ulti khopdi

When children marry

2012-02-19T13:00:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, Feb 19, 2012http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Kalpana_Sharma/article2906570.ece?homepage=true Count up to three. By then, another young girl would have been forced into marriage somewhere in the world. Yes, forced child marriage is a reality not just in India but also in many countries around the world. In fact, India is one amongst 13 nations worldwide

Burn dowry, not women

2012-02-05T11:30:00.001+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine OPINION » COLUMNS » KALPANA SHARMA February 4, 2012 The HinduUp for sale?: Activists dressed as grooms campaign against dowry. Photo: Paul Noronha Dowry has not disappeared, just morphed. And women continue to pay the price. In a season where every other person seems to be taking offence at something or the other, let me add what offends me.

We should be ashamed

2012-01-22T12:39:00.002+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, January 22, 2012 http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Kalpana_Sharma/article2816960.ece Getting them to stay in school: A mobile toilet at a government school in Chennai. Photo: A. Muralitharan Absence of sanitation facilities, in our villages and in our schools, is a matter of national shame. Shame, said the Prime Minister, that 42 per cent of

On wearing 'obscene' clothes

2012-01-08T18:24:00.002+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, January 8, 2012 http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Kalpana_Sharma/article2783022.ece What an amazing New Year gift for Indian women! A police chief and a Minister telling them that if they get harassed, molested or raped, it is actually their fault. We have heard this before on many occasions. But coming as it does just as the New Year dawns, it is a bit

You too Mumbai?

2011-12-25T20:30:00.002+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, December 25, 2011 Changing times: A separate ladies coupe in the Mumbai suburban train. Photo: Shashi Ashiwal A recent survey reveals that women don't feel safe anymore even in Mumbai, a city where women have been part of the public spaces for a much longer time. In October, Mumbaikars woke up rather rudely to a reality that millions of women living

Should women run our cities?

2011-12-11T11:08:00.001+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, December 11, 2011 OPINION » COLUMNS » KALPANA SHARMA Making a difference: Easier at the lower levels. Photo: D.B. Patil Even if elected women representatives are as bad as their male counterparts in cities, why should they be denied a role in governance? When all other structures in our cities fall apart, one will survive — the ubiquitous

De-iconising Anna

2011-11-27T15:19:00.001+05:30

The Hoot, November 27, 2011 Media makes personalities. It also breaks them. These last two weeks have been an illustration of how this happens and the ‘personality’ is Anna Hazare. KALPANA SHARMA on the downward slide of the Anna phenomenon. Posted/Updated Saturday, Nov 26 21:33:37, 2011 Media makes personalities. It also breaks them. These last two weeks have been an illustration

Another battle won

2011-11-27T14:39:00.001+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, November 27, 2011 + The HinduEqual at last... Photo: V. Sudershan The Supreme Court clears the way for women to become In-Flight Supervisors in Air India. Thanks to those women who believed in and fought for equality at the workplace. This judgment passed virtually without comment. The media ignored it. Why should the rights of a relatively small

Are we not pretty anymore?

2011-11-13T11:48:00.001+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, November 13, 2011 http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Kalpana_Sharma/article2621378.ece APA real test for the brains... “Why is India on a losing streak? Aren't we pretty anymore?” was the plaintive cry of the very presentable anchor of an English language news channel during a news discussion last week. She was not referring to cricket, quite

Skewed health coverage

2011-10-30T11:19:00.000+05:30

The Hoot The health of the Indian media is supposedly robust but the state of healthcare coverage in the Indian media is almost comatose. It snaps out of that coma only when ‘health’ and ‘wealth’ meet. Is it not the media's job to cover broader health issues than those related to the health of their readers, asks KALPANA SHARMA Posted/Updated Wednesday, Oct 26 15:08:54, 2011

Women and the Arab Spring

2011-10-30T10:58:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, October 30, 2011 The cusp of change: Exercising the choice democracy brings. Photo: AP As change sweeps through the Arab world and dictatorships are toppled, will women's rights be forgotten as it happened in Iran? As the Arab Spring moves through the Arab Autumn towards winter, there is hope but also anxiety and apprehension about the future. The

Citizens, not 'naukranis'

2011-10-17T13:12:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, October 16, 2011 Domestic workers are not servants, they have a right to fair wages and working conditions… This Deepavali, will the woman who cleans your house and cooks for you be able to celebrate the festival with her family, or will she be cooking and washing dishes as you celebrate with your family and friends? Rarely does this question cross the

Beating violence, not men

2011-10-02T10:51:00.001+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, October 2, 2011 http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Kalpana_Sharma/article2503137.ece Violence against women, both inside homes and in the public space, needs to be treated with the seriousness it deserves… Violence against women is no laughing matter. Yet, in Andhra Pradesh, the state Minor Irrigation Minister, Mr. T. G. Venkatesh seems to think it

Bucking the trend?

