The term “non-binary” refers to those who do not exclusively identify as a man or a woman, or who may identify as both a man and a woman or may fall outside of these categories altogether. Non-binary folks can also identify as transgender, though not every non-binary person is necessarily transgender. Non-binary people can be masculine, feminine, or androgynous. Non-binary people can look like anyone and can have any pronouns or can even have more than one pronoun. Non-binary folks do not have to present themselves in a certain way in order to be non-binary. There is no right or wrong way to be non-binary, and the only indicator that someone is non-binary is if they identify as non-binary. Non-binary people have always existed in history and all around the world. Unfortunately, we currently live in a time where the LGBTQI community is attacked and demonized, especially non-binary and trans people. Historically, the strict gender binary is attributed to British imperialism. The British prided themselves on their ideas of rationality, which they condescendingly and oppressively did not attribute to the nations that they colonised. The Age of Enlightenment informed their ideas of scientific rationality, which also informed their ideas about categorising race and sex. They believed that there was a hierarchy to race and that your biology strictly meant that you were male or female. The Hijra community of India have existed prior to British imperial rule. They were prestigious in their communities, who were given important tasks such as collecting taxes in the Sultanate and Mughal courts. However, the British believed the Hijra community to be a “criminal tribe” and created laws to criminalise the Hijra community and reduce them to second-class citizens. This was a concerted effort by the British rule to make the Hijra community “extinct”. The Hijra community have been a part of South Asian history for thousands of years. Sexual Fluidity in Indian Culture can be traced back to ancient Sanskrit texts such as Vatsyayana Kamasutram (8th BCE), or Rheki (13th CE) which was the Sufist tradition of erotic poetry. Yet, the moral panic that informed the British’s decision to criminalise the Hijra community pathologised the medicalisation of all behaviour that were non- cishetero normative. British colonisers asserted their power and control over the Hijra community by constructing narratives about them as a deviant group in order to pathologise and criminalise them. Unfortunately, this moral panic and anxieties around trans and non-binary peoples’ existence continues till today in India. Trans and non-binary people continue to fight against laws that are now instruments of oppression and prejudice, to move beyond the gender binary, but to also challenge and fight back against the fragments of prejudice that date all the way back to colonial rule. This is a week to celebrate non-binary people around the world. The various struggles and violence, be it state and interpersonal, continue to lay ahead of them. Yet, despite that, there is hope, because we believe we are also in a time where non-binary and trans people are gaining visibility. Visibility for trans and non-binary folks is not always a blessing, as it makes them more vulnerable to harm and prejudice, but we also believe that their growing presence in the public eye is an inherent good. It is Non-Binary Awareness Week. International Non-Binary People’s Day is on July 14th because it falls exactly in-between International Women’s Day (March 8th) and International Men’s Day (November 19). We extend our solidarity and love to trans and non-binary people.
The post corona era might bring an ample amount of changes in the human life styles but its trail of devastation will remain within us for a long time. It is undeniable that this pandemic has not to spare any of the sectors into destruction. Education is one such dilapidated and neglected sector in India. The pedagogic methods in my country focus on how to answer and what to answer (scope is limited to textbook questions) instead of what to question & how to question. In my 19 years of student life I have never seen the entire class raising their hands for questioning teachers after her finishing explaining the chapter. But I witnessed the entire class answering the question because the question was easiest and asked from the textbook. The number of questions raised was often less than the number of answers given because there are rewards in terms of marks, trophy, rank for answering. And no incentives for questioning, sometimes they only left with the dissatisfied answer by the teacher. Textbook culture and rote learning quash the mind’s ability to critically thinking. Amid the lockdown student have been asked to submit their assignment. The onus of submission deadline refrain students especially females from doing what they want to do for themselves. patriarchal dominance in the country creates an obstacle for many female students, they are bound to do household chores. Professors must adopt a new paradigm shift in assigning assignments. For instance in the Skill enhancement course (SEC) they must enjoin students to pick up a new skill conducive to their future career choice. And give away with the compelling student to write unproductive plagiarised work. Fore core subject in the place of completing files, writing an improper essay just for marks, students must be asked to read about the topic from any medium print or digital and bring questions to discuss. Raising questions expands the mind’s ability to observe, inferred, and critical thinking. Most of the professors have been asked by the university to get the job done at any cost. Which leading to intolerable pressure on students. In the case of school students if one segment of the school population enables one to attend online classes. Another segment that is wide in the population is deprived of online classes because of their grim living conditions in poverty. This pandemic is a threat to the education of Unprivileged students as their money has been dried up for surviving the stringent lockdown besides no employment in the house consequences in the rise in the number of school dropouts and augment of number in child labor. I hope our Government would layout a proper plan for post-pandemic reliefs for unprivileged without neglecting their basic rights. Keeping aside the govt, being a privileged youth. college students can also indulge in creating awareness among these community and group and organize free teaching classes for student.
