A journalist in Kerala has come under a fierce attack on social media and even her profile has been deactivated by Facebook. Her ‘crime’: she recounted on Facebook the sexual abuses her classmates encountered in their younger days in a madrasa.
Kozhikode-based VP Rajeena is a senior journalist with a prominent Malayalam newspaper.
On November 21, she wrote about the abuse on her Facebook page. And shortly afterwards, she started receiving threats online.
The detractors were so large in numbers that their move to report the profile to Facebook forced the social network to close down the page.
Rajeena, in her post, claimed to have witnessed the alleged immoral conduct of madrasa instructors.
“The abuses came in large numbers, questioning my motive at making these revelations. They pictured it as an attack on the religion. I never tried to generalise this as the behaviour of all madrasa instructors. I just shared what I experienced. But many others from the community did come out in support. A few shared with me similar experiences which they had kept as secret all these years,” The Hindu quoted Rajeena as saying.
“One of the other criticisms was on the timing of my revelations. I thought of making this public after I started hearing the opinions of conservative community organisations on the question of gender equality, related to the Feroke college issue. Muslim women here are facing denial of justice on so many levels, but they do not have a platform to raise these issues within the community. I was forced to use social networks because of this very reason. The suppressed anger of so many years might have also come out through the post,” she added.
The National Human Rights Commission has issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government over a media report on students of a district being asked to wear coloured ribbons and wrist bands based on their caste.
“The Commission has taken suo motu cognizance of a media report that in schools of Tirunelveli district students were asked to wear coloured ribbons and wrist bands indicating their caste”, NHRC said in a release.
“The Commission has observed that the content of the press report, if true, raises a serious issue of human rights. Accordingly, it has issued notices to Social Welfare Department, Principal Secretary and Tirunelveli District Collector calling for a factual report within two weeks,” it said.
The media report said the district administration while investigating clashes between student groups found that wrist bands were often used to target students on the basis of caste.
“There was a ban by the District Collector over such wrist bands in schools. There was no written order but only a direction was issued during a meeting of the Education Department,” it said.
Jamia Millia Islamia has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be the chief guest at its annual convocation this year.
The varsity has, however, not received any confirmation from the PMO regarding the same.
“We are looking forward to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi at our university. We had extended an invitation to him earlier this month to be the chief guest at our annual convocation. We have not received any communication from the PMO so far,” the university spokesman Mukesh Ranjan said.
Last year, President Pranab Mukherjee was the chief guest at the convocation of the university, which was founded in 1920 and became a central university in 1988.
The invitation assumes significance as Modi, who has not visited the university so far, had attacked Jamia in 2008 after the Batla House encounter in September that year.
Addressing a gathering in Gujarat, he had said, “There is a university in Delhi called Jamia Millia Islamia. It has publicly announced that it will foot the legal fee of terrorists involved in act. Go drown yourself. This Jamia Millia is being run on government money and it is daring to spend money on lawyers to get terrorists out of jail. When will this vote bank politics end?”
Modi’s comments had come following a statement by the then Jamia VC Mushirul Hasan that the university would offer legal aid to two of its students arrested for their suspected involvement in terror activities.
In a major blow to Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party, its MLA Akhilesh Tripathi was arrested by the Delhi Police on Thursday.
He was arrested in connection with a 2013 riots case. The arrested AAP MLA has been sent to judicial custody.
Akhilesh Tripathi is an MLA from Delhi’s Model Town constituency.
Noteworthy, Tripathi is the 5th AAP MLA arrested by police.
Earlier on Thursday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi had apologised for a goof up in a newspaper advertisement given on the occasion of the first Constitution Day. The advertisements carried the preamble of the Constitution, but omitted ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ words from the same.
BJP on Thursday advised Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, who is embroiled in controversy over his remarks on intolerance, to visit his ancestral village Akhtiyaarpur in Hardoi district and see for himself with how much love and harmony people live there.
“People of Akhtiyaarpur are looking for Aamir. He should visit his village Ahktiyaarpur and see with how much love and harmony people live there,” said BJP national spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain.
He said that Aamir left the village at an early age and joined Bollywood, but people there still believe in ‘Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb’, a term used to describe mutually participatory co-existence of Hindu and Muslim culture.
Hussain said, “Whenever his new film is scheduled to be released, he is very much in discussion.”
He said the actor has given a good statement that he was proud of India. “But India is not such that even a thought should crop up in his mind that he should leave the country. He should not harbour such a thought.”
