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Living a College Life in the Age of Social Media

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Social media is a modern-world tool available in the hands of today’s youth, and they find solace in the sea of information found in it.

To connect or to disconnect from social media has been an intensely debated topic, especially among today’s parents and the youth. While a majority of the parents think that using social media is a waste of time and a major distraction, most youth believe that it is a useful tool since it provides a virtual medium for people to get connected with each other, engage in discussions, share information, etc. As a socially active youngster, I am of the opinion that one of the best advantages of social media is that it connects people at the click of a button, with the right source required by them at that particular point of time. This click makes life very easy and comfortable, especially for the teenagers who enter into a new phase of their lives, i.e. university life. These confused teens find solace in the sea of information found on social media.

To learn and unlearn by one’s own experience is a thing of the past, as with the improved network of social media, experiences of successes, as well as experiences of failures are available for guidance. To select a course or a college away from home takes tremendous courage, and that courage comes from the information and knowledge-base provided by social media. “Before taking admission in any college, I went through videos a million times. I saw all the fest coverages and everything. It helped me a lot in knowing what will come my way,” says Bhumi, a first-year student, pursuing B.A. (Honours) Philosophy at Daulat Ram College.

Apart from empowering the students with knowledge, social media also plays an important role in connecting people; more so in making an outstation student feel at home. With the virtual connect, social media enables them to speak and stay in touch with their loved ones back home, and at the same time helps them in making new friends. “Social media helped me to connect with my friends, and most importantly to bridge the distance between me and my family. Also, as a byproduct of its well-connected nature, it helped me to settle in a city with a sense of ease in the sense that I wasn’t only able to establish, but also maintain new contacts in the city,” opines Aditya Nath, an outstation first-year student from Jharkhand, pursuing B.A. Programme at St. Stephen’s College.

Getting the right type of accommodation is a very crucial thing for outstation students who do not manage to get into hostels, and with the advent of social media, students are easily able to find paying guest accomodations(PG) and flats to live in, with the ratings and experiences of seniors recorded on various networking sites. In the words of Avilokita, an outstation first-year student from Chattisgarh, pursuing B.A. Programme at St. Stephen’s College, “Social media, especially Facebook really helped me a lot to find a good PG with a good environment to live in, because being new to the city, it is very difficult to find a safe and secure place where a student can easily adjust.” Social media has also played an important role in increasing the availability of opportunities for students, since all information regarding clubs, orientations, fests, competitions, etc. are circulated on applications like Instagram and WhatsApp. At the same time, it is a saviour for students who take part in sports or extracurricular activities, since they can catch up on all that is taught in the classes they miss by getting notes and questions from their friends through networking apps.

Thus, to conclude in the words of the famous Greek physician Hippocrates, “Everything in excess is opposed to nature.” Truly, nothing in excess is good. Therefore, it is important that each one of us manages the time spent on social media efficiently and usefully, so as to harness the maximum benefits from this gainful resource.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Abhinandan Krishn Kaul

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Arts & Culture

Unpaid Internships: Are They Worth It?

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With the growing demand for work experience among candidates in the process of finding jobs, students find themselves getting lured towards unpaid internships. Read on for an analysis of the system of unpaid internships and its relevance.

The transition from school to college is a significant one. While school was marked with scoring well to get admitted to the desired course and university, college makes one job-ready. College prepares an individual for the work-culture which awaits them after it. With the jobs being scanty, and candidates in abundance, there is a rapidly increasing race among students to enhance their skills and curriculum vitae (CV) to stand out among the rest of their peers. With ever-increasing competition, students with prior work experience are preferred over the rest of the lot. Thus, students freshly out of college find themselves in a fix. Internships, in scenarios like these, come to their rescue. Several small and big companies hire students as interns on a weekly or monthly basis where they are asked to work either from home or directly in the office.

The past few years have seen students actively seeking internships in their field of study to gain firsthand industry experience, and well, add that extra line in their CVs. Internships come with the promise of certificates, and the much revered letters of recommendation (LOR). Apart from strengthening one’s CV, they also help students in building connections in the industry. While several companies hire paid interns, a host of other companies offer nothing more than a certificate and “experience”. Despite that, unpaid internships see a huge number of applications with students desperately yearning to get in. When you are working as a full-time employee, the company needs you as much as you need it. But the paradigm shifts in the case of interns. Interns find themselves needing the company a lot more than it needs them. Interns can be easily replaced by anyone from among hundreds of others seeking that position, who are willing to work for free. Thus, the demand for a stipend, however meager, in exchange for the value the intern is adding to the company, is always silenced. “Psychology students often pay for an internship at a hospital,” apprised Shivani Dadhwal from Kamala Nehru College, representing the sorry state of students seeking experience through internships.

