We all have different influences on our daily life, but as a rule the impact of politics would be the most predominant. It overrides most other aspects of life. Bernard Crick, in his In Defence of Politics says: “Politics affects everyday life. The decisions made by politicians affect us all, from cradle to grave.” But do people in India or other parts of the world understand the concept of politics clearly and correctly? That moot question was taken up by the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), a renowned social studies Institute in Stockholm. The institution, supported by many democratic countries, conducted a multi-country survey to measure people’s interest in and understanding of politics. The finding across the countries is that a large number of people do not like politics and do not trust politicians as a class.If you are looking for a rented place in Delhi, the national capital of India, the common experience is that the landlords do not like to give it to lawyers and politicians. What could be the reason? There is certainly a trust deficit. However, lawyers could manipulate with legal ‘antics’ their way to a rented accommodation and politicians could use their clout with power centres to achieve the same.Yet, the contradiction is that people are also mad about politics, especially in the developing countries, as obviously they have a stake in it. They talk animatedly about politics. Jonathan Swift, in his ‘Thoughts on Various Subjects” had said: “Democracy (party) is madness of many for the benefit of the few.” To sample a few more interpretations of politics, Otto von Bismarck said: “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable—the art of the next best. “It is Lord Acton, the British historian, who said: “All power tends to corrupt; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” George Bernard Shaw commented: “Politics is the last resort of scoundrels.” Since such commentaries on politics abound even in our curriculum, it is natural for people to be cynical. Cynicism is detrimental to democracy, if not to all forms of politics. It will be better for people and politics, if the people had a correct understanding of politics and had an informed engagement with it.Many historians argue that the French Revolution would not have occurred without the powerful political ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity propounded by the French Enlightenment philosophers — Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, and Montesquieu. So, a correct understanding and interpretation of ideas are important. An incorrect understanding or an inappropriate application creates unfavourable and unhealthy attitudes to politics, which are not good for a democracy. What do the three major stakeholders _ state (read politicians), business, and civil society _ in a country think of politics? Our reference point of course is India.Let us look at the meaning and operational definition of politics, as it is commonly understood. Some common definitions of politics are: politics is the exercise of power; politics is the public allocation of values; politics is the resolution of conflict; politics is the competition among individuals, groups, or states pursuing their interests. There are many other definitions, but all of them include power, and authority. In India, politics is commonly understood as ‘Rajniti’ meaning policies of the king (in the past) or the state. Such understanding of politics has made it the game of royals, feudal lords, elites, and so on, whereas the meaning of a Minister is people’s servant. Ministering means serving. We tend to change the meaning of words in India and Indianise their practice.Let me proffer two new meanings to politics—Rajniti can be understood as ‘king of policies’ instead of king’s policy; second, it should be Sevaniti (policy of service) instead of Rajniti. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while assuming office in 2014, said, “I am the chief servant” (pradhan sevak) of the people”. Operational implications of these meanings should make a profound impact on politics and will make it more acceptable. People will treat politics with respect and engage with it when the interests of individual leaders and parties are taken away. Sevaniti will make politicians service-oriented, not power-mongering, influence-peddling, profit- seeking, and so on. If the top civil services occupations are titled Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, and Indian Economic Service, why not we call Parliament and Legislative careers as political service?But what do politicians themselves think of politics? Politics for many is a profession and a career. They are into it full time and do nothing else. So, whether they are in power or out of it, they live off politics. Many get into it as their families have made it and they must inherit that legacy. Others enter politics as they cannot do anything else, and they could make a good living by squatting in the corridors of power. Yet some join politics to represent the people and alleviate their conditions, but this lot, sooner than later, gets caught in the vicious circle triggered by “power- influence-survival-revival”. Whatever be their original motivation in joining, a majority of politicians gets stuck in their struggle for survival. They make compromises in the name of compulsions and lose their way toward their original mission.People in business see politics as a tool for developing their business. Ideology is immaterial for them. They would support any party which helps them build their business. It is true that business houses do philanthropic activities, but by and large, the motivation to do so is not political or social, but religious or spiritual, or based on a quid pro quo made with their benefactors. This is sometimes called Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) too. We are not running down ethical business practices which stay clear of political patronage or influences.What is society’s understanding of politics? There are many societal actors having diverse perceptions of politics. Civil society organisations like community-based ones use politics to campaign for their interests; others issue-based ones protest or advocate the causes they believe in, and there are protest movements, pressure groups and lobbies like trade unions and so on.And there are peoples’ movements and social movements (interchangeably used) which influence politics by creating new institutions or causing regime-change. Movements are an essential part of politics as they emerge in response to peoples’ needs; that are not met by powers-that-be or for the sake of justice, fairness and right to self-determination (freedom movements). On the other hand, there are movements that capture power with illegitimate use of force. So, movements can be seen as creative attempts to initiate change – social, political, economic or others and there are other movements which are pathological.Qualifying adjectives to refer to movements could be too varied – ‘radical’, ‘messianic’, ‘nativistic’, ‘nationalistic’, ‘fascist’, ‘non-violent’, ‘religious’, ‘secular’, ‘revolutionary’, ‘reformist’, ‘socialist,’ ‘labour’, ‘caste’ (emancipator) and so on. The first textbook on modern social movement to be published in America (J. Davis, Contemporary Social Movement, New York and London, 1930) had a multitude of topics: Plato’s Republic, Thomas Moore’s Utopia, Marx’s Socialism, Mussolini’s Fascism, Gandhi’s Non-Violence, The Cooperative Movement, The Labour Movement, The Peace Movement and so on. The list includes not only collective actions (movements), but the idea systems too. We refer to those movements which translate theories into praxis and contribute to institutional changes that impact the nature of politics.However, there is also a section of civil society organisations that stay away from politics, as they think politics is corrupt, manipulative, and therefore, and it is not meant for ‘good people’. Such people should remember Abraham Lincoln who had reprimanded his fellow-citizens uninterested in politics, “bad politicians are elected by good citizens who do not vote”.Media is deeply connected with politics. It collects news from politicians and feeds it to the people. Media personnel frequent the political corridors sniffing for news, especially breaking news, snatching sound bites and flashing them in TVs, YouTube channels, websites and papers. But the media does not subscribe to any particular politics, nor has any core political beliefs barring some who may have ideological or political affiliation. The situation seems to have changed as the media is largely in cahoots with ruling parties.To sum up, politics is understood and used according to the people’s own interest. That is a normal trend. Such interest can be selfish or selfless, intellectual, or spiritual, ideological or tribal, communal etc. What one is arguing here is, politics is a collective act. Aristotle said, Man by nature is a social animal, in a democracy, wo(man) is a political being as people are sovereign in a democracy and are supposed to be makers of their political destinies. People have to take a collective view of politics and should have collective responsibilities and accountabilities. That is, politics is also a service, helping each other, looking after the common men and women, not making space for ex-royals, feudals, rich and the elite. To actualise such understanding of politics, it has to be made simpler, easier for common people to play it. The role of power, money and mafia have to diminish, instead, ideas, commitment and sacrifice have to come into play. Politics then will be king of policies, and real lokniti, not rajniti.<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">For past releases of Words and Concepts, <a style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://theaidem.com/tag/words-and-concepts/">Click Here</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">.

