Op-Ed – NICKELED AND DIMED

An Erring Association of Nationalism and Religion Since Independence

There is a rising rate of communal and religious violence in India since the last few years. The deeply ingrained yet unresolved question of who a “real” Indian is has been the driving force behind this religious upheaval. In this essay, I’ll highlight that, despite the fact that secularism was a major topic of discussion…
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The Prolonged Saga of Gender Bias in the Healthcare Industry

Gender bias in healthcare refers to unequal treatment and unequal access to medical care and services based on gender. This can result in a lack of recognition of certain medical conditions, a lack of proper treatment, and even discrimination in medical facilities. The issue of gender bias in healthcare has serious consequences for both women…
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Penning the Revolution: The Progressive Writers Movement and its impact on India’s Freedom Struggle

The Progressive Writers Movement in India was a literary and cultural movement that took place in the early 20th century. It aimed to bring about social and political change through literature by highlighting the problems faced by the working class and marginalised communities. The movement was influenced by Marxist ideas and advocated for a socialist…
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Safeguarding the Sea: Navigating Microplastic Pollution with WasteLess Auroville

Microplastics and marine plastic pollution is a global crisis that requires immediate action. Educating people on this issue is essential to ensure that we can effectively combat it. WasteLess Auroville and the Government of Tamil Nadu launched an educational programme to raise awareness of microplastics and marine plastic pollution. This essay will explore why it…
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Gender and Property Rights in India

Women’s inability of acquiring land and property is a sheer barbaric and misogynistic representation of India’s age-old ethos. It has been ardently argued by various sections of society that ownership and control over land is a major stepping stone towards attaining greater gender equitability. The orthodox mindsets of people cause these huge gender gaps between…
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Coral Reefs: Their Importance and Subsequent Destruction

Over the past few decades, due to various human activities, they have come under the threat of extinction. However, recently, coral reefs have bounced back across two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef.
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Kaam ki Kadar:The Ill-Treatment of Domestic Workers in Indian Households

Domestic workers operate in an unregulated, over-saturated sector, subjected to frequent exploitation. The historical devaluation of domestic labor in patriarchal societies has resulted in these abject working conditions. This is exacerbated by the caste and class-based discrimination pervading these employer-employee relationships and resulting in complicity with or active participation in inhumane practices. The privilege and…
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Evolution of queer literature: from Lihaaf to Shikhandi

Although Ismat Chugtai’s Lihaaf is often cited as a beacon of queer indian literature in the early 20th century, a close scrutiny of its sub-texts and narrative shows how this attribute may not be entirely suitable to its premise. Several instances and inter-personal relationships, created by Chugtai, demonize queerness as exploitative, undesireable, and ugly. It’s…
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How to Get Away with Bad Policy: Covid-19 Lockdown and its Impact on Street Vendors

People who form the backbone of a predominantly informal Indian workforce and economy have yet to reveal the full extent of the pandemic. Their hardships necessitate amplification through stories and statistics to paint a picture of what went wrong.
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Saadat Hassan Manto: Stories of resistance, partition, and women

Despite the hardships and the trauma of surviving the partition, Manto wrote about women who were involved in the resistance. He wrote not only about women in elite households but also about those who resided on the fringes of society. Most of Manto’s stories contain women who are not dependent on men for their existence…
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The Unseen Annihilation: A New Narration of the Threats facing South Asia – I

Not just the states, but South Asia as a region is facing an existential crisis. The urgency of these threats is underplayed by the gradual nature of their onset. Leaving them unresolved entails doom yet little urgency is observed in tackling them. There is a need for a new language which communicates the urgency of…
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The Land of the Lawless:

The “Northeast” as addressed by its western counterparts, stands as an exceptional case against the efforts made by the post-colonial masters of India to build a multi-cultural, multi-religious and a multi-lingual democratic society. India’s tumultuous relations with this region has taken numerous faces in the form of laws, regional militias, ethnic and cultural oppression and…
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