they are learning that swearing is a socially acceptable behaviour.

As soon as children can speak, they can swear. Researchers Kristin and Timothy Jay found that children’s vocabulary of swear words expands rapidly from ages 1-2 to ages 3-4, in parallel to the general explosion in language in the toddler and preschooler years. Their research found that by the time children began school at age 5, they already knew 42 taboo words.

Does it matter if they swear?

Everyone will have their opinions on whether or not it matters if people, especially children, swear. The important thing is that children understand the context for their behaviour.

Swear words have power because they are taboo and have shock value. Children learn through social cues that using a swear word with peers may elicit laughter and attention, which encourages them to use a swear word again. On the other hand, using the same swear word around teachers or parents can result in a punishment. In this way, children internalise awareness of the taboo nature of certain words with certain people in certain contexts.

There may be little damage from swearing in the playground, but thinking they can swear at their teacher is another matter entirely. Children need to be taught, through modelling appropriate behaviours, how to behave in various social situations and different contexts.

How to discourage children from swearing?

Parents may inadvertently encourage swearing. The operant method of socialisation suggests that a behaviour is more likely to occur again when it is reinforced.

Reinforcement is an action that takes place after a behaviour that encourages that behaviour to occur again. Giving attention to a child after they swear can reinforce the behaviour, particularly if the child is swearing to get the reaction of shock and horror on mum’s face.

A natural tendency can be to yell at a child who swears. Yelling can be a punishment that discourages the behaviour it follows. But, at the same time, yelling is also modelling a behaviour about how to react to the undesired behaviours of others. Yelling can also model poor emotional regulation around handling strong emotions.

[envoke_twitter_link]A better method of socialisation for parents looking to discourage swearing is extinction[/envoke_twitter_link]. Extinction essentially involves ignoring undesired behaviours. By using extinction, a parent may be able to gradually reduce an unwanted behaviour by not giving a reaction or attention that may unintentionally encourage a behaviour.

This works best in combination with reinforcement of desired behaviours. If a child has developed a habit of swearing, the parent can ignore comments the child makes when swearing, but give attention when comments are made without swearing or when a non-offensive word is used as a substitute (like “sugar” for another s-word). This shows the child that the parent’s attention is still available, and that it is not the child being ignored but the behaviour.

Extinction is not a magic bullet for swearing. At first, children may swear more aggressively to get attention. Using this method of socialisation requires persistence and consistency, preferably by the many important adults in a child’s life, including relatives and teachers.

The key is to keep praising polite communications by the child and to ignore the swearing, so they get the message about what is acceptable behaviour. I can tell my toddler is searching my face for a reaction when he brings out “piss poo". Not cracking a smile when he does this can be a challenge though!

Should I swear in front of them?

Regardless of whether you swear in front of your children, they will have a fairly extensive profanity vocabulary from a fairly young age. The important thing they need to know is when it’s okay to swear and when it’s not.

The role of the parent here is to model the appropriate behaviour. No parent is a saint and we’re all guilty of dropping the f-bomb when stubbing our toe or when the shopping bags split. As long as your children know the f-bomb is not appropriate language to take to their first job interview, then they’re probably going to be okay.

About the author: Amy Conley Wright is Senior Lecturer in Social Work & Member of Early Start Research Institute at University of Wollongong

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

The post Should We Swear In Front Of Our Kids? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Ahmad Shariq Khan:

It all started with 20-yr old Jasleen Kaur, a Delhi resident, taking the help of social media to ‘name and shame’ her alleged molester.

As the story went viral in a post-Nirbhaya, media triggered, pro-feminism environment (fueled by fierce pitching by AAPians & Bhakts); Twitter trends, Facebook statuses, and many News anchors soon started speaking of Sarvjeet Singh as a ‘pervert’ and ‘molester’.

Wouldn’t it have been nicer if our media outlets, in their unending quest for ‘hot trending news’ (which they could repackage as the most important agenda before the nation), should have waited for Sarvjeet to come out of the Police station and tell his version too?

I believe, in the absence of any evidence or eyewitness, our media, including Arnab Goswami and his many clones on different channels, should have given both of them the benefit of the doubt. But in actuality we witnessed that a section of media chose to put on their Chief Justice of India avatar in their studio based kangaroo courts.

I feel like asking the media owners and their teams of researchers - what are they doing there? Isn’t it high time they realize they are into serious business, with manifold repercussions of their broadcasts, which can make or mar lives? And, unlike a free virtual playground or war-zone that social media offers, are they not bound by certain codes of conduct by institutions like News Broadcasters Association and Press Council of India? How could they forget that according to PCI’s norms of journalistic conduct- accuracy and fairness, and pre-publication verification figure as the top most important guidelines? It also further reminds them, “while it is the duty of the press to expose the wrong doings that come to their notice, such reports need to be backed by irrefutable facts and evidences”. Similarly, News Broadcasters Association's code of ethics specifically urges them to, “make it their mission to seek the truth and to report it fairly”. Now, the readers can judge whether these guidelines were really respected or were just tossed aside?

Further, I ask our fellow citizens: can we really afford to turn so myopic to repeat the blood-baying misadventure, led just by public and media trial? Have we really forgotten the lesson from Nagaland mob lynching, Rohtak Sisters or Mumbai’s Muslim girl's claim about bias due to religious affiliation?

Most importantly, we should not and cannot afford to be unfair to Jasleen and brush aside all her claims. So, till the law takes its course we must stop bullying the two of them. The fact is, in India, thousands of crimes against women do take place each day, and countless go unreported or never see the light of the day due to the lack of evidence. So just because a counter–argument has surfaced against a lady this time, are we going to encourage our cops to turn away every woman who reports of molestation (minus any evidence)? No, we should never do that. We must listen to their grievances with utmost sincerity. In India which is still a male chauvinistic society, it takes a lot of courage to come out and report crimes against woman. Hats off to Jasleen for holding her ground.

Also, we need to question age-old stereotypes. Imagine, if a cyclist hit a pedestrian or a car knocked a cyclist, won't the majority advice the cyclist/ car owner to mend his ways. Similarly, if a lady is seen shouting at someone on the road, then we generally tend to get the feeling that the guy must be at fault. However, I really appreciate the fact that good sense seems to be prevailing across the country. I believe individuals such as journalist Deepika Bhardwaj, who rightly questioned the absence of the man’s version of the story and actor Sonakshi Sinha who has apologized to Sarvjeet for judging him, should be called bravehearts for not following the herd mentality. To sum up, I just want to say that vigilantism is good but it must go together with a greater sense of responsibility. For girls in India, I just pray that this incident doesn’t in any way add to the message given in the famous Aesop fable - The Boy Who Cried Wolf.

Journalism cannot be public relations nor can it be character assassination, said Rajdeep Sardesai.
We better leave journalism at that, else we all are doomed.

The post When Media Takes Over Justice: Why The Jasleen Kaur Case Is Journalism’s Failure appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Megha Agarwal:

“My friend’s mother cringed at her reflection in the mirror as she throws on makeup over the bruises circling her eye. She has been experiencing severe abuse from the father of her children from past 22 years. Her children are crying watching her from the peephole. She knew it’s time to move out from that terror enclave and she tried to get over with it again and again but she failed.”

I was reading The Hindu at 10 p.m. one night and found the story of a woman who was brutally beaten and raped. In the three years I'd been reading the paper there had been no change in the atrocities undergone by women and the violence faced by them. Somehow, that moment triggered me to write a book. That very night I got to work on the plot of the story. After coming across way too many incidents of domestic violence, I chose to focus my novel on that topic. Behind the closed doors of homes all across the world, people are being tortured, beaten and killed. Scars may never disappear but the haunting memories can be erased. Death In Every Stride was born out of my urgent need to wake today's youth up. It felt like it was my time to step forward for everyone whose lives can be redefined with colors of joy and elation.

