Gendered Abomination at Global Sphere – Countering Hate-Speech
Abomination generally means something which vehemently abhorred. Gender abomination is merely a choice of accepting girl or boy child or usher the existence with hatred. “Hate” or “Hatred” have always been a construction of promoting an insult to certain individual or groups. “Hate-Speech” defines it as all forms of verbal violence that transit or incite racial, xenophobic or anti-Semantic builds of intolerance. An aggressive vociferous harassment or insult grounding on sex, gender, religion or any orientation of status make social interaction often into disgust. It further enunciates the consideration of inferior consent to offensive comments and blaming or even false compliments to ridicule a group or individual. The manifestation of brutality of the victimized its to be countered with their often isolation. To combat any form of antagonism of society results in an answer of hate-speech. Coming to Gender and getting biased with woman and girl we see additional discriminations on various forms of fascination. It doesn’t guarantees any religion or culture or language or any belief in that manner to be a solicitor. Often political association combats the violence of words or even defends them. The defined contours of hate speech in concern: The difference between Sex and Gender- one which is biological difference the other which is social construct, none gets away from the wrath of hatred. Theories of Gender and there corner for that matter from where the hate speech originates like while the women gets liberated she is being accused of not obliging the household rules, or the chores of radical transition even the class-less equation or post-modern binaries’ are diluting into eco-feminist facing the hate-speeches into a literary verse. Hate-Speeches hypering the gendered or sexual perception of a body or that matter a faith.
Gender identity is hugely targeted into very common outrage of social media and memes and trolls because its hold a huge market economy of bewilderedness. No one can bit the notion of religious surrenderer of psychology that protection comes from upholding you dependent on representatives. Hatred and its counter with eradication is a further hatred. Even the mongering intolerance against migrants are one of the above. Social media got the powerful hand on magnifying discord. The demographical and topographical nature that resist in human can also sects differently from rumours as it often can be negated by hate-speech deep intersecting into heart. Psychological intolerance to failure can be wide range of aspects to abominate a target group. ‘Dysphoria’ is used to designate the dilution of the word ‘disorder’ so countering is inevitable.
“invariantly” & “inherently biased”
Our submission to the rights of free expression and equality must not be veiling towards reinforcing values. “The freedom of one ought not to result in the unfreedom of the many.” Both government authorities and social media platforms are criticised for the failure to secure data but truth lies in the fact that both the authorities that being crime inflicted and implemented individuals are recognised as humans and are entitled with rights there hold the bias of market economy of punishment. Many arbitrary imposition follows the attentive challenge of virtual bait nullifying dignity and establishing autonomy. The verbs like “self- regulation”—where the platform itself adjudicates ineffective criticism of prevention of the cornering means a lot to target group to uplift their morale and not to surrender to the haters.
Fully transitioned distress from hate speeches on body or gender or any envisioned regime follows the encouragement of growing incongruence. “According to Dr. Mark Yarhouse, an evangelical psychologist, transgender individuals should not be seen as soldiers in a culture war, but rather as its victims.” Thus, the bodily perfection is paramount with utmost urgency of not to be imperfect. The traditional recognition and experience of mortal existence makes it easily expectable. The central implication lies in being and not being targeted. People feel extremely biased with appreciation than to be socially disapproved. Theology of livelihood lies in between the line of love and hate. The “substance addiction” to insult and be insulted is “genuine testimonies of instantaneous deliverance”. The prevailing speeches would needn’t place in writing there often written with virtual picture to imagine and neither need constant bashing to acknowledge the hater at all. To silence the harassment we need to silence blowing it out of proportion.
The mechanism of combating this hatred could be criminalising them. Filtering freedom is necessary when people tends not to understand the line of boundaries. Right to speak doesn’t guarantee to hurt or pinch someone’s uninclined tolerance. Democracy should be preached not to violate the ideals of values of settled curving of almighty. The balance isn’t needed to be stuck with the victims rather with the inflictor. Quoting the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “The greatest sin of our time is not the few who has destroyed, but the vast majority who sat idly by.”…..
-Srija Chakraborty, M.Phil. in Women’s Studies, University of Calcutta.
As The World Watches
In United States History, we have wrestled with several ethnic groups who felt the cruel hand of our government: indigenous peoples who greeted Christopher Columbus in 1492 as he landed in the Caribbean and eventually suffered near genocide, Africans who became human cargo in the slave trading cities of America during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Mexicans who were lured into war with our Manifest Destiny in the 1840s, New Immigrants with their dreams and families who arrived at Ellis Island from the Old World in the early Twentieth Century only to find the Golden Door led to urban drudgery, and the Nisei who were rounded up in the angry aftermath of Pearl Harbor and placed in detention camps during World War II because of their Japanese ancestry.
