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Buses Come and Go

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This is a personalised essay that explores the author’s experience with DTC buses as a Delhiite. It seeks to map the sentimental role that a public transport service can play in a frequent commuter’s life. 

I thought I’d write about buses. The first time I sat on a bus was when I was 5, at least that is what I remember. I got enrolled in what my parents proudly call “the best girls school in Delhi” – Presentation Convent Sr. Secondary School. It’s almost as fancy as Delhi Public School (not really). My school sits bang in the middle of Chandni Chowk on a graveyard (well, obviously). It was 8 km away from our home so the parents decided to opt for the school-enabled bus service. My bus was green. Almost as a welcome gesture, the seats were torn with the sponge sticking out at odd places and windows that refused to budge open. We used to pick at the sponge with our nails. On the first day of school, papa held my hand, walked me to the conductor and told me to memorise his name and face. On my second day of school, my class teacher, an especially modern woman (she wore knee-length skirts) wrote the bus number on the back of my hand and walked me to the bus. I leapt and held my hand up like a trophy when I recognised conductor uncle’s familiar face. I used to sit with him when I’d miss my parents. That he had a droopy moustache is all I can remember about him now. At 5, I had decided I liked the bus. I liked putting my face out of the large windows with cars zooming past me. I had memorised every stop, every turn. I was quick to learn of the hierarchy in the seating arrangement – the snooty senior school students sat at the back and we gremlins took the front rows. It was an unspoken rule, everybody knew. 

Then I got into 7th class. I started playing badminton and would stay back after school for practice. Maa would come pick me up. We’d go home by the DTC bus no. 901 or 185 that dropped us at GTB Nagar, closest to home.  I did not like the bus anymore. I was embarrassed, you see. The 5 rupee fare was cheap and convenient. It was everything a thirteen-year-old hated. So, I’d try to get maa to stand away from the bus stop, which was right outside my school. It would be the end of the world if any of my friends saw me take the public bus. And I would smirk on days when after an hour of waiting, the bus would refuse to come and maa would have to relent to an auto rickshaw ride of 80 rupees. It has been 7 years now and I hate spending more than 20 rupees on a rickshaw, bus, auto and all things transport. I am stingy. Today, I also know that my friends would have probably not ditched me because of the bus. But I didn’t know this back then. 

All of 20 years, I am no longer in school. But you know, I travel by bus; it drops me about 1.5 km away from my college. On days that I feel fancy, I take a rickshaw, on others, I walk. Earlier, the bus cost me a ticket of 10 rupees, but now, the fare has been waived for ladies. Governments come and go but the ones that make buses free are my favourite. Naturally, it is more crowded now and the race to get a seat is not for beginners. No. It requires calculation and expertise. You must know the exact timings. And yet, you must also know that the bus will almost never come on time. Don’t be naive. And as soon as you see the number of the bus that will take you home, you must strategically place yourself at the point where you know, no, you are certain the bus will stop with its door open right in your face, ready to pile you up. Many others will try to oust you, board the rumbling beast and secure the best seat only to leave you standing with the other losers. But you must be smart. If you are a seasoned traveller, you will know that the key is to be quick on your feet, to hurl yourself inside no matter who tugs at your shirt. You fight as if your life depends on it because it is not just a seat, it is an average of 20 minutes of comfort and a smug smile on your face as you sit, while others…stand. No matter the despair and failure in your life otherwise,  know that you are a winner for the next 20 minutes. If you are nice, really nice, then you’ll offer your seat to an older lady, but no one really does that. You’d have to be a fool. Once inside, you see a series of arms hanging from the railing overhead and everybody looking at each other listlessly. It is boring, but you can always look into your co-passenger’s phone screen. Once, an aunty stood next to me in a bus brimming with people. A school kid sat. Aunty told the kid to go get the tickets for both of them. By the time the kid jostled his way through the sea of sweaty armpits to the conductor, got the ticket, and made his way back, he found aunty dearest perched on his seat. And of course, he didn’t dare ask her to get up. How could he? Sassy aunties rule the world. 

The bus is a site of forging friendships and rivalries. If you inch your head close enough, you can almost hear someone ranting to her bestie about her boyfriend’s latest tantrums. In summer, at least 3 people will always say,”aaj garmi bahut ho rahi hai”, and all loyal travellers will nod their heads in agreement. One weather forecaster will predict rain for the next day; sighs of relief.  Because babies are everywhere, one will be crying at the top of its voice. And then there will always be that one uncle who will right on cue, play a Shri Ram bhajan at full volume. Earphones are for the woke. 

I think I like buses. For now, at least.

Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Read Also :The Unspoken College Essentials: Delhi Metro and Buses

Chetna Rani

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To politicise, or not to politicise?

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TW: This article references acts of sexual violence 

As the nation lets forth a clarion call for justice surrounding a raped, mutilated and desecrated body, governments deflect blame while remaining complacently paralysed. The question that reverberates – to politicise the raped body, or not to politicise? 

West Bengal, and the nation as a whole, sports an odious record of mercilessly politicised cases – Nandigram, Amta, Sandeshkhali, Nirbhaya, Hathras, Unnao and recently, R.G. Ka  are now exempting the last, hollow, intangible apparitions of the distant past. We gather in armies for a few breaths, armed with candles and rage. Then, we forget. We forgot. The serving memory summons two images: First, that justice was and is a thing of the legends, wished for yet having no practical manifestation. Second, that the raped body has turned into a battleground for the state powers to rub clean their own slates with, and to use as a conduit through which to inundate the others’ with ad hominems and catastrophic, yet priorly known failures. In simple words, we do not remember justice as an object or idea served and we do not remember the raped body that has been spared the indignity of apathetic opining by the unimaginative and fortunate. We do not remember the raped body that has been spared the opprobrium of having been transformed into a political agenda.

