All posts by Nivedita Menon

Culture

Chhota Bheem – Anachronisms, Prejudice & Xenophobia: Sivakumar Radhakrishnan

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Guest Post by SIVAKUMAR RADHAKRISHNAN

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The Chhota Bheem television series, highly popular among the nation’s children and also among many adults, is telecast daily in many Indian languages. The program is a long running show of many years and has its viewership in millions. Its popularity is evident from the fact that other children’s programs and advertisements are churned out from it.

The series evokes interest mainly by its plot, which is almost similar for every episode.  Also the plot is a simple one, where a cute city-state is ruled by a king, with his daughter, a princess of tender years. The king resides in a citadel atop a pretty hill.  The citizens are generally good natured.  A group of kids is shown playing in the countryside, of which the most smart and attractive is Chhota Bheem. He is assisted by a few other kids and a little talking monkey. Suddenly, evil people with sinister designs will start disturbing the peaceful city state of Dholakpur. The king will be found helpless in dealing them. At the right juncture, will enter the little Chhota Bheem and with his might, he will clear the evil elements from Dholakpur. Thus, Chhota Bheem saves the kingdom and the king at the right time. The citizens will celebrate him and continue to be happy thereafter. What could possibly be wrong with such a simple, evil-defeating, goodness-forging narrative?

Continue reading Chhota Bheem – Anachronisms, Prejudice & Xenophobia: Sivakumar Radhakrishnan →

Education, Feminism, Genders

NOT IN OUR NAME : JNU faculty for a gender-just campus

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We the undersigned teachers of Jawaharlal Nehru University, and members of the JNU Teachers Association, hereby assert that in keeping with the best traditions of teacher politics of this university, we are committed to a gender-sensitive and gender-just university campus. This political understanding contributed to the formation of the GSCASH, and it is this politics that guides us to raise our voices AGAINST the current scenario in which:

  • Conduct of some teachers and officials does not recognise that each incident of sexual harassment results in violation of the fundamental rights of ‘gender equality’ and the ‘right of life and liberty’, wherein right to life means life with dignity.
  • University body decisions set up defendants’ representations as the benchmark against which the enquiry reports of GSCASH are to be judged, when in fact GSCASH is the sole inquiring authority into complaints of gender violence, as designated by the law of the land and the regulations of the University.
  • Confidentiality with regards to complaints enquired into by the GSCASH is blatantly violated by some teacher representatives.
  • Some teacher representatives assume that a ‘struggle for the rights of teachers’ can entail victim blaming and defamation of complainants.
  • Persons charged with (or found guilty of) sexual harassment/violence serve in statutory bodies and as teacher representatives.
  • The processes of GSCASH are perverted by some teachers’ campaigns on unfounded allegations of procedural infirmity.
  • The evaluation of a GSCASH enquiry report is done by persons not bound by the oath of confidentiality and impartiality.
  • The integrity of members of GSCASH is put on public trial in the name of guaranteeing the ‘principles of natural justice’ to defendants.

We stand FOR a campus atmosphere in which the health, and freedom of complainants is always primary and the fundamental rights guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution ‘to carry on any occupation, trade or profession’ are realised through the provision of a “safe” working environment for all.

Ayesha Kidwai                        

Brinda Bose                            

Chirashree Dasgupta   

Chitra Harshvardhan              

G. Arunima                              

Janaki Nair                    

Madhu Sahni                           

Mohan Rao                    

Mohinder Singh

Nilika Mehrotra                        

Nivedita Menon             

Parnal Chirmuley

Pratiksha Baxi                         

Ranjani Mazumdar                  

Rohit                    

Shambhavi Prakash               

Shankari Sundararaman        

Shukla Sawant

Surajit Mazumdar                    

Tiplut Nongbri                         

Urmimala Sarkar

Vikas Bajpai                  

Government, Politics

Statement on the Order of the High Court of Meghalaya on the AFSPA

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This statement has been sent out by TARUN BHARTIYA, PRASHANT BHUSHAN, ARUNA ROY AND NIKHIL DEY  for endorsements. Please send your endorsements by tonight (November 24, 2015) to arunaroy@gmail.com

In a recent order, the High Court of Meghalaya has made a suo motu suggestion to the Central Government for the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, in the Garo Hills area. It is shocking and deeply disturbing that a draconian law like the AFSPA is being sought to be imposed through a judicial fiat. The order is completely devoid of any kind of legal reasoning and is based on the lay impressions of the bench.
 