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Beautiful forest, lake, river, waterfall and scenery are the common inspiration for poets in past time to pen down their thoughts and words into beautiful poetry. Today’s poet looks around them they will be perplexed by encountering with plastic waste and different types of pollution. What poetry they will produced may be more of awareness rather than love undoubtedly which is the need of the hour. People these days are more interested in combating to or against the left wing and right wing, Forwarding and sharing Fake news through WhatsApp and Facebook without checking its credible source. Before This all secondary participation. There is a need that people must aware of their primary participation. Which are their daily activities in life which are contributing to environment problems. Daily activities from brushing to Ordering online food and using private Vehicle contributes in generating environment problems. There are some common but unnoticed easy ways to reduce plastic usage in daily life.
Replace shower gel bottle with soap. Do away with plastic toothbrush, try bamboo toothbrush which are Eco-friendly. Did you know that 150 million plastic toothbrushes are added to the garbage burden every month? The bamboo toothbrush lasts about four months. The bristles are made of 62% castor bean oil and the rest is nylon, the most advanced biobased bristles available today. although bamboo toothbrush is not a new form it is a old form of brushing teeth. Carry reusable bags and cups.
Try buying wholesale storing dried products like rice, pasta, lentils into glass jars is more environmental friendly then buying these in wrapped plastic bags. Use electric razor, it is more environment friendly then plastic disposal one.
Ordering food online from online food ventures like swiggy zamato and uber eats. Ordering online food generate huge number of unwanted plastic cutlery. for this zomato taken a initiative asking customer to choose the no Cutlery option if they don't really need it. According to Times of India swiggy plan to introduce Eco-friendly meals and tray and other items made up of material such as corn starch and bagasse.
India also have category of religious waste where large amount of flower which are offered by devotee in temple to deties is also causing problems. Organic matter from rotting flower contributes to the growth of alage, which can deplete oxygen levels and cause marine life to die. As water bodies are polluted due to dumping of flower.
There is some initiative has been taken to curtail the problem of flower waste by making compost of it or producing dye from the flower. As a aware citizen offering flower to deities to impress them or to save the life of water bodies. What should be the priority?
E- waste is another rising perilous risk to environment Buy environment friendly electronic means buy the product which has Labelled Energy Star Or Certified by the Electornic Products Environment Assessment Tool. (EPEAT) Always avoid throwing batteries and chargers and phones in trash or giving away to kabadiwala. Instead returned your electronics products to its manufacturer or visit to e-waste recycler in nearest area. There are some e-waste recyclers in India such as Attero, E-Parisaraa Pvt Ltd and Karma Recycling.
Try eating with edible cutlery initiative by Narayana Peesapty who create a venture BAKEYS which produced edible cutlery like spoon, fork and plates in different flavours although these eco- friendly cutleries are not possible or type of food to eat with like ice cream but it can be better used in jars which contain spices for daily meals instead of putting plastic spoon edible cutlery is better option as well as it is useful in eating soups, rice and other foods
Report- Student Paper Presentation
The Department organised an open-ended Student Paper Presentation on October 9, 2020 and 19th February, 2021.
