Indian Reality Research Articles

A Brief Analysis on the Impact of Minority Parsi Community Issues by Rohinton Mistry’s Novels

Literature has always represented society in one form or another because writers are the sensitive souls of the society who are affected by the slightest possible change in their surroundings. This paper deals with Indian literature especially focuses on Indian diasporic writer Rohinton Mistry who represents the realistic picture of the most sustained explorations of post – independence Indian society through his chronicles of individual and community lives. Mistry’s fiction covers many themes, from politics to parsi community life and economic inequality to national ‘events’ such as wars, rigorously examining the impact of historical forces and social events on ‘small’ lives. As his novels depicts the social, cultural and political life in India. Most of his concerns are devoted towards the preservation of the parsi community which is marginalized sections of the society which include the economically and socially downtrodden, old and decrepit, women, etc. His concerns for the socially downtrodden and socially marginalized have found genuine representation in his works. Rohinton Mistry rеflects the reality of India’s post colonial greedy politics of corruption, oppression, exploitation, violence, strong opposition to social and class differences have extended the spectrum of contemporary reality through his novels.

Mahesh Dattani’s ‘Clearing the Rubble’: A Critique of Centre Versus Margins

The present paper proposes to depict the reality of the society of modern times in a socio-realistic play ‘Clearing the Rubble’ by Mahesh Dattani. The main thrust of the paper is to throw light on the pathos of the marginalized section of society. Mahesh Dattani is a well known playwright who is known for his courageous attacks on the cruel and inhuman attitude towards the weak and marginalized categories. The paper examines how a society can be cruel enough to deny equal rights to their fellow beings on the basis of caste discrimination. ‘Clearing the Rubble’ brings treatment; the marginalized section of untouchables goes through during the natural calamity of earthquake. It presents the discrimination against the minority community of Muslims and who are also untouchables and is thus doubly marginalized. The dramatist has struck the conscience of the society by exposing the hypocrisy of the Indian society. Dattani wants to give a message through this play that the marginalized sections of low-caste should be given human status that, man is a man and he is born equal to all other men. This play gives an exotic image of our country and barely scratches the surface of Indian reality. He has made Herculean effort to retrieve the true and realistic inside view of India and her people.

From the BBC’s Shadows? Fledgling AIR Finding Its Feet

This article focuses on the first twenty years of Indian radio, 1927 to 1947, coinciding with the last years of British rule in India. It deals with a nation straining towards independence, adopting BBC structures but resenting its overwhelming presence and attempting to move away. The pivotal role of John Reith and his BBC colleagues take prime spot. With their intervention, AIR adopted many BBC traditions. However, the ground reality in India led AIR down a different trajectory. The BBC, a corporation, was autonomous of government control; AIR on the other hand, was an integral arm of British Indian administration, the mouthpiece of colonialism. This is detectible in policy towards political topics. While the BBC was allowed editorial licence, in India strict censorship was in place, all political content disallowed. With the Empire Service, the BBC’s direct guidance switched to indirectly attempting to influence India through broadcasts. Areas of conflict soon developed due to direct broadcasts as well as AIR rebroadcasting BBC content. The BBC was charged with giving India inadequate coverage, highlighting only pro-British items and being insensitive towards her problems. The BBC’s grudge was that while the Dominions re-broadcast much of their programmes, the British controlled AIR did not.

Change and Leadership: An Indian Perspective

In this article, Prabhu examines the ‘Indian way of leading and managing change’, particularly contextualising it to the Indian IT Industry. In doing so, he brings together the cultural, sociological and philosophical streams of thought embedded in Indian reality. He asserts that: 1. One, need to examine the contextual importance of understanding ‘Indianness’ and the Indian way of dealing with change. 2. Next, to leverage a style of leadership which draws on a deep understanding of the culture and context that drives Indianness. Prabhu draws on data from a quantitative survey he carried out to examine the perceived importance versus practice of various leadership attributes during times of change in organisations as also research from elsewhere. Prabhu looks at perceived gaps in leadership practice, and ways to address these by leveraging what can be defined as Indianness in leadership and management and offers a construct that seeks to integrate. Now more than ever before, it is all the more imminent that we bring focus to how Indian leaders manage and support in times of change.

