Society

In the early hours of 10th September, a tempo driver named Mohan Chauhan killed a 32-year-old Dalit woman in Sakinaka. The woman was found severely injured, bleeding in a tempo and was immediately hospitalised, after a First Information Report (FIR) was registered. CCTV footage recovered by the police found that the accused had raped and assaulted the woman with an unknown object. He was then booked for rape, and after she succumbed to her injuries, a murder charge was added to the FIR. The police allegedly recovered evidence that the two knew each other prior to the incident.  Additionally, on…

Gender balance in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications is crucial to the goal of bringing about positive social change through use of technology. With artificial intelligence becoming ever more widespread, gender diversity in platform, data and AI governance can present solutions to gender inequities, protect and empower communities facing gender-related violence, and support diversity in the technology industry. Some crucial issues which we need to look at are: The right to internet As per a UNESCO report, women have a very low share in advanced technology jobs which include non-­routine, cognitive tasks that are in demand in the digital economy. This is…

Translated by Sandhya Raju இம்மாத தொடக்கத்தில், அண்ணாநகரில் உள்ள ஒரு முக்கிய சந்திப்பில் தன்னை முன்பின் அறிந்திறாத நபர் ஒருவர் பின் தொடர்ந்ததாக சென்னையைச் சேர்ந்த பத்திரிகையாளர் கிரீஷ்மா குத்தார், தனது ட்விட்டர் பதிவில் குறிப்பிட்டிருந்தார். தன்னை இடைமறித்து பேச முயன்றவரை கண்டு கொள்ளாமல் சென்றதாகவும், ஆனால் வேகமாக பின் தொடர்ந்து மீண்டும் இடையூறு செய்ததாகவும் தெரிவித்திருந்தார். காவலர்களிடம் புகார் அளித்ததை அடுத்து அந்த நபரை காவலர்கள் பிடித்து விசாரித்தனர். அதன் முழு விவரமும் கீழே: படம்: கிரீஷ்மா குத்தார் தன்னுடைய தோழிகள் பலருக்கு இது போன்று இடையூறு ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது என குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார். பொது முடக்கத்திற்க்கு பின் அலுவலகம் செல்ல ஆரம்பித்த மடிப்பாக்கத்தை சேர்ந்த 25 வயது ஆர். ரெஜினா தனது அனுபவத்தை பகிர்ந்தார், "என் வீட்டிலிருந்து இரண்டு தெரு தள்ளி வசிக்கும் ஒருவர், சில வாரங்களாக பின் தொடர்கிறார், எப்படி அதை தடுப்பது என தெரியவில்லை" என கூறினார்.…

In 2010, journalist and activist Saumya Roy co-founded a non-profit organization called Vandana Foundation to support the livelihoods of Mumbai’s poorest micro-entrepreneurs by giving small, low-interest loans. By 2013, she started getting requests for loans from waste-pickers in Deonar. This year, she is out with a book about their lives, titled Mountain Tales: Love and Loss in the Municipality of Castaway Belongings, published by Profile Books. How it all began Saumya decided to write about the community of waste-pickers in 2016 when a fire began raging in the Deonar dumping grounds, however, her interest in the community was established in…

On the eve of 7th September, 11:00 pm, Aarti Aggarwal Gupta was alerted about a cat stranded on the parapet of the 4th floor of her building. For the next 3 hours, efforts to rescue the animal were in full swing. Shukri - the cat - had slipped into an open house and on being shooed, jumped out of the window. She landed on the ledge directly below. At first, Aarti, her husband and a watchman attempted to call the cat to safety. After several unsuccessful attempts, they decided to contact the BMC disaster management helpline, 1916. https://youtu.be/neaJCsIg7mM A fire…

Early this month, Chennai-based journalist Greeshma Kuthar found herself being stalked by a stranger at a prominent junction in Anna Nagar. The stalker stopped her and tried to initiate a conversation; Greeshma did not engage with him and simply rode ahead. He sped up and came in front of her scooter. Following a verbal exchange, she filed a stalking complaint with the police against the man, who was eventually nabbed by the police. Read the entire thread here: https://twitter.com/jeegujja/status/1435490467555131392?s=20 Greeshma, however, is not alone. In fact, in her tweet thread, she mentions that several of her friends too have been…

With the IT industry witnessing a boom, Chennai's demographic landscape is rapidly changing due to large scale migration of employees from other states and countries, giving the city a cosmopolitan character. But at the core of the city's society and culture, the sentiment towards the Tamil language remains intense and deep-rooted. Learning Tamil, therefore, not only helps avoid communication barriers during regular daily interactions, it also wins more friends. Tamil is one of the six "classical" Indian languages. For a language to be declared classical, it should meet three criteria: ancient origins, independent tradition and having a considerable body of ancient…

For anyone harbouring the cliched idea that all Muslim families make Biryani on festive occasions, the Bohras of Chennai challenge this notion with their famous festival staple, the dal chawal palida. “It is unique to the Bohra community, wherein the dal is layered between rice. Although this is primarily a vegetarian dish, people also add meat to it,” explains Tasneem Akbari-Kutubuddin, a Chennai-based journalist and editor. This is one of the many unique things about the culture and practices of the 10000-strong Bohra community who have made Chennai their home.  For the past three years, Tasneem has been documenting the history…

Three decades of conflict, a total shutdown for months in the state since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 19 2019 and two long periods of lockdown during the first and second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic — all of this together has created a serious mental health crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, and led to a sudden spurt in suicides in the Union Territory in recent times. Suicides in Srinagar in particular have risen at an alarming rate, as young boys, girls, women and even elderly individuals are taking their own lives. The city of 1.2 million has…

As a former capital of many important kingdoms and sub-continental empires, Delhi is a city of outstanding historical significance. The sites that mark important dates and periods of its past are scattered around the city and its hinterland, and widely visited and studied. The architectural breadth of monuments at these sites, and the town planning concepts evident in places around them, have also received a lot of attention. But there is another, less known, side. Diverse historical, cultural, and environmental exigencies, over hundreds of years, have given the city a unique syncretism of cultures. As each dynasty and ruling establishment…