 
See below a statement which carries our objections to this order. We want you to also consider lending your name to the statement. As the statement is being released to the press tomorrow, we will request you to send in your endorsement by tonight. Please do circulate the statement widely for endorsements.
Text of Statement

In a recent order, the High Court of Meghalaya has found it fit “to direct the Central Government to consider the use of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, in the Garo Hills area”[1]. We are deeply troubled by this order for several reasons.

Continue reading Statement on the Order of the High Court of Meghalaya on the AFSPA →

Bad ideas, Right watch

Vande Mataram?

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jaipur-cow-759

An art installation ‘The Bovine Divine’ by artists Anish Ahluwalia and Chintan Upadhyay was taken down by the police at Jaipur Art Summit

The artists were taken to the police station and held for two hours.

[Correction: The art work was by Siddhartha Kararwal. Anish and Chintan are Sandarbh coordinators. But they were the ones talking to the cops and who were eventually taken to the police station.]

After the cow made of styrofoam was taken down, it was “worshipped and garlanded by a group of protesters”.

While the artists said they wanted to show what eating plastic does to cows, the SHO of Bajaj Nagar Police Station, Mahendra Gupta, was deeply disapproving.

“The way the cow was hanging in the air”, he reportedly frowned, “it was only sending a negative message.”

Read the full story at Indian Express.

Education, Government

Educationists and women’s rights activists oppose closure of Mahila Samakhya

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Received via KALYANI MENON-SEN

Women’s rights activists, researchers, academics and scholars have written to the Minister of HRD against the government’s reported move to close the Mahila Samakhya programme. The letter, written in the backdrop of the announcement that the programme would not be funded after 31 March 2016 and a reported move to merge it with the National Rural Livelihoods Mission,  urges the government to retain the autonomy and unique character of this globally lauded programme.

The signatories to the letter include several individuals who have contributed significantly in building an inclusive policy framework and enabling public environment for gender equality in education, who have spoken eloquently of how they have been enriched through their association with  Mahila Samakhya.

Continue reading Educationists and women’s rights activists oppose closure of Mahila Samakhya →

Culture, Identities, Politics

Jain Tandoori – When the State Chickens Out: Gita Jayaraj

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Guest post by GITA JAYARAJ

New shocks seem to await non-vegetarians almost daily, now. At a popular supermarket chain in Besant Nagar, one of the go-to places in namma Chennai, there seems nothing unusual on the evening of November 11. The floor is littered with stuff as the young shop assistants squat in the narrow aisles trying to stack the packets on the shelves; or laze in small clusters discussing workplace politics, oblivious of the customers milling around.

Seems like a normal evening. Heading towards the billing counter, I decide at the last minute to pick up some chicken. The young girl at the fresh-ground coffee counter, next to the fresh chicken refrigerator, giggles nervously as I open it. “Sale of chicken not permitted today madam”, she tells me hesitantly in Tamil. I am puzzled, has the beef ban in some states been extended to cover chicken as well in all states? Continue reading Jain Tandoori – When the State Chickens Out: Gita Jayaraj →

Politics, Right watch

Modi Not Welcome!

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Modi-House-of-Commons

At 9 p.m. on Sunday, Nov 8, 2015, a massive projection of Narendra Modi holding a sword in one hand and a shield with the Oum symbol with a swastika superimposed appeared on the Houses of Parliament next to the iconic Big Ben. Above it were the words Modi Not Welcome. It was the most high profile message from the campaigners of the Modi Not Welcome organisations which have come together as the Awaaz Network.

