Antardrishti

  Abstract : Dalit women in India have had a long history of suppression and of leading lives of routine indignity and humiliation. The ‘Breast Tax’ (Mulakkaram or mula-karam in Malayalam), imposed on the lower caste, Dalit women by the Kingdom of Travancore (in present-day Kerala) if they wanted to cover their breasts in public, was one of the many ways of oppressing them. This indignity on the part of the dominant castes inculcated into one of the most significant Dalit as well as female revolts in history – The Channar Lahala or the Channar revolt (also called the Maru Marakkal Samaram) -   a relentless struggle of the Nadar climber women of Travancore for their right to wear upper-body garments. This historic revolt, made news a few years ago, in the CBSE’s infamous decision (2016) to remove the section titled ‘Caste, Conflict and Dress Change’ from its social science curriculum, by labeling it as “objectionable content”. This amounted to an attempt to erase the history ...

Joseph S. Alter, visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Pittsburg, examines in his work Celibacy, Sexuality, and the Transformation of Gender into Nationalism in North India - the use of Hindu concept of Brahmacharya (celibacy) in contemporary India. He relates the concept of Brahmacharya with gender and nationalism in North India. Celibacy can best be practiced as a form of political action targeting against the post-colonial idea of “freedom”, i.e. Westernization. The article focuses on biological as well as spiritual nature of semen and how semen is innately male which makes the concept of celibacy and nationalism a gendered phenomenon. The very first part of the article is- Celibacy, Semen, and the Science of Sex. In a nutshell, this section talks about how semen conservation is essential and provides with various works of people who believe in spillage of semen as a sin.      Because the youth of today are destroying their semen they ...

  *ding* *ding* (2 new notifications) “Hello beautiful! We at xyz wish you a very happy women’s day. Click here to avail exciting offers on beauty products. OFFER VALID ONLY FOR TODAY.” “You are unstoppable, you are fierce, and all about that sass. This Women’s day choose glam, choose style. Redeem code GIRLPOWR01 to win prizes.”   Some of us woke up to these notifications a few days ago. It was 8 th of March and International Women’s Day! In 1908, as many as 15,000 working women took to the streets of New York City, demanding less working hours, wage parity and voting rights. In the following year, the Socialist Party of America had declared February 28 th as America’s National Women’s Day. And inspired by the same, Clara Zetkin (member of Socialist Democratic Party of Germany) pitched in the proposal of observing International Women’s day, at International Conference of Working Women (Denmark). On March 9 th 1911, countries like Austria, Denmark, Germany and ...

Feminism, the word has always been a trigger to some people who believe it is an encroachment on men’s rights. The internet is full of people telling that feminism is not relevant anymore as the modern or the urban society has achieved basic equality and women are just using their “ feminism card” to get privileges. Often, feminism and misandry are used interchangeably thereby pinning feminism at par with something it seeks to destroy: the supremacy of any gender over others. In this article I shall not talk about the increasing number of rape cases, the number of heinous crimes against women of which the majority cases remain unreported, or the dismally low conviction rate of our country. There are already plenty of informative articles out there which talk about these things and educate about the history of feminism, the three waves of feminism and how it has evolved as a movement . I shall be very specific in my approach, talking strictly about feminism and women in the modern or ur...

  On 4 th October 2020, The History Department of Kirori Mal College along with the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of Kirori Mal College organized a 5-day International Webinar on the topic RELEVANCE OF MAHATMA GANDHI IN THE 21ST CENTURY: PHILOSOPHY, POLITICAL IDEAS AND SOCIO-SPIRITUAL DIMENSION to observe the 150 th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. In the 2 nd day of the Webinar, we have had with us Professor Priyankar Upadhyaya, UNESCO Chair for Peace, Benaras Hindu University, Global Fellow, Peace Research Institute Ohio (PRIO), who spoke on the 4 th October 2020 at 3pm IST on the Gandhi in Contemporary Peace Continuum . Prof. Upadhyaya holds M.Phil. and Ph.D from the Jawaharlal Nehru University and holds Advance International Diploma(s) in Conflict Resolution from Uppasala University, Sweden. He is also a scholar of University of London and the Woodrow Wilson Centre for International Scholars, Washington DC. He is a recipient of many...

As the International Webinar on The Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in the 21 st Century : Philosophies, Political ideas and Socio-Spiritual Dimensions came to an end on the 5 th and the last day of the Lecture Series on 7 th October, 2020 organised by The Department of History, Kirori Mal College and Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), the participants shared their knowledge and understanding which was enhanced by the prior lectures. On 7 th October, the platform of the Webinar was thrown open to all the participants for learning through the discourse of debate and discussion. Due to the constraints of the online platform and managing between two different time zones, the organizing committee could not give chance for a discussion that usually follows after a lecture. However, the organizing committee was aware that no clarity could be gained in the field of social sciences without allowing the scholars to discuss and debate and thus on the last day Gandhi Gatha was organized w...

  On 2 nd October 2020 , The History department of Kirorimal college along with the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of Kirorimal college organized a 5-day webinar on the topic RELEVANCE OF MAHATMA GANDHI IN THE 21 ST CEBNTURY: PHILOSOPHY, POLITICAL IDEAS AND SOCIO-SPIRITUAL DIMENSION . The whole function was organized on an online platform to allow more and more participation. The programme began at 11:00am . The programme was moderated by Ridhi Jain , who began by giving a brief introduction of the programme. Principal maam, Dr. Vibha Singh Chauhan , welcomed the whole gathering and congratulated Mr. Amit K suman sir for conducting the programme on a short notice. She talked about how Gandhi ji is an epical figure and is seen as a world leader. Mr. Sanjay Verma , senior faculty member of history department, addressed the whole gathering which was followed by Dr. Anshu’s , the convener of the IQAC cell, addressing. Shambhavi Jha introduced the guest speaker, the guest speaker...