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Inauguration Of Sanitary Napkins Vending Machine In Colleges Of DU

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Students face a great number of difficulties when it comes to sanitation and hygiene. In terms of access to and maintenance of basic standards of cleanliness, toilets in many Indian colleges and universities fail to meet even the bare minimum cleanliness standards. In such a situation, if you happen to be a menstruating woman, it’s twice as hard just to get through the day.

A sanitary napkin vending machine has been installed at University of Delhi’s Keshav Mahavidyalaya college girls’ hostel as part of “women empowerment and hygiene”. The machine has been installed under ‘Mission AAA’ (Awareness, Availability, and Affordability) launched by CSR Research Foundation, an NGO, in collaboration with ONGC.

Principal Dr. Madhu Pruthi welcomed the CSR initiative saying such efforts would break the myths and stereotypes related to menstruation process. The proctor of Delhi University, Prof Neeta Sehgal hailed this move and said “It is a welcome step of the CSR Foundation along with the ONGC to organise such event at Keshav Mahavidyalaya, which is a co-educational institute. This step is a step towards gender sensitisation”.

The machine will make sanitary napkins more affordable and readily accessible for the female students, by dispensing a pad at a minimal cost. The initiative will also encourage a dialogue on issues related to menstruation and feminine hygiene.

Feature Image Credits: India Times

 

Sandeep Samal

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News

Faculty of Management Studies Opens Registration

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The online admission procedure for 4 post graduate programmes has begun at Faculty of Management Studies and will be open until 20th November, 2017.

Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, has opened up its admissions for the following Post Graduate courses: 2-year Full Time MBA Programme, 2-year Evening MBA Executive Programme, MBA Executive (Health Care) Programme, and Doctoral Programme. Registrations began on 5th October and can be done till 20th November. All candidates have to apply online through the FMS portal (www.fms.edu). A registration fee of Rs.1000 and Rs.350 for SC/ST/PWD has to be paid per programme.

For the Full Time MBA Programme candidates, 12 years of schooling and a Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline with at least 50% marks, passing marks for SC/ST, and 45% marks for PWD/OBC/CW or the equivalent CGPA are the eligibility criteria. Class 10th and 12th marks, along with Group Discussion, Extempore Speech, Personal Interview, and CAT score will be the components on which admission will depend.

For the Doctoral Programme, candidates are required to give the Common Entrance Test (CAT), to be held on 26th November, 2017 by the Indian Institute of Management (except those exempted under FMS Information Bulletin). Essay Writing, Academic Performance and Personal Interview will also be criteria for selection.

For the Evening MBA Executive Programme (159 seats), a candidate must have finished 12 years of schooling and pursued at least a 3-year undergraduate degree in a discipline from a recognised University.

For the MBA Executive (Health Care) Programme (39 seats), a candidate must have a bachelor’s degree with minimum 45% aggregate marks in Medicine (MBBS)/ Dentistry (BDS)/ Biotechnology/ Genomics/ Genetics/ Nursing/ Bio-engineering/ Alternative Systems of Medicine/ Paramedical discipline/ Pharmacology/ Anthropology/ Zoology or an examination recognised as equivalent, from a recognised University.

Both courses require a 5-year experience as an executive or administrator in a commercial/ industrial/ government establishment/ registered organisation. Experience shall be determined as on 1st April, 2018. Candidates must also enclose Sponsorship/ No Objection Certificate from their employer in prescribed format along with Application Acknowledgement Form.

Admission for both programmes will be based on Academics, Executive Experience, General Ability Test, and Personal Interview.

 

Feature image Credits: HT Campus

Rishika Singh

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Events

Mood Indigo 2017 Delhi Regionals: The Competition Starts Here!

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Mood Indigo 2017, IIT Bombay’s annual cultural fest, conducted its Multicity Elimination rounds for Delhi over the course of two days: 7th and 8th October, 2017, the venue being Janki Devi Memorial College. Mood Indigo is Asia’s largest cultural festival, which attracts a crowd of more than 1,39,000 from over 1700 colleges nationwide. The 47th edition of this fest will be held from 22nd to 25th of December, 2017.