Are these unpaid internships worth it? The answer cannot be in a binary of yes or no. Internships do not matter as much as where you intern does. Before diving into this world of internships — which is darker than it appears to be —students need to carefully assess the value of the work, and the certificate that they will get after its completion. There is no dearth of dubious companies which treat interns in exploitative ways, offering nothing in return, except for a certificate, which more often than not, holds no value if the company in question is not renowned. On the contrary, companies having a stronghold in the field of your interest can allow you an opportunity to connect with some of the renowned names in the industry, all the while making your CV shine. Working with a reputed firm, even if it is unpaid might prove beneficial while you are seeking jobs, but the quality of the work matters too. Several interns complain about having clerical jobs like photocopying, making coffee, among others. Such experiences, however mighty the workplace may be, will end up adding no value to your targeted skillset.

At the same time, unpaid internships at startups with excellent work-culture, where you are trained within proximity of learned seniors, might end up opening doors of success for you with the amount of experience you can get working there. Lucrative offers of internships need to be carefully scrutinised before students decide to invest their talent, time, and energy into working for a company. It is important to realize that your talent, however raw, holds value in the market. Consequently, it should be invested in with much thought and research. Platforms like Glassdoor and Linkedin might help students in learning from the experiences of other interns, and making a smart choice. Demand for the proper value of their work and strict labor laws for interns should be made to save young students from exploitation in the name of unpaid internships.

Feature Image Credits: Medium

Shreya Agrawal

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DUB Speak

NRC is Out: Here’s What DU Students Have to Say

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The National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam has been released, bringing about landmark changes in the citizenship picture in the state. Some Assamese students at the University of Delhi (DU) tell their tales.

About four years after the exercise first began, the NRC list was finally completed and released on 31 August. Monitored by the Supreme Court, the NRC was a massive headcount exercise that sought to differentiate legitimate Indian citizens from “illegal” or “undocumented” immigrants who migrated from other countries – especially Bangladesh – into the state of Assam.

Out of the nearly 3.3 crore people who had applied for inclusion in the NRC, around 19 lakhs have been excluded from the final list. Contrary to speculation, the people who have been excluded would not be considered foreigners or deported; they have a 120-day window to appeal to the quasi-judicial Foreigners Tribunal to have their claims considered. If unsatisfied with the decision of these tribunals, those excluded also have the option of appealing to the higher courts.

A student of DU, who hails from Assam, said, on conditions of anonymity, that the whole NRC exercise had been undertaken to reap “political benefits”. He highlighted how the NRC was received in Assam: “We saw it in a mixed-light; it was good in the sense that the demography of Assam had changed because of illegal immigration, but we also had doubts…When the Assam Accord was signed in 1985, the deadline [for determining Indian citizenship] was set at 1971. So, there was a 14-year gap between the deadline and the signing of the Accord. If the NRC was implemented during that time, then maybe things would have been different; now, nearly 35 years have passed since 198/. If an illegal immigrant did actually come [to India] in 1972, after the cut-off date of 1971, then they would have had children and grandchildren by now. So, there would be two generations of people who would have been born in India, but now would get disenfranchised as Indian citizens, so it would create a humanitarian problem.”

The student also said that the Bangladeshi Government would never accept the illegal immigrants back to their country as they had always been “unaccepting of the fact that illegal immigration has taken place from their land.” The whole exercising had the potential of deepening the divides in the state, he said.

Even though our source claimed that he and his family had all the requisite documents for proving their citizenship as they were all born and brought up in Assam – while their forefathers had come to the state around the time of partition – he said that they still had to face troubles. “Our citizenship status was declared as descendants of foreigners when there is nothing of that sort because we have all the requisite documents from 1954-55. “My grandfathers migrated long back, did their job here, resided here, they had their names on the voter list,” he told us. A serious hindrance was lack of access to information: “Nobody was able to answer our questions as to why our status was like that. Just because we didn’t have access to high ranking officials. So, you don’t have any access to information, no checks and balance mechanism about why your status was like that,” we were told.

