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Here’s what we have been reading while being subjected to loud, off-key singing by the devotees of Lord Shiva from the temple next-door (Why? Because it is the holy month of saawan! If you are still unaware of this annual national phenomenon and are curious, read this before going further).
In India:
Recently, a Dalit couple was hacked to death because they owed a shopkeeper Rs. 15. A few weeks ago in Una, Gujarat four Dalit men were flogged, tied to an SUV and paraded for skinning a dead cow. Moreover, the flogging was filmed as a warning to other Dalits. In response, the Dalit community has been protesting in the state like never before. The Sunday before last (31st July), they gathered in large numbers in a rally in Sabarmati. This is a report on the event by Scroll, largely comprised of accounts on social media pf the lack of relevant reporting in the mainstream media. Anandiben Patel has stepped down as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Here is a list of issues compiled by The Hindu faced by the Gujarat government during her two-year term. Kancha Illaiah writes in the Indian Express about how a cow democracy has come to mean the oppression of Dalits. The underlying ideology of these violent atrocities, he argues, seems to be “skin for skin” punishing Dalits for their very occupation of skinning carcasses.
Meanwhile, two Dalit women have been appointed as priests in this Mangalore temple, and here is an article on how a Maharashtrian village in Beed forced the elected Sarpanch, a Dalit woman who speaks her own mind, out and installed a pliable proxy instead. This is often how upper caste men manipulate mandatory reservations for women and Scheduled Castes.
Jammu and Kashmir Coalition for Civil Society has started the Blindspot campaign in an attempt to raise internationl awareness about the violation of human rights by the Indian state. The use of pellets by the Indian Army has caused injuries to the eyes of more than 300 people in aftermath of Burhan Wani’s funeral.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016 was tabled in the Lok Sabha last week. While it was touted as a bill seeking empowerment of one of the most marginalized communities in India, here is a list of pros and cons you should know about the bill.
Mamata Banerjee, tired of being the last one to speak during inter-state council meetings, has decided to correct the logical fallacy that has led us all to call a state in the east of the country ‘West Bengal’. Rajyasree Sen writes here on why this makes complete sense.
In other, less amusing news, the parliament recently passed the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Amendment Act. Vijaylaxmi Balakrishnan examines the connections this has with other recent political developments and why this leaves children above 14 (who can now be legally employed in family businesses) vulnerable by stripping them of the Right to Education. Another example of state-sanctioned apathy faced by marginalized children comes from Assam. The chairperson of the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights is reportedly being pressurized to change her report on the status of 31 tribal girls taken by RSS affiliated organizations to Gujarat and Punjab.
Mahasweta Devi, the Bengali activist and writer, passed away at the age of 90. Urvashi Butalia remembers what discovering her works meant during the early years of the women’s movement in India here.
In Assam, the state with the highest maternal mortality ratio in the country, communities are coming together to prevent maternal health violations. Here is an article by Sarita Santoshini where she writes, ‘The High Court of Delhi expanded right-to-life provisions to include the right to safe motherhood and recognised maternal death as a human rights violation. This landmark decision was the first of its kind globally. However, India spends only 1.4% of its GDP on public health, and the policies under its National Health Mission (NHM), which entitles pregnant women living below the poverty line to several free benefits, are poorly implemented.’
Late in July Irom Sharmila announced that she will end her fast today (9th August). Ita Mehrotra gives us a glimpse of the activist’s sixteen year long struggle here. Mehrotra has also written about how her meeting with Irom Sharmila not only changed her ideas of nationhood but also impacted her daily work as an activist in her contribution The Poet, Sharmila for Drawing The Line (Zubaan Books, 2015).
Mahmood Farooqui has been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment for sexually assaulting an American research scholar at his home in Delhi. Last week, journalist Rama Lakshmi, acquainted with Farooqui and a friend of the victim, penned a Facebook post (later published on the DailyO, here), powerfully describing the victim’s struggle. She also censured the hypocrisies of the circle of ‘progressive’ friends who tried to convince the victim to withdraw the complaint. This has now become the first case after the 2013 amendment, which recognised forced oral sex as rape, to result in a conviction for this crime.
Over at The Wire, Prem Shankar Jha writes about Arvind Kejriwal’s continuing tussle with the Modi government, as the latter seeks to ‘incapacitate the AAP government in Delhi ever since its humiliating defeat in Delhi in December 2014.’ Jha comments on the BJP government’s increasingly ‘scant respect for the law and the Constitution’, making a case for taking Kejriwal’s warnings seriously.
Two Indians are on the list of the six winners of the 2016 Magsaysay Award. Bezwada Wilson who has been fighting for the abolition of the practice of manual scavenging (here’s an extensive interview with the activist) and Carnatic musician TM Krishna a non-conformist who seeks to democratize Carnatic music.
In the world:
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump officially accepted their Presidential nominations at the DNC and the RNC respectively. Notable speeches include two speeches by Michelle Obama. First, her moving speech at the DNC about the greatness of America, where she, a black woman, wakes up in a house built by slaves. The second, her speech from the 2008 election which was plagiarized this year by Melania Trump. Read here Ms Magazine’s take on why the glass-ceiling-shattering by Hillary Clinton is not enough for women in politics.
(On a side note: If you’ve been feeling out of touch with your sense of wonder for the world, check out Bill Clinton discovering balloons.)
While the interminable list of gross things said by Donald Trump now includes this gem on workplace sexual harassment, here’s Barack Obama reminding everyone of his feminist dad status. Here’s a response to this brand of feminism which focuses on familial relationships as the reason for men to be feminists.
Peter Pomerantsev explores here the reasons we ended up in a ‘post-fact’ world where the truth no longer matters. In a world with a digital cascade of information everyone can feel justified to cherry-pick ‘their own truth’— no facts, only interpretations. Perhaps this is how Donald Trump wins the presidential candidacy (even though 78% of the things he says are untrue) and Britain leaves the EU (because of a factually incorrect campaign run on the side of a bus later dismissed as a ‘mistake’).
Iran has put job tests on hold while investigations are carried out on the gender discriminatory vacancies for government jobs.
Nayyeema Ismat writes a genuine account of her frustrating experience of being queer in Pakistan. With the lack of a uniquely local LGBTQ narrative she finds herself shuttling between defending her Sunni Muslim spaces from the orientalising gaze of western feminists, and then using their language to explain female empowerment to her family.
In Culture:
Agents of Ishq conducted the Great Indian Penis Survey in an attempt to start a conversation about men and their very personal relationship with their penises. Here are the results of this first-of-its-kind, extremely non-heteronormative survey, presented in a very witty report.
Finally, if you have plans for a movie we would recommend that you skip Suicide Squad. Here’s a compilation of reviews for the movie. Apparently, ‘the film’s biggest laugh comes at the expense of Batman punching Harley Quinn’s face.’ You can definitely watch Ghostbusters though. As this review says, ‘There’s a thrill in seeing an action-movie team made up not only of women, but of women who fall blissfully outside the narrow definition of the Hollywood hottie.’