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This column will deal with words and concepts and their changing and nuanced meanings. Indeed , many more interpretations and value additions are possible on the words and descriptions that figure in this series. The AIDEM invites further discussions on these words and concepts from readers.

Words and Concepts- 4: Politics

In a sense, a return to skill of the past, after an age of conceptual based art, as it happened with art in the Occident and subsequently in the Orient, was inevitable.Back in 1979, Italian art critic and curator Achille Bonito Oliva wrote an introduction for an exhibition he organized in the town of Genazzano, (a town and commune in the Metropolitan City of Rome). Titled Le Stanze (The Rooms), the show gathered a small group of young painters whose practices seemed to have revived the Expressionist painting at a time when Conceptual art ruled art tendencies to its full potential. In order to describe their work, Oliva coined the term Transavanguardia, or trans-avant-garde, announcing the beginning of an international phenomenon which took place in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, and became one of the most influential movements of Post-war Italian art along with Arte Povera.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_011_3d442ba8c6.jpg" alt="image-011.jpg"> Francesco-Clemente at the Rubin Museum, Gallery View“In many ways Transavanguardia became a way of dissolving the linear demarcations of the art movement and resorting to a move freer way of moving back and forth, refereeing to history as well as addressing the hysteria of the ‘new’ –the here and now,” says Oliva who is visiting India and curating the exhibition, The Grand Italian Vision, from the Farnesina Collection. The exhibition that is currently on display at the Bikaner House in New Delhi, features a handpicked selection of 70 pieces of painting, sculpture and photographs and even a few small sized ‘installations’ of handmade objects.“In my belief, art is a massage for the atrophied muscles of collective sensibility,” says Oliva. Put very eruditely by Oliva it is best described as the ‘freedom to move forward but also move back in time and reference the past. It is thematic rather than linear’. This ties in with the Indian approach which looks at time as cyclical rather than linear and hence things recur but in a different way each time. We see this in art, and more so in India and Asia where the reference to the past is a constant where many of the Modern artists talk of the aesthetics of the Rajastjani, Persian and Mughal miniatures, the Warli painting, the Madhubani and the Kalighat Pats in the same breath as they embrace the Modern and what is now called the Contemporary.However before we address the commonality between Indian and Italian art we need to better acquaint ourselves with the Transavanguardia movement. To revisit the movement and its impact on art history, we have to go back to the 1980s. At the Venice Biennale, of that time, five prominent artists were showing under the Transavanguardia movement, that Oliva curated, and they stood out—their artworks drew attention for their diverse styles and common vision. They relied on strong narratives, painters Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Sandro Chia, Mimmo Paladino and Nicola De Maria—the artists re-created a strongly expressive language which oozed in vibrant colour, the depth of space, the passage of time and the freedom of technique.“The conceptual art movement was dominated by artists from the United States and the Transavanguardia movement brought the focus back to art that celebrated the act of creating with one’s hands of painting, and sculpture,” says Oliva.That 1980s exhibition at the Venice Biennale, gave these individuals an opportunity to compete for a place on the international art market, dominated by significant figures and tendencies from. The paintings they produced offered a variety of personal interpretations of these notions: from Sandro Chia and his influence by Futurism and even Mannerism, the many materials of Enzo Cucchi, such as ceramics, wood, neon and steel, the almost childish quality of works by Nicola De Maria, Mimmo Paladino’s ‘totemic canvases’ and, of course, Francesco Clemente’s ‘haunting portraits’. <img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_000_150x150_01a7ee3c28.jpg" alt="image-000-150x150.jpg">Disco Solare, 1989-90, Bronze Sculpture, Arnaldo Pomodoro<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_002_150x150_98b8540d09.jpg" alt="image-002-150x150.jpg"> Photograph of Achille Bonito Oliva at The Grand Italian Vision, Bikaner House, New Delhi<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_003_150x150_b257393b9e.jpg" alt="image-003-150x150.jpg">Opera Obliqua, 1997, Photography and Silkscreen printed on Panel, Gino De Dominics<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_007_150x150_dbfc005d58.jpg" alt="image-007-150x150.jpg">Gallery View of the exhibition ‘The Grand Italian Vision’: showcasing the Italian Transavanguardia movement<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_008_150x150_9dfeeb655d.jpg" alt="image-008-150x150.jpg">Gallery View of the exhibition ‘The Grand Italian Vision’: showcasing the Italian Transavanguardia movement<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_009_150x150_1bd5521c5d.jpg" alt="image-009-150x150.jpg">Gallery View of the exhibition ‘The Grand Italian Vision’: showcasing the Italian Transavanguardia movement<i style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:300;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:center;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Image Courtesy: Georgina Maddox&nbsp;Interestingly Clemente, an Italian contemporary artist lived at various times in Italy, India and New York City. Some of his work is influenced by the traditional art and culture of India. He has worked in various artistic media including drawing, fresco, graphics, mosaic, oils and sculpture.Born and raised in the farm lands of Morro d’Alba, province of Ancona, the artist Enzo Cucchi was an autodidactic (self-taught) painter. He was lauded in his early years even though he was more interested in poetry. He frequently visited poet Mino De Angelis, who was in charge of the magazine Tau.The impact of Achille Bonito Oliva and his Transavanguardia Movement went beyond the borders of Italy, touching upon the borders of the US, Germany and even India. The Transavanguardia’s ‘quest to revive the potential of painting’ by drawing inspiration from the history of art itself, as well as classical mythology, popular culture and national symbolism, it went beyond Italy’s border along with Francesco Clemente. His works became a seminal part of Neo-Expressionism, further influencing the production of fellow creatives like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jonathan Borofsky, David Salle and Julian Schnabel.’Interestingly the exhibit entitled Francesco Clemente: Inspired by India, at the Ruben Museum in New York, displayed in 2014, was well received and showcased Clemente’s massive drawings with elements of installing the work to emulate a ‘Hindu temple’. The exhibition constituted a public space (like the main courtyard of a temple) marked by deep purple — occupied by the five huge drawings. There were four smaller meditative “niche” (grihas) spaces — filled here by sculptures. And finally, the “inner sanctum,” (the grabagriha) held 16 exquisite watercolor pieces and a portfolio of profoundly erotic watercolors, based on the erotic sculptures in Orissa (Odisha), India. Even more remarkable is the fact that the drawings, were made in collaboration with local artisans in Madras (Chennai) in the 1980’s. They include gouache on sheets of handmade paper, bound together by cotton strips to form billboard-sized drawings. The treatment to the paint is flat and the perspective is not of a western nature rather it emulates local pop and filmic poster art of the times.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_013_9313776342.jpg" alt="image-013.jpg"> Michelangelo Pistoletto, Venus of the Rags, Installation, 1967<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_014_150x150_9d9ed27143.jpg" alt="image-014-150x150.jpg">Michelangelo Pistoletto, Man with Yellow Pants, Paperwork, 1964<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_015_150x150_d699816de7.jpg" alt="image-015-150x150.jpg"> Michelangelo Pistoletto, with Disegnando il Terzo Paradiso, 2011<em style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:center;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Image Courtesy: Google Arts and CultureWhile each of these works by Clemente is interesting one cannot help but observe the dark humor of one of the image of the paintings. Here two nude male figures—one slightly lighter skin toned (clearly from the Occident) to the other (clearly Asian) examine each other by pointing at their orifices and body parts. It contains both a sense of innocence and a wicked bit of humor in it. We are told that Clemente was occupied with human orifice as receptacles of stimuli. He was also fascinated by aspects of Indians that he deemed as ‘mysterious, erotic, and spiritual’.The themes and titles — Sun, Moon, Hunger, Two Painters, and Four Corners — reflect Clemente’s identification with many aspects of ‘traditional Indian painting’ combined with his own contemporary ‘Western angst’.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/image_001_e1686816469444_ce5f842fcf.jpg" alt="image-001-e1686816469444.jpg">Mediterraneo, 1990-95, four black and white photographs, Mimmo Jodice Image: Georgina Maddox&nbsp;Returning to Oliva’s current exhibition, at Bikaner House in New Delhi, one sees that works belonging to the earlier period are more in tune with reviving the sensibilities of Neo-Expressionism, paying ‘tribute almost’ to doyens like Heri Matisse, Picasso and even quoting from the classical art of the Italian Renaissance. One however notices that works belonging to a later period, (from the late 1990s to the early 2000s), there is a greater conscious sense of the global and of Asian nature; from the colours to the shape and forms. To summarize what Oliva is getting at through his curated exhibition, Transavanguardia addresses the fact that it is no longer possible to slot art into capsules of time and geography but it acknowledges that art is a product of the past, present and the future and hence it includes a mix of all these elements.“Transavanguardia, invites society to share and to live together. All these movements represent a mosaic and this collection reflects that many things exist together and they are all equally important. It’s an invitation to peace.” says Oliva. Given the times that we live in, this value of art acquires political value. “It is no longer just art and it is a moment in world geo-politics,” he concludes.Bibliographic Reference: &nbsp;<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/transavanguardia-italian-movement"> &nbsp; &nbsp;Transavanguardia – The Progressive Movement of the Italian Modern Scene | Widewalls</a></li><li style="box-sizing:border-box;font-weight:500;line-height:1.8;margin-bottom:10px;margin-right:0px;margin-top:0px;padding:0px;"><a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://hyperallergic.com/151612/francesco-clemente-in-india/">Francesco Clemente in India (hyperallergic.com)</a></li></ol>&nbsp;

