Like hundreds of other villages in its vicinity, Khushiyari in Varanasi district, was another village lost on the map of India, until a group of women popularly known as Green Gang brought it to public attention. Dressed in green sarees, these women took the pledge to eradicate drug and liquor addiction from their village. Starting this drive from their homes,
Oppression of the common man at the hands of the high and mighty was a central theme in many of the thought-provoking stories written by literary legend, Premchand. One such story was ‘Thakur ka Kuan’ (landlord’s well). The ambience, in the narrative, is set in a village where a man named Jokhu is shown to be pretty ill and yearning for water. There is a common
She still remembers that warm day in May in 2011, when the unimaginable happened and the bastion of the left rule came crashing down. One woman almost single-handedly achieved this feat. Sharbani, a housewife in south Kolkata, says she could not imagine such a day would ever dawn. For her college-going daughter Mou, that day had been awe-inspiring. “We saw Mamata-di walk, yes, walk all th
Delhi, a city with the foulest air in the world and currently home to an estimated 17 million people, will see a second round of road rationing during April 15-30. However, opinions are sharply divided on whether such a move will actually lead to cleaner air. One group of experts is all for a repeat of the scheme for the relief it gives to people from road congestio
Jehangir Khan is the director of Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF) and the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) in the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) in the UN Secretariat. The plan of action (PoA) that UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon submitted to member states has been developed through the CTITF. Khan spoke to Shreerupa Mitra-Jha on the recently-held Geneva confer
It is a pity that caste even today has its defenders. The defences are many. It is defended on the ground that the caste system is but another name for division of labour; and if division of labour is a necessary feature of every civilized society, then it is argued that there is nothing wrong in the caste system. Now the first thing that is to be urged against this view is that the caste syste
Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) – once a major political force in Tamil Nadu—seems to be losing steam today. With no following at the grassroot level, the party is practically a spent force. Political observers feel that part of the TMC’s current plight comes from having a party president – GK Vasan – who came of age as a hothouse flower.
On March 30, Manipuri activist Irom Sharmila was acquitted by a Delhi court in an attempt-to-suicide case registered against her in 2006 for sitting on fast at Jantar Mantar in protest against a law giving special powers to the armed forces to deal with insurgency in certain parts of the country. While the acquittal needs to be welcomed, Irom may have faced criminal proceedings for about 10 yea
How is your organisation trying to help the riot victims of Muzaffarnagar? The riots have taught us the importance of building ‘sadbhavana’, goodwill, among the communities. It has shaken all of us out of stupor and taught us that we need to remain vigilant against the trouble mongers among us. Sporadic instances of small issues snowballing into commu
Why has nobody been punished for the Muzaffarnagar riots so far? The most apparent reason for the accused walking free after all the witnesses turned hostile in four of the cases so far is the weak prosecution. The officer appointed by the UP government to press cases against the accused, who had been identified by the survivors, was negligent in discharging his
In 2006, a group of cultural activists got together and collected contributions from the people of Gorakhpur to hold a film festival. It was quite different from regular film festivals as it refused corporate or government support or screen only those films which were politically correct. Soon, the initiative, called Cinema of Resistance (CoR), grew roots in more than 15 ci
Of late, we’ve been hearing a lot about the charges of sedition, anti-nationalism, anti-democratic, being levelled against the students of JNU commemorating Afzal Guru and Yakub Memon. The question is whether the action of students eulogizing Afzal Guru and others whose actions are inimical to the sovereignty and integrity of the nation is justified. Not merely
Bihar has prohibited alcohol, becoming the fourth state in the country to do so. Slowly yet surely, it seems, India is headed towards going ‘dry’. It is a bold move. One swallow does not a summer make, yet there is a clear trend for barring liquor. With Bihar, one of India’s most populous states, joining this bandwagon, a staggering 20 crore people now will not
Two Indian cities – Delhi and Mumbai – will likely be contributing significantly to global urban consumption during a course of 15 years, as per a report by McKinsey Global Institute (M
The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) suffered a jolt on January 11 when the Modi government decided against supporting its case before the supreme court for minority status. Though during the UPA regime the centre had appealed against the Allahabad high court order stripping AMU of minority status, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi submitted before the apex court that the centre was not inclined to
It was a quirk of fate that made her foray into the tumultuous politics of J&K. Mehbooba has grown into an astute politician and a charismatic leader in 20 years. However, as she renews her vows with the BJP and embarks on a new phase of her career, Mehbooba’s journey is unlikely to be smooth Some of the key challenges for her are: Her image
In 2014, the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO) set foot in Odisha to guide the state in ensuring and extending basic guarantees of income and health to the poor and the most vulnerable through its joint UN project, ‘Social Protection Floor’ (SPF). Odisha became the testing ground for SPF which links exclusion and poverty, and leaves it to a country to
Governance Now got in touch with Gurpreet Singh alias Santa and Prabhpreet Singh alias Banta, who have been living up to their stage names for 18 years. Sick of being held responsible for bringing disrespect to the community, the duo has now decided to change their names to Jugli and Shugli. When and how did you become popular as Santa and Banta?
At the age of 82, Ela Bhatt remains as active as she was decades ago when she launched a remarkable trade union of poor women, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), in Ahmedabad and thus pioneered a unique grassroots movement. Bhatt, a Gandhian, has served in various capacities – as a nominated MP, as a member of the planning commission and on a number of international organ
Urur Olcott Kuppam is the name of a 150-year-old fishing village near Chennai’s Elliot’s beach where the Urur Olcott Kuppam Vizha – a unique festival of dance and music – is being held for the past two years. ‘Vizha’ means festival in Tamil. This year the Vizha was scheduled for mid-January, but due to the floods that hit Chennai in December 2015, we postpone