Read full report in Caravan Daily News.

Everyday Life

Tribute to Priya Thangarajah

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This tribute to Priya Thangarajah, well known in queer feminist, democratic rights and academic circles in India and Sri Lanka, comes from her friends in Law and Social Sciences Research Network. Priya has written on Kafila too, and was a good friend to many of us. We will remember her incredible energy and inspiring presence.

Priya in JNU

We are heartbroken to share with you that Priyadarshini Thangarajah, to her friends Priya or Thanga, passed away on 4 November 2015 in Colombo. It is hard to think of Priya in the past tense—she was always brimming with life, laughter and love. Each LASS conversation was all the more special, brilliant and spirited solely because of Priya. 

Priya graduated from the National Law School University of India, Bangalore, India, in the summer of 2010. As an aspiring young lawyer, who took the bar examination, Priya wanted to challenge the estranged relationship between law and justice by becoming a magistrate. In 2014-15, Priya was a fulbright scholar and completed her LLM at Georgetown University. Priya worked with different organisations based in Sri Lanka and India on issues of gender, sexuality, violence and human rights. However, her passion for law and legal research was shaped through years of association with the Law and Society Trust in Colombo; and later her work at the Alternative Law Forum at Bangalore.  Continue reading Tribute to Priya Thangarajah →

Everyday Life, Law

Aadhar Card- is it an intrusion into privacy? Mrinal Sharma

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Guest Post by MRINAL SHARMA

The Supreme Court passed an order dated 11th August 2015 declaring that it is not mandatory for the citizens to obtain Unique Identity Number popularly known as Aadhar Card. This order was passed in the light of the petitions which arose against the interim orderpassed by the Supreme Court in September 2013, which stated that ‘no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card in spite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory.’ The petitioners contended that the Aadhar Card scheme involved collection of personal information of the citizens including fingerprints and iris scan, which is capable of being misused. Though the Apex Court’s order declared that the production of Aadhar card is not necessary to draw benefits vested to the citizens (except for getting PDS, kerosene and LPG distribution) butthe court didn’t answer two crucial questions involved in the matter at hand, which it referred to a larger bench of at least 5 judges to decide. One, whether the information collected under this scheme invades person’s right to privacy and two, whether right to privacy is a fundamental right? However judgment of the larger bench is still awaited, I would like to address the two issues that are posted to the larger bench. Continue reading Aadhar Card- is it an intrusion into privacy? Mrinal Sharma →

Culture, Debates, Right watch

जो पहले नहीं हुआ: किशोर कुमार

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Guest Post by KISHORE KUMAR

लगभग चालीस लेखकों के पुरुस्कार लौटाने के बाद अब फिल्म निर्देशकों ने भी पुरुस्कार लौटने शुरू कर दिए. यह पुरुस्कार बढती असहनशीलता और अभिव्यक्ति की स्वंत्रता के दमन के विरोध में लौटाए जा रहे हैं.

बी.जे.पी की राय में यह राजनीति से प्रेरित कदम है और यह सब बी.जे.पी के खिलाफ हो रही साजिश का हिस्सा है. बी.जे.पी के अनुसार आज कुछ ऐसा नया नहीं हुआ जो पहले ना हुआ हो और इन लोगों ने उस समय यह पुरूस्कार वापस क्यों नहीं लौटाए? बी.जे.पी. के अनुसार पुरुस्कार लौटना छदम धर्मनिरपेक्ष लोगों का नाटक है और  असहनशीलता इतनी नहीं बढ़ी और माहौल इतना ख़राब नहीं हुआ कि इतना शोर मचाया जाए. Continue reading जो पहले नहीं हुआ: किशोर कुमार →

Bad ideas, Right watch

My name is Ajmal: Ajmal Khan A.T.

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Guest Post by AJMAL KHAN A.T.

What is your name?

Ajmal,

Ohh…Ajmal Kasab?

No, I smile.

This is a familiar exchange for me, not to mention my friends often  calling out to me,  hey, Kasab!

