Improving access to Entertainment Content.

Entertainment is a very subjective pleasure a person follow to keep himself mentally and physically refreshed. Generally, Films, music, games, books etc are considered as entertainment. To be specefic to entertainment industry, a large section of the public are drived towards television, theatres and Music platforms,  to feel refreshed either visually or vocally. By the time a larger public got entertained, there may be a section of people who can't get it because of their disability to see or to hear as the content is still not much disabled friendly. In this context, as a society, we have to find alternatives for making the content available to disabled sections of the society to uphold the values of social justice.

There are some reasons for the unavailability of entertainment content to the disabled. Firstly, there is a social stigma that entertainment is not meant for differently abled people. They are mostly sidelined  though they are also interested and rightfully wish to enjoy such content. Disabled people are sometimes considered as a second class citizens who are not deserved to enjoy their life because of their physical incapacities. Secondly, producers of entertainment content never thought that there is a huge market for such content. If there is a market, making a disabled friendly content will not be economically viable to the producers. When the technology works and progress in line with the demand, technical know-hows and improvements to make a content disabled friendly is also very limited and unenthusiastic. Though there are lots of NGO'S and civil societies who work for differently abled people, they are also not much focussed on improving the entertainment needs of these differently abled, rather gives more priority to medical aids and welfare schemes. They can also compel the Govt and CBFC to assure the content in this way too.

 Understanding this issue, the Government of India has taken many steps in this regard. Rights of persons with disability act provides guidance to address this problems in a gentle way. Action 29 (h) of the act requires appropriate government to take measures to ensure that the persons with hearing impairment can have access to television programs with sign language interpretations or subtitles. Further section 42(2) requires the corporate government to take measures to ensure that the person with disability have access to electronic media by providing audio description in sign language interpretation and captioning. Ministry of Information and broadcast pursue audio description in films and they also advised Central Board of film certification(CBFC) suggest some alternatives in the regard. The films like Sanju, Andhadun, Romeo akbar walter etc had come up with such disabled friendly versions, is an admirable step.

 There are also other government initiative that are included under the Rights of persons with disability act 2016. Renaming of Department of persons with disability  to Divyangan Sasakthikaran vibag is there symbolic representation of governments approach towards these section of people. Sugamya bharat app launched to address the accessibility issue faced by differently abled people in buildings and transportation system is also great move that have huge impact on the lives of them.

WHO says that 1 in ten people in this world is disabled and 1 in five of them are from economically humble background. The impact of a disabled individual would be more pathetic if he/she is economically ill. This issue also has to addressed by giving more focus towards the economically weaker section of people among the disabled community. Their right and access to entertainment should never be taken for granted since its the responsibility of the society to assure them the same.

A Brief History of Insurgency In Manipur.

The state of Manipur has been going through lots of sociopolitical crisis since the last decades of 19th century. It has tasted the bitterness of AFSPA(armed force special power act) for two decades because of the conflicting demands if various ethnic groups and their organsation like UNLF(United Nations liberation Front-1964), Peoples Liberation Army(978), Kangleipak communist party(1980), Naga Insurgent outfits, Kuki insurgent outfits, and other small such organisations.

The reason for such a numerous insurgent outfits, is having an identical history that can be traced back from Anglo- Manipur was of 1891. Although Britishers won this war, they did not annexed the kingdom of Manipur but kept it as a British Protectorates. The ruling class, Meities were given administrative autonomy by accepting the British Paramountcy till the Independence of India. But, on 15th October, 1949, The kingdom of Manipur was forcefully accessed into Indian Union, there by Meiti rulers lost their perceived sense of Autonomy. This event made sparks to start insurgent activities against the Govt of India by the meitie dominant class.To curb the developing insurgency, Govt of India granted statehood to Manipur in 1972.

To understand the rest of the story, Ethnic profile of Manipur should also be considered. This state has a dominant ruling class called Meities who enjoy key positions in political and administrative spheres of the society. Nagas, and Kukkis, though they were in majority in neighbouring states of Nagaland and Mizoram, are considered as minorities in the state of Manipur. These Minorities got official recognition as Scheduled Tribes from the Govt of India, there by got eligibility for holding some Privileges for their upliftment. They were allowed to purchase land in Hilly areas, that was disallowed to Meities as they were concentrated in plane areas. Such privileges angered dominant ruling class as they felt insecure in the hands of Government. As a reaction to this sense of disproportionate treatment, Meities formed various insurgent outfits against Govt of India namely UNLF, PLA, KCP and many other small groupings.

As the tension between the Naga-Kuki minorities were escalated the former got support from neighbouring states. These clashes invited interventions from the Govt to declare Manipur as a 'Disturbed Area' and forced to come under AFSPA. By 1990, the conflicts were largely silenced by the military and diplomatic steps from the Govt. The organisation of Nagas named NSCN signed cease fire agreement with india during this period and latet in 2008 Kuki wing also signed " Suspension of Operation pact" with both central and state Govts in 2008. The military interventions from the Govt is also widely criticised for its massive human rights violations and outfits like Kaplang faction of NSCN and Meities organisations didn't signed any peace agreements with the Govt still.

Challenges for the Government.

The Govt of india and neighbouring state Govts has done alot of initiatives to curb insurgency in this region, but not become successful completely. This is mainly because of the conflicting demands from the leading organisations. One favouring step to a section is considered as highly unfavourable to the other and they keep on fighting against each other and with the Govt as a common enemy.

Proxy groupings are the other reason why the Govt can't arrive at an amicable solution to this. When one faction of the grouping stands for peace, the other faction retaliates with violence. Diplomatic talks and consensus building still didn't work well in this region.

