Tag: #equality

Evolution of Panchayati Raj System in India.

Since the beginning of India’s foundation, Panchayats have been the pillar of Indian rural set up. According to Mahatma Gandhi, development and governance in India should not be in big cities and towns but in rural areas and small villages because majority of Indian population resides in villages.

A Panchayati Raj meeting in India. Picture Credits: India Today.

The Panchayati Raj system in India derives its existence from Indian Constitution under Part IX under the head The Panchayats. When power is taken away from Central and State Governments and given to local government, it is called decentralisation.

Most of our Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra are internally very diverse. There is thus a need for power sharing within these states. Federal power sharing in India needs another tier of government, below that of the State governments. This is the rationale for decentralisation of power. Thus, this resulted in a third-tier of government, called local government. People have better knowledge of problems in their localities.

The need for decentralisation was recognised in our constitution. Since then there have been several attempts to decentralise power to the level of villages and towns. Panchayats in villages were set up in all states. An independent institution called the State Election Commission has been created in each state to conduct Panchayat elections.

A major step towards decentralisation was taken in 1992. The Constitution was amended to make the third-tier of democracy more powerful and effective. Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies.

Now it is constitutionally mandatory to hold regular elections to local government bodies. Seats are reserved in the elected bodies and the executive heads of these institutions for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. At least one-third of all positions are reserved for women. The State governments are required to share some powers and revenue with local government bodies. The nature of sharing varies from State to State.

Rural Local Governments is popularly known by the name panchayati raj. Each village or a group of villages in some states have a gram panchayat. This is a council consisting of several ward members often called panch, and a president or sarpanch. They are directly elected by all the adult population living in that ward or village. It is the decision making body of the entire village. The Panchayat works under the overall supervision of the gram sabha. All the voters in the village are its members. It has to meet at least twice or thrice in a year to approve the annual budget of the gram panchayat and to review the performance of the gram panchayat.

The local government structure goes right up to the district level. A few gram panchayats are grouped together to form what we call as a panchayat samiti or block or mandal. The members of this representative body are elected by all the panchayat members in that area. All the panchayat samitis in a district together constitute the zilla parishad.

Despite of the many flaws, Panchayats have contributed a lot maintaining the rule of law inside villages and educating the rural population about various different matters pertaining to their interests.

UNAIDS- Achievements and Challenges.

As of 2018, about 38 million people in the world are infected with HIV and out of these about 21 million people were living in Africa alone. South Africa, Nigeria and India are the worst affected countries with over 7 million, 3 million and 2 million people with HIV infection respectively. Interestingly, India is on third position with over 2 million of its population infected with HIV; however it has the lowest HIV rate in the world due to its vast population.

Source: UNAIDS.

UNAIDS acts as a global cogent body that protects HIV infected people from discrimination and aims to provide them a safer environment by creating awareness among the masses. It also provides deliberate and strategic advocacy and cooperates with different governments and private bodies to achieve its goals.

Achievements of UNAIDS.

1) Because of UNAIDS’s effective advocacy, different Government responses towards every aspect of HIV and AIDS was positive with good leadership and management.

2) UNAIDS’s advocacy also inspired many countries to change and abolish discriminatory laws that used to keep HIV patients on the fringes. It also convinced many countries to make laws in favour of women’s rights so that stigma faced by women decreases.

3) In 2019, 67% of all people living with HIV were accessing treatment. 68% of adults aged 15 years old and above had access to treatment, 53% of children had access to treatment and 73% of the female adults also had the access to treatment.

4) About 85% of pregnant women living with HIV had access to antiretroviral medicines to prevent transmission to their child in 2019.

5) UNAIDS also worked a lot in raising awareness about HIV and related stigma all over the world. It focused on myths related to HIV which ultimately led to a positive attitude of public towards HIV patients.

CHALLENGES FACED BY UNAIDS

There are a lot many challenges attached to HIV infection and thus it also becomes difficult for UNAIDS to deal with the issue at times. It is a social difficulty too and HIV patients suffer in silence because misconceptions about HIV.

1) HIV and Violence on women:

Every week, about 5500 young women aged 15-24 years become infected with HIV.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, five in six new infections among adolescents aged 15-19 years are among girls. Young women aged 15-24 years are twice more likely to be living with HIV than their male counterparts.
More than one third (35%) of women around the world have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point of time in their lives.

2) HIV and Tuberculosis:

Tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, accounting for around one in three AIDS related deaths.
In 2018, an estimated 10 million people developed Tuberculosis and 9% of them had HIV.

3)HIV and COVID-19, newest of all:

A new analysis by UNAIDS has revealed that COVID-19 is going to have a detrimental effect on low and medium income families and countries around the world on supplies of the generic antiretroviral medicines used for HIV treatment.
The lockdowns and border closures imposed by Governments to stop Covid-19 have impacted both production of the medicines and their distribution.

It’s important for us as a society to support the HIV-AIDS patients and their families morally, socially and make a stigma-free environment for them.

Female foeticide in India

Female foeticide is the aborting of a girl fetus in the womb before its complete growth. Why? This is because that it is female? Female foeticide has become a disgraceful and shocking truth of our nation. In India a strong fondness for sons over daughter. People desire smaller families with comparatively greater sons by abuse medical technologies. It is one of the main motives for declining sex ratio.