I noticed this started  in Mumbai post 26/11, of course.

But there are other instances.  Once, while I was traveling by train from Mumbai to Kerala, a man who was in his mid 50s with whom I was sharing a seat, asked while I was about to get down at the Calicut railway station, ‘boy what is your name?’ I replied – my name is Ajmal. A cute little boy, around 9 years old, who was traveling with him, responded with  Ajmal Kasab?

I somehow managed to smile and say, no my dear. I got down at my station. Continue reading My name is Ajmal: Ajmal Khan A.T. →

Debates, Everyday Life, Mirror Worlds, Politics

Can accessibility alone create an inclusive society for persons with disability? Tony Kurian

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Guest Post by TONY KURIAN

Amidst the noisy campaigns of “Make In India and Digital India”, a campaign called “Accessible India” was launched by the Central Government recently and unsurprisingly this did not catch much media attention. Department of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has launched the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), as a nation-wide flagship campaign for achieving universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities.

The campaign is an extremely welcome initiative in a country like India which is home to more than 2.1 million officiallyrecognized disabled and a lot more who are not counted by the decadal exercise of census. While the campaign disserves much appreciation, it offers an appropriate opportunity for us to rethink some of our common sense, or at least that of majority about disability and disabled. Continue reading Can accessibility alone create an inclusive society for persons with disability? Tony Kurian →

Culture, Politics

Sursuri: Swaang

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SWAANG is a Mumbai based cultural group, whose members include actors, writers, directors, singers and composers primarily working with the Hindi Film Industry in Mumbai. The members come from different parts of India and have been associated with progressive arts in the past.

Sursuri, their melodious new song, its melody in stark contrast to the bitterness of the lyrics, reflects on the indifference to growing injustice and intolerance in our country. It asks – What do you do when freedom, pluralism and rationalism are under relentless attack? Relax, don’t speak up, slurp up that hot tingling tea…and fall asleep.

Countryside, Debates, Politics, Right watch

Why the Ban on Cow Slaughter is not Just Anti-Farmer but Anti-Cow as Well: Sagari R Ramdas

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SAGARI R. RAMDAS writes in The Wire:

The recent killings of Mohammad Akhlaq, Noman and Zahid Ahmad Bhatt on the claim that they were slaughtering cows is not only an attack on the right to life, livelihood and diverse food cultures but an assault on the entire agrarian economy.

The cynical fetishisation of cows by Hindutva politicians is not only profoundly anti-farmer but, paradoxically, also anti-cow.

What these bigots fail to realise is that the cow will survive only if there are pro-active measures to support multiple-produce based cattle production systems, where animals have economic roles. The system must produce a combination of milk, beef, draught work, manure and hide, as has been the case in the rain-fed food farming agriculture systems of the sub-continent over the centuries.

In meat production systems – whether meat from cattle, buffaloes, sheep, goat, pigs or poultry – it is the female which is reared carefully in large numbers to reproduce future generations, and the male that goes to slaughter. It is only the sick, old, infertile and non-lactating female that is sold for slaughter. In every society where beef consumption is not politicised, farmers known that eating the female bovine as a primary source of meat will compromise future production, and hence they are rarely consumed.

Read the rest of this article here.

Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life

The meaning of the sports bicycle: Sanjay Srivastava

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Guest post by SANJAY SRIVASTAVA

Our public life is full of vacuous gestures that seek to define public good. The rise of the elite-class bicycle as a symbol of mass welfare is the latest in the addled and self-serving history of ‘ordinariness’ in the republic.

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TOI photo: Sanjay Sekhri

Over the past few years, the sports bicycle with bells and whistles and its rider whose riding gear might cost more than a month’s salary paid to a professional car driver have become icons of an urban renewal movement. We so perfectly walk in the footsteps of meanings borrowed from elsewhere that we erase our own imprints. Does the fancy bicycle – the kind sported by Arvind Kejriwal in his Dussehra Car Free Day  ride in Delhi —  hold the key to a improved urban environment characterised by reduced pollution levels and, more importantly, ease of access for the city’s most disadvantaged populations? Far from it. For, even our gimmicks are of the cruellest kind.

