“What will you do with the information”, she looked at us intently and asked, “will you help us?” I didn’t have an answer to Lakshmi’s question. Honestly, even I wasn’t sure about what I was going to do with the information, what I was certain about and stumbled to accept was that I was not going to be of any help to them.
Raul Castro, Cuban President at 70th UN General Assembly
It was 70 years ago that on the behalf of their peoples the member states of this organisation signed this charter. We pledged ourselves to preserve the future generation from war and build new type of relationships guided by set of principles and purposes that should bring about an era of peace and justice and development for all of humanity.
Mob Justice among communities in North East India
Mob justice refers to putting a person to death, eviction of a person and destruction of one’s property or undressing and beating suspected criminals without following the law. This denies the accused person a right to a fair hearing before a competent court and in many cases, a right to life.
Skill and Growth in Indian Context
Skill is defined as a set of capabilities and abilities that are developed by a person over a period of time. These are acquired through a process of skill development that involves deliberate effort, disciplined approach and most importantly sustained sincerity.
TISS, Mumbai Student Union: Manipur Tribal Land Rights & State Violence
Tribal students of Manipur, TISS Mumbai with their university Students’ Union organized a candle light vigil to pay tribute to the tribal martyrs and to condemn the inhuman violence of the state towards innocent tribals.
A fisherman, farmer and displaced labour from Narmada Valley
With lapse of ordinance on land acquisition, all the land acquired by the state from farmers, fisherman stands invalid, and the ownership of the land returns to them according to section 24(2) of the land acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement law.
Sena, Cobrapost and the ‘eerie’ Political Silence in Bihar
In these days of high profile political campaigning and mud slinging in Bihar, it is ironic how no political party, worth its salt, has raised any concern on the blatant and unapologetic confessions made by members of the Ranveer Sena (“Sena”) in the videos released by Cobrapost.
The State Playing God and Magician : Thoughts after Yakub Memon’s Death
With a finality that only history possesses, Yakub Abdul Razak Menon, an accused in the Bombay blast case, has transformed for many over the last few days, including me, into just Yakub. His name pronounced with a deep felt sadness that has come to characterize so many of our days. Days leading to terrible, terrible nights.
30 Years of Narmada Struggle : Jeevan Adhikar Satyagraha, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh
The Narmada Bachao Andolan has begun an indefinite Jeevan Adhikar Satyagraha amidst thousands of oustees at Rajghat, Badwani against the illegal displacement and destruction by the Sardar Sarovar Dam.
है तमाशा ये क्या ! १ अगस्त : अण्णाभाऊ साठे जयंती
जहाँ आज की मीडिया प्रजातान्त्रिक हुकूमत के सामने रेंगती हुई पाई जाती है, जो किसी के शमशान की यात्रा को या तो अनेक रंगों से सबोरती है या अपना कैमरों में ही कफ़न लगा देती है, वो समय जहाँ सरकार कलाकारों से लेकर हर वो स्वतंत्रता के मंजर पर प्रतिबन्ध लगाने पे तुली हैं, अण्णाभाऊ की लोक तमाशा एक मार्गदर्शक के रूप में नजर आती है
Bodoland : A malaise deeper than ‘communal’ issue
Last year, Assam saw two notorious events that killed more than 100 people. There were no statements from any organisation, but it was widely believed that the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit faction) was responsible – this belief might have largely been driven by media reports.
A Poem by a Woman
I poop. I have hair everywhere.
Above my lips and below them.
I have hair in places you always thought had none.
I have hair in places you want to visit, check out.
Sunil Yadav vs BMC: Degrees of Safai Karamchari-A case of Big Boot
You have become too big for your boots now’ said the builder to me. This was probably the first time in my life that I came to face the harsh realities of the caste system.
FTII: The Liberal-Sanghi farce
The FTII imbroglio is following the same imbecilic trajectory that most meritoriously ignorant liberals of this farce called India adopt. I say adopt, because following such a trajectory is an act of conscious willfulness.
Un-supering the hero: Reading status quo into fantasy
.. fantasies, in so much as they render real the surreal may also take flight from the real and render subversion onto our cinematic imagination. While Bahubali holds out a promise only for the former, it also restricts the cinemascape by the limitations that it sets out with – limitations of a social imagination that it has neither the will nor the intent to challenge.
Gadha Kahinke! Academic Modernity
No degree could eradicate caste, […]
No Mangroves for Rich Men!
Slums are seen to be indispensable to any urban city. They are informal settlements by people who mostly migrate from rural to urban areas in search for jobs and a better source of livelihood.
Film Review: Qissa- The tale of lonely ghost
Qissa is a fable that centres on the human dimension of the drawing of borders. The film is a lingering view on the disruptive consequences of the change of borders and on the reciprocal side of identity.
Media carnival of death
An opportunity for the inquisitive, generally concerned upper/middle class mind to encounter an Ota Benga (a Congolese man displayed within the monkey house of an American human zoo in the early 20th century) or a Sarah Baartman (a South African Khoisan woman displayed in Western Europe around early 19th century for her “large buttocks”) from within the plush comforts of once own four cornered space one calls home?
Idea of a City: Mumbai, Baltimore
The peasants of the country […]
Housing Rights of Urban Poor: Death of Rajeev Awas Yojana !
Press Release NAPM:Mumbai | 29th […]