Female foeticide is the procedure of abortion to terminate female fetus from the womb of the mother before taking birth after the sex recognition tests like an ultrasound scan. Female foeticide and even any sex recognition test is illegal in India. It is the shame for the parents who are despairing for a baby boy as well as doctors doing abortions especially for this.

Female foeticide has been in practice for periods especially for the families who have a preference only male child. Several religious, social, financial and emotional are the reason for female foeticide. Therefore the time has been changed now much however, many reasons and beliefs are ongoing in some families. Some main reasons for female foeticide are:

  • Generally, parents don’t want a girl baby because they have to give a big amount as a dowry at daughter’s marriage.
  • There is a faith that girls are always consumer and boys are the only producer. Thus Parents understand that son will earn money for the whole life and care their parents however girls will get married a day and will have a separate family.
  • There is a belief that the son will carry the name of the family in future however the girl has to carry the husband’s family.
  • This is a prestige issue in society for parent and grandparent to have a boy baby in the family besides having a daughter.
  • There is a stress on the new bride of the family to give birth to a male child so she is enforced to go for sex recognition and abort if girl baby.
  • Illiteracy, insecurity, and poverty of people in society are also major reasons for girl baby burden.
  • Science and Technological advancement and utilities have made this very easy task for parents.

Sex ratio denotes the ratio of females to males in a specific region. Many practices like female foeticide and female infanticide (killing a baby girl after her birth) have had a contrary influence on the sex ratio. Thus it rises and promotes many social evils.

As per the decennial Indian census, Sex Ratio of India is 107.48. It means 107.48 males per 100 females in 2019. Therefore India has 930 females per 1000 males. So, India has 48.20% female population compare to 51.80% male population.

Effective Measures to Control:

As we all know that female foeticide is a crime and social evil for the future of women. Hence we should notice the causes for female foeticide in Indian society. Female infanticide or female feticide is primarily because of sex determination. Some measures are:

  • Law must be implemented and one should be surely punished if found guilty for this unkind exercise.
  • Permanent cancellation of license should be done if it is going on in medical practice.
  • Marketing of medical tools specifically for illegal sex determination and abortion should be a bane.
  • Parents must be fined who want to kill their girl baby.
  • Campaigns and seminars should be regularly held to aware of young couples.
  • Women should be aware so that they can be more attentive to their rights.

Female foeticide is suicide. So, save the girl child and secure the future. There will be the dangerous results of the female foeticide. Demography reports warn India that in the next twenty years there will be a scarcity of brides in the marriage market mostly because of the adverse sex ratio.

Renewable resources .

Replacing traditional sources of energy completely with renewable energy is going to be a challenging task. However, by adding renewable energy to the grid and gradually increasing its contribution, we can realistically expect a future that is powered completely by green energy.

– Tulsi Tanti

A way to live a new life . Without any destruction , without worrying about the future . Live a life where we can grow together , develop a life with renewable resources.

Introduction

A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale.

When such recovery rate of resources is unlikely to ever exceed a human time scale, these are called perpetual resources. Renewable resources are a part of Earth’s natural environment and the largest components of its ecosphere. A positive life-cycle assessment is a key indicator of a resource’s sustainability.

Renewable resources are an energy source that cannot be depleted and are able to supply a continuous source of clean energy.

Renewable resources also produce clean energy, meaning less pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.

Examples of renewable resources.

  • Biomass .
  • Biogas.
  • Tidal Energy.
  • Wind Energy.
  • Geothermal Energy.
  • Radiant Energy.
  • Hydro Electricity.
  • Compressed Natural Gas.

Types of renewable resources.

1) Solar energy. Sunlight is one of our planet’s most abundant and freely available energy resources. 2) Wind energy. Wind is a plentiful source of clean energy. 3) Hydro energy.
4) Tidal energy.
5) Geothermal energy. 6) Biomass Energy.

Impact of renewable resources.

Environmental impact

Renewable energy projects have also contributed in improving environmental impacts such as reduction of carbon dioxide gas, awakening community about the climate change. The study observed very small impacts on the people living in a particular area, tourism, cost of energy supply, and educational impacts. Significant impacts were observed in improvement of life standard, social bonds creation, and community development. They also observed that the renewable energy projects are complex to install and are local environmental and condition sensitive. Their forecasting, execution, and planning require more consideration and knowledge as compared to other projects.

Social impact

These resources also provide social benefits like improvement of health, according to choice of consumer, advancement in technologies, and opportunities for the work, but some basic considerations should be taken for the benefit of humans, for example, climate conditions, level of education and standard of living, and region whether urban or rural from agricultural point of view. Social aspects are the basic considerations for the development of any country. The following social benefits can be achieved by renewable energy systems: local employment, better health, job opportunities, and consumer choice.

Advantages of renewable resources.

  • Renewable energy won’t run out.
  • Maintenance requirements are lower.
  • Renewables save money.
  • Renewable energy has numerous health and environmental benefits.
  • Renewables lower reliance on foreign energy sources.
  • Higher upfront cost.
  • Intermittency.
  • Storage capabilities.

Conclusion

Renewable energy is becoming an important resource in all over the world . I do agree that people might exploit the resources for there own benefit . But the government is working on that aspect and trying to provide resources that can help our future households .

