‘Forest Rights Could Decide Election Results In 133 (25%) Seats’

March 20, 2019

Poor implementation of the Forest Rights Act, which legalises the land rights of India’s 200 million forest dwellers, could be a deciding factor in how a fourth (133 of 543) of constituencies vote in the 2019 general elections, says a new election analysis by the network Community Forest Resource-Learning and Advocacy. In 2014, of constituencies with a large tribal population, 59% had voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, fresh fears of eviction from their forest homes following a Supreme Court order, in a case in which the ruling BJP government was criticised for not protecting tribespeople’s rights in court hearings, could push voters towards opposition parties.

There is nothing shocking about the massacre of Muslims in New Zealand

March 19, 2019

It is easy to ignore the context that made this crime possible.

It is easy to blame Donald Trump or white supremacists for the massacre that was committed by a white man called Brenton Tarrant in Christchurch (Ōtautahi), New Zealand on March 15th. It is easy to ignore the rest of the story, and the context that made this crime possible. What is often missing from the narrative is that it is not only radical Neo-Nazis that make killing brown people and Muslims normal, acceptable and without moral or legal consequence. For decades, political discourse in Europe and other former European white settler colonies (United States, Australia, Israel, etc…) from the center to the far right has been actively de-humanizing Muslims.War after war resulting in the murder of hundreds of thousands and the destruction of whole countries is justified without the need to say more than “we are fighting terrorism” to make this mass murder by states acceptable and even desirable. And then, when those who are forced to leave their destroyed homes to safer places are murdered on their way to safety and treated like an incoming plague, and when the whole discussion in Europe and European white settler colonies is about the threat of non-white migrants, it is not shocking to see the murders in New Zealand, and less so the reasoning of the murderer.

No centrist politician needs to use outright racist language for everyone to understand that when speaking of migrants as a threat no one means white people from other white places, because these are called ‘expats’, they do not migrate, they ‘travel’, they ‘move’ somewhere, they are ‘based in’ places. Those who migrate are those who are not welcome, those who are reminded daily that their lives are precarious because at any moment they can be sent back, humiliated, aggressed by the system or by the societies they live in, and sometimes murdered.

There is nothing shocking about the massacre of Muslims in New Zealand. For many who are not white supremacists nor identify as such, the sight of Muslims praying has been perceived as a threatening act of violence for decades. Muslims praying is all you need to show alongside a sentence about terrorism to turn all those seen praying in that image into terrorists. The obsession with what Muslim women wear is not any different. The presence of Muslims in the public space by and of itself is treated as a threat and an aggression on an imagined European identity constructed in opposition to anything other, and particularly Muslim.

This is not an extreme practice, this is not Breitbart or Fox News or 8chan, this is routine, this is almost every mainstream media outlet. Turn on any action movie or TV series and chances are you will see a scene of a white man mass shooting Muslims. The white man in this scene will not be a murderer, he will be the protagonist, the hero you are invited to identify with. The plot will explain that those he is mass murdering have no psyche, no conscience, no loved ones, no worth, they are faceless, random terrorists who eat, pray and then go about their day trying to kill “our way of life” for no reason at all apparently. Muslims are born angry and are inherently violent creatures. They have no historical context. Imperial and colonial violence has no space in this narrative.

The crime committed in New Zealand on Friday is the natural product of European identity and anti-immigration discourse dominating the conversation in Europe and other parts of the rich and developed world. It is a product of the fear of losing privilege, one that comes with segregation between places and people who are exploited and those who exploit them. It imagines all others who arrive at the shores of Europe as wanting to do what Europeans did when they arrived at other shores: murder, expropriate, and dominate. It is not much different than men who are afraid of feminism because they imagine that women want to do to men, what men have been doing to women for ages.

The people who are shocked at the mass murder, are shocked because the murderer has a face. For some, he is explicitly killing people for the same reasons that drove them to vote for the parties they vote for. Maybe the murderer is saying out loud what many say in secret or think to themselves. His manifesto is not the words of a deranged man, it is familiar, we have heard and read the words in the campaigns and speeches of many mainstream political movements across Europe, the US, Australia, Israel, and elsewhere.