Continue reading The meaning of the sports bicycle: Sanjay Srivastava →

Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Protest the communally motivated murder of Yakub Shaikh in Mumbai!

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A CALL FOR PROTEST on 29th October 2015 outside Toyota Shinrai, Cotton Green, Mumbai.

On 29th September at 2:30 pm,  a day after Dadri lynching in Uttar Pradesh, Yakub Shaikh, a worker at the Toyota Shinrai workshop cum showroom at Cotton Green, Mumbai, was brutally murdered at his workplace. The murder took place as a result of some of his co-workers forcefully inserting an air pipe at 140 PSI pressure into his rectum. His organs burst open leading to what must have been a painful but instant death. The gruesome `lynching’ was sought to be suppressed by the management and co-employees at the showroom.

His family was misinformed throughout, the various versions of the death being told  to them as “heart attack”, food poisoning, medicine overdose and finally “a prank”, by the company and police. The two CCTV cameras covering the spot of murder were reported by the Toyota Shinrai management to police as having been out of service for months, whereas a close inspection shows that they have been tampered with and damaged very recently. Clearly there seems to be an unholy nexus between the police and the Toyota company.

The police have recorded the statement of an 18-year old temporary worker as the complainant and registered an FIR in his name. Why wasn’t the  management made the complainant? In a large workplace where 40-50 people work, why were the statements of co workers not recorded? The single witness / complainant is likely to  turn hostile at any moment. Why have the police refused to accept the version from the victim’s family? Why has the management given different versions of the death to the family? Why the management wanted to give a false story of heart attack, and why the police ACP was trying to do a negotiation for 3 lakhs? Why was there a delay in doing post mortem? The management’ s false heart attack story and the delay in deciding on post mortem itself warranted demand for charging/implicating the management in covering-up/destroying evidence, if not conspiracy with the murderers.  Does not a single arrest to such a gruesome murder point to a conspiracy and a deliberate attempt by the police to shield the Toyota Company and the other accomplices to the murder? Throughout, the police have taken every possible step to silence the victim’s family.

A fact-finding team of lawyers and activists from various organizations have submitted a report after their own investigation that a minimum of 5-6 people were involved in pinning down Yakub Shaikh and inserting the air pipe into his rectum. It is clearly a case of pre-planned murder. The murder also happened a day after the Dadri lynching soon after Eid and Yakub Shaikh had been threatened for having eaten `meat’.

A month after the murder of Yakub Shaikh, the police and management are singing in chorus that Yakub was killed because of a prank that misfired. We concerned citizens strongly condemn the murder and demand that the officials of Toyota Shinrai showroom along with the employees responsible for the murder be booked and justice be given to the family of Yakub Shaikh.

We appeal  to all democratic citizens, trade unionists and secular activists to gather in large numbers at 5 pm on Thursday, 29th October . We will gather at Lal Maidan and from there we will proceed to Toyota Shinrai as a sign of protest against the gruesome murder of Yakub Shaikh to demand justice for the victim and his family.

CPDR, BBA, JKA and concerned citizens.

Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life, Violence/Conflict

Remove ban on food items like beef and meat

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Sign the petition posted at Change.org by SANKET CHHABRA

I am a Jain vegetarian person, but moreover I am a supporter of free will! It started with the ban of beef in Maharashtra, but now it’s spreading, I know the government means respect for the Jain community, but if they are banning meat during our festival, should’t it also force us to eat meat during the celebration of Id, all I am asking for is for everyone to choose what they want to eat and whenever they want it! I call for support for this petition as I do not want the people of a DEMOCRATIC country to be forced into doing something they don’t believe in! Thank You to all the Governments for the respect you have given this small community of ours, but please don’t force the people with different beliefs to do the same!