This novel allowed me to learn more about who I am. It allowed me to meet characters I'd never get to in real life, characters that were so much more than mere descriptions on paper. While I was writing, I could experience the feelings of all the characters and that’s when I realized that this was the right platform for the voice within me.

When it came to publishing, I chose Authorspress. This publishing house accepted my manuscript and gave me the incredible opportunity to become a published author. It wasn't as long a process as I had thought it would be. The editorial team offered much support and encouragement, appreciating my effort to change people's thought process.

Let me tell you what the book does. In a unique style, [envoke_twitter_link]the protagonist's monologue with her diary takes the readers through the horrors of domestic violence[/envoke_twitter_link]; and makes them live and feel that fear. Death in Every Stride is a dark saga of atrocities that a young woman faces at home and an awful journey she embarks upon, from wedding to motherhood. Experience the battle that is Krisanne's journey and be ready to have your thoughts shaken.

The post Death In Every Stride: The Book On Domestic Violence That Promises To ‘Shake Your Thoughts’ 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 Aiman Zehra:

Meet Zaynub, a final year student at the Aligarh Muslim University. She is well-read, creative and outspoken, and actively balances her academics and extracurricular interests. She looks forward to landing a job that is a good match for her competencies and interests. Her dream: to be an active and valuable participant in a world that is fast progressing, and to earn her way into self-reliance and financial independence. Zaynub, today, represents a dominant section of the students – both male and female, at AMU, much like on any other campus, who are itching to make their mark, professionally and personally. Come next placement season, she will be seen presenting her candidature to her potential employers, and making her choice of most suitable employer and employment among many competing options. There’s a chance she’ll land her dream job, and if lucky, her desired remuneration. Zaynubs of today at AMU in stark contrast to the Zaynubs of yesterday, now have improved opportunities of skill enhancement, personality development, and corporate interface as their peer enjoy elsewhere in the country.

[caption id="attachment_53938" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image source: Careerindia.com[/caption]

But things haven’t been the same all along. Before March 2012, when the first consolidated Training and Placement Office (general) of AMU was established, corporate interface and student placement was the onus of individual departments for their respective students. While students of professional courses were able to achieve campus placements to some degree, the student of a non-professional course, was destined to limited opportunities with dismal packages.

AMU, one of the oldest universities in India, has seen a glorious past, and has produced a wide network of well-placed and highly successful alumni. And yet it had somewhere faltered, in keeping pace with the demands of modern times. Though AMU kept producing batches of productive, innovative, ambitious and highly qualified students, this human potential met with a dead end somewhere owing to a lack of suitable campus placement opportunities, and a lack of formal training and technical expertise. It cannot be said enough that even the modern curriculum has many failings. A fresh recruit is required to unlearn classroom knowledge to make space for competing, ‘on ground’ knowledge in tune with modern times. While this deficiency is common to all academic curricula followed in the country, some universities and institutions have been able to mitigate damages and plug gaps by introducing supplementary education, fostering modern knowledge and skill enhancement, and by arranging for a strong corporate interface.

Campus placement is important for a fresh graduate, as it makes a student groom oneself. To improve one's resume the student takes up internships, participates in academic and extracurricular activities, acquires technical skills, goes for industrial visits, takes up live projects, writes academic papers and theses, and learns in classrooms, not just for the sake of learning, but for imbibing and translating the knowledge into the job. In this way, the prospect of campus placement can help channelize immense energy of the youth by dangling a hard-to-attain but not elusive juicy golden carrot of a promising career in front of them. Also, campus placement helps a student analyze the reasons for failure by comparing oneself with one’s peers and nurtures healthy competition. On the remuneration front, students are able to get better remuneration packages than they would get on their own.

[envoke_twitter_link]At AMU, the Training and Placement Office (general) looks after on and off campus placements[/envoke_twitter_link] for all non-engineering courses of the University, and coordinates with the respective departmental TPOs regarding student placement and related activities. From its very inception, the collaborated efforts and hard work of the TPO (general), departmental TPOs, and students have proved to be a worthwhile contribution to the increasing number of placements every year. TPO (general) actively organizes placement training and technical training workshops, job and career fairs, lectures on soft skills and HR meets throughout an academic session.

“When I came to AMU and joined as the Training and Placement Officer on March 2, 2012, placements for non-engineering courses were almost non-existent. Things were difficult to handle. The first thing I did was that I tried to build a sense of competence among the students and scheduled workshops on ‘how to face an interview’ and ‘personality development’. The other very important task was to bridge the gap between AMU and the corporate world,” says Saad Hameed. “Placement is a byproduct of corporate interface. The biggest asset of all premium institutes is their strong corporate interface. AMU is working on the same,” adds Hameed.

The companies participating in the various campus drives at AMU are from a whole spectrum of industries including Software, Media, Banking, Telecom, Legal, Marketing/Sales, Service, NGO, Consultancy, Sports/Physical Education, Hospitality, Healthcare, Education, ITES, Construction, and Manufacturing. In the academic session 2012-2013, a total of 47 companies participated in the recruitment process, recruiting 523 students. In the following academic session 2013-2014, 50 companies visited AMU and recruited 515 students. This figure jumped by leaps and bounds in the last academic session 2014-2015, where 126 companies visited and recruited 813 students in the campus drive.

TPO (general) is also working on the inculcation of entrepreneurial skills in students. Lately, it organized a workshop on ‘How to be an entrepreneur?’ in association with the National Small Industries Corporation, Aligarh. The first large-scale HR meet will be held at AMU later this year.

“A wave of change, slowly and gradually, can be seen spreading in the campus. I believe slow, but continuous changes are the strongest,” claims Hameed.

The Zaynubs graduating henceforth can therefore, hope for a better first stepping stone guiding them in the direction of their life goals, careers and dreams.

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The post AMU’s New Era: The Campus Placement Office That Is Providing Opportunities For Non-Tech Students appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Sarthak Ahuja:

There is something that I’ve wanted to write about for the past two years, but haven’t found the courage to. I have tried putting my thoughts to words on a number of occasions, but given up mid-way, fearing the backlash they may get; or the disbelief that any story of a man’s vulnerability may invite.

As an urban Indian male, I think I am more scared of the women around me than they are of the men that surround them.

[caption id="attachment_52994" align="aligncenter" width="752"] Image source: pexels.com[/caption]

The Delhi Commission for Women has officially stated that 53% of all cases for domestic violence filed between April, 2013 and July, 2014 were false. The Delhi Commission for Women, mind you! There is no such official 'Commission for Men' in the country because who thought men could be victims too. Being a Chartered Accountant by practice, I have clients coming to our firm to obtain certificates of income and net worth regularly. While these certificates were taken with the objective to contest in business bids till a few years ago, over 80% of such certificates issued now pertain to cases of domestic violence and dowry demands being contested in the courts of law. We have observed families, who my parents have personally known for over 30 years, break down before us. We have attended their weddings, been part of their celebrations and closely known their family dynamics as confidantes and well wishers for years. It pains us to see how such cases permeate beyond the boundaries of religion, social status and financial strength. While I feel proud that the people of India are now becoming brave enough to stand up for any kind of mistreatment or violence against women, [envoke_twitter_link]I feel scared to know that a woman holds the power to falsely accuse me of a crime[/envoke_twitter_link] that I may have not committed. I am terrified of the idea that while on the one hand my family could, some day, be making efforts to make a new member of the household feel welcomed and loved, the new lady of the house could be devising ways to cry wolf and threaten her in-laws with false accusations of domestic violence and dowry demands unless they give into her demands of share in movable and immovable property.

