Honest Review: The Climate

By: Anagha Vinay

Climate Crisis is entangled with every aspect of our lifestyle. The Climate Transparency Report is a comprehensive annual review of the state of climate performance of the G20 nations. Its assessment includes 100 indicators for climate adaptation, risks, protection, and finance. The G20 countries coming under this are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.

The report shows a comparative analysis of the climate actions taken by these nations to achieve a net zero emissions economy. It is a global partnership with a shared mission. It is a concise report developed by experts from 16 partner organizations from the G20 nations. The 2022 report theme is ‘G20 response to the energy crisis: Critical for 1.5°C.’ It bridges climate emergency to the energy crisis.

According to the 2022 report, climate change has had a massive impact across G20 countries with wildfires, heatwaves, tropical storms, and rising global emissions. Exploiting our environment for development at an unsustainable pace left us blind and deaf to the wailing cries and consequences of the ecosystem, and now the tables have turned. It is not Mother Nature who is pleading, it is us. We don’t have a choice, but to act, immediately. In this time of crisis, there are going to be no more excuses, and there are going to be no next times.

The report shows that the prices of fossil fuels rose exponentially in the second half of 2021 mainly as a repercussion of the Russia-Ukraine war. China, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom have the highest total fossil fuel consumption and production subsidies. Energy emissions were found to have rebounded across the G20 countries by 5.9 percent last year, returning to the pre-pandemic levels. In 2021, emissions in the power and real-estate sector were higher than pre-pandemic levels. The per capita emissions in these sectors in China and Turkey are currently higher than in 2019 levels. However, the share of renewables in the power generation mix has seen an increase in all the G20 countries between 2016 and 2021. Countries with the highest increase in renewable energy share are the United Kingdom (67 percent), Japan (48 percent), and Mexico (40 percent), and the lowest increase are Russia (16 percent) and Italy (14 percent).

India has suffered the highest heat-related labour capacity reduction, nearly 167 billion labour hours, resulting in a financially crippling loss of about 5.4% in the GDP, equivalent to $159B. India even witnessed reduced wheat crop yield due to record heat waves. It is estimated that around 142 million people or 10 percent of the population of the country may be exposed to summer heatwaves at 1.5°C. India stands third among the G20 nations with high methane emissions, with a soaring 10.5%.

Climate Action Tracker statistics have rated India’s overall climate action efforts as highly insufficient. For instance, the average temperature experienced in the summer of 2017-2021 has been recorded to be 0.4°C higher than the 1985-2005 global mean temperature increase. About 33% of the country is drought-prone, and approximately 50% of this area faces chronic droughts. This, right here, is the Code Red for Humanity. But there’s still so much we can do, together. This is why we need to be out there, making our voices heard as one, louder, and stronger than ever before.

Real change will happen when the concerns of all the vulnerable groups have been addressed and every possible action has been taken to protect our ecosystem. This is the need of the hour. Let’s join hands and be a part of this. Let’s strike to make them listen to us. Let’s strike to make them act. Let’s strike because now the time has come, when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or fully in measure, but very substantially. The real change is coming. All we have to do is be in this fight for what is just, and we shall triumph.

Shooting Stars – A wish not to be wished for

-by Vidhyalakshmi Venkatesh

As the clock strikes 12 when everyone’s asleep, as the sound of the crickets chirping gets louder and louder, my parents enter the room with the blissful aura they always carry themselves in, with a sense of hope in their eyes. Ila!… Ila!… Ilakya!… wake up, the whisper. As I open my eyes, they whisper loudly, “Happy Birthday!!!”. Overwhelmed with happiness, I ran upstairs to the terrace, and my parents followed. As I stood there, I saw a shooting star flying its way to the ground with a blazing white flame. All I wished that day was to see a shooting star every night. Sounds impossible, but wishes can be a little unrealistic too, but little did I know it will come true.

The next morning, I leave the house with the new pink dress my father brought with my hair nicely done and a box filled with chocolates in my hands. As my brother and I walked down Jaffna’s streets towards my school, I saw a shooting star across the library, but this was orange in color with a black dot in the middle. As it struck the ground, I lost my balance. My dad, who was walking behind me, ran to pick both of us back home; I saw many shooting stars in the run back home. I saw the hope in their face turn to fear within fractions of a second. 

