Bad ideas, Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life, Identities

गयी भैंस पानी में…. : दाराब फ़ारूक़ी

4 Comments

Guest post by DARAB FAROOQUI

जी हाँ मैं भैंस हूँ और करीब 5000 साल से लगातार पानी में जा रही हूँ. जब भी किसी का कुछ भी बुरा हो रहा होता है तो हमेशा मुझे ही पानी में जाना पड़ता है. ना उस वक़्त मेरे नहाने की इच्छा होती और ना तैरने का मन. पर मुझे ना चाहते हुवे भी पानी में जाना पड़ता है.

तुम लोग कभी उस सफ़ेदमूही गाय को पानी में क्यों नहीं भेजते हो. और वैसे भी हम अल्पसंख्य हैं, हमसे कहीं ज्यादा गायें हैं भारत में. और शायद तुम्हे याद न हो, हमारे संविधान में सब बराबर हैं. पर इतना सब कुछ करने के बाद भी तुम लोगों ने हमें कभी अपना नहीं समझा. हमने क्या नहीं किया तुम्हारे लिये, तुम्हे अपने बच्चों का दूध दिया, तुम्हारे खेत जोते, तुम्हारे चूल्हे जलाये. कितने बलिदान दिए हमने पर तुम्हारे तो कान पर भैंस तक नहीं रेंगी.

सबसे पहला बटर पनीर किसके दूध का बना था? हमारे दूध का, पंजाब में हम ही हैं. और वो जो तुम हमेशा पंजाबी ढाबे पे खाने की रट लगाये रहते हो वहां जाके पूछना, उस खाने का स्वाद कहाँ से आता है? हमारे दूध के असली घी से. चले हैं बड़े गाय की पैरवी करने. कभी अच्छे वक़्त पर हमें याद मत करना. पर जब भी किसी का कुछ बुरा हो, चाहे हम सोती हों या जगती, चाहे हम खाती हों या पीती, हमें ही पानी में भेज देना. तुम्हारे बाप का राज है ना, सरकार तुम्हारी, तुम माई बाप हो, हम तो जानवर हैं. किसी ने सही कहा है जिसकी लाठी उसी की भैंस. Continue reading गयी भैंस पानी में…. : दाराब फ़ारूक़ी →

Politics, Right watch

Free to question India’s imperfections: Laila Tyabji

5 Comments

LAILA TYABJI in The Business Standard

Never in my 68 years have I thought for even a milli-second of living anywhere else except India. Not even when, in the wake of the Ayodhya agitation, I received a stream of poisonous hate mails and a packet of turds (in a mithai box!!) I love the multilayered multiplicity of India, its synergies & paradoxes, its many diverging & converging cultural streams, its colour & chaos, the hit-and-miss judaad of past and present, malls and mandirs, East and West; its unexpected but inherent certainties…. In any case, good or bad, it is MY country.

So it feels strange to be told, when I critically question any aspect, that I should go live somewhere else – Pakistan for instance. I am utterly amazed that Aamir Khan’s confession of momentary vulnerability should be termed a “moral offence” by no less a person than MJ Akbar! I used to so admire the reasoned clarity of his writing.

I have always over-used adjectives. My English teacher would red-pencil an acerbic commentary. A rebuke I secretly courted was “oxymoron”. I loved its sound as well as its meaning – two adjectives contradicting each other.

These days I am being turned into an oxymoron myself! “Indian Muslim” is an identity increasingly open to suspicion by self-proclaimed ‘patriots’; one’s own patriotism needing constant justification plus a certificate that one doesn’t eat beef or critique the nation. That a well-known Sadhvi can dub Shahrukh Khan a Pakistani agent and not be arrested for libel, instead accruing a trail of approving social media comments, or the Culture Minister awards A P J Abdul Kalam the accolade of being a good man “despite being a Muslim” is not exactly a comfortable feeling. That someone can be lynched to death for having meat in his fridge is even more eery. Continue reading Free to question India’s imperfections: Laila Tyabji →

Culture

Chhota Bheem – Anachronisms, Prejudice & Xenophobia: Sivakumar Radhakrishnan

8 Comments

Guest Post by SIVAKUMAR RADHAKRISHNAN

download (1)

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 →

Bad ideas, Culture, Government, Identities

Silencing Caste, Sanitising Oppression – Understanding Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

4 Comments

The Hindu notions of purity and pollution, inextricably linked with the caste system and the practice of untouchability, underlie the unsanitary practices in Indian society. These beliefs perpetuate the oppression of the “polluted castes,” who are forced to undertake manual scavenging, unclog manholes and clean other people’s filth. The availability of cheap Dalit labour to do these dehumanising jobs can be cited as one of the reasons why development of toilet facilities and a modern garbage and sewage management system have been neglected so far. As long as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan attempts to delink the relationship between caste and sanitation, its lofty goal of cleaning India will remain unachievable.

