Converge 2015

2015

Converge Delhi’s Air Pollution

Every Breath Closer to Death

Battling Rape Trauma

A Tale from Muzaffarnagar

Delhi’s Sole Synagogue

Converge 2015

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Converge 2015

About CONVERGE 2015

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he final magazine of students of MA Convergent Journalism, CONVERGE is a team effort.

We have consciously chosen to offer different kinds of stories to our readers, trying to create a balance of news, features, city stories and photo stories.

In this edition, we turned the spotlight on Delhi’s ever-increasing air pollution, as it slowly chokes the city’s lungs. As keen media students, we tracked the big story around the government’s ban on India’s Daughter, unpacking the criticism leveled at the documentary.

In the News section, we explore how social media helped people connect with family and friends after a 7.9 earthquake hit Nepal on April 26. In the wake of the Germanwings plane crash, we ask whether pilots in India go through adequate psychological training and checks. Two of our correspondents travelled to Muzaffarnagar, one and a half years after the riots ravaged the district, to find the area limping back to normalcy and a heartening tale of humanity and harmony.

From the capital city, we bring you stories of change: the #PadsAgainst Sexism campaign which broke taboos about menstruation, an organisation which is turning young Muslim girls into footballers and finally, an app launched by India’s best known and busiest medical institution AIIMS to make appointments less of a headache.

The Opinion section carries an in-depth analysis of the media’s role in the public lynching of a rape accused in Dimapur. We also discuss one of the most important questions facing Indian civil society at the moment: do we have the right to dissent or not?

Our feature stories have something for every reader. You can read on to find stories of hope and resilience, such as that of an organisation which helps survivors of acid attacks build their lives back or the brave daughter who decided to send off her father with a salute rather than tears. Our reporters spent a day at newly functioning rape rehabilitation centre and legal mediation centre respectively, to find out how things work behind-the-scenes at these much needed institutions.

Between the covers of the magazine, you can read about Delhi’s only synagogue or YouTube’s decade-long journey to that most pesky of all problems, hair loss. For avid readers, we have an interview with Manisha Sethi, whose book Kafkaland explores the underbelly of anti-terror investigations.

Our curated Trending section brings your attention to hashtags and videos which went viral online. A photo story on calligraphy delves into the dying art.

We hope you enjoy the magazine. Your feedback and suggestions will go a long way in helping us improve in the future.

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Postcards from delhi

8 A level playing field 11 Delhi students campaign against menstruation taboo

13 AIIMS launches app for appointment booking in the news

16 The jat who gave refuge to a

muslim woman

19 Social media aids Nepal in crisis 20 Death in the high skies spotlight

22 A public health emergency 25 India’s daughter: The film that got India talking OPINION

28 The circle of action and reaction 30 Do we have the right to dissent?

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conte

tents

photo story

Shrinking Spaces 31 Feature

One stop centres: Battling the rape trauma 34 A ray of hope for Acid attack survivors 36

Out of court settlement 38 A daughter’s salute 39 Harvested hair 40 art and culture

Manufactured terrorism inside the India ‘Kafkaland’ 42

The sole synagogue of Delhi 44 On the web

What’s trending 46 Youtube turns 10: Subscribe and stay tuned 48

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postcards from delhi

A level playing field

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he scene in Haji colony, a small slum located in Jamia Nagar is almost the same as everyday; men and boys from different age groups sit on small stools chatting about cricket matches among other things, while the women are either inside their homes, or are seen outdoors finishing household chores.

After introducing myself to the group as a student of journalism from Jamia I asked an old man from the group.

“Sir, do you know of any girl from this colony who plays football in the evenings?” He had not paid much heed to my introduction but I noticed irritation in his eyes when he heard my question. He looked up and said, “Girls don’t play football in this colony; this is not that kind of a place. Yes, the boys play in the evening, the playground is at the end of the road, you can talk to them if you want.”

The group did not let me interrupt their conversation anymore and asked me to leave. I had heard from a friend about an NGO organising football for young girls. After wandering through the narrow lanes for two hours, I ran into a middle-aged woman who led me to a girl who plays football.

Cequin, an NGO working towards empowerment of women in and around Jamia Nagar is giving young girls of different age-groups an opportunity to express themselves through football. Girls from different areas play football four days a week in the Jamia Millia Islamia sports complex under the guidance of a coach and a physical trainer. Most

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of these girls live in one of the many ghettos in and around Jamia Nagar. They feel that football has helped them in building their confidence. “I have been playing football for four years now and I feel great playing it because that is the only time in the day when I can forget all my troubles and enjoy the moment,” said Daraksha who is one of the oldest participants of the programme.

The initiative was started in 2011 and the turnout of girls from the neighbourhood has increased ever since. The NGO staff told The Converge that initially the participation was very low but now more and more people are allowing their daughters to play the sport because of the incentives given out by the NGO. Shazia, a non-formal education instructor at Cequin said, “Initially many people had a problem with the dresscode. But we were very persistent and we convinced people that it was safe to send their daughters for some physical exercise in the evening and that playing football would be beneficial. We assured them that the coach would be a woman and that their daughters would be playing in a safe environment.”

Renu, the coach, appointed for the programme is a university and district level football player and believes that sports are a powerful tool. She thinks that participation in sports can really change the way one feels. “I think sports can give you a lot of confidence and helps in the development of one’s personality,” she said. She also expressed concern

By Asad Rehman Photo: Shyamolee M N

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postcards from delhi

over the fact that some of her best players have dropped out of the programme. “We recently lost our best player because her parents wouldn’t allow her to play anymore after she was spotted with a boy in a market. She has been grounded indefinitely or till she gets married to a boy chosen by the family, some girls don’t get permission because their parents feel they will get tanned and it will be hard to find a groom for them.”

Renu feels that parents generally do not send their daughters to play fearing strong reactions from neighbours and society. “People need to change the way they think, sports must be played by all; men and women.

There are many problems that we have faced in the last four years; some parents took a lot of convincing. There are still some girls who leave their houses in hijabs but come here and change into the kit.” she said.

When I asked her about the greatest achievement of the Cequin team, Renu’s eyes lit up as she told me about a victory that the girls achieved at Modern School, Barakhamba Road, one of the capital’s top schools.

She described how the senior team came back from a 1-0 deficit to clinch a 2-1 victory in the final. The NGO was very proud of how the girls performed and awarded Karbonn smartphones to 51 girls who are regular as a reward for their performance.

The girls who play for Cequin feel that football has given them a choice in life. Aafreen, a 14 year-old said, “Since I’ve started to go for the football sessions on my own, I feel that 10

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I can do anything by myself. It makes me strong and gives me a choice to be independent and not live the life led by my mother.”

Last year two girls were given scholarships of Rs 5 lakh each and sent to Hyderabad to play football and study in the new city. It inspired many of the younger ones to take football more seriously. Zainab Khan, a 16-year-old who is preparing for her board exams is optimistic that she will get a scholarship and go to a new city to study the same way two of her seniors did. “I want to live alone, and manage my own life, I hate being dependent on someone,” Zainab said.

Noor Javed, a housewife and mother of 11-year-old Kulsum, comes everyday to watch the game in the evening, “I feel very good to watch my daughter play here, and she’s getting better day by day. I can see the change; I have been coming for two years now. I want her to get a good education and work in a company. I don’t want her to be like me.”

A member of the staff at Cequin told The Converge that Sarah Pilot, who is married to Congress politician Sachin Pilot is the one who is behind this initiative. A Jamia official at the Sports Complex also mentioned that the permission to play at the Sports Complex was given easily because of the “influence” the NGO has.

However, the girls seem to be enjoying the football and look forward to doing the same in the future. They hope such initiatives are taken up by other NGOs and more girls get an opportunity to express themselves and learn to be independent.

Delhi students campaign against Menstruation Taboo

By Karan Prashant Saxena

One of the locations for the campaign was Jamia Millia Islamia.

Photo: Mejazul Haq

In India, over 300 million women face ostracization due to taboos surrounding menstruation. Inspired by a German student, Elona Kastratia, students of Jamia Millia Islamia started a campaign to stir a debate against the taboo.

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Postcards from delhi

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n prudish Indian society, there are certain things which menstruation is perceived a ‘shameful’ subject, something are not supposed to be uttered in public. Talking about to be hidden from the eyes of men. menstruation is one of those taboos which makes Roopanki Kalra, 22, who is currently pursuing her everyone utterly uncomfortable. Not only in India, in other Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication from parts of the world as well, menstruation is never discussed Amity University recounts an incident, “I once asked a guy openly, becoming a subject only women discuss in furtive friend of mine to drive me to the marketplace as I needed whispers. to buy pads urgently. He freaked out and told me that In rural areas of India, when girls or women I should not talk about stuff like this in front of are having their period, they are restricted guys.” within the house, sometimes confined to “He said it’s disgusting and gross to talk “Bea particular room and are not allowed to openly about such things and refused to drive touch any object or talk to anyone or even me,” she adds. “I still don’t get it. Why should yond just perform any religious ritual.

I be ashamed to talk about my natural bodily sticking our A report by Water Supply and functions?” pads, we wanted Sanitation Collaborative Council Elonë Kastratia, a German street to see who was (WSSCC), reveals that this Menstruation artist, recently started a movement reading it and Taboo puts 300 million women in India #PadsAgainstSexism in a small town of at risk. “From a taboo standpoint they are Germany, Karlsruhe. She went across the town start a conostracized – it’s an awkward situation to be putting sanitary napkins on public display with versation. in if you are having your monthly period and messages of gender equality written on them.

Even with you simply do not want to be seen by others Some of the messages read, “Period blood is not people because they may perceive you as either dirty impure, your thoughts are”. Her idea behind who we or unhygienic in some way,” the execuxive the movement was to tackle the taboo that is director of WSSCC said in an interview associated with the idea of menstruation and saw were published on globalpolicy.org. at the same time argue her case for gender ignoring it, The situation in metropolitan cities is equality. we tried to not any different. Talking about sanitary Mejazul Haq, a student of Social Sciences start a conpads is considered to be embarrassing or Department at the Jamia Millia Islamia versation and uncultured and the ‘M-word’ is something followed Kastratia’s campaign online along which students read in biology books and with three of his batch mates and started initiate debate.” forget about soon. In classrooms, teachers their own version of the campaign in Delhi. hesitate to approach the subject, skipping Mejazul shared his thoughts, “What is so it altogether or taking separate classes only disturbing about pads? They are just piece of aimed for female students. The result is that cloth used for cleaning. What is wrong in talking about them?”

“Right now in India, we have got this whole thing going @BDUTT: I fully back the women & men on, like rape, sexism, inequality between genders and of Jamia & Jadavpur Universities in the recently the ban on this documentary India’s daughter. It campaign using Sanitary Pads just made sense to do it here. So we just picked it up from to protest misogyny. there. I called up my friend Kaainat, and, we went to our STOP SEXISM. other friends and we decided, we are just going to start,” PERIOD. says Mejazul, explaining how the campaign originated.

Kaainat, who is pursuing Bachelors in Psychology Hons. from Jamia Social Sciences Department, is actively involved with the campaign. She explained that their whole intention was to start a debate of why there is a stigma attached to the biological phenomenon of menstruation.

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@kavita_krishnan: Kudos Mejaz, Kaainat, Mohit and Sameera, the women and men who started #PadsAgainstSexism in Jamia Millia.”

“Beyond just sticking our pads, we wanted to see who was reading it and start a conversation. Even with people who we saw were ignoring it, we tried to start a conversation and initiate debate.”

The campaign drew immediate attention from students, the general public, authorities and the media. Elonë Kastratia was quick to post a YouTube video thanking the Jamia students for their attempts to carry the movement forward in India. She said, “I am happy to hear that my message went even to your university in Delhi. I am even more happy (sic) that there are people like you that help me spread this message. Raise your voice against sexism, girls and boys. Also show solidarity and help each other. Thanks a lot to you all.”