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Looking at the impact of ‘Transavanguardia’, an art Movement in Italy a nomenclature as demarcated by curator-historian Achille Bonito Oliva.

In a sense, a return to skill of the past, after an age of conceptual based art, as it happened with art in the Occident and subsequently in the Orient, was inevitable.

Transvanguardia: Moving Beyond Time And Geographies Through Art

This column will deal with words and concepts and their changing and nuanced meanings. Indeed , many more interpretations and value additions are possible on the words and descriptions that figure in this series. The AIDEM invites further discussions on these words and concepts from readers.Participation has become a buzz word in the domains of development and governance. We come across phrases like participatory development, participatory growth, participatory democracy, participatory governance and so on. In fact, the word ‘participatory’ has become a popular prefix to many political and social concepts. This has happened since development theorists considered people’s participation necessary for sustainable development. In fact, before a development project is undertaken, people should be consulted on it objectives and strategies. This process of consultation was called Participatory Rural Appraisal. This was experimented in India by a British Academic named Robert Chambers in Jharkhand, which was part of the State of Bihar. Conversely, absence of participation leads to undesirable consequences.Some theorists would claim that the concept of participation has been around from ancient times. In Greek city-states, participation was a fundamental aspect of democracy where citizens participated in public affairs through ballot voting, public debates, and jury services. The concept was central even in theological practices where participation in divine grace or communion was key to salvation. In traditional Hinduism, making sacrifices or conducting the ritual of upnayanana (initiation) was considered participation.But the concept in 20th century has emerged in a modern form with growth of social movements and political consciousness. The idea that people should have greater say in decision-making processes that affect their lives became universal; particularly in developing countries the participatory approach to development has become a preferred strategy.Thus participation has become a key concept in various fields: development, education, social work, public policy, and so on. Also, today the concept of participation includes not only people’s involvement in decision making but also access to information, resources and opportunities, which enable people to participate effectively in society.In a semi-official conversation, an official of the West Bengal government shared this understanding of participatory development: Suppose a school is to be built in a village. The decision is taken in the Block Development Office. Villagers are not consulted about the location of the school, the type of building, the number of students expected to enroll, the catchment area, and so on. The school is built. But students do not turn up in required numbers as the parents do not know the quality or demeanor of the teachers. Some villagers without a direct stake in the school start chipping away the tiles from the roof, or mess up the premises by letting the cattle roam on the campus. The school becomes unviable.Why did it happen? The villagers should have been overjoyed with a new school. They were not, as they did not participate in the process of setting up the school; rather they were alienated from it. So, participation leads progressively to ownership of the outcome of the decision taken.What do we mean by participation? Does being present in a meeting constitute participation? For instance, if villagers attend the meetings of local governments like grama sabha does it mean that they are participating? The literal meaning of the word is ‘to have a part or share in something’. But the operative meaning would be, “to have a say on or contribute to the outcome of a particular activity”. To illustrate, if the meeting is discussing the strategic plan of an organisation or development plan of a group/village or resolving a conflict, anyone contributing to any of these would mean participation.If it is a political meeting that is making a policy or taking a decision, participation will mean contributing to the process of policy-making or decision-taking.So, participation is contextual, depending on the nature of activities. For instance, if a student is attending a class and actively listening, they are said to be participating in the lecture. Raising a question or seeking a clarification from the lecturer would also mean participation. Some would say simply listening to a lecture is passive participation whereas reacting to the lecture would be active participation.Let me share an anecdote. A journalist had an appointment with the Prime Minister of a European country. The journalist arrived on time and was escorted into the office of the Prime Minister. To his amazement, the journalist found the Prime Minister relaxing in a chair, looking at the ceiling and smoking a cigar. The journalist began the conversation, “Sir, you seem to be unwinding.” The Prime Minister replied smilingly, “not really, I am in fact working. I am participating in the development of my country.” The journalist’s surprise was deepened by the answer. The Prime Minister, realising the journalist’s discomfiture, explained: “I am thinking; that is what I am elected for, to think for my country. And that is how I am participating with my countrymen and women in the welfare and development of the country”.Let us now see what is not participation? Take a couple of hackneyed phrases, almost trite. Participatory growth, which is often used by politicians, is not a correct expression. A country can grow without everybody participating in the growth process. Growth is defined and measured by the amount of wealth (GDP) the country generates. A few business houses and public enterprises can bring about that growth. Common citizens may make no contribution to the wealth creation. I raised this issue in a conference in Berlin and was endorsed by others. But participatory development is a correct phrase. As explained, development will not be effective or sustainable without the participation of the stakeholders, mainly the beneficiaries.Is democracy participatory? This is another popular phrase. This must be contextually examined. It may be the case in some countries where direct democracy is in practice even on a limited scale Democracy underlines the primacy of the voters or citizens. In fact, they are sovereign in a democracy. Is that the case in the ‘largest democracy’ of the world or in many other democracies? If you look at the democracy index brought out by The Economist, only a few countries appear to be fair democracies and the rest are flawed or hybrid.Another similar phrase is participatory governance. This is even more complicated and confusing. Governance consists of three main functions in a democracy: legislative, executive and judicial. How are these three functions participatory? One could accept the legislative function as participatory as Parliament and legislatures are run by elected representatives, whatever may be the merit and extent of collective deliberations! But what about participation in the executive and the judiciary? The argument could be that the executive function is led by the Cabinet but, it is the bureaucracy which carries out the administration. There have been attempts to make executive participatory by encouraging police-public cooperation. Likewise, the judiciary is being made participatory by introducing institutions like Lok Adalat and mediation centers. But they are only supplementary functions in a limited scale. So, to say that governance is participatory is a misnomer.Therefore, let us understand clearly the concept and use it impactfully.<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">For past releases of Words and Concepts, <a style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://theaidem.com/tag/words-and-concepts/">Click Here</a><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">.

​This column will deal with words and concepts and their changing and nuanced meanings. Indeed , many more interpretations and value additions are possible on the words and descriptions that figure in this series. The AIDEM invites further discussions on these words and concepts from readers.