We were packing our bags with our clothes and some of the utensils. We broke our piggy bank and gave them all the money we had. The sky turned dark to purple-black due to smoke, and the sound of raging bullets increased in decibels; we had to speed up to escape. But the Sri Lankan Army barged into our house and pulled everyone out. I ran back to get Boozoo, my teddy bear, and Simba, my tiger lying in the corner of my house, with bullet marks all over his body. They tried to snatch Boozoo and Simba, but I resisted. 

We were strolling towards the bridge, and I was very thirsty. An older woman in front asked for water. The Army laughed and forced her to drink the dirty water flowing under the bridge. My father put me to sleep as I rest my head on his shoulders, looking at the corpses floating around, pushed from the place they belong to somewhere in the middle of a sea, just like the rest of us.  

We crossed the bridge to a nearby village, and I saw things that could haunt me for life. I saw corpses half-naked, children crying for their parents, a baby drinking milk from his dead mother. But these thoughts vanished when my tummy started grumbling. My parents tied a wet towel on my waist and stuffed a handkerchief in my mouth not to feel the hunger. 

I sat on the ground tired; I saw some fireflies, and that excited me. I removed the handkerchief from my mouth and chased the only light I could see just to see my next shooting star fly above me and hit the ground. I ran back only to find my family burning in the raging fire—my birthday wish, which took my family away from me. Before I realized that another star dropped, then another, three, and four, I didn’t know how many more were there. I lay there unconscious, bleeding through my nose. 

I wake up to see myself in a truck filled with women and children, surrounded by army men, driving towards the base. As we sat in fear, some of them came out of the tent with a woman naked, bleeding from her wounds, being thrown out in the bushes nearby. Many women were stripped naked and raped in public. A lady beside me shut my eyes and hugged me tightly, saying I should not see all this. 

But little did she realize that I was next. They dragged me to the tent, pinned me to the ground as men forced themselves on me, again and again. The army from other tents also entered; I don’t know how many of them were there. I screamed, cried, but none except that lady looked out for me. They left me with the bare minimum of clothes. But I survived. I wanted to live to tell this story; I wanted to live to seek help. She picked me up, and we ran our way through the villages nearby, to the coast, where we saw a boat to Rameshwaram. Few men spotted us and made space for a 30yr old and an 8yr old in the already tiny boat. 

As we reach the middle of the sea, I lie down on her lap, looking at the sky, hoping never to see a shooting star again.

Bow to Bravery

I , me , Myself ! This is the current attitude amongst many of the citizens. We always tend to give priority to ourselves while there are some exceptions, the armed forces personnel. They are ready to give their lives for the nation! The exception being the soldiers who hold “Naam, Namak aur Nishan” as their inspiration. Roughly translated, they hold alleigence to their Paltan that has nurtured them and uphold the flag of their paltan and the nation. The Army officers passing out of Indian Military Acadeny are inspired by the Chetwoode Motto

The safety, honour and welfare of your country come first, always and every time.

The honour, welfare and comfort of the men you command come next.

Your own ease, comfort and safety come last, always and every time.

  The Indian Navy has Shano Varun – May the lord of seas be auspicious unto us and The Indian Air Force Sparsha Nabha Deeptam- Touch the sky with glory.

Coming to the citizens, let’s not to go citizens,let me ask you, how many of you can just show where Siachen is? Or may be even Kargil? Quite a few. But I bet that you guys can easily point the locations of Paris, Amsterdam etc. That place, Siachen, it is where our bravehearts are fighting for our country for the past three and half decades. That’s shameful.

“Fauj main Mauj Hai”- This is the perception of civilians. They think that we get free accommodation, ration, canteen items and the heights of imagination, that we get free liquor.Let me get this straight, there is nothing like free lunch. The ration is entitled whereas the remaining are paid by the personnel. There are way too many problems in our country but “providing ration” to armed forces became an issue and they even managed to remove it for a period of 2 years and “Non-Functional Upgradation” and the list is so long.The discrimination is way too evident yet it is ignored.

You’ve see the perception of civilians, now it’s time to dive into the life of a service chap! The first chapter: Training.

We can’t even manage to wake up at 5am whereas in NDA they are already dressed for their PT/Parade practice. Their training is so rigorous that they maintain a countdown ”Days Left to Go Home”. The food served in the mess is delicious, they get caramel custard, eggs to order etc yet going to the mess is a bit painful! We Vitians can stay in our pajamas and roam around the campus whereas in NDA you need to dress up in uniforms to walk around the campus and in the mess a proper dinner etiquette is followed.

The Second Chapter: Unity and Hardships

In the army they show their allegiance to their paltan. They don’t care about the name on their chest,which is their own name, they care about the name on their shoulder which is their paltan name. We all complain about this caste has more reservation, they have extra benefits and all but in armed forces we don’t have mandir, masjid we have Sarv Dharm Sthal where all the religions are at one place.