Kavita Krishnan, Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association and a woman rights activist, also came out in support of the campaign and tweeted, “Kudos Mejaz, Kaainat, Mohit and Sameera, the women and men who started #PadsAgainstSexism in Jamia Millia.”

Mejazul tells me that that they did not really think about the impact or turn of events once they start the campaign.

“We thought it was a great idea, so we decided to just start it.”

But as expected, in India, where gender politics and patriarchy is rampant, the campaign did not receive a positive response from everyone.

Mejaz talks about the response he got from the public: “We saw people who completely supported it and told us that we are doing a great thing. But then we also saw people who did not even want to look at pads and completely refused to even take a look at them or talk about pads.

The men were like it’s not ours to talk about. The women understand that. Go talk to them. And it confused us.”

“But that was the whole point to challenge those thoughts to make people think about why there is a stigma attached to menstruation while we can so openly talk about rape in our society,” Mejaz added.

The authorities at Jamia Campus were quick to take off the pads from boards and trees as soon as they were put upon them. “The guards were in support of the message but they said that they were just doing their job and that to put up pads with messages on Jamia property, we needed to take permission from Jamia administration, which we did not have,” Kaainat said.

A show cause notice was sent to the students by the

Proctor’s office for not taking due permission. “We are not against the message but against the means used. We acted after receiving verbal complaints from students and staff.

If the matter becomes severe, we will call for a disciplinary committee to look into it,” the Chief Proctor Mehtab Alam, said in an interview to ibnlive.

An article in Okhla Times, which is a local daily initiated by a resident of Okhla named Asad, even suggested that now the identities of the campaigners have come out in the open, the administration should take strict action against them.

But despite the negative reaction, the movement is growing strong in and around Delhi. Students from Jamia have inspired other universities to start a similar movement.

Shambhavi, a student pursuing Masters in English is directly involved in the campaign at theUniversity of Delhi, said that the guard at Arts Faculty was furious about the pads and ensured that he tore down the messages before

@AsnaSays: Jamia student started #padsagainstsexism campaign !!!Kudos

dumping it in the bins.

But the negative reaction has not deterred Shambhavi’s spirit. “We are continuing the campaign now on a larger scale. We are working more messages. We have more volunteers from all of the undergraduate colleges. We are also planning an open mic/slam poetry event on the theme of menstruation taboos and cultural sexism,” she says.

A report by Science Technology & Management Journal

by AISECT University published in March 2013 reported that 68% of Indian rural women cannot even afford to buy sanitary napkins. In the wake of such data, the Jamia campaigners are thinking of taking the movement forward by getting in touch with NGOs who are working for safeguarding interests and rights of women and also are keen to start donating pads to those in need. “Women do need pads in our country. We are hoping to create awareness so that we can help these NGOs and also do something on our part to help these women.”

Mejazul and other Jamia campaigners refused to talk about the actions taken by Jamia administration as they do not want to shift attention from the campaign to controversies.

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AIIMS launches

As many as ten thousand patients visit the hospital everyday.

A majority of them, who come from various parts of the country, are too poor to afford a basic phone, let alone a smartphone.

By Siraj Khan

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n a bid to make the process of “booking and cancelling appointment easy�, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi has launched an android based application (app). Developed by AIIMS and National Informatics Centre in association with independent app developers, Nikaash Puri and Jitender Bajaj. The app is helpful in viewing lab reports, patient profiles, booking and cancelling appointments and looking up the directory to find phone numbers of various doctors.

The app requires a Unique Health Identification (UHID) number and a mobile number to login. Every patient who visits the hospital for treatment is allotted a UHID num-

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app for appointment booking

Queues of patients waiting at AIIMS hospital Photo: Siraj Khan

ber. “We have kept the UHID number mandatory to curb the touts and mediators from misusing the app. Nowadays everyone owns a smartphone, so it will be much easier for the patients to make and cancel the appointments provided the patient has come here once,” said Dr Deepak Aggarwal, professor of Neurosurgery and head of the AIIMS IT cell.

The country’s premier hospital plans to link the app facility with the Aadhar number so that people can use it even without UHID. “Once that is done, patients will be able to access all the facilities from home for which they had to visit the hospital till now,” Dr Aggarwal added.

According to hospital figures, as many as ten thou-

sand patients visit the hospital everyday. A majority of them, who come from various parts of the country, are too poor to afford a basic phone, let alone a smartphone.

But patients such as Pawan Kumar, an advocate at Delhi High Court, are skeptical that the app will prove useful.

“I’ve not used the app yet but have used the online appointment booking facility and it’s a headache. Even after you have booked the appointments online, you are supposed to visit the hospital to confirm it. Then what is the point in making the appointments online? I’m not sure how seamlessly the app will work, but the effort is commendable for sure,” said Kumar.

Other patients point out that only a handful of people use smart phones. “For people like me who don’t know how to operate a smartphone, it takes hours to book an appointment at the hospital. AIIMS should focus on opening more OPD(Out Patient Department) counters so that appointment booking can be done easily. Also, to avoid long queues, we have to leave early for hospital. Had there been more counters, the situation would have been different,” complained Ramesh Sharma, who had come to see a dermatologist.

The developers plan to make the full version of the app available for public use as soon as possible. “Currently the app is in beta version for android operating system users but we are in talks to develop an iOS version as well,” said Puri. He said that in the full version, the app would be linked with Google Translate in the next couple of months so that the patients who can’t access it in English can use it in their own language.

“We didn’t charge the hospital for this as we felt is community service. Also, it is very important for organizations like AIIMS, who cater to masses, to have a presence on the digital platform. If facilities like booking appointments are made online, it will save a lot of money and resources for the general public. People won’t have to travel hundreds of kilometers to just book appointments,” added Puri.

On questions of lack of awareness about the app among smartphone users and discrepancies in the online appointment booking facility, the hospital Public Relations Officer Amit Gupta said, “We accept that there are some issues with our system and we are very open about it. We have been resolving the issues as and when brought to our notice. We are continuously working on making the system more convenient and hassle-free. For publicizing the app facility, we are taking help of various communication mediums.”

On AIIMS website, a seperate tab has been added providing information about the app. For non-smartphone users, the appointment booking can be done by using the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) by dialing 09266092660.

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The Jat who gave refuge to a Muslim woman

By Mirza Arif Beg and Salik Ahmad

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Sawari at her home Photo: Salik Ahmad

The fires were stoked by politicians. There were three cars with outsiders, who went from village to village, giving incendiary speeches and inciting people

he villages of Muzaffarnagar that witnessed one of the worst communal riots in recent times look eerily serene and peaceful. It is difficult to imagine that these rustic sugarcane fields were the setting for savage violence not too long ago, as riots broke out in the area between August and September 2013.

As we met people we heard — after a while with mechanical apathy — tale after tale of atrocities that were committed during the riots. And then, we found one of those beautiful stories that make your day; a story that bears testimony to the resilient secular spirit of this land.

We met Sukhbir Singh, a man who vowed to uphold peace in his village when crowds in the neighbouring villages were going around shouting ‘Pakistan jao ya qabristan jao’ and hacking people ruthlessly.

Sukhbir, an octogenarian, is a resident of Mazra, a village in Muzaffarnagar. When the riots broke out, the Muslims in the Jat dominated Mazra started fleeing the village despite assurances from Sukhbir and other village elders.

Sarwari, a woman of seventy and mother of five sons, was left behind by her sons who fled the village fearing for their lives. Sukhbir, who has both impressive personality and considerable clout in the village, says, “Although I had assured her that no harm can happen to her she was scared.

I told her to come and stay at my place till the situation improved.” When we met Sarwari later, she told us the same story, saying how grateful she was to Sukhbir.

Sukhbir’s exercise of humanity did not stop at that. He called the Muslims of his village who had fled and asked them to return. Yameen, a resident of the village says,“I went to Sarai (a nearby village) with Iqbal and Islam (his sons) but Sukhbir tau came to call us back and assured that nobody is going to touch us.”

Sukhbir insists that Jats and Muslims have always lived amicably in Muzaffarnagar. “The fires were stoked by politicians. There were three cars with outsiders, who went from village to village, giving incendiary speeches and inciting people,” he told us.

In the neighbouring village of Palda-Paldi too, where a fair number of people displaced during the riots have settled after receiving compensation, villagers testified that Mazra remained unaffected by the communal conflagration.

Sanjeev, the pradhan of another nearby village Dulehra, also set an example with his moral courage and integrity.

He arranged four trolleys for Muslims and helped them move to camps safely.

The most interesting thing about these two villages — Mazra and Dulehra — is that they are only a few kilometres Photo by Salik Ahmad

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Sukhbir (right) with his son Satish at their home Photo: Mirza Arif Beg away from the village of Kutba-Kutbi, probably the worst riot-affected village in western UP. Ayub, a man we met at the Malakpur camp (razed down on 4th April, 2015) in Shamli district, recounted the chilling tale of what happened in Kutba-Kutbi, “On September 7, we knew that the Jats had returned from the Mahapanchayat and heard rumours that we all will be killed. All the Muslims of the village gathered in one house. We had amassed bricks and stones on the roof of the house and decided to put up a fight if it came to that. At 8 am next morning the Jats struck. They came in droves armed with swords. We fended them off for 2-3 hours till the PAC (Provincial Armed Constabulary) came which asked us to stop pelting stones and come down. There were two Muslims in the PAC force who gestured us not to come down.

We sensed something was wrong as, instead of dispersing the Jats, the PAC was urging us to come down. We decided to stay put. Had we gone down we would have been hacked to death.� wAccording to him 8 Muslims were killed in his village.

In the Muslim-dominated Shahpur village, a lesser number of Hindus were killed.

Most of the riot-survivors have been adequately compensated and they have relocated to different places. This rarely happens in many post-riot cases. The Muslims themselves admitted that over 95% of people from their community have been compensated. The Samajwadi Party government gave Rs. 15 lakh each (including Rs. 2 lakh given by the Central Government) to the kin of 65 people killed in the riots.

Apart from that, it gave Rs. 5 lakh each to roughly a thousand more victims of the riots. There are rumours that some people left their homes and settled in camps for riotvictims to receive compensation.

Muzaffarnagar finally seems to be limping back to normalcy. For this generation of people who experienced the riots first-hand, the horror of it is indelible. But as long as people like Sukhbir and Sanjeev are alive, the disruption of harmony, no matter how deep, will always be episodic and never ever final.

(Left to Right) Islam, Kaala, Yameen and Sukhbir

Photo: Salik Ahmad

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Social media Aids NEPAl In crisis

By Vijdan Saleem

A

s Nepal experienced its worst earthquake since 1934 which killed more than 6,200 people, Facebook activated its special feature—Safety Check— which helped people locate their kin and friends.

By using this particular feature, users close to the site of the disaster can mark themselves safe and notify their friends. Besides this, Safety Check also urges users to mark other people who are safe. The feature was developed by Facebook after its engineers in Japan created the Disaster Message Board to help people make contact during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Disasters and social media In times of natural disasters, people tend to use social media for several reasons—to check on family and friends, seek support, gather news about the magnitude of the disaster and provide ground-zero first-hand accounts.

Apart from improving rescue and relief operations, people can also use social networking sites to send donations. Facebook users are now seeing a message at the top of their news feed asking them to donate to International Medical Corps (IMC), which has emergency response teams in regions hardest hit by the earthquake.“Facebook will match every dollar donated up to $2 million. Facebook’s wlocal relief and rescue organisations working to provide immediate and ongoing relief,” the social networking site says.

Twitter and the Nepal crisis Twitter’s Alerts feature builds upon and gives enhanced visibility to some of the best practices during a crisis, which many governments and emergency responders have already demonstrated. Social media has revolutionised communication during disasters,” says US’ Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate.

“Today we have a two-way street—residents are informed about hazards in real time and emergency managers receive immediate feedback on the consequences of a disaster. Twitter Alerts provide an opportunity to get information directly from trusted sources.”