An extravaganza of several events saw the students of over 40 colleges of the University of Delhi (DU) competing for a place in the final round to be held in Mumbai. The regional rounds kick-started with Aagaaz, the street-play competition. Thirty-three teams from DU and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) battled it out for the final positions. The judges for the same were Swati Pandey, Gaurav Gautam, Narender Bhutani, and Anumita Choudhary, and each team performed 10 minutes of their production.

Simultaneously, MI-nem, the rap competition of Mood Indigo, was going on in full swing. The judges for this competition were Mr. Raga and Yawar, two eminent rappers from Artistaan. Students from PGDAV College and Keshav Mahavidyala college, among others, performed a piece of 2 minutes each. Following this, even the judges performed their famous pieces, Samasya and Mudda, respectively for the audience. As soon as this was over, the regional round for Humor Us, the stand-up comedy competition was held. Over 25 participants from colleges like Delhi Technological University (DTU) and IIT Delhi performed and tickled the funny bone of each person present in the audience. The judge for the same was Mr Ajit, a radio jockey. These three events marked a successful completion of the first day of the regional rounds.

The second day of the auditions saw the students and societies of various colleges across Delhi, lock horns across various competitions for the coveted berth at Choreonite, Mood Indigo’s dance showcase, one of the largest in India.  The first event of the day was Indigo Saga – the choreography competition. The event was judged by Heemanshu Sharma and Priyanka Saxena. The engaging performance by various colleges, and particularly the pieces by Kamla Nehru College, Kirori Mal College, and Lady Shri Ram College gathered huge applauds from the audience and the judges alike. The choreography competition was followed by Sanskriti, the group folk dance segment. The classical dance societies of the participating colleges came up with various pieces based on the local dance of different regions of the nation. Mrs. Sanjam Malthotra and Mr. Sashi Ranjan were invited as judges for the event.

 The last event at the auditorium was Desi Beats – the Bollywood dance competition. The event, which was judged by Mrs. Priyanka Saxena saw a string of brilliant performances. However, the performances of Venkateswara College, Gargi College and Keshav Mahavidyalaya stood out to be absolute crowd favourites. The other events for the day were MI Idol, the  classical singing competition and Singing the Indigos, the western vocal music competition. The two fixtures saw the solo performances by the singing prodigies across the University and other colleges. The event MI Idol was adjudged by Ms. Amie from Artistaan and the later by Ms. Ipshita Roy and Ms. Samya.

As for the results, the Mood I organising committee announced that the results would be declared on their official Facebook page once the auditions at all the seven cities are done with, tentatively, 29th October. The winning teams would get seeded entry to Mood Indigo, the cultural fest of IIT Bombay which is scheduled to be held from 22nd to 25th of December 2017.

 

Feature Image Credits: PV Purnima for DU Beat

Vijeata Balani
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Nikhil Kumar
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Events

POPxo Conducts Second Edition of Big Fab Fest

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POPxo’s Big Fab Fest (BFF) was a fun-filled event that was attended by a number of fashion enthusiasts, bloggers, and students. The stalls, music, and one-on-one interactive sessions were a great hit amongst the attendees.

On 7th October 2017, POPxoBFF powered by Veet was held at One Golden Mile. The central theme of the festival was fashion and beauty. Brands ranging from household names like Veet, Jabong, and Colorbar to up and coming ones like Knick Knack Nook, Fangled, and Mango People had a strong presence. Stalls dedicated to food, games, and influencer platforms were also present.

With creative and innovative decorations like colourful streamers, lanterns, fairy lights along with other props, the stalls and the festival created a cosy and welcoming ambience. The event started at 12 p.m. when the crowd started to stroll in, filling up the space within an hour or two. For its second edition, POPxo allowed the entry of boys, unlike last year’s affair.