The life of an army personnel is toughest as they go through their postings in the icy heights of Siachen , Jungles of North east, deserts of Rajasthan and low intensity conflicts of Kashmir each having their own share of hardships and tough life. The airforce also has similar postings while the Navy has their own fight sailing with the stormy seas . The life of a service person cannot be  appreciated by persons trapped in their Air conditioned rooms performing  jobs at their desks.  Who can appreciate life at siachen where summer temperatures are minus 10 deg and winter at minus 50 degrees Celsius. It is said that the babus of defence ministry were sitting on files related to procurement of equipment for soldiers operating in snow bound areas. The then Defence minister  (A rare breed amongst politicians) ordered the MoD babus to visit the forward areas & within 24 hrs after their return they processed the requisite files for procurement of equipment.

Each service has their own rigours which can be termed as Occupational Hazards. Sailing on a cruise ship or a luxury liner is entirely different from operating on a Warship. The naval personnel are supposed to gain at the earliest  their “Sea legs” – ability to move around the ship in rough seas.   Life on board ship depends on Sea State (on a scale of 1 to 5) estimated from “sea horses” –the white froth of the waves. Higher the sea state , lower the health and morale of sailors because of “sea sickness” which induces vomiting. During this time only item on a la carte menu  is khichdi with lemon pickle . I understand some air force officers taking a ride on the ship preferred their G sickness over being sea sick.

The armed forces have covered themselves in glory during the various wars after independence. Their skill , dedication and devotion to duty have been amply displayed during natural disasters when called upon to assist civil administration.

The Third and Final Chapter: Families

We the family members are mentally prepared for everything. You all saw the URI movie, where the daughter instead of crying and weeping she shouted the war cry! That scene literally gives goosebumps and that happened in real life too. The transfers actually affect us, we shift from one place to another in every 2-3 years, we get transferred to one place and start adjusting and by the time we start getting comfortable there is another transfer, because of this we call ourselves BRATS-Born Raised and Transferred. I think for majority of Fauji Brats, their engineering phase is only place where we reside for 4 years straight.

The recent skirmishes at the Galwan Valley showcased the bravery of the Indian Army, where 20 of our bravehearts were martyred. The CO of 16 Bihar Regiment Col Santosh Babu led the troop in the most gallant way! 

Soldiers don’t fight with weapons, they fight with a high morale. Soldiers don’t go to a war because they hate the enemy on the front, they go to a war because they love their countrymen at the back

A BEDLAM FOR AGES

14th July 2019. IT CAME HOME!!

The streets of Manchester and London were ecstatic after England was crowned as the new World Champion. Pandemonium and euphoria all around the country.

The day marked the beginning of the reign of a “new” World Champion. It was the day IT really came back home.

It was one heck of a ride too. A world cup like never before. One with a rollercoaster of emotions till the end. We witnessed some scintillating batting performances, few magical deliveries, and some jaw-dropping fielding stunts. This world cup was an absolute cricket pedigree.

30th of May was the start of a journey. One that rocked every cricket fan like nothing ever did. The hosts started it off with their game against South Africa. The Ben Stokes catch was the talk of the town after that. He clutched the match for England with both bat and ball. BEAST!!

5th of June, when the WC really started for us. It was India against South Africa. It jumpstarted Rohit Sharma’s run spree. The first of his 5 centuries in this world cup. Amassing 648 runs in this edition of the World Cup, winning the best batsman award in the way. It was a dream start to our world cup run. Our batsmen hit the ground running, from the very start. Rohit was firing on all cylinders. It was a treat to watch. Even Bumrah, with his scintillating bowling form, didn’t cease to amaze us. The Indian team was in an amazing form throughout this edition of the WC. They lost just one match, against England, before going out from the hands of New Zealand. It was a heartbreak of ages for the 1.3 billion people. A couple of freaks even gave their hearts out but it wasn’t sufficient for the cancellation of their London ticket. It left the fans distraught and the players heartbroken. The blame game even shifted focus onto the rain gods.

Rain played the biggest villain this time. Washing away several interesting matchups. Many matches were shortened or had to be abandoned. Duckworth Lewis method came to rescue for some teams, even though people argue it is a flawed rule. The pitches in England were mostly batsmen friendly. A reason big enough to justify more than 5 players hitting  500+ runs. A feat not achieved since the introduction of the sport back in the 20th century. 648 runs in 9 matches let Rohit Sharma get the award for the best batsman, edging past David Warner by 1 run. So close, yet so far for the Aussie veteran. Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib al Hasan had scored 500 runs this time. Shining with both bat and ball, he had an amazing tournament even though his side crashed out in the Quarter Finals.