This time the murderer has a face and he killed with his own hands. Usually and on a daily basis, the murderer is hidden behind a smart missile, an army unit, a political decision, a state, a political speech, a border policy, or other less offensive means of committing mass murder. They all do the mass murdering, but in a way that makes it acceptable to their citizens, a way that does not disturb or offend the sensibilities of the average citizen and allows them to live with a clear conscience.

Such forms of mass murder do not need to be called violence or terrorism, they are simply news items, and maybe every once and a while a tragedy even, but not more than that. They are never something that Europe or white people are accountable for. These are passive occurrences without a perpetrator, something that happens to those people because they are those people: their hospitals, markets and villages are naturally bombed by drones and smart missiles, their boats naturally sink, their children naturally starve, etc.

But this is not the view from the other side; no one is shocked on the other side.

And then we wait for a change that will not happen soon enough, and brace ourselves for the next mass murder. For those living as migrants, we brace ourselves for the normality of small aggressions one faces daily as a Muslim migrant or as a person of color, in places that treat otherness as a disease, until another massacre takes place here or elsewhere.

In his manifesto the murderer wrote:

“The origins of my language is European, my culture is European, my political beliefs are European, my philosophical beliefs are European, my identity is European and, most importantly, my blood is European.”

Perhaps it is time for Europeans to prove him wrong.

Courtesy: Open Democracy

View from Bangladesh: How are your minorities doing?

March 19, 2019

When it comes to communalism and hate, we don’t have to look very far

In Bangladesh, we like to assume that everybody is Muslim.

Our hearts and minds are still in Christchurch. As a nation, we are horrified, riled up, concerned about our friends and relatives living abroad. We are also concerned about the future of Muslim minorities abroad — some 1-3% of the population of most countries of the West, countries that are supposedly a slice of paradise for anyone seeking help.

It shocks us when a white terrorist puts up a manifesto with all the hate in the world condensed into 73 pages. We cry for the 50 lives (and counting) that were lost, we heave a sigh of relief as our cricketers narrowly escaped, traumatized and afraid. We are all traumatized and afraid. Why did we click on that livestream link? Why did we watch the horror that unfurled? How many of us could sleep at night?
However, we like to assume that everybody is Muslim in Bangladesh.

It bothered us very little (or not at all) when an idol of the Hindu goddess Kali was vandalized in Kushtia. Both Christchurch and Kushtia happened on the same day. Kali, with her tongue out and her foot pressed against her husband’s chest, cowers in shame. All her ornaments were taken off, on the same day Christchurch happened. The miscreants ran away after they vandalized her form. It must have hurt her, but of course, our minorities are the least of our worries.

It’s nice and comfy to be Muslim in Bangladesh, more so if you’re a man. During Ramadan, all restaurants are closed during the day. If I’m a female and menstruating, I can’t eat. If I believe in a different god, I still can’t eat.

If I don’t believe in god, however, I can’t live.

I get to have my head chopped off right outside of the Ekushey Boi Mela. Did my killers read my books, any books?

At our social gatherings, we take part in cozy coffee-table discussions. “You see,” says the elderly uncle, who may or may not sport a sunnati beard:

“The Hindus are taking over. They’re everywhere! Supreme court judges and BCS cadres, doctors and engineers, ‘government this and government that.’ So many Hindus! How come? They’re taking away all our jobs!”

Some auntie, who dyed her hair auburn recently, chimes in:

“Oh and look at how many girls are working! Don’t they have kids to raise? The shongshar is the most important, let me tell you. Give that job to a guy instead. At least he will support a family instead of buying lipstick.”

Somebody gets into a debate of who is indigenous and who is not. Someone plans a tour to Sajek, because, “they are infiltrating the mainland anyway, taking away all our jobs.” Doesn’t hurt to visit a tourist spot built on grabbed land.

Sounds a lot like The Great Replacement, doesn’t it?