“There is no fear. I have already said he is not afraid, but making people afraid,” he said.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi embattled the government on the issue of intolerance alleging that ideals and principles of the Constitution were under threat and being attacked deliberately. She said, “People who never had faith in the Constitution, nor had they participated in its drafting, are now swearing by it and are laying claim to it. Insisting that whatever being witnessed over the past few months was “totally against the principles” of the Constitution.” She recalled Ambedkar’s warning to hit out at the ruling dispensation, as she sought to highlight the contribution of the Congress in the drafting of the Constitution and in the freedom struggle. Ambedkar observed that howsoever good a Constitution may be, if those implementing it were bad people, then the ultimate effect would only be bad.
Upon India’s Independence on 15 August 1947, the new Congress-led government invited Ambedkar to serve as the Nation’s First Law Minister, which he accepted. On 29 August, he was appointed Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, charged by the Assembly to write India’s new Constitution. Granville Austin described the Indian Constitution drafted by Ambedkar as ‘first and foremost a social document’. The majority of India’s constitutional provisions are either directly arrived at furthering the aim of social revolution or attempt to foster this revolution by establishing conditions necessary for its achievement. The text prepared by Ambedkar provided legitimate guarantees and protections for a wide range of civil liberties for individual citizens, including freedom of religion, the abolition of untouchability, and the outlawing of all forms of discrimination. Ambedkar argued for extensive economic and social rights for women, and won the Assembly’s support for introducing a system of reservations of jobs in the civil services, schools and colleges for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and Other Backward Class, a system akin to affirmative action. India’s lawmakers hoped to eradicate the socio-economic inequalities and lack of opportunities for India’s depressed classes through these measures. The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly.
In the recent past, the Indian Constitution has outlived its utility. It becomes the most confused document which promotes unethical governance and corrupt people. Just look at today’s Rajya Sabha, it is no more a house of elders and wise men. It has become an entry door for bad people. Rajya Sabha is a white elephant on government treasury. It is time for people to write a new Constitution which is simple, lucid, short and effective with Indian ethos and aroma and not bulky with rearranged chapters from European and American constitutions. Every Constitution in the world has undergone the test of time, so as Indian Constitution should go. However, the specialty of the Indian Constitution is that it gives more power to the Judiciary. It seems that, power of Supreme Court of India is the highest compared to any other apex court in the world. The end point is that, the sanctity of the constitution, which is modified close to 100 times, should not be at stake.
At a time when BJP is seeking to appropriate the legacy of Ambedkar, Gandhi also utilised Ambedkar’s praise of the Congress for its contribution in the drafting of the Constitution, indicating that the Congress could lay the rightful claim on the document.
The nation is going to witness another session of Parliament. The opposition is going to “storm” both the houses, because of some stray incidents here and there. Collectively, politicians with the help of media successfully blew these out of proportion as if the people are in grave danger. The Opposition’s pressure for discussion on the rising intolerance is justified in a vibrant democracy; expression of dissent is a healthy sign. These are such genuine issues that need to be deliberated in tune with the country’s ethos, rather than majority and minority. TV channels, print media and politicians have already discussed much about the great tolerance. Time of the parliament should not be wasted on non-issues. Parliament functions on taxpayers’ money. India is the most democratic country existing on the planet. Intolerance is on the highest level in USA and Europe. In USA, every second week police killed black people, and Europe is the house of discrimination. So is Israel, who does not value life. Everybody shut their mouth on it. Please do some solid thing for the uplift of poor people. Winning or losing election may be important to the political parties, but is this important to the citizens of this country? We need to ask to every political party who behaves with no responsibility. Political parties should train their leaders and workers not to indulge in any kind of hate mongering or speeches. They should discuss and comment only on governance and administration. Here, we have been ruling political party, which constantly picking non issues and shout too much on it. The ruling political party should take the call on it and stop behaving in a manner that they are still in opposition.
Constitution is written for a law and order, but political mongers are misusing it to divided people. Judiciary is corrupt; interpreters of law are either sold or helpless. Whole country is restless. Justice has become a joke. In such crises, how can we celebrate Constitution Day?
The onset of Internet is telling on the receding grammar, with the tide of changing times. A godsend, Internet is the solution to the cries of millions of frustrated letter-writers and telephone users. Phone calls were expensive and penning letters were too time-consuming. The answer: Internet, the miracle.