Is this to say that we must depoliticise cases of rape? To answer this, we must follow a pattern of thought based upon irrefutable evidence. Let us take the recent offer of sex workers in Kolkata to perform as the means to a man’s sexual ends. There are three particularly macabre consequences of such an act of what may be called none other than self-immolation, and certainly not for a benevolent cause, as a pathetic majority is making it out to be. The three understandings of the rapist and the figure of the raped betrayed in such an admission are that 1) most understand rape to be a direct consequence of intractable desire; 2) it is tacitly understood that for men to repress their bestial inclinations in civilised company is inconceivable; 3) the inherent recourse to self-effacement in the face of such a crime is glaring; the identity of the victim, as it would to a murderer, hardly matters to a rapist. 

The psychology of a rapist has seldom been satisfied at the cost of carnal access to a non-consenting, struggling body. The rapist has, time and again, gone above and beyond to inflict pain upon, mutilate and deform the body. Therein it must be understood that gratification of sexual desire is not the object of rape. Hence, we cannot deny that rape has been, is and possibly shall continue to be a political weapon. Rape behaves as an act of asserting and imposing a condition of control that is an axillary of the patriarchy. The patriarchy is fed by and perpetuates itself through the political machinery of a civilisation. Rape is and must be conceded to be a political weapon; one that is used to establish a statement of subjugation and one that materialises in the brutal encroachment upon an individual’s bodily autonomy. 

The same weapon manifests in the form of hasty judgements of rape cases, their disproportionately protracted trials, which even parade such rapists, garlanded and paunched, on national television – comfortably absolved of all crimes. The patriarchy protects rapists for rape protects the patriarchy by ensuring its survival. 

This is a fairly simple argument to understand. It is not so fairly simple to accept it as universal truth. Given this argument were true, the existence of men that do not rape, or that do not succumb to such “natural biological desires” would be tantamount to the admission of biological anomalies and there is no evidence that points to that fact. There exists a fair proportion of men that exhibit perfectly healthy levels of sexual desire and are not brought to such violent outlets. Research has yielded a plethora of results pursuant to the popular positive correlation between the levels of testosterone and the degree of sexual desire experienced – such evidence remains inconclusive. Therefore, it is no more than an excuse to extenuate the rapist by ascribing the act to a biological compulsion. Once again, rape appears to be the satisfaction of a political security; the assurance that is begotten through renewed acts of rape, that subjugation is possible and that the man is still cushioned at the top of the ‘social chain’ as it were. 

One of the chief premises of ecofeminism and deep ecology has been that environmental disregard in the face of a rampant incipient urbanisation, industrialisation and colonisation is only a reflection of patriarchal tendencies. The ego-centric man, modelled in the image of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the Romantics, must control all that is not themselves; the forests, the resources of the earth, the decision as to whether an animal survives or is slaughtered, the women, the children and ultimately, by extension, the earth. There are incidents where men have raped dogs, goats, and even komodo dragons. We might take the instance of where men have raped pre-pubescent children and senile old women. To think that these figures could excite sexual arousal in a man is admittance of either of two facts, or both: All men that rape are veritably paraphilic and unfit to inhabit civilised society or, that the identity of the raped is of no consequence to a man. While the former is a possibility and indeed, I am fairly certain, is the reality in several cases, the latter furnishes the argument I have explored throughout this article. Rape, being a tool to exercise control and assert dominance, obviates the need for the identity of the individual that is raped to be known. The individual’s body therein becomes a faceless vessel through which the rapist wields a political weapon, a political assertion of position and power, and a political consequence of supremacy. 

The kernel of the argument must now be clear. It is impossible to depoliticise the raped body or the intentions of the rapist. To say that it is a humanitarian issue is mere sophistry. While it happens at the cost of the raped body, one cannot deny that every single case of rape ultimately reflects upon the government and its ineptitude. Every single case of rape is an immediate exposé of the inner, corroded workings of the judiciary. Every single case of rape carries on its back the heavy history of raped bodies that haven’t been produced to the legal system, let alone been prepared with justice. Every act of rape is political as is every raped body. We must identify the culprits that draw us away from this recognition. Governments have contrived for themselves and popular understanding, a meaning of their own that serves to deconstruct the acknowledgment of a crucial face of rape; they have effectively discouraged the political consciousness of the event of rape through textbook whataboutery. But we must construe the idea of a political weapon as it is, and so rape is a political weapon, whether it be yielded by the rapist or the state, and it stands to the same effect. Given this, we must also understand that it is necessary to deal with it as such. Approaches to counter a political weapon cannot be apolitical. Names must be dragged and the authorities universally questioned, however ruthlessly, however politically, but it must be done by the multitudes of whom, by whom and for whom the government(s) exists. 

Read Also : SC Takes Up RG Kar Case Amidst Medical Community’s Outcry for Justice

Featured Image Credits : Sandeep Adhwaryu for TOI

Aayudh Pramanik

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Precarity, Infrastructural Collapses, and the Façade of Prestige: What the NIRF Rankings Hide

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Since its debut in 2015, the NIRF has faced ongoing criticism and controversy. Regardless of its widespread criticism, it still continues to be a significant factor in choosing universities and colleges by the students. With the release of the NIRF rankings for 2024, students reflect on the human cost that they hide and the attempt to ‘cover up’.

Trigger Warning:  Mention of suicide

Established by the former Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) in 2015, the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) is a ranking system responsible for annually ranking the various colleges and universities of India on the basis of varied weightage accorded to five parameters, namely: Teaching, Learning, and Resources (30 per cent); Research and Professional Practice (30 per cent); Graduation Outcomes (20 percent); Outreach and Inclusivity (10 per cent); and Perception (10 per cent). The NIRF has been challenged by several scholars and stakeholders in the university space for its one-for-all approach that it imposes on all institutions without taking into consideration the differences in their funding, ownership, location, and courses offered. Further, the ranking methodology has also been widely debated on the basis of lack of verification of the data sent by colleges, lack of qualitative parameters, negligence of inclusivity as a significant factor, and artificial or selective student responses for a better perception score.