My country is not alone in its shame. Ethnic groups have faced “cleansing” around the globe. They are targeted because of their religion, skin color, genes, social and economic status, or perhaps because they were impeding “living space,” as Germany’s Adolph Hitler might have explained in during the 1930s and early 1940s. The Roma, the Jews, Roman Catholics, and homosexual were placed in the death camps by the millions. And the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin “liquidated” the middle class and starved the Ukrainians, millions.. Wars have been fought over “ethnic cleansing.” World War I was considered the Third Balkan War for a while. In the 1990s, the ethnic hatred in the region flared again with Muslims and Christians taking aim at each other in the former Yugoslavia. Similarly, Rwandans butchered each other, too. As did Pol Pot in the Killing Fields of Cambodia in the mid-1970s.
All of these horrible human rights abuses being part of the historical record, and the world has sobbed over them and, at times, been inexplicably indifferent. Think of Ethiopia as the Italian Fascists flew over in 1935. No appeal to the League of Nations would aid them. That is why China’s treatment in the Twenty-First Century of the Muslim Uighurs has drawn the condemnation of the United Nations and individual countries. The more than 1,000,000 Uighurs who have been placed in “re-education camps,” swept off their cotton-producing land in northwest China and subjected to forced birth control deserve our attention. The world is watching. Should we not do more?
-Dr. J. Edward Lee is professor of history at Winthrop University.
COVID- 19 Pandemic: A Snap shot of Unseen Workers in India
Abstract:
As COVID-19 squeezes around the world, market economies have shuttered and schools have been shut down, and almost half the world's population has been locked away, but the unlocking of the economy is going on, while still schools, offices, schools are shut, and everything is closed, as women have been mostly unpaid. The unpaid jobs we normally call the "care system" require everyday life activities. That cooks, educates children, takes care of elderly people at home and so on and is done only by women because of our society's traditional thinking that man cannot do household work. Therefore, women are less interested in the working workforce because they work at home and the pandemic often raises the pressure and tension.Thus, the focus of this article is on recent work on the everyday life of women and on the consequences of the pandemic COVID-19 for their lives and ways to overcome it.
Economy of Care: Women's Unpaid Labour
Work that receives no direct remuneration is essentially unpaid work. "CARE" is described as the physical and emotional needs of adults, children and others dependent on them. In India, in fact, the unpaid conditions for jobs are worse, women putting domestic work in 352 minutes, while men put it in just 51.8 minutes. When it comes to the fact that 49% of women in a country of 1,3 billion people have no annual GDP jobs, this raises many concerns. The census in 2011 reveals that household workers were classified as non-workers, even though 15,9 million women claimed that 'householder work' was their main job. Women expend just 160 minutes compared with 360 minutes by men, compared with 12 percent of minutes per day in unpaid work compared with 31 minutes per husband {in paid work The typical Indian society's assumption is that certain occupations are done only by women. In general, these jobs are domestic labour, cooking, cleaning and childcare, while, as an economist, we could also say this in emotional working hours, which include holding families together and doing what women are supposed to be able to bear and what Indian society expects. The burden on women is 9.8 times higher than on men, according to the NITI AYOG 2017 survey. And now this pandemic makes their life harder, now that all is closed men have done their job at home, kids are taking online classes at home, so women have to spend more time taking care of them. COVID-19 has expanded the gender representation of unpaid care and unequal division of household duties.It is therefore important for us to talk about who will support the rural household women to provide guidance, how to provide them with literacy because most of them are analphabetic, they do not have access to any kind of assistance.
Conclusion
After reading all the negative aspects of unpaid jobs, women are given high time to be healthy.The government can do a lot in this area, as the policy system should be following a holistic approach to incorporating women's work into social and development policy. In India it will contribute 40% of its current GDP if we infer the figure. We should take advantage of this crisis and serve as a turning point for implementing more equitable, sex-sensitive policies that favour women and the economy.
