Two-Day UGC National Seminar on 17-18 December 2014

Two-Day National Seminar

Identity Politics: Power and Protest from the Margins

17-18 December 2014

Sponsored by UGC

Organised by Department of Political Science

Government Brennen College,

Re-accredited by NAAC with “A” Grade

Affiliated to Kannur University Kerala, India.

Greetings from Thalassery!

Dear Sir/Madam/Friends/Students

We would like to invite your esteemed presence in the impending national seminar on “Identity politics: Power and protest from the margins”, Two Day National Seminar on 17-18 December 2014, organised by Department of Political Science, Government Brennen College, Thalassery, Kannur, Kerala, India. The seminar is sponsored by University Grants Commission.

Proceedings of the seminar will be published with ISBN and final decision on the publication is the discretion of the organizer. The details of seminar topic and the theme are available on the link given below.

TA and Remuneration will be provided as per UGC norms to Resource persons, Invited lectures and chairs (National). Local hospitality will be provided.

Paper presenters will be provided TA. Accommodation will be provided if requested and will on twin sharing basis.

Interested teaching faculties can also participate.

Please, if interested, do reply to our email, blog post or Facebook update.

Last date for submission of abstract- 10 October 2014

Last date for submission of full paper- 05 December 2014

Send to bijugayu@gmail.com

Concept Note

Politics of identity, and both the culture and identity in practice and theory demands attempts to counter the cultural stereotypes, prejudices and oppressions as part of their campaign for recognition, politics of presence, rights and equality.  The focus on identity in this specifically political sense is associated with a range of distinctive strategies and tactics designed to transform the consciousness of both oppressed and oppressor and to empower the movement constituency. Illegal seizures of land, which threaten to forcibly, displace as many as 22,000 people in India’s eastern state of Odisha was one such protest symptom. In India, 16 December 2012 and a ‘Nirbhaya’ movement, India against Corruption, Manesar factory, Koodamkulam, Nandigram, Singur, Nirbhaya, NBA, Koodamkulam, Aam Aadmisiation just to mention few among them, makes a larger claim on such movement constituency. From social science perspectives, identity and politics are unique in India. It tells us something of interest about contemporary Indian politics also. Fighting against oppression is an urgent issue in Indian society today and at one level, it has a social route where issues such as misogyny, caste related violence, human rights violations, and rape has become mobilising force. On the other, economic issues such as poverty, corruption, class questions, and access to education, and many, in deed, reached appalling levels. Protest culture, thereby seems extremely prevalent in India now. However, it does not attract much public attention. The Internet, television channels, newspapers, town squares, do represent the most emblematic symptoms of this protest culture in India, but do not get proper attention it deserved.

The seminar on Identity politics: Power and protest from the margins is going to understand the horizons of identity politics in India. Your presence is therefore cordially invited to the two-day long deliberation on this topic.

Seminar themes

1. Politics society interface: Discourses

2. Politics of identity: women, caste and religion  

3. Politics of survival: Peace, environment and green movements

4. Globalisation, market and new politics of exploitation

5. The politics of new social movements

With kindest regards

Contact

Convenor

Biju P R
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Political Science
Govt. Brennen College
Thalassery
Kannur
Kerala.
9847477116

bijugayu@gmail.com

How to Reach the College

The college is situated on the NH 17; 5 KM away from Thalassery Railway Station; roughly 60 KM away from Calicut Airport; and 167 KM away from Mangalore Airport.

Regionalism in Indian politics (Lecture Points for III B A)

Hi, getting visibility among core literary public is benchmark of publishing success and this message is part of an aggressive online campaign for the promotion and visibility of my two books [1] Political Internet and [2] Intimate Speakers among core reading public in online space.

It will be really helpful if you are able to help me forward, share, tweet, post, or tag this message or parts of this message among potential beneficiaries of the ideas in the books in your network, your friend’s network or their networks?