Soon after the 7.9-magnitude temblor jolted Nepal and parts of India on Saturday, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) started the twitter handle “@MEAcontrolroom” to inform people about latest rescue efforts and sharing helpline numbers.People are using hashtags like #Nepalearthquake, #ThankyouPM, #OpMaitri, #NepalQuake, #IndiawithNepal to show solidarity and offer help to the people in quake-ravaged country.

Raheel Khursheed, head - news, politics and government, Twitter India said, that they are using the platform to mobilise resources and channelsie the information to help people on the ground”.“While #Nepal, #NepalEarthqake and #NepalQuake have been used to report on the disaster the past few days, we are now promoting #Nepal-

QuakeRelief as a way to focus the conversation on coordinating relief efforts,” said raheel.

During the 2014 Kashmir floods, an automated SOS service was introduced after the army and Twitter collaborated for rescue operations. This is considered one of the largest after-disaster campaigns in the Nepal Photo Project locating people recent past. through Instagram SOS feature During natural calamities, the collapse of infrastructure hits network and telecommunication facilities. Local officials had no way to contact the government or the army.

Though the army was equipped with satellite phones, they were of little help as the location of people waiting to be rescued was not known.Realising this problem, Twitter used ground information which was constantly being updated for the cause of rescue.

“One of the major challenges for the people who were trying to make sense of the constant arrival of information was to classify it. The tweets included were of various kinds,” Raheel Khursheed, Twitter head news, politics and government, India, said.

There were various kinds of tweets. While some expressed anguish and grief, others called for help. The final and the most important ones were of those coming out of the flood-hit regions. These had to be sifted, classified and channelised to make the best out of such reactions.

“What we did at Twitter is that we channelised the SOS information which was received using the Twitter feeds by running it through a code which separated the SOS tweets from the rest, under #kashmirfloods. This information was then sent to the officials of the Indian Army who used it for rescue operation,” Khursheed added.

The army saved over 12,000 people based on information from social media during the Kashmir floods. Apart from the SOS service, Twitter was also used to channelise relief materials from across the country. There were almost 40 collection centres throughout the country and numerous distribution channels in the flood-hit valley for despatching relief materials. The creative use of social media, thus, saved several lives.

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Death In The High Skies

By Anirban Datta The horrific mass murder of 144 passengers

and five crew members on board German

Airwings Airbus 320A by co pilot Andreas Lubitz has drawn sharp focus on the the

mental health of pilots. There are no pre

flight tests to detect mental stress or suicidal tendencies in pilots. Will such testing help or

will it only make affected pilots more evasive?

H

e was in charge, albeit for a short while. The pilot, after some urging, had decided to take a lavorty break, leaving him at the controls. At an altitude of 38,000 feet, soaring over the breathtakingly beautiful French Alps, an area he knew well from his skiing holidays, Andreas Lubitz, co-pilot of the German Wings Airbus 320 A, should have felt on top of the world.

But then he decided to come crashing down. Giving no indication to the pilot or the ATC of his dangerous designs or the madness that lurked in his mind, Andreas calmly locked the cockpit from inside, set the auto pilot to 96 feet and crashed into the mountainside, taking with him 144 hapless passengers and five crew members.

Aviation safety experts and specialists in avionics medicine are asking themselves, if this needless tragedy could have been averted. Was there some way in which Lubitz’s mind could have been probed? Is the present system of pre flight examination of pilots, comprehensive and designed to detect mental stress and more importantly suicidal ten-

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dencies?

The present system of checks, the world over, is confined to a brief physical examination and interaction with the doctor. The pilot’s parameters such as blood pressure and heart rate are checked. At best, his urine and blood samples are tested to rule out substance abuse. The doctor ascertains whether the pilot is oriented in space and time and whether there are any visible symptoms of stress. The doctor bases his assessment on the behaviour exhibited by the pilot. Pilots who are withdrawn, unduly aggressive or noticeably disheveled are barred from flying and are qwmade to undergo further tests.

The examining doctor is not necessarily an aviation psychiatrist and therefore the onus of bringing issues of stress and depression to the notice of the doctor, devolves upon the pilot himself or his crew.

Dr Sharma, an avionics medicine specialist says that pilots are loath to report issues such as stress and depression, due to stigma attached to it and the fact that it could mean

bachelors to young parents and later as divorcees or single parents, there is a perceptible change in behaviour.”

Dr Sharma agrees, “There are however no systems prevalent to track these life events and the possible impact on the minds of pilots. Pilots develop the ability to compartmentalize their lives and generally do not let the stresses of their lives tell on their flying. When they are in the cockpit, they shut out the world, but then there are exceptions,” he says.

It is these exceptions who are hard to detect. “Questionnaire based psychometric tools are only of use, if the pilot wishes to seek help. For now there are no brain scans, hormonal screenings or other technologies that can distinguish a suicidal pilot from a normal one.”

While agreeing that intensive mental screening could prevent recurrence of such tragedies, Dr Sharma sounds a word of caution. “Any attempts to intensify psychiatric analysis may result in pilot’s becoming more evasive, as their livelihoods depend on it.”

Captain Manoj Kumar feels that measures such as a ‘two person cockpit policy’ and more focus on aspects such as Crew Resource Management(CRM) will help in averting such incidents. CRM is basically about interpersonal communication and teamwork, where the entire crew, right from the flight attendants to the Captain function as a close knit team, to avert oversights and accidents.

All members of the crew are trained to speak their minds, voice their concerns and bring to the each other’s notice any aspect which may impact flight safety. This calls for a certain amount of bonhomie and camaraderie amongst crew members, aimed to foster trust and confidence in each others abilities. This is a rather delicate subject for organisations, which have traditional hierarchies like our national carrier, as it encourages questioning of authority.

While India has had a stringent cockpit policy for some time now, experts opine that enhanced training in crew resource management is definitely a requirement.

Photo: Anirban Dutta the end of their flying careers. Pilots therefore prefer to take over the counter drugs, which are difficult to detect.

Some of these drugs, he says, carry statutory warnings which read ‘may induce suicidal thoughts.’

Explaining the system of testing, Dr Sharma says, “The Pilots Basic Aptitude Test (PBAT) which tests a person’s reflexes and aptitude for flying is conducted only once in a lifetime, at the time of selection for flying. This test is followed up by personality tests which aim at detecting latent traits such as high risk taking tendencies and criminal streaks. There are however several problems which may surface later.”

Captain Manoj Kumar, who after a long and distinguished career as a fighter pilot flying the Sukhoi 30 with the Air Force, vearned a commercial pilot’s license, now pilot’s transnational flights.

“Life events cause changes in attitude and behaviour,” he says. “I’ve seen behavioural changes in pilots - from being foot loose and fancy free as high spirited young

...pilots are loath to report issues such as stress and depression, due to stigma attached to it and the fact that it could mean the end of their flying careers. Pilots therefore prefer to take over the counter drugs, which are difficult to detect.

Some of these drugs carry statutory warnings which read ‘May induce suicidal thoughts.’

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spotlight

A PUBLic Health Emergency Delhi is suffocating under the dense smog of pollution.

With doctors advising people with respiratory problems to leave Delhi, the capital’s impure air will soon lead it to become the world’s most polluted city.

By Vijdan Saleem

T

he city of New Delhi, home to about 25 million humans, with all its cultural and historical immensity, with its irresistible charm for migrants and tourists alike, has become the most polluted capital in the world.

As per a newspaper report, US President Barack Obama lost six hours of his life-expectancy during his three-day visit to New Delhi in Janurary due to city’s extremely polluted air. Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, himself suffers from chronic cough which often interrupts his speech.

The levels of pollution in the city are so alarming that at least 3,000 people die every year in the city from lung-diseases caused by air pollution, according to a Greenpeace report. The same report states that the city faces “a public health emergency”. India holds the record for maximum deaths due to respiratory diseases in a year (1.5 million).

A May 2014 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that the concentration of hazardous particles in the Delhi air (Particulate Matter 2.5) is 15 times the limit set by WHO. The Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) called the levels “unacceptable”.

The pollution is more pronounced during winters as the city is blanketed by a thick layer of smog. Latest reports, including those of scientists, who crisscrossed the city with sensors at peak hours claim that the pollution will be much worse in subsequent years.

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Damaging the future In 2008, the Central Bureau of Fight Against Pollution had examined a sample of 11,628 schoolchildren in New Delhi. It found that 43.5% of them showed a decrease in lung capacity.

Another study by the Chittranjan National Cancer Institute found that air pollution is affecting the respiratory functions more in the age groups of 4 -17. This study was carried out over a period of three years tracking 11,000 school children in 36 schools. The study concluded that every third child in Delhi has reduced lung function due to pollution.

In the paediatric age group, kids who are going to school, use public transport. The primary focus should be how to save them from pollution. They are otherwise healthy but what has happened over the years is that there is constant irritation by the suspended air particles

An investigation by The Indian Express unearthed the fact that the study gathered dust for two years from the date it was submitted to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which ironically had commissioned it.

Even after the study reports come out, the CPCB did not inform the concerned schools and parents.

Parents are worried about the health of their children and want the government to take serious measures. “My children often fall sick. The government should do something to reduce the pollution, like it had launched the scheme of taking old vehicles off the roads. They should have more such programmes so that the pollution is reduced,” says Sushmita Rao, whose children study at St. Mary’s School, Safdarjung Enclave.

“In the paediatric age group, kids who are going to school, use public transport. The primary focus should be how to save them from pollution. They are otherwise healthy but what has happened over the years is that there is constant irritation by the suspended air particles mainly due to carbon and polluting vehicles. The kids have started developing early irritation which leads to bronchitis, intractable cough, sneezing and breathlessness,” says, Dr Sanjeev Kumar Bhoi, Additional Medical Superintendent, AIIMS. “Due to shorter height children are nearer to the particles from the ground,” says Dr Shakeeb A. Lone, Member of the Resident Doctors Association at Maulana Azad Medical College Delhi. (Consider removing. Member of RDA is no authority) Over the last three years, the city’s two main hospitals treating respiratory cases have recorded an increase in the number of cases at their OPDs. Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute (VPCI) recorded 11 times the number of ICU cases it received three years ago.

Another pressing problem faced by the city is the ongoing metro construction. Sayyed Abid Hussain Sr. Sec. School, which is situated on the main road of Jamia Nagar, witnesses heavy traffic throughout the day. The recent metro project has not only clogged the road but has also led to increase in dust due to heavy construction. “Naturally, it affects them. When children fall ill, it affects their attendance and their results. Children will become weak.

With the increasing pollution affecting the children, it is high time government takes necessary steps before it is too late,” says the Officiating Medical Officer, Anjum Iqbal.

The sacred car In her book, Soil not Oil, Vandana Shiva , an Indian environmental activist writes, “In the past two decades India has moved from a culture based on the ‘Sacred Cow’ to one based on the ‘Sacred Car’. The health impacts of air pollution are evident.” Faced with the threat, the authorities are criticized for passivity. “If measures are not taken immediately, the levels of pollution are likely to get worse,” says epidemiologist TK Joshi, Director of the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health.

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spotlight

Illustration: Gayas Eapen A panel on the automobile fuel emission, in its recommendation to the government in 2014, had stated that Bharat V emission norms should be applied in India by 2020 to curb air pollution.

Following outrage over falling air quality, the government asked the automobile manufacturers to move to Bharat V and VI, to which the automobile manufactures industry agreed. The deadlines have been kept as 2019 and 2023, respectively. However, other aspects too will have to be looked into to implement Bharat V. “ The oil used by present cars needs to be changed and the oil refineries need to stop producing stage IV fuel,” Enoch Eapen, an engineer at the International Centre for Automotive Technology told The Converge. While 40 cities use stage IV oil, others are still using the stage III oil. “Similarly car manufacturers will also have to make cars that support the stage V fuel, which will require huge investments” adds Enoch. According to the Bharat Stage V guidelines, 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur in fuel will be the limit of emission as compared to 50ppm in Bharat stage VI. The Supreme Court has put a stay order on the National Green Tribunal’s pronouncement which banned 15-year-old-petrol vehicles and 10-year-old diesel vehicles.