(Read the full text here http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2015_50/44/Silencing_Caste_Sanitising_Oppression.pdf)

Bad ideas, Everyday Life, Government, Law

Happy Constitution Day. Yet, India is where some are forced to eat cow dung

1 Comment

(First published in http://www.catchnews.com)

pic

Mujadpur, a village in Haryana’s Hisar district,  which has been in the news recently for what the government  lexicon calls ‘dalit atrocities’, involving murders and ‘suicides’.

Recently, it was hit by another such incident, albeit of a less fatal nature: Members of the Jat community thrashed a dalit man called Ramdhari and his family members and stuffed cow dung in his mouth. Reportedly, Ramdhari installed a statue of BR Ambedkar in his house and that provoked the upper caste Jats.

The irony of this cannot be emphasised enough.

One does not know whether in an area dominated by the Jats, Ramdhari’s perpetrators have been arrested under provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act (1989) or not.

Or has the incident been explained away in the light of some vague personal animosity, which is what happened when two children in Sunped were recently killed by throwing of inflammable material in their house by dominant castes.

As the nation begins another series of grand celebrations, this time to celebrate the contributions of BR Ambedkar, the plight of a dalit family for merely installing his statue stares at us in our eyes. It is symptomatic of the gap between the principles and values on which the Constitution is based and the situation on the ground.

Read the full text of the article here. 

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Feminism, Identities

നഹാസ് മാളയ്ക്കു മറുപടി

Leave a comment

ആദരണീയ നഹാസ് മാള

താങ്കളുടെ മറുപടി വായിച്ചു, സന്തോഷമുണ്ട്. അത് കാഫിലയിൽ പോസ്റ്റ് ചെയ്യുന്നില്ല. മറിച്ച്, ആ കത്ത് ഉണർത്തിവിടുന്ന ചില ചിന്തകൾ പങ്കുവയ്ക്കാൻ ഈ ഇടം പ്രയോജനപ്പെടുത്തുന്നു. Continue reading നഹാസ് മാളയ്ക്കു മറുപടി →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Countryside, Government, Images, Politics

Not a model victory: Tom Thomas

2 Comments

This is a GUEST POST by TOM THOMAS

Winning 17 out of 19 seats in a panchayat election by candidates fielded by a corporate entity is definitely hot news, even more so when it is using the mandated CSR spend to woo the voters. And it is a first for the country. The company in question,Kitex Group, is a textile major with interests ranging from apparel to spices, employing approximately 15,000 people. It has an annual turnover of more than Rs 1,000 crore and is located in KizhakambalamPanchayat, about 30 km from Kochi, the commercial hub of Kerala. Continue reading Not a model victory: Tom Thomas →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Feminism, Genders, Identities