-Vaishali Singh/ Department of economics, Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, A central university, And
- Firdous Ahmad Malik /Doctoral Fellow, Department of economics, Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, A central university
A FRESH PICTURE OF INDO-UAE FOREIGN TRADE
Bilateral trade between India and UAE was expected to surpass US$100 billion dollars in 2020. Due to unexpected rise of COVID-19, the anticipated trade figures could not achieved. In November 2019 it was calculated as US$57 billion. As per the data recorded by Ministry of Commerce, government of India UAE is India’s third largest trading partner followed by China and USA. At present exports of India to UAE from April 2020 to July 2020 observed as US$ 2.9 billion (for the first five months of this financial year). There is an acute fall in the figure of total trade between the both countries. Although not only India-UAE trade has become the victim of this very crisis, but there are some other major trading partners of India who have confronted substantial decline in their bilateral trade with India. India’s exports to Thailand declined by 34.16 percent. While exports of India to South Korea declined by 29.24 percent 2020. During the recent year, 2020-21 (from April to August). Till 2019-20, Saudi Arabia was the fourth largest trade partner of India. But as it is observed from the data recorded by DGFT, Saudi Arabia has dropped down to 6th rank. For the current year (April to June), China, USA, UAE, Singapore and Honk Kong are the five major commercial trade partners of India. India experienced a negative trade balance with China and Honk Kong. Whereas with USA, UAE and Singapore, it has surplus in balance of trade. Among the five significant trade partners, India has most perfect trade with UAE. During the same year, it has imported around 2.8 billion dollars from UAE and at the same time exports are equivalent to 2.9 billion dollars. Now if we move on to the commodity composition of Indian exports to UAE, the picture would reflect drastic change in the amount of exports. Recently trade promotion council mentioned in an article that, India exported 93000 tonnes of organic soya beans meal to USA. However, USA is the largest producer of genetically modified soya bean meal. But the demand of organic soya bean meals of USA is fulfilled by India. Export of Rice to UAE accounted as US$ 138 million against US$ 340.09 million in the year 2019-20. Petroleum exports to UAE found to be only US$ 629.0 million against US$ 5564.68 million. There is a huge decline in the exports of paper- paper board, cotton, Cereals, export value equal to US$ 55.83, US$ 5.18 and US$ 142.52 million respectively. Man made filament is one the leading export commodity to UAE which has sink down to US$ 7.59 million from US$140.70. Million in 2019-2020. Apparel of clothing knitted or not knitted both have shown a decline. Pearls, precious and semi precious stones faced a fall in export and the value is equal to US$ 99.64 million. Articles of iron and steel and Aluminum also experienced a reduction in their exports to UAE for the year 2020-21 (April to June). Although the available data is confined to the month of June only, but by comparing the previous data we can forecast the reduction in exports of India to UAE. The present situation demands nothing but time. The economic condition of both countries needs time to flourish again, slowly and gradually both shall be on the same path where they actually supposed to be.
-SAIMA FARHAT, Research scholar (Economics), department of West Asian and North African Studies, AMU.
The Nuclear Bomb Club
The use of nuclear weapons 75 years ago by the United States against the Imperial Government of Japan certainly brought World War II to a screeching halt. On August 6, 1945, the Atomic Bomb was unleashed on the city of Hiroshima, and 110,000 Japanese perished. Three days later, a nuclear weapon was detonated above Nagasaki, resulting in 75,000 deaths. President Harry Truman had instructed his American advisers, “Release when ready,” and the atomic whirlwind ended one war in 1945 and continues to hover like a mushroom cloud over the world 75 years later. Truman believed his bold actions had saved perhaps 1,000,000 Japanese and American lives. As a historian, I believe Truman to have been correct. Certainly, we would all agree the world changed forever in 1945.
By 1949, the Soviet Union had its own nuclear weapon, and since then other nations have gained access to their own arsenal: the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea, for example. Some nations boast of the nuclear cards they hold while others are more discreet. The Nuclear Bomb Club seems to always be welcoming new members, and there are few rules or restrictions.
The world of 2020 is perilous. The coronavirus has not vanished. It infects all. Technology has zoomed forward, for good and bad. Governments monitor, often secretly, each other. Ethnic hatreds, some ancient, have not ceased. Holocausts, ethnic cleansings, continue. In some countries, these barbarous acts are directed by members of the Nuclear Bomb Club. Thus, the danger to peace and humanity is compounded.
As we commemorate the events of 1945 and the end of World War II this summer, we pause to remember tyrants like Germany’s Adolph Hitler and the Japanese military. We, also, realize that other dictators left legacies of death and cruelty. The 20th century was written in blood, from starving Ukrainians at the hands of the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin to ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and Bosnia. But, we now are well into the 21st century, and the Nuclear Bomb Club makes OUR time much more dangerous, in a real sense. So, in the summer of 2020 let us all vow that people who respect basic human rights and decency will urge leaders of The Nuclear Bomb Club to control its urges and work with all nations to achieve peace. Our challenges in 2020 require dialogue and cooperation, not expansion of The Nuclear Bomb Club.