As with any profound social movement, language evolved and jargons emerged. English, as a language we knew, has been steadily surrendering its remaining shreds of purity towards shortcuts and cyberspeaks. For instance: HI DiS IS JACOB, OMG, I Am So HaPpEy 4u wRiTmEbAk U LOL ByE :). This is not Latino, nor any programing language. It only tailors into the domain of English treatment. This combo of letters, acronyms and signs registers as a code. Logical enough, considering that friends have spoken in code for ages. But this is no secret parlance between mates. This fence line illiteracy is widespread amid the English speaking people all over, more specific within the young population.
A bulk of any online society employs the same literacy “style”. Call it spelling deficiency or whatever, except writing. Anti-grammar/spelling is the trend. We are facing it. There are good number of good spellers who have an eye and acumen for purity and as to how a word would appear on paper. Many struggle with syllables, sound out a word phonetically till a logical result is reached. When spelling deficiency reduces a student to a lower level, we need to probe how much of this godsend, Internet, truly has impacted the semantic change.
A website emerges, bragging news and articles, but is there anyone to authorise its contents? People misspell basic and simple words a lot. Those who adhere to the dictates of classical grammar are dubbed as “purists” or “primitives”. Given the current linguistic trend, a grammarian is unstable. When an English professor or Editor confronts a writer’s essay or article riddled with faulty diction, the writer dismisses the advice as antiquated. Again, since the word is nearly archaic as Latin itself, he is more likely to exclaim “Nobody ‘conversates’ like that anymore”. The editor has the last laugh at the ardent intensity on the non-existent verb.
Instead of entirely indicting on the cyberspace for this rapid slide into functional ignorance, we should equally hold our educators whose grading standards have shifted to the changing scenario. Students rejoice and spell-checkers everywhere go into dormancy as this mode of writing renders technical execution stale. How can grammar thrive when college student writers no longer concern themselves with “typos”. We must take a stand against this rampant apathy. To begin small, proofread E-mails and instant messages from friends. Give mild reprimand for an obligatory “LOL”. Rearrange the sentences for them if they end with a preposition. Initially, you could be shunned for your efforts. This could eventually be the beginning of an uprising. Someday, the world will be a better place.
Will Smith has been married to Jada Pinkett since past 20 years, but the actor says marriage has been the most difficult and gruelling decision they have ever made.
The 47-year-old actor said it takes a hard work to keep the bond intact but they are “not quitters,” reported Aceshowbiz.
“You can’t expect it to be easy, it’s like our marriage was the most difficult, gruelling, excruciating thing that we have ever taken on in our lives. We’ve been married 20 years and we’ve been asking ourselves (what’s the secret to marriage) and really at the end of the day it’s just not quitting. And you know were just not quitters,” Smith said. “If there is a secret I would say is that we never went into working in our relationship.
We only ever worked on ourselves individually, and then presented ourselves to one another better than we were previously,” the “Concussion” star added.
Hollywood star Brad Pitt credits “a lot of love” for his youthful looks and outlook on life.
The 51-year-old actor, who has children Maddox, 14, Pax, 11, Zahara, nine, and twins Knox and Vivienne, seven, with wife Angelina Jolie, also believes in never overindulging in his favourite things, reported Female First.
Asked his secret to looking and feeling young, he said, “Everything in moderation and a lot of love.”
Kylie Jenner is a worried woman! The fact that her boyfriend Tyga and HIV positive actor Charlie Sheen had once been involved with the same transgender pornstar in the past, has left her scared.
Pornstar Mia Isabella, who in September had claimed she enjoyed a relationship with rapper Tyga, had also been with Sheen, who only earlier this month revealed that he was diagnosed as HIV positive, reports mirror.co.uk.
“As soon as Kylie’s mom, Kris (Jenner), found out about Tyga’s connection to the same transgender woman that Charlie was involved with, she went ballistic,” In Touch magazine quoted a source as saying.
“For obvious reasons, Kris insisted that Kylie get to the bottom of this potentially life-threatening mess. So Kylie went straight to Tyga and confronted him,” the source added.
However, according to reports, Tyga has denied any involvement with the pornstar.
Tyga and Mia were first linked after a naked picture of the rapper, reportedly sent to Mia, appeared online.
Will Smith has been married to Jada Pinkett since past 20 years, but the actor says marriage has been the most difficult and gruelling decision they have ever made.
Hollywood star Brad Pitt credits “a lot of love” for his youthful looks and outlook on life.
Kylie Jenner is a worried woman! The fact that her boyfriend Tyga and HIV positive actor Charlie Sheen had once been involved with the same transgender pornstar in the past, has left her scared.