Solidarity Centre (Ranchi)

I'm gonna make a change, For once in my life, It's gonna feel real good
Gonna make a difference, Gonna make it right
As I, turn up the collar on, My favorite winter coat, This wind is blowing my mind
I see the kids in the streets, With not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind? , Pretending not to see their needs
A summer disregard, a broken bottle top , And a one man soul
They follow each other on the wind ya' know , 'Cause they got nowhere to go
That's why I want you to know, I'm starting with the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer, If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror (Official Video) Official Video for “Man In the Mirror” by Michael JacksonListen to Michael Jackson: https://MichaelJackson.lnk.to/_listenYD“Man In The Mirror” is the third o...

In an interview Alessia Cara explained the song’s meaning:
"Basically, that song is about body image. It’s directed at women, but I think men can relate to it as well. It’s just a song about these things that certain women go through on a daily basis in order to feel loved or in order to love themselves. I think that’s such a thing that goes on in today’s world. These weird things are instilled in us. You know? That tell us that we’re not good enough or that there’s only one kind of beauty. This song basically is contradicting that idea. It’s saying, “Well, if the world doesn’t like how you look then they should change. They should change their perspective. You don’t have to change yourself.”

Alessia Cara - Scars To Your Beautiful “Scars to Your Beautiful” from the debut album Know-It-All Available Now: http://smarturl.it/Know-It-All Stream “Scars to Your Beautiful” now: http://smartur...

In 1986, Smita Patil at age of 31, died following child birth complications. Doordarshan showed many of her awarded films of Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal, with the gang of Om Puri, Naseeruddin, Shabana.. with some intense mature scenes. These were real life narratives, influencing many towards a new form of cinema !

Towards moving a step forward in women's movement ... women of different cultural communities taking a stand on their unjust / inequity elements in their traditions / customs / personal law. No human rights violations in the name of 'culture'.

Muslim women demand end of polygamy, oral divorce; Stress on need of codification of personal... New Delhi: A group of progressive Muslim women, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) have stepped up their demand for codification of Muslim Personal Law (MPL) with the new NDA government at the helm. They made it clear that they do not see solutions to the problems of Muslim women in uniform civi…

"Poverty eradication without empowerment is unsustainable. Social integration without minority rights is unimaginable. Gender equality without women’s rights is illusory. Full employment without workers' rights may be no more than a promise of sweatshops, exploitation and slavery. The logic of human rights in development is inescapable." - Mary Robinson (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights)

Best Wishes on Rakshabandhan ! Let's read Kavita Krishnan about this ..

Some thoughts on 'Rakhi': "The ideology of masculine protectiveness of their women-folk, especially sisters, has deep cultural roots and emotive power. Take the North Indian festival of ‘raksha bandhan,’ where the sister ties a ‘rakhi’ (a band or string signifying the bond between sister and brother) to her brother, who in return for her sacred gesture of sisterly love, pledges to protect her. Brotherly protectiveness of sisters, invariably, involves avenging her sexual violation – a notion that stretches to include ‘protecting’ her from unwanted emotional and sexual entanglements. The brother derives status, prestige and ‘honour’ from his ability to protect his sister. This ‘honour’ is both personal and also shared and reinforced by the family/community. And the sister owes her brother a duty to safeguard her own chastity, on which rests his honour. If she compromises her chastity (and his honour, which in turn is linked to the collective masculine honour of the family/community) by exercising her autonomous choice of husband, or marrying outside prescribed caste/community norms, he is socially sanctioned, even expected, to forcibly prevent or avenge this loss of honour.

The bond between brothers and sisters, or the filial duties of daughters towards fathers, are not always experienced as coercive. The ‘raksha bandhan’ ceremony is one in which many women take great pride. The brother ‘needs’ a sister to protect, as much as the sister needs his protection. This bond of benign patriarchy is strained only when the sister exercises sexual and/or economic autonomy: making self-choice marriages or marrying outside prescribed norms, or demanding her legal share in land and ancestral property. In most Indian cultures, across castes and communities, the young adult woman is viewed as a ward, an asset (paraya dhan – wealth that belongs to another) kept in trust for a future owner, that must be handed over sexually un-violated and ‘innocent’ to her husband. Therefore the daughter/sister is loved, adored, in her natal family, but hedged about by anxiety about her chastity, innocence, and sexual purity."
- See more at given link...

Some Reflections on Sexual Violence and the Struggles Against It at Sanhati Following a series of instances of r**e in West Bengal, the Chief Minister first denied the r**es, cast aspersions on the morals and veracity of the complainants, and then announced restrictions on timings of bars, nightclubs etc.

"We admitted a woman with serious bleeding in early pregnancy and no relatives who would give blood. We sent an urgent request to the blood bank in Mysore, which is the nearest city. They could not help since they did not have enough to meet local demand. In another, similar instance, our anaesthetist donated blood for a severely anaemic man and then we carried on with the surgery.
Should doctors follow the rules and disregard the lives of patients who come to them for treatment? Or should they ignore a blatantly unjust law, help patients in distress and risk punishment,"
Read this article passed on to me by Dr Yogesh Jain of Jan Swasthya Sahyog (www.jssbilaspur.org) focusing on Blood as a life saving drug which is UNAVAILABLE and is the cause of many maternal deaths.

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Have been watching the news on Headlines Today, about this Girls Football Team, for the past 3 days. Another Bend it like Beckham !
The Jharkhand culture gives these girls from adivasi / indigenous communities, to smartly express themselves in hockey, football, archery ..very much equally with boys.
A great expression of Empowerment and Equity !!

Video: Documentary on Yuwa Supergoats By OhMyRaul:- A short film on Yuwa by an Indian film student, this video looks at the hardships the girls have been through. The girls recently finished in third place in the Gasteiz Cup in Spain. The team consisted of tribal girls from Jharkhand who were trained in football by the NGO Yuwa,...