The festival in general had an immensely aesthetically pleasing environment. Apart from the well-decorated venue, the patrons were also no less than style icons. The crowd largely consisted of fashion bloggers, fashion enthusiasts, and young college students. Consequently, a bevy of young men and women, each with an individual and distinct sense of style and ways of expressing themselves, joined in.

Various competitions, lucky draws, and challenges took place throughout the day. Challenges to hold a plank position for the longest period of time and giveaways by sponsors for the audience were extremely popular amongst the audience. Cash prizes, Fitbits, and other merchandise were given away by conducting a competition which kept the energy and excitement levels high.

Some of the highlights were the stalls of Knick Knack Nook, Sanokaa Jewels, and Krafted with Happiness which had an unusual collection of earrings, nose rings, chokers, handbags, and other handcrafted accessories. Other stalls of the flea market such as Big Small, Fangled, and Candy Call Store offered postcards, theme-based diaries, posters, traveler’s maps, skincare products, and more. This merchandise, which consisted of Harry Potter themed notebooks, framed posters of Daenerys Targaryen, lighters with hilarious quotes on them, and other unique and personalised merchandise were a favourite amongst those attending the event. In a unique promotional strategy, Fangled gave away one special postcard to everyone who liked their Instagram page. These postcards were full of quotes and references from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, thus making them extremely popular with the millennial crowd.

Veet, being the official sponsor, had the lucky winners contest for hampers and vouchers worth upto INR 2,000. Part of the competition was taking a photo with the Veet backdrop and uploading it on Instagram. The Colorbar stall offered free makeovers generating a lot of interest and activity. Jabong had their “Dress the Mannequin Challenge”, and the turnout was enough to keep them engaged the whole time. HP Sprocket got umpteen pictures from fans of Polaroid. Stalls for body art and henna tattoos were also present and attracted a lot of attention from the audience. Plixxo’s stall attracted a large number of fashion bloggers who wanted to know more about being an influencer and what an influencer platform stood for. Every stall had an enchanting appeal and something different about itself.

Fans got pictures clicked with Shreya Jain,  who also spent time addressing her followers and well-wishers at length and with patience. Despite being terribly ill, Cherry Jain of POPxo fame reached the venue at 2 p.m. to address the audience, chat with them personally, and get pictures clicked. Sejal Kumar, the popular YouTuber from the University of Delhi, held an interactive session with her fans, spoke to many individually, and had a photo session. Cherry and Sejal talked at length about how to gain traction on social media, and gave advice on the use of sponsored content and on the importance of being dedicated. Their suggestion of using personal anecdotes occasionally was received with immense enthusiasm by the audience.

To quench the food cravings, delicious food like pizzas, burgers, milkshakes, ice-cream, and more was offered at stalls of La Pinoz, Burger King, Keventers, MeSoHungry, and Popsicles. Just like the event itself, the food was well-presented and colourful, with a spacious and beautifully decorated al fresco wooden seating area which was used as a makeshift cafeteria.

In the evening, multiple musical and dance performances took place which lent the festival the vibe of a cultural gathering. As artists soulfully belted out hits like “Attention” and “Summertime Sadness”, the crowd sang along, akin to country fairs and musical fests at the same time. The western dance societies of Lady Shri Ram College for Women (LSR), Pannalal Girdharlal Dayanand Anglo Vedic (PGDAV) College, Ramjas College, Lady Irwin College for Women, Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology (MAIT), Kirori Mal College (KMC), Gargi College, and Sri Venkateswara College performed energetically.

The winning team from Gargi College received a whopping cash prize of INR 30,000.

Overall, POPxoBFF was an energising and fulfilling way to spend the day. The music, the beautiful surroundings, the fun game stalls, the giveaways and competitions, the delicious food, the shopping souks, the dance performances, and the sheer number of fashion enthusiasts all made this event an absolute delight. It was reinvigorating and energising with its hustle bustle and creativity and we cannot wait for its third edition!