Infographic about the NIRF rankings parameters

Image Credits: Factly.in

Though the colleges of Delhi University have been ranked highly in NIRF rankings, concerns persist about the credibility of these rankings. Issues such as the displacement of ad-hoc professors and the increasing corporatization of the academic environment highlight a significant gap between the reported rankings and the on-the-ground reality. Since permanent faculty appointments began in 2022 in DU, the Philosophy Department of Hindu College experienced a tragic case when Prof. Samarveer Singh took his life in 2023 after being displaced twice from his position. Despite this “alleged” institutional death and the precarity of academics in the college and the university, the ranking system clearly failed to reflect this. 

I saw top professors like Prof. Samarveer Singh being displaced. Both students and faculty complained about the heavy curriculum, administrative burdens, poor infrastructure, and irregular classes. If those who drive the institution are exhausted, how did we rank first? This suggests that NIRF’s priorities are misplaced and don’t reflect the real well-being of its stakeholders.

– A recent graduate from Hindu College

On further asking about the availability of accommodation facilities in the college, they added,

I remember outstation students struggling with poor living conditions due to inadequate hostel facilities. The college lacked a boys’ hostel and the girls’ hostel, outsourced to private entities, had exorbitant fees. A friend at Hindu died from jaundice due to poor water quality in the residential areas. I often wonder if he’d still be here if the college had provided better, affordable hostels.

Further, reports have also pointed out how NIRF rankings not only allow but may actively encourage privatization of higher education through their criteria.  On asking from another final- year student from Hindu College (identity withheld for the sake of anonymity), they added,

Most academic blocks at Hindu, including the Sanganeria Science block and the new faculty room, are privately owned. The research center is also owned by Relaxo. The new boys’ hostel, the only one in DU backed by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, also includes a 500-seat auditorium. However, its potential may again mirror issues of higher fees as seen with the privately owned Smt. Indu Punj Girls’ Hostel.

Grafitti found at Hindu College

Image Credits: Anonymous

In several highly ranked institutions, such as St. Stephen’s, Lady Shri Ram, Hansraj, and Kamla Nehru College, there have been recent incidents of infrastructure failures, including collapsing ceilings, bathroom stalls, and falling fans, which have severely harmed students. Regardless of the severity of the injury caused by these collapses, the rankings of these colleges have remained unaffected, raising questions whether the safety of students’ lives is at all a concern of the NIRF.

Atma Ram Sanatan Dharam College (ARSD) has made efforts to address violent student politics, but its infrastructure remains inadequate and unsafe. The old academic block has cramped classrooms, and the new block, which is still under construction, is extremely fragile. The auditorium, used as a storeroom with broken chairs, has been unfinished for years, with no interest from the administration in completing it. The NIRF rankings overlook these issues and fail to verify the college’s research claims. ARSD’s research facilities and UGC-recommended internships, particularly for humanities students, also fall short compared to other colleges.

-A recent graduate from ARSD

Government ranking frameworks have also been scrutinized due to significant state involvement and potential for corruption, leading to concerns about “gift bags” being given to the authorities conducting these surveys.  Additionally, despite NIRF’s claims of inclusivity, most of its top-ranked colleges are located in North India, with not a single institution from the North-Eastern states appearing at the top. This regional imbalance highlights the NIRF’s failure to implement an inclusive methodology that accounts for differences in ownership, course offerings, and the varying levels of funding received by institutions from state governments and the UGC.  Furthermore, the ‘outreach and inclusivity’ scores for various top institutions in the NIRF remain unchanged despite the absence of functional Women’s Development Cells, Queer Collectives, Equal Opportunity Cells, and SC-ST Cells.

With universities facing threats from privatization, alleged political interference in faculty appointments, limited academic freedom, and severe challenges for students and professors there is a critical need for a more independent, transparent, and inclusive ranking system. Moreover, the focus on celebrating rankings reduces the development of institutions to mere attainment of these rankings which contradicts the purpose of university education. This competitiveness often leads to increased privatization and demands for institutional autonomy, ultimately resulting in higher fees for the students. Hence, the methodology of these ranks fosters a culture of hedonistic celebrations and creates a façade of prestige rather than encouraging critical reflection needed to address the genuine precarity faced by students and academics. 

Read Also: Beyond the Numbers: Understanding and Evaluating the Credibility of NIRF Rankings

Featured Image Credits: Devesh Arya for DU Beat

Vedant Nagrani

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DUB Review: Stree 2 Defying Patriarchy with a Supernatural Twist

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Stree 2, a solid-sequel that marks the wave of a roller coaster “Maddock Supernatural Universe,” blending moments of quirky charm and uncontrollable laughter.

The return of Stree after five years, one of the most anticipated Hindi films of 2024, took the box office by storm. And this time the message for Stree is not ‘O stree kal aana’ (Stree, come tomorrow), but ‘O stree raksha karna’ (Stree, please protect us). It is followed by the theme of ‘sarkate ka aatank’ (terror of the headless man)’. Directed by Amar Kaushik and written by Niren Bhatt, the movie Stree 2 keeps the overall entertaining factor intact and delivers an enjoyable ride with the aid of the stupendous cast of Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Abhishek Banerjee, Pankaj Tripathi, and Aparshakti Khurana.

While the film fails to deliver the same level of grandeur as the first part, it still manages to keep everyone laughing with its hilarious comedy and great dance moves! Gratefully, the supporting cast is once again on point. Pankaj Tripathi, with his quirky humour as Rudra Bhaiyya, Aparshakti Khurana as Bittu, and Shraddha Kapoor as the mysterious and enchanting girl with no name, provide great support. Also, with some notable and meaningful cameos, the scenes become even more entertaining! However, it is Rajkummar Rao and Abhishek Banerjee who create chaos with their hilarious performances. Banerjee as ‘Jana’ is a real delight, and Rajkummar as ‘Bicky’ is the ‘rock’ of the film. Both of them once again nail it with their expressions, body language, and dialogues—pure gold! The chemistry between the four—Bicky, Bittu, Jana, and Rudra—is once again superb.