There are a lot of different ways of building a prosperous society, and some of them use much less energy than others. And it is possible and more practical to talk about rebuilding systems to use much less energy than it is to think about trying to meet greater demands of energy through clean energy alone.

– Alex Steffen

Link

Religion in 21st Century: Survival or Revival

Ever Since the history of mankind religion existed although their purposes differ in many ways. The first religion that came into existence as of known today is the Hinduism, we understand this from different Vedas which were said to existent from around the 5th CE. From the very beginning of religion, there was a structured system keeping different people at different levels giving them no space to breath or escape. This system was widely prevalent and as communications and technologies grew more people started to adopt it, keeping the structure rigid to cross. Not just Hinduism but religions such as Islamism, Christianity, Judaism and the list is exhaustive in terms of their structural and rigid norms which only favors a certain category of people. 

The question here we have to ask is that, what has changed so much in religion that now everyone and anyone is following it? How the human beings who believed in Science could believe in religion after all these decades? The answers to these questions are very simple and unbelievable. “Not much” is the best answer to the first question. Religion has remained the same across times, across thousands of years even when human beings evolved and became better and best versions of themselves. Even when human beings could fly, they choose to believe in religion, Why?

Answering these questions would need us to go through lots of facts and understanding of not just how religion have adapted and changed mankind but also about human behaviors too. Human beings are creatures with a mind which cannot always be rational. Even though we outsmart the whole animal kingdom with our brain, it is the very thing which makes us lose our rational and believe in things which might not even have any sources or valid resources to back with. 

Human beings simply were taught to believe in a divine power which will save them through prayers, donations and disturbing sacrifices. These people were groomed from a very young age to believe in it, that even when we don’t know we unintentionally call out god’s name, like it was stuck to our tongues. Dogmatic beings wrote scriptures which have no valid evidence or sustainable outcome to begin with, and these were forced upon children from a very young age, not giving them the choice of becoming who they want to be devoid of their religious identity so much that even before someone could find their own selves, they learn their religious identity completely nullifying who we actually are. 

People chose to believe in lies when truths are bitter, this can be deciphering the fact that people need someone to always save them, to always cry for help, to always turn for beliefs and if one day someone argues that this is not real with evidence or facts resonating their statements, human beings won’t believe it as such or their rationality won’t be a match to their savior who they haven’t seen or which science have no answer too. 

These patterns in human behavior’s make it impossible for religion to fade away from peoples lives. Although this cannot be said for everyone. Recently there has been a decline in the number of people actively following religion, people have come to grasps with certain loopholes in them and calling them out for more people to come out of the trances they were forced to believe in. Most of who are actively calling them out are women who were forced into always being the submissive gender throughout all the religions across the world. The sufferers were always women, wailing women depicted across pictures stereotyping their roles as potential nurturers and never letting them out of their cycle. Women were forced into crowd control actively pursued by these religions, always putting the burden on women. 

Different Feminist movements took into terms these issues and addressed them in various waves, making people and specifically women of their rights. This led to a downfall in the religious followers of many religions across the globe. Added to this was the problem with many religions believing in law of the nature and condemning homosexual relations. This put many religions at a potential risk of losing their followers. Religion wasn’t ready to let their walls down and accommodate people and factions into them. They held their walls so high that it choked its own people and these people turned against each other, questioning the viability of the religion.

Agriculture

When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.”

— Daniel Webster

Introduction

It all started thousand of years ago , when the human civilization came into existence . Agriculture was a key to survival . People were farming for there domestic purpose , not for the others .

As the civilization started to grow accustomed of agriculture , they grew food in surplus that enabled people to live in cities. Plants were independently cultivated in at least 11 regions of the world.

The development of agriculture enabled the human population to grow many times larger than could be sustained by hunting and gathering.

It was the beginning of different civilization in different parts of the World. From those civilizations , one of them was our’s The Indus Valley Civilization . Vedic literature provides some of the earliest written record of agriculture in India. Rigveda hymns , describes plowing, fallowing, irrigation, fruit and vegetable cultivation.

Some of the ancient and historical evidence suggests rice and cotton were cultivated in the Indus Valley.

Agriculture : In India and World today .

India ranks second worldwide in farm outputs. As per 2018, agriculture employed Indian work force and contributed 17–18% to country’s GDP.

In 2016, agriculture and allied sectors like animal husbandry, forestry and fisheries accounted for 15.4% of the GDP (gross domestic product) with about 41.49% of the workforce in 2020.India ranks first in the world with highest net cropped area followed by US and China.The total agriculture commodities export was US $ 3.50 billion in March – June 2020.

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population. Share of agriculture and allied sectors in gross value added (GVA) of India at current prices stood at 17.8 % in FY20.

During 2019-20 crop year, food grain production reached a record of 296.65 million tonnes. In 2020-21, Government of India is targeting food grain production of 298 million tonnes.

India is among the 15 leading exporters of agricultural products in the world. Agricultural export from India reached US$ 38.54 billion in FY19 and US$ 35.09 billion in FY20.

Agriculture is an important industry in the United States. The agriculture industry, which includes both crops and livestock, is responsible for producing most of the world’s foods and fabrics. Agriculture impacts so many things that it’s hard to imagine a world without this important industry.