Even government officials involved in the exercise admit to the practical hardships. Another Assamese student, a family member of whom is an official involved in the process, recalled a conversation when the latter told her about the practical difficulties being faced by the people: poor and illiterate people suffered the most, while the recent floods had also made matters worse.

The first student continues his story: “Even though the idea of NRC is good, throwing people out is not a pragmatic option. Just telling someone that even though you and your father were born and brought up in India, you are not an Indian citizen because your grandfather or great-grandfather was an illegal immigrant is not something which, in a democratic country like India, we are accustomed to or would want to do.” Neither was throwing people out a pragmatic option, nor was keeping them in “concentration camps” right for a democratic country to do, he said. “It would not be any different from China keeping Uighur Muslims in camps.”

So what could be done? “Maybe designate them as D-voters [Doubtful Voters] and not give them some residential, property or voting rights that normal Indian citizens get,” our source said. But, as would seem evident, he was quick to point out problems with this too. “This cannot help change the demography of Assam because if people can’t be thrown out then whoever resides today at this point of time will always be there. So it doesn’t address the main concern of the Assamese people about their demography being changed. The ultimate purpose of this exercise goes in vain, according to me.”

The NRC was not the only recent citizenship-related controversy that rocked the north-eastern states. The Citizenship Amendment Bill of 2016, or CAB, was a piece of legislation which also created a widespread row in the North-Eastern states – and it was not limited to just Assam. The Bill aimed to provide citizenship to people belonging to minority faiths in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan – Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Paris, Buddhists, and Jains – who were forced to flee their home countries owing to religious persecution. It also reduced the time period of continuous stay in India needed to become an Indian citizen by the process of naturalisation from a period of 11 to six years. The Bill saw massive protests in the north-eastern states. Some of the ruling BJP’s own allies from that part of the country broke away from their political alliances. The Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha but lapsed in the Rajya Sabha.

Our source tells us that Assam was divided in their support for the CAB. The Brahmaputra Valley, with a predominantly Assamese population, opposed the Bill, while people in the Barak Valley – largely Bengalis – supported it. Manas Pratim Sharma, a student of Hindu College, also pointed out this dichotomy in an article he wrote for the North-East magazine of the college. The first student continues by saying that he has had to explain to a lot of people his reasons for supporting the CAB. “The CAB does not say that new people would be brought in from Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. into India. It talks about whoever has come on or before 31st December 2014; it talks about those who are already here and they will be provided Indian citizenship by process of naturalisation over a period of six years. I don’t think the people residing in north-east or any part of India can be kicked out or be held in concentration camps. Then the CAB makes sense as it addresses people from religious minorities in neighbouring countries who have fled because of political and religious persecution,” he said.

However, taking cognisance of the huge protests that erupted over the CAB, the student also said, “If there is a huge uproar in the NE, then I’d actually be okay – I’d want it, in fact – if people who have migrated on or before 2014 and have not yet settled down in the north-eastern states be shifted to some other parts of the country and be rehabilitated there. This would not be the first time this would happen; it has happened in 1947, 1971, 1984 and other times also. I think there is scope for the government [to do this] so that the north-eastern states don’t have to bear the brunt of migration that the Indian state faces and that it’s evenly distributed, because that is also a primary concern of the north-eastern people…One part of the country should not disproportionately take the burden [of immigration]. If that condition is met with, I’m fine with the CAB in light of the NRC.”

A noted disappointment over the disproportionate share of migrant intake as experienced by the north-eastern states was also seen in Mr Sharma’s article, where he says the following in light of the CAB: “There is a perception that the passage of the CAB will open the floodgates for a fresh wave of influx of Bangladeshi Hindus to India, and Northeast will have to bear the brunt of the next wave of influx again.”

The students we spoke to were secure. Their names were there in the final list, even though some had not appeared in the earlier drafts, despite the names of their families being mentioned. As things stand, 19 lakh people have been excluded. As many media reports showed, there were numerous discrepancies in the earlier drafts: not everyone from the same family was included; relatives of government officials and servicemen were excluded and so on. It is likely that most of the excluded people would appeal to the Foreigners’ Tribunals. Illegal immigration is a real problem for any country; even more so in states of the north-east with a sensitive indigenous cultural demography. It can be hoped that the State would carry out the subsequent phases of the exercise with precision while keeping humanitarian concerns in mind.

