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Monday, February 21, 2011

Education for all: Transgenders hail quota in BU post graduate courses

IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board

Bangalore University has opened its gates for transgenders. The university has reserved quota of one seat in each of the 52 post-graduate (PG) courses that it offers. It has become the first varsity in India to do so. Insiders say that the authorities are girding up to make adjustments in the system to accommodate new students. From this year, changes have been made in the application format. Apart from the 'male' and 'female' categories, the application form will have a 'TG' (transgender) option too. Also, the university is building separate toilets and rest rooms for transgender students.

N Prabhu Dev, vice-chancellor, Bangalore University, says: 'The transgender quota is not a transferable one. Even if the reserved seats are not filled, others cannot fill it. This reservation is meant only for transgenders, and it is not beyond rules and regulations.' The historic move has been appreciated by all. The transgender community is happy with it. 'We welcome it,' says Akkai ' an activist of Sangama, an organisation of transgender.

Estha Aruna, principal of Cathedral college, is all praise for the university and vice chancellor for taking such a positive step. 'This section of society has to be treated as human beings,' says Professor S. A. Javed, students' Welfare Dean of Kuvempu University.

Some teachers and activists want this facility to be extended to under graduation level as well. BES College principal Padmashali says more needs to be done. 'Reserving a few seats will not solve the larger social problem.'

From an early age transgenders face problem in society. 'Their harassment starts at high school level when they are not given admissions. Due to prevailing bias in society they are chucked out of homes. They live a difficult life. With little support it is extremely difficult for them to continue their education. If the government is really serious in addressing the issue then it should first tackle the situation at the grass roots,' says a coordinator of the transgender community.

Many organisations, including Sangama and Samara, have been demanding a separate welfare board and funds for welfare schemes for the community.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM BBA MBA B-School: Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize To Irom Chanu Sharmila
Award Conferred To Irom Chanu Sharmila By IIPM
IIPM Lucknow – News article in Economic Times and Times of India

Thursday, February 17, 2011

'Pornography is only for the voyeurs' True or false

16 going on Sex-teen

Sex Education

Exclusive Survey: Sex and the city

The average male thinks about sex every seven seconds or something. No such luck with women (insert joke about there being no such thing as an average woman); the sorority is clearly split down the middle on the subject of carnal indulgences like porn. Anna Arrowsmith is one of those who not only advocate pleasure, she nearly makes it sound politically correct. As Britain's first female porn director, she had a career as managing director of adult entertainment firm Easy on the Eye to go back to after an attempt at prospective candidacy (Liberal Democrats) in the UK elections early this year. Anna Arrowsmith aka Anna Span, who has been in the business of shooting porn films for 12 years now, speaks to Indira Parthasarathy on why there is more sex in mainstream culture than we'd like to acknowledge, and why politics and pornography are not entirely different, er, ball games.

Why is porn unsettling and cringe-inducing for many?
Justify Full
Several reasons: it's always existed outside the society, it's always been questioning our moral values. There is something fundamental about sex that as soon as you try to become politically correct, something becomes 'unsexy.' That doesn't mean you can't have loving sex in a porn film, or even have fun' People find it unsettling because we like to live in a society where we think, ever since Descartes, that the brain and the moral self are more important. But actually we live in a world which is equally about the body. And people don't like to be reminded about exceptions like porn. I think our sex drives are very important. And I'm very pleased to know historically porn has been fighting for this recognition.

'Pornography is only for the voyeurs' True or false?

I don'tPorn think porn is for voyeurs. Voyeurs is a very special term that requires somebody getting pleasure out of someone else' lack of consent. If you watched people having sex, say at a sex club, that's not voyeurism because those people are aware that you are looking at them. Voyeurists get attracted to the fact that they are secret.

Pornography is not that. It is done for the market; it is very much consensual. That's not voyeurism. It's the performance; it's not real sex either.

Do you think pornography serves to remedy queasiness about nudity and sex? Is nudity over-rated?

All I can say is that I find it very liberating to be able to be in a room with nude people and hardly notice it because I am so used to seeing people like that. We are all so different, and that is half the fun, so it is a shame that people feel so inhibited about appearing nude. Pornography has certainly helped me to be relaxed about nudity and also to learn about my own sexual psyche.

One thing people complain to porn directors is that porn depicts unrealistic performance of sex. Well, you wouldn't say that to any mainstream filmmaker, say one who makes funny films far funnier than real life. You don't expect them to show life 'is occasionally' funny because that wouldn't be very interesting. Porn is about sexual experience as a performance and is meant to be exaggerated, and meant to be more interesting to look at than real life sex.

How is porn 'for women' different from porn 'for men'?

I used to say I made 'porn for women' but I find a lot of men like my stuff as well and now I say I make porn from a female perspective. What I do is, I make all the models make eye contact with each other. I include good looking men. The way the people interact with each other is important, to show they are a three dimensional character and not voiceless mannequins, like a lot of porn films depict women. There is realistic casting, so if a woman is playing a business millionaire, she'll be 40-odd, not 20. I try to show realistic stories and clothes and sex. In "The Hand of the Law," I used the same company to source the police costumes that supplies the TV programme, The Bill, for instance. It's about sexing things up with reality.