Gender, Language and Indian Reality Television: Locating Social Stereotypes and Linguistic Sexism

Aim. The reality genre has gained much popularity in last few years across the globe. In India too, this genre has reportedly surpassed other genres in recognition and acceptance. However, its format and content intrigue controversies at both social and academic level, but its mass appeal gets bigger each day. The study examines gender, language and issues of gendered language in Indian reality show Bigg Boss. While keeping in view the format and claim of the genre, the study observes how under thorough surveillance, housemates negotiate with their real self and grapple with their language practice. Influence of neoliberalism on society, culture and identity has been very much discussed, the paper attempts to highlight how this transitions in gender identity is depicted in a show taking non-actors and common people. Concept. For the purpose of the study, scripted transcription of Bigg Boss (Season 11) has been used, wherein all the episodes of have been watched back and forth carefully, and detailed notes prepared for the analysis. Housemates’ language practice, voice pattern and preference of words and statements have been observed. Results and conclusion. The study finds that game reality show Bigg Boss substantially adheres to social stereotypes and standards and while doing so, it also imitates the language practice prevalent everywhere. Although active participation of women in the show is visible butt while exhibiting their true self, sometimes gender prejudice embedded deep inside also comes out, which in case of men is very frequent. The study concludes that as a globally acclaimed genre, reality show, like other genres, is very much commercialized and consumer oriented. Originality. A number of studies related to reality shows have been conducted, but in Indian context, this genre has been inadequately explored. Also, it is very difficult to find studies focusing any specific season of an Indian reality show, so it would not be incorrect to mention that the present study is one of the primary works on this subject, which aims at making some significant contribution related to this genre, in academia.

An analysis of celebrity repositioning through reality television

PurposeReality television is a dynamic, profit-making platform that occupies prime-time slots on the television almost all over the world. Despite its immense popularity and influence, it has received little attention in the extant literature and almost none in terms of its impact on celebrity repositioning. This study aims at examining the relationship between the film stars as brands and the impact of the platform of reality television in repositioning these celebrities in the Indian context.Design/methodology/approachThrough extensive literature review and qualitative interviews, the paper expounds that reality television provides an opportunity to celebrities to successfully reposition themselves at crucial junctures in their career. The framework to study this repositioning has been adopted from the work of Chris Simms and Paul Trott (2007) who created it to study the brand repositioning of various consumer goods.FindingsThe literature establishes celebrities as brands. This study provides evidence that brand repositioning through reality television is possible for these celebrity brands. The symbolic and functional repositioning of these celebrities is presented through thematic content analysis.Research limitations/implicationsThe study provides a useful framework to understand celebrity brand repositioning through reality TV. It can also be replicated to understand the repositioning of a wide variety of celebrities other than film-stars such as sportspersons, social media influencers and politicians.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the need of expanding the corpus of Indian reality television and explains how Indian celebrities reposition themselves through reality television.

Pandemic, policy, and pedagogy: analyzing the tripartite role of covid 19 pandemics, national education policy 2020, and pedagogical innovations vis-a-vis educational implications