Schemes and Initiatives

Due to the high requirement of agriculture . It is important for the government to take initiatives and provide better infrastructure to the farmers. However , the required level of investment for the development of marketing, storage and cold storage infrastructure is estimated to be huge.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), established in 1905, was responsible for the search leading to the “Indian Green Revolution” of the 1970s. The Union Minister of Agriculture is the president of the ICAR. The Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute develops new techniques for the design of agricultural experiments, analyses data in agriculture, and specialises in statistical techniques for animal and plant breeding.

Schemes by government for Indian agriculture :

  • Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme.
  • Rainfed Area Development Programme (RADP)
  • Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)
  • Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)
  • National Agriculture Market (e-NAM)
  • Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maandhan yojana.
  • Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)
  • Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme.
  • Pashu Kisan Credit Card Scheme.
  • PM-Kisan Scheme.

Conclusion

Agriculture sector is one of the prominent sector in India as well as all over the world . India is becoming self – sufficient in pulses and other crops .

Gone are the days , when India was unable to provide sufficient amount of food to the citizens . Gone are the days , when people used to think agriculture was not as important as other sectors . Gone are the days , when people used to think less of farmers . And gone are the days , when people were less educated about agriculture.

Farming is a profession of hope.

— Brett Brian

Link

JOURNEY TO SANITY – DOUBLE STANDARDS

EMOTIONS ARE GENDER NEUTRAL

We have been conditioned in such a way that it is believed, that women are supposed to be fragile and sensitive in nature where as men are supposed to be thick-skinned and emotionally numb. However, in reality emotions are gender neutral. It’s not manly to be strong and harsh. And similarly, it’s not feminine to be weak and to cry. The experiences faced by men or women might be different but since they are both humans and have emotions, it is not wrong to express it.
(So, the next time someone tells you to man up and stop crying, you know what to say)

SHARING RESPONSIBILITIES AND RESPECTING THE OPINIONS OF YOUR PARTNER DOES NOT MAKE YOU A ‘JORU KA GULAM‘

Understanding, Compassion and Mutual – Respect should be the basis for any healthy relationship. It is the basic need of a human to be heard and acknowledged. Hence, it doesn’t make a man a ‘Joru Ka Gulam’ if he is respectful to the opinions of his partner and understands him/her. Society in general tends to question and mock those changes that question their years of belief. In order to avoid their inner-conflict, they discourage the progressive mass so that they don’t have to change and no one can question them. (Yes, kind of like a defence mechanism – Pointing fingers at the other person before they point at you).

FAMILY RESPONSIBILITY SHOULD NOT BE THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF A MAN OR A WOMEN.

Two people form a relationship and they are called partners for a reason. They are part responsible for every aspect of a household. So why should the burden of the entire family fall on the shoulders of a single person. It is normal for a woman to have a successful career and to support a family financially. (No, it doesn’t make him less manly by earning less or letting his wife handle finances). Similarly, household chores should not be the sole responsibility of a women. It doesn’t make a man submissive if he cooks for his partner or does basic household chores. Rather, such relationships are built on mutual respect and compassion which tend to last longer.

STRONG, BRAVE AND INDEPENDENT ARE NOT TERMS SYNONYMOUS WITH MEN.

It is acceptable for a women to be strong yet sensitive, to be scared yet courageous enough to face it. Adjectives like strong, brave are often used for men, whereas it’s completely normal for a women to have each of those qualities. We have women officers who are equally as brave as the men. There are men who prefer household work over finances and it doesn’t make them dependant on their partners or submissive in any way.

Do not forget to read more from the series 🙂

JOURNEY TO SANITY – ACCEPTANCE

JOURNEY TO SANITY – SUNSHINE 🌤️

JOURNEY TO SANITY – MINDFULNESS

JOURNEY TO SANITY -JOURNALING

Swami Vivekananda: A Tribute to the Godly Figure.

Swami Vivekananda as we all know was born on January 12, 1863 in Calcutta (present day Kolkata). Swami Vivekananda was never religious in his early life but was always interested in spirituality and meditation from young age.

Swami Vivekananda got educated from Calcutta University and had keen interest in subjects like history, religion, social science, philosophy and like. Today, July 4 is his death anniversary and us know five important incidents from his life.

1) Swami Vivekananda at Parliament of World Religions, 1893.

Photo Credits: India TV

Swami Vivekananda became extremely popular when he went to Chicago in 1893 for Parliament of World Religions where he represented India and Hinduism. He addressed Americans as “Sisters and Brothers of America” in his speech which led to widespread appreciation. In this event, he spoke about how the land of Vedas, Yoga and Saints has taught tolerance and universal acceptance to the world.

2) First meet of Swami Vivekananda and Ramkrishna Dev.

Photo Credits: Navbharat Times.

Swami Vivekananda met his mentor Ramkrishna Dev first in Dakshineswar Temple in Kolkata where Ramkrishna Dev used to reside but their relationship began when they met at the house of Surendra Nath Mitra. Ramkrishna Dev asked Swami Vivekananda to sing and impressed by his singing talent Ramkrishna Dev invited Swami Vivekananda to Dakshineswar.

3) Life in Dakshineswar, Kolkata.

Photo Credits: Scroll.