The Centre has moved theNGT seeking six months’ time to come up with a concrete solution to tackle the issue. The government stated that implementing the NGT’s order will affect public and essential services. Environmentalist Kanchi Kohli has welcomed the fact that the government and authorities are taking note of the problem but calls for a viable alternate method. “This decision cannot function 24

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without an alternative. Better public transport system, facilities for pedestrians and cyclists, and reducing the number of cars must become a priority,” says Kohli.

No Solution This month PM Narendra Modi launched a new index of air quality. Environment minister, Prakash Javadekar, has meanwhile asked the governments of Delhi and neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana, to deliver a plan of common action in July. Some axes have fallen: ban on entry of polluting vehicles in New Delhi, waste conversion, and prohibition of agricultural fires, containment or coal-related toxicity.

The NAQI (National Air Quality Index) has 6 categories, —good, satisfactory, moderate, poor, very poor and severe. All pollutants from OM 2.5 to 10 and CO have been given air quality index or the AQI which points out the worst pollutant in a particular area.

“This calculation creates awareness among people about pollution in a particular area and can be helpful in preventing many ailments. But there is no concrete action plan to tackle the ill effects. Government has not devised any method for citizens to tackle air pollution,” says Shirin Bhittal, Research Associate for air pollution, CSE. The NAQI will be implemented in the second phase in Mumbai. Sumaira Abdullali, an environmental expert told The Converge, “There is a need for real-time data to prevent people from exposure to air pollution. Government has taken no steps against the air pollution that takes place during the time of Diwali and other festivals due to crackers.”

India’S Daughter: The film that GOt india talking DISCLAIMER: All the characters, places and events in this story are absolutely real, resemblance to any person dead or alive is intentionally illuminated.

By Shamita Harsh

F

rom the interiors of the Tihar Jail in Delhi, Mukesh Singh emerged in a blue and white checked shirt.

Wearing a blank expression he sat in front of an international film-maker to be interviewed about his crime, participation in the brutal gang-rape of Nirbhaya. Mukesh, one of the four convicts in the December 16 gang-rape case, spoke with callousness about the details of that chilly winter night.

He emphasized that the girl India had come to know as Nirbhaya would have been alive today had she not struggled, that rape was the fault of girls, that only about 20% of girls are actually ‘good’.

Mukesh’s statements were featured in Leslee Udwin’s 90-minute documentary India’s Daughter (part of the BBC Story-Ville series) which chronicled the Nirbhaya case.

Udwin, who is an award-winning filmmaker, spoke extensively to the victim’s parents, relatives and lawyers of the convicts. She also spoke to the convicts, but only Mukesh’s interview was used as part of the documentary.

As the film’s trailers started doing the rounds, the country was faced with a controversy. People began to voice their concerns that the film, a co-production of Assassin Films and Tathagat, was giving India a bad name in the international press. Those opposing the ban pointed out that it is the horrendous incidents of rape and not the film, which have dented India’s reputation.

“I was deeply hurt by this when I came to know about it. I spoke to authorities &made sure all steps are taken to stop the broadcast,” Rajnath Singh, the Home Minister was quoted saying in the Rajya Sabha.

COURT INJUNCTION The Indian government decided to ban the film, which was intended to be broadcast worldwide by BBC on International Women’s Day, March 8 and by NDTV 24*7 in India.

Inspector Parveen Kumar of Cyber Crime Cell, asked for the blocking of the broadcast of the film. His justification was unambiguous: “It may cause huge public outcry and may cause law and order problems.”

I think you can tell stories about rape in many-many wasys, which be much more powerful. As a documentary film maker i felt it was quite an ordinary film, quite pedestrian in its approach.

On March 4, 2015, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal passed w restraining order.

The BBC, choosing to ignore the government order brought forward the transmission to March 1, 2015.

Google and several ISPs (Internet Service Providers) were notified by the Indian government to take down the link of the documentary. YouTube complied and it was banned in India on March 4, 2015.

But like all things viral on the web, links still exist where the documentary can be accessed. It has been the highest rated documentary in BBC4’s Story-Ville series so far this year, with a five-minute peak of 352,000 viewers.

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spotlight UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Leslee Udwin decided to make the documentary after witnessing the unprecedented protests that took place after December 16. She openly acknowledged that India’s Daughter would never have been shared this widely had the government of India reacted in a measured manner.

Instead of being criticized for any valid reasons, the documentary gained notoriety for what is known as the Streisand effect, named after American entertainer Barbra Streisand, whose attempt to suppress photographs of her Maibu residence led to attracting even more attention to the event.

There is a notion that a certain category of rapists exists, this Type A variety which belongs to the poverty stricken, frustrated class. But I say the real rapists are sitting in out dining rooms

According to India’s Information Technology Act, intermediaries such as YouTube are required to take down content once notified by a competent government agency.

In an emailed response, a YouTube India spokesperson said while the company believes that “access to information is the foundation of a free society, and that services like YouTube helps people to express themselves and share different points of view, we continue to remove content that is illegal or violates our community guidelines, once notified.”

The film met with criticism on many fronts. Many women rights’ activists and documentary-makers, who spoke unequivocally against the ban, have critiqued India’s Daughter as a poorly made film.

“I think you can tell stories about rape in many-many ways, which can be much more powerful,” says Bishakha Datta, an Indian film maker. As the director of Point of View (a non-profit working in the area of gender, sexuality and women’s rights) and a former journalist, Bishakha has been vocal in her criticism. “As a documentary film-maker I felt it was quite an ordinary film, quite pedestrian in its approach. And that actually if it didn’t have these inter-

views with the driver and the lawyers there would be no film, there wasn’t much else to the film.”

The film’s portrayal of Mukesh Singh as the “monster” solely responsible for the tragedy is a little far-fetched.

Events of rapists being strangers are less likely than a known person who knew the victim. In most cases, family members– brothers, husbands, fathers, uncles – are responsible for the crime. But then only 15% of these cases are actually recorded as they face social stigma and family pressures.

“Every case is not a Nirbhaya or a Shakti mill; those rapes may account for only 4-5% stranger cases. The rest are all rapists who have been familiar with the victim.

Punishment is not the only answer, because if at all punishment is meted out to those 5%, the rest 95% roam freely because they are family members.” says Audrey D’mello, Programme Director and lawyer at Majlis Legal Centre, a forum for women’s rights discourse and legal initiatives.

Bishakha Datta explains how India’s Daughter has magnified this idea of the poor and uneducated rapist.

“There is a notion that a certain category of rapists exists, this Type A variety which belongs to the poverty-stricken, frustrated class. They are the ones to watch out for, these men who are shabbily dressed, unemployed or underemployed and not well-educated,” she says. “But I say the real rapists are sitting in our dining rooms. The real culprits are here, sitting in suits, driving fancy cars, studying in expensive colleges and the going unnoticed by our society.”

Legal Tangle Legal and journalistic issues were ignored while the contents of the documentary were being scrutinized with threadbare precision. Apart from the tussle over the revelation of the victim’s identity (with the consent of her parents, according to Udwin), the film also came under the scanner as it could influence the judiciary’s verdict.

Shohini Ghosh, a senior professor at the Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, said, “If there is good reason to demand a restraint on the film, it could only be on the grounds that it impedes the second appeal process pending in the Supreme Court.

Judicial propriety is perhaps the only good reason to temporarily restrain the screening of the film.”

Illustration: Anjana Premchand

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Photo:Screenshot of the documentary A report in NavBharat times suggested that Mukesh Singh was paid Rs. 40,000 for the interview. The former I &B minister Manish Tiwari was questioned for handing out unabated permission to film in a prison (Tihar Jail).

However, it was the accused’s lawyers who found themselves in the worst legal soup for their insensitive remarks.

BY-PRODUCTS OF THE CONTROVERSY The lack of remorse in Mukesh Singh was not the only thing that shocked the country. It was the derogatory remarks of his lawyers M L Sharma and A P Singh like: “We have the best culture. In our culture there is no place for women,” that invited much flak. Sharma proudly declared that he would burn his sister or daughter if she was to venture out with a male companion in the evening.

The Bar Council of India was quick to issue a show cause notice to both these lawyers asking for an explanation why disciplinary action shouldn’t be initiated against them for making outrageous remarks in the documentary, which has brought disrepute to the fraternity. Senior Supreme Court advocates like KTS Tulsi demanded the suspension of the licenses of these lawyers.

“What they have done is not free speech but character assassination of Nirbhaya. They have lowered the dignity of our profession, which is a valid ground for the BCI to cancel a license or take action against these lawyers,” says Raghul Sudheesh, a legal journalist and lawyer, who is behind the petition to BCI sseking cancellation of licenses of these two lawyers.

The petition has reached 1.88 lakh supporters and has received pledges from all over the country.

Many have argued that the lawyers’ statements should be one of the reasons to ban the documentary. Sumit Nagpal, legal editor at cable news channel NewsX feels

the documentary will create an impression that Indians are rapists or justify rape. “What these lawyers have done doesn’t warrant cancellation of license. The license can be cancelled only on the basis of gross professional misconduct. Having an opinion, even perverse, doesn’t warrant cancellation of license,” says the legal editor of NewsX, Sumit Nagpal. He goes on to clarify his stand, “I thoroughly condemn these statements. They should be seen as comments of individuals and not those of lawyers. Indian legal fraternity is represented by great Jurists like Fali S. Nariman and Justice J S Verma.”

India’s Daughter failed to address the real problem which is the existing rape culture in the country and desensitization of the issue. The BBC was ridiculed on social media with Indian commentators pointing out that London should look into its own rape records before commenting on India.

What it will be remembered for, is its role in the country’s uneasy relationship with free speech. “India is a democracy at the end of the day, and their banning of the film is a particularly misguided, undemocratic act. But the higher courts in India aren’t mere puppets of the government, and there’s no way they are going to uphold this ban, because this ban has no legal leg to stand on. So I think it’s only a question of time.” Leslee was quoted by the New York Magazine.

On Monday, April 27, India’s Daughter was brought before the Delhi High Court, where the court refused to pass a judgement while observing that the material was not for theirs to seize as it was still lying abroad. Mukesh Singh had also requested for the seizure of all contents related to the documentary. The documentary has now moved back-stage and no longer stirs the storm it had sparked on March 1, 2015.

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OPINION

The Circle of Action and Reaction

By Anjana Premchand

A

mob of thousands entered Dimapur Central Jail on March 5, dragged out rape suspect Syed Sarif Khan and lynched him after parading him naked through the streets of Nagaland’s largest city. Several shops belonging to Muslim inhabitants were torched and vandalized along the way. The incident was documented in photographs and videos which showed the crowd marching with rage and triumph.

While the crowd’s fury was focused on Sarif, his Naga accomplice who was held in the same jail escaped the gruesome fate. The message was clear—how dare a man, an alleged illegal immigrant, rape a Naga woman?

A day after Sarif succumbed to his injuries, media revealed that the 35-year old, who was labelled as an illegal Bangladeshi immigrant (IBI) was a native of Karimganj district of Assam. His father is a former BSF serviceman and two of his brothers serve the Indian Army. He was married to a Sumi Naga woman and had a three year old daughter.

Sarif’s brother, Jamal Uddin Khan, gave a statement to the media saying, “If my brother was an illegal immigrant, how am I in the Indian army?”

Police arrested Sarif on February 25 on charges of raping a Naga woman the day before. The incident was not reported in the media until March 3. Once the news about the rape broke out, several organizations such as the Nagaland Students’ Federation (NSF) and Naga Council Dimapur held protests. The NSF issued a statement vowing to ‘tackle the menace of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants’. The Morung Express ran the headline “Heinous crime exposes Naga weakness” and the Nagaland Post’s report on the incident was titled “IBI rapes woman in Dmu; organizations condemn”.