The paper draws interlinkages between three factors, i.e., COVID 19 pandemic, the release of National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 by the Government of India, and the need for pedagogical changes and innovations concerning their educational implications the Indian context. The paper argues that COVID 19 pandemic has been a major setback for the ailing academic infrastructure in India. The immediate outcome might cause the severity of the pandemic and the increasing cases of infections across the nation, and the closure of schools and other educational institutions. However, to overcome further educational losses and compromises, the schools and colleges alternatively moved to online modes haphazardly. Initially, this push from the government came as a shock to many teachers and learners, bearing in mind the circumstances and ground realities in India, wherein this sudden ‘top-down’ transition appeared more as an imposition. Ever since this transition happened, everyone has been trying to adapt to this new ‘normal. Despite the relentless working of stakeholders at various levels owing to these unprecedented times, the situation does not look inspiring. Though NEP 2020 was envisioned as a sigh of relief and a major game-changer in metamorphosing the educational system in India, it is inept in addressing the immediate challenges posed by the pandemic, and there is a long way to go in its effective implementation. Therefore, policymakers and researchers have to deal with the compounded challenges. The most critical one can assess and address the learning gaps induced due to the ongoing pandemic. This paper attempts to look into the dynamics of the major debates emerging as a result of the anxieties and upheavals posed by the COVID 19 pandemic; the response of various stakeholders such as administrators, policymakers, teachers, educators, learners etc. The pedagogical implications for the teachers and educators due to these uncertain circumstances derive insights and strategies that will help make the educational system more resilient, resource-rich, and prepared to tackle future crises.

Jesus and Spirituality: Reading the Fourth Gospel in the Light of the Indian Culture

The Gospel of John is considered as one of the significant literary masterpieces that appeals to Indian spirituality and ideals in multifarious ways. The Gospel has unique features as a universalistic rhetoric that encompasses feelings and aspirations of Indians. The character of Jesus in the Gospel and His assimilative power to contemporary realities reverberate the situational aspects of Indian communities. In the current article, first of all, an attempt is made to explore the character of Jesus and the impression of the Johannine spirituality in relation to Indian realities. We also attempt to place the Fourth Gospel in Indian context in order to derive an interpretative dynamism that takes into account both the Jesus of John and the diverse religious and cultural aspects of today’s context. The character of Jesus and the spirituality reflected in John have much in common with the mystical traditions of the Indian religions.

LOOKING FOR MURUGA AND SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN THEATRE

Looking for Muruga is an astonishing play authored by Kriben Pillai depicting South African Indian reality during the Apartheid regime. The drama looks to be a narrative tale of many issues related to the Indian community. Almost all the tales are told by a central character named Muruga. He is a barman and an entertainer who keeps his customers happy. One such customer comes back to him in an effort to write a story about the barman’s life after many years. The conversation between the barman and the customer, Sherwin, constitute the central action of the play. Their discussion also draws in the 1949 Durban riots between the Indian and the native black communities and unhappy memories related to that event. There are also references in the play about freedom from Apartheid and the possible position and role of the Indian community in free South Africa. The play has symbolic relation to Lord Muruga. It also refers to the African National Congress and Nelson Mandela and the possible tomorrow. In that sense, the play looks like a discussion on the past, the present and the future of South Africa and the position of Indian community in South Africa.

Conflict and Reconciliation of Binary Opposition in a Passage to India and a Passage to England

The well-known myth of binary- England and India creates a conflict for the contrastive attitude in E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India and Nirad C Chaudhuri’s travelogue A Passage to England. The binary opposition of Anglo-Indian as colonizers and Indians as colonized leads to another set of binary, white-colored, and civilized-primitive in A Passage to India. This binary contradicts each other to form them in another set of binary, controller-controlled during the British imperial rule in India. The contrastive structure is in the form of conflict reflected in their outlook, behavior, and lifestyle in this novel. On the other hand, by an eight-week-journey in western countries, Chaudhuri, as an Indian in England, exposes what he observes in the west together with the reality of India in the travelogue. He recognizes the social binaries upholded by Jacques Derrida in A Passage to England. Chaudhuri in his book has executed this binary sense as England-India, British-Indians possessing two independent entities of the world. The two writers, through Hegel’s dialectic process, place the binary opposition implanting Derrida’s view. The article focuses on the nature of the conflict and tries to explore reconciliation of the conflicts based on the comparative analysis of two books.