2011-09-22T19:21:00.000+05:30

The Hoot, September 22, 2011 http://www.thehoot.org/web/home/story.php?storyid=5514&mod=1&pg=1&sectionId=10&valid=true Anubha Bhosle of CNN-IBN actually managed to interview Sharmila in her hospital room, something few journalists have done. On NDTV Jain looked at electric power generation in Jammu and Kashmir and unemployment and new entrepreneurship. Can one hope then that this is the

Only pretty girls can fly

2011-09-18T14:52:00.001+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, September 18, 2011 The HinduBehind the glamour: It's a hard grind... Photo: Rajeev Bhatt Why is it that our national carrier continues to have separate rules for men and women who work as flight attendants? “AI may go for younger cabin crew to lure flyers”, read a headline on September 12 (Times of India). The first paragraph of the story

Unearthing the truth

2011-09-04T11:31:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, September 4, 2011 http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/Kalpana_Sharma/article2421002.ece KALPANA SHARMA SHARE · COMMENT (1) · PRINT · T+ Photo: AFP For thousands of ‘half widows' and families in Kashmir whose members have gone missing, the SIT report confirming the presence of mass unidentified graves may finally bring some kind of

Another India, another protest

2011-08-21T11:38:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, August 21, 2011 Lone battle: Irom Sharmila, force-fed and kept alive by the State. Photo: The Hindu Photo LibraryWhile the farcical drama around Anna Hazare's protest and arrest has hogged the limelight, Irom Sharmila's indefinite fast since 2000 to get the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) repealed continues to be ignored by the nation and the media…A day after

Giving credit where it is due

2011-08-14T13:51:00.000+05:30

Posted on The Hoot Manu Pubby, however, made no mention in his story that this letter had first appeared in a story by Sarwar in The News as part of Aman Ki Asha. Not just that, but his story ran with a misleading headline. it is curious how often the Indian media fails to acknowledge the original source for a story, says KALPANA SHARMA. Pix courtesy CNN IBN Posted/Updated Sunday, Aug

Independence to decide

2011-08-07T12:28:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, August 7, 2011 OPINION » COLUMNS » KALPANA SHARMAAugust 6, 2011The Other Half - KALPANA SHARMASHARE · COMMENT · PRINT · T+ Limited assets, limited choices...Photo: Kamal NarangRELATEDTOPICSsocial issuesocial issues (general)Both in urban and rural areas, women not only have fewer assets than men but have almost no say in decisions concerning them…The eve

Wounded Mumbai

2011-07-25T18:21:00.000+05:30

Economic & Political Weekly, July 23, 2011 A city bleeds. Three bombs rip apart some of its many congested localities. Twenty people die, 131 are injured. And the residents of that city collectively ask: Why? Why here? Why now? Why us? The 13 July serial blasts in Mumbai’s Zaveri Bazaar, Opera House and Dadar were not the first. The city has a list of significant “terror” dates: 1993, 2002,

Insurmountable hurdle

2011-07-24T12:16:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, July 23, 2011 The HinduNot wanted Bad news yet again from the Census 2011. Photo: K. Murali KumarAs the declining sex ratio from Census 2011 shows, merely having laws against sex selective abortion is not enough. Fighting entrenched social attitudes is a much tougher call…Three cheers for Japanese women. Their soccer team beat the powerful U.S. team and won the

No lessons learned

2011-07-15T11:21:00.000+05:30

When television voyeurs enter hospitals, apart from the assault on the privacy of injured people, people stomping around emergency wards obstructs the work of doctors and nurses. As responsible individuals, surely it is not too much to expect from mediapersons that they recognize this. Yet, it is amazing how the feeding frenzy after a disaster knocks out all common sense, says KALPANA SHARMA

Unjust trials

2011-07-10T12:58:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, July 10, 2011 Structural inequalities... Photo: AFP The Strauss-Kahn case illustrates once again the serious obstacles that women around the world face in getting justice.For the first time, a woman now heads the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and also for the first time, Thailand has a woman Prime Minister.

Eliminating the poor

2011-06-26T12:53:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, June 26, 2011 THE OTHER HALF KALPANA SHARMA The Emergency, declared 36 years ago this day, impacted the poor in more sinister ways than any other section of society… Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam Denied choice? June 26. Just another day for most people. But for those who lived through the 1970s in India, June 26, 1975, was the day the Emergency was declared. The rights

Too bitter a pill to swallow

2011-06-12T23:53:00.000+05:30

The Hindu, Sunday Magazine, June 12, 2011 THE OTHER HALF Falling ill is precarious business anywhere in the world. But in India, if you are poor, or live in a village, overcoming even routine illness can sometimes become an insurmountable hurdle. First, there are few health facilities within reach. Those that exist are ill equipped. Doctors don't come. Medicines are not available. Even if