The thought may seem silly to most, or to those more medically inclined, as a symptom of paranoia or mental imbalance. I mean, doesn’t this fear seem unjustified? However, would you say that it is silly when a woman confesses of her everyday fear of being raped, especially at a place like Delhi? You wouldn’t, because you know that rape is a big problem in Delhi. We know that women fear going out alone at night. We know that rape happens, and it gets talked and written about. The crime has found a voice in the past few years when society has gradually progressed on the path away from victim shaming.

As we see India progress in support of the survivor, strengthening laws for protection of women in the country, we probably don’t see the regression that is silently gnawing us under the covers. Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code provides protection to women from domestic violence. It pertains to a non-bailable, non-compoundable offence, whereby the accused and his family members are put behind bars even before they are proven guilty, only on the basis of a complaint. The law has been misused terribly in the past few years, taking the form of a weapon than a shield. Out of the over 2.3 million people accused under Section 498A of the IPC since 1998, only about 0.26 million have been convicted. While those on one side may perceive it as an evidence of loss of faith in the functioning of the judiciary, which seems to have acquitted almost 85% of those accused; the other side may be yearning for a simpler look at the statistics, for sometimes, it is most objective to not over-analyze.

The reason any such information does not carry with itself the potential to give goosebumps is because a vast majority is still unaware of this practice. Where any mistreatment of a man, when admitted to, is seen as emasculation in our society, how is this any different from victim shaming? Families that have faced these problems in the past few years sit silently, trying not to worsen the consequences of a false accusation that has already marred their reputation in society. They refuse to open up and talk about it because it would show how “less of a man” the son of the family was to have been taken for a ride by a “girl”. They further know that the media promotes stories of women fighting against injustice. And who would believe their innocence anyway? While stories of revolt against traditionally unspoken issues are glorified, without checking their authenticity, the rising concerns leading to another unspoken issue are pushed under the rug.

In the case of Mr. Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India, the Hon’ble Supreme Court observed, “Many instances have come to light where the complaints are not bona fide and have filed with oblique motive. In such cases acquittal of the accused does not in all cases wipe out the ignominy suffered during and prior to trial. Sometimes adverse media coverage adds to the misery. As noted, the object is to strike at the roots of dowry menace. But by misuse of the provision, a new legal terrorism can be unleashed. The provision is intended to be used a shield and not assassin’s weapon. If cry of ‘wolf’ is made too often as a prank, assistance and protection may not be available when the actual ‘wolf’ appears.”

These cases and their first hand narration traumatize my parents, who are worried about having a son that they may have to get married in a few years. The same fear, I naturally inherit.

I fear being in a relationship, where the woman may hold the power to accuse me of rape in case the companionship may not progress as she may have planned. Or more simply, I fear giving a genuine compliment to a lady lest I may be accused of being a superficial prick, who has tried to “make a move” on her. I fear cracking a joke that may be labeled as “sexist”, and not an exaggeration of gender stereotypes that could be innocently intentioned to not be taken seriously. I also fear letting my fears known because they may “seem” to be against the interests of women.
I think of myself as a man respectful of women. But I may be wrong, for what is right or wrong still seems subjective in this age of online public shaming. A respectable and well intentioned lady like Charlotte Proudman may not agree with a respectable and well intentioned man like Alexander Carter-Silk (Charlotte Proudman has alleged that Alexander Carter-Silk has harassed her on LinkedIn). I probably have no right to comment on the matter. Neither do I have the right to comment on the Rohtak brave-hearts case or the recent Jasleen Kaur - Sarvjeet Singh episode. However, I think I may have the right to speak about a fear that I strongly feel.

I may not fully understand the terms 'feminism' or 'misogyny'. I may be uneducated in these areas and may be publicly shamed for being so. But I understand 'fear, a feeling that I do not need an education to feel, and an emotion that is not the prerogative of a specific gender.

The post “Fear Is Not The Prerogative Of A Specific Gender”: A Man Expresses His Fear Of Women appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Varsha Torgalkar:

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

As the fear of drought looms large over India, [envoke_twitter_link]Beed district in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region is gearing up to face one of its worst agrarian crises this year[/envoke_twitter_link].

Matters have come to such a pass that the residents of Gangamasla village in the district have threatened self-immolation to protest against the state government’s failure to provide relief.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast the early retreat of monsoon this year. Till the end of August, Maharashtra had received 58 per cent rainfall while the Marathwada region witnessed only 38 per cent.

“There is no hope of rains in September,” P C S Rao of the weather forecast development division, IMD, said.

Relief Measures

With the much-needed rainfall missing and farmers committing suicide, the Maharashtra government has to carefully assess the situation even though it has not formally announced drought.

Last year in December, the state government had put aside Rs 7,000 crore for drought relief. Two days ago, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the plan to raise Rs 10,000 crore for drinking water supply and cattle protection in the parched regions of Maharashtra.

To tackle the drought-like situation, the state government has already taken a slew of measures to conserve water. Cultivation of sugarcane, a water-intensive crop, will be banned from mid-September onwards across Marathwada, besides crushing and production of sugar.

Last month, a 10 percent cut in water supply to the industries was also imposed across the state. At present, around 1,300 tankers are supplying drinking water to 983 villages and 513 wadis in Marathwada every day. Water from the Ujjani dam in Solapur district is being transported to Marathwada by train. In entire Maharashtra, 2,000 tankers are supplying water. Despite this, Latur is receiving water supply only once for two to four hours in 15 days.

Fadnavis is currently on a three-day visit to Marathwada to monitor the situation. As part of relief measures, the chief minister has listed out steps like creation of cattle camps, supply of water through tankers, availability of fodder for cattle at farmers’ doorsteps, waiver of education fees, renovation of village wells and initiation of well-recharge projects.

The people of Marathwada, Vidarbha and western Maharashtra will be entitled to wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg under the National Food Security Act, 2013.

Is Marathwada Heading Towards Fourth Consecutive Drought?

[envoke_twitter_link]The Marathwada region is facing a drought-like situation for the fourth consecutive year.[/envoke_twitter_link]All the eight districts in the region have received just 259 mm of rainfall against the yearly average of 541 mm.

The situation is bad as out of 40,000 villages across Marathwada and parts of northern and western Maharashtra, almost 24,000 are reeling under drought-like situation.

To make the situation worse, the water level in dams is also decreasing day by day. The Jayakwadi dam has only 6 per cent water left while the water in five other dams—Manjira, Seena, Kolegaon, Majalgaon and Lower Terna—has finished.

So far, 43 lakh hectares under Kharif and 20 lakh hectares under Rabi crops have been affected, hitting 36 lakh farmers and their families across the state.

Old people have started comparing this year’s drought-like situation with the one experienced in 1972. It was Maharashtra’s worst famine ever with the then chief minister, Vasantrao Naik, promising work and food to the affected people.

According to the Groundwater Survey and Development Agency, [envoke_twitter_link]400 villages in the Marathwada region are on the verge of becoming deserts.[/envoke_twitter_link] Local officers have been empowered to take action against those who are pumping water from below 20 feet underground.

The state government’s effort to bring about artificial rain through cloud seeding has not been successful. The Climate Modification Company was given the contract for causing artificial rainfall for 200 hours from August-October at Rs 27 crore. But there are no rains in sight due to the absence of clouds, according to government officials.

Farmer Suicides Mounting

With crops almost withering in the fields, farmer suicides are on the rise. The state has witnessed 1,300 suicides from January to June this year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

Around 575 suicides were recorded in the Marathwada region alone by the end of August. The state is witnessing around 70 suicides a month despite the announcement of relief packages.