We demand that the Westerners defend us. We share photos and videos that do away with Islamophobia, xenophobia, and what not. We urge them not to be silent, we urge them to challenge Aunt Molly when she complains about “those people” the next time.

Yet when our chauffeur calls another human being a Malaun, we stay silent and continue to scroll down on our phones.

Yet, when our valiant cricketers of other religions post about their Durga Puja celebrations, we don’t defend them against the fundamentalist internet trolls.

Yet, when all the Buddhist shrines and monasteries were brutally torn down, we kept mum and went on with our lives. Ramu who? Ramu what?

Our avatars change when we go abroad. People give us advice on blending in. I have been told to wear my hijab like a bandana, or cover my hair using hoodies. I have been told not to go near a mosque. I have been told to keep a “low profile” during my stay because that is not my country, Bangladesh is.

What about those unfortunate people, who have to keep that “low profile” in their own country, the land of their ancestors, all their lives, every minute of the day?

Before we cry tears of grief and remorse for Christchurch, let us first correct ourselves. Let us slam a fist down on those coffee-tables where The Great Replacement of a different kind is discussed.

Let us explain calmly to our chauffeurs, our maids, our bosses, and to our friends why it is wrong to use ethno-racial slurs. When miscreants take away their temporary sense of security, let us send a cake over to our neighbours of a different religion.

Let us stand outside temples with placards that say: “We are with you,” like that responsible citizen in the UK, his plump smiling face speaking volumes.

More importantly, let us buy some eggs, and make good use of them for those who are in need of a protein treatment. I’ve heard that it nourishes your hair, makes it soft, silky and smooth. It also helps counter fascist ideals; from what I hear.

Qazi Mustabeen Noor works at Arts & Letters, Dhaka Tribune.

Courtesy: Dhaka Tribune

Rubaiya Sayeed’s 1989 kidnapping back in focus amid crackdown on Kashmiri separatists

March 19, 2019

Srinagar:- On December 8, 1989, Rubaiya Sayeed, the 23-year-old daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Sayeed Mufti

Mohammad Sayeed was kidnapped in Srinagar by the members of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a separatist group based in Kashmir. In lieu of her release, the kidnappers demanded the release of five militants— Sheikh Abdul Hameed, Sher Khan, a Pakistani militant; Noor Muhammad Kalwal; Muhammed Altaf Bhat; and Javeed Ahmed Zargar. The Government-led Prime Minister V. P. Singh met the demand and she was released on December 13.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) blamed JKLF leaders— Mohammad Yaseen Malik, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi, Javed Ahmed Mir and Showkat Ahmed Bakshi, Javed Ahmed Zargar and Ali Muhammad Mir for kidnapping and conspiracy.

After the abduction, a case was filed in Police station Sadar in Srinagar City. The FIR No.339 was registered on 8 December 1989 under Sections 364, 368 RPC, Section 3(1) TADA Act and 25 Indian Arms Act, against unknown persons.

Almost after three decades, the case against Yasin Malik, the main accused and others, was shifted to Jammu for proceedings on CBI’s plea.
According to official sources, this was done for the ‘speedy trial’ of the case while people here see it as part of the tough approach towards Kashmir’s separatists by New Delhi.

Reports said the Union Home Minister was “shocked” to know the status of 1989 Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case and he expressed “displeasure” over the “slow pace of trial.”

“The central government ordered its executive wing a few years ago to aggressively take up the Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case to ensure justice.”

In 2009, the High court stayed the trial against Mohammad Yasin Malik and others in the case before a Tada court in Jammu.

On March 13, the petitions filed by CBI in High Court, seeking vacation of the stay on trial and shifting the proceedings to Jammu in the kidnapping and killing of five Air Force officials cases from Srinagar to Jammu decided to be heard in the Jammu wing of the court as per the high court rules and circular issued by it in this regard.

The CBI counsel Tahir Majid Shamsi had filed a transfer appeal before the Srinagar wing of J&K High Court contending that the main accused, Yasin Malik, is an influential person in the state which is likely going to influence the proceedings of the matter.