Save Yo Drama for Yo Mama :യഥാർത്ഥരക്ഷകർത്താക്കളോട് കലിപ്പ് തീർത്തുകൊള്ളുക

Leave a comment

എസ് ഐ ഒ നേതാവിനോട് ഒരു ചോദ്യം ചോദിച്ചതും, അതാ ‘നിങ്ങളുടെ രക്ഷാകർതൃത്വം ഞങ്ങൾക്കാവശ്യമില്ല‘ എന്ന ആക്രോശം മുസ്ലിം റാഡിക്കൽ സ്ത്രീപുരുഷ ആക്ടിവിസ്റ്റുകളിൽ നിന്നുമുണ്ടായിരുക്കുന്നു. അവരുടെ കൂക്കിവിളിക്ക് ആക്കം കൂട്ടാൻ ചില ദലിത് സിംഹങ്ങളും സട കുടഞ്ഞെഴുന്നേറ്റിരിക്കുന്നു. അവരുടെ തന്ത്രങ്ങൾ പരിചിതങ്ങളാണ് – മുൻപ് ചുംബനസമരം നടന്ന സമയത്ത് പയറ്റിയ ചില അടവുകളാണ് അവ. എന്നെ ‘അധികാരത്തെ മോശമായി പ്രയോഗിക്കുന്ന പവർഫുൾ സ്ത്രീ’ എന്നും, ഷാഹിനയെ ‘ചീത്ത മുസ്ലിം’ എന്നും, അരുന്ധതിയെ ‘സവർണ്ണസ്ത്രീശരീര’മെന്നുമൊക്കെ ആദ്യമായല്ല മുദ്രകുത്തുന്നത്. അങ്ങനെ ചെയ്താൽ ഞങ്ങൾ പറയുന്നതു മുഴുവൻ തെറ്റാണെന്ന് മറ്റുള്ളവർ ധരിച്ചുകൊള്ളുമെന്ന ശുദ്ധഗതി കലർന്ന പ്രത്യാശയിലാണ് ഇതു ചെയ്തു കൂട്ടുന്നത്. മുസ്ലിം സമുദായത്തെ ചില വാർപ്പു മാതൃകകളിലേക്കു ചുരുക്കുന്ന രീതി സ്വീകാര്യമല്ലെന്ന് വാതോരാതെ കരയുന്നവർ തന്നെയാണ് ഈ പണി ചെയ്യുന്നതെന്നത് തീർച്ചയായും കൌതുകകരം തന്നെ. Continue reading Save Yo Drama for Yo Mama :യഥാർത്ഥരക്ഷകർത്താക്കളോട് കലിപ്പ് തീർത്തുകൊള്ളുക →

Bad ideas

React To The Savagery in West Bengal

2 Comments

Is there a level of political violence that a state must reach before it becomes national news? If not, what explains the country’s stony silence to the savagery in West Bengal?

The state has been plunging deeper and deeper into the abyss of political violence, while the ruling deity of the cult moves around the country with tolerance, peace and democracy on her lips. It is nearing that point from where there may be no return. And yet all it elicits is unconcern.

What happened to Dhiren Let, a former four-time MLA of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in Mayureshwar in Bibhum district on Saturday should have been on the front page of all the national dailies. It, however, found place in only The Telegraph. Continue reading React To The Savagery in West Bengal →

Education, Feminism, Genders

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

Leave a comment

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

6 Comments

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, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Excavation, Identities, Images, Language, Media politics, Metropolis, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Politics, Scams, Violence/Conflict

Of Flags and Fetishes – The Paris Attacks and A Misplaced Politics of Solidarity: Debaditya Bhattacharya

Leave a comment

This is a guest post by DEBADITYA BHATTACHARYA

Megan Garber’s article ‘#PrayForParis: When Empathy Becomes a Meme’, published in The Atlantic (November 16, 2015) has claimed that Paris hashtags and French flag filters on Facebook make for an “act of mass compassion” – a “compassion that has been converted, via the Internet’s alchemy, into political messaging”.

flag filter2

I have absolutely no problems with flag filters on Facebook. Or for that matter, profile-picture revolutions that happen all too often. I’m not, in the least bit indignant about such a competitive exhibitionism of feeling – indexed through a currency of memes and emoticons. In an age of such mass-production of violence (‘terroristic’ or ‘humanitarian’), it is no surprise that the event of mourning must become a symptom of the incompatibility between ‘act’ and ‘response’.

A funereal Facebook must therefore bleed profile pictures, because that seems the only charter of our most intimate emotions. We naturally do not care if Facebook is using the Paris tragedy as a marketing platform, as long as it helps us reclaim a deeply ‘personal’ angst in the face of more-than-a-hundred ‘spectacular’ deaths.

Continue reading Of Flags and Fetishes – The Paris Attacks and A Misplaced Politics of Solidarity: Debaditya Bhattacharya →

Bad ideas, Politics, Right watch

Davids Versus Goliath – How Yogi Adityanath had to ‘Go Back’ to …..(err not Pakistan but) Gorakhpur

3 Comments

Displaying IMG_20151119_172721574.jpgDisplaying IMG_20151119_172721574.jpgThe Pandal was ready.

The Sainiks with their saffron bandanas  – who were scattered here and there – were eagerly waiting to listen to another fiery call from their Senapati.

Time was already running out but the ‘Star Speaker’ was nowhere to be seen.

Little did they knew that their Senapati had already made an about turn and was headed back home as the district administration had ‘advised’ him against entering the district and was told that he would face ‘legal action if he dares to do so.’