Words and Concepts- 2: Participation

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The AIDEM’s Cover Story on the ‘Big Crash’ of the Adani group of companies and its larger economic and political fallout highlights an important statement from the People’s Commission on Public Sector and Public Services, a public interest group consisting of eminent academics, jurists, erstwhile administrators, trade unionists and social activists.



The Adani affair: Collapse of Regulatory Structures

A disturbing phenomenon witnessed in many parts of the country in recent times is the manner in which the female body is being shamed in the digital domain by predatory males. Taking advantage of the anonymity offered by the social media in the cyber world, there is a transgression of ethical and legal norms through the use of violence and misogyny.What could be the answers to such criminal behavior? How could we as parents, educators and concerned citizens address such issues without taking recourse to the traditional moral discourse unsuitable for modern times? How could intimacy among young adults and consensual relationship among adults be promoted in the face of the dangers lurking in the cyber world?Janus–faced approach to SexualityDespite the legitimate space given to sexuality and bodily desire in the Indian texts, iconography, sculpture and temple art in ancient India, it must be admitted that our society and popular culture have for long suffered under a repressive sexuality largely influenced by Victorian prudery and Puritanism. Historians of the 19th Century Victorian England have testified to the presence of the ‘Other Victorians,’ namely those in their life and life values who had radically departed from the dominant puritan culture. It is also true that movements like the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood attempted to restore the balance by the rightful recognition of the body and the life of the senses, but such movements, though important, were not long lasting. On the whole, such attempts could not drastically change the spell of the Victorian Puritanism. It required the arrival of the British novelist D.H. Lawrence, aptly described as the ‘priest of love,’ by his celebrated biographer Harry T. Moore, to reclaim the bodily self and sexuality as an answer to the malaise of the Western civilisation. Contrary to popular perceptions, in works like Lady Chatterley’s Lover he did not advocate an unbridled or amoral sexuality as an antidote to the conservative class consciousness and morality; rather, he stood for a new body-mind-spirit continuum in opposition to the dominant asceticism and a life-denying religion/ spirituality. In modern times, such tendencies banefully continue throughout the world despite the emergence of a liberal culture.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/lady_cha_3b5aa5c0e6.jpg" alt="lady-cha.jpg">Domineering Male BehaviourThere are two-ways by which the legacy of D.H. Lawrence may be seen in the modern world. While one strand of Lawrence resulted in the notion of the domineering male ideal leading to proto-fascism, his larger teaching, based on the importance of recognising the life of the body and that of the senses, has been affirmed by Western feminism. The argument that sex is not only for procreation but is integral to the pleasure principle was affirmed by the feminist movement. Consequently, the right of the woman over her own body and the right to female sexual pleasure was accepted as axiomatic, an approach that found greater acceptance through the use of contraceptives and safe sex practice in course of time.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/lawrance_768x576_6776558458.jpg" alt="lawrance-768x576.jpg"> D H LawrencePornographyThe right of the female self to her body that has come center stage in a democratic order was rudely disrupted by the late 1990s in India by the ambiguous role played by the Internet revolution. While the Internet and the cyber world revolutionised the means and modes of communication and facilitated friendship among men and women, across geographical spaces, it also led to the rapid spread of pornography. The response to the latter has been divergent in the Western world, including the feminists. While some, including women, treat it as a source of pleasure and gratification, viewed as a consensual act; others have drawn attention to the exploitative nature of the medium, especially the manner in which actors/actresses/viewers are subjected to male gaze and voyeurism. Yet others have pointed out that pornography inevitably leads to violence and misogyny. Concerned citizens have, therefore, urged the modern state to clamp down on pornography while advocates of free-speech have defended it. The state, they argue, has no role in the private life of citizens. There is a consensus, however, that both child porn and revenge porn, widespread in the West, and increasingly manifest in India, work against the basic principles of the civilised order; both violate the rights and dignity of children and women, and therefore come under the criminal act and invite punishment. There is thus a grey area in the cyber world when dealing with the question of friendship and intimacy.The Indian SituationThe Indian situation is markedly different from that of the West, especially while discussing the question of female sexuality. There is a reluctance here to talk about sex and sexuality in the family and the community. The growing up process of Indian youngsters/youth is marked by a degree of uncertainty and awkwardness. Learning of sex and sexuality here takes place largely through the peer group and popular culture. Teenagers tend to turn to the social media for their knowledge of friendship and intimacy. It is in this context that there is the paramount need for education, not through a culture of morality and abstinence, symptomatic of the belief systems of the earlier times; rather our approach should be contemporary, taking into account the reality of the present situation of adolescents and young adults who are exposed to the Internet from the early age. Education and orientation need to be given in a non-coercive manner so that the people concerned know the pros and cons of using social media and the cyber world and could consequently make informed choices.Entrenched PatriarchyThe real danger here comes from an entrenched patriarchy that governs the behavior of predatory males who exploit the anonymity of the digital domain. Under the guise of friendship and intimacy, there is entrapment and exploitation of unwary women and female victims. Such crimes are manifest not just in the small towns but in cities as well, where men and women of different age groups live away from home and family circles. The state of isolation, the desire for friendship and intimacy often lead to unwelcome encounters resulting in tragedies including depressions and ending of young lives.<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/mob_768x480_260986b1b8.jpg" alt="mob-768x480.jpg">Conclusion: Friendship and Mutual TrustThere is thus a need to take urgent steps to prevent such tragic occurrences in contemporary India. It is not by outrage and condemnation, or through exemplary punishment that we can hope to deal with such malaise and aberrations. Introduction of sex education and the teaching of acceptable and unacceptable sexual behavior should be part of the school and higher education. Through orientations and workshops, we need to sensitize our young to seek a life of freedom and friendship based on mutual trust and confidence. We must be conscious of the alluring and predatory nature of the internet and the social media so that we may use the technology of the present and the future for a new culture of friendship.<hr><h4 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.2;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Subscribe to our channels on<a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(247, 168, 16);display:block;margin:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/c/THEAIDEM">YouTube</a>&amp;<a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(0, 0, 0);display:block;margin:0px;padding:0px;text-decoration:none;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chat.whatsapp.com/ELqD1D1bImgAP6MrG8jskq">WhatsApp</a></h4>

