The Beautiful Life

Crimes like rape and molestation have witnessed almost a three-fold increase in Mumbai since 2010-11 raising questions over safety of women, children and senior citizens, according to a survey conducted by a city-based NGO, Praja Foundation. In light of this survey, Chitra Sawant spoke to Dr Sanjay Deshpande, Consultant Sexologist and Vice Chairperson, Council of Sex Education and Parenthood International on rape, sexuality and safety of women. Q: Does suppression of sexual urge in a person compel him to force his desires on others? A: Not necessarily, not every man devoid of sexual pleasure is a rapist. Basically rape is a masculine expression of power in a violent way. In order to draw sexual pleasure, it is important that both the partners must be interested and ready for sex. Many a times a woman is trapped under pressure for sexual relations from a man holding an important position and when the woman resists, the pressure rape occurs. Hence, women s...

Pravin Mote (in pic) is a social activist and researcher on environmental economics and climate change issues. He works with forest and mining affected communities in Chandrapur and Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Pravin spoke  on India’s stance at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris. Q: India has submitted its plan at the COP 21 UN Conference on Climate Change, how useful will it prove for India? A: The government has submitted its Plan titled as ‘India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution’ (INDC) to the UN Climate Convention in October. However, it was not nationally determined and it does not contribute in any way towards solving the climate crisis, it can only help worsen the crisis.  For such an important document touching upon a number of crucial areas of public policy, a draft should have been introduced and discussed thoroughly in Parliament. The government should have asked for inputs from v...

A Sabarimala temple official has sparked an angry nationwide social media campaign after he said that women would be allowed into the shrine — but only after a scanning machine is invented to tell whether or not they were menstruating. Chitra Sawant spoke to noted activist Vidya Bal (in pic), whose Pune-based organisation, Milun Saryajani, has been working across the state on several issues related to the empowerment of  women.  Vidya’s contribution as an editor, writer and a feminist spans over five decades. Excerpts of the interview. Q: The chief of Devasom Board of Sabarimala Temple, Kerala has said women could be allowed inside the temple only after the invention of a machine to ‘check their purity’, alluding to their menstrual cycles. Are such statements now being made because of the present government at the Centre? A: The present government has added to the basic patriarchy system that is prevailing in the world ever since the past 5,000 ye...

By C hitra Sawant Mumbai :  Everybody knows Scrabble, that old chestnut of a board game, played during vacations or rainy afternoons. For regular players, the game is more about language and vocabularies, but for champions, it’s about memorization and mathematical probabilities, the dictionary is a giant rulebook. Twenty-six-year-old Sherwin Rodrigues, an Andheri resident, is a six-time National Scrabble Champion (All India Rank no. 1 2008-2011, 2013-2014). He is currently ranked no. 1 in India. He has won various other National level tournaments over the last 10 years. His Scrabble achievements are formidable. Sherwin has represented India at five World Scrabble Championships (WSC), WSC 2005 in London, WSC 2007 in Mumbai, WSC 2009 in Malaysia, WSC 2011 in Poland and WSC 2013 in Prague. He is the only Indian to do so. His best finish was 9th out of 111 in WSC Prague. He is only Indian representing the country to finish in the top 10 at a World Championshi...

Abhinaya Kamble addressing the workshop “Dalit feminism is now being talked by a few dalit women who are under Brahmanical surveillance and trapped in politics of recognition. These dalit women talk about the dalit man and his subordination to his woman but a majority of dalit women are under the subordination of caste-based public patriarchy. Surekha Bhotmange of the Khairlanji’s case is one of the examples of such a system,” said research scholar and activist Abhinaya Ramesh. Abhinaya was speaking at a two-day workshop on ‘Dalit Women: Social Experience, Resistance and Knowledge Building’ organised by ‘Phule-Ambedkar Chair’ of University of Mumbai recently in the city. Raja Dhale, an Ambedkarite intellectual and founder of Dalit Panther, pointed out during the workshop that in Ambedkarian thought, caste and gender were seen as co-impacting and constituting each other so Ambedkarite struggle is simultaneously against caste and patriarchy. Head of Phule-Ambedkar Chair ...

Former IAS officer E Z Khobragade, while working as the chief executive officer, zilla parishad, Nagpur initiated the preamble reading programme in the year 2005 at the school level. He followed up on this issue with the state government, after which, in 2008, the Maharashtra government issued orders regarding celebrating Constitutional Day in all offices, schools and colleges on November 26. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently declared that Constitutional Day will be celebrated on November 26 across the country. Chitra Sawant spoke to Khobragade on the importance of celebrating Constitution Day. Q: It has been decided to celebrate November 26 as Constitution Day in various institutions across the country… A: The Constitution is framed for the people with an objective to build a developed, prosperous and strong nation. The Preamble is the soul of our Constitution, the opening page and an integral part of our Constitution which is our ‘Rashtra Granth’. The Preamble to the C...

Infant mortality rate (IMR) at Melghat was as high as 200 per 1,000 when Dr Ravindra Kolhe started working for the tribals in the year 1989 in this dense forest region of Maharashtra notoriously known for malnourishment deaths. It was Dr. Kolhe’s tireless efforts with the strong support of his wife Dr. Smita that he changed the entire scenario. Along with other developmental changes in this region, IMR has come down to 60. The Kolhes charge only Re 1 from the patients visiting their clinic at Bairagad village, in Dharni taluka in Amravati which is tucked deep in the interiors of Melghat. The couple was in the city where they were felicitated by medicos for their contribution towards providing health care, introducing modern agriculture among other facilities to the tribals of this region. FPJ spoke with Dr Ravindra Kolhe  on the occasion. Q: In spite of several measures and funds provided by the government why does malnutrition still exist in Melghat? A: Maln...