NOHKALIKAI FALLS

Nohkalikai, one of the tallest plunge waterfalls with a magnificent panorama, is located 5km away from Cherrapunjee. Falling from an altitude of 1,115 ft, it mostly procures its ale from the clouds. The pool formed from the thrust with verdant and misty clouds above makes it sumptuous. But, this alluring landscape is affixed with an appalling story.
The Khasi name “Nohkalikai” translates to “Leap of Likai”. That’s right, Likai is the leading character of the tragic story that I am about to unfold.
And the story begins… Widowed at a very young age, Likai was the mother of a beautiful baby girl who needed her mother’s attention. They lived in the village of Rangjyrteh, based nearby the waterfall. Her impoverished condition compelled her to become a porter, which was the job of her deceased husband. Due to which the baby girl couldn’t receive her complete attention although she used to spend all her time with her daughter once she was home.
This is when other women of the village started persuading her for a re-marriage. They insisted her saying the little girl needs attention and care of a father, to which Likai agreed and got married to a man.
But this new husband was found to be trivial and jealous of all the attention that his wife drizzled on her baby when she was home. And this bitterness, resulted in the horrendous deed he executed.
Like regular days, Likai returns home after a long day of work and finds her husband waiting with inviting food. She was glad to see a caring side of her husband, but little did she know it was momentary. She started looking around for her baby only to find her nowhere. She presumed for her baby to be in the neighborhoods and settled for the meal her husband cooked.
After the hearty meal, she sat for her routine beetle leaves and nuts when she saw a tiny finger near the basket of beetle leaves and had realized what must have happened. Her new husband, who was supposed to take care of their daughter, had chopped the poor baby into pieces and fed his wife. Terror-stricken and furious Likai, without an accusation started running until she reached the edge and jumped off the waterfall to her own death.
And, this was the legendary tale of the 4th highest waterfall in the world. When you visit this breath-taking site, you’ll feel the agony and pain of Likai still lingering in its air. This miserable event should not prevent you from the nature that flourishes at its best.

Trump and India

India, over the past 16 years, has progressively intensified partnership with the US under the administration of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Now, the future relationships will depend on where does India figure in his plans? Some indications can be got from the document Republican platform 2016. It states: “India is our geopolitical ally and a strategic trading partner… We encourage the Indian Government to permit expanded foreign investment and trade, the key to rising living standards for those left out of their country’s energetic economy. For all of India’s religious communities, we urge protection against violence and discrimination” .

Security, defense, cooperation and strategic ties are likely to remain cordial because both countries have certain convergence of interest here. India and the USA have dramatically strengthened defense ties over the past decade, and naval cooperation in particular has lead ahead. Trump has promised to renew and expand the US Navy when India is expanding its navy to become a pre-eminent Indian Ocean power. The civil nuclear partnership and defense acquisitions may continually be followed aggressively by the new administration.

The problem area maybe trade and investment. India and the US have adopted stubborn attitudes in the past with numerous trade barriers. While Trump’s trade related campaign tirade was largely restricted to the Trans Pacific partnership and US – China trade relations. the new administration might focus on India’s $30 billion trade surplus with the US.

India has been quite active in developing good relations with Trump administrations and engage with his advisers directly. The operation “charm offensive” has already began and his administration begins to take shape, more clues about his approach to India will emerge.

AN IDEAL TEACHER AND THE REALITY CHECK

From our very childhood, we have been taught that teachers are the priests of the temple of education. Wherever we go, whether it’s a school or college or university, we are always expected to treat them with all our due respect and obedience. But, are we really treated that well by them? Do they really deserve this respect and gratitude?

Yeah, yeah, I know you will be now saying not everyone is same, I am aware of that. But I am talking about that section of professors who are exceptional especially the university professors.

What an ideal teacher is expected to do? To pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of each of the student and if they are not doing well enough then to encourage and enlighten them with the gift of knowledge. And, that’s not just for academics in personal front too. But how many of us are really getting this kind of education, very few. And those very few are usually the favorite ones, favorite ones of our respected professors.

Most of us are having trouble with our university lives because of some of the biased professors. I won’t be going to the details now because I have a fear. I hope you’ve guessed the fear I am talking about. But I really want to say that its high time for us to take action against these kinds of harassments against us. We are well aware of the fact that if we jump alone, our lives are in danger and so it’s my humble request to all those students suffering, to raise our voices against them collectively and not be a victim.

It’s not just for us, but also for our juniors.

THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES, DEVELOPMENT AND VIRTUAL COLONIZATION

Third world countries, this is something which has been termed by the so called modern and developed nations of the world. According to them the backward and underdeveloped countries of the world fall under this category. It is believed that these countries are deprived of everything.

In the given development theory also it has been said that for these countries to become developed they are not just required to adopt the western technology but also the western culture and values. Further, according to this theory we are underdeveloped or developing because of our cultural and spiritual beliefs. Seriously, what kind of an argument is that?