 

Photos by:
Ayush Chauhan
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Hitanksha Jain
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Kinjal Pandey
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Prachi Mehra
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DUB Speak

Role of Seniors in College Life

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As exciting it may sound, the transition from school to college can be equally daunting in the absence of proper guidance. Innumerable trajectories open up in college for youngsters, however eventually, many students end up feeling lost. This is where the role of a senior kicks in.

Who is a senior? A person, who is always willing to lend a hand, be it regarding academics or extracurricular activities. Seniors play the dual role of a friend and a mentor. They are the people who have been in your very shoes before you, therefore can empathize with your conundrums. They counsel you on what to study, how to study, projects to take up, internship opportunities, higher studies, and plain old personal problems amongst other things. They are an invaluable inventory of relevant information.

It is a well-known fact that one needs their seniors in college. This is something that we’re all well aware of even before we enter the campus life. In such an alien environment, it is good to have a voice of experience to consult to deal with changes and subjects.

The role of a senior in college is insurmountable. It is a senior who gives us the hacks to deal with that particular grumpy teacher. Seniors, from their inventory of experiences, share the tricks and techniques to deal with that particular tough paper. Besides, providing us with notes, our seniors sometimes go an extra mile to teach us tougher concepts in a subject.

Working with seniors while preparing for an event, can be a basic simulation of a corporate ecosystem. Teaming up with seniors to pull up events or projects helps us to understand the terms of working and instils basic etiquettes needed to be incorporated.

On an emotional level, seniors are better experienced than us in handling stress. They can figure out the sources of stress in most cases. They understand a junior’s position better than any other adult in a way since they are either going through it or recently gotten over it. Experience counts.

Keeping all the points under consideration, a junior must seriously consider building a good rapport with seniors. A fresher should join societies that interest him or her. Societies in colleges provide a platform and space for interaction among juniors and seniors. One should also be very active in department’s work and events. A junior should go an extra mile to initiate a conversation sometime and seek help on academic issues. Trips can be another exquisite way to help to bond with seniors easily.

We won’t live long enough to make mistakes and learn from it but we can be wise to learn from mistakes our seniors committed. Happy bonding with seniors!

 

Image Credits: Youth Ki Awaaz

Sandeep Samal

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DUB Speak

A Glimpse in the Life of an Off-Campus Student

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Out of 60 colleges that fall under the University of Delhi, at least 20 colleges are not located in ‘primal’ locations – the North and South Campus. Despite forming a decent share of the total students studying in DU, these colleges are often overlooked and their worries not given equal impetus compared to fellow north and south campus colleges.

In light of the recent news reports citing safety concerns for female students of Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, we must address the issues that an off-campus student generally faces. After interacting with several students from the aforementioned category, the following is an attempt to point out the mutual problems and arrive at hopeful solutions-

  1. Hostel/PG Facilities – Out of the 15 Delhi University Colleges that offer hostel facilities, only 2 are off-campus colleges: Maharaja Agrasen College and Keshav Mahavidyalya. Both colleges offer hostels only for girls that too with a very limited capacity. It becomes a daunting task to find PGs especially when the college is in a relatively secluded area. Famous PGs in Kamala Nagar are a go-to for most students in the North Campus, but off-campus students don’t enjoy a similar structure. A lot of times, students rent flats with fellow batch mates where may end up paying higher. There are steps being taken to fulfill the lack of such facilities, as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College and Shaheed Sukhdev College for Business Studies are in the process of building hostels which would be open soon.
  2. Limited reach of on-campus events – Any organiser of an event or a quiz would agree that gathering footfall for society events is a herculean task. Since many colleges are in far-flung areas, students think twice before attending that college’s event in comparison to a North-Campus College where one can miss a couple of lectures and attend the rest. Consequently, finding sponsors for societies is extremely taxing as most sponsors consider an event’s footfall before investing money in the society. A few colleges which enjoy famous reputation may not face this problem, but many which are comparatively newer and not as well-known have to go through a struggle to raise funds.
  3. Lack of University-wide Facilities – Every north campus student can avail the benefits of centralised photocopy shops, university special buses, and has easy access to the parts of Delhi University that are relatively unknown to most off-campus students. Vice Chancellor’s Lawns, DUSU office, Mind and Body Centre, Conference Centre are at the threshold of every North Campus student. To top it, protests and marches are a regular thing in North Campus, and many students are yet to experience the power of dissenting voices through this wonderful medium. Moreover, any news of relevance to the student community reaches late to a student who isn’t in those extreme directions.
  4. Fewer student-centric hangout spots – While north campus has Hudson Lane and Kamla Nagar, south campus has Satya Niketan, off-campus college students end up in varied places each time. Depending on the location, the surrounding locality of the college can either be lackluster, with very few areas of interest or with extremely pricey restaurants that primarily cater to families, barring a few outlets opened for students. College canteen becomes the last resort especially when breaks between classes are of a shorter duration.