Swami Vivekananda’s constant meetings with Ramkrishna Dev became important and life changing moments for him. Initially, Swami Vivekananda was amused and nervous when he first interacted with Ramkrishna Dev. After giving many tests, Swami Vivekananda finally accepted Ramkrishna Dev as his spiritual teacher in 1882. He remained there until Ramkrishna Dev’s death in 1886.

4) Enlightenment of Swami Vivekananda.

Photo Credits: The Indian Express

Swami Vivekananda once asked Ramkrishna Dev whether there’s any God or not (as Ramkrishna used to keep telling him about God ), to which Ramkrishna Dev replied “I am the proof that God exists”. After three days, Swami Vivekananda retuned to him and asked whether Ramkrishna Dev can show him God or not. Ramkrishna Dev asked a counter question that whether Swami Vivekananda has the courage to see God or not to which Swami Vivekananda replied “Yes”. After this, Ramkrishna Dev placed his foot on Swami Vivekananda’s chest and Swami Vivekananda lost his consciousness after that. He restored his consciousness after twelve hours but he was totally changed by then.

5) Establishment of Ramkrishna Mission and relationship with Sharada Devi.

Photo Credits: Old Indian Photos.

Swami Vivekananda founded The Ramkrishna Mission on May 1, 1897 to honour and recognise the efforts and teachings of Ramkrishna Dev. Swami Vivekananda also had a very respectful and loving approach with Sarada Devi as he went to Chicago in 1893 only after taking her blessings.

At the end let’s apply Swami Vivekananda’s words in real life and as Indians, we should always move towards social equality and individual freedom which were his primary teachings.

The World of Nepotism

Welcome to the anti-meritocratic world, this world. What are you going to do about it? Will you stand back and watch while cronyism, nepotism, the old school tie, the private club, the right university, the right accent, the right background, the right secret society, the right religion, the right family, destroy merit so that their chosen ones can prosper at your expense. It’s time to smash the conspiracy. Break up all the mechanisms that allow privileged groups within society to rig the system in their favour and penalise anyone who doesn’t belong to their insidious cliques.

Michael Faust, The Meritocracy Party

Well , Its a very complicated questions . In the world, where one’s knowledge didn’t get recognition .

What would you do , when you get acknowledged not on the basis of your knowledge but on the basis of your relation with the owner ?

What would you do , if you don’t get promoted because you are not his /her relative ?

Do you ignore the fact that you are not the one , whom your boss approves?

Well , if you think it’s favouritism than you are absolutely correct . You may also come accross the word NEPOTISM and if you don’t than start reading the passage . (I did as well )

This 8 letter word is destroying everyone in today’s world. And who is responsible for creating such a hypocrite. We the people have to repose this curse and make sure to control it with our coming generations, else it will destroy the whole world. And there’ll be no humanity left in this world” –

Ikramul Hannah.

Introduction

Nepotism is a the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.

Nepotism is generally defined as “the bestowal of patronage by public officers in appointing others to positions because of blood or marital relationship”.

Nepotism is found in almost all the fields but it is practiced most in business, politics, sports and entertainment sectors. It has been in practice since time immemorial, but some special cases have made it to the limelight in the past few decades.

Nepotism in India :

India has it’s fair share in the field of NEPOTISM . Well , have you ever expected that . I say , YES . Because being one of the largest country , people might become more thirsty for power . “When constantly reaching out for more, you forget what you have” Christine Szymanski.

Nepotism can be characterized as ‘the demonstration of utilizing force or impact to get out of line preferences for individuals from one’s family’.

You must be conflicted , why does nepotism exist even today ? We are living in 21st century , than why we have such orthodox thinking ? Who says no one can define what is going on in one’s mind ( well I say , isn’t is obvious ) .

From the politics to the Entertainment , from the owner to the customer, from the Bollywood to the Judiciary ; Nepotism is everywhere .

Like in OJO -MOJO , After the submission of writing competition , OJO’s class teacher asked him who wrote better . Is it MOJO or OLLY , what do you think whom he would choose . MOJO thinks OJO will choose OLLY because he likes her . But when the result announced MOJO was astounded because OJO choose MOJO’s writing . So , what do you think is it nepotism or not . Think and you will know the answer .

Bias has become the first qualification to join a party, and extreme bias the virtue to become a leader.

Link

Is it your anxiety .

“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.”

—William S. Burroughs

Am I losing my mind or its just my mind playing tricks ?

In the world , where people are ready to fight against their competitor . What will happen when you loose ?

Or didn’t get what you desire the most ?

Would you accept the reality or choose to mourn for your loss.

Introduction

Do you ever feel anxious about going to the new place or meeting with new people ?

Do you ever feel the numbness in your body when you lost something or someone ?

Have you ever get overwhelmed by your fears ?

So what do you call it .

Is it an anxiety disorder?

Well hold your horses because it’s not . Like really we all feel anxious , hesitation , numbness , fear in our life . But if you think it’s an anxiety disorder . It’s a big NO .

If you want to know what is anxiety disorder and how to differentiate it from normal anxiety . You have to ask me .

SO . ASK . ME .

Well if you don’t ask me then also I will tell you .

When we feel something is crawling on our leg but didn’t find a thing . Instead of sleeping peacefully , we think of possible aspects that will make our night hell .