Who are they to decide what we should adopt to become developed? Here, the credit also goes to the media of the third world nation who are helping these so called developed nations to penetrate into us their culture which is also putting a question mark on our personal and cultural identity. Well let me tell you this penetration of western culture and beliefs into us is also colonization, which is known as virtual colonization. Where do you think we would be standing after the loss of our own identity? Don’t you think what our freedom fighters did for us to become free from the colonization of these countries will go all in vain? Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that the decision of who will come under which world is based on who colonized who. The countries who colonized other countries are under first world and the countries which were colonized by other countries like India falls under Third world countries.

This is high time that we get a reality check on what is actually happening with us or rather what are these developed nations doing with us. If this continues, then I am sure what our country as an individual country is known for viz., the colourful nature of our culture, will only remain in the books of history which would nowhere to be found.

What we are required to become a developed nation is that we need to adopt the developed and advanced technology from these countries but how that is to be figured out; next, we need to preserve our culture so that we can expand it to generations after generations and most importantly we need to understand and develop a rational mind to think what is right and what is wrong, so that we can become a better person with better society and definitely a developed nation.

WOMEN AND INDIAN RAILWAYS

Indian railways, an establishment of the year 1853, has undergone a lot of developments all through these years. So much that it is now the fourth largest railway network in the world.

In the recent times some developments have been made by our railway Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu who is using twitter as the medium to solve the problems of people. If you have any kind of problem, you can tweet it to him and the issue will be solved. But, unfortunately the need for development here is not just technology related.

Does this fourth largest network provides equal opportunity to everyone?

Now, Indian railways is considered to be the largest employer in the country with 1.3 million employees. But, out of them only 89,335 employees are female, whereas according to India’s average female workforce participation rate i.e. 27%, we are expected to 3,60,171 female employees.

You’d be thinking how this information is related to the safety of women. Let me tell you how. 270,836 women are missing from the employee roster of Indian railways i.e. they have been functionally excluded. These missing women are putting a question mark on the message of Indian Railways’ progress.

We all know low female participation in the country’s largest employer is a huge threat to the economy when it’s about global competition, as economy grows at a rapid pace if female labour participation increases.

Where are these women and why are they being functionally excluded?

The Indian Railways divides its employees into four categories (A, B, C and D) on the basis of their salary and their responsibilities. Group A and B consists of 1.5% of employees, Group C is constituted by 90% of the employees and Group D consists about 9.5% of the employees. Out of these 4 categories Group C contains 88% of the total female employees and rest of them are categorized under “other” heading.

With this kind of low satisfactory jobs with low pay and low opportunities, these women are bound to stay back at home with no chance to return to the workplace after marriage and childbirth.

This leads us to the conclusion of how stereotyped our people still are where on the hand these people wants themselves to be global competitors.

The Endangered One-Horn: Kaziranga National Park

Kaziranga, the world of biodiversity and a successful example of wildlife conservation, is situated on the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra in Assam. The park hidden behind the tall elephant grass and hills, is the habitat of many species. And, among them, lives the pride of the state- One-horned rhinoceros.

This animal is the main attraction of the global tourists and is therefore called as the pride of Assam. Anywhere when it comes to symbol or identity, the rhinoceros unicorn is the idol. These huge animals, who are ferocious, also has predators- the human poachers, who are hunting for their horns. In 2016, total of 18 rhinos are report to be killed, compared to 17 in 2015. The rate of this sin has been increasing every year. Not only the human poachers are responsible, but also the deadly side of the Mother Nature. Due to which, about 250 animals lost their lives in the heavy flood in the month of February this year out of which 20 were the one-horns.  The forest team managed to rescue over 200 animals but still is upset for the loss they incurred.

Where are these rhino horns being taken away? These Rhino horns are actually bought and sold in the international market. These white horns are being traded. The materialistic, immature and surreal society is demanding it for their status symbol and also to use it in traditional medicines.

According to an official, “Killing of rhinos requires the least time and skill’. But, the question that is posed- is this clarification enough? Don’t you think the forest department owe us a clear picture of what is happening? I think carelessness and ignorant behaviour towards the preservation and conservation of these animals by the forest department and other concerned departments are equally responsible. It’s high time that we as responsible citizens should raise our voice to protect, preserve and conserve our social and cultural heritage, so that our progeny or offspring don’t just read about these beautiful species in history books but also get to see them.

New Media and Marginalized Society

Marginalized society; the section of people who are deprived of the involvement in the mainstream economy, politics, cultural and social activities. The society includes the people from immigrant, ethno-cultural, LGBT or low-income groups. This section of society lacks access to formal education, equal employment, gender-based opportunities and technology. So, when it comes to the technological advancement in relation to the marginalized society, the first thing that comes to our mind is the access of internet by the marginalized ones.

The technological world is now divided into two- firstly, those who use computers and internet and then, those who do not. This has created a troubling gap which is known as the ‘digital divide’. The digital divide is usually defined as the global divide in the expansion of technologies in comparison to others. Many researchers, scholars and the policymakers are now studying this division and are trying to analyze how these people could use the internet and other digital technologies to improve their everyday life. But, the problem here is that people from these section do not have adequate access to the internet due to which they are unaware of how internet can become a part of their daily lives and those who have, do not know how it can contribute to a greater wellbeing.  They do not know how to use the internet in a right manner that can actually help adding meaning and purpose to their lives.