After Sarif’s death, Chief Minister T. R. Zeliang blamed social media for inciting the crowd. However, anger against immigrants has been present in Nagaland since decades and if at all anything, social media has only been a mirror to this. “There is no arguing that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, individually and in groups, have for long been indulging in crimes of every hue and kinds, from petty thefts to serious crimes of household invasions, rapes and murder, the conviction rate of which has been abysmally and unflatteringly low. That something bad could happen at any time, sooner or later, was palpable,” says an article published in Nagaland Post.

In an interview with DNA, women rights activist, Jagmati Sangwan said, “This is a very unfortunate incident.

We are bound to take law into our own hands.” Few days

after the incident, off the record Government reports revealed that Sarif might not have raped the woman. Police were still awaiting forensic reports when the lynching happened. Upon interrogation, Sarif denied the accusation and said that it was a case of consensual sex. The mere mention of the rape of a Naga woman was the trigger that caused the bottled up anger to explode.

The other: Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants India shares a 4,096 km long land border with Bangladesh which became an independent state following the liberation war of 1971. In March 2015, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, told the Rajya Sabha that around 22.7 per cent of the India-Bangladesh border consists of unfenced riverine stretches.

The difficult terrain of North East India, land disputes and political factors have ensured that even decades after partition, the IndiaBangladesh border is still largely undefined.

Nagaland does not share a border with Bangladesh and migrants enter mainly through the state of Assam. Nagaland has a majority of Christians with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists and other religions being the minority. According to the 2011 Census, Nagaland is also home to 16 tribes . In a land of such diversity, it is the so-called “IBIs” who are looked down upon largely as outsiders. There is growing economic insecurity among the local people as immigrants are competing for their resources and employment opportunities. Immigrants are seen as a threat to Naga identity and the coming generations of indigenous Nagas.

“Migrants are vulnerable and this is true for migrants across the globe. North Eastern migrants are vulnerable in other states of India. In North Eastern states like Assam and Nagaland, you cannot distinguish between migrants and natives due to the shared language and cultural history. You cannot

In North Eastern states like Assam and Nagaland, you cannot distinguish between migrants and natives due to the shared language and cultural history. You cannot identify and deport someone who has lived in a state for over decades

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identify and deport someone who has lived in a state for over decades,” says M. Amarjeet Singh, Professor at Centre for North East Studies and Policy Research, Jamia Millia Islamia.

As civil society groups started active campaigns against immigrants, there has been an increasing pressure on the government to act. “We have to blame Assam for the illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. If Assam is strict then the gateway is closed. Therefore, the Assam government should be more serious in this,” Zeliang told the Assam Tribune in October 2014, while talking about the failure of the Inner Line Permit (ILP) required by outsiders to enter Nagaland.

The issue of immigration has morphed into a communal one. Muslim natives are labelled as immigrants, Muslim men are called Miyas in Nagaland and the children born of the union between Miyas and Naga women are known as Sumias. “The second generation of this community (Sumias) wants recognition, and indigenous Nagas perceive them as an addition to the competition for the local economy controlled by non-Nagas,” said conflict analyst Noni Gopal Mahanta to Hindustan Times. Naga women who have relationships with Muslim men are often ostracised by their families.

The case of Assam shows how issues related to immigration have sparked communal violence. Tensions between the native Bodos and the Bengali-speaking Muslims of the state caused the 2012 riots in Assam. One of the factors that led to this was the resentment caused by an increase in Muslim population in Assam. Following the riots, several Muslim organizations protested at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, a demonstration which went out of control. There were incidents of attacks against North-Easterners in Pune and Bangalore which sparked an exodus of North-Easterners. It is no suprise that after Sarif’s lynching, several states across India were kept on alert.

In the last few years there have been increasing attacks on the Hindu minority in Bangladesh as politics revolve around land in the densely populated country. “We have a responsibility towards Hindus who are harassed and suffer in other countries. Where will they go? India is the only

place for them. Our government cannot continue to harass them. We will have to accommodate them here,” said the then PM candidate Narendra Modi at a rally in Assam in 2014. A few months later the State Government of Madhya Pradesh rehabilitated over 5000 Bangladeshis, all of whom were Hindus. “British India was divided on the basis of religion. That mentality remains when you address problems in connection with immigration today. Some immigrant groups from Bangladesh are considered as refugees and some are considered as illegal immigrants. This distinction is mostly made on religious grounds,” says Professor Amarjeet. Given existing issues, an incident like the Dimapur lynching can have wide repercussions. Writer activist Binalakshmi Nepram has condemned “some vested elements” that are using this incident to create further tension.

The delusion of justice Sarif was buried in his native village in Karimganj, Assam. Muslim residents fled Nagaland in thousands after the lynching, fearing their safety. The Nagaland Government imposed a 48-hour social media blackout. The administration has been blamed for standing still as vigilante justice took its course. Zeliang has ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident in an attempt to reinforce law and order.

The police have arrested over 42 people who were present in the mob and as claimed by the police, were directly involved in the lynching.

Perspectives are at war. While some feel that communal tension is being blown out of proportion, others criticize the labelling of a Muslim native as an immigrant. As what caused the lynching is being debated, the heat of the incident continues to grow. The state government has gone into damage-control mode, but with Sarif’s death, the damage was already done.

Illustration: Anjana Premchand

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OPINION

Do we have the right to dissent?

By Gayas Eapen

“

Criticism, by an individual, may not be palatable, even so, it cannot be muzzled” said the Judge.

The curious case of Priya Pillai took a drastic turn after Justice Shakder made the Bureau of Immigration expunge her passport of the “off-load” stamp that was put while she tried to board the flight to meet the British MP. The activist was going to speak in London about the violation of tribal rights because of the coal mining in Mahan region of Madhya Pradesh. The decision sent out a strong message that while the government may not like a fly in its tea, it will have to bear it nonetheless.

This time, the judiciary has undone the harm caused by the loophole in the laws of the country which have been used to curb dissent. The Indian state has in the past reacted in different ways to contain dissent which was raised against its policies and plans. Pillai’s case is just one such example.

Speaking at a seminar on women activists who have been at the centre of protest activities, prominent women’s rights activist and lawyer, Vrinda Grover said, “It’s because we go into protest without thinking of the legal repercussions.” In no way is Grover suggesting, don’t protest. According to Grover, activists have often, in the heat of the issues, forgotten to strengthen themselves legally if the protest goes awry.

Dissent, by nature might not be one of the best planned or tactful events. This has led to various untoward instances against political and social activists who have been arrested for having alleged ‘links’ with Maoist groups.

The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and its popular practice of abduct-arrest has been criticized by legal and social commentators. The Act has invited criticism for bringing any manner of political activism under its purview, indirectly. The case of G N Saibaba, the Delhi University professor who was arrested without an appropriate warrant is an example. The professor has been an ardent critic of the Operation Greenhunt—the government’s war against the Maoists. He is currently in the Nagpur prison, despite repeated requests to the

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judiciary to tone down the harsh punishment on Saibaba considering his disability (Saibaba uses a wheelchair for mobility).

Shamim Modi is yet another name on this list. It has been six years after she suffered the deadly attack on her life after the watchman of her building attacked her, receiving 118 stitches all over her body and breaking her skull at various places. Shamim still continues to work on the rights of tribal population of the country and their struggle to claim the space which they are constantly pressured to vacate.

“The life of Adivasis is constantly criminalised. They can’t live their lives without challenging the law,” says Modi.

“If there is enormous resistance to what you’re doing, you know you’re making a difference, “she said at the seminar organised by International Association of Women in Radio and Television in the Goethe Institute, Max Muller Bhavan.

Even though the state has continued to curb the disagreement against policies and their implementation, dissent has only grown. Almost every day, one sees some or the other form of protests which opposes the policies of the state. But some invariably get more attention, while others get sidelined. “Political power and money are key in protecting you in this country; neutral treatment is almost utopian,” says Karen Gabriel, Delhi University teacher, friend and supporter of G N Saibaba. What catches momentum in the long run has to be something which is backed up by influential political figures, has strong legal counsel and the blessing of the supreme judiciary.

In a more recent example, Himachal Pradesh University students were beaten up brutally by the police after protesting a fee hike. Student dissent has often been received with such a reaction even when it is generally executed in the most non-violent ways.

The story doesn’t end on the streets. The torture for not aligning with the state’s view continues after the act of protest is finished. The mistreatment of political activists in prisons has been a major cause of concern in this regard. In the cases of arrest under sections of UAPA, TADA, POTA and so on, the police is empowered under such acts to use methods of torture to extract information from the accused.

The accounts of torture in prison have been told by many of such activists, but have still remained much unsaid Arun Ferreira in his book titled Colours of the Cage: A Prison memoir is a collection of sketches of the young activist while he was in the prison.

Ferreira’s politics has been vocally different. He understands why Maoists resort to violence. According to him, it is a response to the greater violence inflicted by the state.

Ferreira, speaking in an interview to Max Bearak, says that “To judge any movement on violence versus non violence is being too mechanical, or being box minded. But reality is far more complex than that.”

Shrinking Spaces Photo Story By Anjana Premchand and Vijdan Saleem

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bdul Rahman and Mohammad Yakub are two of the few remaining calligraphy artists or Katibs in Urdu Bazaar of Old Delhi. They are all that is left of the rich legacy of calligraphy artists who brought the art of calligraphy to India in the Mughal era.

They fear losing their job every day. With the computerization of calligraphy fonts, the number of Katibs has been shrinking. This state of near joblessness has forced several katibs like Abdul to replace their shops with those of eateries, digitally printed books and readymade garments.

Abdul owns a bookshop in the crowded area. The only time he uses his calligraphy pen is when customers come to him to make wedding invitations and posters which would then be converted and printed digitally.

Mohammad sits in a shop that sells music CDs and books. He keeps his work in a small bag as there is no space. He has no hopes of writing a book by hand unless a customer commissions it, which rarely happens.

The gradually collapsing demand for handwritten scripts has profusely damaged this community of artists who represent an important element of the history of calligraphy art in India. Will calligraphy survive in the coming years? What will then happen to these reed pens? Only time can tell.

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photo story

Abdul Rahman sits at his shop behind Jama Masjid . A customer commissions him to make a wedding card.

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Mohammad Yakub shows his work in the crowded music shop that he sits in. He also writes occasionally.

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Feature

One stop Centres: Battling the rape Trauma

Photo: Erum Gour

The One-Stop Centre in Delhi tries to ease out the pain of rape victims who can now share their ordeals and get treated in a less intimidating atmosphere.

By Erum Gour

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s I sat there flipping through the previous records in the examination room, the floor in-charge walked in. She ordered the staff nurse, Mamta, to check if the ‘last stock’ was disposed off. As instructed, Mamta pulled out the last stock from the drawer. The sight sent a chill down my spine. It was a pair of trousers much of which was soaked in deep red blood.

The trousers were worn by a 12 year old girl, whose identity cannot be revealed. She was kidnapped from Budh Nagar market in the capital. She was then brutally raped and left by the roadside, wounded and crying for help. The rapist, as described by the victim, was a ‘tall

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dark ugly man who looked like a labourer, he was bald and continuously abused her.’

Room 419 on the fourth floor of Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Mangolpuri is called the ‘One-Stop Centre’.

The One-Stop Centre (OSC) is a Rape Rehabilitation Centre, which was inaugurated on August 28, 2014 by Delhi’s Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung.

The record book which I was perusing had it all, from the personal details of the rape victim to the account of the rape. Every page had a column for the description of the accused. On the following page, there were representations of a woman’s body from several angles.

“These pictures are to be marked by the doctor. The Genesis of One-Stop Centres doctor marks those parts of the victim’s body which have Following the Delhi gang rape in 2012, Usha Mehra been injured, to keep records,” explained Mamta, a staff Commission report recommended the need for establishnurse at the OSC. ing such “One-Stop Centres”.