“The writ petitions cannot be taken up for consideration at Srinagar Wing and have to be sent to the Jammu Wing for hearing and decision in accordance with Circular 6 dated 18.12.2010 and Guideline 94 dated 7th December 2018,” a bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal said. On Monday, the HC reserved the orders after a plea.

“All other steps including hearing, consideration and decision have to be by the Wing to which it relates. The petitioners have accepted this when applications seeking permission to file the writ petitions relating to the Jammu Wing at the Srinagar Wing was sought,” the court said.
The writ petitions, the court reiterated, can be heard and decided only by the Wing to which the matters relate i.e., the Jammu Wing, the court said.

A brief background of the two cases
According to the CBI, Rubiya Syed was kidnapped while she was going in a Tata Mini Bus from Lal Ded Hospital her to her house at Nowgam in outskirts of Srinagar. She was taken to some unknown place by the militants travelling in the same minibus and they threatened to kill her in case their demands were not met and “created terror amongst all the passengers by showing gun and pistols to them”.

After completion of the investigation in the case, the charge sheet was filed by the CBI on 18.09.1990 under Section 364, 368, 109 and 34 RPC, Section 3(1) TADA and Section 27 of Arms Act, before the court of 3rd Additional Sessions Judge Jammu— the designated court under the TADA Act.

During the pendency of trial in this case, on 25th October 2010, an application was filed by the accused persons seeking transfer of the case to the designated TADA court at Srinagar. The CBI filed objections and opposed the application.

It is important to point out that Yasin Malik is also the prime accused in the killing of four Indian Air Force personnel in Srinagar on 25, January 1990.

According to an FIR registered in the Police Station Sadder in Srinagar, in the indiscriminate firing 40 employees including a woman were injured, and two died on the spot.

The case was registered by the CBI and on completion of the investigation, a charge sheet was filed on 31st August 1990 under Section 302 RPC of RPC, Section 3 and 4 of TADA Act and Section 27 of the Arms Act against Muhammad Yaseen Malik and five others, before the designated TADA Court at Jammu.

Both the cases were transferred to Srinagar from Jammu and in April 2009, Srinagar wing of the J&K High Court stayed Yasin Malik’s trial in a designated TADA court in Jammu. Now both the cases have been transferred back to Jammu for further proceedings.

Political experts in Kashmir believe that the opening of the 29-years-old case is just “propaganda” by the Modi-led government to win the upcoming elections. They believe shifting of nearly 3 decades old case to Jammu as Modi’s “Muscular Policy’ towards Kashmir.

“It is the changing approach of current the government in the centre and shifting of Yasin Malik’s case to Jammu that too after decades is the part of the same approach and I think this will continue till the elections are not over,” said Professor Noor Ahmad Baba, a Political expert in Kashmir.

Baba said the failure to address the Kashmir conflict meant the government is using the old cases for its benefits. “If the BJP continues to remain in power, it will continue with the muscular policy towards the Kashmir and it will not be good for the future.”

A staunch supporter of JKLF, who wished not to be named due to security reasons, said Kashmiris have been always used by the Indian politicians for the political benefits.

“Tell me why a 30-year-old case was reopened? If Yasin Malik was involved in the kidnapping why didn’t they punish him in 30 years,” he questioned.

Talking to this reporter, Javeed Ahmed Mir, one of the accused allegedly involved in the kidnapping cases, said the JKLF announced a unilateral ceasefire in 1995 after the assurance of an American diplomat, Robin Raphel, who assured them that the GoI will support peace initiatives if JKLF leaves the path of violence.

As a result, Mir said, they left gun culture and choose the non-violent means to demand their rights but the BJP government led by Narendra Modi is pushing them to choose the gun again.

“We don’t know why we are being targeted in the decades-old case. If we are demanding our right through peaceful means, then why are our leaders being detained without any charges?” asked Meer.

The raids on separatists leaders seem to have had no impact, especially on JKLF. Their office at Masuima locality in Srinagar was filled with a dozen of activist discussing the Kashmir situation.