Opportunistic politicians are also providing oxygen to the insurgency fire for their vested interest. As they interact with the people directly, their negligence is a huge drawback that resume violence in the valleys.As Manipur is a border state with Myanmar, these insurgent outfits are massively helped by the immoral mafia to deal with weapons, drugs and hiding place. In the porous border of Manipur, the interventions of Indian military is troublesome.

Manipur has to find able leaders from themselves to solve this issue. Peace aspiring people and their Representatives are the hope of this region. Direct military intervention is not a suitable way of addressing this issue. Leaders who know the terrain and the spirit, when worked along with the Govt can only solve this issue. Alleged Violence committed military personals too, need to be addressed judiciously.

Critical minerals crisis, Indian perspective.

 

Critical minerals are those minerals which are used in critical industrial sectors like Electronics, defense, clean energy harnessing etc.. They are rare earth minerals that includes 17 minerals, 15 lanthanides and Yitrium and scantium. As the science and technology progress, the demand for such minerals are skyrocketing day by day.

The potential use of these minerals are highly diverse. Its applications are mainly found in semiconductor chips, solar panels, medical equipments, wind energy sector, Electronic vehicles and even in defense equipments. China leads in this sector both in its production as well as in processing. Latin american countries, and some african countries are sensed with abundant resources of these minerals so that developed countries like US, Japan, Australia, France etc are already making lots of diplomatic efforts to secure their supply chain of these elements for future.

As far as india is concerned, there are some challenges to assure the supply of these minerals for our coming generations. Firstly, as these are found in highly sensitive regions of the world, to sense the resources before the interference of developed countries, is very difficult. Secondly, this sector is completely dominated by China as of now. Indias deteriorated relationship with China is a huge huddle to tackle these demand- supply mismatch of critical minerals for india. Thirdly, the existing resourceful countries of this sector have already signed long term treaties with US, European union, Australia, and Japan, so that getting into this market is a tough call to india. All these challenges compel India to find new supply chain, or else the country would face extreme shortage of these minerals to meet up its requirements. Though India have some resources of Rare earth minerals, it's not sufficient to meet India's demand. The exclusion from recently framed mineral security partnership by western countries, is also to be considered as the diplomatic failure of India.

By understanding this upcoming crisis, Govt of india launched an initiative called KABIL( Kanij Bidesh India Limted), a public sector undertaking to promote domestic production and to find resorces in other countries. One can't argue about the success of this program, but steps like this are really admirable. The only solution to meet this crisis is to make friendly relationships with resource-rich nations and to develop new supply chains for critical elements. Or else, India will be defenestrated to far away in its scientific innovations. SDG target to achieve net zero emission by 2070, will be an unfulfilled dream if the Govt couldn't act forsightedly.

Active and Healthy Aging

We may say that age is just a number. But when it comes to reality, its not. Aging is not just a physiological phenomenon. It includes so many changes in ones social, economic, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. Sometimes, elderly people are considered to be a burden in the society and they are sidelined even in their families despite of been the backbone for decades.

World population prospect 2022, a report published by UN Department of Economic and social affairs estimates that 16% of the people will be of above 65 years of age by the end of 2050. Global population by that year will reach 9.7 billion, marking 1.7 billion as india's share. Elderly process is considered to be an end product of demographic transition or demographic achievement with decline in both birth and mortality rate, and consequent increase in life expectancy at birth. This will create a large dependant population and the responsibility of respective government to take care of this section is huge.

Taking care of old age people includes various aspects of Preventive, Promotive, Curative, and Rehabilitative aspects of their health. These key objectives of this geriatric care is recognised by the Govt of india under Atal Vayo Abhyudhaya Yojana, that was effective since 1st April, 2021. It includes various initiatives to assure financial security, food, healthcare and human interaction / life of dignity to the elderly population. Some noteworthy schemes like Rashtriya Vayosri Yojana, which provide physical aids and assisted living devices to senior citizens and the scheme SACRED(Senior able citizens for reemployment in dignity) that's launched on 1st October, 2021, to help them for taking employments for a dignified life, are some admirable schemes in this sector. By AGRASR(Active group aimed at social reconstruction ) they are encouraged to form Self Help Groups.

National program for Healthcare of elderly, launched in 2010-2011 to provide comprehensive and dedicated healthcare facilities for elderly people above 60 years at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. There are lots of programmes the Govt has initiated under this scheme to take care of the elderlies. Through Indira Gandhi National old age Pension scheme, the Govt is providing 200₹/month for all the people above 60 years of age, who are from BPL category. After they attain the age of 80, the amount will be increased upto 500₹/ month. Similarly, there are lots of welfare schemes and programs were initiated by the centre and the respective state governments in the line of Geriatric care. Monthly pension of 1200₹/ month to economically weaker person above 60 years, is a scheme in Kerala that promised lots of social changes, not just for elderly but even in the society as whole.

Although these schems are running, the population estimates suggested that the present day health sector is not prepared to manage the upcoming demand in this area. The govt should provide more targeted schemes to assure the welfare of this population. It can provide more subsidies to the treatments and to buy equipments for those people with mobility issues. Promoting more startups to assure accessibility to these services are much needed in achieving the benefits of different schemes. The govt should also promote private sector and provide tax reductions for investments and returns in this key healthcare need Mandatory health saving plan or schemes from the early age will reduce the burden of the Govt spending so that the money can be purposefully utilised in another key areas of economy. Private insurance reforms and its accessibility, liberalisation and simplification will be also beneficial to the people who are not well aware of the insurance policies and its complexities.

The society has to uplifted by energy of younger generations with the experience of the older generations. In this way, elderlies are the greatest asset to our society, not to be considered as dormant.