Well it happened with me and guess what , I always wake up middle of the night and try to find the invisible ghost ( is it only me who thinks about these weird things or it happened with you as well .)

Anxiety is when these types of situations happened only single time , maybe 2 or 3 times. But when these kind of situations happened every time whenever you sleep than maybe you have Anxiety Disorder.

What is Anxiety Disorder?

Let’s get to know about the Father before we get to know about the Son .

Anxiety is a feeling that comes and goes, but does not interfere with your everyday life.This type of anxiety is unpleasant, but it may motivate you to work harder and to do a better job.

But what about Anxiety Disorder . Well I am explaining just have some patience . You know patience is the virtue of life .

Yes , we were talking about the Son . I mean Anxiety Disorder . It is the feeling of fear may be with you all the time. It is intense and sometimes debilitating. These type of anxiety can cause more damage than you think about.

You will stop enjoy everything . In extreme cases you stop socialising with other and if it left untreated, it may be worse like you will kill yourself.

According to the APA ( American Psychiatric Association) , women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.

Types of Anxiety Disorder

  • Panic Disorder .
  • Phobia .
  • Social Anxiety Disorder.
  • Separation Anxiety Disorder.
  • PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.)
  • Illness Anxiety Disorder .

In present world , PTSD is most likely to be found in the women rather than men. It happens when a person goes through some traumatic experience.

Symptoms:

  • Increased heart rate.
  • Rapid breathing.
  • Restlessness.
  • Trouble concentrating.
  • Difficulty falling asleep.
  • Stop trusting.
  • Worried about small things .

Remedies :

  • Getting enough sleep.
  • Meditating.
  • Staying active and exercising.
  • Eating a healthy diet.
  • Staying active and working out.
  • Avoiding alcohol.
  • Avoiding caffeine.
  • Quitting smoking cigarettes.

Conclusion :

Anxiety Disorder can be found in anyone from 5 year old boy to 80 year old woman or from 15 year old girl to 50 year old man. It may be cured , only if it treated properly . If not , it can cause some serious issue .

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

—Henry Stanley Haskins

Link

A Survivor : The Story of Lakshmi Agarwal

She was just a 15 year old girl . A girl , full of life . But what happened to her .

It’s her story . A story of a survivor.

She was powerful not because she wasn’t scared but because she went on so strongly, despite the fear.”

– Atticus

At the age of 15 , when a girl or a boy makes happy memories and learn about life . She was attacked in the market full of people . She was attacked because she rejected an old jerk of 32 years old.

A 32 year old proposed a marriage proposal to a 15 year old girl , who lives near the neighborhood. She ignored and rejected him and he planned an acid attack .

Her name is Lakshmi Agarwal , she was attacked at the age of 15 in 2005 in New Delhi after rejecting the romantic advances of Naeem Khan . She didn’t inform anyone about the scenario because she believed her parents and society would have blamed her and stopped her study .

After 10 months , Lakshmi was in the market and Naeem asked her again through message about the marriage proposal but she didn’t respond . And in no time , Kamran (Naeem’s older brother ) and his girlfriend attacked her with acid . He was in the motorcycle and his girlfriend Rakhi threw acid on Lakshmi , when Kamran called her name and she looked behind for response.

She fainted on the road and when she regain consciousness she went middle of the road asked for help and met with multiple accidents but no one stopped to help her . She was burning in fire and her skin was melting.

A man named Arun Singh called PCR and told police about the situation . Someone threw water to help her but it turned out opposite and the acid burnt her neck . Arun think it might be late , so he helped her on the backseat of his car , later the seat cover turned into black hole due to the acid .

Arun admitted her in the hospital , called police and her family . Lakshmi went through many surgeries and operations including eye surgery. Four days later Naeem Khan got arrested but was bailed after a month later .

Protests and media attention.

After many protests and media attention Naeem got life imprisonment .

Lakshmi’s story was one of the series in the Hindustan Times. Lakshmi was scared after the attack because most of her face and body parts were not same as before . But she didn’t loose hope ,she fought for justice , asked for help for the victims of acid attacks and pleaded the law for the ban on sale of acid.

Meanwhile government failed to frame policies on acid sale and chemical attacks .

“ Seriousness is not seen on the part of the government in handling the issue,” the bench headed by Justice RM Lodha.

In 2013 , the plea of Agarwal was heard and later claims that “ Acid is freely available in shops. Our own volunteers have gone and purchased acid easily. In fact, I have myself purchased acid,” she said. “We have launched a new initiative called ‘Shoot Acid’.

After , the law passed by Supreme court . Lakshmi founded NGO named Chhanv Foundation to help acid attack survivors in India.

In 2019, she was honored with the International Women Empowerment Award from the Ministry of Women and Child Development, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and UNICEF for her campaign of Stop Acid Sale. In 2014, she received the International Women of Courage award at the hands of First Lady Michelle Obama.

And the movie Chhapaak is based on her life and stars Deepika Padukone in her role.

“And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.”

– Mark Anthony

Link

What is Catcalling?

Catcalling is a form of harassment primarily consisting of unwanted sexual comments. This may include honking, wolf-whistling and indecent exposures. Most of the time, it is a man who catcalls and a woman who is catcalled.