The story picks up exactly where the first one left off, with the spirit of the streets but this time as Chanderi’s savior. While “Stree” revolved around a female ghost who was wronged in her mortal life, the sequel focusses on a headless villain named Sarkata, who has ties to the eponymous character. He preys on modern, progressive women and imprisons them in a dungeon. This is preceded by the radicalisation of Chanderi’s men, who are reduced to slavery. They not only revere Sarkata but also resort to regressive traditions, locking women in their homes and following Sarkata’s mission to re-establish the patriarchal order that the first Stree challenged and destabilized. In one of the pivotal scenes of the movie, Sarkata destroys the statue of Stree, the guardian of Chanderi, to declare the beginning of his rule.

“Stree 2,”  following ‘Sarkate ka Aatank’ and the abduction of the independent woman with a voice, or “azad khayalon vali aauratien,” hits harder against the backdrop of the rape and murder allegations in Kolkata and the Justice Hema Commission’s report on the exploitation of women in Malayalam cinema. It’s a satire closer to reality. When the medical community, along with others across the country, protested the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata, the film featured a villain who represented patriarchy and crimes against women. Sarkata (a giant ghost with a detachable head) fought against Chanderi to avenge the death of his family and was beheaded by Stree, who was in turn murdered by a man who turned out to be Sarkata. He was a ruler who had enjoyed the tawaif’s mehfil with his wife and had beheaded the tawaif’s lover. Today, Sarkata kidnaps progressive women who dare to think differently from the rest of Chanderi. 

In addition, the film carefully constructs the toxic masculinity and endemic desire of Chanderi men. For instance, the item number that appears at the beginning of the film serves to heighten its subtext of female autonomy. It also immerses the viewer in the myopic worldview of the city men, who view women through a narrow, reductive lens. Therefore, it can be observed that the male gaze has been harnessed not only as a tool of objectification but also as a crucial tool for questioning and deconstructing the patriarchal order in which it exists.

The seeds of satire are certainly present in Stree 2. When Pankaj Tripathi’s Rudra narrates a recap in the form of a folk song during the Pooja festival, he declares that Rajkummar Rao’s Vicky is the saviour of the city. The Stree statue stands tall in the heart of the city, but it is the male saviour who continues to be celebrated. Although Vicky (Rajkummar Rao) is hailed as the saviour destined to protect Chanderi from Sarkata, it is ultimately a woman, a Stree, who defies all odds and strikes at the very heart of patriarchy. All men, bound by the privileges of patriarchy, lack the will and desire to dismantle it. Their response is limited to locking women in their homes and doing whatever they can around them. Yet they ignore the inevitable: women in red will open the doors, take to the streets, and confront the monster both literally and figuratively. Finally, the beast had to fall.

Indeed, a film is a product and reflection of its time. But it has to have legs to travel through time. Stree 2 is a successful film, with a supernatural climax, a terrifying CGI villain, the return of the titular avenging angel, and a broader vision of the horror multiverse, including the appearance of the creature and setting the stage for the next villain, played by a superstar. But amid all these problems, Stree 2 somehow misses what the first film dared to be—a deep satire. Blame it on the high stakes or the exclusion of Raj and DK (the creators of OG Stree), but the sequel doesn’t exploit its satirical potential as sharply as it could have. It just rushed to connect the last details to pretend he had been focused on this all along. The sequel lacks a concrete plot and precision. 

Overall, Stree 2 is a quirky, funny, and full ‘Paisa-vasool’ film, and if you’re planning to watch any movie and wish to have a proper theatre experience, then this film can be a perfect option for this weekend while offering a great story with a perfect blend of scares and laughter.

Read also: DUB Review: Breaking Barriers with Brilliance: ‘Laapata Ladies’

Featured Image Credits: Maddock Films/Jio Studios

Shivpriya Dixit 

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1000 Days in Detention: No Defender for Kashmiri Human Rights Activist Khurram Parvez

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The ongoing incarceration of human rights defender Khurram Parvez for over 1,000 days under UAPA charges showcases the severe crackdown on human rights advocacy in Jammu and Kashmir.

The abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution on 5 August, 2019 served as a medium to trample down the civil society and human rights defenders in Jammu and Kashmir. While the region has never been a haven for independent, unbiased journalism, the repression of media and civil society has only gotten more brazen after stripping the state of its special status and downgrading it into a Union Territory.

Khurram Parvez, the most prominent human rights defender, has time and again been targeted and silenced by the Indian government for documenting human rights violations in the region and seeking accountability for the said violations. He is the founding member of the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) and the chairman of the Philippine-based Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance, an international organisation that looks into forced disappearance in Kashmir and elsewhere in Asia.  Parvez received the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award and the 2023 Martin Ennals Award. He has also been named one of the 100 most influential people of 2022 by Time magazine. However, all of the accolades and international recognition could not stop Parvez from being incarcerated at the Rohini High Security Prison, New Delhi, for 1000 days and counting.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case against Parvez in October 2020. On 22 November, 2021, the JKCCS office in Srinagar was raided, and Parvez was arrested on charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, (UAPA) 1967.

The most astounding fact about the case is the chargesheet, which cites two of the reports produced by his civil society organisation. The chargesheet claims the reports to be “false and fabricated” and tarnishing India’s image at the international level. By using the reports as evidence for the arbitrary detention of Parvez, the NIA criminalised human rights research and fact-finding, which otherwise is internationally recognised work. This can have alarming consequences for human rights organisations doing similar work elsewhere.

Whether any particular incident in the report is wrong, I don’t know. If you don’t agree with a particular incident, you give your alternate argument. But you can’t criminalise fact-finding as a whole

-Mihir Desai, senior counsel in the High Court of Bombay and Supreme Court of India.