For Yogi Adityanath, the firebrand MP of BJP, who is widely known for his controversial statements as well as  acts and who every other day asks dissenters to ‘go to Pakistan’ , it was his comeuppance moment when he was rather forced to ‘go back’ to Gorakhpur. And all his plans to be the star speaker at the inaugural function of Students Union of Allahabad University – once called ‘Oxford of the East’ – lay shattered. Continue reading Davids Versus Goliath – How Yogi Adityanath had to ‘Go Back’ to …..(err not Pakistan but) Gorakhpur →

Bad ideas

बिहार के जनादेश को लालू प्रसाद का पहला तमाचा

2 Comments

दो वर्ष पहले लालू प्रसाद के दल के एक नेता ने पटना से दिल्ली की एक रेल यात्रा के दौरान मुझे बताया था कि लालू प्रसाद के पारिवारिक समीकरण के जाल में कैसे उनका दल फँस गया है.पुत्रों में किसका महत्त्व होगा,पुत्री उपेक्षित तो नहीं होगी,लालू प्रसाद के लिए इन झगड़ों को सुलझाना एक बड़ा सरदर्द है.

उस वक्त उन्होंने बताया था कि लालू प्रसाद के बड़े बेटे के प्रति माँ की ममता के दबाव से लड़ना लालूजी के लिए उतना ही कठिन साबित होगा जितना अपनी पहली पारी में पत्नी के भाइयों की   आपराधिक दबंगई से निबटना था.उन दोनों को ही खुली छूट मिल गई और बिहार एक भयानक अराजकता में फँस गया. उन सालों में न जाने कितनी बार ‘मृच्छकटिक’ के पात्र शकार के उस संवाद का ध्यान हो आया, “तू जानता नहीं, मैं राजो को सालो हूँ.” Continue reading बिहार के जनादेश को लालू प्रसाद का पहला तमाचा →

Bad ideas, Right watch

Vande Mataram?

5 Comments

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

2 Comments

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, Debates, Feminism, Identities

ചീത്തകളെ തള്ളിക്കള: നഹാസ് മാളയ്ക്ക് തുറന്ന കത്ത്

13 Comments

പ്രിയ നഹാസ് മാള

‘ഓൺലൈൻ പെൺവാണിഭം:  വിശദമായ അന്വേഷണം വേണം – എസ് ഐ ഒ’ എന്ന തലക്കെട്ടോടു കൂടി താങ്കളുടെ സംഘടന പുറത്തിറക്കിയ പ്രസ്താവന ഇന്നത്തെ മാദ്ധ്യമം പത്രത്തിൽ കണ്ടു.  അതിൽ പറയുന്നു:

“കേരളത്തിലെ ചുംബനസമരം അടക്കമുള്ള സമരങ്ങളിൽ മുഖ്യപങ്ക് വഹിച്ചിരുന്ന രാഹുൽ പശുപാലനും രശ്മി നായരുമാണ് റാക്കറ്റിൻെറ പിന്നിലെന്ന പോലീസ് ആരോപണം ഗൌരവമുള്ളതാണ്. കേരളത്തിലെ രാഷ്ട്രീയ മാധ്യമമേഖലയിലെ പ്രമുഖരുമായുള്ള ബന്ധങ്ങൾ ഇത്തരം റാക്കറ്റുകൾ മറയായി ഉപയോഗപ്പെടുത്തുന്നുണ്ട് … വിദ്യാർത്ഥികളെ അടക്കം സ്നേഹം നടിച്ചും പ്രലോഭിപ്പിച്ചും തങ്ങളുടെ വലയിൽ കുരുക്കി ഉഭയസമ്മതപ്രകാരമെന്ന് പറഞ്ഞ് ചൂഷണം ചെയ്യുന്ന ഇത്തരം റാക്കറ്റുകൾക്കെതിരെ സമൂഹം ജാഗ്രത പുലർത്തണം.”

കഴിഞ്ഞ ദിവസം മനോരമ ചാനലിൽ യുവ മോർച്ചാ നേതാവ് രാജേഷ് ചുംബനസമരത്തിനെതിരെ തൊടുത്തുവിട്ട പൊട്ടശ്ശരങ്ങളോട് നിങ്ങളുടെ പ്രസ്താവന അടുത്തസാമ്യം പുലർത്തുന്നു എന്നു കണ്ടതുകൊണ്ടാണ് നിങ്ങൾക്ക് കത്തെഴുതാൻ തീരുമാനിച്ചത്.