 

Feature Image credits – India Today

Prateek Pankaj
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DUB News

CYSS on Indefinite Hunger Strike: Demands Election Through Ballot Paper

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The student body of Aam Aadmi Party, Chatra Yuva Sangharsh Samithi ( CYSS) has been on an indefinite hunger strike.

 

The hunger strike that started on the 27th of this month, outside the Arts Faculty has been continuing for the last 48 hours. It is being organised with respect to demanding the fulfilment of various needs put up by the Student wing.

The demands being

1. Hostels for all students

2.Equal fees for all colleges in the university

3.Re-examination for students in the same year if failed.

4.A 24-hour library facility

5.Elections through ballot paper.

DU Beat was able to speak to Mr Chandramani Dev who is the state committee Vice President of CYSS. He had this to say, ” The re-examination of students who are not able to clear their examinations used to happen the same year earlier. This system was later changed. It puts a lot of pressure on the students. Thus it’s important that this system is brought back so that the students do not have to waste a year”.

He also started the reasons for demanding ballot based vote ” Last year I had contested to be the joint secretary of DUSU, I was winning till the sixth round after which there was a five-hour-long electricity cut. When the results were announced I had lost. The voting machines were tampered with and that clearly cancels out the spirit of DU elections. Thus we have been demanding to bring back ballot system.”

Politicians like Mr Harsh Bansal also came to Arts Faculty to meet the students.

CYSS had decided to not participate in the elections for DUSU this year stating that they will only participate if the ballot term is brought back.

 


 

Stephen Mathew

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DUB News

Maitreyi College Gives Insight to School Students on River Pollution

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Maitreyi College recently organised an event in collaboration with Central Government’s Department of Biotechnology

 

In the first of a series of events, Delhi University’s (DU) South Campus institution, Maitreyi College organized an interactive session for school students to gain knowledge on environment issues, increasing pollution in the river Yamuna and the practice of waste segregation.

 

The college hosted students from around eighty schools in the city to visit its campus in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi and interact with the University students and faculty. The event – a conference as well as an interaction, was organized in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology of the Central Government on Friday, August 29th, 2019.

 

 

 

The school students were given an opportunity to express their understanding of the issues of climate change and river pollution, through the means of skits, short films and a poster-making competition.

This move is in line with the recent developments of environmental concern around the world. They not only include the local issue of the flooding of the river Yamuna and its poor state of cleanliness, but also occurrences such as that of the Amazon Rainforest’s wildfire, unabated rise in the level of microplastics in our water bodies, and the rapidly emerging concern of e-waste in the current global environment.

 

Chairman of the Governing Body of Maitreyi College, Shri Balaganpathy Devarkonda, said in a conversation with The Times of India, “…such events are important to bridge the gap between elementary and higher education and encourage students to indulge in discussion.”

 

The interaction of the students saw the mention of the Jal Shakti Ministry that has been recently introduced by the government to address the crisis of water management in the country. Students also discoursed regarding the potential way forward for the resolution of the crisis and pledged to take positive steps towards water conservation and cultivating a clean and green environment for all.

 

 

Featured Image Caption: Students at Qudsia Ghat, Yamuna riverfront

Featured Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

 

Bhavya Pandey

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Admissions 2018

Historians and Authors Condemn VD Savarkar’s Legacy at Public Meeting

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A host of student organisations invited various academicians for a ‘public talk’ on the legacies of Bhagat Singh and VD Savarkar on 28th August.

The controversy about the busts of VD Savarkar, Subhas Chandra Bose, and Bhagat Singh – which were installed, and then removed from the University campus – might have subsided, but the ideological clash still seems to be alive.

Various student parties and collectives – like Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathan (Pachhas), All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM), Pinjra Tod, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), and others – held a public talk titled ‘Bhagat Singh Ya Savarkar: Tay Karo Kis Ore Ho Tum (Bhagat Singh or Sarvarkar, decide which side you are on)’. Eminent historian S. Irfan Habib, author, former DU professors Shamsul Islam and Madhu Prasad, and Jagmohan Singh, author and nephew of Bhagat Singh, were present as guest speakers at the event, which was marked by sloganeering, songs and condemnation of Savarkar’s ideology and actions.