“We have hundreds of cases going on in different courts. Over 100 of our workers are behind bars. I am telling you nothing is going to happen to Yasin Malik,” said one of the activists, wishing anonymity.

“Modi wants to show his presence and his psychological warfare to the people of Kashmir, nothing else,” he says.

Courtesy: Two Circle

Annual Crop-Burning Health Bill = 3 Times India’s Health Budget

March 19, 2019

Mumbai: India’s five-year air-pollution-related health bill from burning crop stubble can pay for about 700 premier All India Institutes of Medical Sciences or India’s 2019 central government health budget nearly 21 times over, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of data from a new study.

Burning of crop residue or stubble remains a key contributor to air pollution over northern India, despite a ban by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in November 2015, and will cost the country over Rs 2 lakh crore annually, or three times India’s central health budget, or Rs 13 lakh crore over five years–equal to 1.7% of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) or enough, as we said, to build 700 AIIMS hospitals, according to a 2019 study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a research advocacy based in Washington D.C., USA.

Crop-residue burning causes a collective loss of 14.9 million years of healthy life among the 75 million residents of Delhi, Haryana and Punjab–72.5 days or a fifth of a year per person in the three states–whose risk for acute respiratory infection (ARI) rises threefold due to exposure to pollution, the study says.

“We found that 14% of ARI cases could be averted if crop burning were eliminated,” Samuel Scott, IFPRI research fellow and co-author of the report, told IndiaSpend.

Crop residue burning in the north-western states of Punjab and Haryana is a key reason why levels of particulate matter up to 2.5 micron in size (PM 2.5) in the air spike by 20 times in neighbouring Delhi during harvest season, and is a major risk factor for ARI in all three states, especially among children younger than five.

In winter, particularly, 64% of Delhi’s PM 2.5 pollution comes from outside the national capital, as IndiaSpend reported on September 3, 2019.

Agricultural fires in the states of Punjab and Haryana during October and November for pollution in Delhi, based on 15-year satellite records (2002-2016), showed an increasing trend in agricultural fires (up to 617 per year in 2017), according to a study by Hiren Jathava, research scientist, NASA published by the Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research in 2018.

Figure: 15-Year Time Series Of Fire Counts In Punjab & Haryana

Source: Taiwan Association of Aerosol Research, 2018

Between 1990 and 2016, indoor air pollution declined over northern India due to efforts to reduce the burning of solid fuel for household use, but outdoor air pollution increased by 16.6%, says the IFPRI study.

Why stubble burning continues
The central ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare’s (MoAFW) national policy for the management of crop residue, announced in 2014, suggested policy measures to minimise crop residue burning. The MoAFW announced an amount of Rs 1,151.9 crore for 2018-20–0.5% of the total budget of Rs 2,22,362 crore of Punjab and Haryana in 2019-20–to subsidise the use of additional farm equipment to remove crop residue, such as Straw Management Systems, in lieu of crop burning.

The NGT ban followed the next year. The tribunal has repeatedly issued orders directing the Punjab and Haryana state governments ‘to periodically review steps taken to stop crop burning incidents’, yet crop stubble burning incidents continue.

In 2018-19, the two states together spent over Rs 400 crore–around Rs 15 lakh for every agricultural worker in the two states–to prevent stubble burning. Using satellite-based remote sensing, Punjab and Haryana detected 75,563 events of crop residue burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh during 2018. Punjab identified 6,193 cases and recovered Rs 19.02 lakh as compensation from farmers who burned crop residue even after the ban, while the government of Haryana identified 3,997 cases and recovered Rs 31.82 lakh as compensation, Lok Sabha data show.

Burning stubble continues because it is the only option left for farmers, Devinder Sharma, a food and trade policy analyst based in Punjab, told IndiaSpend. “The best way to distribute the [MoAFW] subsidy would have been to give it directly to the farmers instead of subsidising the machines. The agricultural lands in Punjab and Haryana are already over-mechanised and the mechanisation scheme is a burden for farmers. Farmers are ready to manage the residue if the funds are provided but agriculture is being sacrificed to keep market reforms alive by promoting and selling machines to farmers,” Sharma said.