The Maharashtra government has announced Rs 1 lakh as compensation to the family of a deceased farmer. Though agriculture minister Eknath Khadse claimed 78 per cent of distressed families have received relief packages till now, experts claimed that hardly 5-10 per cent of families have been covered.

“Small-time farmers or labourers, who take loans from private money lenders, do not fall in the category of farmers for whom packages are promised,” says Kishor Tiwari, an activist from Vidarbha.

The post Govt’s False Promises And Late Reactions Have Made This Region of Maharashtra A Desert appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Avantika Debnath:

In the 30 years of my life, I have come across many real women and have witnessed their real challenges. In fact, I have been scrutinized for being what I am. I have been condemned for what I am not. I know women who were denied any assistance from government authorities because of the prejudice running against these 'modern' women in 'heels'. [envoke_twitter_link]They scan our behavior through those judgmental eyes and abhor us for our non-traditional Indian ways [/envoke_twitter_link]that do not comply with the standards put forward by the moral police.

I am just another corporate professional working in an Indian metro city. As a woman, I often feel that  to pave way for the modern, independent woman, the society suspects that a skeleton will  pop out any moment from their closet. And this feeling has been brought home by the very mentality of an average Indian man and in many cases even the average Indian woman. We breathe in a country where the thought process of the population gets shaped, to a great extent, by what the television presents us with. And flinches the blunder. These never ending, immortal daily soaps telecast on Indian television paints a messed up image of the modern day woman. They portray the 'good girl' as the one who is always draped in yards of cloth, home-bound, innocent to the point of dumbness, running to the temple and crying out her troubles in front of the idol of a deity. The clutter gets solemn when all their vamps are English speaking women in western attire. Why do these channels propagate the today-woman as the antagonist? Why can't the pub going careerist woman be presented as the benevolent one? Let’s get candid out here, how many of us are a Parvati or Tulsi or Anandi in real lives? None. But that is what is expected out of us. The society, relatives and the in-laws want the 21^st-century real woman to be a fictional character from their daily soaps. And here is where things get topsy-turvy for the real woman.

[envoke_twitter_link]An average Indian woman, in fact, every woman is indeed the epitome of patience and tenacity[/envoke_twitter_link]. I have witnessed this numerous times in numerous ways. But her patience knows a limit too. And when the bounds of her patience are disturbed, only heaven knows what hell she can break. She doesn’t have to be a protagonist of a war, she can be just you and me. But she can do things beyond people’s perception of hers.

After testifying to such courageous souls’ struggle, I penned down the story of Meera in 'The Bridal Pyre – Nainam Dahati Pawakah'. People often ask me, why did I choose Meera’s story for my first book? Why not a love story like most of the authors of my age. They ask me, is Meera someone I know? Someone close to me? I laugh. Meera is indeed very close to me, I know her like I know myself. Meera, is you, me and every other woman I see around myself. Meera is not one woman, she is a compound of all the women I have come across in my life. Meera’s life, her personality, her sufferings, have something that every woman, Indian or otherwise, has faced, at least once in her lifetime. I wanted to put an end to this suffering. I know writing a book is not a step strong enough to end the plight of the average Indian woman, but my power is limited. All I could do is write a story. But Meera is not a weak soul like me.

"I have seen such strong men cry like babies while getting a broken bone fixed. How are you bearing with this pain so tranquilly?" asked the doctor. "Maybe I am not a man, but what made you think that I am not strong?” Meera thought. She is strong indeed.

Meera’s challenges are real, the kind every woman born and raised in a third world country has to put up with. Her mistreatment at the hands of her husband, her in-laws, police departments, lawyers, judges, political leaders, goons, social workers, media houses, and every bit is real. All these were incidents that I had read in papers, seen in the news, heard from near and dear ones. And then I weaved them into the texture of Meera’s life, in 'The Bridal Pyre: Nainam Dahati Pawakah'.

[envoke_twitter_link]Grab your copy of 'The Bridal Pyre: Nainam Dahati Pawakah' today to know how Meera fought back[/envoke_twitter_link], how she strived to bring justice to her side, or whether she got it at all. This is not a Bollywood movie where the end is always happy, this is not a Shakespearean play where the end is always tragic. 'The Bridal Pyre' is life, and what turns life will take, we can only guess.

'The Bridal Pyre' is available here.

The post Being A Woman Is Not Easy, Being A Woman In India Is Tougher appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By YKA Staff:

“Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

Travelling can be a great opportunity to open up your mind, and it gives you great life experiences. It gives you stories to tell and photographs to show. But planning for a trip can be a hassle, whether you’re traveling alone or with people, or if you’re intolerant to the noise of aeroplanes, or can’t sleep without listening to your favorite playlist. But technology comes to the rescue of everyone, including travelers.

Here are 10 hacks to your travel problems.

[caption id="attachment_54424" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Image source: Nerdgraph.com[/caption]

The post Love Travelling? 10 Innovative Travel Hacks To Solve Your Travel Woes appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Park Thaichon and Sara Quach:

Fast food giant McDonald’s has been under a cloud in recent years as its US customers turn to alternatives. In this “Fast food reinvented” series we explore what the sector is doing to keep customers hooked and sales rising.

While excess weight and obesity is a growing global concern, there has been more and more advertising and promotional effort encouraging the consumption of unhealthy food.

In many cases this marketing is targeted at children, and takes place online. In our recent study we investigated the impact of online marketing communications on children and their intention to consume unhealthy food. We found fast food ads on social networking sites can manipulate young audiences – their purchasing likelihood, their views of fast food and their eating habits.

The qualitative study included a sample of 40 Australian children who use social networking sites. Half (21) of the children were male and the average age was 14 (the youngest being 12 and the oldest 16). Their parents were also present during the interview, however they agreed not to intervene during the conversation.

A growing problem

The prevalence of excess weight and obesity among Australians has been growing for the past 30 years. Between 2011 and 2012, around 60% of Australian adults were classified as overweight, and more than 25% of these fell into the obese category. In 2013, more than 12 million, or three in five Australian adults, were overweight or obese. On top of that, one in four Australian children were overweight or obese. Excess weight and obesity is only beaten by smoking and high blood pressure as a contributor to a burden of diseases.

Despite this, the food industry is succeeding in using marketing communications to change attitudes, perceptions and perceived norms associated with unhealthy food.

Consumers are lured by surprisingly cheap deals, which are especially attractive to teenagers and young adults with low income. But sales promotions such as discounts and coupons often offer only short-term benefits to consumers and are usually not effective among middle-age adults.

However, if a promotion is offered for a long period of time (i.e. more than three months), it can actually influence customer habits, encouraging repeat purchases – for example, the $1 frozen Coke.

Similarly, sales promotions can make other brands be perceived as less attractive by customers after a period of time. For instance, the $1 frozen Coke campaigns by McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s affect the perception of frozen Coke in terms of monetary value. Many consumers become less willing to buy a frozen Coke that is more expensive than $1. The same can be said of $2 burgers or $5 pizzas.

The role of social networks

More than half (16 out of 30) of the [envoke_twitter_link]respondents admitted they tended to change their eating habits after repeatedly being exposed to advertisements[/envoke_twitter_link] on social networking sites.

“Yes, many people say that it is not good to eat fast food. I used to think so but not anymore. Look at their ads, they are colourful, many options and cheap.”

“I just cannot resist it… I had been looking at the ads day after day and I decided that I needed to try these”.

Interestingly, [envoke_twitter_link]fast food was associated with socialisation and fun among young consumers[/envoke_twitter_link].

“The ads make me feel like this is where we belong to. This is our lifestyle…where we hang out and can be ourselves.”

