Outlook Blogs

Cartoon Row Gets Uglier

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:33:04 GMT

1949: The above cartoon is originally published on 28 August 1949 in Shankar's Weekly

2006: It is included in an NCERT Textbook for Class XI, Indian Constitution at Work which was being taught without any change or controversy since then

2012 April: A controversy is raked up over the cartoon

2012 May 11: There is ruckus in Parliament. HRD minister Kapil Sibal "apologises" for the cartoon, calling it "objectionable" and says orders have been issued to withdraw it and stop distribution of these books. Mr Sibal goes on to say that the government will also examine whether any criminal offence was made out against those who drew or included the cartoon and also that there were many other "objectionable cartoons" of political leaders and that his ministry had decided to constitute a Committee of experts to look into cases of all such objectionable cartoons and remove them.

2012 May 11: Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar, Chief Advisers for all the Political Science textbooks of the NCERT from class IX to XII, resign to allow the "independent review process" pointing out "that the short, heated and not very well informed debate in the Parliament did not do justice to the responsibility that a democratic society has towards it future generations." They add: "While deferring to the supremacy of the Parliament we think it is our duty to dissent."

2012 May 12: The Pune campus office of Prof Suhas Palshikar is attacked and ransacked. A Republican Panther of India spokesman claims responsibility for the attack, saying the cartoon amounted to an "insult" to the Dalit icon.

Yogendra Yadav sums up the outrage of the nation: "For someone who has taught me Ambedkar, for him to be attacked in the name of Ambedkar...Nothing can be more farcical, tragic and sad then this."

Some reactions on Twitter:

Beyond Quotas For Boys And Chick Charts At St. Stephen's

Thu, 10 May 2012 17:57:04 GMT

Two must-read pieces on what is often ranked as India's best college, in response to the recent news that the St. Stephen's principal had come up with "an unusual proposal" to reserve 40 per cent of the seats for male students.

First, Saba Dewan in Kafila recalled her undergraduate years during 1982-85: Of chick charts, hen charts and other such women’s stories

As regularly as the boys could manage, a chart rating the 10 top ‘chicks’ in college on the basis of their physical attributes would be brought out and publicly circulated to bring cheer to our otherwise dreary lives. Each ‘chick’ would be rated and either cheered or booed on the basis of her assemblage of body parts, butt, breasts, legs, mouth. Much awaited, the ‘chick chart’ would generate excitement and controversy amongst our male peers – did the chart do justice to all the chicks on it? Had some deserving chicks been left out? Was it as funny as the previous one? Notwithstanding such minor quibbling, chick charts were generally seen as ‘good fun’, part of a boys’ tradition that made the college so special. Even the college administration seemed to think so since it allowed chick charts to be displayed on its official notice board.

And then Nilanjana S. Roy joined in the ongoing conversation, going much beyond the sexism at St. Stephens: What I learned from "The Patriarchy":

Institutions that are deeply, profoundly unfair often do not look the way you expect them to; it may take some time to recognize that you’re living in an unjust system. Logical corollary: an unjust system often co-opts otherwise good, kind, ethical people. Nice people are also part of a functioning patriarchy.

(This is just as true of families as it is of institutions.)...

...Patriarchal institutions are not necessarily unequal in other respects--as a friend pointed out, you can have a boy's club that is also staunchly not casteist or classist. But often enough the failure to address deeprooted gender bias can make it easier for an institution, even a highly respected one, to overlook other kinds of prejudice.

...As a corollary from the previous point—patriarchy in action is every bit as damaging to men as to women, trapping men into a constant and often exhausting struggle for power, and relies on a constant erasure of its own past in order to thrive...

Perhaps what Dewan has started with her piece on Kafila will lead to a reconstruction not just of Stephens’ history, but of all of our private histories. Once you start filling in the gaps and the silences, it becomes so much easier to see your history for what it really is.

And Now A Problem With 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'

Sun, 06 May 2012 22:16:54 GMT

And now the Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena, whose president Tajinder Pal Singh had violently assaulted advocate Prashant Bhushan last year, but has been active on Twiitter and Facebook with virulent outpourings, has now threatened to create a controversy over a song from Dibakar Banerjee's eagerly awaited forthcoming film, Shanghai:

On Thursday, May 3, @tajinderbagga tweeted:

We are giving open warning to Shanghai Directer to remove Bharat Mata Ki Jai Song from his Movie (cont) tl.gd/h8p6t8
— Tajinder Pal Singh (@tajinderbagga) May 3, 2012

We are giving open warning to Shanghai Directer to remove Bharat Mata Ki Jai Song from his Movie Shanghai.otherwise Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena ban/stop the movie in whole nation in Prashant Bhushan way. We strongly condemn the Lines
Bharat Mata ki jai
Sone ki Chidiya, DENGU,MALERIA
GUD HAI,GOBAR HAI
Bharat Mata Ki jai

And he's not stopped tweeting about it since. Watch this space as yet another controversy is sought to be created.

Aamir Debuts on TV With Focus on Female Foeticide

Sun, 06 May 2012 19:00:05 GMT

Aamir Khan's much talked about TV serial Satyamev Jayate debuted with an episode on:

Female Foeticide. Large-scale killing of girls before birth has led to a serious gender imbalance in the Indian population, and severe social problems as a result