Not only do farmers find the cost of hiring machinery exorbitant, they say the machines are not required and operating them needs specialised training.

A Straw Management System attached with a combine harvester costs Rs 1.12 lakh, a Happy Seeder that clears fields of crop residue Rs 1.51 lakh and a paddy straw chopper Rs 2.80 lakh after availing the 80% subsidy under the MoAFW’s central agriculture ministry’s guidelines for crop residue management. The average monthly income per agricultural household in Punjab is Rs 18,059 and in Haryana is Rs 14,434, as per agricultural statistics 2017 released by the government of India.

The subsidy provided by the government is for two years, after which mechanisation costs a farmer Rs 5,000 per acre, JS Samra, former CEO of the MoAFW’s National Rainfed Area Authority, told IndiaSpend. Machines such as the Happy Seeder are usable for only 20-25 days during harvest, Samra said, and lie unused for the rest of the year. “A farm machine usually works for 400-500 hours annually. A farm machine that doesn’t work for 200-300 hours is not viable. These machines are unlike a tractor that a farmer can put to other use,” Samra said.

Small and tenant farmers in Punjab and Haryana–like their counterparts across the country–have been in distress because agriculture has become unremunerative as a source of livelihood. There have been protests in Punjab and Haryana recently, including against what farmers call poor management of the NGT order to ban stubble burning.

Producing bio-fuel from crop residue is the way ahead
The foremost step to ease the issue of stubble burning is to provide funds directly to farmers, says Devinder Sharma. “A demand to the chief minister of Punjab was made by the opposition in 2018 to release a fund of Rs 3,000 crore to be distributed to the farmers in 2018 as the farmers demand Rs 5,000-6,000 per acre. If the said amount can bring down the risk of the problem causing a loss of 2 lakh crore, then it should be provided. The process of residue management should be left to the farmers,” adds Sharma.

A secondary approach can be to bring in the use of clean energy for better management of crop residue, Samra told IndiaSpend. Crop residue can be used for mushroom cultivation and paper production. Paddy straw can also be used to generate electricity, says Samra, but this method is now redundant and uneconomical because the per-unit cost of solar and wind energy is around Rs 3 while electricity from straw costs Rs 7-8 per unit, according to Samra.

The latest and most viable method, Samra said, is to produce compressed natural gas (CNG) from residue via a biological process that does not produce any spare gas or ash and provides CNG of the same quality as that derived from fossil fuels.

The bio-CNG technology is being processed by the DBT-Institute of Chemical Technology Centre for Energy Biosciences in Mumbai, says Samra, who serves as a consultant to the project. Germany-based Verbio Biofuel and Technology is setting up a bio-CNG plant at Bhutal Kalan village of Sangrur district in Punjab at an approximate cost of Rs 75 crore.

(Ahmad is an intern at IndiaSpend).

We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.

Courtesy: India Spend

Re-writing History, Saffronising Education: Remembering Nangeli lest the government makes us forget

March 19, 2019

In December 2016, as part of a curriculum rationalisation exercise initiated under the BJP government, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued a circular to all its affiliated schools informing them that the section “Caste Conflict and Dress Change” “stands omitted from the curriculum and no questions from this section should be asked in 2017”. However, according to a report in the Indian Express, this section remained part of the textbook – until the second textbook review was carried out, after which, NCERT has dropped three chapters—“Clothing: A Social History”, “History and Sport: The Story of Cricket”, “Peasants and Farmers”— from the Class 9 history textbook, titled India and the Contemporary World – I.

The revised textbooks will be out this month, before the new academic session begins.