- Dr. Edward Lee, Professor of History, Winthrop University
THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF ALCOHOLISM
Alcoholism is the most severe form of alcohol abuse and involves the inability to manage drinking habits. It is also commonly referred to as alcohol use disorder. Alcohol use disorder is organized into three categories: mild, moderate and severe. Each category has various symptoms and can cause harmful side effects. If left untreated, any type of alcohol abuse can spiral out of control. Individuals struggling with alcoholism often feel as though they cannot function normally without alcohol. This can lead to a wide range of issues and impact professional goals, personal matters, relationships and overall health. Over time, the serious side effects of consistent alcohol abuse can worsen and produce damaging complications.
Social Effects of Alcohol on the Family:
Although many people drink because it makes them feel better about themselves, drinking excessively can negatively impact one’s personality. Wives and girlfriends of alcoholics are often subjected to many types of alcohol-related abuse. Couples can also exhibit mutually violent behaviors attributed to alcohol. Research indicates that marriages in which only one spouse drinks heavily end in divorce 50 percent of the time. Data indicates that 12-70 percent of adults who abuse children are alcoholics. Children of alcoholics often have deep-seated psychological and emotional problems due to growing up with an addicted parent. Children of substance abusers are 3-4 times more likely than peers to become addicted to alcohol or other drugs. 7 Children of alcoholics are at higher risk for developing an array of emotional problems including mistrust, guilt, shame, confusion, ambivalence, fear and insecurities. These emotional issues can cause socialization problems for children, e.g., they may avoid friendships because they are embarrassed or afraid to invite other children to their house. Anger and problematic alcohol use have been established as individual risk factors for intimate partner violence (IPV), victimization and perpetration. A large study on 215 heterosexual couples in the Midwest and Southeast U.S. was conducted to analyze mutually violent behavioral patterns. Participants were required to be healthy overall without major medical problems or a psychiatric diagnosis, and could not be in active treatment for a psychological or relationship-related issue. In addition, at least one of the two had to consume an average of at least five (for men) or four (for women) or more standard drinks per occasion at least twice a month in the past year. No mean differences were observed across gender for trait anger or physical IPV perpetration. However, significant differences were observed across gender for IPV victimization and problematic alcohol use. Men experienced more IPV victimization and reported more problematic drinking. The results of this study suggest that anger and problematic drinking patterns play different yet important roles for men and women in mutually violent relationships.
Effects of Alcoholism on Society at Large:
The damaging effects of alcohol abuse are not limited to the person who drinks nor to those closest to them. Alcohol abuse is linked to many social ills including sexual assaults against acquaintances and drunk driving accidents that result in strangers losing their lives. Alcohol has inflicted a huge financial toll on our nation, with the cost of excessive alcohol use reaching $249 billion in 2010, or about $2.05 per drink. Of all these costs, the highest by far was attributed to a loss in workplace productivity (72 percent of the total cost). Other costs included healthcare expenses for treating problems caused by excessive drinking (11 percent), law enforcement and other criminal justice expenses (10 percent) and motor vehicle crashes related to excessive alcohol use (5 percent).9 In 2014, there were 9,967 alcohol-impaired- driving fatalities, which accounted for 31 percent of all driving fatalities.
Health Complications from Alcohol Abuse:
Drinking too much – on a single occasion or long-term – can take a serious toll on your health. Some effects of alcohol may have a minor effect on health, while others can be severe or life-threatening. Short-term effects of alcohol abuse can be just as dangerous as long-term effects. For instance, drinking can impact your reaction time, causing you to have slow reflexes and coordination. That’s why drinking and driving is extremely dangerous. Getting behind the wheel of a car can alter your perception of speed and distance, putting yourself and others at risk.
Several short-term effects of alcohol abuse may produce:
Slow reaction time
Poor reflexes
Reduce brain activity
Lowered inhibitions
Blurry vision
Difficulty breathing
Restlessness
Additionally, consuming too much alcohol can affect your long-term health. Some side effects may lay dormant for years before they surface. Because of this, professional medical care is required for proper diagnosis and treatment. If you feel as though your alcohol consumption is taking a toll on your life, it’s important to find treatment options that will help you kick you alcohol addiction to the curb. Your doctor will be able to offer professional medical assistance if you are concerned about your drinking. Seeking help for alcoholism sooner rather than later gets you back on track to living a healthy, fulfilling life.
*Now, It is important that all members of our society work together to provide the opportunities for all our members to reach their full potential. It helps all of us to help one another.
-Subham Bakuli /Founder & and; Program Head at BakuliAid Foundation /President (Kolkata) at Elixir Foundation /State Additional Director at Universal Diplomatic Affairs of Human Rights.