The various narratives discussed during the SPP dealt with colour symbolism, art and activism as well as gender portrayal. Scrutinising the details of these media narratives, especially during the time of the pandemic was an essential aspect of our department’s research pedagogy. As the fast-changing pace of technological advancements has engulfed the method of research, teaching and learning, this SPP provided an essential platform for students to discuss their ideas with confidence, supported through positive critique and feedback. Both the presentations attempted to raise necessary dialogue about pertinent issues surrounding us.
These open-themed presentations endowed a learning opportunity to the students to sharpen their research and presentation skills, especially in the online-mode of learning and interaction.
Art and Social Media Movements’. - Presented by Anjani Chadha (Third Year), the research paper analysed the emergence of #BlackLivesMatter discourse in the US, thereby contextualising its power within the realms of social media.
Colour Symbolism across cultures: A Dichotomy between Indian and German Contexts
-The paper ‘Colour Symbolism across cultures: A Dichotomy between Indian and German Contexts’, was presented by Soumi Dutt and Vanshika Gupta (Second Year). One of the pertinent factors of their presentation was interviewing German respondents within the limited time-frame, thereby helping in their global exposure.
Exploring Gay Characters in Popular Romcoms’.- The paper by Aishwaryaa Kunwar (Third Yea) explored the nuances of how subtle categorization of young gay characters is narrated with ‘gay’ undertones to add humour to the script
Student Activism and Art’,- A given paper by Ananya Chauhan and Debaruna Bhattacharjee (Second Year), discussed the analysis, contexts and narratives of protests and activism, along with the impact of student-led movements in the country.
Depiction of Women in Selling ‘Household’ Products in Indian Advertisements’,- anskriti Tiwari (Second Year) through the given paper discussed the binary of division of labour within Indian households, thereby making them seem ‘natural’ yet stigmatising women and their roles
‘Portrayal of women as Gold-Grubbers in Punjabi Songs.’ - The given paper by Kkonda Shivani and Niharika Agri (Second year), discussed the various paradigms through which women are objectified and commercialised in the Punjabi Music industry
The presentation on 19th February, 2021 was started by Ritika Varshney (2nd year) who spoke on ‘Social and Political perception of rap songs on the youth. Along with understanding the trajectory of the rap music industry in India, she addressed the finer nuance of political and social implications of rap music on the current youth by empirical and quantitative evaluation. The next paper on ‘Fast Fashion: Impact on Consumer Awareness by Sakshi and Shaba (2nd year). Their paper illustrated the knowledge of the concept of fast fashion and what it entails in current day and age.
The next paper on ‘Role of Digital Media during COVID-19 lockdown in India: a study on College Students’ by attempted by Navya Jain and Ishika Ladda (1st Year). It tried to chisel out solutions to further orient and nuance the process of digital online learning and exchange during the pandemic by taking into consideration the students’ perspectives. Manushreya (2nd year) then presented on ‘Representation of Cities And Urban Spaces in Hindi Film Songs During 1950s’ which categorically inferred a nostalgic yet critical scrutiny of the bygone era of the Indian cinema.
An interesting paper on the ‘Role of electronic media during the COVID crisis’ by Chetna Prakash (1st year) highlighted the pivotal role played by Indian media in creating awareness as well as stereotypes regarding the pandemic. This was followed by an interesting presentation on “Reaction of Indian males towards #MeToo movement” by Dhriti Jain and Anupriya Singh Adaval (1st Year). Finally, the last paper was presented by Aakansha Sethi (1st year) on “Impact of WhatsApp’s updated policy in India.”
n a nutshell, the Student Paper Presentation organised by the department wasable to help students in learning and critiquing new ideas in an academic
manner.