Or anyone should according to you benefit if they work broadly on anything related to social media, Internet, society, politics, cyber sexuality, Internet pornography, intimacies,  women and online misogyny, introverts, underprivileged people, Diaspora, cyberspace, Internet in education, International relations, digital politics, social media and state, public sphere, civil society, social capital, contentious politics and so on.

1. Political Internet: State and Politics in the Age of Social Media, (Routledge 2017)

Buy it on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.in/PoliticalInternetStatePoliticsSocialebook/dp/B01M5K3SCU?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&ref_=tmm_kin_swatch_0&sr=

Preview on Google Play: 

https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=8y9uDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PT3,

Preview on Google Books: 

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=8y9uDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Preview on Kindle:

https://www.amazon.in/Political-Internet-State-Politics-Social-ebook/dp/B01M5K3SCU?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&ref_=tmm_kin_swatch_0&sr=#reader_B01M5K3SCU

Publisher Website:

https://www.routledge.com/Political-Internet-State-and-Politics-in-the-Age-of-Social-Media/P-R/p/book/9781138213708

2. Intimate Speakers: Why Introverted and Socially Ostracized Citizens Use Social Media, (Fingerprint! 2017).

Buy it on Amazon: 

http://www.amazon.in/dp/8175994290/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487261127&sr=1-2&keywords=biju+p+r

Flipkart: 

https://www.flipkart.com/intimate-speakers-introverted-socially-ostracized-citizens-usesocialmedia/p/itmes9grzup7ythp?pid=9788175994294&srno=s_1_1&otracker=search&lid=LSTBOK9788175994294QRMGPB&qH=18b3a7f5703fa653

Blog Review: 

https://talesandreviews.blogspot.in/2017/03/review-of-intimate-speakers.html?spref=fb

goodreadsreviews: 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34447361.Intimate_Speakers,

infibeam: https://www.infibeam.com/Books/intimate-speakers-p-r-biju/9788175994294.html#variantId=P-M-B-9788175994294,

Contact the author

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bijugayu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bijugayu
Blogger: http://bijugayu.blogspot.in/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/biju-gayu...
WordPress: https://bijugayu.wordpress.com/
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Biju P R

Author, Teacher, Blogger

Assistant Professor of Political Science

Government Brennen College

Thalassery

Kerala, India

bijugayu@gmail.com

My Books
1. Political Internet: State and Politics in the Age of Social Media,
(Routledge 2017), Amazon https://www.amazon.in/Political-InternetStatePoliticsSocialebook/dp/B01M5K3SCU?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&ref_=tmm_kin_swatch_0&sr=



2. Intimate Speakers: Why Introverted and Socially Ostracized Citizens Use Social Media, (Fingerprint! 2017)
Amazon: http://www.amazon.in/dp/8175994290/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1487261127&sr=1-2&keywords=biju+p+r 

To define the diversity of India, poet and critic A. K. Ramanujan once cited the instance of what the Irishman had said about trousers. On the question of whether the trousers were singular or plural, he said, “Singular at the top and plural at the bottom”. Historian Sunil Khilnani, the well-known author of The Idea of India, disputes the view, saying Indian nationalism even before independence was plural at the top: “a dhoti with endless folds”. Given dhoti’s popularity as a pan-Indian traditional garment, the idea sounds remarkable as an emblematic projection of the country’s diversity. Since independence, a major concern in the nation-building exercise of New Delhi could be to keep hold of the dhoti, ostensibly a much looser wear than well-belted trousers.

His 1991 essay "Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translations" courted controversy over its inclusion in B.A. in History syllabus of University of Delhi in 2006. In this essay, he wrote of the existence of many versions of Ramayana and a few versions portrayed Rama and Sita as siblings, which contradicts the popular versions of the Ramayana, such as those by Valmiki and Tulsidas

I just want to quote an example over here, when the Telengana agitation was at its peaks; people broke the signboards of the Andhra bank and destroyed the furniture of the same bank just because it is bearing the name ‘Andhra’. We are immune to Royal bank of Scotland or Citi bank but we are not able to tolerate the name of Andhra.

