Findings of Data on Police Organizations (DoPO) by Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR-D).
Over 5.31 lakh posts in police forces of different states have been lying vacant, according to the BPR&D report.Thursday 31 December 2020
More than 5 lakh posts are vacant in Police forces- Report
Saturday 26 December 2020
दादी के राम
दादी की कहानियों में,
दादी के हर गाने में,
बस था एक ही नाम,
वो था राम।
जब वक़्त नहीं कटता था,
तो कलम उठा कर लिखती थी,
और राम नाम से पूरा पन्ना भर्ती थी
एक छोटे से मंदिर में राम का पोस्टर चिपका कर,
मन ही मन रोज़ कुछ मांगती थी,
अगर इच्छा ना हो पूरी तो मुंह नहीं फेरती थी,
दोबारा वहीं जाके राम नाम जप्ती थी।
जब मंदिर बड़ा हुआ तो भगवान का जैसे सैलाब अगया,
पर राम नाम तब भी सबसे पहले जुबां पर आया।
और आज जब मंदिर वहीं बन गया है,
तो टीवी देख कर हाथ जोड़ती है।
बोलती है मन में हो राम तो कुछ नहीं चाहिए,
मंदिर जितना बड़ा करलो, भेद नहीं होना चाहिए।
कहानियों के राम को आज में ढूंढती हूं,
जब दिखते नहीं है लोगो में,
तो खुद से प्रशन करती हूं,
क्या कहानी तक सीमित है राम,
या असल ज़िन्दगी में भी होते हैं राम।
बचपन की मासूमियत कुछ ज्यादा ही सीखा गई,
राम नाम को बस मन में ही बसा गई।
लोगो की इज्जत करने से खुश होते हैं राम,
गलती मानकर सुधारने से खुश होते हैं राम,
इंसानियत का नाम है राम,
ये था दादी की कहानी का सार।
तो मंदिर के जशन में ये मत भूलना,
शबरी के झुठे बेर खाने वाले थे राम,
दूसरों के दुख को समझने वाले थे राम,
गलती भी करने वाले थे राम,
ऐसे थे त्रेतायुग के राम,
कलयुग में बाद रह गया है उनका नाम।
Saturday 12 December 2020
Photo story: It rained in Dehradun
While going on a cycle ride I thought why not post a photo story about today. So here it goes - An ode to the first winter rain of Dehradun.
The Ugly Side
Let me start with the ugly side of the rain first. This road was dug for some pipeline work and even after many months (I cannot remember how many probably more than 2 months) the road is still not repaired.
The hand which didn't grow them |
A sarso flower for the ongoing farmers' protest. We cannot survive without them.
"I am constant" |
The perfect sunset point near Subhash Nagar. During the lockdown, I came to this spot every evening just to see the sunset. This spot never disappoints.
The cloudy affair |
It is a rare sight. The mountains are only visible when it rains or some other day only known to scholars and God.
Saturday 21 November 2020
The Journey of a Deceased Man
Legs dipped in the holy water of river Ganga, she blames God for making her a girl. "This is your fault, you made me a girl," she complains.
Haridwar Ghat |
The journey has just started when one of the patriarchs disgusted by the presence of two women claims- ONLY MEN ARE ALLOWED.
"This is not our culture," says the patriarch.
The woman sits there calmly listening to the jibber-jabber of the patriarch with other 20 patriarchs in the bus.
He tells her that she must have learnt this from YouTube and television.
"Oh, they didn't know about Netflix yet," she thinks.
"This is Christian's tradition. We are HINDU BRAHMINS," he says.
In a bus of 23 people, no one stood up to tell the patriarch that he is wrong.
"Calm down. Be quiet," responded the other patriarchs.
As the patriarch continued to spur venom, two liberals stood up. One of the liberals was a male. To reiterate one male out of 20 and one female out of two stood up.
The patriarch's argument is -"This is a man's job."
As she hears him, she smiles and thinks, "What if I was a boy? The society wouldn't have questioned me for my presence at my father's funeral."
"What if I was Christain, life would be much simpler."
And sitting beside the Ganga she questions God, "Why did you make me a girl?"