In addition to the above, the newer off-campus colleges have to face the brunt of being new.  Students there have complained about lack of exposure in comparison to other colleges with established Placement Cells and decades-old society culture. The management doesn’t entirely trust students and many college rules digress from commonplace practices eg. the system of ECA or Pink Slips is not prevalent in many newer colleges where the management repudiates the students’ requests. An implication of this system of long procedures is heavy focus on academics and figuratively no co-curriculars to participate in. Connectivity is another major problem for students of Maharaja Agrasen College, as the nearest metro station isn’t exactly near to their college.

Regardless of everything mentioned, there are several bonus points of being an off-campus college student. The infrastructure of some off-campus colleges is better than many of its extreme counterparts, DDUC, MAC, and SSCBS being great examples of that. The students who disdain the heavily politicised atmosphere during elections season do not need to fall prey to unnecessary harangues. Opportunities to start new societies tend to be on the higher side, and ways to escape droning lectures are always innumerable. Specialised courses, sprawling campuses, hi-tech facilities, and immense focus on academics steal the spotlight from north and south.

 

Feature Image Credits: So Delhi

 

Vijeata Balani

[email protected]

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Gallery

Getting Started with Long Exposure Photography

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Neutral density filters are darkened filters that are placed in front of the lens, requiring a slower shutter speed for the same amount of light to reach the sensor. There are two systems available: screw-in and drop-in or square filters. The filters come in different strengths (3-stop, 6-stop, 10-stop, etc.) which describe how much you need to lengthen the exposure time to maintain a well-exposed image. These filters require you to lengthen the exposure time for the same amount of light to reach the camera’s sensor in order to get a well-exposed image. The filters are darkened and their strength dictates how much you need to slow down the shutter speed. Compared to doing this without filters, using an natural density filter allows you to use a much longer exposure time while still maintaining optimal quality (the sharpest aperture of your lens). [Image Credits: Amazon]
To get started, place your camera on a tripod and focus the lens to infinity. You'll want to use a cable release to eliminate camera shake of any kind, as it will ruin your photo. Set the camera to B "Bulb" shooting mode and set your aperture between f/2.8 - f/4 for optimal results. Depress the remote to open the shutter. The main thing to keep in mind while deciding on the correct exposure is how to capture both the shadows as well as the highlights. If you are successful in obtaining the right shadows, you will be able to produce an excellent night scene that will win you compliments. When taking long exposures, the key is to keep the shutter open only long enough for the desired effect. If you keep the shutter open too long, you’ll lose the details in whatever light source is illuminating your subject, and you might even lose the ability to identify what the subject is. When trying to create a light trail, the shutter should be open for at least one second, and therefore requires a tripod. Use shutter priority mode and start with one second shutter speed and see what the result is. If the trail is too short, add two seconds, and then keep adding 2 seconds until you get the lighting effect that you want. If there is too much blur, then your shutter was open too long, and you need to dial it back down maybe a full second.