The youngest victim recorded was a 5 year-old girl.

In the 2014 Union Budget, Finance Minister Arun The description of the accused simply said, “My grandfaJaitley announced the setting up of these centres which ther!” would treat rape victims free of cost. The construction cost Dr. Anjali Bhargava is the gynaecologist who is of these centres was estimated to be Rs 36.98 lakh. A total in-charge of OSC. Sitting in the examination room, she 660 centres were proposed, one for each district, costing a explained the procedure she follows when a rape total of Rs 244.48 crore. But, only 36 such centres victim is admitted. have been established till date.

“See, before doing anything, our main According to the Working Group on goal is to make the patient feel comfortWomen’s Agency and Empowerment The youngest able. I handle the patients in the preswhen a woman is raped, she experiences victim recorded ence of a counsellor. The patient is first mental and physical trauma which was a 5 year-old taken into the counselling room which shatters her self-esteem and confidence. is adjacent to the examination room.

Due to these reasons the environment girl. The descripShe is checked to see whether she is in of a police station can be a deterrent tion of the accused a state of mind to talk, or if she is old in many ways. Therefore, the main purenough to describe what has happened pose behind establishing such centres simply said, “My to her. If she is in a lot of pain, she is adis to provide the rape victims with a grandfather!” ministered pain killers and other drugs,” ‘woman friendly environment,’ where said Dr. Bhargava. they can seek psychological and legal help.

She further explained that as soon as a “Victims are usually brought in by the povictim arrives, the staff nurse informs the constable lice if the incident has occurred recently. Otherwise, on duty. The police are called to the hospital to record the women come with their parents or they are sent from the victim’s statement, lodge the FIR and to start an investigaNGOs” said Dr. Bhargava. tion.

Inside the centre, the legal statement and the details for “The staff nurse then provides the victim with alterlodging an FIR are recorded in the counselling room. The nate clothing and collects the forensic evidence using the centres have a list of empanelled lawyers with DSLA (Dis‘Safe Kit’, which includes 15 samples,” she explains while trict Legal Service Authority). These lawyers are available browsing through the samples. to be contacted by the victims for any legal help. If the victim is not comfortable returning home for some reason, she can also be referred to shelter homes for prolonged stay.

In Malaysia, Bangladesh and South Africa, these OSCs are based in public hospitals, and jointly staffed by both NGOs and hospital representatives, and provide a range of services including psychological, medical, legal, and social care.

In a country such as India where government apathy is rampant, one-stop centres are a welcome initiative. These centres not only support women on the psychological and legal plane but their increasing numbers also tend to bust the social stigma attached with rape. Even though the rehabilitation rate of these centres as compared to the number of rapes is not high, the long-term impact of these would be huge.

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Feature

Photo: Chaanv

A ray of hope for acid attack surviors

By Mirza Arif Beg

Chaanv, a non-governmental organization (NGO) which operates from the congested streets of Laxmi Nagar in East Delhi, has been working to empower the country’s acid attack survivors.

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I

n 2013, Chaanv was initiated as a campaign and since means of its latest “Reach Out Campaign.” then it has taken a number of measures to infuse joy The cost of treatment of acid attack survivors is a big and vigour into the lives of more than 40 acid attack concern. In July 2013, the Supreme Court of India directed survivors. The organization lays special emphasis on mak- the government to declare acid attack a non-bailable offence ing acid attack survivors aware of their rights. and increased the amount of compensation to Rs. 3,00,000 “More than 70% cases are related to one sided love out of which Rs. 1,00,000 is to be disbursed within 15 days where the accused threw acid on the woman, because she of the attack. However, officials at the All India Institute rejected the suitor or a proposal. Men also try to destroy the of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) clearly indicated that proper identity of girls and that’s why in most of the cases treatment of acid attack survivors costs much more. the acid is thrown on the girl’s face,” says Abh“We don’t really come across a lot of acid ilash Shukla, co-founder of Channv. attack cases here, but initially in order to Soniya, who resides in Ghaziabad, Earlier I used save the patient one has to spend Rs. 1-2 to remain was attacked by her neighbor almost a lakh. Once the patient is saved, if he or behind the decade ago. The accused had brought she decides to go further for cosmetic curtains and was very Soniya a stolen phone. Soniya insurgeries the expenses may go up to apprehensive about the formed the police about the phone Rs. 10-15 lakh,” says AIIMS spokessociety’s comments and and the accused was soon arrested. person Amit Gupta.

The very next day after his release, conclusions. I would always Till recently, laws concerning lie about this attack but the accused asked Soniya to apoloacid attacks in India were not very now Chaanv has helped gize and when she refused, he threw stringent. Acid is used to clean the me to stand tall in the acid at her which left more than 50% toilets in the country and is thus society by building of her body disfigured. freely available in the market. In the afconfidence in “Earlier I used to remain behind the termath of the gruesome Nirbhaya rape myself curtains and was very apprehensive about case, the Union Parliament brought the the society’s comments and conclusions. I Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 which would always lie about this attack but now Chaanv devoted separate sections dealing with acid attacks. has helped me stand tall in the society by building confi- Under the new law the accused could face imprisonment dence in myself,” says Soniya. for up to 10 years.

A recent measure taken by Chaanv which has attracted However, the new law seems to have made little differa lot of attention by the media was a calendar featuring acid ence as it hasn’t led to a decrease in the number of acid atattack survivors. The calendar presents the survivors the tacks. According to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, way they wanted to be. Rahul Saharan, who has photo- the year 2014 witnessed as many as 309 cases in comparigraphed acid attack victims before, shot most of the pho- son to 66 cases in the previous year. tographs featured in the calendar. “They were confident in Chaanv tries to trace all acid attack cases through police front of the camera. I had shot them before as well and the records. Local journalists who stumble upon such crimes relationship is more personal than professional,” says Ra- while reporting also serve as a valuable source of informahul. tion for Chaanv.

Despite not receiving or accepting any funds from the The BJP led government at the center is not only contemgovernment or any charitable organization, Chaanv has plating bringing acid attacks under the category of most managed to survive on the basis of crowd funding. “About heinous crimes but fixing a stipulated period within which 300 calendars have been ordered till now. The money col- the judicial process should begin. Following the footsteps lected from sale would be used to run Sherose (a restaurant of Bangladesh, which promulgated a separate law in relarun by acid attack survivors in Agra) and other campaigns tion to the sale of acid in 2002, the Indian government is taken up by Chaanv,” says Abhilash. Chaanv at the moment also thinking about bringing in a separate law that would is trying hard to reach out to as many victims as possible by regularize acid sale in the country.

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Feature

Out of Court Settlement Delhi Dispute Resolution Society has set up Mediation centres, helping people resolve issues through reconciliation and mutual understanding.

By Manish Jalui

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uman Mujoo was one of the many women in our coun- meetings to enable them to reach an amicable settlement. try who face difficulties in their marital life. Married Suman is not alone. PK Chaddha, a senior citizen, also in 2012, Mujoo was often at the receiving end of mari- took the help of Mediation centre to resolve the differences tal woes. Almost everything she did irked her in-laws and between his son and daughter-in-law. Though the case took earned their wrath. For instance, she was not allowed to go four hearings, it was settled in a timely manner and the parout for work. Apart from imposing unreasonable restric- ties involved were satisfied with the outcome. tions, her in-laws often indulged in verbal abuse.

Similarly, Kailash Chand, a tailor who earns a pittance, On December 5 last year, Suman Mujoo approached the approached the mediation centre with a complaint regardParliament Street police station when matters turned worse. ing his dues. A government official from the SC/ST DepartSensing it to be a non-criminal dispute, the DCP then rement was summoned by the mediation centre and enquiferred the matter to the Mediation Centre. The meries were made thereafter. During the proceedings, diation centre informed both the parties to apthe money was transferred through NEFT and pear in person and to present their argument the case was settled easily.

Mediation is on this dispute. Testimonies from both sides The alternative form of dispute resolunot successful in were heard at length jointly and separately. tion is not new in India. Panchayat courts the legal sense all Finally on April 10 this year, both the parin rural areas is such an example. The sarthe time, but it does panch or the respected elder of the village ties agreed to negotiate on this matter. sort out a lot of “The case was settled easily without any arrives at a decision after hearing all sides things legal aid. This is where mediation acts as a of the story. magic wand”, says CJ Gupta, a High Court “The distinction between Panchayat resolawyer and government-appointed mediator. lution and Mediation lies in the approach. The “Ego clashes between husband and wife and Panchayat decision is often enforced on one party their family members often end up in divorce. Marital or another. Whereas in mediation each party has this cases are settled with counselling and provided legal re- choice of refusing the settlement earlier agreed upon,” says course when needed,” adds CJ Gupta.

Gupta.

In 2010, Delhi Dispute Resolution Society (DDRS) took The only contention is that the mediation does not ena decision to establish Mediation and Reconciliation centres joy legal sanctity. Parties to the dispute have to give an unin various parts of Delhi. The society functions under the dertaking that they have resolved the matter and take back Department of Law, Justice and Legislative affairs, under their lawsuits after the mediation process. They can also apthe Delhi government and helps people to sort out issues proach courts if not satisfied with the mediation suggested. which can be settled through reconciliation and mutual unHowever, the benefits of mediation attract many people derstanding. weary of the long legal process. “Parties themselves work The overall aim of this centre is to bring greater social out solution which meets their interests. So it is a win-win harmony and to reduce pending cases in courts. At present, situation for both” says Gauri Bedi Addl. Director of DDRS there are nine such centres in Delhi and the society aims to The society claims that most of the cases are settled open few more in the upcoming years. Mediation is a vol- within an hour. However, if the issue is more complex and untary process in which an impartial and neutral media- involves different stakeholders then it takes multiple heartor tries to bring together the disputed parties to arrive at ings and more time to arrive at settlement. a mutually agreeable solution. The society, with the help of ‘’I cannot say that mediation is successful in the legal mediation centres aims to provide timely and responsive sense all the time, but it does sort out a lot of things and that justice to the citizens through their alternative dispute re- helps in many ways,’’ Bedi added. dressal mechanism.

With more than 60,000 civil cases pending in district “Go to any court,If you file a case today it takes multiple courts of Delhi, Mediation centres have proved to be an efhearings and variable litigation costs. This adds to the long fective forum providing speedy and cost-effective settlepending list of cases in courts at different levels” says Monu ment. A majority of the cases referred to these centres deal Kuhaaar, a legal expert. with marital discord and domestic violence. Mediation cenThe mediator listens to the grievances of each party sepa- tre is helping many people in rebuilding their relationships. rately and then creates a favourable environment through

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A Daughter’s Salute

Photo: PTI

Her farewell salute for her braveheart dad dwarfed all the Padma awards put together.

“S

econd Nine GR ko…” Alka choked, fighting back tears as she raised her hand to salute her 39 year old father. She had meant to say “Second Nine GR ko yo keto ho ki hoina…” (Is this son of Second Nine Gorkha Rifles there with us or not?). The battle cry was immediately taken up by the officers and men of the Ninth Gorkhas and blood curdling yells of “Colonel Munindra Nath Rai,, Ho Ke Hoina? Ho,Ho,Ho!” resonated across the Brar Square Crematorium in Delhi Cantt. Is Colonel Munindra Nath Rai, here (with us) or not? He is, He is He Is! The whole nation watched mesmerized. Brave, eleven year old Alka, stood tall and erect, mouthing the words her father had taught her and raising her hands in salute to him. He would have been proud of her!

Colonel Munindra Nath Rai was the youngest officer to have been awarded the Yudh Seva Medal on 26th January 2015, for leading a series of daring operations against terrorists in Tral , J & K. Not one to rest on his laurels, on 27th January he was leading from the front once again in another dangerous operation. An intense firefight broke out, Colonel Rai was fatally injured, but he fought back eliminating the terrorists.

Alka does not cry anymore. Someone told her during the cremation that she must be strong for her Mother’s sake, for the sake of her little brother and sister. She took that advise to heart.