While the region continues to be suppressed and the voices clamped down, the veil of normalcy is being propagated all over the mainstream media. Instead of taking accountability and investigating the claims of human rights violations, the authorities have arrested, manhandled, and intimidated those who have voiced their findings and sought justice. The press and civil society organisations in the region for decades have been the cornerstone of the Kashmiri public sphere and their pleas. The large-scale crackdown on these organisations has left the people of the region helpless and their atrocities quashed. 

The fact of the matter is that human rights violations at the hands of security forces have been rampant in Kashmir for the past 30 years. That’s a fact. AFSPA and PSA have been used in a very discriminatory manner. People have been tortured. People have been encountered.

said Desai

One of the JKCCS reports, used as evidence for Parvez’s detention, was published in 2015. It aimed to investigate the role of the state in Jammu and Kashmir, which had resulted in more than 8,000 disappearances, 70,000 deaths, 6,000 unmarked mass graves, and countless cases of torture and sexual violence. NIA claimed that the said report was fabricated and gave away sensitive details regarding the military deployment. However, the report has been readily available on the internet since it was published. Instead of communicating with the organisation regarding the sensitive material back then, it is being used in a supposed terrorism case after nine years. 

It is not the only time Parvez has been incarcerated. In 2016, one day after Parvez was impeded from travelling to Switzerland to attend the 33rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, he was arrested and charged under the Public Safety Act (PSA). Besides Parvez, several other Kahmiri journalists and human rights activists have abstained from travelling and collecting their awards.

Asif Sultan was unable to collect his Press Freedom Award from the American National Press Club in 2019 due to being imprisoned. Sanna Irshad Mattoo also could not collect her Pulitzer Prize due to the administrative orders restricting her from leaving Delhi in 2022. Further, Irfan Mehraj recently won the Human Rights and Religious Freedom Journalism Award while incarcerated with Khurram Parvez.

The systematic use of UAPA allows the Indian administration to chase down human rights defenders by mobilising the anti-terrorism discourse. This impunity, harnessed by the UAPA, has accelerated the demise of human rights in India, which can only be reversed with the amendment of the said law.

Khurram Parvez being arbitrarily detained for more than 1000 days and any voice of “dissent” being trampled before it is even heard is a testament to a flawed democracy. How normal is the normalcy when you have to silence the voices of people from within? 

Read also: The Donkey Dance of UAPA: Criminalising Dissent in a Hollowing Democracy

Featured Image Credits: The Leaflet

Reeba Khan

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DSW: The Unresolved Crisis of Financial Aid at DU

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Despite its high brand value, DU’s limited financial aid creates a privilege bias, preventing many talented students from middle and lower-class backgrounds from participating in international competitions. The Dean Students’ Welfare has existed since years, but how much of ‘actual welfare’ has it offered to the students in need? 

Founded in 1922, the University of Delhi has evolved through various eras since its inception. The education system has modernized, with the university keeping up with updates like the implementation of the NEP. However, outdated traditions and a lack of liberal mindset still prevents a lot of students from pursuing and succeeding in competitions they only can dream of. While the authorities celebrate university’s major jump to 328th position in the QS World Universities rankings, a lot of cards are still left to be explored. Research plays an integral part when it comes to university rankings. But are the students on campus receiving the benefits and research opportunities they really wish to pursue? 

My own experience illustrates the broader issue of inadequate financial aid at DU. In July 2024, I received an acceptance letter to HPAIR’ 24 Asia Conference (Harvard Project on Asian and International Relations). Lacking a dedicated funding cell in my college (ILC, Faculty of Law), I sought assistance from the Dean Students’ Welfare (DSW). Unfortunately, the officials informed me that no financial aid was available,

We don’t have any such provisions for funding students.

The situation becomes even more significant to address when almost Rs. 16,980 are being extracted as the “University Welfare Fund” and Rs. 10,000 are extracted as “Faculty/ Department/ Student Welfare Fund” (According to the prospectus of BA/BBA LLB 2023-24). As a law student in the five-year integrated program, it was shocking to find when the application for financial aid was rejected, with the department citing a lack of provision for funding university students. Ironically, despite extracting substantial amounts from student fees, the department has not yet established a scheme to provide financial assistance to students. Another student from Faculty of Law adds,

As per my knowledge, there is no source of funding here in Faculty of Law. There is a common budget that DU divides amongst its colleges which is further distributed among the college societies and administration. We hardly get anything.

Similar observations can be noticed in the case of Faculty of Technology where students pursuing B.Tech  are paying the same amount for welfare fund.

It is well-known that student societies and cells at DU often struggle with insufficient funding. As a result, these societies often have to rely on their own initiatives, such as hosting inter-college competitions and conferences to raise funds for annual events. On speaking to a few students and alumni of Delhi University, results reveal how the majority doesn’t even know what DSW is. 

Is this something that exists in every college? To be honest, I didn’t even know that something like that exists. As far as competitions and events are concerned, we don’t receive any financial aid from JMC.

-Anonymous (Jesus and Mary College)

While colleges like Hindu have established scholarships for academic achievers, support for competitions and events remains limited.

No, the college doesn’t have a separate society that looks over financial aid for students and we did not reach out to DSW for any help regarding the same.

-Jogaram, a student from Hindu College

While some colleges do offer financial aid, the question remains: Is this support genuinely effective, or is it merely a facade of administrative formality?

Venky has a financial cell, though I don’t know its name. We didn’t need to approach the dean; a Google form was circulated for the application. The freeship is granted based solely on financial conditions such as family income and the death of a father, so there is no competitive process. A friend of mine received the aid, but only half of the fee was waived—despite having no father. The assistance ranged from 30-45% based only on family income. 

