POLICY CENTRE AND GENDER LAB

Seventy-five glorious years have passed since the dawn of 15th August 1947, when a young nation was born out of a long story of struggle written with the blood, sweat and tears of its people. The year 2022 commemorates the 75th year of India's Independence from the British Raj, 75 diamond years of the country's path toward a dream cherished by its 1.3 billion people. They embarked on a challenging journey to build a nation that will shine brightly, embrace diversity, and uplift the underprivileged. It was believed that this young nation would not be able to stay united or develop from the shackles of poverty and inequalities. Nonetheless, the developmental journey of India proved all critics wrong. The National Movement was as glorious as the sacrifice made by the people of India. The brave and unabashed fight put up against the colonial rulers was a force to reckon with. From the radical actions of revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh to the non-violent satyagrahas of Mahatma Ga...

“NOTHING CAN COME OF NOTHING,” wrote William Shakespeare in his tragic play “King Lear.” I read these lines sitting in my balcony, overlooking the luscious green Ashoka trees, thinking plausibly how I could enlighten others with my radiance and bring a new morning in the broad daylight. I couldn’t help but ponder, what could possibly come of nothing if we continue with our relentless raptorial exploitation of the natural resources, literally leaving nothing for our future lineage. While global warming threatens more and worse cyclones, droughts, avalanches, floods with catastrophic consequences for food, water and livelihood, we decide to take offence at Ranveer Singh’s unclad pictures. We are celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav but where do ”we” as a society actually stand in our 75th year of Independence ? It is time to panic. The natural environment, the biodiversity, the ecological systems that sustain all forms of life are collapsing. We face criss crossing crise...

  Let’s just normalise A girl’liking blue & a boy liking pink, Just Stop demarcating colours with your mental ink Let’s not trap people in the cage of societal norms, Let’s happily coexist with genders of all forms Let everyone live and love freely Let all be true’ to themselves fully It’s okay being in love with gender similar to you Let’s just normalise, A boy liking pink and a girl liking blue Nail paints are not just for females, Let’s normalise makeup on males Love is a euphoric feeling irrespective of your sex, All we need is to take down our narrow minded spex Let’s make this world a place where LGBTQ community doesn’t feel like a scare, Let everyone take pride in who they are Just Stop coloring everyone with your hue Let’s just normalise, A boy liking pink and a girl liking blue. By- Bhumika      

I identify as queer. And I felt a profound pride for all of us when other individuals told me they were queer. I believed that by working together, we were bravely challenging preconceived notions of who and what a person could be. I was certain that we were the next generation of young radicals pushing humanity forward. For months, I struggled with the question of my queer identity, eventually accepting that I was queer because I had a larger vision of love and human embodiment than those mandated by Western civilization's normal gender roles. I started using gender-neutral pronouns, and I started to become annoyed when folks assumed I was a woman. My androgyny assumed queerness because I felt myself as more complete and complex than a woman, both feminine and masculine. Was it, however, I? What does it mean to be queer existentially? Queer love is revolutionary, redefines family, and opposes assimilation into heteropatriarchy, according to one of the various definitions of queern...

Over the years, India, the land of culture, tradition and Bollywood has seen many musical maestros who have helped its songs reach every corner of the world. One of these singing legends was Lata Mangeshkar, who we lost on 6th February, 2022 at the age of 93. Lataji, born as Hema Mangeshkar, is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of India. Throughout her magnificent career over seven decades, she earned several titles like ‘Queen of Melody’, ‘Nightingale of India’, ‘Voice of the Millenium’, ‘Swara Kokila’ and so on.  Lata Mangeshkar was only 5 years when her father, Pandit Deenanath, discovered her talent. She would practice and sing for his musical plays.  However, her life and victories did not come without their trials. Lata Mangeshkar lost her father early on in life and had to shoulder the responsibility of the rest of the family at the tender age of mere 13 years. With the burden of feeding her family, she turned to music to make a living. V...

W orld Elder abuse awareness day is being recognized each year on June 15, launched by the international network for the prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) and the World Health Organization in 2006. The United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution 66/127, constituted June 15 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Elder abuse, particularly sexual abuse against the elder citizens stemming from deep-rooted bias and age discrimination is a global issue that affects the human rights, and mental and physical health of elderly people around the globe.   We have an aging population and the number of older people is expected to be 1.4 billion by 2030. According to WHO, elder abuse can be defined as "a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person". ·         Around 1 in 6 people 60 years and older experienced some form o...