One of the removed sections of the textbook discusses the Nadar (also called Channar) community of Travancore—an Indian kingdom from 1500-1949. The Nadar community live in both present day Tamil Nadu and Kerela. Clothing played an essential role in defining status quo at that time and men and women of the Nadar community were forced to keep their upper bodies uncovered by the caste council of the Nair community of the state of Travancore in the early 1800s. If they chose to cover themselves, they were forced to pay mulakkaram or “breast tax”, which was assessed on the basis of the size of a woman’s breasts. In 1822, the practice sparked violent agitations causing the Channar Revolt, where women from the Nadar and Ezhava communities demanded the right to wear the same clothing as “upper” caste women.

Knowing about the Nadar women’s revolt is important for students because the issue is about caste and dignity rather than feminine modesty. Talking about the decision to remove this section from textbooks, J Devika, a historian at the centre for development studies in Thiruvananthapuram, had said to The Wire, “it was women who challenged both British and local caste authorities: it was the culmination of an insistent discourse in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It is sad that they want to erase an instance of a community with dignity and agency, and construct one of servitude to Brahminical-Victorian morality.”

In these times when the government is altering and re-writing history for political gains and taking away the opportunity to learn objective history in classrooms, let us recall one of Orijit Sen’s work, based on a village tale, of a woman named Nangeli, who is believed to have cut off her breasts in an effort to protest the caste-based mulakkaram.

Graphic artist, cartoonist, muralist and designer Orijit Sen is author of the graphic novel River of Stories as well as many other works of graphic fiction and non-fiction. He is one of the founders of People Tree – a collaborative studio and store for artists, designers, and craftspeople. Sen is also Miranda Chair Visiting Professor at Goa University.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

Every Single Institution and Pillar of Constitution Is Under Attack: Yechury

March 19, 2019

Yechury discusses CPI(M)’s key campaign plank in the upcoming elections and the party’s strategy in Kerala and in West Bengal.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury talks to Newsclick about the dangers posed by the BJP to the country. He also discusses CPI(M)’s key campaign plank in the upcoming elections and the party’s strategy in Kerala and in West Bengal.

Courtesy: News Click.

Afghanistan’s First All-Female Orchestra Zohra is led by conductor Negin Khpalwak

March 19, 2019

Five years ago, a unique all-female orchestra was formed in Afghanistan, a nation where only a few years previously music had been outlawed and women barred from education. Now Zohra is visiting the UK for the first time.

No-one claims that in Afghanistan, the Taliban influence has been rooted out entirely. Violence continues. But two decades ago, the Afghanistan National Institute of Music would have been unthinkable.

ANIM was founded in 2008, with international support, to bring music education to young Afghans. Not long before that, the Afghan capital Kabul had finally been wrenched from the grasp of the fundamentalist Sunni Muslim Taliban.

In the Taliban years, music – once a thriving and rich part of Afghan culture, admired around the world – had all but disappeared.

Today in Kabul, ANIM teaches music skills to some 250 young people, both male and female. That figure is about to rise to 320 and there are plans to expand to cities such as Herat, Mazar-e Sharif and Jalalabad.

Read full report here: https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47571463

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‘Forest Rights Could Decide Election Results In 133 (25%) Seats’

There is nothing shocking about the massacre of Muslims in New Zealand

It is easy to ignore the context that made this crime possible.

View from Bangladesh: How are your minorities doing?

When it comes to communalism and hate, we don’t have to look very far

Rubaiya Sayeed’s 1989 kidnapping back in focus amid crackdown on Kashmiri separatists

Srinagar:- On December 8, 1989, Rubaiya Sayeed, the 23-year-old daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Sayeed Mufti

Annual Crop-Burning Health Bill = 3 Times India’s Health Budget

Mumbai: India’s five-year air-pollution-related health bill from burning crop stubble can pay for about 700 premier All India Institutes of Medical Sciences or India’s 2019 central government health budget nearly 21 times over, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of data from a new study.

Re-writing History, Saffronising Education: Remembering Nangeli lest the government makes us forget

Every Single Institution and Pillar of Constitution Is Under Attack: Yechury

Yechury discusses CPI(M)’s key campaign plank in the upcoming elections and the party’s strategy in Kerala and in West Bengal.

Afghanistan’s First All-Female Orchestra Zohra is led by conductor Negin Khpalwak

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