Objectification of Women through Item Songs

Objectification of women is quite self-explanatory, is it not? In a very simple term, it explains how women are treated as objects rather than breathing, living human beings. This subject has been discussed before, article have been written on the same, petition has been filled for the same. However, I sit to write about it again, for when I discussed about this to an acquaintance, I was asked why am I so hung up on these almost feminist issues, why not I write about ‘pressing issues’ such as poverty and other such issues. I agree that these are important issues but the subject in hand is no less important. The fact that people consider it to be of less importance is really disturbing and bothersome How are we to bring a change when we don’t deem it significant enough to look after.

For a very long time, women have been referred to as ‘weaker sex’, a source of entertainment. This notion has only been promoted in various ways. Bollywood movies have been a very strong medium for the same. The article throws light on one of the aspects in Bollywood movies which in not-so-subtle ways objectify women – ‘Item Songs’. Interestingly, the term ‘item’ refers only to women, specifically very curvaceous women. Moreover, the ‘songs’, the lyrical content of all these item songs unabashedly objectify women. Let’s take for instance, ‘tandoori chicken’ (Fevicol), ‘Chikni Chameli’; ‘Ab Karunga tere saath Gandi Baat’. Oh! The list is endless. The new so called pop songs are not giving it a break. What do songs like ‘Genda Phool’; ‘Chocolate’ among many others are trying to portray?

Yes! Entertainment is always welcomed but not at the cost of women being objectified, being compared to all the objects that one can think of. It affects the mindset of people; it adds to the not so progressive mindset. It in a way says that ‘it is okay if we refer women as such, she has no complaints, look at the way she smiles among all the leering, lustful, predatory eyes.’ However, we all know that it is not okay. In any given real-life situations, no one would love the idea of being cat-called, being called names or whatsoever. Media has somehow come dictate the ways people think, their perspective, their actions. If people can enjoy the actors and actresses enjoying all these in a ‘T.V. screen’, who says it won’t be enjoyable outside the screen, right!

We need to realize that this is unacceptable, not everyone way of entertainment is ‘not’ harmful. The portrait of women as being skinny has somehow fed into the mind of every other person that only acceptable body-shape is being skinny, lean and not otherwise. In other words, body-shaming becomes prominent.

It is important for such discussion to take place more, for more involvement of people in this direction, for raising voice. Moreover, as Sabhana Azmi suggested that it is important for actresses to have a say in the lyrical content. All such lyrics are written by a man – describing a woman through a male gaze. It is very disturbing that people with mighty pen in their swords would resort to writing such lines which can influence a lot of audience. Not one person is to blame, the mind-set of people will take years to change, you cannot expect women to carry knife while always moving around. However, it somewhere needs to start. A little initiative needs to be taken. Somewhere, someone. A conversation about this cannot be ignored. Media can always be important instrument in bringing the wind of change.

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Bio-diversity and climate change (Nature’s cries for assistance)

Bio diversity is the biological variability of life on earth. It is the variation of animal, plants, fungi and microorganisms like bacteria. Biodiversity is a variation in the genetic, species, and ecosystem level. Terrestrial biodiversity is usually greater near to the equator. Biodiversity is not equally distributed on earth. There are only 10% of tropical evergreen forests on earth but they contain about 90% of world species. Marine Biodiversity is greater is usually higher along the coast in western pacific where the sea temperature is highest. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots and has been increasing through time. Biodiversity supports everything in nature that we need to survive: food, clean water, medicine, and shelter.

But as people put expanding weight on the planet, utilizing and devouring more assets than ever some time recently, we hazard disquieting the adjust of biological systems and losing biodiversity. Quick natural changes regularly cause mass terminations. More than 99.9 percent of all species that ever lived on Soil, producing to over five billion species, are evaluated to be terminated. In 2006, numerous species were formally classified as uncommon or imperiled or undermined; in addition, researchers have assessed that millions more species are at chance which have not been formally recognized. Approximately 40 percent of the 40,177 species surveyed utilizing the IUCN Ruddy List criteria are presently recorded as undermined with extinction—a add up to of 16,119.

The factors affecting the biodiversity are Residential & commercial development, Farming activities, Energy production & mining, Transportation & service corridors and human activities. Pollution is an another major cause of loss of biodiversity causing habitat destruction. Territory devastation has played a key part in terminations, particularly in connection to tropical woodland pulverization. Components contributing to living space misfortune incorporate: overconsumption, overpopulation, arrive utilize alter, deforestation, contamination (discuss contamination, water contamination, soil defilement) and worldwide warming or climate alter.

Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature and normal climate designs in short. Climate alter might allude to a specific area or the planet as a entire. Climate alter may cause climate designs to be less unsurprising. These unforeseen climate designs can make it troublesome to preserve and develop crops in districts that depend on cultivating since anticipated temperature and rainfall levels can now not be depended on. Climate alter has too been associated with other harming climate occasions such as more visit and more seriously tropical storms, surges, deluges, and winter storms.

Effects of climate change are Hotter temperatures Nearly all land areas are seeing more hot days and heat waves; 2020 was one of the hottest years on record. Higher temperatures increase heat-related illnesses and can make it more difficult to work and move around. Wildfires start more easily and spread more rapidly when conditions are hotter. More extreme storms Changes in temperature cause changes in precipitation. This comes about in more extreme and visit storms. They cause flooding and avalanches, pulverizing homes and communities, and costing billions of dollars. Many more effects like Droughts, Rise in the level of oceans, shortage of food and more health problems.

Securing biodiversity could be a exceptionally complex errand since most of human’s activities have a negative impact on biological systems by overexploiting them. For occurrence, human exercises create contamination that influences living species. Deforestation crushes the living space of numerous animals, reptiles, and plants. Limiting deforestation Reducing the artificialization of natural environments and preserve natural areas as much as possible Reduce air pollution (by limiting our use of transport and our energy consumption, by switching to renewable energies) Fighting global warming by creating regulations for activities that contribute to the greenhouse effect. Making changes in the way industrial agriculture works and using more agroecology methods.