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A disturbing phenomenon witnessed in many parts of the country in recent times is the manner in which the female body is being shamed in the digital domain by predatory males. 

Patriarchy, Female Desire and the Cyber World

<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">On September 9, 2022 the Supreme Court granted bail to Siddique Kappan, a Malayali journalist who has been in jail for more than two years in a case filed against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, in Uttar Pradesh.&nbsp; The bail has indeed brought a great relief to the journalist , his family and friends . However, if the signals emanating from the Uttar Pradesh government is anything to go by, there are some concerted moves to trap the journalist once again and push him back into prison .&nbsp;&nbsp;<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">On June 10, 2020, the Uttar Pradesh Police arrested Siddique Kapan while he was traveling to Hathras to report a case of rape and murder.<figure class="image"><img alt="kappaan.jpg" src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/kappaan_601763cd1c.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_kappaan_601763cd1c.jpg 234w, https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_kappaan_601763cd1c.jpg 500w" sizes="100vw" width="500"></figure><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">A clear indication of these moves had come up during&nbsp; the hearing on the bail petition itself, when the prosecution informed the Supreme Court that efforts are still progressing to find an approver against Siddique Kappan. Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, who appeared for the prosecution, told the Supreme Court that this would be possible and a fresh trial would begin within two months. Beyond this blatant statement, the information The AIDEM gathered from administrative and legal sources in the Uttar Pradesh government points to continuing sly attempts to fix an ‘approver’ . The identity of this person is not yet clear.&nbsp;<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">A significant number of&nbsp; observers point out that the very fact that the prosecution is looking for an approver is proof of&nbsp; the failure of the nearly two-year investigation&nbsp; against Kappan.&nbsp; It goes to prove that the Uttar Pradesh police couldn’t find any solid evidence against Kappan. Supreme Court Chief Justice U.U. Lalit also had pointed out this failure of the police while hearing the bail plea.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Commenting on this case, Thulasi K. Raj, a practising Supreme Court lawyer, said: “No court has convicted Kappan. It is doubtful how much evidence has been found in the investigation. That is why when the Chief Justice asked how far the investigation had progressed while considering the bail plea, the prosecution said they are still trying for an approver. Many questions have been raised against the police investigation. It is clear that despite investigating the case for almost two years, no evidence has been collected against Kappan. The charges against Kappan are hard to believe. The charge-sheet alleges that Kappan wrote in such a way that portrayed Muslims as victims and provoked them to violently protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. It is highly doubtful how true these allegations are.”<figure class="image"><img alt="WhatsApp-Image-2022-09-10-at-17.52.31-768x572.jpeg" src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2022_09_10_at_17_52_31_768x572_7ea8830c87.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2022_09_10_at_17_52_31_768x572_7ea8830c87.jpeg 209w, https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2022_09_10_at_17_52_31_768x572_7ea8830c87.jpeg 500w, https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Whats_App_Image_2022_09_10_at_17_52_31_768x572_7ea8830c87.jpeg 750w" sizes="100vw" width="750"></figure><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:center;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Adv. Thulasi K Raj<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Section 306 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows the prosecution to produce an approver in cases. The approver must be a direct or an indirect participant in the crime or should have knowledge of the crime. The information provided by him should also help in the investigation of the case. Section 306 provides that at any stage of the inquiry or the trial, the magistrate may pardon the person who shares vital information and willfully turns approver. Only the court of a First-Class Judicial Magistrate has the power to admit a person as approver. The approver shall be kept in custody until the end of the trial, unless he is already on bail.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Despite the submission of&nbsp; charge-sheet that runs into over 5000 pages, the trial has not yet started. Siddique Kappan approached the Supreme Court after bail was denied earlier by the Mathura Trial Court and the Allahabad High Court.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:justify;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">NCRB data<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) , 7,714 cases had been registered in the country in the last eight years under the UAPA, which came into force in 1967. It was amended in 2019.&nbsp; In the same year, 1226 cases were registered under the Act, the highest number in any year. The NCRB report says that 814 cases were registered in 2021. The highest number of cases under the UAPA is in Jammu and Kashmir. The number was 289 last year: the figure for Kerala is 18. The NCRB data shows that, even though many cases were registered, only 523 of them reached the trial stage. If one includes the 2,384 pending cases of the previous year, a total of 2,907 case had reached the trial stage in 2021. Among them, the trial was completed only in 68 cases; of them 27 had been initiated in the previous years.&nbsp; As many as 39 cases had been disposed without trial. The court acquitted the accused in 39 cases. As of end-2021, 2,800 UAPA cases are still pending in the courts. The conviction rate in UAPA cases is 39.7 per cent and the pendency rate is 96.7 percent. That means, a large number of accused persons remain in detention without trial or as undertrials.<figure class="image"><img alt="WhatsApp-Image-2022-09-13-at-11.22.24-768x768.jpeg" src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/Whats_App_Image_2022_09_13_at_11_22_24_768x768_0dcafaca24.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_Whats_App_Image_2022_09_13_at_11_22_24_768x768_0dcafaca24.jpeg 156w, https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_Whats_App_Image_2022_09_13_at_11_22_24_768x768_0dcafaca24.jpeg 500w, https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_Whats_App_Image_2022_09_13_at_11_22_24_768x768_0dcafaca24.jpeg 750w" sizes="100vw" width="750"></figure><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Says Thulasi K. Raj:&nbsp; “Trials getting delayed is a problem. The trial in Kappan’s case has not even started. That is one common problem with our criminal justice system, especially when it comes to cases filed under laws like&nbsp; the UAPA. There is no problem for the police or special investigation agencies even if the investigation or the trial get delayed. It’s a fact that even the courts have not been able to put an end to the problem.”<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The figures show that more number of cases have been filed under the UAPA after the Narendra Modi government assumed office. The number of UAPA cases filed in the States are also increasing. Journalists, social activists and people from the Muslim community are the most haunted sections under the draconian law.<figure class="image"><img alt="SK-768x454.jpg" src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/SK_768x454_55515dc265.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_SK_768x454_55515dc265.jpg 245w, https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_SK_768x454_55515dc265.jpg 500w, https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_SK_768x454_55515dc265.jpg 750w" sizes="100vw" width="750"></figure><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;display:inline !important;float:none;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;orphans:2;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Endless prolongation of the cases and the trials violates the fundamental rights of those accused and detained. Siddique Kappan has been granted bail in the UAPA case, but he can be released only if he is granted bail in the money laundering&nbsp; case filed against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by the Enforcement Directorate, which comes under the Union Ministry of Finance&nbsp;