“Sacrilege to club all three together”

Mr. Habib, whose work has been instrumental in transforming the perception about Bhagat Singh – from one limited to just a martyr to one of a revolutionary thinker – pointed out the different style of politics practised by Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose on the one hand, and VD Savarkar on the other. He said that while Savarkar’s supporters can push him independently, it was a sacrilege to club all three together.

Responding to the claims of many supporters of Savarkar that Bhagat Singh had praised his work, Mr. Habib said that while this was true, Bhagat Singh’s approbation was limited only to a few lines about Savarkar’s book on the revolt of 1857, and not about the latter’s political thought.

“Angrezon ka dalal”

The author of over half a dozen books on Savarkar, Golwalkar, Hindu nationalism, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS), Dr. Shamsul Islam seemed especially scathing in his critique of the father of the Hindutva thought. Keeping a bunch of documents and papers handy with himself as evidence, Dr. Islam went over the mercy petitions that Savarkar had sent to the British officials while being imprisoned in the Cellular Jail in Port Blair.

He further said that Savarkar had sabotaged the Quit India Movement and helped the British by training “thousands of Hindus to join the British army,” while the Hindu Mahasabha had formed coalition government with the Muslim League in four provinces. He repeatedly made an appeal for state-funded publication of all of Savarkar’s writings and them being made compulsory readings in schools and colleges; the purpose behind this, as he highlighted, was that it would lead to a supposed exposé of Hindutva organisations. “Don’t install Savarkar’s bust, publish his writings,” was his call.

The other two speakers, Mr. Singh and Ms. Prasad also contrasted the life and legacies of Savarkar and Bhagat Singh. The former said that Bhagat Singh wanted to bring Inquilab in people’s lives, while calling for usage of the complete slogan “Samrajyavad murdabad, inquilab zindabad.” Ms. Singh urged the audience to stop using the title “Veer” for Savarkar. “Ye kaayar they aur hain (they were and are cowards)” she said.

One-way traffic?

Despite the eminence of the speakers present at the event, the public meeting seemed to speak in one tone: a unanimous condemnation of Savarkar. At one level, that state of affairs can be understood; the organisers of the public meet do not subscribe to Savarkar’s ideology. Just like an event organised by supporters of Savarkar might be expected to be in his favour, one organised by critics would raise their voice against him. But would it have been a better, more educational experience to organise a debate with representatives of both sides instead?

When we posed this question to Deepak Gupta of Pachhas, one of the main organisers of the event, he replied, “Aapko aisa lagta hai ki jo debate ki jagah maar-peet karte hain wo aise program ko hone denge? (Do you think those who prefer violence over debate will let such a program happen?)”

A similar sentiment was voiced by Dr. Islam, “Wo aayenge nahi (they won’t come)”, he said, while alleging that Hindutva organisations and their supporters hide their original documents whilst he keeps publishing them.

Feature Image credits: Prateek Pankaj for DU Beat

Prateek Pankaj
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Campus Central

ABVP’s Main Agenda for Elections Revealed

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For the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) reveals that building new hostels is going to be the main agenda in their manifesto.

As reported by The Hindu, Sidharth Yadav, the State Secretary of ABVP said, “Building hostels will be the key agenda in our manifesto. With the commercialization of private hostels, rents have gone up.”

On 25th August 2019, the candidates from ABVP visited the University students living in hostels and paying guest accommodations and raised the issue of insufficient accommodation facilities provided by the University of Delhi (DU) for outstation students. Monika Chaudhary, the National Media Convener of ABVP said, “We had sent an application to the administration a while back with respect to building new hostels but they have not reverted to us, so we are going to campaign for it now. We are also hoping to get strong support from the government of Uttar Pradesh to build hostels for students from there. With regard to this, our President, Shakti Singh had a meeting with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath a while back.”

ABVP talked to the students about their campaign for the construction of new hostels in the University as a step against students having to pay a lot for their residence while completing their education. They asked for support concerning this in the upcoming DUSU elections.