Globalization and Rural Areas

Globalization is not a foreign concept to many – the term might be as we proceed to the interior. Its effects have been too much and many, touching every spectrum of life to be easily ignored. It can never be not given the time of the day when it has so successfully managed to touch every aspect of life. Its effect as we al know has been positive and negative, just like the two sides of a coin. Often cited to be double-edged sword, it has managed to flourish life for some while disrupt it for some. Bringing and making everything come out to be in open, liberalized, interlinked, interdependent, it has created chaos for beings who couldn’t grasp the complexities of apparently simple notion.

Rural areas with its close-knitted community, spatially located has too not been spared, not any of us expected. Rural development and sustenance have always been necessary for the sprouting and survival of urban areas. How would have urban areas survived if it not were for surplus of agriculture among many other reasons?! However, when we think of a backward area, rural areas would come to our mind if not immediately. It could not act keep up with the pace of development or it might have been neglected in some ways or others.

When Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization reforms were taken up in India, it did allow the country to let its fortunes grow but the negative impact cannot be ignored. The article takes up the case of rural areas and how it has been impacted on the negative side. It does not take up the analysis of data given the time crunch but throws a light on the subject. One of the many effects has been the draining of human resources – sort of every industrial model predicted. With industries coming up attracting the labor for the same. Abundance of labor with just minimum wage served as a profitable interest for the industrialist. However, it led to the rural areas filled with old age people capable of doing only minimum work. With technology coming up requiring more skilled laborers, unemployment is only rising. The lack of proper skills has also compelled the concentration of laborers in the field (disguise unemployment). A viscous cycle has been created, somehow and poverty could never actually leave. Although, development has taken place, reforms have been made in terms of basic needs, imparting training and education, a lot still need to be done. There has been a difference, a very bold line created because of the cultural difference. Though the interlinkages and interdependence has led the spread of ideas, it has also created some sort of animosity among the community towards urban dwellers. One of the reasons can be the exploitation – low wages, some unfair action taken up by the middleman, less profitable trades and the obvious, the viscous cycle of debts, they are unable to escape.

Steps have been taken on the part of government to bring in the development in rural areas. Focus should also be thrown in preserving the culture of the same, creation of jobs in the same heritage, promotion of cottage industries, more push to the handicrafts, encouraging the participation of communities in decision making among many.

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ECO FEMINISM IN INDIAN CONTEXT

According to Merriam-Webster, ecofeminism is a movement or a theory that applies feminist principles and ideas to ecological issues. This term was first coined by a French feminist, Francoise d’Eaubonne in her book “Le Feminisme ou la Mort” (Feminism or Death). She raised the point that patriarchy is the root cause of all ecological crisis – men’s control over women and nature have led to overpopulation and overexploitation of nature respectively. When we talk about the environmental disaster that’s taking place, the role of gender about how we can move forward comes into play.

As United Nations Environment Programme puts it, “Around the world, environmental conditions impact the lives of women and men in different ways as a result of existing inequalities. Gender roles often create differences in the ways men and women act in relation to the environment and in the ways men and women are enabled and prevented from acting as agents of environmental change”; and here comes the concept of ecofeminism.

In India, ecofeminist Vandana Shiva is the pioneer who prepared the ground for ecofeminism with a strong belief that women have always been the key to solve various societal problems and environmental problems are one of them. By highlighting their presence in the Indian literature, the nature and form of ecofeminism in India can be assessed. Literature in which the concept of ecofeminism has been taken into account ranges from early ecofeminism to the recent or the urbanized one such as ‘Nectar in a Sieve’ (1954) by Kamala Markandya, ‘Fire on the Mountain’ (1977) by Anita Desai, ‘A Riversutra’ (1993) by Gita Mehta, ‘The God of Small Things’ (1997) and ‘An Atlas of Impossible Longing’ (2008) by Arundhati Roy and ‘Monkey-Man’ (2010) by Usha K.R.

Many female Indian novelists not only explore the subjectivity that is embedded in the relationship of women and the patriarchal society but also make several social issues as the key subjects. Many of the works from twentieth century of such novelists have been regarded as effective mediums of ‘modernism and feminism’. With Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai getting hold of Booker Prizes, works of Indian women novelists have been highlighted. Indian women’s fiction on the relationship between women and the environment has added to the theory and development of ecofeminism in India.

In the West, there are large bodies of literary accounts that have analyzed ecofeminism in different ideological terms but in India, the struggle to save environment went on for long even before it was accounted in the West. It was Vandana Shiva who brought ecofeminism movements to the forefront in India with her active involvement in the Chipko Movement- wherein women wrapped themselves around trees to prevent contractors from felling them off- as a young woman. The struggle to protect the environment is believed to be the same across all communities in India but we would be at a loss in our thinking if we ignore the fact that protests against environmental damage and questions of survival and subsistence are interlinked deeply with the axiom of caste, class and gender issues. Vandana Shiva, the pioneer in this field, critiques that modern technology which has actually reinforced the patriarchal system and violence perpetuates it towards women and nature. According to her, switching to such a lifestyle is deviating us from the traditional lifestyle which promotes human-environment balance ‘prakriti’. Under the influence and grab of these new developments, nature has been mercilessly exploited and feminine principles in terms of the environment are no longer considered for creativity and sanctity but merely to be passive resources. Thus, though women’s knowledge of dependence on nature for subsistence has been dissipated and marginalized under the grab of modern science, she strongly believes that third world women have the power within them for causing a change. In this regard, we can cite the example of ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’ in which the active participation of Medha Patkar and Arundhati Roy helped the movement gain momentum.

The issue of sustainable development to protect the environment from degrading was raised in Conference on Environment and development at Stockholm in 1974 for the first time. If we turn the pages of history, we will find instances which prove that women are better connected with nature. Since time immemorial, they have been responsible to look after households and prepare basic needs for survival and thus, are better connected to nature.