INDIA – CHINA TRADE WAR: IN THE MIDST OF CORONA CRISIS
COVID-19 has slumped down global trade around 13 to 32 percent during 2020 (WTO). It requires time to heal up the gap in global trade that has created by cold war between countries followed by corona pandemic.Although the recovery process will take time and it can be only forecasted in 2021.The pre requisite to overcome this unprecedented crisis is quality and effective policy making. WTO,disclosed that it is the electronic and automobile sectors whose trade have hurt a lot. And if we throw light on trade of invisible goods the worst hit of COVID-19 is service trade due to highly restrictive transports & travel triggered by social distancing issue. Besides that the exports belongs to Asia and North America have appeared as the hardest hit by pandemic. As far as global visible trade is concerned it was already dropped down in 2019 due to global economic slowdown. Merchandise trade was declined by 3 percent in 2019. And COVID-19 crises has burdened this economic crises into recession period, this period will be recorded as highly unpleasant, unfortunate one in all aspects. Some senior bureaucrats have suggested to switch on to import substitution policy due to high dependence of imports on china and other countries. Import substitution assist India to reduce its dependence on China specifically. As from China, India imports more than $ 65 Billion while exports to China are quite low equivalent to $ 16 Billion. China is India’s second largest trading partner after USA due to such a large import. India – China are intensely involved in trade and investment ties. Bilateral trade between them accounted as more than $80billion, with greater share of Chinese imports in India. From the last few years China has invested more than $2.3 billion in India. India’s economic emergence is highly dependent on China particularly telecommunication, pharmaceuticals and infrastructure sectors. It has also been disclosed that India has increased tariff rates on 89 products of China. Boycotting Chinese products is not a solution, as putting restriction on imports from China would ultimately lead to promote smuggling of goods from eastern borders. China is greatly contingent on India for some agriculture goods, such as cotton, tea, spices and black tea. Despite of border issue, exports of these products from India to China remained unrestricted. As per details received India was about to export 300,000 tonnes of sugar to China in the coming two three months. Earlier sugar stocks were immoveable due to restriction on trade (pandemic issue) and now due to India –China border. But due to trade war issues there is temporary dispute and disagreement on trade and investment. India and China are deeply involved into economic ties. The two countries cannot ignore their corresponding dependence on each other. If India hugely depends on Chinese imports then a substantial amount of foreign exchange that china receives from India significantly contributes in its GDP. China may also lose an easily accessible market. Hence both countries may suffer, & we hope for the recovery of the Impact of epidemic and for settling down the trade war between India - China due to border disputes.
-SAIMA FARHAT, Research scholar (Economics), department of West Asian and North African Studies, AMU.
Covid-19 Crisis and Challenges faced by the Rural Sector of India
Around 70% of India’s population belongs to rural sector, according to the report published by United Nations 700 million Indians are residing in rural areas. Due to corona virus spread global exports were detained and consequently India’s trade has also get affected, in fact it was deliberately deactivated for a short period time (in June export of agriculture products and other perishable goods has resumed). A halt on India’s exports have put burden on agriculture sector. This burden is not associated with demand side, but with supply side, due to the restriction on trade issues. Farmers were not able to reach their produce even to the market place. Impact of this very pandemic is severe on E-commerce brands. These brands in agriculture have been affected so far due to blockage in transportation of goods. During March to June (2020) farmers were neither able to move their produce to the market nor capable of storing them. E-commerce brands in agriculture have been adversely affected so far due to blockage in transportation of products. Field workers have been going through worst time as they have lost their job due to restriction on movement. Shutting down of small, cottage industries and small scale factories due to lock down issues has not only promotes degrowth in rural areas but also snatched jobs from labor class working with these small industries. It requires a considerable span of time to get Indian economy back on track but corona virus outbreak is life taking that’s why more focus is on health care so that nation could to get rid of it as soon as possible.
In order to provide economic support to the rural population government of India has launched PM Kisan Yojna through this very scheme government is providing compensation amount to the farmers and field workers of Rs 2000/- each. Besides that government has also announced to raise the income of workers, employed under MNREGA programme. In order to provide agriculture inputs and facilities to the farmers, the government of all the states is working hard on it. It would help in facilitating the food chain network. Government has also taken active measures to provide inputs to the farmers and to sanitize the ware houses. The existing pandemic has made India to realize its failures in rural infrastructure development. Rural India has been critically facing short of facilities mainly health and care facilities- lack of bed, lack of ventilators, insufficient medical staff. So it is an alarming situation that suggests policy makers to work in this direction and should take appropriate steps for improving its primary health care system. The central and state authorities should work on remodeling or developing better ware house facilities and E-commerce so that any future pandemic could not affect its economy so hard.
Key words: Rural development, Exports, E- Commerce, MNREGA, Pandemic.