Now lets shift focus onto the bowlers. Mitchell Starc, with 27 wickets under him, ran away with the best bowler award. Exceptionally disciplined bowling and some classy fielding backing him, it was a given that he would be the best bowler. The Kiwis’ Ferguson was the second best with his 21 wicket performance. Two bowlers registered hat-tricks. Mohammed Shami of India and Trent Boult of New Zealand. We were in for a treat during the death overs by Jasprit Bumrah. Yorker after yorker, with not one missing the spot. Consistency, at a whole new level !!

Now for the major turn around of form and luck. Team England, almost on the verge of crashing out, held out to win it all in the end. One of the most bizarre ends to a World Cup. Drawing out on both the 50 allowed overs and also the Super Over. An ecstatic finish to a rollercoaster match. England won, albeit on a really old, odd rule; having scored the most number of boundaries. Heartbreak for the Kiwis, especially coming so close to winning it for the first time. As painful as seeing your team lose out so close, but seeing it twice in the space of four years a bit too hard to take in. Kane Williamson missing out on the coveted prize, for a second time, was a hard thing to see as a neutral fan.

So, it was a world cup that sparked off with a trademark sprint of Imran Tahir and ended with an ecstatic run by the Englishmen. In between these jumps, “The rabbit was pulled out of the hat.” What the English fans were hoping for, for a long time too. Even though it was an odd final, the tournament never lacked any excitement. Off-color weather, flaring tempers and nail-biting finishes. This World Cup had it all. One to be etched in the books of history as “The World Cup without an actual winner”.

Crossing The Line: Feminism

Ever since the dawn of time, women have been considered inferior to men. They are subjugated to fit into the men’s world and for a long time were not allowed to have a free will. History teaches us that where there is oppression, there is rebellion. Every civilization that accepted women as equal to men has lasted longer and has been more successful. The advent of industrialization made it possible for women to explore their skills and make money out of them. They no longer needed to stay at home, cook for the family, clean the house and whatnot. However, the portrait of an ideal woman still stayed the same. They were allowed voting rights later than men in a lot of the initial democracies.

However, all of this changed slowly. These changes are what constitute the “feminism”  movement. The works of Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Dora Montefiore, Simone de Beauvoir, etc show bold female characters. Books like A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen caused outrage all over the world and strengthened the women’s suffrage movements. Women were eventually given more rights like the right to vote, etc. The world wars allowed them a chance to work in industries and make their own money. This gave them a taste of independence and with the emergence of computers and MNCs, there were more and more job profiles that suited them.

How could capitalism not take advantage of this movement?

Items like sanitary pads were researched to make it easy to manufacture and distribute around the world. Fields like the makeup industry which used to make products exclusively for the theatres made huge profits by campaigning their products inline with the movement. They advertised and still advertise their products to be empowering women. Their advertisements seem to tell women that their product would improve their chances of getting a promotion. They say that a woman must use their products to be feminine, and their business is booming. This is the exact motive behind this article. The current phase of the feminism is entirely wrong.

The concept of equality for women is not wrong at all but we need to draw a line. The “torches of freedom” movement was solely based on the idea that female smokers were a very potent market. Although, it did remove the social taboo behind smoking and women, which was very prevalent in that era. This is one of the best examples of how feminism has eventually become a social evil.

Another major problem would be the wave of political correctness. People are no longer allowed to publicize opinions that can be twisted and interpreted into something offensive. Political correctness is a tacit form of totalitarianism, an act of coercion built upon the premise that “I know better than you what you really want.” This isn’t to say that people should be allowed to go around treating others poorly, but that employing coercion and scare tactics to instill a state of forced behavior completely misses the point. The kinds of obscenity targeted by political correctness are much more effective at breeding a sense of shared solidarity than most alternatives. [as quoted by Slavoj Zizek]

Major companies like Disney and Gilette have also used this movement to publicize their products and as a consequence, it has simplified the issue and that is unethical. For example, Frozen can only be described as a lukewarm attempt by Disney at showing empowered women. Disney’s version of womanhood as embodied in Elsa and Anna is one that does not challenge the dominant ideas of femininity. The two lead characters retain traits that are considered essential for “doing” femininity correctly—they are not aggressive; they must learn to put others first and be selfless, and they must do it all while looking beautiful. [quoted from Afshan Jafar is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Connecticut College.]