Women’s interaction and relationship with nature must be located within the material reality of caste, class and gender. Women are the victims of environmental disaster but they can also be very effective agents of environmental regeneration – as is clearly evident by the success of the Chipko Movement. The need of the hour is to mobilise them into a proper channel and to give ecofeminism a proper voice and a way so that it does not turn into a superficial shout. There is also a need to abolish the class and caste basis for an effective collective movement in India. The adverse class-caste effects on women’s relationship with nature are reflected in the erosion of indigeneous knowledge and livelihood strategies on which poor, rural women are dependent. Thus, there is a need for ecofeminism in India to strengthen itself in the face of different barriers and be more than a superficial shout.

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GANDHI’S GOAL-SHANTI SENA

SHANTI SENA

* SHANTI SENA is a word derived from Sanskrit.

* SHANTI means peace and SENA Means army.

* SHANTI SENA is also called as peace army.

MAIN GOALS OF SHANTI SENA:

*. Service to peoples as a volunteer at any time.

*. Give to a cause close to your heart.

*. Most important goal is to bring the non-violence.

*. No religion diverse all religions must get equal rights and respect.

QUOTES BY PEACE ARMY:-

“THE GREAT GOOD IS WHAT WE DO FOR ONE ANOTHER”.

” TREES NEED FOR SEED PEOPLE NEED FOR SHANTI SENA”.

NON – VIOLENT LIFE :-

* Non violent is a personal practice to not make harm to others.

* Gandhi introduced the concept of ahimsa ( Non-violence).

*. Non violence is powerful tool for the social protest.

*. To create non violent children.It is crucial to maintain the peaceful environment.

*. It is the active out pouring of one’s whole being of another.

*. Non violence love is active not passive.

IMPORTANT OF NON VIOLENT COMMUNICATION IN Society:-

* Non violent will bring peace among the people.

* Non violent communication help us to express our feelings.

* Non violent communication means complete lack of violence in the way we communicate with others.

* To respect our people.

MAIN COMPONENTS OF NON VIOLENT COMMUNICATION:-

* Observation.

* Feelings.

* Needs.

* Requests.

SHANTI SENA:-

* SHANTI SENA makes love and peace to the people.

* SHANTI SENA brings non violence to the people.

* SHANTI SENA is not only to maintain peace also good relationship.

* SHANTI SENA is the non weapon war of peace.

* If one should have shanti sena he should ignore annoyance.

* SHANTI SENA avoid us from the jealous and competition with the people.

* SHANTI SENA is one of the fundamental peace policy of people.

” soldiers army save country

Peace army save courtesy”.

Child Marriages in India – Two Steps Backward!

It is in common knowledge that the legal age of marriage for girls is 18 years and 21 years for boys. However, social factors and circumstances, age-old prejudices cloud the judgement – leading to child marriage as a solution to one thing or other. Child marriages are not confined to a single country but happens across the world – barring the girls from being empowered and at times, the boys too. Keeping this in mind, the Sustainable Development Goal 5, which focuses on ‘Gender Equality’ has set a target to stop child marriages entirely by 2030.

According to UNICEF report, about one in three of the world’s child brides live in India and about 102 million were married before turning 15 and were pregnant even before reaching adolescents. Among the states in India, 36 billion child brides have been reported to be in Uttar Pradesh. Other states with large population of child brides are Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Among the Southern states, Andhra Pradesh with 13 million tops the list followed by Tamil Nadu with 11 million. It has also been reported that about 60 % of the child brides who were married before turning 15 went through pregnancy before completing the adolescent period. Whereas those married after the age of 15 but before age 18, about 20% of them went through pregnancy before completing adolescent period. Those married before turning 15 tend to contribute to larger families. During the trying COVID-19 times when the entire focus of the world was on healthcare system, the child marriages saw a spike. United Nations Population Fund has estimated that COVID-19 will result in 13 million additional child marriages globally. Women Development and Child Welfare, India has reported that child marriages saw a rise of 27%. While rural areas are the hub of reports against child marriages, interestingly, “more than 25 percentage of child marriages in 2011 happened in urban districts. In other words, one out of five girls aged between 10-17 was married in urban districts in the ear 2011”, IANS reports (yourstory, 2017).

Even with the coming of Child Marriage Prevention Act, 2006, one of the reasons for its so not grand success can be the poor implementation and also the fact that people always find ways to try and tamper with the acts and laws. What actually force them to do so? What actually compels them to do – send off their buds away, forcing them to marriage? One of the reasons is being orphaned. COVID-19 has taken lives of many people, parents of many rendering the children orphan (Jejeebhoy, 2021). The lack of parents or unwilling relatives to take care of the orphaned, thus marriage. Financial constraints are another compelling factor. Families tend to marry all the girls together (if there is more than one girl and the family is drowning in poverty) in a single place to save money. It is sort of passing off the so-called burden.

It is important to bring back the focus of the world to the atrocities happening. While there are cases where girls have escaped, seeking help and prevention of child marriage, there are still alarming cases of ‘being stuck’ in the unlawful marriage. At this point of time, youth volunteers can be a powerful force. Bringing in more volunteers to spread awareness as well as for on ground action to prevent marriages from happening can be a helpful approach. The schemes of the government seem to fail to trickle down, more maybe because of the lack of effort in the lower vertical ladder. Bringing in the community in action can help to keep in check the local government and vice-versa.

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Things to do after BA in English Literature

BA in English Literature is an undergraduate course that is opted for following the completion of the 10+2 formal schooling. Do you have a knack for analysing poetry or writing one? Are you keen about learning the history and evolution of different forms of arts and literature? Then a BA in English Literature was an ideal choice for your graduation. Many great inventions today across different fields such as astronomy, engineering and medicine are influenced by ancient literature and several art forms.