“This is about our culture, young, active and free. We are kids but also not kids. We are different.”

Peer pressure

Peer pressure is heavily related to eating habits, especially during puberty when there is usually a shift from home influence to group motivation. Teenagers and young adults in particular tend to choose a particular type of food under peer pressure.

More than 70% of teenagers will choose a food according to the preference of their friends. This means marketing communications promoting fast food consumption can create a snowball effect within this group of customers. For example, Jack, Sara and Park go out together. If Jack and Sara order Big Burgers with extra cheese, the likelihood that Park will order another Big Burger with extra cheese is approximately 75%. In contrast, only 2.7% of people aged over 40 choose fast food because of their peers.

It’s clear marketing efforts by fast food chains can promote unhealthy eating habits. Also, peer influence plays an important part in forming eating habits. This means the intervention of government and health organisations should concentrate on increasing customers’ attention to health issues, self-efficacy and perceived norms, and at the same time, lessening the influence of marketing efforts aimed at motivating unhealthy eating habits.

About the authors: Park Thaichon, Assistant Professor of Marketing, S P Jain School of Global Management and Sara Quach, PhD Student, Swinburne University of Technology

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

The post How Marketers Condition Us To Buy More Junk Food appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Anonymous:

At the age of 10, when I developed the first white patch on my body, [envoke_twitter_link]I wish I'd known that life with Vitiligo was never going to be easy[/envoke_twitter_link]. Vitiligo is a skin condition where absence of melanin cells causes white patches on the skin and can increase at an alarming rate. Those affected may end up with a few small patches, while for some it can spread across their entire body, followed up by people’s taunts, stares and questions for life.

[caption id="attachment_54650" align="aligncenter" width="800"] For representation only. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

Chances are, many of us are already familiar with Vitiligo or the white spot condition you may say. So what forced me to take up the issue and write about it here? We are all well-educated, but do we always act responsibly? No. Vitiligo undoubtedly has a social stigma attached to it. In India, it gets worse because of innumerable religious beliefs and myths. Every other person I meet has an acquaintance suffering from Vitiligo and suggests me to check with the doctor known to them. Any advice is welcome but what makes me sulk is the overwhelming concern expressed about my future, like trying to convince me to the point that living with Vitiligo is a shame.

For me, it started from my face. My father took me to the doctor who prescribed some incredibly strong steroid creams, and two days later my skin was burning so much that I could not even wash and wipe my face. I had to skip school for a few weeks. Then, my parents took me to another doctor. The scars cleared gradually and I was fine in a few months. Being young, I was not aware of Vitiligo myself. Everywhere, everybody made their own assumptions. Some thought it was contagious and were afraid to touch me, others thought I’d been burnt in a fire. When I turned 12, Vitiligo started spreading. For me, it always started with a tiny spot and dispersed slowly. Medicines worked and almost cured me except a few stubborn patches remained. Vitiligo is curable but temporarily. White patches disappear and re-appear. I went to several doctors and tried various treatments, but everything failed in curing it permanently. Because honestly, it has no permanent cure.

Things were moderate during my high school and college, for I had no prominent patches visible anymore and I had also learned the art of covering the stubborn ones. I never experienced name-calling. For that, I must be grateful, as not everyone is so fortunate. Though I have often faced silly comments, coming from even educated people. Sometimes we do it unknowingly and sometimes we do it for fun, without comprehending its impact on the other person.

[envoke_twitter_link]Having Vitiligo stopped me from expressing myself[/envoke_twitter_link]. I hated summer and wished it was December all year round so I didn’t feel so out of place. I’d wear anything that covered my skin as I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone catching a glimpse of my disease. My skin got worse near the end of college and beginning of office days. Stress is a contributing factor in making Vitiligo worse. I don’t recall going through a stressful period, but I recall watching as my skin went whiter over the course of six months. I decided to quit my job and give one shot at treatment by a new doctor. Results were good and recovery was better than the previous times.

Recently, Chantelle Winnie, who has a very prominent form of Vitiligo, made it on America’s Next Top Model. I was overwhelmed at seeing someone with Vitiligo being praised for her natural beauty. Aside from building awareness internationally, Chantelle became an inspiration and proven that those who are different are just as beautiful.

Everyone takes a journey in life and while times were hard, I wouldn’t change what I went through. I finally feel like I’ve reached the stage of acceptance and am more comfortable with who I am. If I were to speak to my 'younger self' now, I would say accept who you are and embrace what you were born with. See what you have as a blessing, there is a reason why you are unique and sometimes that makes for a slightly more interesting life! Don’t spend time worrying about those who try to make you feel inferior. People will stare and ask questions, but don’t feel as though you have something to hide. [envoke_twitter_link]It’s not about people accepting you, it’s about you accepting yourself first [/envoke_twitter_link]and once you do, you’ll walk with an air of confidence that tells the world that 'you just don’t care'.

The post When The First Patch Developed On My Body, I Wish I Knew That Life Wasn’t Going To Be Easy appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By YKA Staff:

Taking photos of food seems like a cakewalk, after all it's just food, isn't it? But, think again! [envoke_twitter_link]There are many technical aspects of food photography[/envoke_twitter_link] which if implemented, can make your photograph look absolutely, deliciously amazing. According to the Serious Eats Guide to Food Photography, "What separates magazine-worthy photos from their less impressive counterparts isn't a fancy camera or expensive equipment. It's an understanding of what it takes to compose an appealing image and the confidence to execute your vision." This understanding of good food photography can be acquired by following some simple steps, outlined in the infographic below:

The post Want To Be A Great Food Photographer? Quick Tips To Put You On The Right Track appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By YKA Staff:

Globalisation has led to increased mobility across borders. 2010 data suggests that India plays host to more than 2 lakh expatriates and the number keeps increasing.

India is also the largest contributor to expat population worldwide. Whether it’s people of other nationalities coming to India or Indians going abroad, having knowledge about the country’s culture is always a plus and a large part of a country’s tradition and culture is the religion it follows, in which funeral rites figure prominently.

This visual will be a guide for all those who are culturally uninitiated.

 

 

Source: visual.ly

The post The Final Goodbye: Diverse Ways Cultures Across The World Perform Funeral Rites appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Soumya Banerjee:

The CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) has recently declared dugongs to be among the five species on which special focus will be given. A species recovery plan is also being drafted to help increase their populations. These, and many more stringent measures, need to be implemented urgently before India loses her last few 'angels of the sea'.

[caption id="attachment_55004" align="aligncenter" width="736"] Image source: Pinterest.com[/caption]

A medium-sized marine mammal, which, at first glance, appears to resemble a hornless bull with flippers, the dugong is the only strictly herbivorous marine mammal in existence. The dugongs, and their relatives, the manatees, may even have been the inspiration behind the legend of the mermaid.

However, given the immense threats they face today, the dugongs may exist only in the forms of fables in the coming years, unless strict measures are taken to ensure their protection. As recent as March 2015, a male Dugong weighing 200 kg was found washed up on the beach of Maraikayarpattinam, Tamil Nadu.

Dugongs are found in warm coastal waters in the Indo-Pacific region. Their numbers are usually higher in wide and shallow protected bays and mangrove channels. They are remarkably long-lived, often attaining 70 years of age. They are usually solitary or found in pairs, though larger gatherings sometimes occur. Their diet consists mainly of seagrass, and they use their strong sense of smell to locate edible plants.

Dugongs have a relatively slow rate of reproduction, which, coupled with their dependence on seagrass, makes them an ecologically fragile species. This makes it even harder for them to recover from the brutal assault which man launches upon them each day.