The patriarchs |
Wednesday 11 November 2020
"We have to look at the fractured parts and see how to reconnect them:” Akshay Kaul
Akshay Kaul |
1.
How did
the idea behind the workshop originate?
I have been actively involved in Kashmir since the 2014 floods. I travelled the whole length of the valley and met many stakeholders, engineers, and common people to understand why the floods happened.
Kashmir Floods 2014 |
After researching for six months I started presenting about the natural ecological fragility of the
valley and why the floods happened. The ecosystem is on a threshold and until
it is actively engaged, we will keep losing it.
We teamed
up with young people and started a cafe talk over architecture. We even started
one of the first story walks in the downtown to engage with people. In 2016 the
office of the chief minister called us and after that, we were
very actively engaged in doing one of its kind multidisciplinary workshops
and conferences. We also initiated a solid waste management dialogue.
For flood
relief we wanted the government to adopt alternate practices which have been
done globally for designing with nature so that if it rains it is absorbed on
the side itself and slowly percolates into the ground. Therefore, only some
part of the city is inundated.
I kept
going to Kashmir and then I had friends who were teaching in the school of
architecture. They invited me and I did 2-3 workshops with architecture
students on how to document lakes and what are the issues.
People were restless due to COVID and even the architecture community
understands very little about larger issues of geography, climate, and designs
that are responsive to nature, so I started the workshop with two modules where I teach architects
of the country on how to do sensitive planning. If you have to construct a
building on a 50-acre site I demonstrate from my projects of the last 25 years,
what are the parameters that must be taken care of.
2. Do you
think there is a change in the landscape planning in Kashmir post-2014 floods?
I think some people are talking about ecologically sensitive urban planning but not enough. There might be a slight iota of increase in the awareness but on the ground, it doesn't get translated into action.
If we look at Kashmir’s environmental history, flood was a recurring process but there were smaller floods. During the Maharaja reign when the floods came, he invited a French engineer who created a diversion channel which helped to reduce the yearly floods in the valley. Certain areas would get inundated but they were primarily agrarian areas but now those areas are inhabited by people.
Kashmir Floods 2014 |
The whole connectivity of the lakes and sub-ground connectivity is completely
fragmented due to the construction of rails, roads. Lakes have been encroached
and shrunken.
The
project proposal floated by the then Jammu and Kashmir government sought to
create another channel that would straightaway take water into the Wular Lake
from where it would drain off. This proposal was not an
ecologically-based solution because Wular Lake is shrunk completely and the
volume of water coming in the lake would have backflow.
3.
What
interventions are required for wetlands and rivers in Kashmir?
It's not
a big deal for the government to save the water bodies. With a clear mandate
and support, they can take waterbodies one by one. If I have to work on the
Jhelum river, I would take a smaller watershed and then another watershed
and so on. The government can also follow this pattern.
The
watersheds of Anchar lake are completely dried up because water is not
coming from the catchment areas which means that the catchment is disturbed and
fragmented. Another reason is the discharge of sewage into the water bodies
which have a huge amount of nitrogen. This results in the growth of plantation
which converts it into a marsh. A huge amount of pesticides also make their way
into the rivers causing contamination of groundwater.
Anchar Lake |
An
alternative to chemical farming is organic farming but the organic farming
content is minuscule in Kashmir. The level of education and awareness required
for organic farming is not sufficient in the valley.
4.
What are
the environmental challenges in urban planning in Kashmir?
We are
not responding to climate emergencies and changing weather patterns. If you
look at it historically Kashmir is a lake of bed which drains off from just one
point and it is very prone to earthquakes and much more prone to
flooding.
There is
sprawl in terms of taking over land-use change over the years from agrarian to
plantation, marshy to plantation, and agrarian to build. After the 2014 floods,
the building typology hasn't changed so are our planning bylaws.
For
instance, when we're building in low lying areas like Bemina where it got
flooded the most in 2014, the building typology should mandate at least 10 feet
of stilted buildings which are also being followed in the outskirts of Kolkata
where the Hugli river inundates every year. This type of responsiveness is
missing in Kashmir. It can only handle a certain amount of people and there is
no room for expansion.