For example, Nicolaus Copernicus’ book “The revolutions of the celestial spheres” popularised the heliocentric theory that proposed the sun as the centre of the universe. With the majority of students opting for medical, engineering or legal degrees, Bachelor of Arts as a degree course is often undermined. There are a lot of common misconceptions and stigmas surrounding this graduation course.

Students studying BA in English Literature are assumed to lackluster in studies.
It is a course often idealised as suitable for women.
Students opting for BA in English LIterature can only become a teacher or professor.

Many students graduate in English Literature as they are passionate about what the course has to offer. Although women are the majority among English Literature graduates, Men also specialise in this field and go on to pursue post graduation alongside women.

As we have debunked some of the misconceptions and stigmas surrounding BA in English Literature, let us look at the doors of opportunities this course leads us to.

Courses to take up after BA In English Literature

BA in English Literature is a three year graduation course that familiarises you with the evolution of English language and its literature through plays, different forms of poems, novels and theatre. Its curriculum consists of literary analysis, literary criticism and communication skills. Graduating in English Literature qualifies you for several job opportunities and higher studies.

For further specialisation or better job opportunities, doing a Masters course following BA in English Literature might be an ideal choice.

Here are the following courses you can consider following your graduation in English Literature.

Master of Arts in Communication

MA in Communication is a postgraduate program for the duration of 2 years which equips students with information regarding transmitting messages and principles of communication.

This masters course prepares its candidates for professions such as film directors, producers, screenwriters, journalists, public relations officers, and other professional careers.

Eligibility

Minimum requirement for admission to MA in Communication is a Bachelor’s degree in any stream from a recognized university.
Students must have secured 50% in their bachelor’s degree course.
Candidates may be required to pass entrance exams conducted by specific colleges or universities.

Employment Opportunities

Choosing MA in Communication following BA in English Literature can set you up for the following employment roles.

Television or Film Director
Content Writer
Event Management
Digital Marketing Expert
Journalist
Public Relations Professionals

Master of Arts in Sociology

MA in Sociology is a postgraduate program like MA in Communication. Students keen about social studies, politics and economics can pursue this masters course following BA in English Literature. The MA Sociology curriculum consists of the study of religion and society, political society, Indian society, economy and society, social development, and research in sociology.

Eligibility

Interested candidates must be graduated in any stream of education from a reputed university.
Candidates must have scored a minimum of 50% in the undergraduate level.
Some colleges expect students to be a graduate in psychology while the others accept candidates across different streams.
Colleges conduct entrance exams that need to be cleared by the admission seeking candidates.

Employment Opportunities

MA in Sociology opens doors to an expansive range of career opportunities after your graduation in English Literature. Following are some of the job profiles that might get you interested.

Counselors
PR Executives
Administrators
Educators
Sociologist
Researcher

Master of Arts in English Literature

Nothing seems more appropriate than studying for MA in English Literature post your graduation from BA in English Literature. This post graduation course in English Literature is the study of ancient and modern English literature, consisting of poetry, drama and fiction. Literature in the English language is not only written by English authors from England but also writers from across the world.

Post graduation in English Literature sets you up for job profiles such as a teacher or a journalist. Candidates interested in writing and translating for agencies can also benefit from this masters course.

Eligibility

Already being a graduate in English Literature, one needs to make sure that he or she has earned upto 50% marks to be qualified for admission.
Your graduation course should be from a recognized university.
Admissions can be provided on both merit basis as well as clearance of entrance exams.

Employment Opportunities

Upon completion of your post graduation course, you will be qualified for the following job profiles.

English Language Specialist
Translator / Interpreter
English Teacher
English Editor
Junior Parliamentary Reporter

Bachelor of Law (LLB)

Bachelor of Law is a popular choice for higher studies among graduates of English Literature. A degree in LLB familiarises students with environmental law, consumer protection act, arbitration, and insurance law including others. Following the completion of Bachelor in Law, candidates can opt to study LLM (Masters of Law) for further specialisation, practice law after registering with certain agencies or take up careers as legal professionals in public or private sectors.

Eligibility

Students aspiring to study Bachelor of Law must have graduated from a recognized university with an aggregate of 45% in any stream.
Selection for the course is based on the results from entrance exams such as SLAT, CUET, and CLAT.

Employment Opportunities

Careers after a Bachelor of Law are not confined to courtroom duties involving defending clients. Law graduates today have scope for job profiles in corporate firms, legal agencies, IT firms, and administrative services. Following are some of the job profiles mentioned below.

HR Manager
Legal Advisor
Lawyer
Attorney
Legal Manager

Bachelor of Education

Graduates who want to begin a career in the field of teaching can further study Bachelor of Education. This post graduation course acquaints the candidates with different learning methods and Pedagogy of a school subject. The course lasts for a duration of 3 to 4 years.

After the completion of B.Ed, clearing aptitude tests such as TET and CTET will qualify you for teaching in primary and secondary schools.

Eligibility

A bachelor’s degree from a recognized university with 50% aggregate marks.
A master’s degree from a recognized university with 50% aggregate marks.
Aspirants for B.Ed must be at least 21 years old, irrespective of their graduation or post graduation.

Job Profiles

Job profiles for B.Ed graduates are usually related to the field of teaching. One can become a teacher with specialisation in a particular subject or head teacher in a primary or secondary school.

Happy Learning!

References

Vinayak Kashyap, mycourseguru.in/courses after ba english/

Team Careers360 | Updated on Sep 29, 2021 – 3:32 p.m. IST career360.com/10 best career options to progress with after llb degree/

India and Quality Education – SDG 4

Education is an integral part for the mental development of a human being. Not just education on paper but ‘Quality Education’ which in turn allows the beings to add to the well-being of themselves as well as others without comprising anyone’s needs. Given the importance of quality education in ensuring sustainable growth of the world, one of the sustainable development goals is “Ensure Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education and Promote Lifelong Learning Opportunities for All” (SDG 4).