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On September 9, 2022 the Supreme Court granted bail to Siddique Kappan, a Malayali journalist who has been in jail for more than two years in a case filed against him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, in Uttar Pradesh.  

Relief is elusive for Siddique Kappan as attempts are under way to ‘fix’ an approver to fix him

A VIP visitor, a leader counted among the most influential politicians in India, came to The AIDEM office today. The visitor was Akhilesh Yadav, the National President of the Samajwadi Party.<div class="mdp-liker-box after-content two-buttons style-border-fill row-right" style="--mdp-liker-bg-color-active:rgba(255, 33, 40, 1);--mdp-liker-bg-color-hover:rgba(255, 33, 40, 1);--mdp-liker-bg-color:rgba(255, 33, 40, 1);--mdp-liker-border:1px;--mdp-liker-radius:50px;--mdp-liker-text-color-active:rgba(255, 255, 255, 1);--mdp-liker-text-color-hover:rgba(255, 255, 255, 1);--mdp-liker-text-color:rgba(255, 33, 40, 1);box-sizing:border-box;font-size:initial;font-weight:initial;margin:0px;padding:0px;" id="mdp-liker-22992" data-memory="on"><div style="align-items:center;box-sizing:border-box;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;margin:0px;padding:0px;"><div class="mdp-liker-description" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:medium;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;max-width:60%;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">&nbsp;</div></div></div> &nbsp;

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A VIP visitor, a leader counted among the most influential politicians in India, came to The AIDEM office today. The visitor was Akhilesh Yadav, the National President of the Samajwadi Party.

Akhilesh Yadav visits The AIDEM

The AIDEM’s Cover Story on the ‘Big Crash’ of the Adani group of companies and its larger economic and political fallout highlights an important statement from the People’s Commission on Public Sector and Public Services, a public interest group consisting of eminent academics, jurists, erstwhile administrators, trade unionists and social activists.

The Adani affair: Collapse of Regulatory Structures 

<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) is known for playing diverse political games in the elections across the country. A new form of these games has come up in poll bound Madhya Pradesh, points out Bhopal based veteran journalist Lalit Shastri in this conversation with two other senior journalists, Rasheed Kidwai and Venkitesh Ramakrishnan. Shastri says that the new ploy is by using Jan Abhiyan Parishad, a non governmental organisation (NGO) funded substantially by the Shivraj Singh Chauhan led BJP State government. The Jan Abhiyan Parishad functions under the auspices of the government and, according to Shastri, is being used to bridge the gaps in the BJP’s campaign.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">Shastri adds as follows. The BJP has an organization called Jan Abhiyan Parishad, which is like an umbrella which takes care of NGOs spread across the state. They have built a system where the Chief Minister is the President of the organisation and the Vice Chairperson is a political appointee. Every principal secretary of the state government is in the the executive of the Jan Abhiyan Parishad. What they do is to monitor and manage government schemes and their implementation at the grassroot level through the Jan Abhiyan Parishad. That is through the NGOs. So, this Jan Abhiyan Parishad NGOs and their volunteers are a sort of parallel BJP Army at the grassroot level.<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">The other day the opposition Congress party went to the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and filed a complaint saying that the government has just released a few crores of Rupees to thousands of NGOs working with the Jan Abhiyan Parishad. The response of the CEO was that everything is being done according to the Code of Conduct of the polls. The Code of Conduct does not bar the flow of money to NGOs under a government scheme because this is not a new announcement. But the fact remains that the pockets of the Jan Abhiyan Parishad NGOs are full and they are working at the grassroot level. So, this adds to the strength of the BJP.<hr><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">To view more posts from Poll Talk Series, Click <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://theaidem.com/tag/poll-talk/">Here</a>.<hr><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(39, 39, 39);font-family:Manjari;font-size:18px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:1.7;margin:0px 0px 15px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;">To receive updates on detailed analysis and in-depth interviews from The AIDEM, join our WhatsApp group. Click <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chat.whatsapp.com/GLYY7P2H0Xw5eYoczxtsSav">Here</a>.&nbsp;To subscribe to us on YouTube, <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:all 0.4s ease 0s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/c/THEAIDEM">Click Here</a>.