The Cultural Expressions and Representation of National Identity- A Study of the Indian Singing Reality Television Show “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa”

This paper aims to understand the narrative structure of Indian singing reality television show to identify the representation of national identity. By focusing on the “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” show format, this paper has followed the work of Vladimir Propp to examine the cultural expressions with the sequential development of the narrative plot. The convergent parallel mixed method has been using to collect quantitative and qualitative data. While using the Likert scale, the reliability of the questionnaire has been calculated and reported Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for internal consistency reliability. The quantitative data has gathered from 205 respondents and 99 episodes aired from 2017 to 2019 have analysed in qualitative data, which is followed by data analysis through IBM SPSS Statistics. By analysing the quantitative and qualitative data this paper finds that the cultural expressions reveal the notion of national identity through the representation of ‘ordinary’ people and emphasis on performances by focusing on the structured format of Indian reality television. The paper indicates the ways where the viewers of the society can connect with cultural expressions through the genre of reality television.

Changing characteristics of the caste system in India

In India, during the last three decades, the caste system’s characteristics have changed significantly. The caste system has never been an uncontested reality in India. The tradition of resistance to the caste system and the sentiment of reform about it are as old as the caste system’s history. The caste (Jati) system has been transformed under the ruling elites from ancient to modern times. However, multiple socioeconomic and political factors are behind the changes that have come after India’s independence. But, the most significant changes have occurred after 1991. The unexpected changes that have come in the last three decades are different in many ways than before. The market-driven new economy, rise of caste identity, access to quality education, and empowerment schemes have made the change possible. This paper explores the changing facets of the Indian caste system, factors of change, and its impact on Indian socio-political life in contemporary India. Key words: Varna, Jan, Jati, Dalit, Gunas, Varna ashram-Dharma, Dwij.

The Television Cult: Prevalence of Brand Placements in an Indian Reality Show

Brand Placements (BP), a predominant strategy to ensure brand prominence has not been explored substantially concerning its role in reality shows (RS). This study on content analysis examines the prevalence and pervasiveness of BP in RS with specific reference to ‘Bigg Boss’, a highest Television Rating Point (TRP) rated Indian RS. The results indicate that the brands have appeared at least once for every minute with an average appearance of 5 seconds, and exhibit that BP are integrated through the plots of RS. The findings imply that BP in RS will deliver better outcomes in comparison with other media platforms.

Bhabani Bhattacharya Vs ‘He Who Rides A Tiger’

Bhabani Bhattacharya’s ‘He Who Rides a Tiger’ is yet another novel of man’s epic struggle against the unjust social equations which are as old as the ancient vedic civilization. It is the story of a blacksmith, Kalo, living in a small town, Jharana, in Bengal, and his daughter, Chandra Lekha. It is set against the backdrop of a widespread famine of Bengal of 1943. Though ‘He Who Rides a Tiger’ and ‘So Many Hungers’ treat the theme of hunger, exploitation and debasement of man, ‘He Who Rides a Tiger’ is no rehash of the latter novel. It launches a scathing critisism on the evil of caste system which has been the bane of Indian society. Arguably the writer’s best novel, it touches the pulse of the irony of Indian social life. The Indian social realities are presented with increasing bitterness within the perspective of the freedom movement. Its greatness as a piece of literature lies in its assertion of tremendous potentialities of the spiritual growth of man, and a thorough exposure of an imperfect social system.

“Lay down branch roads, provide town sites, build barracks”: A Practical Stylistic Investigation of Hyde Clarke’s Colonization, Defence, and Railways in Our Indian Empire (1857)

In his treatise Colonization, Defence, and Railways in Our Indian Empire (1857), Hyde Clarke wholeheartedly approves of Indian colonial railways and advocates the need for the British to bring about technological progress in the subcontinent. The main research purpose of this article is to provide stylistic evidence of how Clarke relays and constructs his Anglocentric and imperial viewpoint on Indian railways. The article firstly introduces the figure of Clarke and his railway pamphlet, and discusses the keywords colonialism and colonization as defined in two authoritative nineteenthcentury dictionaries of the English language and in colonial and postcolonial studies. Secondly, moving from this field and from the field of postcolonial stylistics, the stylistic methodology defined by Ron Carter as “practical stylistics” is applied to thirteen sequences from the treatise including the keyword colonization. Finally, the definitions of colonialism and colonization are compared with Clarke’s notion of colonization as emerging from the text. This linguistic analysis hence identifies and explores the stylistic strategies utilised by the author – mainly stylistic choices at word- and phrase-level, syntactic structures and the pragmatic functions of these devices – and reveals the ways in which he conveys his colonial mental attitude to the Indian reality.