Around 11 indicators have been decided by UNDP to ensure Quality Education across countries, which are:

Free Primary and Secondary Education
Equal Access to Quality Pre-Primary Education
Equal Access to Affordable Technical, Vocational and Higher Education
Increase the number of people with relevant skills for financial success
Eliminate all discrimination in education
Universal literacy and numeracy
Education for sustainable development and global citizenship
Build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools – in terms of electricity, toilets (including gender neutral toilets), apt infrastructure for disables, gender inclusive.
Expand higher education scholarships for developing countries – by ensuring the sufficient volume of ‘Official Development Assistance’ flows for scholarships.
Increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing schools
Custodian agencies such as UNDP

The article attempts to throw light on the performance of India in the sphere of Education based on NSSO Education data. It is with no doubt that India has made great strides in this particular aspect but the challenges are always present – which will be taken up in the later section of the article.

As per the data, in 2014, total urban literacy rate stood at 86% (male: 91%; female: 81%) while total rural literacy rate was 71% (male: 80%; female: 61%). The difference between rural and urban male and female literacy rate is quite large. The reasons among many can be lack of initiatives; income-deficit; ingrained favoritism; lack of safe and inclusive schooling etc.

To better understand the Gender-gap/parity, data on Gender-Parity Index (GPI) based on Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER). It has been defined as “the ratio of GER of female students enrolled at Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Levels of education to the corresponding ratio of male students at that level” (ESAG, 2018). During 2015-16, the gender parity stood at 1.03 (Primary); 1.05 (Elementary); 1.01 (Senior-Secondary) to 0.92 (Higher Education). While up to +2 level, gender parity favors females but when it comes to higher education, it favors males. Interestingly, if we focus on the annual dropout rate in school education, 2014-15, it will come to notice that boys dropout percentage is higher in secondary (17.21%) than girls (16.88%).

To get a better grasp of gender equation, the article looks into the teaching section. The data for percentage of teachers who are females, 2014 speaks that the percentage is less than 50 at all levels – with dropping percentage as we move from Primary (49.49%), Secondary (43.21%) to Tertiary (39.03%).

Evaluation of reasons for dropout among both males and females as per NSSO brings out – for males, engagement in economic activities has been vetoed as the major reason while for females, reasons such as engagement in domestic activities followed by marriage stand out. The distance between home and school has also been one of the reasons of dropout among females.

Another set of data released by UNESCO as part of the realization of SDG 4 – ‘State of the Education Report: No Teacher, No Class’ for India, 2021 can be used as reference to right the wrongs, fill in the holes in the education scenario of the country. The report points out that there is shortage of 11.6 lakh teachers and about 1.2 lakh are single-teacher school, with 89% being in rural areas. However, in the private sector, the pupil teacher ratio increased from 21% in 2013-14 to 35% in 2018-19. With variation among states, the national average for percentage of females employed stands at 50.

The pandemic has only thrown obstacles testing the efficiency of the country in this sphere. As the world and its works shifted online, this country and sector did too. The shifting to online classes has led to many dropouts, leading to a break in the education of many pupils. When it comes to teaching, the country has faced certain inadequacy in the percentage of trained government school teacher – to use and teach using electronical devises. The Hindu (2021) reports that only 15% of government school teachers were trained and about 31% in private school.

However, when the world was still in offline mode and so the sector – various government schemes had benefitted the children. In this era of everything being online – government need to come up with new schemes focusing towards digital India, co-operating with various grassroot levels can be quite helpful in percolating the benefits to lower levels.

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Social Evils that prevail in India

India is a country which is known for its diverse heritage and mesmerizing culture. However, it also has some unavoidable rigid belief systems or evils which, if not reformed, can be really harmful for the Indian society. Such social evils can also be harmful for the growth and progress of the society.

Social evils can be defined as the toxic beliefs due to which the societal progress is hindered. Such evils can be born out of sheer ignorance or blind faith in religion or culture or both. These evils are not only harmful for the believers themselves but for the society as a whole.

There have been several personalities who, in order to bring reforms in the society, tackled and attempted to remove the practices of some rigid belief systems which, in turn, brought reforms in the society.

Here are some evils that either prevailed or still prevail in India due to the stiff nature of the society:

The Caste system:

The caste system has its roots in the ancient Indian society where the common folks were divided into four categories on the basis of their skills and abilities. Those categories consisted of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.

But as the time passed, this system became so rigid that the people belonging to the higher castes were seen as superior to those of the lower castes. Brahmins were known to be next to God and were respected by almost everybody. On the other hand, the Shudras were discriminated and were considered as ‘Untouchables’. Although the Indian Constitution has outlawed the practice of Untouchability, it still exists in some parts of the Indian Society.

The Dowry system:

The word ‘dowry’ means payment (of property or money) from the bride’s parents to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. This stems from the belief that a daughter is a liability for her parents and for her bright future she has to be married off to a decent groom. In order to get a good marriage prospect, the bride’s family starts saving money as soon as the daughter is born. This puts an unimaginable of amount of burden on the bride’s family.

This system has also made many Indian women victims of the atrocious crimes by the groom and his family. There have been many cases where crimes against women were committed by their husbands or their in-laws. In such cases, women had to go through unimaginable physical and emotional abuse.

Although we have laws in the constitution against the practice of the Dowry System, it is still practised in some of India. The government is taking measures to eradicate this system by bringing in policies to educate and the girls and parents of the country. They have also started schemes to aware the parents about the negative outcomes of the Dowry system.

Female Infanticide:

Female infanticide is the intentional and deliberate killing of a baby girl once she is born due to the preference for a baby boy. Even though this is an illegal practice, people in some parts of India still practice it. According to a census in 2001, there are only 933 females to every 1000 men. Another census in the year 2011 showed a decline in the Child Sex Ratio (CSR) where there were only 918 females to every 1000 men.

