Showing posts with label india untouched. Show all posts
Showing posts with label india untouched. Show all posts

India Untouched @ Pre-Tarang week in LSR!


India Untouched@ LSR
SMILE Pravah in association with VAPP, LSR organised the screening on the 11th of November from 3:00 – 5:30 pm which was facilitated by SMILE volunteers. The event started with a brief introduction of Pravah and SMILE and the movie. The points put forward in the post-movie discussion gave a better insight and helped everyone explore the various dimensions of the movie.

The movie India Untouched explores the prevalence of caste in contemporary India among people from different religions, geographical areas and cultural backgrounds. Award winning director Stalin.K had put in 4 years of research for making the movie, showing us how widespread and real the Dalit oppression is contrary to what we may believe.

Some of the major points and observations that came forward were:
  • Almost everyone in the audience acknowledged that they had no clue that it was still so prevalent and the movie made them realise the magnitude of the problem.
  • Someone pointed out the arguments in favour of reservation on the basis of economic criteria instead of caste based criteria was an attempt to neglect the issue and only a means to deny the Dalits equality of opportunity.
  • It was also pointed out that in generality education and geographical location had no relation to caste discriminations but only the ways that these discriminations occur.
  • Someone pointed out that the caste fragmentations are so deeply ingrained into our minds that it’s almost impossible to get rid of them. Some confessed that it was still practiced in their houses (like different utensils for Dalits) and also that they themselves somewhat believed in these caste based distinctions though it was difficult to explain why.
  • Quite a few people present there confessed to the fact that even though they don’t believe in caste based discriminations as such they would still like to marry within their casteslike the lady in the movie. Someone cross questioned and pointed out that such examples show that we still believe in caste system and try to dismiss the fact by giving illogical arguments and quoting texts.
  • It was also pointed out that the problem with Dalit women was more acute and they suffered more in reference to the part in the movie where a Dalit woman is referred to as a ‘double Dalit’.
    The discussion specially the citing of personal instances started the process of self-introspection and self-questioning. The very hope to change and not to accept things as they are seemed to flame in everyone and was this was very inspiring. The importance of spreading awareness and instilling in ourselves and those around us a rational outlook and a feeling of tolerance was emphasised. The discussion was wrapped up with explaining the SMILE process and distribution of RI pamphlets.
    SMILE Pravah would like to continue its association with LSR. Please feel free to write out your views of the event and also to contact us for any sort of information or comments.
    Keep :)ing
  • SMILE'rs

Posted in: , on Monday, November 16, 2009 at at 3:19 PM 1 comments  

India Untouched screened at DCE!

India Untouched @ DCE

Date: 27th October Time: 5:30 – 8:00 p.m Delhi College of Engineering

The movie screening at DCE started off with a very brief introduction about SMILE, Pravah and the theme of the movie. An enthusiastic crowd of around 20-25 people turned up for the screening.

The movie India Untouched explores the prevalence of caste in contemporary India among people from different religions, geographical areas and cultural backgrounds. Award winning director Stalin.K had put in 4 years of research for making the movie, showing us how widespread and real the Dalit oppression is contrary to what we may believe.

A brief but quite intense discussion followed the screening and quite a few points and issues were raised.

Most acknowledged this was an eye-opener and they weren’t aware of the magnitude and implications of caste segregations.

Someone pointed out that in their college itself in some cases people of same communities/castes only bonded among themselves. Also if people found out that someone was from a backward community they wouldn’t befriend him/her.

The point of local leaders and authorities exploiting caste segregations for their vested interests was also raised.

Someone also confessed that he was personally against reservation before seeing the movie but now is pro-reservation because even if reservation benefits a fraction of the oppressed and needy it’s a big step forward and is essential.

It was said that it was almost impossible to get completely rid of the caste discriminations or notions of ‘superiority’ and ‘inferiority’ as they were very deep- rooted in our minds but we could work to bridge the gap between people by making sure that the discriminated were granted opportunities to excel and discover their potential.

Someone said that the only way to combat this was to make people think rationally and to question established structures instead of blindly following them.

Thus the process of self-introspection and questioning norms got underway. It was concluded by initiating discussions on what we can personally do get rid of these stigmas. The importance of spreading awareness and instilling in ourselves and those around us a rational mindset and a feeling of tolerance was emphasised.

This led to explaining the SMILE process and how it helps in understanding and comprehending all these issues better. It was wrapped up by showing the SMILE video and distributing R.I pamphlets. We hope to continue our association with DCE.
Keep :)ing..................

SMILE’rs

Posted in: , , on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at at 1:20 AM 4 comments  

Movie screening @ IIT Delhi, read on!


"NSS IITD" in collaboration with "Pravah" organised the screening of "India Untouched" on August 29, Saturday facilitated by SMILE volunteers. The highlight was the discussion part after the screening. Beyond all expectations, audience found the relevance of the issue and almost everyone present there was an intimate part of the discussion. The issue of the movie was well known to all, but the way it was put there in the movie and later the points discussed seemed to enlighten everyone and put a lot of unknown facts forward. The way the audience discussed their personal examples related to the issue, showed it was very near to their hearts.
Some of the major points that came out of the discussion and movie were:

· The awareness of the fact that it was still so prevalent both in practices at the grass root level and psychologically in the so called educated elite, the point to think about is, does it exist in IIT too? (as highlighted by the JNU student case).

· The fact that people who are victims of untouchability further perpetuate the practice (subdivisions in Dalit castes and how some Dalitsub-castes subjected other Dalit sub-castes to various atrocities that they themselves were victims of).

· Someone pointed out that the Manusmriti isn’t an integral part of the Vedas and that in the Bhagvad Gita Lord Krishna offers help to everyone irrespective of their caste.

· The caste discrimination subconsciously still exists in our hearts even if we don’t explicitly practice it in reference to the lady who denied any caste beliefs but still wanted to strictly marry within her caste.

· State machinery uses castes to divide us for their own political gains.

· It was new to some to that caste distinctions occur in almost all religions and even states like Kerala which is a communist state and boasts of the highest literacy rate in India has such a rampant growth of caste based practices.

· There was a heated discussion on the issue of reservations and whether they should be community based or community, on the creamy layer issue, the positives of the system of reservations which drew some interesting and thought provoking arguments from either side.

· Finally some were perplexed at the reasons for this sort of discrimination and longed for the prevalence of humanity in all.

This brought us to the question of taking initiatives and not waiting for the society to change but to start changing ourselves. The effort to start the process of thinking and self-questioning thus got underway. The very hope to change and not to accept things as they are seemed to flame in everyone. It was very encouraging for us to see your enthusiasm and to hear out your point of views.

SMILE Pravah would like to continue its association with IIT Delhi and we eagerly await any comments on the movie or related issues. We would also like to further conduct such screenings and discussions if feasible. Please feel free to write out your views of the event and also to contact us for any sort of information or comments.

Posted in: , , , on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at at 5:28 PM 1 comments  

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