According to surveys by Stop Street Harassment (a non-profit organization):

  • Nearly 95% of female respondents were honked at one or more times
  • Nearly 82% of female respondents were the target of a vulgar gesture at least once
  • Nearly 81% of female respondents were the target of sexually explicit comments from an unknown man at least once
  • Just over 77% of women said they were the target of kissing noises from men.

Where catcalling takes place?

Catcalling doesn’t only happen on the streets. Sexual harassers find targets on campus sidewalks, in restaurants and movie theaters, at work, inside homes – literally anywhere. Similarly, anyone can be a catcaller – including a person’s acquaintances. Online catcalling is also an issue just as severe as in-person catcalling. What’s worse, people on social media are able to say more because they are protected by a screen.

The Problems with Catcalling

  • It’s disrespectful: Catcalling is uncalled-for and usually makes the victim feel exposed and uncomfortable. In some cases, catcalling is used as a method of expressing power over someone, rather than the misperception of it being a “compliment”.
  • It’s not impressive: Someone may catcall in order to impress their friends, or the person they are catcalling at, but it’s actually unimpressive and immature.

Catcalling is not a compliment, it’s a harassment!!

Whilst compliments and flirting can be harmless and fun, shouting at strangers is not flattering, it leaves “targets” feeling exposed.

Catcalling is degrading, demeaning, and disgusting.

Women have the right to be treated with as much respect and dignity when walking down the street as any man. Women deserve to feel safe.

How to react if you are being catcalled?

  • Catcallers usually look for a reaction. Don’t give them one, especially fear.
  • Get to a safe or crowded place as soon as you can. Seek help if needed.
  • If you are around other people and it’s safe, you can use a simple comeback like “that’s harassment” or “don’t do that”.
  • While snapping back (if you choose to do so), make sure to keep walking and don’t stop.
  • Avoid the use of swear words or eye contact.
  • If it’s online, you can block and report them. Choosing to reply is also an option (e.g., asking “would you find it okay if someone spoke to your mother or sister in that way?”).
  • Document it: write it down or take a picture/screenshot. By doing this you can call them out later.
  • Share your story if you feel comfortable.

How to intervene if someone is being catcalled?

  • Call out the harasser if it is safe to do so.
  • Create a distraction or start chatting with the target (e.g., drop your keys and ask “are these yours?”).
  • Approach the target afterwards to see if they need company or if there is anything else you can do to help.
  • Whatever you do, don’t put the person who is catcalled at greater risk (e.g., becoming aggressive).

Catcalling has become normalized, as it is often disregarded as a “joke”, or even a compliment. These are some tips to learn why this is absolutely not the case.

The Private-Public Distinction: Through a Feminist Lens:

From the beginning to this day, women have always been oppressed be it by men in their family or by the state that was and is still highly patriarchal. Earlier, the private (households) and the public (political, business world) were strictly kept separate. State had no roles in what was happening in the private sphere. And the major factor of this separation was that public was controlled by males and private appeared to be in control of females.

The separation between private (home) and public (work) made a significant difference in the lives of males and females, and of course, it was negative for women. For example, males were expected to work out and hence they dominated the outside world while females were expected to stay at home and decide the household decisions and thus they happened to be the controllers of the households.

However, the above situation was far away from reality. In most cases, as public was controlled by males it used to have a direct influence on the private sphere. And therefore, the then feminists and scholars labelled this distinction as baseless and started demanding for political rights of females like voting rights, reproductive rights and like. It was through the second wave of feminism in 1960s, feminists began to bring up more such marginalised communities and issues into the picture.

Earlier only a “white heterosexual male” normative was followed in the world and especially in western civilisations.
Feminists have rejected the public-private boundary as an acceptable rationale for legal action or inaction. A feminist argument is that such a separation disadvantages women of their rights and advantages privileged groups like white heterosexual males.

Three major arguments that were brought by feminists which aimed to challenge the public-private distinction are, first,
politics and society, both had ignored the domestic sphere, second, public-private distinction is deeply gendered and
sexist as its assigns roles to people based on their biological characteristics and because of this women become the most affected underprivileged group, third, calling “family” a
private sphere was an attempt to hide domination and abuse in the relationships in families from legal discourse.

To put an end to all of this ignorance, women activists fought against the injustices and demanded the states to intervene in household matters like laws against domestic violence, divorce rights to women, abortion rights and other rights to choose. Along with these domestic protection rights, many other rights on the public sphere were also demanded.

Feminists from the second feminist wave asked for equal representation in politics, law-making and other decision making procedures which were of both public and private significance.

Examples:

1) Paid Work:

Even though working environment has
changed nowadays as compared to earlier times, females suffer from hard labour but less payment. From corporate houses to films and television everywhere females are paid less than their male counterparts even though all of them do the same work. At times, female actors do more work as they have dance sequences in addition in the movies but still get paid less for the work. This has witnessed a change in recent times where female actors have begun to charge lump sum amount.

2) Patriarchal State:

States can be extremely patriarchal to
women in terms of legal and political rights. This can happen in two ways- one by creating patriarchal and misogynist laws for women, two by not doing anything progressive for women (because not interfering into women’s rights is also equal to creating misogynist laws for women). Over the past few decades, this has also witnessed a change where we have seen governments making women friendly laws like reservations and special commissions for women or anti dowry and anti-domestic violence rights.

