Society
Society
Issue Articles
TIF Talkies: T Jayaraman discusses climate finance at COP 26
Welcome to TIF Talkies, a new audio initiative of The India Forum, where we hope to disengage from the ever-flowing torrent of the newscycle and follow up on contemporary events with a whole lot of...
Do We Know Enough to Vaccinate Children against Covid-19 Now?
We need more information on the safety, immunogenicity and effectiveness of vaccines among children to be able to formulate a proper evidence-based policy; and we do not as yet know enough about the Omicron variant to change considerations of risk and benefit.
Violating Freedoms and Criminalising Labour in Proposed Law on Trafficking
A new law on trafficking is to be enacted in the winter session of Parliament, but the July 2021 version of the bill fails to recognise Indian realities where trafficking is a problem of extreme socio-economic inequality, requiring a multi-faceted approach.
Digital Currency: Fog Beyond the Hype
What are digital and cryptocurrencies? Why is there so much hype about this new form of digital money? Will it threaten the hegemony of paper money? A detailed explainer in the context of recent policy explorations in India on a Central Bank Digital Currency.
A ‘Licence’ to Kill in the Sundarbans
A regime of fishing licences in the Sundarbans, unchanged since colonial times, might be the single biggest everyday hazard to the lives of the fishers: on par with tigers, cyclones, and rising seas.
Why do Opinion Polls make Wrong Predictions?
Polling is based on sound statistical theory, but pollsters seldom divulge their polling methodologies for us to assess quality. There is enough room to question the study designs, possible selection biases, and randomness in selection of samples.
India’s Fertility Transition and Differences between Religious Groups
‘Overpopulation’ can no longer be a concern in India, as across states and across religious groups fertility has been falling in recent decades and approaching replacement level. Fears about a demographic shift between religious groups are not based on fact.
Producing the Migrant Myth
Ecology, migration, and politics in Assam
Assam's development discourse is embedded in wilful ignorance of history, ecology, and migration patterns. This ignorance feeds narratives of land-hungry migrants usurping land and seeking to make the Assamese a minority in the state.
Counter-Stories: Some Lessons for English Language Pedagogy
"The peak of language capacities is not in simply effective usage, but rather in giving language to that which is hitherto unsaid." An experiment in Bihar responds to the aspiration for English through 'counter-stories' that challenge mainstream narratives.
India’s Princes, the Ingenious Rebels against the Crown
India’s maharajahs during colonial rule were much more than the stereotypes we have of profligate spenders and incompetent rulers. They were complicated personalities who could subtly resist imperial pressures and at times supported the nationalist cause.
How Netflix Affects What We Watch and Who We Are
"Algorithm recommendations help us find exactly what we like in an incomprehensible number of options. The question is: who decides what the labels are, what gets put into these boxes and, therefore, what we end up watching, listening to and reading?"
How Should We Remember the Violence and Suffering of Partition?
"What does it mean then to remember the ‘horror’ of partition at a time when identities are so polarised. Do we remember only what was done to us, leaving out all that we did to others and to our own?"
Distress and Danger in Kashmir
Until the recent killings of minorities, there was an unusual silence in Kashmir valley. Kashmir’s situation reveals the tell-tale signs of a region pushed into a vortex of irrecoverable misery, thanks to monumental official blunders.
Digital ID: A Single Source of Truth
The push worldwide to give everyone a legal identity was to allow people better access to financial and public services. But this endeavour has quickly morphed into promoting Digital IDs that are increasingly used for surveillance and control.
The Banality of India's Islamophobia
Islamophobia in India erases Muslims even as it hyper-visiblises them: disempowering them and diminishing their worth. Ironically, even secular-minded people diminish its seriousness by asking Muslims to ignore the hate campaigns and focus on 'real issues'.
The Kashmiri Women Demanding Answers
Zia’s ethnography of Kashmiri women activists seeking redressal for the enforced disappearance of their relatives resonates with the struggles faced by many across India's conflict zones.
Redefining the Same-Sex Marriage Question
Even as courts begin to consider the lawfulness of restrictions on same-sex marriages, queer groups should engage with the burdens of legal marriages and help build on feminist efforts to turn marriage into an equal partnership.
There is Much to Gain and Little to Fear from Reopening Schools
There is ample scientific and epidemiological evidence to indicate it is safe to reopen schools for children of all ages. It is not a question of whether to reopen schools, but what should be done to bring children back to the classroom.
Casting Race in Another Light
Colonialism, Orientalism & Wilkerson’s Caste
Arguing that race in America is actually caste, Isabel Wilkerson seeks to startle the readers who may have become numbed by debates on race. But by overplaying what is not much more than a clever analogy, she might actually be weakening her argument.
Marigolds and Domestic Abuse
My journey from an Indian wedding to the courts
Challenging India's legal system that privileges the father for custody of a child was a painful process. However, much was gained. My case was a legal first in India for women.
Growing Distress and a Falling Unemployment Rate
What is going on in the labour market?
The Periodic Labour Force Survey for 2019-20 has thrown up some unusual and contradictory patterns in employment and unemployment. However, the trends in the labour market over three years of the PLFS from 2017-18 onwards are clear and cause for worry.
Disinformation: A New Type of State-Sponsored Violence
While attempts by the ruling party to control the media and the messaging are not new in India, what we see now is the use of new technology to ‘curate’ and exercise ‘centralised control’ to spread disinformation in order to harass and intimidate critics.
Sexual Violence Against Dalits at the Current Conjuncture
'Both Dalit suffering and Dalit resistance unsettle us because both point to what we do not wish to acknowledge: that there are no bodies that do not suffer when hurt, and there are no bodies that will not resist when they suffer, angrily or creatively.'
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