-Sana Fatima ,Doctorate from D/O Economics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
Plan Today and Travel tomorrow: An Indian Context!
The tourism industry is one of the most important sectors for many developing nations. In India too, the tourism industry is considered a catalyst for jobs and development. Rural areas where commercialization is not possible, tourism is an economic activity which can bring about all-round development. Tourism was just picking up in the country when the entire world came under the attack of the deadly virus. The attack not only paralyzed all the sectors but also the social nature of human being as the only way to fight the Covid-19 Virus is to maintain social distance. The tourism industry is the worst-hit industry in the country as travelling is the last possible thing at the moment. The revival of this industry will take the longest time and probably not less than 18 months. But revival would be with certain moderations and modifications. Maybe now we are on our way to a greener future.
“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” ― Pablo Neruda
This is an opportunity to create something new. Travel and Tourism is something which will never die. Once a traveller, always a traveller. No one has ever been saved from the travel bug, whether for leisure, work, passion, interest, responsibility etc. The world is in ‘Work-in-progress’ mode. Similarly, all of us are too. The extra time that we got due to the lockdown in the country has taught us a lot about ourselves. It is evident from the posts in the social media handles of people. They are trying out their cooking skills, writing skills, artistic skills etc. Also what is evident is the urge to travel whenever possible. There are hashtags like #plantodaytraveltomorrow #travelforfuture #travelwithme #tbt . There are tons of throwback travel pictures with different taglines which suggests how one has been missing travelling and look forward to travelling again. One new distinct type of tourism during this period has been virtual tourism. The travel companies, vloggers, resort and hotel owners have been engaging the potential tourists with videos and photos of different destinations. Instagram as a microblogging site has been a hit during this time. And mining information from the social media platforms one thing is clear that a situation will not come in the future where there are no tourists. Having said that there will be a tremendous increase in domestic tourism due to the travel restrictions.
Domestic tourism will be on the rise shortly. A survey for a research study was conducted on the preference of places of travel. The results showed that people mostly preferred rural tourism. Urban tourism was the least preferred due to the fear of getting infected by the virus. In such a case, the promotion of Northeast tourism is a win-win situation as it is one of the least affected regions as well as it has a lot of potential given its raw natural beauty. Tourists will be on a lookout for wellness retreats. Northeast has a lot to offer in this regard such as tea tourism, cruise tourism, eco-tourism, wildlife tourism, tribal tourism and agritourism to name a few. Minor modifications like timely sanitization, maintaining hygiene and social distancing must be done as precautionary measures. Innovations like immunity boosters as welcome drinks, farm to table concept, use of local herbs and medicines for tourists, etc. will attract more and more tourists. But what looks grim is the revival of the MICE tourism. The pandemic has let businesses all over the world use the wonders of technology. MICE Tourism accounted for a major share of tourism revenues in the country. The pandemic has turned out to be a Black Swan moment for technological innovations. With a lot of new applications, web conferencing has solved the problem of travelling. Now people have got accustomed to the new normal. In such a scenario the MICE tourism product owners have to think of incentives and aggressive marketing. India is a country of cultural and religious diversity. A lot of domestic tourists travel for religious and cultural events around the country. Kumbh Mela has seen lakhs of people at once. The rush at Kamakhya Mandir, Tirupati temple, The Rath Yatra, etc. are not new. Spiritual and religious tourism has to be planned carefully. With such huge crowds, social distancing norms can be messed up easily. Proper planning is the only solution to this.
This is a very good opportunity to know our country. Gone are the days where vacation meant Europe. India as a country has lots to offer. Adventure, Culture, Nature, Wildlife, you name it you get it. Exploring the unexplored should be the new motto for the travellers. This is a good opportunity for the tourism entrepreneurs of the country to create new destinations and tourism products with innovations. Destination image is going to play a crucial role in choosing the destination. And destination image is created by the images, word of mouth, videos, information booklets etc. So proper branding and marketing strategies will help attract more and more tourists. Travel vloggers will play a crucial role here. Research suggests that 64% of the population watch travel vlogs and videos before taking a vacation. Now, if the vloggers vlog about the safety and hygiene of the place, the tourists are going to get a first-hand experience which can help clear the mental block regarding travelling again. There is a reason they are called social media influencers.
Hope for a better, beautiful and greener future shortly with lots and lots of travel. Its time to explore our beautiful diversified country.