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The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) is known for playing diverse political games in the elections across the country. A new form of these games has come up in poll bound Madhya Pradesh, points out Bhopal based veteran journalist Lalit Shastri in this conversation with two other senior journalists, Rasheed Kidwai and Venkitesh Ramakrishnan.

BJP’s NGO Games in Madhya Pradesh Polls

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This is the second article in the three part series by academic and film aficionado V Vijayakumar on three masterpieces of Mrinal Sen, a towering  luminary in the Indian film world.

Mrinal Da’s Camera: Three Distinct Gazes (Part 02)

Malayalam (ml)

Tamil (ta)

English (en)

Hindi (hi)

Telugu (te)

Kannada (kn)

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Dancing To Her Tune

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An Unwritten National Autobiography

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/images_1_6258d15665.jpeg" alt="images-1.jpeg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_images_1_6258d15665.jpeg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_images_1_6258d15665.jpeg 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">People who read literature in India knew him, MT Vasudevan Nair. Language was no hurdle for his works to reach out beyond the state borders of Kerala. While Malayali diaspora took a handful of nostalgia along to the places they went, a little bit of MT was also in that.Today, the big business of literature finds translators to translate anything that moves. All tetrapods of literature are given awards that stink of corporate imperialistic nexus. But MT belonged to a different era when blood recognised blood, genius recognised genius. He got translated not once but several times.Basheer, Takazhi and MT were the triumvirate that could transcend the borders and stand tall among the Indian modernist literature. Yes, MT’s literature also had a fair amount of auto-fiction but he hoodwinked it with the magic of text. He was a persuasive minimalist both in writing and in person.An unsmiling MT could generate generations of readers who could smile through tears. MT wrote about a collapsing social structure that divested the old feudal class with their ill-gotten properties. But their social capital remained intact and could exert a lot of influence among the readers by becoming the surrogate emotional ethos of a transition time of Kerala’s socio-political history.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:1196px;" id="attachment_31084" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31084"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg" alt="mt-1024x575.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 750w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_mt_1024x575_251dd09907.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31084">MT during his Interview with Sabha TV (Watch <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NttnjeaVqn0">Here</a>)</figcaption></figure>When society evolved into a different being altogether, MT turned to the treasure trove of myths and itihasas to eke out allegories that explained the pain of loss, of class, roots and love. His literature spat on the face of bigotry, whether it was religious or familial. He was so stoically poised in his literature that none could have challenged him and expelled him from the world of literature.MT’s literature spoke of love and separation as vehemently as he wrote about the changing social complexions. But he was not sentimental. There was something in his writing that touched some chord in every reader. Before initiating themselves into Ambedkarite politics, the Dalit ideologues also, in their torturous nights of youth, pined for MT’s characters.Those who call the modernists, Dad Vibes, have really lost the sight of the forest while focusing on shrubs and thicket. MT was a forest that moved, as in the great tragedies. He remained a serious writer while the post modernists fell in the trap of publishers and wrote lightning stories and became laughing stokes.MT remains, so is the MT critique. That’s the beauty of a great writer’s life and of course, death.</div></div>

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MT: A Forest that Moved

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An ‘Overture’ Stringing The Pope, Yesudas and the ‘Songster Chaplain’