She is quite the man of the house nowadays. All of

By Anirban Datta eleven years old, she goes about life, the way she thinks her father would have wanted her to. Chiding her younger siblings for not getting their school bags in order, keeping an eye on her Mom, reminding her about her medicines, greeting the endless stream of visitors.

At night when the house is quiet, she clutches her Papa’s medals and talks to him. That’s her time with him, she pours out her feelings and then sheds a tear or two.

Next morning she is her ebullient self. Full of spirit, with her father’s trademark smile, she faces up to life.

She prepares for the exams in a very matter of fact manner. “ I am terrible at Sanskrit, Uncle”, she confides in me with a chuckle “Baki, sab ho jayega” she says nonchalantly. So like her father, I think to myself. He would never be unduly perturbed about anything.

Exams over, she throws herself into helping her mother pack. They are shifting house. This is something she is really good at, being a Fauji kid. With Dad having been away in field so often, she is the one who has always been helping Mumma she says. There is so much to be done, good byes to be said to her friends here, settling into the new house, making new friends. She is excited, so full of life.

Alka’s spirit, her salute and her way of looking at life, is what sets her apart from other children. In the years to come, as life throws up new challenges, Alka will draw from her inner reserves of strength which she gets from her father and come out a winner.

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Feature

Harvested Hair

By Khalid Bashir Shah

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wo years ago, Aman, a 27-year-old IAS officer from Hyderabad underwent 10,000 grafts at a private clinic in Delhi to get rid of his growing baldness. His baldness, according to him, not only affected his public image but also hampered his prospects of getting married. He spent nearly half a million rupees to get rid of his baldness and the social stigma associated with it. The treatment, which involved four surgeries spanning over a year, got him a lush harvest of hair and a bride too.

Aman was suffering with Norwood Type 7 baldness, the most acute form of baldness. Norwood scale is the most commonly used method to measure the degree of baldness in men; it has seven levels or degrees of baldness to track loss of hair. Norwood Type 7 is a state where the hair is visible only on back of the head and on the sides just above the ears.

Aman had exhausted almost all non-surgical methods of curing baldness before he landed up at Orange Tree, a Hair Transplant clinic run by Dr. Sajal Halder. Dr. Halder transplanted around 100,000 hair follicles from Aman’s armpits, back, chest, arms and pubic area into his scalp.

Gone are the days when Aman rued his bald pate. He now sports a neat hairstyle, his scalp barely visible.

Pattern Baldness Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA), or pattern hair loss, popularly known as Male Pattern Baldness is the most common form of hair loss.

It’s a genetic disease in which a variety of genetic and environmental factors play a role.

This form of hair loss is caused by androgen hormones, particularly dihydrotestosterone. Androgens are important for normal male sexual development before birth and dur-

On an average a hair transplant surgery costs a lump sum amount of Rs. 70,000-1,00,000 for patients with moderateness.

ing puberty.

According to Genetics Home Reference, hair is lost in a well-defined pattern, beginning above both temples. Over time, the hairline recedes to form a characteristic “M” shape and hair thins at the crown.

In women, Androgenetic Alopecia rarely leads to total baldness but the hair becomes thinner all over the head.

The occurrence of pattern baldness is marginally high in males as compared to females.

Dr. Won-Soo Lee, Professor at the Department of Dermatology, Institute of Hair and Cosmetic Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, found that around 73% of South Asian population is affected by pattern hair loss. In India, male pattern baldness is prevalent in around 63% of men ranging from age group 21 to 61.

A study done by Dr Tejinder Bhatti, who runs a Hair Transplant clinic in Chandigarh found that around 65% of those affected with Male Pattern Baldness in India undergo 40

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various medicinal treatment viz allopathic, homeopathic, Ayurvedic, Unani et al. Another 22% visit quacks for treatment. Only 1% of those who underwent such treatment found satisfactory results. A negligible number of people go for hair transplant since it is expensive.

Dr Bhatti established that 66% of those who underwent hair transplant reported satisfactory results. 21 % were dissatisfied with hair growth after transplant and another 13% were unhappy with overall results.

Hair Transplant: How does it work?

Hair transplant is done by harvesting the hair from the back of scalp of a person and transplanting them into the balding areas. In some extreme cases, the hair from other parts of body is cultivated, harvested and transplanted into the balding areas of scalp. With the help of sophisticated robotic machines, hair follicles are drilled into the roots of the frontal area, just like trees are planted in the soil. As the skin accepts the hair follicle, it starts growing under proper nourishment and blood circulation.

Dr. Rohit Suman, a physiotherapist at Cosmo Tree clinic, says most patients usually go for 2,000 follicle transplant, however in extreme cases the number of hair follicles can go up to 4000 or even 6000.

The cost of hair transplant runs from around 100 rupees per follicle which is excluding the visiting charges, pre and post-surgical care and medication. “On an average a hair transplant surgery costs a lump sum amount of Rs. 70,000-1,00,000 for patients with moderate baldness,” says Dr. Rohit.

Even though the hair transplant from one person to another is possible, it is avoided by doctors worldwide.

Doctors say that hair transplant from one person to another is usually rejected by the body of recipient unless anti-rejection drugs are taken throughout the life without breaking the course. Researchers have found that these anti-rejection drugs have adverse side effects which in most cases out-weigh the benefits attained. Hair can also be transplanted between identical twins with the same genetic makeup.

“Hair transplant is the only permanent and natural way of hair restoration for Male Pattern Baldness with a success rate of more than 90%. Other methods don’t have such high success rates. There are laser devices which enhance the hair growth but they have no affect on bald areas of the head and thus the baldness persists,w” says Dr. Sajal Halder.

With the resurgence of middle class and growing incomes of young people in India, the hair transplant industry is growing. More clinics are coming up in the metropolitan cities to cater to the potential clients. Not only that, there are constant improvements happening on the technological front to make the surgeries cheaper and affordable for people with lower incomes.

Illustrations: The baldness meter

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art and culture

Manufactured Terrorism inside the Indian ‘Kafkaland’ Manisha Sethi is an Assistant Professor at Jamia Millia Islamia and teaches at the Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilization. She is an activist and an active member of the Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association. She talks to Amina Razzack about her book ‘Kafkaland’ and how terror cases are tackled, how investigations get botched up, the anatomy of interrogations and how innocents find themselves tangled in a relentless web.

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Q&A

ho is a terrorist? The FBI defines eye to what’s happening on the road. In fact that’s terrorism as the “the unlawful use how we got involved in the Batla House campaign of force and violence against perbecause as teachers here we saw what was happensons or property to intimidate or coerce a goving across the road and how terrorized and traumaernment, the civilian population, or any tized our students and colleagues were. For segment thereof, in furtherance of political us, activism is not just some rhetoric. We or social objectives.”. give it the same kind of enthusiasm that we The European Union includes in its 2002 give to academic work. I think for many of definition of “terrorism” the aim of “destabius, activism is as much of a serious job as lising or destroying the fundamental politiacademics. cal, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country.”

Q. You’ve spoken before on ‘manufactured Over the last two decades, terrorism has terrorism’ and ‘manufactured terrorists’. Do you become a part of our daily vocabulary. Hardly think there are more real cases or fake? a day goes by where we don’t hear of terrorist A. In a number of high profile cases of activities disrupting life in countries across terror investigations, for instance the Delhi the world. It was inevitable that in a post 9/11 serial blasts, 7/11 Mumbai train blasts, and world, the demand to take a hardline stance so on, you find that the investigations are on terror activities would gain momentum. very flawed. What is more worrying is Tough anti-terror laws which bestow arbithat there are many cases across the countrary, unquestioned powers to security forces try where there is no incidence of violence - such as India’s POTA and TADA - were a yet you have cases upon cases registered natural outcome of this stance. against people who even the police has not But in our rush to indict every ‘terrorist’, alleged to have been involved in any violence. we have created a world where these laws Three Essays Collective| However, they are being tried under Unlawcould be misused and abused. In India, these Rs 350 | 215 pages ful Activities Prevention Act, which is the laws have been used to violate the rights of anti-terror law. The point is that there is no our citizens; to mandate illegal detentions, torture, false con- national audit of these cases so we don’t know- and we are fessions and long periods in jail without trial or justice. only looking at so called ‘Muslim’ terrorists and you have the Manisha Sethi’s Kafkaland, published by Three Essays, same sort of figure, sorry situation and sorry story when it delves into this bizarre, unreal world to give us a close up of comes to the Maoists. One can reinvestigate and unravel the how terror cases are tackled in India. Chapter after chapter prosecution papers of so many cases. The number is so huge. of Kafkaland records botched investigations, the anatomy of There would be a large number of cases which would be of interrogations and how innocents find themselves tangled manufactured terrorists. in a web.

Q. You recently published ‘Kafkaland’. What does the title mean?

Q .You’re an assistant professor, and also an activist. How would A. It comes from the writer, Franz Kafka, whose novels you describe what you do? and books ‘Before the Law’ and ‘Trial’, which talk about the A.I think it is engaged academics. One cannot turn a blind way individuals and citizens get lost in the labyrinth of what

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is supposed to be justice. You’re being prosecuted, you’re being tried for something you don’t even know about. It’s this absurd way in which the state reveals itself to the people. From that comes the word Kafkaesque which we often use to explain something so incomprehensible and totally absurd. So Kafkaland invokes Kafka’s writings to show many of these terror cases as so absurd and beyond comprehensions.

By way of proving the ISI-SIMI collaboration, a body lying unclaimed in the city morgue was identified as Salim from Lahore.

This dead man was listed in the charge sheet as deceased accused 1, address and other details not known, nationality Pakistani. No one asked, and none answered as to how a burnt and mangled torso that was wrenched out of a blast site was identified as Salim of Lahore, other details not known.

- Kafkaland

Q. What are your thoughts on the ‘communal terrorism’ that is taking place recently? We’re hearing so much about attack on churches and attacks against religious minorities.

A. It’s interesting that you call it ‘communal terrorism’ because the way in which our law is structured, it would never be called terrorism. The way in which Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, or before that POTA even defined the act of terrorism, these sort of activities would fall outside the purview of terrorism. I think that’s part of the challenge, because they are terrorizing vulnerable citizens of the country. So at this point everyone has been writing about how there has been an upswing in these cases and I don’t see them fading away any time soon, but I do find hope and solace in the fact that these things are being questioned and reported very widely. It’s very obvious that since the time the new government came to power there has been an emboldening of what we call ‘the fringe’ but really they’re not the fringe. We know that many of these people who create violence and who talk in such violent language are sitting in the parliament.

the contrary. The state, the police and the executive is unwilling to recognize the problem. The second issue is of the law itself, the way UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act). If you really look at the way a law is structured or defined, it’s the very genetic wiring of the law which is geared towards abuse. So one needs to start arguing that we do not need laws like UAPA. Third, the impunity aspect. Police officers can get away with framing innocent people with no repercussions for that. It’s a country where we’re talking about Human Rights when we don’t even have a bill against torture. Police officers who frame people have to be prosecuted, until that happens there is no incentive to stop any of this. On the contrary if they’re getting incentives like promotions and awards out of framing people then obviously you can’t stop that.

Q. Anti-terrorism laws and fundamental rights often clash. How can the state be made accountable for these?

A. The problem is at several levels. First is to recognize that there is a problem which to my mind the state is not even willing to accept despite documentation to the contrary, despite evidence to the contrary, despite court documents proving to

Manisha Sethi at her office in Jamia Millia Islamia.

Photo: Amina Razzack

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The Sole Synagogue of Delhi

By Saif Ahmad Khan

Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, the Rabbi of Judah Hyam Synagogue, is a maverick who has been striving since three decades to keep the flame of Judaism alive in Delhi. He feels that while Israel is in his heart, India is in his blood.