Continue reading ചീത്തകളെ തള്ളിക്കള: നഹാസ് മാളയ്ക്ക് തുറന്ന കത്ത് →

Culture, Identities, Politics

Jain Tandoori – When the State Chickens Out: Gita Jayaraj

3 Comments

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 →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Culture, Government

Com Kislay and Shubham Arrested by Goa Police – Glory to the Struggle of FTII students

4 Comments

big_ftii_2students

(Photo : Courtesy – goanews.com)

Ultimately the roaring voice of the FTII students reached the IFFI (International Film Festival of India) inaugural held at Panaji, Goa.

Just when the inaugural had formally ended, chief guest had spoken and the administration was on the cusp of heaving a sigh of relief for a ‘trouble free beginning’ and was contemplating to ‘pat its own back’ for managing to save its ‘image’ the precints of the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium reverberated with slogans in favour of the historic FTII struggle.

This struggle, which had continued for around five months since 12 th June , a struggle against political appointments at one of the most prestigious institutions of India which was also a wake up call at the systematic attempts underway since the ascendance of the Modi regime at centre to undermine the academic autonomy of universities and educational institutions, as everybody knows has received tremendous national-international support.

Slogans were loud enough that all the celebrities and dignitaries who had gathered there heard them.

‘It was heard by Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, his state minister Rajyawardhan Rathore, defence minister Manohar Parrikar and all the I&B ministry officials.

The two students found an empty block on top, where they were seated silently till the whole inaugural ceremony ended.’

(http://www.goanews.com/news_disp.php?newsid=6374)

Security people who were present there in large numbers pounced on the two of them – Com Kislay, a young film director, an alumni of FTII, who has received critical acclaim for his very first film and Shubham, another alumni of FTII – and according to a facebook post (https://www.facebook.com/FTII-Wisdom-Tree-1607915209448356/?fref=ts)

both of them have been badly beaten by the Goan police for showing the placards and shouting slogans… They are still under the police custody and being interrogated.

As of now they have been detained in Agassaim Police Station  and would be presented before the magistrate. It is also learnt that they are being ‘charged with serious offences’

It is important to note that the authorities at various levels went out of way just to ensure that the voice of FTII students does not reach the IFFI. It ‘ensured’ that this year the festival would not screen a single film by students of the prestigious FTII whereas in recent years, at least five FTII entries could make it to the screening of this annual fest.

As opposed to its regular practice of paying for the conveyanc and accomodation of its students who had enrolled for the same, the FTII administration took an adhoc decision and told the students to bear their own expenses.

But despite all their attempts to intimidate the students into silence the voice did reach IFFI. It is definitely a victory of sorts – albeit of a symbolic kind.

There is no doubt that this struggle of the FTII students would continue to receive the support which it has received from artists, intellectuals, film personalities and all those people who believe are opposed to the dumbing down of society under all pretexts.

If possible contact the Goa police – especially its higher officials – and ensure that the two are not further harmed and released immediately without any charges.

Glory to the struggle of FTII students.

Culture, Debates, Feminism, Law, Sex

Two Trees Don’t Make a Forest: Leave KOL Alone

6 Comments

The latest assault on the Kiss Of Love movement, the last in the long list of assaults against its activists over the past one year in Kerala, involves the arrest of two former KOL activists, Rahul Pasupalan and Resmi Nair, over sex trafficking charges. While the media has been mixing up this case with that of a pedophilia FB page in a rather unwarranted way , the media has been screaming about the pair’s connection with KOL and some reports almost imply that their actions were because of their associations with KOL. Others, including the arch-conservative newspapers, have asked whether the KOL was a cover for sex work markets! Continue reading Two Trees Don’t Make a Forest: Leave KOL Alone →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Education, Genders

New Epidemics in Kerala – Ephebiphobia and Losing-Control Anxiety

2 Comments

“Torture isn’t  new to us, ” quipped my seventeen-year-old daughter. We were discussing the future of Indian democracy.She had just quit regular school and got herself enrolled in the Kerala State Open School.

I turned to look at her, surprised. She held me in her gaze, questioning that surprise. “In school, we were watched constantly through CCTV cameras … We were summoned to the Principal’s room whenever they thought they saw or heard something wrong. My friend was questioned by nine people, teachers and non-teaching staff. They sat in a circle with her standing in the middle. The more she denied their accusations, the more they pressed charges, threatening and insulting her… So why should we feel illegal interrogation to be abnormal? It is utterly normal to us!”  I could only stare blankly. “And the punishments … do you know how humiliating they are? They even maintain ‘reports’ – gossip by teachers – which they pass on to the next school you’d join.” Continue reading New Epidemics in Kerala – Ephebiphobia and Losing-Control Anxiety →

DISSENT, DEBATE, CREATE