February 20, 2017

The project identifies their areas of interest and helps in building a business model with them, alongside raising funds for the same.

Project Jazba, conceptualised by the Miranda House chapter of Enactus, works closely with victims of acid attacks. The project assists in their rehabilitation, besides raising funds for any entrepreneurial activities that they may want to engage in.

Initiated in May 2016, Project Jazba began in association with NGO Chaanv, which helped the students get in touch with survivors of acid attacks. Besides reaching out to survivors, the project helps with their rehabilitation, acknowledging their trauma and possible reluctance to speak. The project then identifies their areas of interests and proceeds to develop a business model for them, simultaneously assisting in the fundraising for such a business model.

Project Jazba is currently raising funds for a salon that acid attack survivor and trained beautician, Sonia Chaudhary, wishes to open. Once the others who are involved with this project have been rehabilitated, similar business models will be developed for them based on their specific interests. The project may assist survivors with similar interests in collaborating with each other. Recently, Enactus also conducted a seminar and discussion with Sonia Chaudhary.

Stuti Agarwalla, a student who is involved with Project Jazba, says that it was initiated keeping in mind the need to do away with the social stigma associated with beauty and appearance. Their aim was to target a community of people who are unfairly neglected and stigmatised. The members of the project are quite satisfied with the progress that has been made thus far. “We’re hoping to open Sonia’s salon by the end of March,” says Stuti. “In October, we had the opportunity to work with 10 acid attack survivors, through a 3-week training session for them, during the course of which they were trained to pick up personality development skills. The session boosted their morale and was a satisfying experience for us,” says Stuti.

Project Jazba has been actively involved in various ways to empower survivors of acid attacks. Awareness campaigns have been undertaken, along with sessions of origami and English classes.

Image credits: Enactus, Miranda House

Abhinaya Harigovind

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Miranda House, 15^th February: Eminent historian Prof. Romila Thapar along with Prof. Kumkum Roy (Centre for Historical Studies, JNU) participated in a conversation on ‘The Many Meanings of Heritage’ in an event organised by the History society of Miranda House. Pertinent questions on the idea of heritage were raised and addressed by the two speakers.
At the very outset, Prof. Thapar raised the central question of what constitutes heritage. “Is heritage something that each generation invents for itself? Is it representative of the entire society? Who gave us this heritage? Speaking of the process of selection of heritage, she said that it is bothersome that heritage is treated as if it were a package that we’ve inherited from the past, handed down virtually unchanged. Every entity considered as ‘heritage’ has a history of its own.”
According to Prof. Thapar, we tend to regard entities such as trophies of conquest, mausoleums, paintings and sculptures as heritage. She argues, however, that even as simple and non-consequential a thing as black-and-red pottery from an urban excavation site is heritage. This brought the conversation to an important question of how ethical the process of selection actually is. Should we allow people to select heritage or term everything as heritage?
Prof. Thapar believes that in this process of selecting and not selecting something as heritage, the sentiments of the people directly attached to that entity should be taken into consideration. To this effect, she cited the example of the Niymagiri Hills in Odisha, where tribals have opposed the usage of the site for bauxite mining as it is sacred to them. She added that heritage is something that can be celebrated by some people and negated by others. In this process, however, the opinions of the marginalised such as the adivasis should not be deemed inferior and suppressed by others who have a greater say in this matter.
On the responsibility of historians, she quoted E.H. Carr, “The historian that is aware of the concerns of the present very often becomes the one who is successful in studying the past.”
As it happens with most stimulating conversations, the audience were left with even more questions to discuss and ponder upon at the end.

Photo courtesy: Jasmine Chahal for DU Beat.

Swareena Gurung

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