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O

n my way to Judah Hyam Synagogue in New Delhi, I meet Saleem Khan. Saleem, 35, hails from Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh and drives an auto rickshaw in the Indian capital to make ends meet. He agrees to take me to my destination on the condition that I pay him Rs 20 more than what the electronic meter installed in his auto rickshaw computes as travelling fare.

“I hate the Jews for what they’re doing in Palestine. I once saw internet videos of Palestinian children who had been amputated as a result of bombardments by the Israeli Army,” says Saleem after having learned that I was going to visit a Jewish place of worship.

I try to convince him that not all Jews can be held accountable for the excesses committed in Palestine. We discuss about several issues ranging from Islam to ISIS and by the time our journey ends, he concedes, “It would be wrong to say that all Jews are responsible for the violence perpetrated on Palestinians.”

Saleem drops me at Taj Mahal Hotel, a few metres away from Judah Hyam Synagogue, the only Jewish house of worship in Delhi. Guarding the synagogue are two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who were posted here following the 26/11 terror attacks on Nariman Point, a Jewish settlement in Mumbai.

“Is Ezekiel Isaac Malekar available?” I ask the CRPF personnel. They don’t seem familiar with the name and ask me to ring the door bell at the entrance of the synagogue to check for myself. The security personnel had completely no idea about the man who has been striving since three decades to prevent the flame of Judaism from extinguishing in Delhi.

Located at 2 Humayun Road, the Judah Hyam Synagogue stands right next to the busy Khan Market. The synagogue was built by the Jewish Welfare Association in 1956 on land allocated by the Indian Government. The establishment of a formal building was made possible due to a handsome donation given by Dr. Rachael Judah in the memory of her father Dr. Judah Hyam who happened to be a prominent religious scholar. Prior to this, the Jews of Delhi held their prayers in a private residence located in the older part of the city.

“We are not orthodox. Men and women have been praying together in this synagogue since 20 years. We don’t believe in gender discrimination,” says Ezekiel Isaac Malekar. Rabbi Malekar is the head of the Jewish community in Delhi. He is a former government servant having served for 15 years as Deputy Registrar in National Human Rights Commission.

He also recited Jewish prayers at the funeral ceremonies of Indian Prime Ministers Indira and Rajiv Gandhi.

Malekar is a man with a liberal approach. He has conducted several inter-faith marriages but his daughter Shulamith’s weeding to Sharon Pinhas Bhalkar in 2012 was the first Jewish wedding in Delhi in over five decades.

Though the synagogue was originally established to

cater to the growing needs of the Jewish community, the population of Jews has fallen drastically over the years. Out of a total population of 1.2 billion, there are no more than 5,000 Jews living in India. At one point in time, the membership of the Judah Hyam Synagogue was held by 250-300 people but now it’s down to just 10 families. However, the place has retained its importance courtesy high profile visits from Israeli diplomats and officials. After the establishment of diplomatic ties between India and Israel, the synagogue had a surprise visitor in 1995 in the form of Israeli politician Shimon Peres. Besides holding prayers regularly on Sabbath days, the synagogue conducts the Jewish rituals of bat and bar mitzvah for girls and boys.

“India is a very tolerant nation. The Jews have never faced any persecution in this country. There’s not even a trace of anti-semitism,” says Malekar. Interestingly, Malekar supports the proposition of Uniform Civil Code, an overarching central law which would do away with personal laws of various religious communities and replace it with a common civil law. “We support the Uniform Civil Code. The Jewish religious laws are anyway not recognized in India.

We register our marriages under the Special Marriage Act, 1954,” he says.

Malekar has often been asked as to why he doesn’t move to Israel to which he replies, “Israel is in my heart, India is in my blood.”

Ezekiel Isaac Malekar is the religious head of the Jewish community in Delhi Photo : www.longleggedfly.me

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On the web

#SaveTheInternet

What’s

Trending?

By Kainat Sarfaraz & Zeeshan Khan

#BarkhaDutt

W

hen a top-shot journalist ‘defends’ India on an international platform, it is bound to make news. Recently, at the Women In The World Summit held in New York, Barkha Dutt shot back at the CBS news anchor when the latter said that after seeing the documentary India’s Daughter, she realized that India was unsafe for women. Dutt, in her usual dramatic style, took director and fellow panelist Leslee Udwin’s hand and said that though she opposed the ban on the documentary, she strongly disagreed with the blatant generalisation about her country. She further goes on to mention that the rape statistics in countries like USA and UK are worse than those of India’s. To support her claims that conditions in India aren’t as bad as they are projected to be, she mentioned that India even had a woman prime minister leading our country four decades ago. The strong statements made by Dutt at the event have taken social media by storm. While some have applauded Dutt for coming out strongly against comments which demean India, others are complaining that she has conveniently overlooked the other areas of crimes against women. The interesting thing amid this is that Dutt has found support in the unlikeliest quarters of rightwing nationalists. Now that, is something new for Barkha Dutt.

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A

fter the US, the net neutrality debate has shifted base to India.

Net neutrality simply means that all the content on the internet should be accessible to anyone without any discrimination and with equal speed. With the launch of ‘Airtel zero’ scheme by Bharti Airtel, there was an uproar that it is against the spirit of net neutrality as it favours certain over-the-top (OTT) services. As the debate raged, Internet.org, a joint collaboration of Facebook and the Indian Government to provide access to remote areas, also came under the scanner. Social media went up in arms when Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) put out a consultation paper on net neutrality and asked for public opinion. TRAI has received over a million emails in support of net neutrality. #SaveTheInternet has been among the top trending hashtags. A website, savetheinternet. in was created to facilitate public response to TRAI in favour of net neutrality. Several video podcasts including AIB’s ‘Save the Internet’ were extensively shared on social media to create awareness about net neutrality.

#LebeJetzt- Kal Ho Naa Ho

#MyChoice

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s a “unique diplomatic effort” the German Embassy in India launched a remake video of the song ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’. This video features India’s former foreign minister, Salman Khurshid, Michael Steiner, the German ambassador to India, and his wife Eliese Steiner. It was released on YouTube on April 24, 2015, and has over 6 lakh views. It soon started trending and was extensively shared on various social media platforms. The video is titled, “Lebe Jetzt” which is a literal German translation of ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’. “Traditional diplomacy was about government-to-government relations. Modern diplomacy is more about people-to-people relations. And culture is central here.” reads the description of the video on YouTube.

Shahrukh Khan and Karan Johar, the actor and the producer of the movie ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’, shared the video on Twitter

hat happens when a video with supposedly good intentions and controversial content hits the web? Very simple. It trends.

As a part of the Vogue Empower campaign, Vogue India recently came up with a 3-minute long video directed by Homi Adjania.

Actress Deepika Padukone occupies most of the screen space and the video fails to accommodate women from all walks of life. Yet it generalizes choices and makes bold statements like ‘to have your baby or not, my choice.’ But the point of debate is a particular section in the video which seems to justify adultery in the name of women empowerment. While Deepika adjusts her bra straps while giving a message on women empowerment, she says “To marry or not to marry, to have sex before marriage, to have sex outside marriage, to not have sex, my choice…” Expectedly, the video went viral and has been watched for over 9.3 million times. Social media has been abuzz with both accolades and criticism. The video has generated a lot of spoofs and parodies, many of which are mocking the original.

Apparently, there is also a men’s version of the MyChoice video and it has been viewed for over 1.6 million times.

#BaltimoreRiots

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n April 27, 2015 riots broke out in Baltimore, Maryland in the USA. The riots were a reaction to the death of a 25-year-old Afro-American man, Freddie Grey. He died in the police custody a week after being arrested. There are different narratives of how the violence broke out in the city. One is that of police brutality on peaceful protesters, which exacerbated the situation into full-scale rioting. The other narrative is of rumours on social media that a a band of school teenagers were planning a ‘Purge’, which is a reference to a 2013 Hollywood movie where all crimes are legal for one night. As soon as it came under the officials’ knowledge, the riot control police along with heavy armoured vehicles were deployed across the city. Public transport, including school busses, was stopped as a preventive measure. As the violence escalated, resulting in in looting and arson, #BaltimoreRiots started trending. Several images showing damaged public property and looted goods by individuals were floating all over Twitter. A video of a mother beating her son out of the riots went viral on social media.

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On the web

You turns 10: Subscribe and stay tuned !

By Anya Aftab

Photo: www.pixshark.com

Y

ouTube turned 10 in February. But the journey really began 10 years ago—on 23 April 2005, when one of the co-founders—Jawed Karim, uploaded the first ever video on the video-sharing website. A simple 19-minute clip started a revolution of sorts in the way users viewed and shared videos online. The video, titled “Me at the zoo ” shows Karim at the San Diego zoo, in front of an elephant enclosure, describing the elephants’ “really, really, really long trunks.”

You Tubing is an emerging social media trend where a section of people called You Tubers makes videos which could be a trending topic or the ideas they believe in. You tube helped many artists kick-start their careers-- singer Justin Beiber, South Korean rapper PSY are among them.

There are channels which have more followers than Beyonce or One Direction. The leading one being of

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PewDiePie, a Swedish gaming channel with 32 million followers. Channels range from game, DIY, fashion, comedy, travel and others.

Audience Building And Revenue Generation The evolution of Digital space and social media has made possible for people to connect as well as earn. People like Michael Buckley (of the famous WHAT THE BUCK show) have earned in six figures through YouTube’s partnership programme.

YouTube has also paved way for You tubers to collaborate with charities and Not for Profit Organizations to spread awareness and raise fund for social causes through trips and challenges. Teenage cancer trust collaborated with the channel Jacksgap to generate fund via a trip to India,

travelling 3,500 km across the width of India raising $177,521 money. Channel PewDiePie collabarated with Save the Children charity raising $600,000 helping 125 million children around the world with basic school needs.

Viral Videos and Global reach Channels from India are not far behind; where All India Bakchod (AIB) and The Viral Fever (TVF ) have avid followers who enjoy their sarcastic and clever take on trending news event and comical take on Indian politics.

Both the channels enjoy more than 1 million subscribers with a viewership of more than 9 million. Arunabh Kumar an alumni of IIT, who started his channel TVF after repeated rejection for a TV show proposal from leading channels including MTV, eventually turned up to YouTube, to execute his idea. AIB released a roast video insulting well known celebrities which went Viral with a million hits within 12 hrs of its launch.

Their reach is not just restricted to YouTube it goes to other social media platforms- Twitter, Facebook, Google+,

Instagram and becomes a trend. This progression of social media and content creation has given rise to new opportunities and acceptance of varied form of culture.

Even politicians have realized the impact of YouTubers on people. In a survey by Variety Magazine, it turns out some YouTubers are more famous then Hollywood actors. Even US President Barack Obama did a meeting with leading YouTubers to reach a larger audience.

Today, YouTube has more than 1 billion users, with more than 4 billion views per day and 300 hours of video being uploaded every minute. It is localized in 75 countries and available in 61 languages, and 60% of a video’s views come from outside the creator’s home country.

Mainstream Media is awed by their popularity and brands are keen on tying up with them. This is the Generation of Virtual space, subscribe and stay tuned until next time.

Youtube Co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded the first video on Youtube titled ‘Me at the Zoo’ in 2005.

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CONTRIBUTORS Editor-In-Chief Zehra Kazmi Editors & Sub-Editors Kainat Sarfaraz Zeeshan Khan Ankit Jain Anirban Datta Saif Ahmad Khan Salik Ahmad Amina Sohail Razzack Khalid Bashir Photo Department Manish Jalui Erum Gour Anya Aftab Mirza Arif Beg Anjana Premchand Vijdan Saleem

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Design Gayas Eapen Shamita Harsh Anjana Premchand Asad Rehman Karan Prashant Saxena Siraj Khan Ankit Jain Infographics Gayas Eapen Anjana Premchand Shamita Harsh Production Team Gayas Eapen Ankit Jain Anjana Premchand Karan Prashant Saxena Shamita Harsh Asad Rehman

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AJK Mass Communication Research Centre Jamia Millia Islamia Delhi-110025 52

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