Have you ever asked anybody this question, “Where are you from”? Well, the answer would be the obvious one, ‘I’m from this state or from this place’; it is near to impossible to expect an answer ‘I am from India’. Yeah, I do agree that we are not on some foreign land to give such a weird answer. However, what I was trying to convey is we are suffering more from regionalism over nationalism. North Indian people hate south Indians, south Indian people look down at East Indian people, more funnily, and Most of the East Indian fellows do not even know there is such thing called India exists. I do not blame Brits for dividing and ruling us, coz, we were never been united apart from that independence movement, thanks to Brits. We have been fragmented from the times of kings and kingdoms to the times of states and territories.

All the Indians will be united only in two occasions,

1. When India plays cricket with Pak and

2. When Pak declares a war on India. 

Following are the main reasons, which give rise to the feeling of regionalism in politics:

1. Demand for separate states.

2. Interstate disputes among states.

3. Demand for autonomy by some regional communities.

4. Feeling of distinctions between North and South India.

5. Language controversy and politics of language.

6. Discriminatory treatment of States by the central government on political grounds.

7. Tendency of separateness in the Union of India.

8. Emergence of regional political parties and their preference for regional issues and identities.

9. The role of neighbouring countries in inciting regional feelings in certain parts of the country.

There is a reason why Tagore had prayed, ‘God! Let my country awake where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls’, he had foreseen the future. We have Bengalis, we have Tamilians, we have Marathis and Marwadis, but we do not have Indians. That is the basic problem with Indians; our blood has filled with regionalism over nationalism. 

Is Modi government an old wine packed in a new bottle?

Is Modi government an old wine packed in a new bottle?





The atmosphere is very clear, old wine in new
bottle, empty promises and surfeit of propaganda machinery to sell
government. Those who plan to do great things never say it aloud. The
other one is opposite; they speak but do not act. Lets wait and watch –
which category will Modi sarkar fall into? See fringe thoughts on fowl
start of Mr. Narendra Modi by Biju P R

Marketing politics: rise of political consultancies

Marketing politics: rise of political consultancies



The political class has been approaching political consultancies meanwhile, consultancies are on the increase and as of now it is anything between 100 to 150, says reports. Is it advisable to think that our democracy derailed when marketing politics wipe out traditional voter engagement? See fringe thoughts on Marketing politics: rise of political consultancies in Merinews by BIJU P R

Social media fragments electoral politics 29 March 2014, New Delhi, Biju P R

They (Millennium Post) say the author teaches Political Science at Government Brennen College, Kerala while providing a space for my fringe thoughts on how Internet platforms with its potentialities to customize and personalize user sites, eventually leading to balkanization and fragmentation of electoral politics in 2014.

http://www.millenniumpost.in/NewsContent.aspx?NID=55456

The wall battalions: Facebook in 16th General Election

The wall battalions: Facebook in 16th General Election



We have almost surrendered our culture to technology. Politicians have migrated to this space by overstepping their pitfalls. Consequently, we have made our culture to fit technology instead making technology fit our culture. These severe issues of technology use in electoral process need deeper scrutiny and thorough analysis. See my fringe thoughts on Facebook in 16th general election in Merinews by Biju P R

Mass Media and Election: Political Mobilisation

In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon squared off in the first televised presidential debates in American history. The Kennedy-Nixon debates not only had a major impact on the election’s outcome, but also ushered in a new era in which creating a public image and taking advantage of media exposure became essential ingredients of a successful political campaign. They also heralded the central role television has continued to play in the democratic process. CBS broadcast facility- winner JF Kennedy. Nixon tensed, and reading books, Kennedy received tips from aides and happier looking.