Gillette’s controversial advertisement that stated that just being nicer to women to completely solve all of the women’s problems. Another bad representation of female empowerment would be game characters. The conditions have improved lately as we can see in the new Assassins Creed Odyssey and in Darksiders 3 but they used to be overly sexualized.

The #MeToo movement helped us realize that even after finding a way into glass buildings, women are not safe. This helped reveal the true faces of many rich and popular people including film celebrities.

This campaign took an ugly turn as well with a lot of fake accusations and arrests, leading to suicides. A woman’s sham accusation won multiple times over truth.

The specific portion of media that served as the inspiration to this article was the latest installment of the Marvel’s Avengers movie series. There is a scene where all the female superheroes come together to help out Spiderman and they eventually got bashed by the antagonist. The montage of them coming together made the crowd go wild. One of the screenwriters himself said that the part is both delightful and pandering. In a way, it symbolized that women are weak on their own and need to come together to become strong. Where all other male characters were fighting around on their own, the women needed to all come together, to just help out a kid. That scene is also debatable because, in the name of equality, they show all the females together to help out a male. This looked more like a promotion of superiority and less like that of equality. That sequence goes completely against the ideals of equality by showing just women coming together to help a kid and eventually getting defeated.

To me, equality for women is allowing them to move around wearing what they want, as long as it is not indecent exposure. It is allowing them to have equal opportunities and wages based on their qualifications and productivity, even in blue collar jobs. I have no problem with them getting maternity and other benefits, and I do argue for making the world a safer place, not just for women but for everyone. It is not in forcing equality, but in embracing the differences that we can move forward to solving bigger problems.

The Strength Of The Fourth Pillar

Democracy is a system of government in which all the individuals of a country can vote to elect their representatives. Every democracy rests on four pillars of foundation namely the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, and the press. These pillars are interdependent and together manifest the functioning of every democracy. In this ever-changing world, the influence of press and media over the common perception has expanded.

Indian media came into existence in 1780 with the introduction of a newspaper named “The Bengal Gazette” and since then it has matured leaps and bounds. It has been playing a very vital role in shaping people’s human minds. Media plays a very important role in politics as it influences public opinion and helps outline and take up various issues. It can keep the ones with power in check by seeking transparency in their actions. Suppose, if a government were to control all the information concerning its own actions, won’t it escape all accountability? Thus, a freelance media is an effective check on government’s power and influence over its citizens. In fact, with the emergence of TV and Radio networks, several governments in Europe and America brought about several legislations so that the published media failed to deviate from a neutral position. Unfortunately, India is slipping down every year in the World Press Freedom Index and ranks a lowly 140th out of the 180 nations surveyed.

Media plays a vital role in shaping a healthy democracy and is the backbone of a democracy that makes us aware of varied social, political and economic activities happening around the world. It’s sort of a mirror, that shows us or strives to show us the bare truth and harsh realities of our nation.

The media has beyond any doubt evolved and become more active over the years. It’s the media that reminds politicians about their unfulfilled promises at the time of elections. T.V news channels’  excessive coverage throughout elections helps individuals, particularly illiterates, in electing the right person to the power. This reminder compels politicians to keep up their promises so as to stay in power. Television and radio have created a significant achievement in educating rural illiterate lots in making them aware of all the events in their regional or other preferred languages. Coverage of consumptive malpractices of village heads and moneylenders has helped in taking stringent actions against them by attracting the government’s attention.

The media conjointly exposes loopholes within the democratic system, which ultimately helps the government in mending them, filling the vacuums of loopholes and making the system more accountable, responsive and citizen-friendly. A democracy without media is like a boat without oars. In the age of information technology, we are bombarded with information. We get a pulse of world events with simply the click of a mouse. The flow of information has hyperbolic manifolds. The perfect blend of technology and human resources (journalists) has not left a single stone unturned in unearthing rampant corruption in politics and society. We all are well aware of what Tehelka did. Thanks to technology that has brought a form of revolution in journalism.

The impact of media is really noteworthy. Excessive coverage or hype of sensitive news has led to communal riots every now and then. The illiterates are more vulnerable to provocations than the literates. Constant repetition of the news, particularly sensational news, breeds apathy and insensitivity. For example, in the infamous case of Dhananjoy Chatterjee, the overloaded hype led to the death of quite a few kids who imitated the hanging procedure that was repeatedly shown in most of the T.V. news channels. There are a plethora of such negative impacts. Media ought to take utmost care in airing or publishing such sensational news.