A research from Indiana University found out that the marginalized or under advantaged groups are using internet just to broaden their social network than those form the advantaged groups who believes more on face-to-face interactions and use the internet to broaden their world view and gain more information.

Another study published in the journal science has found out that ethnic and religious minorities who lack political power are also more likely to be excluded from the global internet.

Talking about what new media can do for the marginalized society, one can say that the pluralistic nature of new media with its networked and non-hierarchical structure can offer the potential to develop national culture as well as challenge dominant social discourses. What arises as an issue here is that the minority groups are preceded by authoritarianism and they are acting just as a passive receiver of information rather than being a participant where they will be given equal opportunity. The very apt example for this will be the region from Iraq to Libya where anything one can think of is shaped and oriented in accordance with the needs and dynamics of authoritarianism. Such deeply embedded authoritarianism poses great threat to democratisation which ultimately leads to the suppression of the minority or the marginalized groups. So, in such cases new media breaks the monopoly of communication. We have seen that people’s participation in either politics or culture always goes through a hierarchical structure waiting for the opportunity to arrive and that too with a restriction, but with the development of the internet world politics and people can finally meet in a neutral space for an open conversation, with a good result.

Legitimate self-expression for the minority groups are required in the establishment of a wider, social peace and also in the development of democracy. This is really the need of the hour because our society is full of dominance and self-referential discourses which further if publicly performed may result in more racism, discrimination, regionalism and class-based disadvantages.

New media is particularly effective with regards to the issue of social visibility which is the crucial component of the resolution of social conflict and the development of the democracy. It can help to make visible and recognisable the presence of minority or the marginalized groups. An essential consideration before the resolution of any social or political conflict is the recognition of the issues being faced by the minority groups of the society. The stagnation of the marginalized society by the authoritarian systems needs to be stopped.

There are a number of initiatives that have been taken by the groups who use the social media. The government and other organizations should be interested in being part of these types of initiatives which can help them to look closely at the issues of the society by having a direct communication with the people. This may help them to keep a record of all the information they collect which can further help them to resolve the considered issues.

A recent study of Indiana University gave the fact that internet can be an important tool for increasing social capital for marginalized groups who otherwise have limited opportunities for personal and professional networking, and underscores the need for making sure these groups have stable and high-quality internet access.

The study conducted by Amy L. Gonzales largely supports the fact that the theoretical prediction that disadvantaged group are using the internet to engage with dissimilar or weak-tie relationships, that they do not engage with when offline. Evidence of this in a subset of only personal communication suggests that this is driven by personal motive rather than external circumstances.

These data leads to the suggestion that New Media can actually be a resource of this century which can further help in reducing inequality if marginalized groups can use the web to increase network heterogeneity. The best example to support this finding is the telecommunication facility provided by Mukesh Ambani’s Jio network service under 4g partners Reliance Jio. The sim was made available free of cost along with the launch of budget 4g mobiles “LYF”. This boosted up the usage of internet among the minority groups and played a great role in the Digital India initiative of PM Modi.

Regardless, whether we have mainstream or marginalized groups in mind, the Internet affects which questions of public policy are considered. If, as some critics allege, media moguls, managers of multi-national corporations, and leaders of military and civilian bureaucracies control access to information from traditional sources, then the internet remains one of the few independent sources that is critical for citizens’ enlightened understanding of public problems. The people can rule democratically only if they or their elected representatives have sufficient information to determine the problems that needs to be addressed and the politics that ought to be adopted to solve them.

 

PROSTITUTION AND PORNOGRAPHY: PARADIGM OF PATRIARCHY

“Patriarchy”, a word women are surrounded with; at school, workplace, peers group, streets and where not. We, the women, are labelled every time with a new term depending on the situations. Similar and even more severe is the case of prostitution and pornography, where a woman is asked to sell her body to the control of a man, no matter how she is treated.

But what are we doing as humans; subscribing and following these pornography channels without giving it a thought about what is actually happening behind those shameless curtains. Don’t you think we are actually losing humanity and emotions. Why do you think that there is the increase rate of divorces and cheating and betraying, this is one of the reasons. Worries and consequences are not entirely imaginary but its horrifying and sad.

Let me tell you how, when one watches such obscene content, he/she tends to believe that it is the ultimate and the right way of doing it and its real normal. But this is violence and media is injecting this violence in us. We all know this universal truth that what media portrays becomes a trend and a lifestyle but friends that’s fictional and no real. The youngsters who are growing up, we are leading them in a wrong way. Its destructive. We are humans because we have emotions and a mind to think of what is wrong and right, don’t lose it.

Great saints and philosophers gave this conclusion that prostitution and pornography are the evils which are impossible to remove from the society because of these desperate men section who is ruling the society. It was also predicted that these are going to increase every second and is going to sweep away all our humanity. But this is also true that not everyone is same and there is nothing which is impossible.

With this I just tried to give a wake up call. I know I might be criticized and as usual labelled, but its just a small contribution to save the humanity.