-Ambalika Sarma B Choudhury , PhD Research Scholar, Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce
Cov-19 and Indian Poverty
Cov-19 originated from China (Wuhan) has bought many challenges to the world. The growth Models in Economics have defined the concept of Stationary State at present the global world prevails in because of Covin. Developed countries stuck into huge crises, Millions of people died, an aggregate loss to economies, loss of jobs, business losses, and what not? the state as a whole got engaged to fight the spreading virus, various experts of different expertise’s discussing how to survive from this pandemic? W.H.O is addressing from time to time all countries of the world about safety nets to be safe. Similarly, field experts via various media sources are discussing how to survive? and what precautions, we need to follow? Be it health, Business, Industrialist, Economist and so on. India is a labor abundant country, where every year millions of labor are entering into labor force market and due to lack of adequate jobs in the labor market a vast number of labor force are remaining unemployed in the country. Indian economy being an informal economy is having huge labor market disparities across state wise. Despite to this, in past Indian labor market has under gone with big changes, spread of jobs appeared to be skewed. Indian economy is also witnessing sectorial changes, due to which employment scenario is changing from sector to sector and from region to region (Rural to Urban). Nevertheless, Indian economy is predominantly a rural-based economy, where two-third of population and 70 percent of workforce are living in rural areas. However, with the decline in the share of agricultural sector in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country and also in the decline of landholdings size among small and marginal landholders in rural areas has given much rise to labor migration in India. Hence, a massive flow of labor’s are migrating from rural to urban areas for search of better employment or livelihood. The migrated labor include Self-employed persons, Regular workers, Daily wage workers, Rickshaw pullers, Street vendors, Shop Owners etc. Therefore, labor migration has been identified as a survival strategy utilized by the people, especially by rural people to combat from poverty and unemployment. The assessment of the effects of migration on rural areas has remained relevant, since migration acts as a catalyst in the transformation process of not only the destiny of individual migrants, but also the conditions of family members left behind, local communities, and the wider sending regions. Moreover, as per International Labor Organization (ILO), the economic and labor crisis created with this Covid-19 pandemic could increase global unemployment by almost 25 million. In case of India there are expectations, that around 400million people working in the informal sector are at risk of falling into poverty and 195 million will lose their jobs in the second quarter of this year. Underemployment is also expected to increase at a large scale, jobs crisis could increase inequalities in the country. In India various orders have been passed by government to help the people to remain safe and fit during these crises. The announcements are country wise lockdown from 24 March 2020, which was later extended many times and is still continue with a slogan “stay Home, stay safe” “wear mask”, “social distancing” etc. second, major announcement was to provide basic amenities to the poor people by providing PMJDY Accountholders monthly 500 rupees, and two months free ration and gasses. Third one was twenty thousand crore packages for business units to get easily credit for survival. These announcements were not too much supportive due to which many people die on road due to hungry, road and railway accidents, medical emergencies. etc. Questions has been raised by the experts and academicians about these announcements that they were not representative and neither supporting to save lives of the people in totality.
Therefore, there is a need of compulsory announcement from government side to announce a huge package to help the needy poor people, who are living from mouth to hand. Let’s conclude our discussion by a chines quote, “Give A Man A Fish and You Feed Him For A Day; Teach A Man To Fish and You Feed Him For A Lifetime” {Anne Isabella}. Government should find some concrete solutions to address poverty in the country.
- Firdous Ahmad Malik , Doctoral Fellow, Department of Economics, BBAU, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh-226025
Psychological harmony at crossroads : other effects of the pandemic.
We are always unsure about what the future has in hold for us; certain things happen which we never have had the expectations for but at times our entire life takes a 360 degrees turn. This is what happened to everybody's life when the global disaster threw in – a phenomenon which no one had conceived of even in their dreams. None had the apprehensions that their 2020 was going to end up in a catastrophe. Most of us weren’t serious about it until late. It didn’t even occupy little space in most brains till the time, the so called virus – “corona” was striking the Wuhan city of China but started to become a major threat when slowly and gradually it occupied its “most unwelcome” place in almost the entire parts of the planet; and lo, it’s a pandemic now !
The entire world is in a dilapidated state facing the extraordinarily unprecedented circumstances brought about by the COVID -19 pandemic leading to the global doom and calamity. In this situation of crisis, though people get affected by the virus physically yet the people who haven’t fallen prey to it physically have mostly been mentally predated by it – yes, I am talking about the mental health of folks that has been and continues to be affected by the outbreak of the pandemic as it proves to be “calmly chaotic” by which I mean that on one hand it has brought to us a kind of global calm with everyone forced to stay indoors with little or no movement taking place within and between the countries and continents and on the other hand it has presented us with a situation of utter chaos and confusion as it is the one to be held accountable for so many deaths worldwide.