Bemina Area |
Many
proposals came after the floods but people are building on the same place as it
is never going to flood again but if it rains for two days in Kashmir people
are frightened.
5.
What do
you think is missing from the current education system of landscape planning in
India?
The curriculum in India is only Masters for landscape architecture and we
don't have any undergraduate curriculum per se where you can go through the
rigour of landscape planning. Another serious problem that exists in our
landscape architecture curriculum is that only those students who have done
specialization in architecture can apply for it. If we include people from
other professions it will add more to the course.
For example, a person with a sociology background will help us to understand human behaviour in open spaces which will help in making more responsive designs for public spaces. Since people from other fields don’t join the courses there is a very little breadth of the course.
When I
was studying landscape architecture from State University, New York, we had
students who were from different fields thereby expanding the breadth of the
subject. This helped us to understand the whole profession and other people add
on the expertise of their domain and each of these domains then picks up issues
of the environment and embraces it.
6.
Which
cities/states in India come under the category of well-planned in terms of
ecological planning and landscape design?
Sikkim
has a turnaround story from being a plastic dumped state to a litter-free
state. While travelling to Sikkim as soon as you cross West Bengal, you see
there is not an iota of plastic in the state. With whatever minimal
infrastructure they have, I would say Sikkim stands way far in comparison to
other states.
Sikkim |
There are
many other isolated places on high altitudes in India on which I've been doing
some research where individual efforts are merely heartwarming.
7.
What
steps should be taken by the government to have environment-sensitive planning?
Some of the work done by us is being implemented by the government. For instance, about four-five years back we talked about connecting greenspaces in Delhi so that they become places for water resilience, wastewater management, biodiversity and once you put this green infrastructure into place, they also become recreational space.
We have to look at the fractured parts and see how to reconnect them whether they are water systems or green systems.
We have
an administrative boundary under the jurisdiction of some authority and then
there is a political boundary which is under an MLA and then there's an
administrative boundary which is that of the district. Half of the rivers which
are a part of two-three boundaries are cleaned in one part and the other part
remains as such. We're not looking at it comprehensively.
If we don't look at it from a holistic management principle then we will be running into a problem. There has to be a correlation between all the boundaries for better results.
Monday 28 September 2020
A lost paradise for non-Kashmiri minors
“Rohan was brought to Pulwama through a consultancy firm who told us that he was an adult,” said Tawseef Ahmad Ganai, a member of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Pulwama. When the CWC got information about Rohan they informed the District Child Protection Unit (DCPO) who brought Rohan to the CWC. On examination, the CWC found out that he was a student of eighth class when he was brought to Kashmir which means that he was around 13 years old, said Ganai.
The consultancy firm was given a warning and since then it is under the scanner of the CWC, Ganai stressed.
People believe that there is no human trafficking in Jammu & Kashmir but they are wrong, said Mohd Sharif Bhat, J&K and Ladakh head of Save the Children, a Non-Government Organization (NGO). As a person who works in the field, Bhat has seen many people having minor non-Kashmiri servants.
Three years back Bhat came across a minor girl from Kolkata who was found on a farm in Kupwara. Bhat was informed about her by the Information District Social welfare officer. When he met her, she was traumatized and didn’t say anything, recalled Bhat.
“I took her to the hospital and informed the concerned authorities,” said Bhat. It was later found out that the girl was suffering from tuberculosis.
According to the social worker, a majority of minors come from Jharkhand through agencies that lure them for jobs.
Picture Courtesy: India.com |
As per the data of the 2011 Census, India had 10.13 million child labourers, between the age of 5-14 with Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh being the most affected states.
Kashmir receives many minors through consultancy firms who are employed as house workers and a majority of such helpers are employed in Srinagar, said Farooq Ahmad, a Srinagar CWC member. According to Farooq, the number of female minors is more in Srinagar than male minors and the number is increasing.
Recently he came across two-three minors who were brought to the valley through consultancy agencies. One of them was a minor girl from West Bengal whose mother has died and his father, a drunkard, sold her to the agency which brought her to Kashmir, said Farooq.
