Life of an Indian woman in the city

by Jayshree Misra Tripathi

Wednesday, April 03, 2013 at 11 : 02

A few days ago, an Indian news channel carried a lively discussion on whether it is tougher for a single woman in the city than for a married one. My first reaction was that at least a young woman today has the freedom of choice. Yet, single or married, life at all levels is tough for most women in India, especially in a city. I will only touch upon an English-educated one here but it also depends on the nature of the extended family she has been brought up in.

Nearing 60, almost a senior citizen, I often wonder how my life would have turned out if I had remained single instead of succumbing to an arranged marriage at the age of 21. I returned to my parents' home at the age of 27, with two daughters in hand. Being single...Read more...

"Chal game shuru karein": a lone woman's experience on a night bus with five drunk men

by Trina Nileena Banerjee

Tuesday , April 02, 2013 at 11 : 53

"Chal game shuru karein!"

"Kaunsa game?"

"Wahi jo propose karne ke baad, haan ya naa ka wait nahin karte, bas game shuru ho jaata hai!"

This is how the conversation around me went. I was the only woman in an overnight bus full of north Indian males (going from Dehradun to Delhi) and one non-north Indian male friend, who was just as cornered as I was.

We had the option of getting off the bus, finding another one, a state bus at least, one with one or two women in the least, we were still at ISBT. But after an hour's mulling, I decided to stay and see this through.

The five men were drunk, the abuses kept getting louder - it was...Read more...

The UPSC: new rules of engagement

by Jayshree Misra Tripathi

Tuesday , March 19, 2013 at 11 : 38

The Civil Services denotes 'All-India' Services. Taken in this light, it is necessary for aspirants to understand the importance of communication skills.

If a person, say from Odisha, wishes to write the UPSC exams in Odiya, having studied in the vernacular language and (according to the new rules) having graduated in the vernacular language, then how may she/ he be able to function as an able administrator in any other state?

We are blessed with a vibrant population, 22 officially recognised languages and over 2000 dialects. We have many languages with no script. To quote from Indiacurrentaffairs.org

: "According to the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the term Tribal Dialects is not used in Census records, which is the chief source of information. The analysis, based...Read more...

Correcting the misconceptions about the Cabinet's Anti-rape Bill

by Kavita Krishnan

Monday , March 18, 2013 at 15 : 37

Much of the media is running a deliberate misinformation campaign against the new anti-rape Bill, and the openly anti-women organisations are the fountainhead of this campaign. Here is a quick guide to navigate the perplexed through the smokescreen of 'debates' on TV!

1) AGE OF CONSENT AT 16

Age of consent does not mean the 'age at which you are allowed to consent for sex'. It is a concept of criminal law that means, the age below which 'consent' will not be a valid defence against a rape charge. So if a 16-to-18-year-old boy is charged with rape, he will be convicted even if the girl tells the court she had consented!

Age of consent has not been 'lowered' suddenly...Read more...

How a car accident on March 16 made me proud of being a Delhiite

by Ankit Tuteja

Monday , March 18, 2013 at 14 : 48

Should I lament or feel proud to be a Delhiite? I met with a car accident last night on a busy road near AIIMS, but what is on my mind is not the damage caused to my car, but how a passerby stopped on seeing the Network 18 sticker on my car, and stood with me till 2:30 AM in the night. He happened to be from the same organisation, though we had never met; in fact, we did not even know each other before a commercial vehicle rammed into my car.

I dialled "100" and the PCR Van took 15 minutes to reach the accident spot (outside the AIIMS campus), which is believed to be a secured zone. Appeared after 15 minutes and vanished in next 5 minutes, the policemen left me with no help and no information. I called...Read more...

International Women's Day: not yet time to celebrate!

by Shailey Hingorani

Friday , March 08, 2013 at 17 : 39

Every year the International Women's Day gives all of us more reasons to be ashamed rather than to celebrate. This year the day comes on the heels of a 10-year-old girl being allegedly raped by a youth inside her school premises in Nagpur and against the background of a 45-year-old man raping three minor girls (one aged six and the other two aged seven) in a village in Amravati district. Despite these horrific cases, the Indian government might still find a reason to celebrate our potential to reach some goals and indicators that have been set as part of the only international human development framework (Millennium Development Goals or MDGs) that places child rights and gender equality at its very core. But cases like the ones mentioned above continue to remind us of the daily struggle that girls face in accessing their rights to education, protection, and health...Read more...

International Women's Day: neutralising man-made imbalances

by Kiran Bedi

Friday , March 08, 2013 at 13 : 15

They were young men in a vocational class. "You are all learning these trades at this polytechnic school, not to ask for more dowry from your prospective brides. You are learning to support your families better and be self reliant," I reminded them.

"But where are even the women to ask for dowry, madam?" Their response made me aware of the reality which we hear and read about all the time. I was in a village in Rajasthan, two hundred kilometres from Jaipur.

I asked the class of boys, "How many sisters do you have?"

"None."

"And brothers?" Almost all hands went up saying, "Plenty and mostly unemployed."

Read more...

International Women's Day: the MANifesto project

by Peter Griffin

Thursday , March 07, 2013 at 19 : 09

On Valentine's Day, I started something called MANIFESTO (on facebook and Google+)

The stated goal was simple: get men to declare what they would do towards a gender-equal world. To that end, I wrote my own MANifesto, and invited people to agree or disagree with it, add more points, subtract, whatever, butand this was my devious subtextencourage conversation around the casual, subtle, sometimes thoughtless ways we perpetuate gender-based stereotypes. (I, for instance, find it hard not to automatically offer seats to women, something I don't do as much for men. Or another example, I struggle not to use the MC-BC swear words that seem to fall from my lips unbidden.)

Yes, it's very basic.Read more...

A few humble suggestions to make Republic Day celebrations more inclusive

by Somesh Goyal

Saturday , February 23, 2013 at 14 : 13

It may be late to talk about the Republic Day celebrations but I believe it is never too late. We, the Indians, witnessed the grand celebrations at Rajpath either in person or mostly on television. Every Indian must have been filled with pride, seeing our brave soldiers from the Army, Central Armed Police Forces and Delhi Police marching down the Rajpath. The tanks, field guns, radars and missiles were also paraded announcing to the world that India was second to none in the modernisation of armed forces. The aesthetically arranged tableaus presented unity in diversity that India best exemplifies, being home to several linguistic, cultural, religious and racial ethnicities. Every Indian cheered when the young children braving the intense January cold presented a colourful bouquet of our rich and varied cultural heritage before the audience. The BSF camel contingent of armed bordermen and musicians were also there in...Read more...

The Afzal Guru saga: A Kashmiri's thoughts

by Mehak Zubair

Friday , February 15, 2013 at 12 : 11

Afzal Guru - I wonder how one name can have such different meanings? How can one person be a martyr and a terrorist at the same time? People in Kashmir have always cared for him but ever since the execution he has become a celebrated hero. Meanwhile just a mere 900 km away a majority seems to be celebrating this very execution. It is one of those very rare times when the opposition is also not opposing this decision.

I am a Kashmiri, who has been living in Delhi for the five past years. When I log on to Facebook, my wall seems to be so strange. As I keep scrolling down, I realise that way too many people in my friends' list from Kashmir have gone to the extent of making Afzal Guru's picture their display pic and the next post I...Read more...