Female infanticide is more prevalent than male infanticide in south Asian countries like India and China due to cultural reasons. In the Indian Society, some families kill their new born daughters to avoid the burden of paying Dowry to the groom or his family. For families with several daughters, it can be a huge financial burden and hence, killing the baby girl seems like an easier option to them.

The Indian government has tried to take several initiatives to tackle and eradicate this issue. In several Indian states, the government took the responsibility of educating the girl child which, in turn, freed the parents from their financial burden.

These are some of the dreadful evils in the Indian society which need to be tackled and solved so that a better and more reformed society can be created. However, there are more such evils like Poverty, superstitions and corruption. These issues have become pretty common in the Indian Society.

With the years passing by, these issues have risen instead of coming to an end. Therefore, proper action must be taken by the government and the society to change the mindset of the existing society.

Reflecting on a quote

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

If we turn the pages of history it will be vivid that the root of every revolution – be it French Revolution or India’s struggle for freedom – lies in the vision that was bestowed on the leaders through education. Raja Rammohan Roy, known as the Father of Modern India was one of the pioneers of socio-religious movements in 19^th Century. Having been educated in modern sciences, literature, he chose the path of modernization and not the westernisation of natives. B.R Ambedkar was not just bluffing or rambling around when he wanted people belonging to the so-called, “lower castes” to be educated which would lead to their ultimate emancipation. Mahatma Gandhi who led many mass movements is the best manifestation of how powerful this weapon is!

Now, let’s not confuse between a literate and an educated one, doing so will make you look so not educated and so literate! Back then in the 19^th Century, many elite and middle class were literate but only educated visionaries took a stand for what they thought would lead to the ultimate well-being of the people – be it Dayanand Saraswati’s “Back to Vedas” or Narayan Guru’s effort towards the upliftment of the lower sections of society or even Greta Thunberg’s “Friday for Future.”

The youth anywhere have that caged, powerful energy within them and the lack of proper channelization of energy is the sole reason for high crime rates, for escalating crisis in the world. If only it was imparted education on how to put to use that powerful flow of energy we wouldn’t have to read about heinous crimes, about devastating effect of environmental degradation, about all those taboos prevailing in the society taking its toll on people’s lives every day.

The reason that we are in the midst of such a grave crisis, which seems like every good thing is retreating from our life, from our world is because the ones who are literate did not actually turn out to be educated. They have actually let everything slide away, being so keen on getting a degree, a job in this ever-competitive world and meeting their aspirations; but these aspirations might turn out to be futile in the long run if the knowledge we possess has never been used to bring a change in ourselves nor in others while the world still continues to wait for someone to come to its rescue. It’s time that we become that “someone”.

It’s high time that we use education, the weapon that we possess to fight against the evils and to change the mind-set of people. It is not a work that would be done overnight like an assignment but it will be a long one which might go on for years. However, the important concern is that it needs to be started with oneself, bringing changes at micro level, moving towards the greater goal. After all, it’s those “little drops of water that makes the mighty ocean.”

It is equally necessary that people in every corner are aware about things happening around them. Governments need to focus on seriously implementing all those policies meant for imparting quality education to all girls and boys alike – channelizing their potential energy and enabling them to be a part of the process of emancipation of the world in crisis for it is not a hidden truth anymore that political freedom will be rendered redundant and futile if people are devoid of social freedom.

Education is the basic and a natural right that every individual should have as it is the only way for the world to escape the devastation that awaits – or why not say the devastation which has already started.

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Self-Help Groups – a factor in women empowerment!?

The article takes up the subject of Self-Help Groups which is considered to be one of the major factors in women empowerment. It tries to understand the question ‘why’ and reflects on if the prevalent casteism in the society affects its functioning in any way. Let’s have a quick recap of women empowerment and why do women need to be empowered!

Women Empowerment is an umbrella term which brings in the ways to help and enable women to grasp the freedom they are entitled to as all human beings are. The freedom to make choices; the freedom to spread their wings; the freedom to be just human beings. We need women empowerment because of the very perspective that women are so-called ‘weaker sex’. Years of being told this, it has penetrated into every hook and corner – and we need an uplift from this. We need empowerment to break free from the chains of “being allowed”. The actual fact that I am attempting to write an article on ‘women empowerment’ proves the very point of why we need to it.

Self-help groups has been one of the many ways adopted by different parties to empower women. How? In very simple words, it enables women to take financial decisions and help each other in doing so. Pretty simple, right! There are NGOs and banks which helps them take this process a long way or to even help them start. There are various ways this group can help women build up themselves. A group of women coming together can be quite an upliftment – other than providing a platform for financial decisions, it gives them an opportunity to discuss problems at personal level, bring out the issues of domestic violence; come out collectively with a solution; tackle issues of alcoholism and other such problems which are likely to pose threat to financial, emotional and social decisions of women.

However, even if SHGs provides the way to move forward to women, escaping the casteism issues is another thing. An article published in The Hindu brought out the point that caste play a dominant role in Self-help groups. The groups employ different categories, etiquettes r requirements of inclusion – a preference to caste could be seen, the study brought out (The Hindu, 2013). The caste issues have been ignored and been confirmed. A resistance to change in leadership, the position going to same caste has been detected. The strive to bring in diversity is lost. Rural areas – where community are more closely knitted also showcases casteism in not-so-subtle ways.

Nonetheless, it cannot be ignored that SHGs have been an empowering factor. During the Covid-19 times, may SHGs suffered a backlog due to lack of funding affecting the lives of many. With no financial means, savings became out of question. However, there were many SHGs which also helped in battling Covid-19 by the production of masks – helping to meet the demand of the same. The point is to diversify the means of finance in the groups; to clear the inherent obstacle of caste; to collaborate across districts; to train them for the worst scenarios; to educate them. SHGs has enabled women to take financial decisions and come a long way but its diversification of ways is necessary to combat the worst times. It is important to identify the loopholes and come up with the collective solutions and move above the issues of castes.