Commercialization has created stiff competition in media. In order to outdo each other print media has often gone one step further in publishing articles and cover stories on lewd topics, for instance, answering sex-related queries from their readers. Media specialists say this is one of the means of attracting readers who are affixed to T.V. news channels, which have cropped up swiftly in the recent past and they believe this is a cheap form of journalism.

Every coin has two faces and it would not be wrong to call out that media also has an ugly side. No one is perfect in this world and media is no exception. Due to commercialization and the cut-throat competition, the eyes of people(media) do not flinch while dealing in bad faith. There are numerous instances in which the usual accuser(media) was found guilty of fraud, tampering and misleading news for personal gains. Paid news and channels glorify certain political leaders or thrash specific personalities. Here is an incident in which the media was caught red-handed:

‘In a bid to dig deeper the nexus between politicians, media houses and corporate and to see how far paid news could be peddled on big channels, journalist Pushp Sharma turned his attention TV18 network. When the journalist met Ayan Bhattacharya in Kolkata, the senior sales manager of ETV News turned out to be an avowed champion of Hindutva who would be happy to run the agenda that the journalist would propose him. As the journalist discussed the main points of his agenda, including the promotion of Hindutva, thrashing of political rivals and communal polarization during elections, Bhattacharya did not need any persuasion to come on board.’

No one is degrading the media; rather it would not be incorrect to say there is still a lot of scope for improvement by which media can raise up to the aspirations of the people for whom it is meant. It is difficult to think of democracy without active and neutral media. Media is like a watchdog in a democracy that keeps government active. From being just an informer it has become an integral part of our daily lives. With the passage of time, it has become a more matured and a more responsible entity. The present media revolution has helped people in making informed decisions and this has led to the beginning of a new era in a democracy.

 

Hypocrisy and Indian Politics

Hypocrisy and politics go hand -in- hand. With the elections right around the corner, let us talk about one of the most crucial parts of democratic elections, Election manifestos. As the erstwhile Chief Justice of India has noted, “manifestoes have become a mere piece of paper”. Let us take the example of the longest ruling political party of India, Congress: who were able to keep the same political agenda in the last 60 years, with only a few differences here and there. It is unfair to say that Congress didn’t have their hand in the development of our country. As historians have pointed out, those first few leaders helmed India’s transition to a secular, independent, democratic republic. But the successive generations of Congress leaders showed incompetence and lethargy which increased year by year and allowed a deep-rooted corruption in the country. All the money for these promises was siphoned off from leaders downwards to the bureaucrats and then to the petty officials. Eradicating corruption and alleviating poverty has been the political agenda of Congress since quite a while. no one has been able to use a pragmatic approach for these issues.

Let us talk about demonetisation which was an approach to curb corruption, although effective, innovative Indians were able to beat legislation and corruption continues unaffected to the steps taken. Let us now look at the current ruling party, BJP.

With aggressive rallies and glib talking, our beloved prime minister was able to sway a majority of the votes. Modi showed devotion to the agendas he promised and worked toward them, yet there were a few he wasn’t able to fulfill. Although he did introduce bullet train, improved foreign relations, introduced a scheme for farmers, retaliated against Pakistan’s border violations and much more.

Here are a few promises he couldn’t keep:

He promised the reduction of prices on goods, instead, we currently face a rise in the cost of dal, petrol, and other necessities. He promised the creation of jobs and employment to all, so far, only 22 lakh new jobs were created. 31% of the ministers in BJP have criminal cases against them, even the critically acclaimed, Yogi Aditya Nath. Furthermore, a lot of controversy regarding the Rafale deal and the list of names given by the Swiss bank.

These case studies should help us realise how political leaders get away with false promises. The election commission released a statement saying that they are not responsible for false political agendas. The model code of conduct drafted by the Election Commission of India for the 2014 general elections had guidelines that prohibited parties from making promises in their manifestoes that would exert influence on voters.

However, the very fact that the code is not enforceable by law leads to such a vast misuse of it. The ECI censured the AIADMK in August 2016 for not being able to give a rationale and means to meet the financial requirements for the poll promises provided in its manifesto in the Tamil Nadu assembly elections that year. But this approach has had limited dividends. This is a major electoral malpractice that we have allowed for so long. It exploits a loophole, namely, judicial options for action against political parties regarding election manifestos are limited, furthermore they do not ensure compliance. Another problem that arises is that the political agendas do not cover most of what is wrong with India, it only focuses on the issue of development of India, political parties do not address some of the more controversial social evils and environment. For example:

Child Labour: They fear the retaliation of people whose livelihood depends on this. The bangle industry, glass making industry, and the tobacco industry are involved in it. As discussed earlier, there is widespread unemployment in India, so this issue isn’t being addressed.