Due to the pandemic, the minor girl is kept at a shelter in Srinagar and once the conditions improve, she would be sent to the West Bengal CWC.
The condition in other districts of Kashmir is not the same as Srinagar. According to Fahmeeda Maqbool, Chairperson CWC Ganderbal, the number of cases of non-Kashmiri minor helpers is quite less in Ganderbal, and in most of the cases, the number of male minors is more than female minors.
One being asked how the CWC handles such cases, Maqbool said that at first the date of birth is checked and if it does not comply with the Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986, the child is taken under the care of CWC and strict action is taken against the offender.
The Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986 states that children below 14 and 15 years in certain prohibited employments have been prohibited by various Acts but there is no procedure laid down in any law for deciding in which employment children are banned. The Act was amended in 2016 and in 2017. The current Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 but they can work in family business/enterprises only if they are non-hazardous.
Another case which the advocate recalled is of a 15-year-old Rohingya girl who was sold in Delhi at Rs. 70,000 to a Kashmiri who married her when she came to Kashmir. The girl’s uncle contacted Faisal and a writ petition was filed by the advocate to rescue the girl.
According to Faisal, the consultancy agencies which bring minors to Kashmir violate many norms. They provide a fake list with numbers of fake parents of the minors, informed the advocate. “Most of the agencies claim that the child does not have a birth certificate and they consider them above 18.”
Even the families hiring minor helpers justify themselves by saying that without the family’s assistance the child would not even get food, said Faisal. Moreover, the money paid by the families is not paid to the minor but to their agents, asserted the advocate.
Sunday 9 August 2020
क्या आज़ाद हूं मैं?
आज़ाद हुए कई साल हुए हैं,
पर आज भी आज़ाद नहीं हूं मैं।
सूरज की पहली किरण से,
सूरज की आखिरी रोशनी तक,
आज़ाद नहीं हूं मैं।
शरीर ढाका हो या ना हो,
नज़रों की मोहताज हूं में,
आज भी आज़ाद नहीं हूं मैं।
पूछो उन नज़रों से जो पीछा करती हैं,
पूछो उन लोगो से को घुरा करते हैं,
क्या आज़ाद हूं मैं?
घर के अंदर भी बंदिश हैं,
बाहर तो अलग ही रंजिश हैं,
तो क्या आज़ाद हूं मैं?
फुक फुक कर कदम रखती हूं,
अंधेरे में घर से निकलने से डरती हूं,
क्या ये हैं मेरी आज़ादी?
कुछ गलत हो तो दोष मेरा हैं,
छोटे कपड़ों से तो आकर्षण बढ़ता है,
अगर आज भी ये सुन ने को मिल रहा है,
तो क्या आज़ाद हूं मैं?
Saturday 1 August 2020
आंखे
Thursday 16 July 2020
Kumaoni Wedding Rituals: Aapdev, Purwang, Pratima Vivah, Dhuliargh, Suwal Pithai
Effigy of mother-in-law and father-in-law |
Kumaoni weddings are quite long. As a person whose roots are Kumaoni, I have attended many Kumaoni nuptials.
Therefore, in this blog, I uncover the traditional Kumaoni wedding ceremony like Aapdev, Purwang, Pratima Vivah, Dhuliargh, Suwal Pithai and many others.
The effigies covered with a yellow cloth and tied in a basket. As the priest recites the rituals, both the bride and groom’s family exchange these effigies.
“Exchange of effigies is a common tradition in Kumaoni wedding. Moreover, marriage is not only about the acceptance of the bride and groom but also of their families,” says Chandru Joshi, a priest who performs Kumaoni weddings.
Women applying turmeric on the bride |
Suwal Pithai
Following Ganesh puja is suwal pithai, an old Kumaoni ritual.
During suwal pithai the elder ladies clad in pichora sings marriage songs. Pichora is a traditional dupatta with saffron color base, covered with red polka dots. Married women drape pichora over a saree or lehenga .
Suwals are like puri. Milk and flour kneaded together to make suwals' dough so that they remain fresh for a long time. “Earlier the bride had to travel a long distance after marriage so the suwals kneaded in milk remained fresh during the journey,” says Joshi.