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Women in Indian Politics

Women In Indian Politics

India is the largest democracy in the world and to sustain its democracy, it has undergone various struggles. As soon as it was freed from the clutches of colonialism, it was faced with the challenges of social and economic development of the country. The Constitution of India has bestowed various rights to its citizens to ensure equal rights and equality, liberty, gender justice etc. Though the constitutional provisions allowed the women to leave the relative calm of the domestic sphere to enter the male-dominated political sphere, the involvement of women in politics has been low key (Khanna, 2009). Khanna has classified the factors which affects the political participation of women in politics into three categories-psychological variables, socio-economic variable and political variable. The questions of reservation for women in representative institutions has long been debated in India. The issue of reservations for women had come up in the Constituent Assembly had been rejected by women representative as it was felt to be unnecessary, since the working of democracy in the normal course would ensure the representation of all sections of Indian society. The suggestions were also seen to underestimate the strength of women to compete as equals (Menon, 2000).

Reservation as a strategy for enhancing women’s status within the new polity had been rejected very early on by women leaders as a retrograde step (Rai & Sharma, 2000). But by 1996, women had emerged as a significant force in politics and almost the same representative of women’s movement who rejected any such demand, demanded reservations. Women had been at the forefront of the movements against corruption and price-rise that preceded the imposition of Emergency. The 1980s saw the emergence of the vocal and visible autonomous women’s groups (Menon, 2000). The question that looms before these is-if increase in the number of women in parliament will bring any socio-economic benefits to them. However, while the political ground in India is shifting with regard to women participation in politics, this is a slow and difficult process, which needs constant vigilance by movements and groups within and outside of state institutions (Rai and Sharma, 2000).

The debate regarding women’s reservations in parliament has taken various shapes. There have been number of arguments for and against it. But a fact that cannot be ignored is that women in India have climbed the ladder too. Although they are not huge in number but they are there. But being a woman, they have faced many brickbats and mud slung. The criticisms that they faced carried an ingrained sexism reflecting the very nature of a male dominated politics.

Access to politics for women has never been a bed of roses. Participation of women anywhere has never been easy but politics being a male bastion traditionally, makes it difficult for the presence of women in it. To penetrate this highly male dominated arena, women have to go through various struggles to consolidate one’s position in it. While it becomes relatively easier for some as compared to others, but it’s never without any struggle or completely easy for any woman.

If we analyse the journey of three women i.e., Indira Gandhi, Jayalalitha and Sushma Swaraj to politics, it will come to view that – initially, these women were not into politics either because they wanted to pursue some other career or they had no one to guide them to it but eventually as in the case of Indira Gandhi, the atmosphere (her house being the centre of freedom movement) during her time as well the pursuance of her father got her into politics. In case of Jayalalithaa, her mentor and guide MGR introduced her to politics while Sushma Swaraj after the pursuance of law developed an interest in politics with moral support from her family. Though Indira Gandhi had a background – involvement of her family in freedom struggle as well as in Parliamentary politics and Jayalalithaa was introduced into politics by the most loved figure of his time MGR and Sushma Swaraj dug her own well, none of these women had an easier path. Being a woman, they had to fight to consolidate their positions in the party. The path through which they got into politics and the intensity of struggle faced by them though differ, but nevertheless, they had to work twice as men to stay, to establish themselves. Jayalalithaa’s modesty had been violated in the Assembly Hall; Indira Gandhi had been dubbed as ‘only man in the politics’ and Sushma Swaraj had been the target of derogatory online trolls. Evaluating the leaders on the basis of their decisions in a democracy is one thing while criticism based on sexism is an entirely different thing.

Being from different family background, lives of every woman is bound to differ, the only common thing is that they are ‘woman’. Being a woman is all that takes for people to throw harsh comments. Indira Gandhi’s tenure was termed as authoritarian while Jayalalithaa was termed as irresponsible and inconsistent. It was so because they were able to keep in check their male counterparts. Any action by a women minister is judged by a gendered perspective and the online trolls faced by Sushma Swaraj while she was the Minister of External Affairs points to this. Jayalalithaa claimed that baseless questions were asked to her because she is a self- made woman.

Why is it that the corruption case of Jayalalithaa has been in the talk for a long time and not that of Mr. Karunanidhi (Jayalalithaa was condemned for arresting him on corruption case just because he was an old ‘man’)? Why is it that the decisions of Indira Gandhi have been equated with an authoritarian rule and not that any other male counterparts? Why the evaluation against every women politician involves threats of rape and beating? Is it because in this highly male dominated politics, participation of women is not accepted for it seems to threaten the authority of men?

The point is that it is not at all unfair evaluating any leader-women or men on the basis of their decisions but criticising them with ingrained sexism in it doesn’t seem to be compatible with the values that we cherish in our democracy. Women continue to be target of sexist remarks but it doesn’t mean that they have stopped asserting themselves with force. Women have taken very active part in various political activism. It doesn’t apply only to urban areas but also to rural women. They have been engaged in political acumen from protesting against the British rule to demands for equal wages. Feminist issues usually appear something else in public discourse (Menon, 2000) be it Uniform Civil Code or Women’s Reservation Bill. While women participation in politics is improving overtime but they constantly have to fight for their presence to be felt. They have to constantly engage in negotiations to consolidate their positions. India, though largest democracy in the world has long way to go to sustain its democratic principles and rights. It still lacks in many ways in terms of gender parity, not only in politics but in many other spheres. But participation of women in politics become important because until and unless women are in decision making position, safe and sustainable cities or lifestyle will be out of reach. Though, legally women have been granted rights but only with social development as well as change in the mind-set will bring life to these rights!

P.S. This is an opinionated piece – believing that everyone is entitled to opinions!