A variety of factors are responsible for their endangerment. Possibly, the[envoke_twitter_link] biggest threat is the entanglement of dugongs in fishing nets[/envoke_twitter_link]. Gill netting and shark nets cause most deaths. They have also been hunted for millennia for their meat and oil. Environmental degradation brought about by marine pollution and the destruction of coastlines also destroys the seagrass meadows on which they depend on.

In India, [envoke_twitter_link]only about 250 dugongs remain, according to a ZSI survey in 2013[/envoke_twitter_link]. The 3 main habitats in Indian waters are:
a)Gulf of Mannar- 77-158 dugongs
b)Andamans-41-81 dugongs
c)Gulf of Kutch-10-15 dugongs

Extensive seagrass meadows are found only along the Gulf of Mannar. This population thus has the best long-term survival potential. However, they have historically been subjected to a lot of poaching by fishermen here, partly because of the mistaken belief that their meat acts as an aphrodisiac.

The protection of the dugong has been brought under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act and yet hardly ever imprisonment for poaching occurs. ZSI director K Venkataraman said that, "More cooperation among countries in the South Asian region is needed to protect them from extinction."

The post As Only 250 Survive, Who Is Going To Save These Angels Of The Sea? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Ekta Kapoor:

“It’s a simple number game I tell you, there are three of them but only you to protect her, so the wisest thing would be to back off and pretend nothing ever happened”.

When was the last time you decided to ignore a girl being cat called on a street because it wasn’t your business or she wasn’t someone you know? When was the last time you did not [envoke_twitter_link]stop someone from getting molested[/envoke_twitter_link] because you were too intimidated to speak up? It could have been someone you loved. It could have been you. Would you still rationalize it?

[caption id="attachment_55049" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Image source: Facebook.com[/caption]

It was this agitation of not having done enough that sparked a desire to create a novel approach to deal with the problem at hand. “On brainstorming we decided to take eve-teasing and sexual harassment in public places head on not only because there was a lot of passiveness associated with it but also because it was relatable to all of us. The quotidian nature of eve-teasing makes us susceptible to it- either as bystanders or as victims” quips in one of one of the five brains behind the campaign.

So what is this novel approach?

The [envoke_twitter_link]Taali Bajaao Campaign is an initiative to tackle passive bystander response[/envoke_twitter_link] to harassment. Started by Mugdha Jain, Ekta Kapoor, Hoshank Ailani, Ayush Bhattacharya and Akash Idnani of Shiv Nadar University, this campaign provides a fresh approach to tackling this recurrent problem.

“The intention was to come up with a non-violent approach to tell the harasser that his behaviour is unacceptable and that he should back off. We wanted a means to catch the crowd’s attention and their support, and the “taali” or clap was thought of as an action to warn the perpetrator. And thus, the Taali Bajaao Campaign was conceived”, says Mugdha. “One is quick to realize that such a campaign needs to get to as many people, one person clapping in a crowd hardly makes a difference,” quips Hoshank.

The campaign is online and targets youth from 18-25 years as they are highly likely to be bystanders in such situations. Social Media has been the best thing that has happened in terms of giving people of all ages, across countries, a platform to voice themselves. In a sea of social campaigns that feature in the media day in and day out, in a crowd where everybody wants to say something, how do you make sure your voice is heard? “To make the campaign quirky and a trend we started with dubsmashes to highlight the role of Bollywood in promoting eve teasing and sexist comments in one way or the other," explains Ayush. “It moved on to Terribly Tiny Tales- two liners that cleverly communicate a story. We used this idea to come up with the Taali Bajaao Tales, which is a quirky way of getting people to express their views on eve teasing in an impactful way. Posters and memes rounded up our online campaign content,” he adds. The team made use of the dramatics society in their university to put up a street play showcasing common ways a woman may get harassed and how the taali can be used to shame the perpetrator. They also had several group discussions at every point in their campaign to gauge the public’s mindset and track how effective the campaign was.

With a reach of more than 15,000 people in a matter of two weeks, this campaign has started gaining a lot of support from people and newspapers. What is it that these young people dream of achieving through the campaign? “Our dream is a simple one,” smiles Akash, "This initiative is a step in the direction of giving bystanders a voice so that when one person claps to make a difference, millions resound.”

The post Don’t Be A Passive Bystander When You Can Stop Molesters: Instead Of A Slap, Just Clap! appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By YKA Staff:

Digital India, the mega project of PM Modi, has been in the news again ever since he declared that he would be attending a Q&A session at the Facebook headquarter with Mark Zuckerberg. The project has a lot of takers in the Sillicon Valley, and why not.

China, with its 64 crores plus internet users is on a lock down from the rest of the virtual world. After China, India has the highest number of internet users and that’s when only a nominal portion of the population has access to the internet.

The leaders of the digital world in the west, in their unconditional support for the campaign, are being foresighted. Not only are they creating customers, they’re also making sure that those customers stay loyal only to them. If Internet.org is to be taken as an example, people who use internet.org as first time users might not know about the internet beyond it.

This infographic will reveal the quantum of business that Asia Inc can give to the rest of the world.

Via Visually.

The post As We Dream ‘Digital’, This Is How Much Business Asia Is Giving To The World appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Campus Watch:

Debates on reservation have been polarizing and controversial ever since the establishment of Mandal Commission under the Moraji Desai led Janta Party government in 1969. Recently, in the wake of a growing agitation by the Patel community to demand reservation in Gujarat, RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, called for setting up a 'non-political' committee to review the reservation policy in the country.

We asked students what they thought about the comment and the reservation policy, and here’s what they had to say:

1. Anand Singh, Banaras Hindu University:

Positive affirmative action for the underprivileged is something the framers of our Constitution had envisaged. Any attempt to tamper with the existing system of reservation will run detrimental to the spirit of our constitution. Mohan Bhagwat's pointed barbs against reservation must be seen as an exercise towards playing one caste group against the other lower castes. Coming as it is from the mouth of the Sarsanghchaalak, his comments are symptomatic of the deeper fractured ideology of the saffron outfit. Divisive tendencies must be fought head on, especially in troubled times like these.

2. Azra Qaisar, Delhi University:

Reservations were introduced as a temporary solution to the marginalisation of certain groups over centuries. It was a necessity, but its current use has made its existence questionable. Reservations should exist provided they cater to the ones that need them. Economic background must be considered if reservations are actually to help deserving people.

3. Sakshi Jain, Delhi University:

Accommodating multiplicity in a land without setting rigid boundaries has been the primary concern of our national policy makers. Reservation on the basis of caste has been a major step towards achieving the same. In effect, this has however been vexed. The conflict between merit and reservation, deprived and seemingly deprived makes this policy questionable. However, the statement of RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat to scrap this policy is not the ultimate resolution to the ambiguities of this system. [envoke_twitter_link]The present system of reservation might not be beneficial to the underprivileged in its true sense [/envoke_twitter_link]because of the numerous impediments in the execution of this policy, owing to our country’s diversity, review of this policy doesn’t seem to be a faultless resolution either.

4. Navneet Arora, Delhi University:

5. Shivani Chinmai, Mumbai University:

The fact that we base reservation on caste is the root of all problems, caste is subjective but economic status is pretty universal, this discrimination is also the cause of large scale disturbance in the country. If equality is the aim, people with low income are the ones should be the ones who should be granted this reservation, a poor person will be lagging behind in society irrespective of belonging to a particular caste or not. The reservation system is highly redundant (68 years is time enough to achieve equality, if that was the idea) and solely exists to bag votes, it's due time to bid farewell to caste based reservations.