What is long exposure photography? Long-exposure, time-exposure, or slow-shutter photography involves using a long-duration shutter speed to sharply capture the stationary elements of images while blurring, smearing, or obscuring the moving elements. Long-exposure photography captures one element that conventional photography does not: an extended period of time. The paths of bright moving objects become clearly visible. Clouds form broad bands, head and tail lights of cars draw bright streaks, stars leave trails in the sky, and water waves appear smoothened. Only bright objects will leave visible trails, whereas dark objects usually disappear. Boats in long exposures will disappear during daytime, but will draw bright trails from their lights at night.

This post was aided by information from here, here, and here.

Photos by:
Vansh Sabharwal
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Hemant Goyal
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DUB Speak

The Other Side to The Story: Are Societies Always Learning Hubs?

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College societies are regarded with huge importance for giving exposure and bridging the gap between academics and fun. But is the end result always worthy of the effort? We probe into the matter.

Three months of time is enough to decrypt the nitty-gritties of college workings and to figure out which societies one wants to prioritise and which one wants to miss. Usually, freshers are told by their beloved seniors that the precursor to a happening and exciting college life is joining multiple societies, something which is baseless and definitely not a necessity. Why is it so, that the reason why Delhi University is so sought after, tantamounts to nothing by the end?

College societies are portals to the real world, they provide the right extent of exposure and push students to pursue their passions positively. While most performing societies work all-year round to put up a successful production or composition, it’s the academic societies that are abundant and pique interest of all students. Academic societies provide a much needed relief to many from hectic practice schedules and offer a platform for like-minded individuals to converse and deliberate on topics that interest them. Oftentimes, these societies are regarded with utmost importance as many conduct several rounds of recruitment and grill interviewees to the core. The international organisation, Enactus, is one such example of an academic society which foresees immense applications and has the potential to drive change through devoted hard work. Therefore, what matters is the effort taken and milestones achieved in terms of experience gained and lives affected.

Unfortunately, from a year’s experience of working in various academic societies, my learning outtake has been next to nil. While Enactus has established itself as a force to reckon with, other similar societies have had mixed responses. The obvious undercurrent for joining a society is almost always CV enhancement, something which ends up irking the very job interviewers it was meant to impress. Learning takes a backseat, and constructive criticism gets lost amid the mindless events churned out. The primary focus shifts to gathering footfall at an inter-college event over encouraging society members to learn from relevant examples. Interested students who joined the society because of the initial good impression, face the brunt and eventually get used to the farce.

It does not matter how many societies one is a part of – what bears fruit is what you learn from your time in one and how you see yourself growing further there. Fancy titles and exclusive posts matter little in front of all the learning that one can gain from discussions and knowledge shared. Exposure demands context; without purpose any society can fall apart. An Entrepreneurship Cell without any members interested in entrepreneurial pursuits is what results in a culture of lackluster learning. Prerequisites like ensuring likes on the Facebook page or forceful volunteerism hamper the effectiveness of this wonderful medium. The number of societies that focus on developing members is definitely rising, but so is the number of societies that solely aim to organise a few events the entire year and call it a day. A shift from the growing CV culture to knowledge-sharing can happen only if the person is in a position acknowledge this and members are willing to change from years of established patterns.

 

Feature Image Credits: Kuulpeeps.com

Vijeata Balani

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Uncategorized

State University Prints Admit Card With Photo Of Lord Ganesha

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Bihar University printed the admit card of a student with the photo of Lord Ganesha on it. The cards were printed on Wednesday.

Bihar University is not new to controversies. And as is the case with this incident, Bihar University made it to the headlines with another tummy tickling incident. It reportedly printed the photo of Lord Ganesha in the admit card of a student. The admit cards were printed on Wednesday.