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Expression

Every person has their own language of expression. Each being express themselves in a way that is so unique to them and that way gives them next level comfort and warmth. Every morning they find one or other way of letting people know what they are feeling but the best way they can and should and mostly express themselves is through their love language. A language that makes them more of themselves and less of everyone else, a language that describes them in the most perfect way, a language that makes them free, independent and illuminated. This language is so pure and pious. And this language as said, have many forms and states but with each different personality these forms and states of this language also becomes different making it not only unique but special in its own way.

Poetry has to be the one that is close to my heart and special to my personality. But as mentioned, it might not necessarily be same poetry as someone else. I might write in way that not only describes my state of mind but also my insecurities or even the thoughts that are deep engraved in by sub-conscious. My language has to be poetry, it is the way I express myself. My poetries not only make me free but also lead me out of the dark tunnel of silence in to the world that has bright sunny day of full of thoughts and intellect. I express only grief, anger, or despair through my poetries but also, love, compassion and even bliss through it. Every emotion finds its place in my poetry and just fit well in its position to portray myself being just the way I want to.

Some people have painting as their language. They communicate their thoughts, feelings through painting them in colours. They choose red for love and green for happiness and black for grief and they go for white to describe peace. These colours express them way better than words could ever. They paint the canvas of their life with these colours of emotions and passion and at the same convey their opinions in the most colourful way to the person across the room. They have colour for each occasion and they have the best strokes to kill the heart breaking moments of life. Their paintings not only describe them as the painter who knows how well to use colours but those pieces are the reflection of their inner self and that they paint a part of themselves with each of their painting and say it out loud in those art works just as perfectly anybody could through writing.

Along with these languages that mostly involve the imagination in their expression, there come are languages that help beings express themselves through the moves of their body. Dance as they say, one must dance to express, not to impress has to be one of the most powerful of expressing and channeling their inner energy in conveying what they want to. With all the gloomy days taking a toll on the dancers they become quite and choose to perform only for themselves or on the music that fits their conditions but sometimes, their performance has a glow that shows us how happy or contended they are. This dance language is the language that makes us express through our body, a language that makes us believe in the beauty of this self that god created.

Let bygones be bygones..

Everywhere, everytime what we observe is nothing more than the unhappy moments. Or may be we have become habitual of seeing everything in negative perspective.

Just ask someone, “how’s life going on”, & you will get the replies like these, “Ok”, “Not good”, “Bad”, “It’s just going on, don’t ask how”. You”ll find only a few who”ll reply you,”Oh.. It’s awesome..” or “it’s fantastic”. It simply shows that if not frustrated, people aren’t really happy with their lives.

And if you starting asking them the reasons, then you’ll soon realize that a thing is common among most of their problems.

The Past, or I must say the memories of past are the reasons behind most of our problems. I’m not saying that one should forget everything about the past. But it’s not worthy to live in past at all.

Worrying about what has happened,or what you’ve said to someone, or what someone once said to you, or how you broke up with someone or something, or how you shouldn’t have wasted your time, or how you should have done this or that thing or how you shouldn’t have done this or that thing isn’t ok. These worries make one less happy & more frustrated.

The life isn’t all about your past, it’s much more than this. Ok, it’s not easy to get over the memories, how good or bad they were, doesn’t matter. But just remember, that it’s not the memories, which are bothering you, but it’s your over thinking that makes you feel frustrated.

If something has happened in past, just learn from it. Grow up, be mature, don’t over think about the past incidents.

Focus on present, let the bygones be bygones.

Happy Reading…🙂

🕊️ May the peace prevail on our Earth. May the hope abide in our Hearts. 🕊️

दुनिया के चाहने पर खत्म होगी महामारी: WHO

विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन के प्रमुख ट्रेडोस ऐडनोम घेबरियस ने बर्लिन में आयोजित अपने एक वर्ल्डहेल्थ समिट को संबोधित करते हुए कहा कि जब सभी देश उपलब्ध स्वास्थ्य उपकरणों का प्रभावी ढंग से उपयोग करना शुरू कर देंगे,तब जाकर कोरोना महामारी खत्म हो जाएगी। उन्होंने कहा कि जब दुनिया इसे खत्म करना चाहेगी, तब यह समाप्त होगा। यह हमारे हाथों में है। वह सभी उपकरण हमारे पास मौजूद है,चाहे प्रभावी सार्वजनिक स्वास्थ्य उपकरण हो या प्रभावी चिकित्सा उपकरण,जिनकी हमे अवश्यकता है। परंतु दुनिया ने इसका अच्छी तरीके से उपयोग नहीं किया।एक सप्ताह में करीब 50 हज़ार मौतें हुईं हैं तो अभी महामारी खत्म नहीं हुई।

उन्होंने सम्मेलन में बोलते हुए कहा कि वह को भी ने टीकाकरण के लिए एक वैश्विक रणनीति शुरू करने के लिए WHO प्रमुख में शामिल हुए,जो सभी देशों में लोगों को टीके वितरित करने के लिए एक लागत और विश्वसनीय प्रभावी योजना का सुझाव देता है।

WHO प्रमुख ने जी 20 देशों का पहले से ही 40% अपनी आबादी को कोवैक्स तंत्र में सक्रिय रूप से संलग्न कर देने के लिए भी आव्हान किया। रविवार को संयुक्त राष्ट्र महासचिव एंटोनियो गुटेरेस ने जी-20 देशों से पूरी दुनिया में कोविड-19 के टीका का उचित वितरण सुनिश्चित करने के लिए 8 बिलियन अमेरिकी डॉलर इकट्ठा करने में मदद का एलान किया।

बता दें, WHO पहले से भी कोरोना को लेकर पूरी दुनिया को चेतावनी देता रहा है। एक बार फिर से भारत में कोरोना से मरने वालों की संख्या में इजाफा देखा गया है। पिछले 24 घंटों में 443 लोगों की मौतें हुई है। वहीं एक दिन में 14,306 कोरोना के नए मामले सामने आए हैं।

अनन्या कौशल द्वारा संपादित।

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