Bajrang Dal and Khap Panchayat: The Bajrang Dal is known to beat up couples with sticks and commit criminal offence against minors and get away with it. To avoid political backlash parties casually ignore such acts. Khap panchayat is an organisation that condones and actively participates in honour killings, but these people act as huge vote banks, so parties look the other way.

Women’s safety: Rape is the third most common crime against women in India. In 2015, there were over 36400 rape cases and yet, as we can see, rape conviction rates continue to remain low.

Access to healthcare: Using data from the 2016 Global Burden of Disease study.It estimates that more than 2.4 million people died in India in 2016 due to conditions that could have been treated by healthcare, the highest number of “amenable deaths” among the countries studied.

Pollution: India dominates the list of the world’s most polluted cities.

There are two major types of election manifestos: One in which parties give a variation of the same manifestos they have used in previous elections. And the other where they make lofty elusive promises that by the end they fail to live up to.

If democracy is a social contract between those elected and ordinary citizens, then manifestoes should be considered as a legal contract enshrining a country’s purported development agenda. For the health of India’s democracy, ensuring accountability for manifestoes remains a key reform that needs to be worked on.

ISIS: Origins

Terrorism has become a festering wound. It is the enemy of humanity.

-Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Whilst multiple organisations engage in this inhumane occupation, one has come to the forefront in the 21st century. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/Levant (ISIS). The sheer power of this entity has been demonstrated worldwide innumerable times now.

And this is just in 4 years of its formal inception. The 2014 siege in Iraq remains one of the darkest days for the Iraqi government. Since then, the ISIS has hardly stopped its juggernaut and expanded to surrounding regions of Syria, Levant and even the tried to enter the Gulf countries.

Kurdish women on a hard-earned break

The ISIS emerged from the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, the first post-Ottoman Islamist group. It adheres to jihadist principles akin to other outfits like the Al-Qaeda. They follow Salafism(Wahhabism), which is a very strict sect of Sunni Islam. It labels non-Muslims as infidels and apostates and does not shy away from violence to enforce their ideology.

The Islamic State’s official publication is pretty slick. Maybe it’s not surprising that the Islamic State has a regular periodical: Every crazy group of violent extremists in the world has some sort of leaflet or zine they publish. But Dabiq, the ISIS equivalent of Time mixed with People and a Chick tract, is something very different. Most articles start with a solid two or three paragraphs of “all this happened only by God’s will,” “praise Allah for granting us victory,” etc. … but there’s also a regular series of columns by a British journalist, John Cantlie, imprisoned by the Islamic State since 2012. They’re … weird reads, to say the least.

They are very honest about some things. Most propaganda endeavours to make one’s enemies appear as ugly and brutal as possible while portraying one’s own side as shining and blameless. The Islamic State does not do this. For one thing, their fawning ads about various jihadis don’t show only happy pictures … they almost always include a picture of the man’s corpse. The warriors of ISIS are proud to be terrorists and proud to be brutal.

They consider the U.S. a reliable source of weapons. One thing ISIS isn’t short on is weaponry. Not long ago ISIS captured some 2,300 humvees the U.S. left in the care of the Iraqi military. Some of this weaponry was left with the Iraqi Army. But a bunch of it comes from American efforts to arm “friendly” militant groups in Syria. Unfortunately, it’s often not easy to discern which groups are friendly to which side, let alone the motivation behind the different groups’ actions.

Within the narrow bounds of its theology, the Islamic State hums with energy, even creativity. Outside those bounds, it could hardly be more arid and silent: a vision of life as obedience, order, and destiny. It is ready to cheer its own near-obliteration, and to remain confident, even when surrounded, that it will receive divine succour if it stays true to the Prophetic model. Ideological tools may convince some potential converts that the group’s message is false, and military tools can limit its horrors. But for an organization as impervious to persuasion as the Islamic State, few measures short of these will matter, and the war may be a long one, even if it doesn’t last until the end of time.

The Miracles of Democracy

Indian political system is one of the weirdest things this country has ever seen after Koi Mil Gaya’s Jaadu. It has its own essence of respect, love, hate, celebrations, and heartbreak. Sometimes it gives a vibe that it’s a Bollywood movie but then the public draws the line between the EVM and the camera. It’s a world of its own kind. It has seen some great leaders, colossal personalities, giant figures of world politics and assassinations.