Elections are hallmark of representative democracy. (Despite comments such democracy once in five years-Manishankar Iyyer) Elections are the centerpiece of democracy. Through voting, people can voice their opinions, express their hopes and aspirations, discipline their leaders, and ultimately control their nation's destiny. To democratic theory, elections are the public's source of power. Elections show the citizens real judgment of the ruling class. However, to use their power of evaluation of the merit of incumbent and aspiring leadership in elections, they should get right information about, rulers, government actions, policies, election manifestos, political parties, the issues of the day, etc.

At the same time, elections are completive processes. It could be even unleashing conflict and tensions. If not constructively managed, elections could potentially destabilize the fabric of democracy, states and societies.

In particular, during elections, right information about right candidates are must. If citizens lose right information, elections become meaningless. Those running for offices must clearly state their positions on various issues. Here comes the trajectory of media role in elections. The mass media have a duty to report thoroughly and accurately what the contestants stand for.

Let us examine the role of media in elections

Roles of the media

The media may play several roles in the electoral process including the following:

• Watchdog
• Voter education
• Peace building

Watchdog role

• The media plays the watchdog role when they expose errors of commission or omission by those in power in their pursuit to cling to power at all cost. (for example, Vinu in Asianet News 9o’clock prime time news organised a talk on women candidates in the forth coming general election to the India Parliament and INC list of women candidates).
• The media can alert citizens to electoral malpractices so that these may be rectified. (while a debate on prime time news on Manoram TV,  leader of AAP reminded of the hundred crores of rupees spent for electoral advertisement of INC candidates for the forth coming general election-40 lakh as per ECI)
• The media can expose schemes to disadvantage those outside the corridors of power.
• The media can expose manipulation of citizens through the distribution of bribes and other illegal niceties during campaign periods.

 Voter education

• The media can educate citizens through stories that adequately explain the national situation (political, social and economic) so that the citizenry will not only benefit from improved service delivery but will also take part in the development processes of the nation. Manoram chnnel has a programme called
• The media can explain in simple terms specific legal and administrative issues which can be seen to be fundamental for any election undertaken to be free and fair
• The media can adequately encourage eligible persons to register as voters and to actually cast their ballot when elections are due
• The media can provide a platform for all candidates and their parties to present their manifestos to the public
• The media can expose parties and candidates that instigate or have the propensity to cause violence so that the citizenry may be made alert to any such possibility
• The media can expose practices of vote-buying or illegal party financing to the electorate
• The media can also expose the proliferation of defamation and hate speech in campaigns aimed at influencing nationals negatively
• The media can expose voter intimidation by party workers, corruption in decision-making processes, and the systematic exclusion of certain sectors of society
• The media may strive to expose instances where political parties threaten the functioning of democratic systems rather than support them and thus disenfranchise eligible voters
• The media can strive to explain to the electorate, in clear and simple language, national, regional and universal pieces of legislation and other regulations governing the proper conduct of democratic elections
• The media need to explain to the citizenry the importance of their participative involvement in all aspects of governance systems such as voting
• Journalists should try to focus on the issues, by talking to ordinary people, particularly those lacking a strong voice in society e.g. the elderly and the young, women, the poor, and ethnic and religious minorities
• The media must strive to put citizens’ views to candidates and report their responses back to the citizens so that they know and understand their potential governors
• The media, in its agenda-setting role, can provide diverse view points and unbiased information, offer forum for debate involving citizens and the civil society, mediate in national development projects and contribute to sustainable flow of information.

Peace building and conflict resolution

The media can be a tool for fanning violence and conflict if not properly managed.

Revenge porn: A way online platforms are being misused for

Revenge porn: A way online platforms are being misused for



School children upload toilet pictures on to YouTube. College students
have been sharing 'selfie' of intimate relations on to Facebook. Couples
go for role-play in Google chat, meet up on Google hangout and gets
embittered. Men deceive women in bedroom and get obscene updates to
social networking sites. Out of frustration in marital discord, man
upload obscene pictures of ex-wife up on to photo sharing platforms.
Housewives come together with strangers in chat applications and get
deceived and later commit suicide. See, my fringe thoughts on culture of
revenge porn spiraling in Internet in Merinews by Biju P R