-Azmat, a student from Sri Venkateswara College

Research is a crucial factor in university rankings. Delhi University, with its diverse student body, faces a pressing need to enhance financial support tailored to the specific requirements of each academic discipline.  Law students encounter substantial costs for participating in international moot court and negotiation competitions, while commerce students require significant funding for start-ups, incubation programs, and other competitions. Each academic discipline has specific financial requirements. In enabling students to achieve global recognition and enhance the university’s prestige, Delhi University still struggles to provide adequate financial aid and support mechanisms to students.

Read also: DU’s Trend of Collapsing Ceilings Follows St. Stephen’s

Featured Image Credits:  Abhishek Kumar (Google)

Samvardhan Tiwari

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Arts & Culture

Batting Against Misogyny: When Fans Cross The Boundary

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The discourse surrounding cricketer Hardik Pandaya’s divorce from his wife transcends the bounds of mere gossip, shining a spotlight upon the undercurrent of misogyny in the cricket fanbase.

When cricketer Hardik Pandya and actress Nataša Stanković announced their divorce, as expected, it became the new fodder for a gossip-hungry audience that thrives on playing authority on people’s private lives. The media coverage and reaction, however, extended beyond the scope of typical gab, morphing into a smear campaign against Nataša, who became the target of much vitriol and trolling.

While Hardik’s social media was filled with comments expressing love and support during a tumultuous time, Nataša faced a tirade of hate comments listing every misogynistic slur in the book. Gossip pages posted unbased rumours regarding alimony, pre-nuptials, and custody that painted her in an unflattering light. Meme pages made her the new face of “women☕”. Her past relationships, her work as an actress and a model, her appearances and absences at cricket matches, her interviews, her social media activities, every detail of her past and present was dissected by a fervent audience eager to criticise.

Despite the fact that none of us know what happened between the couple, people had already decided who was to blame. Even though the divorce is a non-penal legal matter, the court of public opinion had already chosen its criminal. And of course, it was the woman.

This is not an isolated incident, but sadly just another example in a long history of cricket fans targeting women with unwarranted hostility.

The wives and girlfriends of the cricketers are often subject to vicious rumours and scrutiny regarding their true intentions. Every action of theirs is put under the magnifying glass and pulled apart. The sentiment of “she doesn’t deserve him” is echoed by both fanboys and fangirls.

Even the weight of the performance of the team falls upon their shoulders. Recently, the then Captain Virat Kohli’s poor performance at the ICC World Test Championship Final 2023 was blamed on his wife, the actress Anushka Sharma, with people claiming her presence to be a distraction for Virat, and labelling her as a jinx for the Indian Cricket team. Being the wife of the Captain and being a successful public figure of her own has often put her on the receiving end of such revulsion. In 2015, her effigies were burned in public demonstrations after Team India’s defeat in the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Match losses result in the female friends and family of the team being bombarded with abuses and threats. These threats are even levelled against the minor daughters of the cricketers. In 2020, rape threats were made against cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s then 5 year old daughter Ziva after his team lost a match. This behaviour is not just reserved for the women linked with the Indian cricket team, but also extended to the women linked with the winning international team. After Australia’s win against India in the 2023 World Cup Final, pharmacist Vini Raman, wife of cricketer Glenn Maxwell took to social media to request a stop to hateful messages, stating

 “…and cue all the hateful, vile dms… take a chill pill and direct that outrage towards more important world issues ”

While the women associated with male cricketers are given undue negative attention, the women who play cricket themselves face an entirely different form of neglect—one marked by a lack of public attention and support. Despite the undeniable talent of the Indian cricket team, and even when they perform better than their male counterparts, women’s cricket remains widely unpopular. While the names of male cricketers, both current and former, are household names known by children and elders alike, the names of the women bringing pride to India on an international scale remain faded in obscurity. Men’s cricket simply being known as “cricket” while women’s cricket having to add the “women” prefix, is a glaring indication of how women are considered othered from the game.

The accomplishments of female cricketers are also often considered secondary to their appearances. Retired Captain Mithali Raj holds numerous world records in the field of cricket, such as being the first player to score seven consecutive 50s in One Day International matches and being the player to score the most runs in women’s cricket. Despite these ground-breaking achievements, she has often faced slut-shaming for her clothing choices. The physical form that enables her to win accolades for the country and its people, is the same womanly body objectified and judged by said people.

Cricket is not just a sport in India. Popularly known as the unofficial national sport, it’s entrenched into the very cultural fabric of the country. The joviality and enthusiasm it generates amongst the people is unmatched by any other phenomenon. Cricket season brings forth a great cause for patriotism and celebration for the public. A large part of the population however remains somewhat gatekept from it. From hate campaigns against the so-called “WAGs” to sidelining of women’s cricket from the mainstream to random men taking it upon themselves to test the knowledge of female fans on the subject, the widespread misogyny within the fanbase makes it a less welcoming space for women.

As cricket continues to rule over the hearts of Indians, it is essential for a healthier society that the community surrounding it becomes inclusive and supportive of women both on and off the field.

Image Credits: Times Now

Read also: C for Cricket and C for Controversy 

Samriddhi

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DUB News

Paris 24: a wake-up call for Indian sports

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The 2024 Paris Olympics arguably broke more hearts than espouse moments of elation for many. India could only bring six medals. It was particularly shocking as it was an Olympics where nations with far fewer resources, exceeded expectations.

India is often referred to as the sleeping giant in any discipline of sports – yet much is or has ever been done that would resemble even in the slightest a wake-up call. We might be one of the largest economies, top-3 even, but why is China bringing in 40 gold medals from Paris 24 whilst our all-time gold tally barely reaches double digits? A diamond in the rough is almost always going to be rough; in the same vein, India, with an abundant talent pool, has to start scouting and nourishing these gems at a very young age, or else you’re just going to be left with wasted potential and a whole lot of “what ifs”.

It was a stark reminder when, back in 2017, former sports minister, Rajvardhan Singh Rathore, remarked in the Parliament that whilst China spends about six rupees per day per capita on sports, we spend about three paise, taking into account the census of 2011.