Every time you think that you understand this game of politics, it pulls out another masterstroke which will leave the whole world astonished. The elections of 5 states i.e. Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Telangana, Rajasthan, and Mizoram were a perfect example that democracy is always about for the people, of the people and by the people.

The colossal science of politics always lost its path whenever it came to India. The days when our Prime Minister’s party and its alliances almost looked insurmountable, what followed next was a big shock to them. On one side it can be a blessing in disguise for them as this result allows them to know their faults and work on it but on the other side the UPA comes out strong after being politically dead for a couple of years. There is no doubt that these results will affect the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It will now be a see-saw battle which once looked one-sided. These couple of months will give UPA something to cherish and build the foundation to erect a castle, on the other side it will be a wake-up call for NDA to reorganize themselves and rethink their strategies. It is not going to be a cakewalk for either of them.

But the questions here is why did this sudden turnaround happen? Everyone has their own answer and logic behind it. Some say it’s because of the economic conditions of the country, some say it’s because of the demonetization, some say it’s because of the money spent needlessly on the statue of unity. So, everyone who discusses politics has their opinions for this and every picture tells its own story. Still, this question remains unanswered, not because we don’t have one but because we cannot choose which answer is the most appropriate one. As far as the Indian political history reflects, this question is one of the MCQ types.

But till the time of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, these state election results have eradicated any perception of “Dominance” or “The Modi Wave” that is building again. Till then keep an eye on the Indian Political system, maybe some more miracles yet to happen on the turf of Kurukshetra.

Men Too

Brett Kavanaugh is a learned man.

The 53 year old Republican was until recently kept busy by a huge backlog of cases at his extremely popular law firm. However, a landmark announcement in July by President Trump shook Kavanaugh’s world. He’d been nominated for a position on the U.S Supreme Court. A day every practicing American lawyer wants to wake up to. It wasn’t a one off achievement for Kavanaugh though. He’s been adding feathers to his cap well before he started out as a brash young D.C lawyer. Graduating cum laude from Yale, a lot was expected from him.

He seemed to live up to them. Until Ms.Christine Ford decided to knock on his heavy door in September 2018. Ms. Ford alleged that she’d been sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh in the 80’s, and might have been raped, until a third person intervened. Ford was 15 at the time. She positively ‘thinks’ that it’s Kavanaugh, without having any witness to back up her stance.And yet, Ms. Ford has gathered a huge army of supporters on social media such as Quora, Instagram and Facebook.

Dr Ford

Kavanaugh’s unblemished record already seems to be compromised in the public’s critical eye, even though the judge hasn’t reached a decision. His approval ratings have fallen by a mile, and the pseudo liberal junta would not stop until he’s ousted.

Closer home, we have another such case. The Jasleen Kaur vs Saravjeet case has grabbed eyeballs since its inception. Jasleen had filed a complaint against Saravjeet in 2015 for harassment and verbal abuse. Saravjeet’s photo was uploaded on various social media, and Jasleen was hailed as a brave shark in a sea of silent fish.Saravjeet faced the consequences. He lost his job, not surprisingly. And 3 years and 13 summons later, Saravjeet still struggles.

And how’s Jasleen doing? Well, she left the country for greener pastures. And while doing that, failed to attend a single hearing.

So after all that praise that we shower on our Instagram activists, is it finally time to reflect?

• Why were the allegations against Kavanaugh made after 35 years?
• Why was a person who lost his job even before his trial made to wait 13 hearings to put his view across the media?
• Are we glorifying such armchair activists a bit too much?
• Why aren’t men put on the same pedestal as women in these cases?

Let’s look at the key aim of feminism. Its equality between men and women. It does not mean women are superior to men. By glorifying these internet starlets aren’t we killing the very definition we fought so long for?

The Jasleen case could have been handled in such a better manner. But our pseudo-feminists didn’t want to take that chance. Saravjeet didn’t get a single interview at the time of the incident. Kavanaugh is the first S.C nominee to have such a stellar track record and experience.

 I’m neither supporting Kavanaugh nor Saravjeet. I don’t really care about the final verdict. I’ve been appalled by the way our media and internet darlings have handled these cases. All I want is a fair judgement. Also, I’m not demeaning feminism in any manner. Being a proud feminist myself, I think the time’s come that we start protecting the very basis of feminism.

Else, the world can gear up for #MenToo.

-Shivaansh Mishra