6. Annesha Ghosh, Calcutta University:

Reservation should not be looked at as the only tool for empowering the marginalized, backward communities of the society. In the present scenario, it won’t be incorrect to suggest that factions of the upper castes are being discriminated against. Despite scoring substantially high, they’re often unable to secure a job or admission in colleges and universities due to the existing quota system. And, as the tragedy posits itself, the politicians have been capitalizing on this to divide the country even further. Thus, to set the ball rolling, reservation policies (barring those for the differently-abled) should be scrapped entirely. Merit should take precedence above everything else

7. Bhanvi Satija, Delhi University:

I am definitely not in favour of completely scrapping off the reservation system in the country. However, I do feel that it should be reviewed. I think there is an urgent need to devise a system in order to identify the 'creamy layer' of the various communities and castes that have already reaped the benefits of reservation for two or three generations, and start moving them out of the purview of the system – so that the affirmative action can actually reach the ones who are really in need today.

8. Aditi Priya, Delhi University:

A girl studying in one of the best arts college of India came to me and said- "Because of you people a Brahmin family has to sit on the road and sell vegetables, this is such a shame for the Brahmins." This was her reply when we were discussing reservation, and she got to know that I got admission in the college through ‘quota’. Why, unlike a group of people, others are not speaking against reservation? Maybe because they have seen that in government schools, upper caste teachers are reluctant to teach the children of lower caste or maybe they know how it feels when a 'liberal' friend comes and says that I don’t believe in reservation because I have always sympathized with ‘lower caste’ friends.

Take campus conversations to the next level. Become a YKA Campus Correspondent today! Sign up here. 

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

The post What Do The Youth Think: Does The Reservation Policy In India Need A Review? #StudentSpeak appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Tania Kar:

On the stormy evening of 24th September, a group of EFLUites patiently waited their turn to be heard, on Hasina Chowk. The football ground, next to it, a host for the Cricket Championship, was full of cheers and a huge crowd. The meeting was scheduled at six, but a late start to the cricket tournament inauguration pushed their program too by an hour. But they did not complain, waiting patiently, while holding posters that read, “Do not turn campuses into jails”, “UGC you are not our big brother”, “Safety not at the cost of freedom”, “Smile, you are on camera”, “Do not turn universities into police camps”. As the inauguration program ended, the crowd thinned out. Only a few joined the group in Hasina Chowk, in view of at least three CCTV cameras.

Mohammed Afzal, a PhD student of the Department of Cultural Studies addressed the gathering briefly and then amidst slogans, a copy of the UGC Guidelines On Safety Of Students On And Off Campuses Of Higher Educational Institutions published by the University Grants Commission was burnt. A cold stormy wind blew, foiling the attempts to light up a matchstick, almost replicating the attitude of the EFLU administration, that was suppressing the voice of the student community, before they finally managed to succeed with a lighter.

The preamble of the UGC which was published by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in April 2015, reads as follows: “University Grants Commission believes that a safe, secure and cohesive learning climate is an ineluctable precondition to quality education and research in HEIs. It should be the prime concern of educational administrators across the country to ensure that students are safeguarded against attacks, threats and accidents, both man-made and natural. With this in mind, the Commission has formulated guidelines on the ways in which the campuses of HEIs can be transformed into oasis of safety, security and study. All universities may make or amend their ordinances and other relevant statutory provisions accordingly to ensure that the directions contained in the guidelines are implemented in the best interests of students.”

The foremost question that arises has to be, why this sudden uproar about students’ safety? Is it that the environment in higher educational institutions, which are registered with UGC have suddenly become adverse for students? Who are the perpetrators? If[envoke_twitter_link]the UGC considers that the students’ safety is being compromised[/envoke_twitter_link], why is it that the students themselves are being put into prisons complete with barbed wires, police postings, constant surveillance and a biometric system? Who is this constant surveillance aimed at and why?

As the state observes, we must be administered- as we are a possible threat to its integrity and hence the need to administer or rather govern. Instead of excluding us, rusticating us, arresting us we are further being included within the system. Integrated with a greater force not through repressive action but voluntary consent! It is therefore not a scenario of forceful suppression but rather violence through inclusion: not just of the body but also through the subjectivation* of our minds. We shall participate in the surrendering of our liberty by being made to feel the lack of security, our incapability to deal with threat, and hence ask for the much-needed surveillance and security

Ideologically, there seems to be a problem as this directly concerns the freedom of the students in university campuses- the supposed Eden of free thought, speech, and expression. "The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way", said one of the most celebrated champions of liberty J. S. Mill. As he understood, freedom or liberty (he used both words to mean the same) can be of two types- negative and positive. The negative being the kind of freedom where you are free to choose any door to pass through, but only among a designated number of doors. Whereas positive freedom entails that you are free to go anywhere you want. Now the former also entails that people are unable to decide for themselves what is good for them and must thus be steered to ‘safety.' They should be directed, told at every step that this is for their good and also discourage individualistic thoughts. When this borders on coercion, the freedom of an individual is curtailed. In Mill’s words: “To coerce a man is to deprive him of freedom”. The positive kind of freedom asks- “What, or who, is the source of control or interference that can determine someone to do, or be, this rather than that?” The positive sense of liberty derives from the wish on the part of the individual to be a “subject, not an object; to be moved by reasons, by conscious purposes, which are my own, not by causes which affect me, as it were, from outside” and that is exactly what we should strive for as responsible and capable future citizens of this country.

Entering a university is officially the first step into your ‘adulthood’, where you not only must learn to nurture your academic intellect but to deal with ‘real-life-situations’ as well. We learn to stay away from our homes for the first time, deal with our own admission procedures for the first time, and also start taking active interest in things that directly concern us- all contribute towards making a responsible citizen. Thus it is imperative to ponder on the relevance of quarterly parents-teachers meet (PTM) which are supposed to be directed towards tackling the grievances and gaps in system, which in my opinion is a matter for the students to deal with.

Contrast this with the practical situation where [envoke_twitter_link]the EFLU administration refuses to have any dialogue with the students[/envoke_twitter_link], let alone addressing grievances. The administration seems to be growing hostile gradually, even on occasions unleashing police on unarmed and peaceful gatherings of students. On 20th August, students came together under the SFI-EFLU banner to make posters and a collage, and decided to conduct a solidarity gathering to create a platform for a discussion on the students' movements and issues at FTII, IIT Madras, Pondicherry University and all other universities.

[caption id="attachment_55182" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The poster being taken down immediately.[/caption]

On the list of invitees were Dr.G Vijay (Faculty, University of Hyderabad), Kota Ramesh (SFI Telangana State President), Nageshwar Rao (State Vice President), Anjaneyalu (University Convener) to give a talk, on these pertinent issues. But even before the event had begun, the posters were torn off, stating that no prior permission was obtained for the gathering. This was followed by the sudden arrival of a truckload of police. The talks were being held peacefully, at Sagar Square, inside the campus, when Chief Guest Dr. G. Vijay, was denied entry by the administration into the campus, without any apparent reason. The students, undeterred, continued the meeting in front of Gate No.2, outside campus premises. After the talk, the administration finally relented, granting Dr. Vijay entry. But the SFI State leaders who had earlier led the talks, were now denied entry and forcefully locked out. Dr. G.Vijay strongly condemned the brutal tactics employed by the EFLU Admin, to stifle all forms of dissent.

[caption id="attachment_55163" align="aligncenter" width="960"] The ensuing scuffle, where students and SFI leaders are manhandled[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_55180" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Talk continues at gate no.2[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_55181" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Instances of past police intervention on campus, photo from 2014[/caption]

A paranoia is gripping the EFLU administration, as it is gripping the administrators of our country- a paranoia of a terrorist attack, a protest. This paranoia then grips us, the students, too and we start feeling the need for being protected, we start accepting their terms as fear grasps us from within.

