The Transgender Bill: Of Dashed Hopes And Failed Expectations
Passed in the Lok Sabha in late December 2018, the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights Bill), generated widespread backlash from the LGBTQI community. Viewing it as an assault on their very existence, the trans community has denounced the bill for its controversial positions on matters as diverse as the definition of transgender to the criminalization […]
Releasing the Shackles On India’s LGBTQ+ Community
LGBTQ+ In India Among every culture there is a stigma surrounding sexuality. Or at least surrounding sexuality that isn’t heteronormative. The LGBTQ+ community, even in the most liberal nations, is oppressed for simply being who they are under the defense of God or natural reproduction. Now imagine how this important, but maltreated group of people […]
Rediscovering India’s Relationship With Homosexuality
Homosexuality is Not a Western Concept In the December of 2013, when the Supreme Court of India had overturned the 2009 New Delhi High Court and re-criminalized intercourse between two same-sex individuals, the BJP had come out in support with a spokesman unabashedly stating, “we can’t bring western culture into our society and culture.” Continuing its […]
It’s Time Feminism Got Its Place In The Indian Textbooks
Agnes Varda Speaks Her Mind At a Women in Motion gathering in Paris, held on July 3rd 2018, Agnes Varda remarked that feminism must be taught in schools, for activism to start in the minds of the youth. The veteran director, who led the protest for equal pay at the Cannes Film Festival, points out a […]
Implement Psychological Programs In Coaching Centres: The Need Of The Hour
India Facing Severe Student-Suicide Crisis An Indian student commits suicide every hour. The country suffers the highest such rate in Southeast Asia, yet policymakers and communities remain ambivalent, unwilling or unable to address the debilitating pressure of academics on its youth. The Bane of Coaching Centres Pressure builds early, right from class X. The norm set by […]
Pakistan and India: A Step in the Right Direction
On Christmas Day, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was celebrating his birthday and preparing for his granddaughter’s wedding in his Lahore home. He unexpectedly received a phone call from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who wanted to wish him a happy birthday. On the 26th, the Indian PM made an impromptu visit to Sharif’s house […]
Kya Dekh Rahe Ho?
The history concerning the treatment of women in India is appalling, but it is no better today. It was clear to me, after living in New York for 16 years, that visiting India would be full of obstacles: the biggest one being sexism. Watching my two brothers and father fight with men on the street […]
India-Pakistan Relations in 2015: Through a Looking Glass
The year is about to end, and keeping true to tradition, it is time for reflection and recollection. However bad the situation may become, the end of year holds an optimism that the coming year would prove better than the previous. 2014 began on a positive note despite the cross-border firings, as India headed for […]
Secessional Clashes: Conflict in Assam Between Bodos and Adivasis
India is a vast region consisting of many different ethnic identities. From North to South, East to West, thousands of different cultures exist, making India an extremely ethnically and culturally diverse area. Like any other land, the people of these individual groups have vastly different ethnic, political, and sometimes religious views. And like any other […]