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Education, Movements, Politics

Statement of outrage against police crackdown on students at #Occupy UGC: Faculty Feminist Collective, JNU

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The Faculty Feminist Collective of JNU stands in solidarity with the students protesting the revocation/review of the UGC non-NET fellowship. We are outraged at the brutal police action against students gathered in a protest demonstration since yesterday, without a single convincing response from the UGC or the MHRD that could allay the anxieties of thousands of students across India that the non-NET fellowship will not be discontinued. Prevarication on this basic demand by press releases announcing the setting up of a review committee has only indicated a malafide intent.

We are deeply dismayed to hear of the reports of significant injuries to unarmed protestors and the detention of a number of students by the police until late last night.

The MHRD Minister and the UGC Chairperson should understand that the situation can only be defused by their unequivocal assurance to the academic community that there shall be no rollback or any other amendment of the eligibility of students for the UGC Non-NET Fellowship scheme for the universities that are already in receipt of these fellowships in this or future academic years.

Furthermore, it should take positive and visible steps to meet students’ demands for an enhancement of fellowship remuneration and undertake to extend this fellowship scheme to state universities as well.

Education is a right, not a privilege, and as members of the academic community, we will resist all moves to subvert this basic understanding.

We fully endorse the JNUSU’s call for a strike, and in protest at state action and in solidarity with students, we will not be taking classes today.

The students have returned to UGC. Let us assemble there to show that we stand with them.

Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

When I see them, I see us

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Received via LINDA GORDON

Produced by Black Palestinian Solidarity

Education, Movements, Right watch

Statement From Teachers And Researchers In Support Of ‘Occupy UGC’ in Delhi

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Statement in support of students protesting against the UGC’s proposal to scrap the Non-NET fellowship for research scholars, and in condemnation of the police crackdown on agitating students in Delhi on October 23, 2015

This is to express our complete solidarity with, and extend our full support to, students from universities across Delhi as well as other locations in the country who are protesting against the UGC’s decision to scrap Non-NET Fellowships for MPhil and PhD research scholars, and demanding an increase in the fellowship amounts. In particular, we condemn strongly the violent police action upon the peacefully protesting students on October 23, 2015, after the students had spent close to 48 hours in a sit-in at the UGC office in New Delhi protesting the failure of  the UGC authorities to extend a hearing to their grievances. We are shocked by the rapid escalation in aggression demonstrated by the UGC authorities against the students. At 6 am on Friday, 23rd October, about a hundred protesting students were forcefully evicted from the UGC premises and taken across the city to be detained for one whole day in the police station at C block, Rajiv Nagar, Bhalaswa Dairy.

As pressure from students and the public mounted, the police were obliged to let the students go at the end of the day. Meanwhile at the UGC a police lathi-charge grievously injured students who had gathered again to protest there, and from reports at least two students needed to be hospitalized. Continue reading Statement From Teachers And Researchers In Support Of ‘Occupy UGC’ in Delhi →

Education, Movements

Statement from South African academics supporting Student Struggle in South Africa

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Statement posted on Amandla.mobi

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Statement to Vice-Chancellors, Minister of Higher Education & Training, Blade Nzimande, and the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene.

We the undersigned, as academics in South African institutions of higher education, and allies in South Africa and overseas, stand with students in their fight for the democratisation of our universities. The current student protests that have erupted across the country are historic. They demonstrate a younger generation willing to take up the struggle against inequality, and to insist on the principle of education for all. Our students are leading the national debate on education, and we insist that they deserve our respect and attention.

We have witnessed students act with extraordinary discipline, tactical skill and moral purpose. This commitment and self-control has gone unseen by many university managers, government leaders and the media who have misrepresented students as uninformed, irresponsible or irrational. Protesting students have faced and overcome potentially divisive tensions within their ranks, and have shown maturity in their intellectual arguments and political interventions. Above all, they have required us to confront a grievous national problem: the persistent exclusion of those who are black and poor from higher education, and from the opportunities that higher education makes possible. Continue reading Statement from South African academics supporting Student Struggle in South Africa →