Consumer Attitude Toward Product Placement: A Descriptive Study Between Bangladeshi & Indian Media Program

The aim of this study is to investigate Bangladeshi viewers’ attitudes towards product placement activities. Here product placement indicates a paid form of non-traditional advertisement where products or brand names are intentionally present along with the programs. Consumers’ purchase decisions relate to how they know the brand name, and traditional marketing activities failed several times to hit the customer’s black box. People are fascinated by an innovative way of product representation, a tough and challenging task for marketers. Embedded marketing or Product placement helps both viewers and marketers to build a bridge for communication. In Bangladesh, people are less conscious about their local products as well as their media programs. Media and marketing relate inextricably with each other. The study has been conducted in two aspects to investigate the consumer attitude towards product placement. The first one is a comparative analysis of several product placements between Bangladeshi and the Indian media program. The second one is devolving and analyzing questionnaires to determine the Bangladeshi viewers’ scenario about embedded marketing. The logic behind choosing the Indian tv program for comparison is that Bangladeshi viewers are habituated with the Indian program. From 121 respondents, this study tries to forecast the viewers’ attitude toward product placement. Comparing Bangladeshi and Indian movies, dramas, and reality shows, the study expresses that Bangladeshi channel set minimal concern about embedded marketing. An online survey portrays a viewer’s preference level and thinking pattern about their media programs. Proper representation of programs such as an exciting story from movies and drama, a reality show with more customer engagement, less repetition of the same news, more consciousness about irrelevant talk shows, proper timing of the advertisement can help to back the viewers to their media that allows marketers to communicate with their target customers. This study has been conducted with limited sample size. Further research may be conducted about this study with large sample size and may compare with other countries.

Strengthening Social Welfare Administration Practice in India: A Context Centric Social Work Approach

Abstract This article explores the possibility of strengthening social welfare administration practice in social work training and education to respond to complex and varied issues located within Indian social reality keeping in view the people in concrete situations of vulnerabilities. Based on the case analysis approach, it situates the history of social work education and practice closely linked to the social welfare administration practice in Mumbai School of Social Work. The experience in this school reaffirms the contribution of social work administration practice towards welfare and development of people, and suggests the need for strengthening the practice suited to the changing needs of the time. Learning from this experience, this article argues for a positive recognition of context centric approach in social work practice.

Witch Hunting: A Form of violence against Dalit Women in India

The Caste system is a social reality in India; despite constitutional rights of equality, protection from discrimination, and the ban on untouchability, discrimination against Dalit communities or Schedule Castes, still persists. Outside and within their caste, Dalit women face triple discrimination based on caste, class and-gender resulting in horrific acts of violence directed against them. Among the most common violent attacks on them across rural India, apart from sexual violence, are those related to declaring them witches, or accusing them of witchcraft, often leading to tragic outcomes such as death of victims. Grabbing property, political jealousy, personal conflicts, getting sexual benefits, or settling old scores are found to be common reasons to declare a woman witch. However, deep down, it is a conspiracy of Brahmanical patriarchy to control resources and sustain caste hierarchy by hitting where it hurts the most – inflicting injuries on Dalit women. They face physical, economic, and cultural violence from social exclusion to being burnt alive. Most witch-hunting victims have been noticed as either, old, widows, or single, women. This paper analyses violence against Dalit women with specific reference to witch- hunting. It explores the caste hierarchy, motives behind such crimes, also the failure of legal mechanisms and judicial institutions in eradicating the menace of witch-hunting.

Reaching sustainable development goals: Bringing financial inclusion to reality in India

Reaching sustainable development goals: Bringing financial inclusion to reality in India

Essential Workflow and Performance Measures for Optimizing Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment in India.

Essential Workflow and Performance Measures for Optimizing Acute Ischemic Stroke Treatment in India.