The acts are different too. For instance, I lay more emphasis on foreplay for women. I have the people talk to each other ' it's the little details that will make all the difference for women. There's no act I wouldn't do that I found sexy. I don't mind group sex at all. It's about how it's shot, whether the woman is seen to be making the decision for herself. Even if she plays the role of someone who's submissive (as some people are in sex), it's the way it's filmed that's important, whether you can see that person is enjoying it or not.

Some indict pornography as being exploitative of women. How would you reply?

I think there's too much sex on MTV, there's too much sex in adverts. Women are lot less exploited in pornography than in mainstream culture.

Women are constantly being sent these messages that you've to look a certain way ' Paris Hilton, or those in the magazines etc. Young girls see these magazines way before they see any pornography. Porn, for that matter, is very rare, and very much on the sidelines. Unless you go looking for porn on the Internet, you'll see porn less than 1% of your lifetime.

Young people watching MTV are still learning the same old messages that the way the women access power is by taking their clothes off and playing the sex card. Bad magazines and bad television programmes damage young men and women more as they are ubiquitous. Contrary to anti-porn feminism, both men and women learn their sex roles long before experiencing pornography and banning porn is not the panacea to women's problems they think it is.

The porn industry is, in fact, very democratic about the human body. There is a market for anything. I always say to women, if there's any part of your body you don't like, just put it on google, and add '+ sex'. Do you consider yourself to be hairy? Fat? Old? You'll find a site dedicated to your kind of figure or trait, suggesting that is the most attractive thing about you. You cannot say that for any other industry. We're also far more interested in a woman's performance (as well as her looks, admittedly) than other industries.

Which side of the debate are you on making prostitution legal?

I would pornographymake prostitution legal, definitely, just to keep it safe. I think women should be kept away from the bad pimps, and this is the way to do it. The other thing is, people complain it's very base for somebody to sell their body, but we sell our bodies all the time, but worse than that, we sell our minds all the time. When I was a student, I can't tell how many part time jobs I did where I was told 'we don't want you to think, we just want you to do this'. As a hooker, you can have more control of your work (as long as you are not addicted to drugs, admittedly.) You could be a good prostitute or a bad one, and that's only your decision, and how much effort you put into it. On the other hand, a lot of jobs you do, there's no incentive to try at all and people live a 'prostituted' life all the time. People are working their bodies away, and damaging their bodies all the time for work, so I don't see why sexual work should be singled out'.

The state would have to play a role in advocating the rights of prostitutes and to encourage a clear route for prostitutes to access grievance redress processes. You couldn't just be na've to think 'oh it will be nice and organised'.

Please elaborate on 'pro-sex feminism'. In what ways does pornography reflect women's rights?

I used to be anti-pornography. However, when I was 16, walking down the red light district of London, I realised that my anger was actually jealousy because men had their sexuality catered for in various ways ' magazines, prostitutes, strippers. Conversely, women had absolutely nothing. I switched sides ' from anti-porn to pro-porn ' in an instant, and I realised it's much more important for women to promote female sexuality. I realised years later that what I was saying was actually along the lines of Nietzsche, the philosopher. He talked about the master-slave morality, and the master (usually is the man) predicts his own life choices according to pleasures alone, and the slave's role is to say 'I am not like the master following his own pleasures, and therefore am a better person'. The trouble with the slave's position is that it necessarily requires the master, in order that the slave has an identity.

I moved from complaining about men ' in the slave position ' to the master position, exploring my own sexuality, my own pleasures. I think we need women far more pro-active in the sex industry, and outside representatives of sex industry, to show how women see their own sexuality. Pornography plays its part in helping that to happen. If more women were producing porn then it will cease to be this misogynistic thing that it is. The porn industry will go where the money is. If women will start buying in more numbers, then porn will change for the better I believe.

Have you noticed anything common between pornography and politics?

Well, my drive to do porn has always been political, really. I'm carrying on in politics; I intend to stand again in five years time. I certainly see my future in the development of women's rights, but I have a lot of other political ideas too such as the right for young people to have free after school clubs provided for them. This will keep kids off the streets and out of crime, stop them from becoming bored. I am fairly anti-establishment; why should the state tell us how to live? I'm a liberal in that sense; that's where I'm coming from.