The divergent student of the university should not be penalized but rather normalized, should not be punished but rather disciplined! Hence the need to create a ‘learning climate’ where we will learn of our threats, feel threatened by the terrorist and the rapist and consent to our locking up in our prison house of words.

*the term subjectivation carries a paradox in itself. It denotes both- the becoming of the subject and the process of subjection- one inhabits the figure of autonomy only by becoming subjected to a power, a subjection that implies a radical dependency. For Foucault, this process of subjectivation takes place centrally through the body. In Discipline and Punish, the prisoner’s body not only appears as a sign of guilt and transgression, as an embodiment of prohibition, but also as a sanction of ritual of normalization. Judith Butler: 1997.

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The post An EFLU Hyderabad Student Asks: Why Is Imprisoning Students UGC’s Idea Of Safety? appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Anonymous:

Have you ever been woken up by a nightmare during exams where you see yourself helpless and unable to finish your paper? Or maybe you kept on sleeping and missed the train to reach the examination hall on time, or you just forgot that you had an exam? Well, those are nothing compared to real life nightmares that you get to see and experience while studying at the very famous Mumbai University (MU).

Along with the fear of exams comes the inevitable fear of the administrative problems of Mumbai University. Students of present and past batches have experienced some really bad situations while taking their university level exams and the procedures related to it, which don't come to light on many instances.

At the beginning of the year itself, you will see professors telling students to be careful while writing their papers, rather than telling them the syllabus first, because even professors are clueless of the myriad problems that might arise during and after an MU examination, and they cannot help their students. I want to highlight some eye-opening instances that will scare and alert anyone wanting to seek admission to Mumbai University.

1) What if you turn up at the examination center on time, finish your paper and anticipate that you will get at least more than the expected marks, but while looking for your results, your name has vanished! How would you feel? Well, MU will mark you absent and even fail you even if you have valid proof of being present while writing the paper and you will have to write your exams all over again and waste one year of your life writing exams which you have already written just because MU marked you absent!

2) There is no end to the long and never ending mental trauma that one has to go through while taking admission to a different college post studying at MU because they don't have the hard copy of the mark sheets ready even 10 months post declaration of results.

3) If you are planning to do a short-term course from MU, think twice, be wise! A topper of her respective course in my college still hasn't been provided with her passing certificate for the course, even after several threats and follow ups. Finally, after two years she has even given up the hope of getting it.

4) Another student, in a similar situation, had to do her Master's Degree all over again from another university because she did not have a valid proof of completion of the same and was denied jobs.

5) In yet another case, where a girl who was the topper in all 5 semesters in her 3 year BSc. course was shocked to see that she had failed in one subject in semester 6 while she got more than 60% out of 75 in all the other subjects. With this, her expectations and aspirations were broken. Not only did she have to write the exams all over again but also had to pay extra for the second attempt and the re-evaluation.

7) Here's the cherry on the cake. To top it all, I have seen administrative staff working on Windows 98 systems at MU and in some offices the work is done manually. In this hi-tech world, where everything can be done so easily with just a click, we still have people following the old school techniques of work at one of the best Universities in the country.

If you have all the time and money in the world (and patience), and if you are willing to waste an entire year of your life, just because a clerk in some office in the University of Mumbai couldn't do his job properly, or a computer couldn't record your name in the exam list, do enroll for a course at MU, once the pride of the country, now almost in shambles.

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The post A Mumbai Uni Student Reveals The Injustice That Is Putting Students’ Careers At Stake appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.

By Aamil Syed:

In January 1999, Graham Staines, a pastor from Australia and his sons Philip and Timothy, aged eight and ten were burnt alive in the forests of Manoharpur, a sleepy village of tribal Orissa. Their killer was Dara Singh, aided by a group of mindless marauders from the Bajrang Dal. The incident sparked major uproar and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee himself asked for the guilty to be brought to justice. The conviction was quick and brutal, a death sentence for Dara.

When the case reached the High Court, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. It seemed that the nation had finally come to its senses about capital punishment. Like Gladys Staines (Graham Staines's wife), who pardoned the killers, perhaps India's judiciary too had recognized that murder is not the answer to murder and that an eye for an eye is not justice. But, in January 2011, something happened that completely changed the way things were headed.

On the 21st of January 2011, the Supreme Court of India upheld this decision of the High Court. But it was more than just this; it seemed that the Supreme Court of India was announcing another verdict. It was posthumously sentencing somebody. Only when the judgement came out, did it become clear who-

"In the case on hand, though Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death while they were sleeping inside a station wagon at Manoharpur, the intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity,"

The Supreme Court stated in a way that Graham Staines was also partly responsible for the events on that fateful night of January 1999. And as if that weren't enough, the court admonished those who carry out conversions and held that even voluntary conversions were just as bad as the 'use of force', provocation, or incitement to interfere in someone's beliefs, or in other words, to hurt someone's religious sentiments.

Of course, the rest of the country wasn't sleeping and in the face of unprecedented criticism of its statements, the apex court, for the first time in history, expunged its comments. But by then, the damage was done and it was made clear to the people of the country, and to those who would eventually come to rule them, that the religion of the majority of Indians was not to be disturbed.

Now, in September 2015, we are finally able to see how that story has been taken forward. On 28 September in Dadri, a small village of Uttar Pradesh, a state still out of the clutches of the Sangh, a mob ransacked the house of a man 'suspected' of consuming beef. The mob, of course, was out for blood and was only satisfied when it killed Mohammad Akhlaq and beat his son, Danish, to within inches of death. Danish is still in a critical condition at the hospital.

Thankfully, we don't have to worry that our new PM will address this atrocity and call for swift justice like Atal Bihari Vajpayee did in 1999. And luckily for us, this time we won't have to wait for the Supreme court to tell us why Akhlaq was killed or to even surmise about the lesson that he was being taught by the faceless mob from the local Hindu temple. The police have, most efficiently, gathered up the piece of meat that caused the whole ruckus from the refrigerator at Akhlaq's house and have sent it for testing to find out if indeed it was beef.

Soon, the report will be out and the wonderful people of our country, especially the majority that believes in the sacredness of the cow, will finally know if Mohammad Akhlaq did consume beef or not.

But seriously, [envoke_twitter_link]whether or not he consumed beef, nobody can say that Akhlaq deserved to die[/envoke_twitter_link]. Then why is the police force probing the meat for even the slightest chance that it is beef, instead of bringing Akhlaq's killers to book? Do they want to transfer some of the blame on Akhlaq as well? Perhaps they want to say that this might not have happened if Akhlaq hadn't provoked the Hindus by eating the beef in the first place. After all, what's a police that doesn't blame the victim?

Union Minister Mahesh Sharma last described the lynching as an 'accident' and said that no 'communal colour' should be given to it. But this doesn't seem like a case of collateral damage in the war for dharma. It is a direct consequence of the exhortations of influential leaders who direct the mobs and openly call for a massacre on communal lines, and the sooner we accept this fact, the better.

As this slaughter continues to be carried out on increasingly minor pretexts, and as minorities are constantly reminded of their second class status in this great secular democracy, and dissenters are put behind bars or shot in the confines of their homes, Nitesh Noor Mohanty has written a stirring metaphorical piece on Facebook about the proliferation of fanaticism all over India. He said, "there will be many Godhras, discreetly organised, scattered across the map of this nation, planned & executed clinically as an unleashing of intolerance & fanaticism." And it seems like a prophecy of doom. But if we look closely, we will understand that it's not that there 'will be' many Godhras, there already 'are'.

The post Killed By Hindu Mobs, Shamed By The Govt: India Continues To Deprive Minorities Of Justice appeared first and originally on Youth Ki Awaaz.