India spends 1.13 per cent of its GDP on sports, which in absolute numbers comes to around $4.07 billion, which is about 9 times less than that of China, which comes to approximately $36 billion. Even if we look at annual numbers, China greatly dwarfs us. As per the 2023 data, China spent more than $3 billion compared to India’s meager $412 million. When you look at the numbers, it makes sense why China has accumulated 303 gold medals in its history compared to us, who’re barely touching double digits.

China has established a proper governance body to streamline its sporting activities, which it calls GAS. It helps them manage and plan their operations in a systematic manner that is almost absent from most Indian sporting federations, often led by politicians with no clue about sporting activities. Indian federations like AIFF and the IOA have either faced bans from international sporting bodies like FIFA or have been threatened with the possibility,  due to irregular governance, malpractice, and external interjection. The plight of sports and our athletes appears very grim with these incompetent sporting bodies at the helm.

“My parents, like most Indian parents, found sports to be a rather unpredictable and unstable field marred by the ever-looming risk of a career-ending injury or an uncertain life post-retirement, as the most government offers you if you don’t make it big, so to say bring an Olympic medal home, is a job that of a T.C. There aren’t enough safeguards provided by the government for athletes to have a stable career post-retirement and to incentivize them to pursue sports. My parents, too, despite being from a sportingly rich area, pushed me towards studies due to these uncertainties.”

“Resources, despite me being from a relatively big city, were always a problem. We didn’t even have a synthetic track for athletes up until two years ago. I was fortunate enough to be able to afford the equipment, but many of my peers sometimes had to resort to training with below-par equipment, which did them no favors. And that is the plight of the more “popular” sports; if you want to be a swimmer or a gymnast, the academies are far and few in between, and even so, only for those who are already good enough, and team sports are marred with corruption.”

The above statements are by Arjun, formerly an athlete from Haryana, who chose to pursue his studies for a more stable career path.

How far have we really come since the late great KD Jadhav won India’s first Olympic medal in 1952? Our athletes do not have proper equipment to train with, nor have they particularly provided enough quality safeguards in case of failure or post-retirement. Sports like football are marred with corruption on the grassroots, with age fraud and nepotism in the selection process. The government’s lack of care for our athletes has resulted in a culture where sports as a career has almost derogatory connotations. That is no exaggeration. Many Indian households view it as something done as a last resort, for those who don’t have better, more academic talents. The volatile and uncertain nature that looms over sports in our country deters these parents from sending their kids to academies even if they have the talent to make it as a professional. We should not be surprised in the least by our performances on the international stage if we ourselves choose to ignore the abundance of talent around us. How often is it that in schools, the supposed slot for games is taken away from students?

There’s no point to being sad or angry if you only care to watch and support these athletes once every four years. That is not going to take us anywhere, nor boost our medal tally –  be it at the Olympic games or the Asian Games. The biggest tragedy in the Indian sporting scene is that one loves to take pride when an Indian brings home some silverware but would not want their kids to idolize or play like those athletes. Until this almost derogatory outlook on sports vanishes, nothing is going to change anytime soon.

Read also: Beyond the Fields of the Olympics: A Transcend into the Ball-Park of Humanity – DU Beat – Delhi University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Featured Images Credits: Associated Press

Yash Raj

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DUB Speak

Unveiling Freedom Behind the Veils

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The crowded lanes near NG Acharya and DK Marathe College in Mumbai saw a flashback of the memories of 2023. Students took to protests after the college released a notice prohibiting women from wearing burqa/niqab/hijab and ‘revealing’ dresses to maintain uniformity and give them ‘a taste of corporate life’. As the institutional regulation of women’s clothes continues, can we ever be free?

Image Source: The Indian Express

NG Acharya and DK Marathe College, Mumbai banned the students from wearing a hijab or revealing clothes, through a circular released on June 27, 2024. The proposed action by the college administration included prohibiting students from wearing burqas, niqabs, hijab, badges, caps and stoles that could reveal their religious identity. The decision was justified by the authorities on the grounds of abolishing all sorts of discrimination and ensuring uniformity and discipline among them. The step was taken to imbibe professionalism in the students, also forbidding them from wearing ‘revealing and indecent clothes.’ Nine students were particularly dismayed, they challenged the decision and filed a petition which led the Supreme Court to stay the order.    

 

Dress codes in educational institutions have always been a source of conflict. Imposing restrictions and setting a code of conduct regarding dresses to be worn have challenged the basic right of students to wear an attire of their choice. A dialogue with the students of Kamala Nehru College gave a clear image of the importance of this freedom.

 

It’s liberating for the students, particularly for women, as they can wear what they are comfortable in and create an environment that fosters a broad thinking of the worldview,

mentioned a student. 

 

Another student considered it a privilege to be a part of DU, saying, 

 

I have the liberty to choose clothes according to my body shape and size without being conscious about it. School uniforms were usually uncomfortable. 

 

In conversation with DU Beat, Adv. Nivedita Pandit suggested,

 

Hijab ban is not the solution. Rather, at the college level, it should be a choice and not a compulsion. To deal with the issue of non-college students entering the college, it must have proper security checks and student IDs. Moreover in today’s high-tech time, one should incorporate a thumbprint scanner, still, if someone is found without an ID on college premises, then strict action should be taken against them.

 

There has been a constant assumption by authorities and administrations that making women wear non-revealing clothes can ensure safety and security while on their own or traveling. While they claim to empower women, these restrictions actually stand as an obstacle in their lives. In the past, women’s actions have been dictated by men, considered to be the breadwinners of their families. They made decisions for the women, thus restricting their agency over their own lives. This is the reality of many women even today, and these institutional authorities are equally guilty in perpetuating the same.

 

DU professors shared their opinions on the steps taken by the college. In conversation with DU Beat, a journalism professor from Kamala Nehru College completely disagreed with the decision and mentioned, 

 

These are contradictory statements given by the college where students are prohibited from wearing revealing clothes and at the same time covering their head. Their definition of ‘decent dressing’ isn’t correct.