For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board
IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri's Snaps
IIPM BBA MBA B-School: Rabindranath Tagore Peace Prize To Irom Chanu Sharmila
IIPM Lucknow – News article in Economic Times and Times of India
Prof Rajita Chaudhuri follow some off-beat trends like organizing make up sessions

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Monday, February 14, 2011

Irom Sharmila Chanu: 100 days Away from 3652 days of hunger

IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board

As Irom Sharmila Chanu inches towards completing ten full years of her hunger strike against AFSPA and as civil rights activists try to leverage the occasion to give fresh impetus to the struggle, the government remains unmoved


It began about ten years ago. On November 2, 2000, troops of 8 Assam Rifles recklessly shot down 10 civilians at a bus stop in Malom, Manipur. The incident is now better known as the Malom Massacre. The people of Manipur came out on the streets and demanded a magisterial inquiry into the incident. However, to the dismay of all, the army, using the brutal authority conferred upon them by the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 (AFSPA), disallowed any such inquiry.

This convinced Irom Sharmila Chanu, a civil rights activist, then 28, that people of Manipur had had enough. The AFSPA must be repealed immediately, she thought. On the evening of November 4, after taking the blessings of her mother, she began an indefinite hunger strike. The objective of her protest was the repeal of the AFSPA from the state of Manipur. However, in due course over the last nine years, she has extended the scope of her demand to all regions of India's Northeast where AFSPA has been imposed.

AFSPA provides special powers to arrest, detain and even kill civilians on mere suspicion. Many forced disappearances, extra-judicial killing, torture, rape and arbitrary detention have been routinely reported from the areas that are under AFSPA rule. When the law was introduced in Parliament in 1958, the Union home minister had said the Act would be in operation for only six months, but somehow it has lasted more than 52 years now.

Sharmila is just months away from completing 10 years of hunger strike. The 100 days countdown towards the completion of 10 years has begun in Imphal. For the next 100 days, different kinds of cultural programmes will be organised. Activities like spot painting, rickshaw rallies, mime plays, public meetings and poster campaigns will mark the countdown. A festival of hope, justice and peace will also be held from November 2 to November 6. Some programmes will also be organised in other parts of the country, the convener of the organising committee, Irom Singhajit (the elder brother of Sharmila) told TSI.

The 100 days countdown was kicked off at a function organised by Just Peace Foundation in Manipur Press Club in Imphal with the objective of showing solidarity to Irom Sharmila Chanu and her cause. 100 days Away from 3652 days of hunger Sharmila has become the face of the protest against AFSPA in the Northeast. Many well known writers and social activists, including Arundhati Roy, Mahasweta Devi, Shirin Ebadi, Prabir Ghosh, Sumitra Padmanabhan and Sandeep Pandey, have lent their support to her and her cause. She was awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights on May 18, 2007. The award was instituted by the Gwangju Asian Human Rights Folk School, which is a South Korean human rights body.

In 2004, in the wake of an intense agitation launched by several civil society groups following the death of Manorama Devi in the custody of the Assam Rifles and the indefinite fast undertaken by Irom Sharmila, the then Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil visited Manipur and reviewed the situation with the concerned state authorities. In the same year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured activists that the government would consider their demand sympathetically.

The central government accordingly set up a five-member committee under the chairmanship of Justice B P Jeevan Reddy, a former judge of the Supreme Court. The panel was given the mandate to review the provisions of AFSPA and advise the government of India whether (a) to amend the provisions of the Act to bring them in consonance with the obligations of the government towards protection of human rights or (b) to replace the Act with a more humane Act.

The Reddy Committee submitted its recommendations on June 6, 2005, that clearly stated that AFSPA should be repealed. However, the government failed to take any concrete action on the recommendations. The then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee rejected the withdrawal or significant dilution of the Act on the grounds that 'it is not possible for the armed forces to function' in 'disturbed areas' without such powers.

Sharmila is lodged in Imphal's Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital amid high security. She is being kept alive through painful nasogastric intubation. She has been charged with attempt to commit suicide under section 309 of the IPC. She has been under a ritual of release and arrest every year since 2000 because under the IPC section 309, a person can be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

"The hunger strike is a form of protest that even Mahatma Gandhi used in his fight against injustice. Now, if Sharmila uses it to fight against the atrocities of the Indian forces, she is being treated as a criminal and kept under detention,' says Babloo Loitongbam, executive director of Human Rights Alert. He adds, 'Amnesty International has recently come out with a statement that a person on a hunger strike cannot be treated as a criminal. It is unethical on part of the Indian government to detain her.' Dr. W. Nabakumar, dean, School of Human and Environment Sciences, Manipur University, agrees, 'To imprison a woman who is protesting in a non-violent way against a draconian law is gross violation of law from the humanitarian point of view.'

Renowned filmmaker Aribam Syam Sharma says he has not made a film on Sharmila for he feels it would not be easy. 'I don't think I will be able to reflect her inner strength. I haven't even met the remarkable lady. It would be shameful to meet her when one has three square meals a day. A person with a full stomach will not understand her agony. It is an extraordinary struggle by an extraordinary woman.'

In March this year, the Science and Rationalists' Association of India and the Humanist Association demanded that Irom Sharmila Chanu be nominated once again for the Nobel Peace Prize.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri's Snaps
IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri: The New Age Woman
Indian universities and higher education institutes seem to be caught in a time warp teaching things