Kamal Palsaniya

  Introduction: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines “homelessness” as the state of people who do not have a regular dwelling because they are unable to obtain and maintain regular, safe, and adequate housing, or because they do not have a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence. In other words, the term “homeless” refers to someone who does not have a place to live. Several circumstances like financial constraints, a lack of security, or the house not being available at a suitable time and location cause such a situation. Despite the fact that a home is one of the most significant components of a person’s life, statistics show that 1.77 million Indians are homeless. Further, the true figure became larger in the post-COVID pandemic as many more people from the country’s lowest quarter got impacted. Furthermore, many of the homeless are of a younger generation, such as teenagers and children, resulting in violations of human and children’s rights. Scale of Hom...

  Homelessness and Poverty in the First World Homelessness is a complex social problem, and the characteristics of homelessness vary geographically (Gregory, Johnston, Pratt, Watts, & Whatmore, 2009). Homelessness has increased dramatically in the Global North since the 1970s especially among the most vulnerable populations (Takahashi, 1996). Homelessness, or the threat of homelessness, is not just people living or sleeping on the street. Sometimes homelessness is not visible, but it still exists where people are living in abandoned buildings, living in tenements, using emergency shelters, using family or friends as places to stay or even “couch surfing.” The line between being housed and being homeless is often not clear, as people can find themselves in a cycle of moving between temporary “homes” (e.g., staying with family or friends) and shelters for the homeless. As well, many people live in housing that does not meet health and safety standards (e.g., the presence of mould...

Changing gender stereotypes in Mongolia is about aiming for subtle shifts in the tectonic plates of gender equality. The picture looks benign enough: A man sits milking a cow while a woman, possibly his spouse, holds the reins of two calves. Unless you are a nomadic herder from Mongolia, you’d hashtag the scene as #normal, peering from the multi-colored lenses you use to ascribe attributes and assign roles. Man, herding cattle, goats and sheep. Woman, processing dairy products. Man, hunting. Woman, housework. So wait, man milking cow? Zoom in to the country where herding is central to its history and culture, and where herders live off their animals and steppes – and the photo becomes more intoxicating than the most potent  arkhi  (Mongolian traditional milk vodka). Winning the second prize in an ADB and Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction-supported communication campaign about gender stereotyping, the photo captures a tremor, a challenge to a taboo that men—particularly Kazhak m...

Back in 2012, the conscience of an entire nation was shook by the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old woman in the national capital, the city that was already gaining popularity as the ‘rape capital of the country’. The woman eventually succumbed to her injuries and died, shortly after being airlifted to Singapore in a desperate attempt to save her life, since the world was already watching us. The media, and the nation collectively decided to christen this woman as ‘Nirbhaya’, which translates to fearless. People have constantly avoided using the sufferer’s real name because our society invites a certain kind of disdain when it comes to naming rape victims. The gory details of the December 2012 gangrape surfaced, and since then, people have been measuring every rape with the ‘Nirbhaya’ yardstick, to decide on the level of brutality of the crime. Laws were amended, there were protests and candle marches throughout the country and only earlier this month, the apex court of the country uph...

      INTRODUCTION Gender (or sex) inequality is the common act of civil rights that takes on multiple forms including sexual embarrassment, unequal pay for women and inequality even in pregnancy. While the Indian Constitution grants men and women equality and offers fair protection in order to boost women’s status in society, most women are still unable to benefit from these rights and opportunities that are provided to them. While the Indian Constitution grants men and women the same privileges and benefits and parallel recruitment for enhancing the role of women in the social community, given the fact that the rights and opportunities provided to women by the constitution remain far from achieving this advantage for the full number of women. The anti-female mentality and injustice of society force women to put down their chances of thriving into the conventional value structure, just as an undue household duty. In India, there are few other factors in the present perio...

  Negative Effects of Social media   »   Negative Effects of Social Media Social media frequently receives blame for many issues in our society. Often, such blame is justified. After all, the rise of social media correlates with the rise of a lot of pretty lousy things. Click to Tweet   If it were a larger outcry and movement against it would likely have already arisen. Furthermore, when you read tirades against social media, where, might I ask, do you most frequently read them? If the answer for you isn’t on social media itself, then you’re in the minority on this one. The effects of social media deserve closer scrutiny through a balanced lens. So, right out front, I have no axe to grind with social media or social media companies. Many of the negative effects of social media, while specific to social media, are symptoms, not diseases. Furthermore, those symptoms point not to social media, but to larger societal issues. Psycho-Social Below we outline the negative ps...