 

Another professor commented, 

 

 Students must enjoy the freedom they get in college after high school and all kinds of restrictions they go through in school life. Self-discipline must be imparted in students instead of dictating rules for them.

 

 Minisha Afroz, a student of Kamala Nehru College expressed her disappointment by saying, 

 

I am proud to be a part of this unbiased institution where we practice inclusivity and I get to wear a hijab without thinking twice. We take pride in each other’s culture and don’t have norms to hold us back. Providing education to students irrespective of what they wear and their religious identities should be the top priority of a college.

 

In 2023, a similar incident had occurred in several medical colleges in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, particularly Gandhi Medical College, Andhra Medical College, and Osmania Medical College. Students were made to follow strict dress codes including prohibition of tights and sleeveless dresses for women. Meanwhile, male students were asked to wear formal clothing and black leather shoes.

 

In medical institutions, students are required to follow the norm to uphold the professionalism demanded by their field. But arbitrary dress-codes challenge women’s decision-making power over the kind of clothes they wear. The authorities have always been a legislative body for school and college-going women. If not the authorities, the school/college administration takes up the role.

  

It’s hard to believe that it has been decades and not a single place has witnessed all the women being confident about what they wear, without being conscious of their skirts or backless tops. Every year, while the country celebrates independence, women are yet to find their freedom.

 

Read also: Sexism in Kirori Mal College B.Sc Courses 

 

Featured Image Credits: Hindustan Times

 

Taruni Banerjee

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Features

Patchwork Feminism: Are Women Truly Capable With Just Education Alone?

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A vile assault and murder has struck the nation’s tightest nerve. It must now wake up and smell the coffee to realise that empowering women goes beyond providing them an education. Even the most capable of us will need safe conditions to live without fear and with freedom. 

On August 9th 2024, a horrifying incident shook the nation to its core. A resident doctor at the R.G. Kar Hospital in Kolkata was found unconscious on the hospital grounds. Alerted by her state of undress and the profuse bleeding, she was taken in for examination by the medical staff, who later declared her dead. The post-mortem report revealed shocking details. It was reported that there was severe bleeding from her genitals, a list of broken bones, and a vile mutilation of her body. The nation is rightfully grieving and raging against the news; hundreds of protests and marches in her name are being held on a daily basis. Politicians, celebrities, students, and the Indian intelligentsia have taken over the internet to pour out their grief and revitalise the conversation surrounding the state of women in the country. 

 For many, this incident comes as a shock. To them, India is a developed nation with rights and functions outlined for all. On the brink of economic greatness, the vox populi considers India to be above such crimes of barbarity (it is shocking in equal measure how many have turned their eye against brutal cases in the past and are only raging now when the victim is someone that belongs to their class structure. There is shamefully no doubt that a similar incident in say, a village in Uttar Pradesh, might not have triggered such a passionate response). Perhaps it is the right time to consider that maybe India is not the haven they thought it was and that regardless of the claims of “Beti bachao, beti padhao,” the daughter will never be safe, not unless we change systemic patterns.  

The world has always fallen victim to pseudo-feminism. Women have been given just enough to satiate, but never enough to truly free them from their shackles. India is no stranger to this phenomenon. The constitution makers envisioned that with independence, India would herald a new age where a person’s rights would beget them the respect they had been denied for centuries. Coupled with the immemorial reverence for education in the country, it was understood that once formal education was introduced, many of society’s evils would fade away into obsolescence. An educated member of society is a capable member of society, and a capable member of society would not be plagued by issues of old. Rape culture, however, does not spare anyone. It looks for a chance, and unfortunately for the women of India, their abilities do not influence it. The Kolkata case among the long, long list of many others raises the question: Is simply educating the girl child going to save her?  

Tarabai Shinde, in her career-defining work Stree-Purush Tulna (Comparison Between Men and Women), answers the question with a resounding no. In her time, “the educated wife” was a fad that had taken hold. It was to educate the woman without actually letting her participate in the public sphere. Tarabai Shinde’s father was a member of the Satyashodhak Samaj, and it is to him that she “owes” her education. However, this relative freedom hadn’t been enough, as Tarabai referred to herself as “locked up and confined in the proper old Maratha manner.”.  

Her scathing critique fits the current India scarily well. 

Tarabai reaffirms the tragic reality where gender relations remain unchanged but are rebranded so that they may stand out as modern while also neatly fitting into the ideas of patriarchy. It’s patchwork feminism. A manifestation of this is seen in the Kolkata case as well: A woman out late at night is permissible only because she was a doctor on duty. The rightful outrage is only as loud because there is truly nothing to vilify the woman over. Her value is only seen in relation to her profession, and is not inherent, as should be the case for all beings. Women are thus empowered with the constraints tightly in place. In doing so, we never achieve a revolution; instead, we continue to exist in the same manner as before, with little to no change. Families pride themselves on letting their daughters go to school (even if they never let them do anything with it). Politicians are quick to wash their hands off their duties towards women by funding the construction of educational institutions as if that marks the end of it. What good is an education when a woman is still too scared to go out past sundown? What good are the multiple all-female colleges when, the minute a woman leaves campus, she has to formulate attack strategies in her brain? 

Did any of her achievements matter when faced with the caprice of men? Did any of any woman’s?  

All of this isn’t to say that education is not a sector to invest in or that educating women is a futile pursuit. It is to make us realise that education does not exist in a vacuum. Empowering women is a dynamic process that must take into account a plethora of other variables; the safety of women is the most basic of them. When we pride ourselves on the equal right to education that legally gives women the same access to knowledge as men, we must also ask ourselves if we have built a society well enough where they can enjoy the fruits of their labour and where they can actually act as capable citizens instead of just being one on paper. 

Read also:  Women’s safety in DU: How safe are we?

Featured Image Credits: The Hindu, PBS  

Anvesha Tripathi

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