<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/1_cc9df0fe47.png" alt="വലതുപക്ഷവുമായുള്ള-സംവാദത്തിൻ്റെ-വ്യർത്ഥത-1.png" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_1_cc9df0fe47.png 245w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_1_cc9df0fe47.png 500w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><div class="post-body clearfix single-blog-header single-blog-inner blog-single-block blog-details-content" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(85, 85, 85);font-family:Manjari;font-size:17px;font-style:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;margin:0px;orphans:2;padding:0px;text-align:left;text-decoration-color:initial;text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-thickness:initial;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:2;word-spacing:0px;"><div class="entry-content clearfix" style="box-sizing:border-box;counter-reset:footnotes 0;margin:0px;padding:0px;">When old age shall this generation waste,Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woeThan ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is allYe know on earth, and all ye need to know.” (John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn)<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/6_904b2e9f2a.jpg" alt="6.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_6_904b2e9f2a.jpg 147w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_6_904b2e9f2a.jpg 470w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">Siddharth Tagore, Founder Director of Delhi’s <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.facebook.com/artkonsultindia/photos">Art Konsult</a> Gallery is no more. He cannot be contained in such a cold statement, so matter of fact like death itself. Besides the gallery, he founded magazines such as Art and Deal, Travel and Deal and many other publications. Even when he knew that he wouldn’t make any profit out of the publications, he invested money in them because he knew art wouldn’t survive without the literature surrounding it.&nbsp;Yet another venture of Tagore’s was an auction house, namely Art Bull. The name was perfect for a bullish art market of the 2000s. But the glitch was this: Siddharth Tagore was not bullish. Nor was he bearish. He was cherubic, complete with a benign smile on his face and a burning cigarette between his fingers. Whenever I came out after having a meeting with him, I would ask myself, was he cut for this business?&nbsp;Tagore could have been a poet and dreamer like his internationally renowned namesake of yesteryears.. After the pandemic period I met Tagore after a gap of four years at the Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre where Art Konsult had organized a group exhibition. After the inaugural function, I shook hands with him and I realized that his hands had lost the firm grip though the warmth remained. “I have not been keeping well,” he told me.&nbsp;<div class="gallery galleryid-31051 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-full" style="box-sizing:border-box;margin:30px -8.96875px 0px;padding:0px;" id="gallery-1"><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg" alt="c-768x993.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 121w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 387w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_c_768x993_a7cec9742c.jpg 580w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg" alt="b-768x985.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 122w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 390w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_b_768x985_3f8fb449e6.jpg 585w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure><figure class="gallery-item" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;display:inline-block;height:auto;margin:0px 0px 1rem;max-width:33.33%;padding:0px 8.96875px 17.9531px;text-align:center;vertical-align:top;width:262.609px;"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/a_7888f94e4b.jpg" alt="a.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 121w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 385w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_a_7888f94e4b.jpg 577w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"></figure></div>Then on another occasion, at the same gallery, I met him again, this time without the crowd. He preferred to wear a pair of fading blue jeans and white shirt, a reminder of those romantic 1970s when every youth in West Bengal dreamt of poetry, love and revolution. Jeans and Shirt were the uniform of love and revolution. I think, when Tagore came to Delhi as a young man, he carried those qualities along, plus his sense of dressing. Lovers in those days smoked rather constantly and drank Old Monk Rum.&nbsp;On that day when I met him, Tagore told me that he had quit smoking, which was news to me. I couldn’t have imagined the man without a cigarette between his fingers or at least a packet of cigarettes to fuss with. I understood the gravity of the situation.&nbsp;Then again, we met when Praveen Upadhyay of the Progressive Gallery at Laddo Sarai organized a talk session with art professionals that included Tagore, Prayag Shukla, Vinod Bharadwaj and myself. Tagore was supposed to talk about the art market. When the mike was handed over to him, he fussed with it for a while and said that he always wanted to make it big by promoting young artists, but somehow, he never made huge business.<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:689px;" id="attachment_31054" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31054"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg" alt="7-768x511.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 235w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_7_768x511_149563fe01.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31054">Siddharth speaking to the media at Art Konsult</figcaption></figure>Then I remembered Tagore telling the same during the market boom years that lasted in India for around ten years starting from 2005 to 2015. In 2008, the world market had collapsed, but the Indian art market using its cunning and reserve withstood the pressures and dragged the impending failure for a few more years only to revive itself by the beginning of the third decade of the new millennium.&nbsp;Had Tagore acquired a penchant for failure despite his resilience in running a gallery, publications and an auction house for over three and a half decades ? Did he enjoy calling himself a failure in the art market? Was he romantically involved with the idea of failure even when he kept others who were with him in the business, floating? I don’t know for sure. But Tagore remained grounded and rooted; he tried his best to keep himself away from the nefarious market practices.&nbsp;There were a few people who stood with Tagore in his highs and lows (lows that lasted for not some months but for years together), never deserting him, following his orders. Prashant Seal and Rajula Bisht are two people I remember. These two people have been so close to his heart and even after his twin daughters joining him in the business, both Seal and Bisht never lost their position as the confidantes of Tagore. He loved them like family.&nbsp;I met Siddharth Tagore in 1995. He had started Art Konsult in Hauz Khas Village. Meena Tagore (now Meena Varma) was with him then. Late Vijayan Kannanpally was the editor of Art and Deal. With the growth of art scene, Tagore’s gallery also grew in stature. Art Konsult was one of the few A listed galleries in the city. Tagore took it to South Delhi’s art district, Laddo Sarai during the boom years and later relocated it to Hauz Khas again.&nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:562px;" id="attachment_31055" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31055"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg" alt="0-768x512.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 234w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 500w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_0_768x512_88eabd3bbc.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31055">Siddharth Tagore with art critic and curator Jyoti A Kathpalia at the Art Konsult, New Delhi</figcaption></figure>It was in his Laddo Sarai phase that I joined him as the Editor of Art and Deal. It was the same when he decided to start Art Bull and Travel and Deal. I brought out around ten issues of Art and Deal between 2010 and 2013, with a gap in 2012 when I joined the United Art Logistics to establish the United Art Fair. Tagore literally lent me to the other organization with a promise that I could walk into the editor’s office at any time that I wanted. And I did go back.&nbsp;As a part of Tagore’s team, he gave me full freedom to edit the magazine and curate exhibitions. I curated a few shows and introduced a few new artists of which some are very reckonable names in today’s art scene. The exhibition ‘Merging/Submerging’ was a showcasing of contemporary photography art and ‘R.A.P.E’ (Rare Acts of Political Engagement), an all-woman show responding to the brutal murder of Nirbhaya in Delhi. This exhibition was a super hit and was discussed in all the print and television media. Art Bull did do a couple of exhibitions and auctions. I did not take much interest in it though Tagore hoped that his auction house could change the scenario and also break certain monopolies. Tagore also initiated an Art History Lecture series which I conducted on his behalf.&nbsp;Siddharth Tagore remained true to his calling. With a kind of detachment, he sponsored exhibitions that he knew well, would not bring any business. He was an avid collector of folk and tribal art and together with Meena Varma, he initiated an organization called ‘Art of the Earth’ for promoting the folk and tribal art of India, much before the ‘folkploitation’ of today’s art market became rampant. Tagore helped whoever came to him with a request for an exhibition or an immediate financial relief. &nbsp;<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="border-width:0px;box-sizing:border-box;clear:both;display:block;height:auto;margin:15px auto;max-width:100%;padding:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:640px;" id="attachment_31053" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-31053"><img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg" alt="3-e1734762508660-669x1024.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 102w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 327w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 490w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_3_e1734762508660_669x1024_7c977a7959.jpg 653w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing:border-box;display:block;font-size:15px;line-height:20px;margin:0px;padding:12px 0px 0px;text-align:center;" id="caption-attachment-31053">Siddharth Tagore signing the <a style="background-color:transparent;box-sizing:border-box;color:rgb(255, 53, 36);display:inline-block;margin:0px;padding:0px;transition:0.4s;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://amzn.in/d/4TijcgO">book</a> “Ganika- In the visual culture of the 19th-20th Century India” at the Art Konsult</figcaption></figure>&nbsp;<img src="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg" alt="4-560x1024.jpg" srcset="https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/thumbnail_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 85w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/small_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 273w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/medium_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 410w,https://strapi.bangalore2.com/uploads/large_4_560x1024_090314e000.jpg 547w," sizes="100vw" width="undefined" height="undefined">When artists in Calcutta packed their wares and set out for Delhi, they knew Siddharth Tagore was there if nothing else worked (perhaps he was their primary destination), along with cigarettes and Old Monk Rum. He never discouraged the people who came to him with a clear intention to exploit. He was not cautious about relationships that brought him a fair amount of heartburn. As I said elsewhere, Tagore was a poet in his heart, with a heart ready to bleed for love and art.</div></div>

Words and Concepts- 4: Politics

Transvanguardia: Moving Beyond Time And Geographies Through Art

Words and Concepts- 2: Participation

The Adani affair: Collapse of Regulatory Structures

Patriarchy, Female Desire and the Cyber World

Relief is elusive for Siddique Kappan as attempts are under way to ‘fix’ an approver to fix him

Akhilesh Yadav visits The AIDEM

The Adani affair: Collapse of Regulatory Structures

BJP’s NGO Games in Madhya Pradesh Polls

Mrinal Da’s Camera: Three Distinct Gazes (Part 02)

Dancing To Her Tune

An Unwritten National Autobiogra...

MT: A Forest that Moved

An ‘Overture’ Stringing The Pope...

Salutations, Dear Siddharth Tago...

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