The question that arises here is – Why and how have people fallen prey to it mentally i.e. why is their mental health being affected by the COVID -19? When a country is stricken by a pandemic, the people living in there become skeptical about every aspect of their life or better say their very “life”. The primary thought that comes to their mind is about safety and survival, be it theirs or their loved ones, after all safety is our basic need (as Abraham Maslow rightly calls it our second basic need in his “hierarchy of needs pyramid”). Along with this the alarming situation caused by the pandemic affects our cognitive processes and our coping mechanisms. Our perception gets distorted, our thinking becomes faulty, it tends to affect our memory and we are not able to take proper decisions too as everything seems so very uncertain.
The current predicament has brought life to a standstill and makes people stress over little things which becomes the ultimate cause of anxiety and depression among all age groups; the situation might also provide future room for post traumatic stress disorder. The rising number of cases infected by Corona is taking a heavy toll on everyone which scares people to the zenith. Social distancing though very necessary has led people to recklessly boycott others plus those individuals are being discriminated who are suffering even from normal cough, cold or fever as they are thought of having the symptoms similar
to those infected by the virus. Other problems which are faced by many are due to the lock down. The lock down has prevented mass movement which has made people to get trapped at various places which is definitely not comfortable for them. Some have been favored by luck and chance and are with their families while many are away from home, stuck at hostels or other foreign lands or for that matter “literally” anywhere, the most vulnerable ones i.e. the ones belonging to the lower economic section, as usual, are deprived of the basic needs like food and shelter. It has made it impossible for the daily wage earners (who can’t earn at this point of time) to fulfill the basic necessities of life. Once again the gap between the poor and the rich continues to widen with the rich living a life of luxury and hoarding stuff for their use and the poor striving for basic necessities with little or nothing to aid their survival. All this is leading to maladaptive behavior and emotional distress among people as they are not able to adapt well and cope up with the situation properly. The people who are not with their families are perturbed due to this very fact. Others are agitated and irritated because they are pressed upon to stay home. Office going people and school going children have to sit idle at home which has made them fussy and furious and this leads to frustration, aggression and anxiety that is ultimately leading people to use unhealthy coping strategies especially defense mechanism like displacement, projection, sublimation, etc.
Though the lockdown has brought certain families together but at the same time, disputes between them have considerably risen. Imagine people being locked up constantly at a certain place for a month or so, this is bound to happen; all this adds to emotional distress. Domestic violence too seems to be rising up as such men who would come late at night and enjoy beating there wives have now access to them 24 × 7. This is leading to more depression in such women. Students are not being able to go to school and colleges and are compelled to carry out online classes and submit back to back assignments which makes them face the issue of schedule management as working from home is not everyone's cup of tea which is bringing in them an “I am good for nothing” factor and a sense of worthlessness, many can’t afford to have an internet connection, a laptop or a personal space at home for such online classes which ultimately makes them lag behind in comparison to their other classmates and this again plays a significant role in their maladaptive behavior. Some have disruptive family structure and, or abusive parents who they had escaped and gone to some other place, but now have to stay with them and bear all the trauma all over again which is adversely affecting their mental health.
Some people have tried their best to make this situation a “rat race” too, though they do this in the name of “enhancing ones personality” but have failed to recognize the fact that it’s having a negative impact on people especially students who are already struggling with time management and at the same time feel the urge to participate in such online competitions, courses, training, workshops etc. but cannot due to whatever reasons and feel the unnecessary baggage of lagging behind by not being a part of these which is again affecting them at the emotional level. I’m not saying that online skill development is not a good thing but many people have made it a point of looting students in the name of such skill development programs and instead of proving beneficial, at this point of crisis, are having a negative impact on most people.
The other issue that shakes the students up is the country's economy that has suffer a downfall due to the outbreak of this pandemic; the fact that students who are in their final years i.e. at the peak of their careers won’t have adequate job opportunities for them with our rotting economy is creating a wave of tension, helplessness and frustration among such students.
Mental health problems continue to rise drastically along with the number of COVID-19 cases; most people have and most are on the verge of developing behavioral problems, anxiety issues, mood disorders, and other stress related problems. It is now time to deeply ponder over the issue and do our part to take some necessary action to curb the situation. At our individual level we can motivate ourselves and others by reminding us and them that in this transient world of things, nothing is everlasting and that every cloud has a silver lining so we should hope for the best and believe that like everything else, this too shall pass and there will again be a new dawn. People should try and break the stigma associated with mental health and encourage those in need, to come out of their shell to reach out and seek professional help by contacting such helpline numbers where mental health professionals are available to provide their services and assistance. All this needs to be done before it’s too late; rather before everyone hits the rock bottom.
-Ayesha Arif Student MA Psychology Department of Psychology Aligarh Muslim University