This happened with the admit card of Krishna Kumar Roy, a first-year student of Lalith Narayan Mithila University in Darbhanga. He is pursuing B.Com a Programme in the college. As reported by India Today, Roy said “I had filled the examination form correctly along with my photo, but I am shocked to see Lord Ganesha’s photo on my admit card. I am running from pillar to post to rectify the mistake but no one is willing to listen.” What’s more bizarre is that the admit card also has Lord Ganesh’s signature on it. Along with this, there is an error in the residential address of the student as well.

Defending themselves, the authorities of the University said that the mistake was committed by the cyber cafe. They also mentioned that they are inquiring into the matter and will make sure that the student will not face any problems in appearing for the exams.

Image Credits: www.india.com

 

Karan Singhania

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India: A Failed Or A Puppet Democracy?

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In the recent Human Rights Convention held in Geneva, India tarnished its tag of democracy by voting against the survival of the third sex, internationally.

On 29th of September, 2017, 47 members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) met in Geneva to vote for and against banning the death penalty for homosexuals. While the majority, that is, 27 member states voted for the resolution; it came as a big-time shock for Indians since India was one of the 13 states including the United States to have voted against the resolution.

While India’s stand on homosexuality in the past has been quite ambiguous and unclear; having taken a stand at an international level as this, has had the country to pay the price by putting the legitimacy of its tag of democracy under the lens. A country that boasts of its man-made diversity outrightly denies acceptance of nature.

While the resolution limited the death penalty to the “rarest of the rare” cases with the rights of the individuals to be protected; it becomes imperative to note that India’s move has been quite unconstitutional as well, pertaining to the fact that in August 2017, the Supreme Court of India held that “Right to Privacy” is a fundamental right under Article 14, Part III of the Indian Constitution; therefore, the need to scrape out the 160-year-old Section 377, that criminalized sexual activities as “against the order of nature”, including homosexual sexual activities. The section was decriminalized with reference to intercourse between consenting adults by the Delhi High Court in July 2009. However, the judgment was overturned by the Supreme Court of India on 11th of December 2013; declaring it to be an issue to be left at the behest of the Parliament, thereby, persistently having an uncertain stand.

So far, in the international community, there have been 6 states which criminalize homosexuality with death- Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Nigeria, and Somalia- including the Islamic States of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The 11 states apart from India and the US are- Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, China, Iraq, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Most of the countries from the middle-east have an anti-homo attitude apparently due to their obligation and restriction of the Sharia Law.

The members of the LGBTQ+ community in India despite being looked at with tabooed eyes have succeeded in coming up with their problems and establishing themselves amidst all the stigmas. Manabi Bandopadhyay, a transgender from Kolkata, is the Principal of Krishnanagar College and an activist as well. With this stand, the lives of these people stand jeopardized, as, in the undercurrent, it gives license to the hatemongers, who, as gun-toting bikes, men, might go around assassinating them while we wait to mourn for another martyr. Something similar has already surfaced in the capital, wherein, a boy of class 12 was brutally thrashed by a group of men who had earlier called him a gay, in Shakarpur area this Sunday.

In December 2015, Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor of the Indian National Congress had suggested a private member bill to replace section 377 in the Indian Penal Code and decriminalize same-sex relationships; that was turned down at its very initial stage. It was taken up by him yet again, in the year 2016 but was voted down for the second time. It is quite ironical to note that our foreign pseudo-ancestors, who tainted us with the bane around 160 years ago by getting it imbibed into the Constitution; are the European nations who chose humanity over the so-called “beliefs”, while we stand on the same threshold. Most of the Latin American and European countries voted for the resolution.

India as a nation seems to be at a tug-of-war with her own beliefs and practices. This has become quite evident through the very fact that so far, none of the Governments in power, have ever, in their tenure, come clean with a stand on this issue. It has, like every other issue, been reduced to another rung of vote-bank politics.

It seems as if India is trying to follow or borrow some of the ideologies from the Sharia Law, in this context, of course.

Image credit- Press Trust of India

 

Shrija Ganguly

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