Social Change Partner: Maher
In a few short sentences, what does your non-profit do? Maher (in the Marathi language) means “Mother’s Home”: a haven of hope, belonging and understanding. Our mission is to help destitute women, children, and men from all over India receive their right to a higher quality of life, irrespective of …
Social Change Partner: Design for Change
In a few short sentences, what does your non-profit do? Design for Change is a global movement focusing on encouraging students to be design thinkers. It has its reach in more 34 countries, where students are participating in the DFC school challenge by following four simple steps of Feel, Imagine, …
Resolved India-US Dispute Opens Doors for WTO Deal
India and the United States have recently reconciled over food stockpiles, subsequently allowing a global trade deal to be enacted that had been postponed indefinitely. The World Trade Organization (WTO) had decided on a deal called the Trade Facilitation Agreement to simplify trade processes in December at Bali, Indonesia but …
Devadasi: The Godly Prostitutes of India
Background Dancing was an art that was meant for expression of religious stories and especially evident in Hindu mythology. Lord Shiva, otherwise known as Nataraja (the god of dance), expressed the cosmic cycles of birth, life and death in his vivid dance called the Tandava for his companion Parvati. The Tandava …
The Ram Masjid Center for Religious Harmony
THE TIMES OF UTOPIA THE RAM MASJID CENTER: A TRIUMPH FOR WORLD PEACE By Rita Shikhar. DECEMBER 06, 2015. Ayodhya, India. A true leader, it is said, leads his people to where they should be and not necessarily where they want to be. This day, the 6th of December 2015, …
Sant Rampal’s Arrest and The Police’s Difficult Job
Owing to the recent clashes in Hisar, Sant Rampal has become a well-known personality, but for the wrong reasons. What is the case? In 2006, Sant Rampal criticised ‘Satyarth Prakash’, a book written by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, founder of the Arya Samaj. This resulted in a conflict between the Arya …
Akshaya Patra’s International Photography Contest: Click a Smile
Overview: Click a Smile is Akshaya Patra’s annual international photography competition. Eligible to both professional and amateur photographers, Click a Smile 2014 will run from 20th November to 22nd December, 2014. The competition focusses on the innate joy and innocence of a child’s smile, and celebrates this. Therefore to participate …
Our Thoughts and Prayers Go Out to Peshawar Families
Pakistani Taliban fighters killed 141 people, 132 of which were children, at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan. The BBC reports that 7 militants attacked the school wearing suicide vests. As parents search for their children, hospitals in the area are dealing with the large number of deaths and casualties. The …
Heaven on Hearth: Kashmir and Rest of India
Once out of school in India, it is strange how several beliefs are shattered as one grows up and knows more. For example, one learns that Jinnah’s 1946 Direct Action Day was a lot more brutal than what textbooks said, and that there was much more to the 1948 annexation …
India's Social Justice Bench Meets for the First Time
The Indian Supreme Court has established a “Social Justice Bench” to cover cases about social justice in a timely manner. A statement released by the Supreme Court explains, “In Supreme Court several cases relating to the domain of ‘social justice’ are pending for several years. Hon’ble the Chief Justice of …