Suwal Pithai |
Aepon
In Kumaoni wedding rituals aeopn designs decorate small wooden seats. Aepon is a red and white color design made by Kumaonis for festivals, puja and ceremonies. “Nowadays people use paints, earlier aepon prepared with red earth powder and rice paste decorated the wooden seats. Even stickers are available in the market for aepon,” explains Joshi.
Stool decorated with aepon |
Ladies Sangeet and Mehendi
“In villages, during the wedding ladies sangeet was never such a big affair as in the cities these days,” says Manorma Pant, who belongs to Kumaonicommunity. Earlier only female relatives and neighbors sang songs and dance to the tunes of dholaks and manjira, recalls Pant.
Nowadays men also come to the ceremony and it is not a small ceremony, unlike earlier times. The application of henna to the bride and groom is also new to the culture. “I did not apply henna on my wedding. During that time, we didn’t have this ceremony,” says Pant.
Ladies Sangeet |
Apdev and PurwangMany ceremonies take place on the day of Kumaoni wedding. “Ap-dev and purwang are very important ceremonies in Kumaoni culture,” says Joshi. Aap-dev is performed by the males in the family to pay homage to the ancestors and seek their blessings. Aapdev is followed by purwang in which both families along with their priests perform this ceremony. The priest is given rice, pulses, five kinds of dry fruits, milk, curd, clothes, and an amount that the family finds suitable. |
Engagement Ceremony
Another peculiar thing about the Kumaoni wedding is the engagement ceremony. A small number of people from the groom’s side go to the bride’s place. The groom’s brother slips the ring into the bride’s ring finger. Meanwhile families exchange sarees, sweets, fruit baskets, and dry fruits. “Nowadays most of the people don’t follow this custom. The engagement ceremony is a big affair that takes place on some other day,” says Pant.
Pratima Vivah
“Kumaoni weddings fixed by matching the horoscope of the bride and groom,” explains Joshi. If it is not done, the bride ties knot with Lord Vishnu at first. This ceremony is called Pratima Vivah. “It looks like people have moved forward but when it comes to superstitions, they still believe in it,” says Joshi.Dhuliargh
On the eve of the wedding, unmarried girls welcome the marriage procession with urns filled with water and leaves placed on their heads. This ceremony is called Dhuliargh. Meanwhile, the bride’s brother uses an umbrella to escort the groom to the place where the ceremonies are taking place.
“In villages the groom used to walk till the bride’s place on foot. Before performing the ceremony the bride's father cleaned the groom's dusty feet,” says Pant, adding, "people still follow this ritual." The bride’s father cleans the groom’s feet and bride’s mother applies tilak on the groom’s forehead and performs aarti. The families from both sides, their priests and an Acharya perform the ceremony. The acharya could be the groom’s brother in law or nephew.
Jaimala
Kanyadan
The bride and the groom head to the mandap for kanyadan after dinner.
Kanyadan is a Sanskrit word which means ‘giving away the bride’. During Kanyadan the bride and groom sit on the opposite side.
The bride’s father and mother perform kanyadan. “People who are doing Kanyadan have to fast for the whole day,” emphasized Joshi.
There is an exchange of clothes, sweets, fruits and ornaments between the families. The bride adorns the ornaments from groom's side. The father puts the palm of her daughter over his palms. Other members of the family pour water from a small pot. “It is the most emotional ceremony in the Kumaoni wedding in which the parents have to go through,” says Pant.
After kanyadan the bride sits beside the groom. “Adorned with a crown, the rituals acknowledge the bride and groom as God. The bride wears a crown depicting Radha and Krishna and the groom wears the crown depicting Ganesha,” explains Joshi.
Bride and Groom with the crown |
Aanchal Bandhan and Saptawadi
“You will not find people following the Kumaoni wedding these days as they are more tilted towards the big-fat Indian wedding, not the minimally styled wedding,” says Pant. There is a decline in the traditional culture and rituals as more people are moving away from rural areas. Maybe the future generation might not be able to experience the alliance in the mountains.
Events in Kumaoni Wedding |