3) Male Violence:

This can mean anything that happens both in public and private sphere. Sexual harassment at workplaces is at peak all over the world. Thanks to social activists and NGOs in India who all fought for implementation of sexual harassment act back in 1990s when a social worker was brutally sexually assaulted for stopping a child marriage in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

At the end, we all as a society collectively need to understand that opposite of patriarchy is gender equality, that is, feminism, nothing else.

PRIDE MONTH

It takes no compromise to give people their rights…. It takes no money to respect the individual…it takes no political days to give people freedom… it takes no survey to remove repression. – Harvey Milk

Flag with six stripes of Rainbow represent LGBTQ community and it is used to express Pride in this community.

As we all know June is celebrated as pride month.

So what is pride? Pride is about people coming towards to show dignity ,love ,care and affection to everyone. No matter how they look, what is their orientation, what is their gender etc.

we have to be an Ally ,being an means supporting equal rights for everyone- regardless of sexual orientation,race,gender or religion .

Global pride day is celebrated on 28 June.

Pride month dedicated to the LGBTQIA+ community and their right to live a dignified life.
LGBTQ stands for – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual respectively.


Lesbian refers to a woman who is attracted towards other women.


Gay refers to a man attracted towards other man.


Bisexual refers to the people who sexually or emotionally attracted to both men and women.


Transgender refers to the people whose gender identity or expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.


Queer is an umbrella term referring to anyone who is not straight and not cisgender.


Intersex refers to the people who have biological traits such as genetic, hormonal differences that don’t fit in the typical definition of male and female.


Asexual refers to the people who do not experience sexual attraction or sexual interest/ desire for anyone

  • + Include at the end of acronym LGBTQIA+ in the condition of the multitude of identities that exist

LGBTQIA + ally is someone who stand up for, support, and encourage this community and try to make the world better place for the people of this community

We have to help, improve their quality of life in any way possible for us…

Lets free flow of colours on to the regular restricted repetitive patterns of society to make it beautiful for everyone……..

Media, Disability & COVID-19

According to United Nations, about 1 billion people all over the world come under the category of “disabled” and that is 15% of the global population. Now, the question is, shall we as a society neglect 15% people in the world just because they happen to be in minority?

Media being one of the crucial facets of society has a major role to play when it comes to disseminating information and making people aware about significant and ignored issues. Now, let us go through what media has done to represent people with disabilities and their issue since the beginning of the pandemic.

1) Disability and Broadcast Media


A Look: Public Broadcasters of various countries

In 2020, the World Federation of the Deaf noted that 80 governments in the world have been providing sign language interpretations while Covid-19 press briefings.

For example, in order to curb Covid-19 pandemic, South Korean government aimed to strengthen the ways disabled people could be informed during the pandemic and other related disasters. The country’s public broadcaster KBS during the pandemic announced that it would work to expand the reach of information in its disaster countries. During the pandemic, the public radio in the country had continued to provide programmes dedicated to disabled community with daily news and health updates and general life advice.

When it comes to India’s public television broadcaster Doordarshan and public radio-All India Radio, very minimal representation of disabled community took place during the pandemic. Even though the objective of the these broadcasters is social welfare, disabled community was one of the most ignored ones as “no special programmes” were held for this community, nor was their issue highlighted specifically anywhere. News Bulletins with sign language were held for the disabled community though. More has to be done to ensure social inclusion of all communities including the disabled ones.

Private Broadcasters: nothing matters, but profits!

Media all over the world, including the Indian ones either portray disabled people as “nothing” or “everything” and both of them are dangerous. In 2019, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in India directed the private channels to include special schemes for disabled community. Although some channels have started news bulletins for disable people but there was almost equal to zero representation of the disabled community during the pandemic.

There should be open space for the disabled community such as they should be invited for panel discussions and debates relating to different happenings in the world from politics to entertainment and like.

Digital Media: A hope in every way!

This is probably the best when it comes to serving and representing the disabled community during the pandemic. Digital and online media were the perfect mediums through which disabled people got proper spaces to talk about the issues they were facing during the pandemic.

One of the online apps called “News Hook” became increasingly popular among the disabled audience which used sign language specifically for the audience with hearing impairment. It covered headlines relating to technology, politics, entertainment, business and sports during the pandemic. It should also be noted that 65% of the staff here were from the disabled community.

Moreover, web portals of Indian Newspapers like The Indian Express and The Business Standards and many more gave enough of space to the disabled people so that they can talk freely about the issues they faced during the lockdowns.

The same above mentioned media channels also used platforms like YouTube to sensitise the audiences regarding the hindrances faced by the disabled community. Some reporters and even famous YouTube personalities covered the terrible times disabled people in India went through during the pandemic.

It should also be noted that online media was comfortable for disabled people as well as the medium is now more easily accessible with good quality content and also because of its low price rates.

Media, especially the mainstream media should be more responsible and sensitive in dealing with issues relating to the disabled community. More representation about the disabled community should take place in the mainstream media. Disabled people “aren’t incapable” and therefore they should be given proper employment in the media. They should be engaged and involved in live discussions and debates. Together, as society which includes the media we should create an environment which is inclusive, anti- discriminatory and diverse.