Many students across the campus have shown support for this campaign. Sana Sharma, a student of DU and a resident of paying guest accommodation in North Campus said, “The University has very few hostels which are not able to accommodate even half of the student population. Only very few people get a place in these hostels and the rest of us have to have to pay very high prices for accommodations in Delhi. It is very inconvenient and costly. I support ABVP’s campaign to build new hostels and hope that the administration will hear us.”

Feature Image Credits: IndiaTV

Juhi Bhargava
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Auburn Umbrella

Auburn Umbrella: Styling your feet with the Rains

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When it rains, it’s time to dust your umbrellas up and take them out for a ride to school. It’s also time for you to rethink about your attire and wardrobe. Here are a few footwear choices to think about along with your clothes.

 

The slight rains in Delhi these days, come as a relief to many people including residents who have had to depend on Municipal corporations to get adequate water. As the rains bring good news it also demands a change in your wardrobe.

That’s where footwear becomes an important factor after all nobody wants to go to college wearing drenched socks which would smell eventually. Many times, it’s the last thing that we bother about but choosing the right footwear not only protects you from the everyday puddles and little ponds in the city. It also adds a sense of style. As the saying goes A person is judged by their shoes!

So, here are some footwear choices to try out for your college day!

 

Sports shoes

They are also a favourite choice for students who tend to have an athletic side to them but as these shoes require for you to wear socks, it could become a disaster for you in no time. Wearing no show, linear and pad socks would be a greater alternative as these socks stop at the ankle and thus won’t get wet.

 

Chappals

Turns out that a vast number of students would prefer chappals in the rain than anything else. Yes, it’s true. Wearing chappals is not the biggest fashion blunder to make as these not only are the comfiest footwear but also dry off quickly. A great number of fashionable chappals have come up in the market and thus are surely a good choice.

 

Crocs

his wonder has taken the fashion space by storm and has been dominating it for quite some time now. A mix of both the slippers and shoes. Yet sleeker than both is a great option for students to cope up with their rainy day. Crocks, not only offer comfort but also enables you to hide your legs. These have come up in a number of variations and are available at great prices as well.

 

Boots

An all-time choice for rains, these, may not be the first choice when it comes to pairing them up stylishly with your outfit, but boots have a great sense of style to them. The market today has many variations to the classic boots, with available in leather and other such water-resistant materials. The bulky resemblance also adds weight to the whole appearance and also gives you the ideal cowboy look when paired with jeans. If that is not the ideal look for you there are variations like the motto boots and the duck boots that can obviously find a way to your wardrobe.

 

These are some of the many options that you can try out for the rains. They are, of course, the question of what goes with what.

Experiment with your footwear this season and stand out from the rest of the crowd because who doesn’t.

 Featured Image Credits- Video Blocks

 

Stephen Mathew

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Arts & Culture

Indian People’s Theatre Association: A Look at India’s Oldest Theatre Collective

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The theatre collective that started 76 years ago has left an indispensable mark on Indian theatre art and Bollywood.

“If you are doing something on IPTA, there’s a chance you will get lost? Because which chapter do you pick up?” said Jagan Shah, a writer and a theatre director who has been putting together Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA)  story from its inception till date. For starters, Indian People’s Theatre Association or IPTA is a theatre collective which brings together theatre artists from across India to illustrate political and social issues through dramas, street plays, and theatres. It closely adheres to the ideology of Communist  Party of India and seeks to inform and educate people about a plethora of issues concerning the common man by means of art.

IPTA’s history can be traced back to 1943 when two major historical incidents were gaining momentum. The struggle for India’s independence had reached its peak and World War II had galloped the world in a deadly conflict. The Bengal famine of 1943 along with Nazi force’s intrusion over Soviet Russia evoked intellectuals in India to initiate an organization which could inform the masses about these problems. Artists too felt the need to contribute in India’s freedom struggle through their art and thus the group was born at a conference in Mumbai in 1943. Subsequently, a lot of committees of IPTA were created all across India.

Despite its unabashed left leaning stance, IPTA had members who were staunch leftists as well as those who had no or naïve  political views. Along with politically charged individuals like Bijon Bhattachary and Mulk Raj Anand, it has prolific Bollywood personalities like Prithviraj Kapoor, Balraj Sahni, and Utpal Dutt as its members too.

One of the most important plays made by IPTA member Bijoy Bhattachary was Nabanna (New Harvest) in Bengali which depicted the plight of the Bengal famine. Another play called Nava Jiboner Gaan by Jyotirindra Moitra and the film Dharti Ke Laal  reciprocated the conscience of people of that time.

