Interview: ‘Big filmmakers are being mobilised by the state to further the majoritarian project’
Many movies slated for release in the run-up to 2024 have a definite purpose – to generate hatred of Muslims, says Ira Bhaskar, a professor of cinema studies.
Happy #Newstodon Friday, a day when we highlight great publications on the #Fediverse and some of our most important stories.
This week, Sneha Khedkar looks at why India is uniquely bad at treating women's health issues such as endometriosis, despite existing gender healthcare gaps in other countries like the U.S.:
Archaeologists in eastern India have unearthed an elephant statue thought to date to the third century B.C., when the region was mainly Buddhist. #Archaeology#India#Buddhist#Elephant#Statue
Airtel’s 4G dongle. Posted this back in 2013 and the speed was 29 Mbps. Was naturally expensive compared to landline broadband connections but it served the purpose. Bought it as the society I lived in couldn’t come to an agreement with Airtel - plus Airtel’s issue with #Kolkata Municipal Corporation in the area I lived in.
These figurines/statuettes(?) in my neighbor’s front porch mini #garden. The words painted in the stone read, “Never underestimate the healing power of a quiet garden”
In Delhi, space for dissent shrinks as police pressure venues hosting civil society events
Since last year, programmes on the incarceration of activists have been cancelled or moved to other venues after police objections citing ‘law and order’.
NEW Deep in Japan podcast "KUKAI THE UNIVERSAL with Professor Steve McCarty" on the life and times of Japan's great saint Kūkai, Esoteric Buddhism, and Zen. I discuss the book in terms of East Asian history, language education, and translation issues including voice. My philosophy is expressed as well, so comments would be much appreciated. Listen at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1903791/13001040
(or find it at Apple, Google, Amazon, Spotify, etc.).
A handsomely carved 3rd century AD grey schist of Avalokiteshvara #Bodhisattva identified by the seated #Buddha Amitabha in his turban headdress from the #AncientIndian region of #Gandhara now in #Afghanistan#Pakistan is coming up for auction by Bonhams #Paris on 12th June 2023, estimate €100,000-150,000.
🇮🇳 India cuts periodic table and evolution from school textbooks
➥ Nature
"Aditya Mukherjee, a historian at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Dehli, says that changes to the curriculum are being driven by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a mass-membership volunteer organization that has close ties to India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party. The RSS feels that Hinduism is under threat from India’s other religions and cultures"