WITCH-HUNTING
Women targeted by superstition, crime

Odisha has the second highest number of reported cases of witch-hunting. Superstitious beliefs are made out to be the reason, but discrimination and revenge are often the real causes.

#Gender Violence #Human Rights #ODISHA
TRIBAL TRADITIONS
Holding on to a vanishing language

Hundreds of indigenous languages have vanished; many more are spoken by only a few. But as the Asur adivasis of Jharkhand show, it is possible to revive and preserve a language.

#Adivasis #Radio #Media #Society #JHARKHAND
THEATRE
The city in question

Girish Karnad's clear-eyed, unsentimental and even self-deprecatory view of the city seems rare in the Indian narrative imagination, which continues to nurse the notion of ‘the village innocent’ vs ‘the city corrupt’.

#Art #Cities #Society
WOMEN ON WHEELS
The gender gap in pedalling
WOMEN ON WHEELS : The gender gap in pedalling

More and more people are considering cycling as an option for their daily commutes to work. Women's participation in this change, however, is still low.

#Cities #Women
PASSIVE EUTHANASIA
Freedom to choose death
PASSIVE EUTHANASIA : Freedom to choose death

The Supreme Court in a landmark judgment has allowed passive euthanasia, thereby giving succour to terminally ill patients and their relatives, but is India culturally ready for this?

#People #Health
INTERVIEW
Feminism is about leading a non-degraded life

Dr C S Lakshmi, the eminent Tamil feminist writer speaks to Pratibha Umashankar about a range of issues concerning women, including the need to write women back into history.

#Interviews #Literature #Women
MATRILINEAL TRIBES
Lessons from tribals on surviving and thriving

An ancient matrilineal tribe of northeast India has a thriving culture and an increasing population, while a similarly ancient Dravidian matrilineal tribe is in danger of vanishing. Linda Chhakchhuak reports on what the Dravidian tribe can learn from the northeastern tribe to revive its culture and population.

#Adivasis #Gender Law and Policy #Human Rights
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Where hidden identities wait for justice
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN : Where hidden identities wait for justice

Naam Poribortito, the debut film of activist Mitali Biswas, reveals the dark and gory underbelly of West Bengal in particular, and the nation at large, where rape victims are denied justice and crusaders are silenced more often than not. Shoma Chatterji has more on the film and its portrayals.

#Gender and Media #Media
PATRIARCHY AND EMPOWERMENT
Unleashing Political Renaissance By Rejecting Patriarchy

Boregaon is a small village in Solapur district of Maharashtra where men have shunned the patriarchal mindset to support women’s political empowerment and gender equality, writes Suchismita Pai.

#Panchayats #Women's Representation #Women
PATRIARCHY AND MASCULINITY
A Man Cannot Tolerate Failure
PATRIARCHY AND MASCULINITY : A Man Cannot Tolerate Failure

The age-old notions of patriarchy and masculinity, which suppress and disempower women, have an equally damaging effect on men’s behaviour and psyche, leaving them ill-equipped to handle failure. Rimjhim Jain reports.

#Gender Law and Policy #Farmer Suicides #Women
MAN & NATURE
The trail of a disappearing culture

Sunanda Bhat’s award-winning Have You Seen The Arana is deeply relevant in today’s world, as it explores the deep connectedness between man and nature, and the struggle of little-known people to preserve it in the face of many onslaughts. Shoma A Chatterji reviews the film.

#Adivasis #Environmental films and books #Reviews
TASHIDING HYDRO POWER PROJECT
The fate of Sikkim's sacred river hangs in balance
TASHIDING HYDRO POWER PROJECT : The fate of Sikkim's sacred river hangs in balance

Having drastically curtailed the width of eco-sensitive zones in Sikkim, the MoEF seems intent on ignoring local sentiment as well as environmental norms in order to push forward the Tashiding HEP on the sacred Rathong Chu river. Soumik Dutta reports on the latest in the case.

#Environmental Regulation #Environment
A TRIBUTE TO FORGOTTEN LEGENDS
In search of Binodini and her peers
A TRIBUTE TO FORGOTTEN LEGENDS : In search of Binodini and her peers

The leading ladies of Bengali theatre in the late 19th and 20th centuries presented an intriguing portrait of women caught between two worlds, liberated in a way, yet shackled in others. A recent performance as tribute to these artists leads Shoma Chatterji to reminisce their lives and times.

#Art #Creative Media #Women's Films and Books #Women
INTERVIEW
“I want to learn the mainstream language of cinema”

The multi-faceted Gulzar, revered equally in intellectual literary and mainstream film circles, was recently bestowed the 45th Dadasaheb Phalke Award. In this interview with Shoma Chatterji, the venerable Gulzar Sahib speaks of his art, his career in Indian cinema, and the changes he has seen over the years.

#Art #Media Interviews #People
CELEBRITY MPs
The not-so-glittering stars in Parliament

As parties firm up their candidates in various constituencies, several celebrity names - new and old - are doing the rounds yet again. Shoma Chatterji looks at a few examples from the years gone by to question what we may really expect from these star-turned-politicians.

#Elections #Government