IPTA had a firm presence in the University of Delhi during the pre-independence era. Indraprastha College for Women had a dedicated IPTA group that performed anti-government plays. Even when government did not give them space and mikes to perform, they arranged their own materials and venues. When they were not allowed to publicise their plays in newspaper, they would write the name of venue on papers with pen and stick them on walls.

IPTA has substantial influence on the Bollywood movies of 1950s and 1960s as many directors, actors, scriptwriters, lyricists, music directors, and choreographers who came together to make a film were previous members or contributors of IPTA. Among the renounced actors who had alliance with IPTA were A.K Hangal, Balraj Sahni, and Utpal Dutt. Song writers like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Sahir Ludhianvi, Shailendra, and Kaifi Azmi along with music directors Hemant Kumar and Salil Chaudhary were associated with the theatre group.

 

At the time of partition, when the entire country was burning with Hindu Muslim divide, IPTA (along with other cultural organisations like Progressive Writer’s Association) made its best efforts to extinguish the fire from places like Mumbai, where it had substantial presence. Stalwart Prithviraj Kapoor along with young sons Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor sought out on a truck procession to ease out the tension between native Hindus and Muslims of Mumbai.

Post independence, IPTA began to face clamp downs and repression by government. The organisation which once enjoyed the support of nationalist leaders, now started to face their resistance as the onus of power now lied on these nationalist leaders. Gradually members of IPTA started to drift away from the main organisation and led new factions in various parts of the country. Bahurupee, IPTA Mumbai, and the Delhi based theatre company Jana Natya Manch started by Late Safdar Hashmi are successful offshoots of IPTA that still continue to produce political dramas to express dissent through art on contemporary issues. IPTA in its original essence might not exist today but it certainly is kept alive by common thoughts like idea of rebellion and struggle for equality espoused by like minded artists.

Feature Image Credits: IPTA Facebook


Priyanshu

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The Eco-Feminist Village of Piplantri

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In Rajasthan, a state often characterised by low sex ratio and an arid climate, the villagers of Piplantri in Rajsamand have resorted to planting 111 trees with the birth of every girl child to battle female foeticide and climate issues.

In Piplantri, whenever a girl child was born, the family pushed a hard, jagged grain into her mouth to cause infection and ensure her death. Shyam Lal Paliwal never understood this practice.He had always loved his daughter. So when Sarpanch Shyam Lal Paliwal’s 16-year old daughter Kiran died in 2006, he planted a burflower tree in her remembrance and vowed that no one would mourn the birth of a baby-girl in Piplantri anymore. Instead, it would be celebrated with the planting of trees.

Before 2005, Piplantri had been a drought-prone area. Shyam Lal recalls that once in 2005, the drought had been so bad that the government were forced to send water trains to the village. But it all ended with Kiran’s tree and Shyam Lal’s vision.

Alongside planting 111 trees, whenever a girl child is born in Piplantri, donations are collected so that INR 31,000 can be saved and put aside, so that with investment, there is a sum to match a potential dowry, allowing the families to become financially independent and in turn, be able to send their daughters to school, not marry them before they turn 18, and care for the planted trees as well. Along with this, getting inspiration from his wife, Shyam Lal also helped establish an aloe vera business in the village. After training, women can make and market aloe vera gel, juice and pickle, and some earn up to INR 6,000 a month.  The Sarpanch has also started a rainwater harvesting plant in the village.

Aloe Vera gel made by the women of Piplantri village. image Credits: Lifegate
Aloe Vera gel made by the women of Piplantri village.
image Credits: Lifegate

The government of Rajasthan, which has been shamed with a concerning sex ratio for years, decided to introduce a yojana (scheme) inspired by Paliwal’s work. Under the policy, the family receives INR 2,500 on her birth and the same amount on her first birthday. This is doubled to INR 5,000 if she finishes class five and class eight. When girls complete their senior secondary education i.e. class 12th, they get INR 35,000, making an overall total of  INR 50,000.

Piplantri has become an inspiration to various villages in rural India and holds itself up to be an important symbol of not only women empowerment, but also sustainable development in India.

Feature Image Credits: Procaffenation

Shreya Juyal

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